Knife splashing

Chapter 777 Taking advantage of the situation
"What happened?"

Li Yan frowned slightly, noticing that something was wrong.

He is the leader of the Twelve Yuan Chen. Although he is recovering from his injuries and is unconscious, Wang Daoxuan and Sha Lifeng can temporarily take over. However, dividing the troops is risky, and a decision will definitely be made after discussing it with him.

Unless something major happens.

Sure enough, Shalifei lowered his voice and said, "Something has indeed happened."

"The commotion three days ago caused quite a stir, and news of it even reached the capital. The court was furious, and an imperial envoy rushed to the south of the Yangtze River. A series of officials were dismissed and investigated—the prefect of Yangzhou, the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner, the Commander of the Capital Garrison, and even the abbot of the City God Temple were all detained."

"Now the streets and alleys of the city are plastered with notices, soldiers are searching house to house for the remaining criminals, and the canal wharf is still closed."

"Didn't you ask Cheng Yun of the Golden Swallow Sect to send a letter to Daoist Luo in the capital? That Commander Tian came to Yangzhou with the imperial envoy. To protect the overall situation, Fatty Lin revealed everything about Lin Yaozu's collusion with the Japanese pirates! As a result, the entire Lin family of Jinling was accused of being traitors and imprisoned in the death row awaiting execution."

"Fearing that it would implicate innocent members of the Lin family, Fatty Lin, along with Kong Shangzhao and two others, went ahead to Jinling with Commander Tian to conduct the trial together, so that no one would die unjustly."

Li Yan pondered for a moment and said, "It can be considered sacrificing a pawn to save the king, preserving the Lin family's chances of survival. However, the situation in Jinling is complicated right now, and it's inevitable that the three of them will be in danger. Why don't they go with them?"

Shalifei slowly shook his head, his expression turning grave: "You've been unconscious for three days, barely breathing. Master Wang examined you and said your constitution requires at least three more days of bed rest; you can't move around too much. And..."

As he spoke, Shalifei leaned closer, looked around, and whispered:

"A secret report has just arrived from the Golden Swallow Sect's spy: the 'Nine Cauldrons'... has been born!"

"what?!"

Upon hearing this, