Knife splashing

Chapter 311 Donghu Patriarch
The moon is dim and the stars are sparse, and the night is intertwined with mist.

The ground was a little muddy after the rain, mixed with dead branches and leaves. After walking a few steps, a large lump of mud would stick to your feet. The surrounding tree shadows were mottled, and water droplets were still dripping.

In the darkness of the dense forest, it seems that something is watching.

However, the three Meishan brothers didn't bother to pay attention to them. They quickened their pace and shuttled quickly through the woods.

After passing through this dense forest, the view suddenly opens up.

Under the moonlight, a vast lake appeared.

The lake surface was as black as ink, reflecting the distorted shadows of the trees on the shore, and the chill was bone-chilling.

The water on the shore was misty, with a strange sense of oppression.

This is the East Lake near Wuchang City. The big lake is connected to the small lakes in an intricate network, and it is connected to the Yangtze River. Floods are frequent during the rainy season, causing a lot of trouble to the surrounding people.

But precisely because of this, the place has created beautiful scenery, and scholars have visited here since ancient times.

Qu Yuan "Wandering and Chanting by the Lake", King Zhuang of Chu beat the drum to supervise the battle, Liu Bei set up an altar to offer sacrifices to the sky, Li Bai wrote on the Eagle Release Terrace... There are so many stories to tell.

This lake area is extremely large, and there were originally villages around it. However, due to the incident at the nearby Barbarian King's Tomb, many people were secretly captured for blood sacrifice, and the people all fled.

In the mist by the lake, there were shadows and strange noises.

There were flickering flames on the shore and many people gathered around.

The three brothers quickened their pace and approached, only to see that those waiting on the shore were several masters sent by the Tiansheng Sect to help.

A simple altar was built by the lake, filled with all kinds of strange bones, including the severed arm of Po Liu Han Baling.

There were fires burning around, and Alangpo, who came from the Miao area in western Hunan, was shaking her head in front of the altar, constantly sprinkling pungent powder, looking extremely crazy.

The altar was densely crawling with all kinds of strange flying insects, sucking the flesh and blood of the severed arms, and then taking off into the night sky again and again.

However, the people around him were obviously getting impatient.

After they severely injured Po Liu Han Baling and knocked off one of his arms, the old witch said that she had a way to find his whereabouts and maybe even cast a spell to kill him.

Unfortunately, this old witch obviously overestimated herself.

A whole day had passed, and I couldn't even find the person, let alone cast a spell.

Seeing the three brothers return, Wang the Dharma Protector hurriedly asked, "Why are there only you two? Where is Lady Liu?"

There was also a force outside the Ghost Cult City. They naturally knew what had happened in the city, so they quickly sent the three brothers out to investigate.

"Master Liu Xiang is dead."

Their words made everyone's expression change instantly.

Although they looked down on people like "Liu Niang" and "Hong Nu" because of certain things, this place was after all planned by the Ghost Cult.

Once Liu Niang dies, the plan will probably fail completely.

No matter how many people died from the Ghost Cult or the bewitched Miao people, they were too lazy to care. But if they failed here, the pressure on the Jingchu Mountain area would not be relieved.

But before the Dharma Protector Wang could get angry, the eldest of the three brothers said, "An old senior from the Ghost Cult has arrived and passed down a secret method, asking us to get the Red Mohe as soon as possible and send it to the Barbarian King's Tomb."

"We have also found the location of the Yu Lan Mountain Feng Shui Bureau. It is at the Parrot Island Pier. As long as we destroy it, the court will be unable to stop us!"

After hearing this, Wang Hufa's expression eased a little, and he said coldly to the old witch: "Alangpo, stop working, leave it to them."

Upon hearing this, the old witch stopped casting spells with a look of annoyance on her face, but she still said stubbornly: "That bastard Han Baling must be hiding in some Feng Shui situation."

The three brothers hurried forward and picked up the broken arm.

