Knife splashing

Chapter 572 Strange things
Xiao Jinghong has a national sacrifice artifact!

Li Yan immediately made a judgment in his mind.

If it weren't for the divine weapon covering it up, how could he not have noticed it?

He had seen the living dead.

Those old ghosts in the Wushan Goddess Palace are the living dead. They used some secret method to seal their souls inside their bodies.

This method is an evil art that is expressly prohibited by the Xuanmen sect. It "offends the Three Officials and disrupts Yin and Yang." Once practiced, the practitioner will be wanted by the Law Enforcement Hall.

There are many kinds of corresponding evil arts.

There is the "Yin Fu Zhen Shi Shu" performed by the shaman of western Hunan.

Take Chenzhou cinnabar and mix it with black donkey hoof powder, draw "soul-binding talismans" on the seven orifices, and combine with the evil spirit to delay the decay of the body.

To put it bluntly, it means turning yourself into a zombie. Every day at the Yin hour, you need to change the glutinous rice and apply it to the Yongquan acupoint to dissolve the corpse poison. The soul will leave the body and will dissipate. You will turn into a zombie and attack people at any time, and you will never be reborn...

There is Lushan's "Wuchang Borrowing Corpse Method".

Summon the "Earthly Demon" from the Five Demonic Soldiers to inhabit the corpse, and use the Yin Qi of the evil spirits to counteract the dead Qi. It is necessary to set up a "Yin Temple" in the mass grave, and use straw men made of boys and girls with their birth dates to replace the robbery.

When practicing this method, the body will gradually take on a green face and fangs. If you make a mistake, you will turn into a bloody corpse and cause trouble to the people...

In short, none of them is good.

Thinking of this, Li Yan took a deep breath.

A fishy smell of snakes suddenly rushed into my nose.

It turned out to be the "Willow Ghost Corpse Raising Technique" of the Northern Frontier Five Immortals Hall!
He had heard from Wang Daoxuan that this method required inviting the spirit of the python fairy from the Chang family to possess the body and borrow the fairy's spiritual energy to keep the body from decaying.

On weekdays, they sleep in a century-old willow coffin, which is covered with mugwort and realgar. The bottom of the coffin is engraved with "The Picture of the Python Fairy Coiling around a Corpse". At the change of solar terms, the corpse is sprayed with white wine to keep it moist.

In comparison, it is milder and does not require harming others to ward off disaster.

However, for those who practice this method, their descendants within three generations will suffer from hysteria, and they cannot be exposed to the midday sun, otherwise their scales will grow rapidly and they will turn into monsters.

To some extent, this can also be considered a sinister crime.

However, before the dead qi disturbs the yin and yang, the underworld will not pay any attention. Once it becomes a disaster, the underworld does not even need to capture it, and the thunder from the sky will fall.

Therefore, some earthly immortals who practiced the Taiyin Form Refining Technique hid in the cave paradise all day long and did not dare to show up at all...

To be honest, Li Yan has seen a lot.

As long as it doesn't harm anyone on a normal day, I won't bother to pay attention to it.

But at this critical moment, we must be cautious.

"Mr. Li, please don't do anything!"

Xiao Jinghong was horrified and quickly stopped beside the Princess. "There is another hidden reason for this matter. I really have no choice."

Li Yan frowned slightly, a little surprised.

This Fifth Prince usually looks very steady, but surprisingly he is a romantic man. This is the first time I see him like this.

The princess also looked pale and said in a trembling voice: "This matter has nothing to do with the prince, please Mr. Li..."

"Don't worry, both of you."

Li Yan's expression was calm. "Why not tell me what happened first?"

Seeing him like this, Xiao Jinghong calmed down, looked out the window first, hung the bolt, and then said, "This matter is a bit strange."

As he spoke, he held the princess's hand and said in a deep voice, "My mother is from the Cheng family. Although she is well-educated and well-mannered, she is a person of the underworld after all. She couldn't stand the rules of the palace and gradually drifted away from my father. Later, they lost their friendship and simply moved out."

