Knife splashing

Chapter 216 Zhu Family Castle

"They must be captured miners..."

Old man Zhang's eyes were gloomy. "This matter is closely related to the Pai Cult. I will make it known to the world."

No wonder the old man is angry.

Everyone in the underworld has taken a few lives, but the scene before him was truly unbearable.

The cave has been hollowed out and is used only to detain captured miners. There is nothing else inside.

Afterwards, everyone found another cave.

There are no mines in this cave. It must have been dug specially for the white-robed guards and foreign monks to live in.

When everyone entered, they immediately saw a statue.

She was a goddess with dark skin, bloodshot eyes and a mouth full of fangs. She looked a bit like the goddess Mam that Li Yan had seen.

However, it has a human body and a snake tail, and a very long tongue with a red flame carved on the tip of the tongue, which seems to be burning.

Various tributes were placed around it, and a pattern similar to the mandala was drawn with chalk, cinnabar and other materials, and the tablet was written with "."

"What kind of evil god is this?"

"Don't move. There's something wrong with this statue."

Li Yan and others didn't recognize it either, but there was still divine energy lingering around the statue, so they naturally couldn't act rashly.

In addition, under the stone wall in the distance, there is a long wooden table similar to a workbench, which is filled with various tools and scattered books.

Under the wooden platform, there were five bamboo tube open-flame guns and a copper cabinet with four corners and four copper tubes on it. A copper cylinder was placed horizontally on the tubes, which was somewhat similar to the Hellfire Gun.

"It's the fierce fire oil tank!"

When Sharifei saw it, he gasped, pounced on it, stroked it carefully, and sniffed it.

Although Lu San was not as good as Sharifei, he was also a firearms enthusiast. Seeing this, he quickly asked, "What is a fierce fire oil tank?"

Without even looking up, Sharifei said, "It is recorded in the 'Wu Jing Zong Yao' that there is a weapon for defensive warfare and naval warfare. If the enemy attacks the city with battering rams, it can spray fierce flaming oil, and anyone hit will be rotten. Water cannot kill it. In naval warfare, it can burn floating bridges and warships."

"Strange, this thing seems to be combined with the Hellfire Gun..."

As he spoke, his eyes turned to the book on the table.

The book was old and worn, and seemed to be made of animal leather, with the words "Thunder and Fire Sutra" written on the cover.

After Sharifei picked it up, he glanced at it casually, his pupils suddenly contracted, and he immediately put it in his arms, pretending nothing had happened.

How could he hide his action from others?

But in this team, "Clipper Zhang" is a veteran and pretended not to see it, and the others are all his own people and would not say much.

Li Yan didn't ask any more questions.

He knew that Sharifei must have found something good.

It’s not too late to ask when there are fewer people around.

Wang Daoxuan took out the compass, looked at the statue, walked around with the compass, and then came out of the cave.

He looked at the river below that was covered by clouds and mist, his brows gradually became solemn, and then he looked at the surrounding mountains and rivers, his expression changed slightly.

On the compass, the needle was spinning wildly.

"There's something wrong with this place!"

Wang Daoxuan suddenly spoke, attracting everyone.

His face was solemn, he looked at the compass and said: "I misjudged it. The terrain here is connected to the root of the mountain, and it is actually a small dragon vein."

Li Yan asked: "Is the dragon vein not good?"

“The dragon vein is good, of course, but this is a dragon-killing one!”

Wang Daoxuan pointed to the mountains in the distance and said, "The dragon here carries killing intent. After being stripped of its original form, it has become steep, dangerous, green, ugly, rough, with exposed bones and rocks, and sharp branches and feet."

"If you are buried here, within two generations there will be a vicious robber or bloodthirsty person, and within three generations there will be imprisonment."

"Fortunately, there is a river passing through this place, which turned into dragon blood and retained a trace of vitality."

"But I'm afraid that this has caused even bigger problems..."

As he said this, he turned his head and looked at "Speedboat Zhang", "Mr. Zhang, you often travel along this river. Have you ever heard of a large number of dead people nearby?"

"Fast Boat Zhang" frowned and thought, recalling: "It seems that there was such a thing, near Zhujiabao. I can't remember who mentioned it, saying that many people died there during the turmoil at the end of the Tang Dynasty."

"That's right!"

Wang Daoxuan showed the madly spinning compass needle to everyone and said, "There is a leak of evil spirits, flowing out along this river."

"If I'm not mistaken, this statue sits on a mountain and overlooks the river in order to suppress the evil spirits in this place."

"Mr. Zhang, your friend saw someone in the river. I'm afraid it wasn't fake. He was really possessed by evil spirits!"

"its not right."

Old man Zhang quickly shook his head and said, "I have been coming and going here for decades, and I only occasionally encounter unclean things. I can avoid them by throwing some tributes and incense. They are not as terrible as the Taoist priest said."