Wang Hufa was still a little worried and asked, "Why didn't the Ghost Cult elder you mentioned come?"

The three Meishan brothers had no idea what was going on, so they could only make up a story: "The elder must be a ghost who has gone out to travel, and he is not here."

"The Yin God is traveling?"

Wang Hufa's pupils shrank, a trace of fear flashed in his eyes, and he asked again: "What secret method did he pass on?"

The eldest of the three Meishan brothers looked towards Donghu and said, "There have been many spirits in the land of Ezhou and Jingchu since ancient times. Although the Xuanmen Orthodox Sect controls the destiny of the world, there are still many spirits and wild gods hiding in the dark."

"The old senior said that there is a water monster hidden in the East Lake, named East Lake Ancestor. He was enlightened by Liu Hai. Although he is practicing in seclusion, all the fish and shrimp monsters in the nearby water veins and the Yangtze River must obey his orders."

"Zhao Changsheng is an old friend of his. All he needs to do is offer tribute and he can help him find the place."

"Oh?"

When Protector Wang heard this, he became interested. "There is something like this hidden near Wuchang City. Why don't you ask for help this time?"

The eldest of the three Meishan brothers shook his head and said, "The Donghu Patriarch is a different kind of cultivator who doesn't care about human affairs and has a high level of cultivation. The old senior said not to provoke him recklessly."

Alangpo on the side sneered and said, "What a joke. With humanity changing, who can escape? In the mountains and forests of Jingchu..."

Before she could finish her words, Protector Wang suddenly turned his head and stared at her with murderous intent in his eyes.

Alangpo felt a chill in her heart and quickly shut up.

Wang Hufa snorted, turned around and asked, "What tribute do you need?"

The eldest of the three brothers said, "We need money for yin and yang, the stronger the better, and we just happened to have it with us."

After saying this, he took out a brocade box from his bosom, opened it, and put more than twenty coins inside. The cold murderous intent immediately dissipated.

Dharma Protector Wang picked up one and asked in surprise, "Three Talents Demon Suppression Coin?"

"Well, this thing was collected by Lady Liu, and she asked us to take it with us when we left. I guess she also wanted to ask this old demon for help."

The eldest of the three brothers explained a few words and then came to the lake, picked up some soil, inserted incense, made hand gestures and kowtowed, then he strung the twenty or so Three Talents Demon-Suppressing Coins into a string, and shook it continuously in the lake while kowtowing.

The people from the Tiansheng Sect waited quietly on the side.

They could clearly feel that the murderous intent of the Three Talents Demon-Suppressing Coin was constantly dissipating outwards along with the magic spell.

But after waiting for a while, there was still no movement in the lake.

Just as Protector Wang was about to ask, he suddenly felt a chill in his heart and looked towards the lake in the distance.

Under the moonlight, the lake was as black as ink.

Wow!
Suddenly, the fish and shrimps in the lake began to boil, and then thick fog rose over the lake. The surrounding air became gloomy and cold, and the fog became thicker and thicker, making it almost impossible to see one's hand in front of one's face.

Several of them have supernatural powers, so they can naturally perceive more.

Someone heard a dull snoring sound coming from underwater...

Someone saw a huge shadow appear under the water...

Then, accompanied by the sound of heavy footsteps, a huge creature crawled out of the lake. It was a giant toad, squatting there, about the size of a living room.

Several people looked solemn and did not dare to move.

As people of the Xuanmen sect, they had naturally heard the story of Liu Hai playing with the golden toad. Although the thing in front of them was definitely not the alien three-legged golden toad, it was definitely not an ordinary item.

The large and small bumps on its body actually have a metallic luster, like brass nails forged from brass.

And its momentum was so overwhelming that they couldn't breathe.

The eldest of the three Meishan brothers knelt down immediately, respectfully presented a string of precious coins with both hands, and said, "Junior pays homage to the East Lake Patriarch. We are from the Ghost Cult, and we hope that the Patriarch will help us out for the sake of our past friendship."

