Knife splashing

Chapter 258: Rat Immortal Patrolling the City
Night shrouds the mountains and forests, and the moonlight is mottled.

The wind rustled the leaves, and the dense branches swayed slowly in the moonlight. In the dead silence and darkness, the occasional cry of a night owl could be heard.

Wow!
The forest birds were startled and flew away; the sound of horse hooves could be heard.

A fire dragon came from afar, it was Li Yan and his group.

In addition to the troops of the Duwei Division, there were four Taoists in the team, two from the Zhushan Sect and the other two from the Zhenwu Palace.

Currently, the Zigai Cave is short of manpower, so it is impossible to mobilize in large numbers. What they can do is to open the altar and summon troops for support at any time.

These four Taoists were specifically there to follow and perform rituals to locate the enemy so that the ghost soldiers could arrive as soon as possible.

In addition, they also possess special magical powers.

One of them has the ability to see ghosts and spirits, one can hear the words of ghosts and gods, one is good at observing qi, and the last one has the root of spiritual power and is good at divination.

Normally, these people are treasures of the orthodox Dharma lineage and are very well protected. They will not be allowed to go down the mountain easily, and the two temple masters are also very concerned about them.

Even when the disciples in the Earthly Immortal Cave were poisoned, they were not targeted, for fear of attracting the investigation of the temple master.

But now, they have all been sent out to follow Li Yan.

One reason is that they failed to do their job and caused trouble.

The second is anger.

Regardless of whether there are terrifying earthly immortals in the Earthly Immortal Cave, this behavior has violated the bottom line of both religions.

Not only did he entrust Li Yan to continue investigating the matter and stabilize the situation in Dangyang, he also sent pigeons to ask for help from masters.

The situation in Dangyang was chaotic, so everyone did not rest and went down the mountain directly, rushing back to Dangyang County at night...

At the front of the team, Li Yan rode his horse and asked the Taoists beside him: "Everyone, how do you think the tiger monster hid?"

The Earthly Immortal Cave is dangerous, so we won’t go there right away.

He planned to do two things after returning. The first was to conduct a comprehensive search for the hiding places of the Tiansheng Sect thieves and to wipe them out.

According to previous intelligence, some of these people who stole the "Blood Tomb Beam" were killed in the Earth Immortal Cave, and many more were killed when they plotted against the tiger monster.

Even so, they were still able to cause chaos in Dangyang County.

This means that there are definitely a lot of people coming.

With so many people, they need a hiding place, food and water, so there will definitely be loopholes. The county yamen runners may not be able to find them, but the Duwei Division is good at this.

The other one is the tiger monster.

Judging from all the signs, the other party must know a lot, and perhaps once found, this series of mysteries can be solved.

The only trouble is its hiding place.

Hearing Li Yan's question, one of the Taixuan Orthodox disciples said, "This kind of evil spirits like to occupy the caves and tombs in the forest or on the mountain, and then set up formations to create a ghost wall."

"As long as we don't cause trouble everywhere and the people can't get close to us, we can naturally hide the news."

Another person also nodded in agreement and said, "Any arrangement of formations cannot be separated from the changes in the earth's energy. I will climb the mountain and observe the energy later, and I should be able to find something..."

As they were talking, Li Yan's expression suddenly changed and he immediately raised his hand.

"stop!"

The men of the Duwei Division were excellent riders. Upon hearing this, they tightened their reins. The war horses immediately turned aside, snorting loudly, and stopped.

"There is gunpowder ahead, Brother Lu San, find someone!"

Li Yan narrowed his eyes and stared at the official road ahead.

At the command, Lu San immediately raised his hand, and the falcon flew up with a roar, and soon found something, "Right side, northwest."

"Arrests!"

At Captain Zheng's command, a captain with a small flag and his men jumped up, drew their swords, and rushed into the dense forest.

Li Yan did not follow suit.

He had to stay in charge and command the situation, so he naturally couldn't run around.

Soon, shouts, the sound of swords clashing, and the sound of crossbows whistling through the forest were heard in the distance.

At the same time, there were sounds of eagles crying in the sky.

Lu San frowned, "There are only three assassins."

When Li Yan heard this, he knew that he had not caught anyone alive.

Sure enough, after the Duwei Division's men came out of the dense forest, the flag bearer bowed and said, "Reporting to the lord, there were three thieves secretly watching us. When they saw that it was no time to escape, they committed suicide one after another."

At the same time, three bodies were carried out.

Captain Zheng did not blame them. They had seen this kind of situation many times. The people of the Tiansheng Sect were very fanatical and believed that they would be protected by the Tiansheng Lord after their death.

Betraying the Holy Religion is a serious crime. Once caught, people often commit suicide immediately for fear that they cannot withstand the torture.

Captain Zheng gave a wink, and immediately an old man dressed in a small flag dismounted from his horse and came to the corpse for a careful inspection.

"There was mud mixed with chalky gravel underfoot, the kind of thing you'd only find in graves or abandoned military forts..."