"Two years ago, also on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the palace had a grand banquet. I went with the princess to attend the banquet. Not long after I came back, I fell ill. I consulted famous doctors but to no avail. They all said I wouldn't live past three months."

"But in the days that followed, the princess had dreams every night. In the dreams, someone taught her this method. I was at a loss, so I secretly asked someone to help me try, and finally I saved the princess..."

After a moment of silence, he gritted his teeth and said, "To be honest, three months ago, the princess started dreaming again, but this time it was different."

"Oh?"

Li Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, "What's different this time?"

Xiao Jinghong did not answer, but looked aside.

The princess looked bewildered and said, "This method can prolong my life, but these days, I can no longer taste the five flavors and can only smell blood. Every time I fall asleep, I feel like a snake, not like a human being..."

"Someone told me in my dream this time that... if the prince ascends to the throne of the King of Shu and enters the ancestral temple to offer sacrifices, he can use the power of incense to dilute the negative energy in my body."

"Not only can I solve this problem, I can live five more years, and I can give birth to a child for the prince..."

"That's nonsense!"

Li Yan said in a cold voice: "The vitality of the living dead has been cut off, and the dead qi has accumulated. How can it possibly give birth to offspring? Even if it can, the offspring will only be bloodthirsty monsters. It is clear that there is a demon at work."

Then he continued to ask, "Which family is the princess from?"

The princess replied truthfully: "I am from the Zizhong Wang family, where farming and studying are passed down from generation to generation. My father is only a seventh-rank official."

"Ah."

Li Yan nodded slightly, not surprised.

In the eyes of ordinary people, marrying into a prince's mansion is glorious, but for the real powerful and wealthy, it is actually a big trouble.

Marriage has great implications, especially when it involves the royal family. It is inevitable that disputes will occur. Benefits may not be gained, but there will definitely be troubles, and the gain will not outweigh the loss.

Especially before the Five Princes, they were not favored.

People like him usually marry girls from noble families.

It should have nothing to do with the clan behind it...

Li Yan seemed to be thinking about something, and then asked, "Prince, which sorcerer did you hire to handle this matter?"

The Fifth Prince Xiao Jinghong said in a deep voice: "This prince is also afraid that someone has set a trap, so he has investigated many times and spent a lot of money to invite the masters of the Five Immortals Hall from Jiaozhou to secretly manage this matter."

"After the success, the person left. Her name is Chang Jiupo. She was born in the Northern Frontier and had nothing to do with the Xuanmen in Shu. She kept her mouth shut afterwards."

"As for the subsequent incident of incense burning and evil spirits, I only told you, Mr. Li, and no one has asked me about it in the past two years."

"That's it..."

After hearing this, Li Yan was also puzzled. "There must be something strange about this matter. If Your Majesty finds anything, please tell me. Let's solve the current disaster first."

"Senior Mingshanzi, have you sent a message?"

Seeing Li Yan change the subject, Xiao Jinghong also breathed a sigh of relief and quickly replied: "No news yet, it should be in the next two days."

"That's good."

Li Yan nodded and said, "The King of Shu has already controlled the Chengdu army. Neither the Cheng family nor Qingcheng can confront them head-on. They must sneak in secretly."

"I will leave a code message. If Senior Mingshanzi comes, please contact me and we can deal with this matter together."

After that, he told Xiao Jinghong the secret code.

This is a common method in the underworld. Some are widely known, while others are very secretive, such as hanging a flower on a tree or drawing a child's graffiti on a wine flag.

After giving careful instructions, Li Yan said goodbye and left.

After taking two steps, he was silent for a moment, but turned around and said, "Prince, you and your wife have a deep love for each other, which is understandable, but birth, aging, illness, death, separation and pain are the helpless things in the world."

"If you ask for too much, you will lose more."

There are some things he can't say directly.

The moment the Princess became a living dead, she would never be reborn. The only result was that her soul would be torn apart.

After saying that, he pushed the door open and jumped out.