Seeing that the big toad was not angry, but just stared at them with cold eyes, everyone was frightened.

Swish!
Just then, a dark shadow flashed by.

The eldest of the three Meishan brothers felt his hands sink and all his precious money disappeared, leaving only hands full of mucus.

Instead of being surprised, he was delighted. He quickly picked up the broken arm beside him with both hands and said, "Please help me find this person, ancestor."

Swish!
Another shadow flashed by, and the arm disappeared. They didn't see it clearly, but the guardian of the Heavenly Saint Sect saw it clearly and was secretly shocked.

That black shadow was clearly a flesh tentacle that stretched out from the giant toad and quickly retracted into its body. The speed of its movement and the exquisite control of its strength were beyond the reach of ordinary masters of Hua Jin.

And judging from the looks of it, there are more than one!
"Cuck!"

Just as he was surprised, the big toad suddenly opened its mouth with a dull croak, and the surrounding water vapor suddenly surged.

Water vapor formed a vortex in the air, and then a vague light and shadow appeared in the center, constantly changing and reorganizing.

It’s the circular light technique!

When several people saw it, they were all shocked.

The Yuanguang technique is a form of divination and is very famous in the Xuanmen sect. Even in the Jinmen sect, there are specialized Yuanguang sorcerers.

Of course, most of these circle light sorcerers are scammers.

Even if there are people who are truly proficient in this art, they still use the help of a medium, who sees things and then relays them verbally.

Such an intuitive round light technique is almost a magical technique.

Soon, the light and shadow became stable, and it turned out to be a temple hidden in the bamboo forest and surrounded by streams.

On the plaque at the gate, the three characters "Lianxi Temple" were clearly written.

Then, the light and shadow changed again and moved underground.

I saw that deep underground in the temple, there was a small underground palace, and there was a secret passage connecting to the stream outside.

A monk was lying there with a pale face, his half-broken arm was bandaged hastily to stop the bleeding, and he was obviously sleeping.

Call ~
Suddenly, the wind howled and thick fog rolled in.

The light and shadow dissipated, and the giant toad turned and dived into the thick fog, disappearing into the lake...

Seeing this, Wang Hufa frowned and asked, "Why not let it stay? Help us break the feng shui situation?"

The eldest of the three Meishan brothers said with embarrassment: "According to that old senior, the leader Zhao Changsheng once helped this Donghu Patriarch, but the other party only agreed to help three times, and this is the last time."

"Even if we offer more tribute, the other party will not show up."

"Humph!"

Wang Hufa snorted coldly, "These forest spirits are just toasting and not accepting punishment. I really don't understand why you Ghost Cult are so afraid of them."

The three Meishan brothers looked at each other without saying a word.

They have been practicing since childhood and are very respectful to the spirits hiding in the mountains, forests and swamps. Unless a conflict occurs, they will keep to themselves.

This kind of thing seems normal to them.

Of course, they had also heard about some things. The Tiansheng Sect had obtained some kind of help in the mountains and forests of Jingchu, and with the help of firearms, they hunted down the monsters in the mountains and practiced the art of immortality.

The two sides have different styles of doing things, so they don't say much.

Dharma Protector Wang was too lazy to argue, "Forget it, do you know where the Lianxi Temple is?"

The eldest of the three Meishan brothers replied, "Lianxi Temple is located on Panlong Mountain, eight miles east of Wuchang City. It is one of the four major Zen monasteries in this area, and it is also a nunnery."

"There are many Zen masters in there. If we fight hard, we may not be able to get the things. It will definitely alarm the Zen sect."

Dharma Protector Wang frowned and asked, "Why is that bastard Han Baling hiding in there? Could it be that the things have been taken by Zen Sect?"

The eldest of the three Meishan brothers replied: "I do know something about this matter. Lady Liu has investigated it in detail."