"Oh?"

Wang Daoxuan frowned, suddenly practiced the Yang Jue, picked up a handful of soil from the cave entrance, put it in his mouth, and tasted it.

"Bah! Bah! Bah!"

He retched as if he had eaten something disgusting, and said with an unpleasant expression, "I am absolutely right. This place has become a dangerous place. Even the soil smells like corpses."

After hearing this, Li Yan said thoughtfully: "According to what the Taoist said, it should be related to the strange things in Zhujiabao."

"Now that the matter is over, let's leave as soon as possible. This group of people is well-organized, and there are foreign monks and masters suppressing them. They will definitely not give up."

"Speedboat Zhang" said helplessly: "The river is full of huge rocks and reefs. We can't push them away by human power. We can only take a detour."

"This is simple."

Sharifei looked towards the other side of the cave, a smile on his face, "Just blow it up!"

On the wooden shelf over there, there were a lot of explosive packs neatly placed...

…………

boom! boom! boom!
Accompanied by loud noises, water and gravel splashed everywhere.

All the huge rocks hidden in the river channel were blown to pieces.

"Be careful, go slower, and try harder!"

Sharifei shouted slogans and stumbled with the boatmen, carrying the heavy oil tank down the mountain using wooden poles and ropes.

Also taken away were the bamboo tube hellfire guns.

"Clipper Zhang" was extremely unwilling to carry this dangerous thing on board. If he was discovered by the government, he would be punished by death.

However, Sharifei persuaded them eloquently that these were useful weapons for self-defense and could be used to save their lives if Yichang was attacked by rebel forces.

Old man Zhang had no choice but to obey.

As for Li Yan, he and Wang Daoxuan moved out all the bodies of the trapped miners, burned them, and chanted scriptures.

According to Wang Daoxuan, this is a very dangerous place, and the evil spirit has been leaked. The statue is also of unknown origin, so it is estimated that it will not be suppressed for long.

If left unattended, these corpses will cause trouble.

Furthermore, praying for the souls of these poor miners is also a good deed.

After finishing all this, it was already the Shen time (15:17 to :).

Old man Zhang shouted and the boat set sail again.

Just as he said, the river here is very dangerous, with whirlpools and rapids at every turn, some shallows covered with rocks, and waves even splashing several meters high.

However, his team's boat-handling skills were also amazing. Without those strange things blocking the way, they finally passed through the dangerous eighteen bends in the mountains before sunset.

After leaving the mountain, the river suddenly became calm.

The setting sun shines on the wide river, the waves sparkle with golden light, in the distance there are layers of terraces, and a large village stands in the valley.

It looked beautiful, but everyone immediately noticed something strange.

Huguang is a land of fish and rice. In addition to rice, various river fish are also an important staple food for the people. As long as there are people, there will be fishermen casting nets to catch fish.

At this time, all the wooden boats were tied to the shore.

The wooden pier on the river bank was empty, while in the distant villages and towns, smoke rose from cooking.

Old man Zhang couldn't help but look at Li Yan. Seeing him nod, he shouted, "Stop the boat, dock!"

There was a bamboo forest in the distance on the river bank. A villager had cut some bamboo poles and was carrying them to go home. He caught a glimpse of the approaching boat and was so startled that he dropped the poles and ran towards the village.

"Uncle! Uncle!"

"Someone's coming up the river!"

The shouts and barking of dogs soon echoed throughout the village.

The boatmen looked at each other, feeling a little strange.

Wang Daoxuan walked out on the deck, stroked his beard and watched, then looked at the compass in his hand with a frown.

He lifted up the compass and showed it to Li Yan.

But I saw the pointer above moving left and right, up and down.

Li Yan frowned, "Why is the earth's energy so chaotic?"

During this period of time, he studied the art of divination and received guidance from Wang Daoxuan. Although his skills were far from those of a geomancer, he still understood some basic principles.

There are many types of compasses, and the circle patterns on them vary according to the tradition. For example, the situation school uses the Sanyuan compass, and the Qi school uses the Sanhe compass.

If the needle is abnormal, there are so-called "Eight Strange Needle Methods", namely, Tang needle, Dui needle, Shen needle, Rotating needle, Throwing needle, Counter needle, Side needle and Straight needle.

Each change has a corresponding statement.

For example, the Dui needle has a protruding tip, also known as a floating needle.

This means that there is negative energy involved, and it is good negative energy. It is either one's own deceased ancestor or a guardian deity.

If you enter a mountain village where the land temple is prosperous and evil spirits are hard to invade, the Dui needle will appear.

On the contrary, if the needle tip does not sink naturally, it is called sinking needle.

It means that there is negative energy involved. This negative energy is not evil, but it is caused by unjust or abnormal death, which will make ordinary people feel uncomfortable.

When they were outside the mine before, the compass needle kept spinning, which was called "spinning needle", indicating that evil was involved.