Xiao Jinghong and his wife were left in the room, holding each other's hands, silent and in tears.

Outside the window, the snowstorm is getting more intense...

…………

After leaving the Prince's Mansion, Li Yan chose to walk on secluded paths.

Chengdu Prefecture has a long history and its area has expanded time and again. Even if soldiers from garrisons in various places are stationed there, it is impossible to patrol all the streets.

But there were soldiers stationed at all important street intersections, and garrison soldiers were divided into small teams to patrol the vicinity.

The Black Feather Guards directly under the King of Shu carried their magic fire spears and roamed the streets on horseback. Whenever they found something wrong, they would gather together immediately.

The patrol teams were all carrying fierce dogs, and there were falcons circling in the sky.

Not only that, at some commanding heights in Chengdu Prefecture, there are sorcerers in black robes, who use their magical powers to explore the surroundings.

These are the evil masters that the King of Shu has been recruiting over the years.

By now, it has become blatant.

Li Yan still used the Xuanshui escape method, with the blessing of the Eight Generals of the Outer Altar and the cover of the Dragon and Snake Cards, making him almost completely invisible and passing through one line of defense after another.

The Prince's Mansion was not far from the City God Temple, so he went there to investigate.

According to the order of the King of Shu, the city had sufficient food and grass, and the army entered the city only to maintain peace and capture the monsters, and would not disturb the people. The Chengdu Lantern Festival and the Martial Arts Competition were held as scheduled.

But having said that, the people are not fools.

They all hid at home with the doors closed, and dared not go out.

On the streets, all shops were open as usual, but the shopkeepers were all trembling with fear. They looked at the soldiers walking on the street, then looked at the goods piled up behind them, and all of them had sad faces...

Not a single person from the underworld was to be seen.

They also didn't know the inside story and weren't being pursued, but they smelled something unusual and hid in the inn.

All kinds of rumors spread wildly.

Therefore, when Li Yan arrived, the street outside the City God Temple was empty and deserted, with only a team of Black Feather Guards stationed there.

The gate of the City God Temple was closed, and several pools of blood at the entrance had frozen into ice crystals. Both the stone lions outside the gate and some pillars had been destroyed.

Using magical powers to investigate, he couldn't smell any scent of incense.

The Huangling faction is in trouble indeed!
When Li Yan saw it, he was not surprised.

The King of Shu did not deal with the Five Princes and Du Men, which means he did not care about them, and it is even possible that these people were part of his plan.

But the Huangling School is different.

They controlled the City God Temple, which was also one of the important defenses of Chengdu Prefecture. When the City God was on parade, many evil sorcerers' methods were simply useless.

The Shu Palace must resolve this hidden danger first.

Li Yan pondered for a moment, retreated into a dark alley, leaped into a nearby house.

Inside the house, a commoner had a worried look on his face. When he saw Li Yan suddenly appear, he was startled.

Gulu!
Without waiting for them to shout, Li Yan threw out a silver ingot and said in a deep voice: "Don't be afraid, I just ask a few questions."

As the head of the family, the old man was well-informed and quickly told his family to shut up. He then bowed respectfully and said, "Your Majesty, please ask whatever you want. I will tell you everything. I only ask that you spare my family."

Obviously, Li Yan was regarded as a bandit.

Li Yan did not argue and asked directly.

"What happened in the City God Temple?"

"It was sealed by the government."

"what happened?"

"I don't know either. I only know that the City God Temple was surrounded early this morning, and then the soldiers went in to arrest people..."

"What's with the blood at the door?"

"I heard someone died, but it was just a fight among the Taoists..."

Listening to the old man's story, Li Yan roughly understood the reason.

Some people in the City God Temple had long been bribed by the King of Shu. The Huangling Sect had not been cleaned up before, so they were taken advantage of. It is estimated that poison, witchcraft, smoke and other things were used.

It seems that the people from the Law Enforcement Hall can no longer be relied upon...

At this point, Li Yan didn't care about it anymore and left directly towards the east of the city.

