Knife splashing

Chapter 731 The Missing Trio
"Scholar Kong has disappeared?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Daoxuan frowned and asked, "Has the Kong family come looking for us?"

Although Kong Shangzhao was a rare talent with a prodigious memory, he was only from a branch of the Kong family, and his father, Kong Zhenshan, was just a merchant who worked for the Kong family and did not have a high status in the family.

What's more troublesome is that this kid is unconventional yet righteous, which offends the eldest grandson of the Kong family.

I came to the capital to seek refuge.

This bookworm's only enemy was the eldest grandson of the Confucius family, whose mysterious disappearance was most likely related to him.

To everyone's surprise, Li Yan shook his head and said, "It shouldn't be the Kong family."

After saying that, he whispered, "Kuai Dayou and Fatty Lin also disappeared together."

Wang Daoxuan was immediately taken aback, "How did those three end up together?"

"I don't know."

Li Yan shook his head helplessly, "Recently, there have been frequent murders in the capital, all committed by those lurking Japanese devils. They come and go without a trace, and they can avoid the search of the City God Temple. It is most likely that Zhao Qingxu is behind it."

"Luo Mingzi and his men were searching everywhere, but they didn't have time to look for these three guys, so they asked us to take action. The Jiangzhe Chamber of Commerce was also very anxious and offered a large sum of money, fearing that something might happen to Fatty Lin."

Wang Daoxuan stroked his beard and smiled, "They're all acquaintances; of course I'll help if I can."

"That's the problem."

Li Yan secretly held onto the Dragon-Snake Token to shield himself from detection, and whispered, "I accepted a mission from the Heavenly Official and must stay at the academy. Old Sha has suffered internal injuries and needs someone to look after him..."

"It doesn't matter."

Wang Daoxuan shook his head and said, "As for finding someone, I can take Wu Ba and Lü San with me."

Li Yan pondered for a moment, then said, "Alright, Daoist Master, please be careful."

When they were in Sichuan, they were already accustomed to dividing their forces and acting separately.

Now everyone's cultivation has improved. Wang Daoxuan has learned the "Five Divine Techniques", Wu Ba has inherited the martial arts of the Huaguang Sect, and Lü San's strength has also improved. Moreover, they are still in the capital, so there is not much of a problem.

As for Long Yan'er, she will stay behind to take care of Sha Lifeng.

……

After finalizing their plan, the three of them immediately grabbed their gear and set off.

As dusk approached, we arrived at "Xijiangmi Alley" on the southwest side of Chengtianmen.

"This way, gentlemen."

A clerk from the Commandery led the way, saying as they walked, "The yamen is bustling with people and quite noisy, so we found a courtyard here for Mr. Kong. It's only one street away from the Commandery, and the Five Military Commissions, the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review are all nearby. Who would have thought that something would still happen?"

Soon, a small courtyard with blue bricks appeared before everyone's eyes.

It's not a large space, but it's very clean and tidy, and there's a huge jujube tree in the yard.

Although it is just an ordinary house, its location alone is worth a fortune.

The surrounding area was inhabited by officials and clerks from the three provinces and six ministries.

An old man was waiting anxiously at the door. When he saw the group arrive, he rushed forward and said, "Master Wang, you've finally come! Please save my young master!"

As he spoke, he was about to kneel down on the ground.

Wang Daoxuan stepped forward to support him, saying, "Uncle Lin, don't be anxious, speak slowly."

This old man was Kong Shangzhao's servant. They met in Tongzhou and were quite familiar with each other.

Before he finished speaking, two more people came out of the courtyard.

A short, stout man dressed in silk, with fair skin and a mustache, kept wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. Judging from his features, he bore a resemblance to Fatty Lin.

The other was a somewhat thin boy dressed in coarse cloth.

Uncle Lin quickly introduced them: "This is Young Master Lin's uncle, and this is Brother Kuai's subordinate. They are anxious and are waiting here."

"Greetings, Master Wang. Is Young Hero Li not here?"

"Master, please save my elder brother!"

The two of them, disregarding formalities, asked each other anxiously.

"stop!"

Wang Daoxuan felt a headache coming on and quickly waved his hand, saying, "Don't worry, we need clues to find someone. Let's go inside and talk about it."

A group of people entered the courtyard, making it feel somewhat crowded.

"Tell me everything."

After Wang Daoxuan sat down, he looked at the group and asked, "Was there anything unusual about them before they disappeared?"

The rough-clothed youth was the most eager and spoke first: "Brother Dayou has been frequently visiting Young Master Kong recently. The day before yesterday, he said he was going out to take care of some business. He was acting very mysteriously and didn't even bring all his tools. He just took a small cloth bag and left. We haven't heard from him since!"

Lin Pangzi's uncle quickly chimed in, his voice filled with anxiety: "Daoist Master, my nephew has been missing for over a day!"

"I was supposed to go to the Chamber of Commerce yesterday, but I couldn't find him anywhere. The guy said he had a drink with Mr. Kong and Carpenter Kuai at a restaurant the night before, and then... sigh! I asked them where they usually go, and they all said they hadn't seen him!"

"A stealthy operation?"