"The clothes do not smell and have traces of being washed. There must be a stream near where they are..."

"Their dry food is pancakes, of varying sizes, made in the homes of the people..."

"Bring me the map and county annals!"

Captain Zheng gave an order and someone immediately took out the map.

With the help of torchlight, Captain Zheng spread the map in front of Li Yan and said in a deep voice: "Young Master Li, it seems that these people are hiding in a village near Dangyang, and there are villagers cooperating with the supply..."

"Dangyang was an ancient military stronghold. It has gone through several wars and has built many underground military forts. It is difficult to count them, but we can roughly guess the number."

As he spoke, he pointed at several areas on the map.

Li Yan praised: "It is worthy of being the commander-in-chief."

"Thank you for the compliment, young man."

Captain Zheng had no expression of satisfaction on his face, but rather a bit of worry, "We have been entangled with the Tiansheng Sect for many years, and we are familiar with their methods."

"These people often enter various villages through the connections of refugees in Jingchu, preach in secret, and protect each other to form strongholds."

"Dangyang County's administration is relatively clean, but some local officials are rampant, and the people harbor resentment, and often cooperate with the Tiansheng Cult in attacks."

"This is why the Tiansheng Sect cannot be eradicated."

"Also, the Tiansheng Cult ambushed us with gunpowder. They must have known that the situation on Zigai Mountain had changed, and they brought a lot of gunpowder."

Li Yan's expression remained unchanged and he nodded slightly.

In fact, it is more than just the Tiansheng Sect.

All these secret sects have only three sources of survival.

One is desire, such as the ghost cult. When the Song Dynasty was prosperous, many officials and gentry were still not satisfied. They killed people and sacrificed them to ghosts in pursuit of greater benefits.

The second reason is that the administration is poor and the people are living in misery. At this time, if someone uses religious sects to incite people, it can cause a great chaos.

The third is that the people are ignorant and the evil people use ghosts and gods to intimidate them.

This kind of thing has never been stopped from ancient times to the present.

Unless everyone has no desires, the world will be harmonious.

Li Yan pondered for a moment, "After Captain Zheng returns, he can secretly send people to investigate and search the county at the same time. He will take action after finding the enemy's nest."

"it is good."

Captain Zheng nodded, then looked forward and frowned, "What should we do with the gunpowder?"

"Why not just detonate it and avoid the trouble?"

"Do not."

Li Yan shook his head and smiled, "I was worried about how to deal with the tiger monster and the Earth Immortal Cave. The gunpowder sent by the Tiansheng Sect is just in time."

As he spoke, he continued to pinch the Yang Jue, took a deep breath, turned his head and said, "Uncle Sha, it's a ground fire thunder, how do you think we should deal with it?"

"Earthfire mine?"

Upon hearing this, Sharifei quickly dismounted and shouted, "Don't move, there must be a trap on the ground!" As he spoke, he broke off branches and leaves from the nearby woods and tiptoed along the official road, clearing away the dead branches, rotten leaves and loose soil.

Although it was night, everyone was on guard and they immediately discovered something strange by the light of the fire.

It rained heavily yesterday, and the official road was already muddy, but some places were covered with fallen leaves and sand, which was different from the surrounding terrain.

Pushing aside the branches and leaves, you can clearly see pieces of wood inside.

No wonder the other party ambush at night.

This kind of cover-up cannot be concealed during the day.

Sharifei carefully lifted the wooden board and saw the ropes underneath. He immediately said, "These guys have taken precautions. We can't just open the board. We have to cut the ropes."

Sure enough, after cutting the rope, a mine that looked like a caltrop appeared below. It was made of ceramic and the workmanship was extremely crude.

After demonstrating two moves himself, Sharifei called for help.

Seeing that the bald man was so familiar with firearms, Captain Zheng's eyes twitched slightly, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he called his nimble subordinates to help.

After tinkering with it for half an hour, all the underground fire mines were removed.

Li Yan said in a deep voice: "Master Bai Hu, keep these things first, maybe they will be useful when we look for the tiger monster."

After clearing the roadblocks, everyone continued to move forward.

Li Yan was afraid that the other party had an ambush, so he not only asked Lu San to control the falcon to investigate along the way, but also he kept chanting spells and using his magical powers.

Fortunately, the enemy's ambush only happened once.

At Yinshi (03:05 to :), we finally returned to Dangyang County.

Because of the recent unrest, Captain Yang from the county government led a team of men to patrol everywhere at night.

Upon receiving the news, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief and ordered people to open the city gates.

Rumble!
As the huge wooden city gate opened, Captain Yang led his men to greet them, saying flatteringly, "Thank you for your hard work, Young Master Li. Can you please send reinforcements from the mountain?"

Li Yan shook his head and said, "There was something going on on the mountain, but it has been dealt with. Did the headless knight show up last night?"

"This is not."

Captain Yang smiled and said, "According to Young Master Li's instructions, the brothers patrolled everywhere, holding torches and not missing any dark alleys. They should have scared the monster away."