.........

People from all walks of life gathered in the east of the city, and many masters from the Shu Xuanmen had also arrived for the martial arts competition.

Therefore, there are the most Black Feather Guards here.

There is a team of Black Feather Guards patrolling almost every street, followed by warlocks and shield guards.

After seeing this, Li Yan suddenly felt a headache.

This configuration is simply a chariot.

With shield soldiers protecting, warlocks exploring, and ten divine fire spears attacking, you'll probably be beaten into powder before you even get close.

It seems that as new firearms become popular, various coordinated means will appear one by one.

Fortunately, those sorcerers were not powerful enough to find him.

Li Yan calmed himself down and looked across.

Like other shops, Mingxiang Pavilion also opened its doors. The waiter was guarding outside the door. When he saw soldiers passing by, he smiled and bowed.

Li Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

At least Mingxiang Pavilion was not attacked.

He turned a corner and climbed into the backyard from the alley on the other side.

"You're finally here!"

Liang Yu and Situ Bo were both there, and they were relieved when they saw him show up.

There were two more people in the yard.

One of them is Lu Qingshan, the owner of Mingxiang Pavilion.

He is Liang Yu's apprentice and is quite capable. He handles Mingxiang Pavilion's external affairs and has many connections in the Chengdu court and underworld.

The other one was a white-haired old man wearing a tattered Confucian robe and a judge's pen hanging around his waist, exuding a sense of poverty.

"introduce."

Liang Yu said in a deep voice: "This is Daoist Cui Bai."

"Meet Senior Cui."

Upon hearing this, Li Yan hurriedly bowed respectfully.

He had also heard of this man, who was one of the Six Idle Men in the Bamboo Grove and a leather painter who was an expert in painting people and ghosts.

"Thank you, little friend."

Cui Bai said in a cang voice: "We old guys may be old, but we are still strong. If you have anything to do, just tell me."

"We'll talk about politeness later."

Liang Yu waved his hand and asked in a deep voice: "The King of Shu suddenly launched an attack. We are worried. Have you found anything outside the city?"

"The water ghost craftsman Tian Qi was found at the dock..."

Li Yan briefly recounted the incident.

Of course, the matter of Erlang Zhenjun’s reincarnation was deliberately not mentioned.

"Qingyang Palace is also involved?!"

Liang Yu was obviously shocked when he heard this. "They are the righteous sect of Xuanmen. Aren't they afraid of ruining their thousand-year reputation?"

"There must be something we don't know."

Li Yan shook his head and said, "We will check these later. My companions were warned by Master Wuxiang to leave, and now they are nowhere to be found. I would like to ask the senior to help find out where they are."

"This is easy to handle."

Upon hearing this, Liang Yu looked at the shopkeeper Lu Qingshan.

Lu Qingshan said in a deep voice: "Mr. Wuxiang is hiding in many places. I can only ask someone to pass on the message, but I don't know if it will work."

"Thank you." Li Yan bowed.

Lu Qingshan didn't waste any words and just turned around and left.

Li Yan stayed in the courtyard and discussed countermeasures with everyone.

It was not until night fell that Lu Qingshan hurried back and said urgently, "Young Master Li, I'm at the Huaiqing Car Dealership."

Upon hearing this, Li Yan hurriedly said goodbye and left.

Huaiqing Car Dealership is the largest car dealership in Chengdu Prefecture. It is considered to be the most powerful one among the five types of car and boat shops.

The inn is in the east city, not far away.

Amid the wind and snow, Li Yan walked through the shadows and soon arrived outside the inn. He saw two lanterns swaying in the wind outside the door, but it was pitch black inside.

A familiar smell rushed into my nose.

It's Sharifi!

Li Yan breathed a sigh of relief, but as soon as a smile appeared on his face, his whole body stiffened and he stopped.

But two figures appeared in the dark street in the distance.

One was wearing a red robe and had a green face, and the other was wearing snow-white mourning clothes.

They were the two demons from the ghost troupe...

(End of this chapter)