Wang Daoxuan seemed to be thinking, "It seems they are planning something. Uncle Lin, did Young Master Kong do anything unusual before he left? Or did he leave any message?"

Uncle Lin wiped away his tears: "Young Master only said he was going to 'check some ancient books,' and he left in a hurry, not letting me follow..."

"Oh, right, I took several of my family's treasures with me."

"What treasure?" Wang Daoxuan asked hurriedly.

Just then, the clerk of the Commandant's Office, who had been waiting nearby, spoke up: "It's not really a treasure. To ensure Mr. Kong's safety, Master Luo obtained some protective magic items from the Law Enforcement Hall and placed them in the house to prevent anyone from using magic to harm him."

"We've already checked, and they're all jade pendants and amulets for protecting the soul."

"What's strange is that Young Master Kong took them all; the place he went to must be very dangerous."

"Oh…"

Upon hearing this, Wang Daoxuan immediately frowned.

These clues are completely useless; at most, they indicate that the three of them are secretly planning something.

Such sneaking around must be an attempt to avoid being noticed.

The time of their disappearance happened to be the day of the academy's opening ceremony.

It might even be illegal or disorderly conduct...

They deliberately concealed it; no wonder the Commandery couldn't find anyone.

At this critical juncture, the city is rife with the antics of Japanese sorcerers, making it extremely dangerous.

None of the three were fools. What could possibly make them willing to take such a risk?

If Wang Daoxuan initially accepted the mission simply because of friendship and boredom, he has now developed a strong sense of curiosity.

He glanced around and immediately noticed something amiss.

Both Uncle Lin and the young men under Kuai Da's command looked anxious.

But Uncle Lin's expression was somewhat strange.

His eyes flickered with anxiety and unease. Wang Daoxuan, perceptive of human nature and considering what had just happened, had already made up his mind. He said in a deep voice, "Uncle Lin, are you hiding something from us?"

Uncle Lin's face turned pale. "No, no..."

Wang Daoxuan chuckled, "Are you afraid your young master will do something illegal?"

"Don't worry, with his current position in the Commandery, as long as it's not murder or robbery, he'll only get a minor punishment at most. But if something really happens and he gets stuck somewhere, it'll be too late to save him!"

"This this…"

Upon hearing this, Uncle Lin panicked even more and knelt on the ground again, tears and snot streaming down his face. "Master Wang, it's all my fault! Please save my young master! Something terrible has happened to them!"

Wang Daoxuan helped Lin Bo up and said in a deep voice, "Don't panic, explain carefully."

"Uncle Lin, how did your young master Kong Shangzhao become acquainted with Lin Yu and Kuai Dayou? And why did he act so mysteriously and eventually disappear? Tell me everything you know, no matter how small!"

Uncle Lin wiped away his tears, his voice filled with lingering fear:
"Reporting to Master Wang, this matter... this matter began when Young Master Lin Yu came to our door."

"About ten days ago, around noon, my young master was still in his room copying an old case file from the yamen when Young Master Lin burst in. He... he was carrying a cloth bundle, acting all mysterious and not bothering to hide it from me, and went straight to my young master and said, 'Kong, you bookworm, stop copying this useless stuff! I've discovered something very strange!'"

"They came inside and started talking, and the old man vaguely heard something about 'resurrected beings'..."

"what?!"

Wang Daoxuan's eyes narrowed: "Did Fatty Lin specify what it was?"

Uncle Lin tried hard to recall: "Young Master Lin didn't specify what kind of treasure it was, but when I came in to pour tea, I saw him take something out of his bundle! That thing..."

As he spoke, a look of surprise mixed with fear appeared on his face. "...It was a broken stone carving, resembling some kind of ferocious beast. But the beast's face was extremely strange, with a wide grin and frighteningly deep-set eyes. Especially between its eyebrows, it actually...it seemed to have a third vertical eye!"

"I only glanced at it, but the old man felt uneasy and quickly went out to cook."

"When the dishes were served, I vaguely heard Young Master Lin lower his voice and say something about 'ghost market,' 'the information reported by Gray Thread,' 'the amulet coins matched,' 'it is probably an evil thing that came out of some ancient tomb'... He also said that he alone, with his 'eyesight,' could not figure out the origin, and that only a great talent like Young Master Lin, who has a family background in learning and is well-versed in classics, could help him check the books."

"And then?" Wang Daoxuan pressed, a sense of foreboding creeping into his heart.

Gray Line is a spy for the Golden Swallow Sect. It seems that Fatty Lin got some information from the black market.

A three-eyed stone animal mask...

I wonder what this thing is, and how it's connected to "resurrected people"?
"after?"

Uncle Lin sighed, "You know my young master, he can't stand strange tales, especially those involving ancient artifacts and evil spirits. After Young Master Lin said that, how could he sit still? He went out with Young Master Lin that very afternoon."

"I didn't go with them. I only heard from you later, young master, that they went to the Commandery Office!"

Wang Daoxuan raised an eyebrow: "The Commandery? Not the Library?"

Although the Commandery has archives and documents, they involve confidential files and are not something that scholars can access at will.

Having said that, he turned to look at the clerk in the military command.