If the spirit of resentment lingers, harm will occur wherever it resides.

Now the needle is swinging unsteadily and not returning to the center line, which is called "stirring the needle". It means that there are strange rocks and deep pools underground, which will bring disaster if you live there.

But that's where the weird thing happens.

The people of China do not choose where to live at random.

Even if it is not a place where dragon veins converge, you must find a place with good feng shui to live, such as facing south, with your back to the mountain and in front of the river, and surrounded by jade belts.

This place is close to the mountain and the river, and is located on the sunny side of the mountain. The terraced rice fields have plenty of sunlight, and there is no shortage of fresh fish in the river. It is a place with good wind and water, so the people naturally live and work in peace and contentment.

If there was a problem, this village would have been ruined long ago...

Wang Daoxuan said in a deep voice: "The earth's qi is disordered, and the needles appeared. It should be related to the case in the City God Temple."

As he was speaking, a large group of people came out of the village.

The leader was an old man with a white beard. He was slightly hunched over, but his clothes were still fresh. He was leaning on a cane and was supported by two people.

Beside him, many men were holding sticks, knives and guns, and behind him were holding dung forks, hoes and other farm tools.

Among the crowd, there were a few men gritting their teeth.

They were holding leather bags, looking ready to take action at any time.

Li Yan actually smelled dog blood in it.

He didn't want to be splashed with gossip, so before anyone came close, he took out his Taoist certificate and shook it, then said in a deep voice, "We are from Yunyang Prefecture. We have accepted a mission from the City God Temple and came here to check."

"Stop!"

The old man was startled when he heard this, and hurriedly stopped everyone. Then he looked Li Yan up and down and asked carefully: "I am the village chief of Zhuyu City. Did the guest come from the river in the mountains?"

"That's right." Li Yan did not hide it.

The surrounding villagers gasped and whispered to each other.

"how is this possible?"

“They are not human…”

"Look, there's a shadow."

The old man still did not give up and continued to ask: "Did you encounter anything in the river in the mountains?"

Li Yan glanced at them calmly and said, "We encountered some evil people causing trouble. They pretended to be ghosts and secretly dug for mineral deposits. We have killed them."

"That's great. Muramasa can send someone to the Jingkou Guard Station to report to the authorities. Those people are likely to be related to the rebellious army."

There was no way to conceal this matter, so I just reported it to the police.

"The monster is related to the rebellious army!"

Muramasa was immediately shocked.

When the villagers nearby heard this, they were also shocked.

"Okay, it turns out someone is playing tricks on me!"

"I was so scared that I didn't dare go fishing in the river for two months."

"Call the police! Hurry and catch these thieves!"

Laocunzheng waved his hand to silence everyone, then said: "Zhu Zi, your boat is the fastest, set off quickly..."

"No hurries!"

Li Yan shook his head and said, "The situation is chaotic right now. If you go like this, the officers and soldiers will never believe you. Wait for me to write a letter."

After that, he returned to the cabin and wrote swiftly, giving a general account of what had happened, followed by his own speculations.

Of course, the seized firearms are not mentioned here.

Finally, add your name.

This is the advantage of the black Taoist certificate. With this certificate, you will be on the same level as the Xuanmen Orthodox Sect. If you encounter an emergency, you can ask the local garrison soldiers for help.

After handing over the letter, Li Yan said, "The incident in the valley river was caused by a demon, but there is still a problem with your village."

He had other important matters to attend to and was only here to deal with them. Naturally, he would not guess and would just go straight to the point.

"what?"

Zhucunzheng was stunned and a little confused.

"what!"

The villager who was about to deliver the letter was frightened and dared not go any further.

Li Yan looked at the sky and shook his head, saying, "Let's go tomorrow. Don't travel at night. The problem is only in this village. Everything will be fine if we leave."

After that, he looked at Zhucunzheng again, "Old man, we have urgent matters. The situation you reported was not clear. I want to know the details."

Zhucunzheng had already believed their identities, so he naturally did not dare to hide them. He shouted at the villagers to put away their weapons, then raised his hand and said, "You have come a long way, you must be tired."

"I'll prepare some wine and food, and we'll talk while we eat."

"Then it'll be hard work."

Li Yan was not polite and led everyone into the village.

Only Lu San and a boatman turned around and walked towards the boat.

Lu San didn't like dealing with people. It was a torture for him to have so many people gathered together and ask him all kinds of questions, so he went back to the boat and waited for Li Yan to arrange someone to deliver food.

Besides, we dared not let anyone discover the firearms and luggage.

As for the boatman who stayed behind, it was the rule on the boat.

"This...they are going to stay overnight on the boat?"

Zhu Cunzheng was shocked when he saw it, and quickly advised: "Don't do that, there are dirty things in the river."

"At night, they come out to cause trouble!"

　The third update will be later
　　
　
(End of this chapter)