According to Wang Daoxuan's guess, the other party was most likely an evil creature, but it was disguised as Guandi.

Whatever it is, it must be held nearby.

Previously, the people from the yamen only guarded the main streets, which was a stupid move. The dark alleys and residential areas around the streets are the key points.

Patrolling with torches can at least deter the enemy.

"Captain Yang has worked hard too."

Li Yan praised him and led his men into the city.

Dangyang County was not a big city, and with so many people riding their horses into the city, the rumbling sound of horse hooves could be heard by almost everyone in the city.

On the second floor of an inn in the distance, the window creaked shut.

"Quick, pack your things!"

There was a rustling sound in the darkness.

"This new guy is not easy to deal with. I'm afraid we've lost our way over there. Let's leave after daybreak."

"This... is the order of the hall master."

"Something has changed. Go back and report first."

…………

The lobby of the county government office was brightly lit with candles.

"Thank you for your hard work, have you found anything?"

County Magistrate Zhang also stayed up all night. When he saw Li Yan and others return safely, he was overjoyed and hurried forward to greet them.

After all, he was a county magistrate, so Li Yan briefly explained what had happened.

Hearing that Zhushan Sect and Taixuan Orthodox Sect were also in trouble, County Magistrate Zhang was even more worried and said in a panic: "The demon is so rampant, he must have a big plan."

"We just received news from Jingzhou during the day that there are zombies causing chaos in Miaojiang. Someone has mixed zombies into cargo ships with the intention of creating chaos in Jingzhou. They can't spare any manpower to help."

Li Yan shook his head and said, "It's normal. These demons took advantage of the chaos in the world to enter Dangyang in large numbers."

Magistrate Zhang smiled bitterly and said, "I have no idea about the secret arts of Xuanmen. What do you think, Young Master Li, should we do?"

Li Yan said in a deep voice: "We have already made some vague guesses about the other party's arrangements, but the most urgent task is to eliminate the monsters in the city."

"But they are hiding very deeply, and no one knows where they are hiding."

At this moment, Lu San beside him said, "I do have a plan, but it requires the cooperation of the county government."

"Oh?"

Li Yan became interested, "Brother Lu, please speak."

Lu San is usually taciturn, but if he takes the initiative to speak, he must be confident.

Lu San untied the leather bag around his waist and took out two big, shiny rats.

When the little white fox saw this, he immediately barked twice in dissatisfaction.

Although this little white fox is not an ordinary creature and his skills are still shallow, so he can't be of much help for the time being, but he is very jealous.

The falcon and the demon gourd are relatively easy to deal with, after all, they arrived early.

But these two big rats really made him extremely dissatisfied. They wouldn't let him get on Lu San's body at all, so he could only hide in his skin in grievance.

Like a parent, Lu San frantically tried to appease them, then he said, "These two, Rat One and Rat Two, have absorbed the incense from the Taoist temple and have become spirits. They have a peaceful aura and do not know any magic."

"But they have the scent of incense, and are like gods to other rats. They can help me control the rats in the city."

"In order to prevent the people from panicking, we need the cooperation of the county government. We can search the entire county from top to bottom in less than half an hour if the Rat Fairy is looking for a monster!"

Li Yan's eyes lit up, "Congratulations, Brother Lu."

He vaguely knew that Lu San's secret inheritance was related to mountain witches and shamans, and he was best at controlling wild beasts.

Now it seems that there has been an obvious breakthrough in the technique.

County Magistrate Zhang was surprised and found it unbelievable.

Of course, he didn't understand magic, but he was proficient in being a human being. He immediately said with surprise, "Sir, you have such a wonderful method."

"Captain Yang, I'll leave this matter to you. You can bring my guard of honor and beat drums along the way, and the people will naturally believe it."

"Yes, my lord!"

Captain Yang quickly led the yamen runners to prepare.

After a while, a team was organized.

The yamen runners in front were marching in a line, holding water and fire sticks.

Behind them, some people held gongs, and others held tall mahogany signs, one with "Silence" and the other with "Avoid".

In the middle of the team, someone held up a big umbrella. Lu San stood underneath it, pinching his hands and holding two big rats at the same time.

Sharifei followed beside him with a grin on his face, carrying an incense burner.

The men from the Duwei Division walked with knives in hand and bows and crossbows strung, following closely behind.

As for Li Yan and Zheng Baihu, they took several Xuanmen disciples and jumped onto the building, looking down from above and patrolling all directions.

It was pitch dark at this time, but such a loud noise had already awakened the surrounding people. They looked at the situation secretly with doubt in their eyes.

Dangdang Dangdang!
Captain Yang banged the gong hard and shouted, "According to the order of the county magistrate, the Rat Fairy is catching the monster. The people should stay at home and don't panic."

After saying that, he led the team forward.

The people of Dangyang City were somewhat confused at first, but their faces soon changed and they were stunned.

I saw a large number of rats crawling out of the woodshed and the gutters outside the house, running around everywhere...

(End of this chapter)