The clerk hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, "It's Young Master Lin... He, he must have used some connections! Didn't he work for Lord Yan at the 'Museum Study' at Qiankun Academy back then?"

"It seems that under the guise of the academy collecting and organizing historical materials and anecdotes from various places, coupled with the Lin family spending a lot of money to pull strings and getting the Zhao couple, who were in charge of feng shui surveying in the capital, to vouch for them, the young master and young master Lin actually got into the place where the Commandery and the Law Enforcement Hall stored old files and miscellaneous books and secret manuscripts... Later, Master Kuai also joined in. He was skilled and could help repair and identify the damaged patterns on those old books, so the yamen turned a blind eye..."

"Ah."

Wang Daoxuan nodded, then looked at Uncle Lin, "And then your young master started consulting the classics?"

"Yes!"

Uncle Lin nodded repeatedly, a hint of helplessness and heartache on his face. "From that day on, my young master was like a completely different person! He... he was bewitched! He spent every day in those old bookstores of the Commandery and the Enforcement Hall, leaving before dawn and returning late at night. He would bring back stacks of ancient scrolls, manuscripts, and maps taller than himself, some of which were rotten and moldy, but he didn't care at all. He would eat a few bites haphazardly, his eyes bloodshot, and he would be obsessed with those piles of books!"

"What specific books did he consult? Did he mention them?"

Wang Daoxuan knew that the key clues lay in these books.

Uncle Lin's face turned bitter. "This old man doesn't know."

"I remember some of it."

The clerk cupped his hands and said, "I usually help Young Master Kong and have heard him mention the book title a few times."

"It seems to be... 'A Study of Strange Tales of the Two Song Dynasties', 'A Collection of Evil Sacrifices and Strange Temples along the Caohe River'... and what else... 'Strange Tales of the Capital City in the Jin Dynasty'? Oh right, there's also a particularly thick one, the threads are all tangled, it's called 'Miscellaneous Records of Old Stories from the Imperial City Wall'."

Wang Daoxuan frowned slightly. "I've never heard of this before. May I borrow it to take a look?"

The clerk looked troubled: "Some of these books are very old, some are unique copies, fragments, or involve classified documents..."

Seeing the unpleasant expressions on everyone's faces, he quickly changed his words, saying, "I will go and ask Master Luo for help; it should be alright."

Having said that, he turned and ran away.

The waiting time was extremely long.

Before we knew it, night had fallen, and the evening breeze stirred the lanterns, causing their flames to flicker.

The courtyard was silent, save for the rustling of jujube leaves in the evening breeze, which added to the sense of anxiety.

About half an hour later, the clerk finally rushed back, panting.

Two servants followed behind him, carrying two heavy wooden boxes and placing them in the courtyard.

The box was opened, revealing thick stacks of ancient manuscripts or copies of maps, the paper either new or old, exuding the smell of aged ink and a faint musty odor.

"Master, everything is here. All the copies that Mr. Kong could find are here," the clerk said, bowing.

Wang Daoxuan nodded: "Thank you for your trouble."

He then said to Lin Bo and the others, "You all retreat for now. Wu Ba and Lü San, come with me to investigate!"

The oil lamp was lit, and Wang Daoxuan took a deep breath, clearing his mind of distractions, and began to examine everything one by one.

He was not a man of great learning and memory like Kong Shangzhao, but he had a broader range of experiences.

And the objective was clear—to find information related to the three-eyed beast-faced Nuo mask.

The "Examination of Strange Tales of the Two Song Dynasties" mainly records scattered evil cults in various places, and the text is complex, making it difficult to find the key points at a time. However, when I turned to a page about strange events in the capital at the end of the Daxing period of the previous dynasty, a clue suddenly appeared.

It was a group of people wearing ferocious beast-shaped Nuo masks, their expressions crazed, as if they were performing some kind of exorcism ritual.

"Uncle Lin, come and take a look."

"Yes, that's it!"

However, Wang Daoxuan shook his head helplessly.

It has an address, but it's actually a temple in Bianjing (Kaifeng) during the Northern Song Dynasty that was destroyed.

The origin of Nuo masks was not mentioned.

The contents of "A Collection of Evil Temples and Strange Sacrifices along the Grand Canal" are varied, mostly consisting of folk gods and strange temples worshipped by fishermen and canal workers along the Grand Canal.

Wang Daoxuan flipped through the pages rapidly, reading ten lines at a glance.

Suddenly, a page of text describing an abandoned ancestral hall on the banks of the Tonghui River made him pause.

"...About three miles north of the ancient ferry crossing on the Tonghui River, there is an abandoned shrine with no main statue, only a stone foundation remaining. Local people say that during the Jin Dynasty, a 'Nuoshen Temple' was built to enshrine the 'Tongtian Shenjun,' who controlled the eyes of the underworld and communicated between the yin and yang..."

“Every year in the depths of winter, there is a ‘eye-opening’ ritual, a bloody spectacle that rises to the heavens, which was later punished by heaven and the temple was destroyed…”

"The site still exists, but it is filled with malevolent energy, and both humans and animals avoid it..."

(End of this chapter)