"Lianxi Temple is very old. Inside is a treasure of the temple, a black jade statue of Guanyin from the Northern Wei Dynasty, on which is engraved the words 'In the fourth year of Zhengguang in the Wei Dynasty, King Du Luozhou of Guimao did not offer prayers for the Six Han in the south of Luoyang', which is related to the destruction of the Six Han tombs."

"Perhaps this underground palace was excavated a long time ago, and the nuns of Lianxi Temple didn't know about it. Or maybe they have some connection and are secretly protecting it."

"No matter which one, if we want to capture Lianxi Temple, we need more manpower, but all the people of my Ghost Cult are trapped in the Barbarian King's Tomb by the Buddhist Sect and it is difficult for them to leave..."

After hearing this, Wang Hufa pondered for a moment and said, "In this case, we should take two approaches at the same time and wait for the reinforcements from Tusi City to arrive before taking action."

"The final dragon boat race will take place in a few days. Create chaos to divert the court's attention and use gunpowder to blow up the Parrot Island Wharf."

"Then the Buddhist masters will come to rescue us. We will break through Lianxi Temple and take the Red Mohe into the Barbarian King's Tomb."

"Once the Corpse Immortal appears, this Buddhist sect will be reduced to scorched earth. Let's see who can stop it!"

"Protector Wang is wise!"

After some discussion, the few of them immediately left and entered the forest.

Half an hour after they left, thick fog covered the lake again, and there were faint sounds of wind and thunder.

Two huge monsters emerged from the water and confronted each other.

One of them was the ancestor of Donghu. On his body, dense flesh was surging, and his pair of big eyes turned blood red, like lanterns.

The other one was the giant pig dragon that Lu San had encountered before...

…………

When Li Yan returned to Wuchang City, it was already bright.

He had been busy for most of the night and had not eaten a single grain of rice. He was already very hungry, so he randomly found a breakfast stall.

Because it was close to the dock, some merchants had sailed all night to unload goods and were tired from the journey, so they got some breakfast wine, ate meat and chatted early in the morning.

Li Yan and others were very busy in secret, but what the people in the city were most concerned about was undoubtedly the dragon boat race.

Almost everyone in the shop was discussing it.

"Who won yesterday?"

"Of course it's the Chamber of Commerce and the Paijiao. One is rich, and the other has many good players in the water. The other teams can't win at all, and they are just here to serve as foils!"

"Tsk tsk, I heard there's a competition going on at Wenjin Academy today. They won first place two years ago, so there won't be any suspense today..."

Li Yan naturally had no thoughts in his mind. After wolfing down the food, he got up and returned to the Ezhou Chamber of Commerce.

At the entrance of the guild hall stood a man in a warrior robe, tall and with a heroic face.

Before he could get close, the man hurried forward, clasped his fists and said, "But is this Young Master Li Yan?"

Li Yan nodded, "Your Excellency?"

The man smiled and said, "I am Lei Poshan from Huangmei County. My father Lei Zhen often mentioned Young Master Li."

"Oh?"

Li Yan smiled, "It's Brother Lei. I was thinking of meeting you at the Guishan competition, but I didn't expect you didn't come."

This Lei Poshan is the son of Lei Zhen. The Lei family in Huangmei County is good at Yue family boxing and is also considered a wealthy family in Ezhou.

Lei Zhen is a master of Dan Jin, and his son Lei Poshan is also a rising star in the Ezhou underworld.

Li Yan and Lei Zhen had some friendship, so naturally they wanted to make friends with each other, but they didn't expect that the other party didn't come at all.

There was also some surprise in Lei Poshan's eyes. He didn't expect that Li Yan, who had become famous, would be so kind.

Hearing Li Yan's question, he quickly shook his head and said, "The situation in Yichang is becoming more and more complicated. I have to stay there with my father."

"I'm here this time to escort a batch of supplies to Yichang, and also to deliver a letter for someone."

As he spoke, he took out a letter from his pocket.

Li Yan took it and saw that it was signed by Yan Jiuling...

(End of this chapter)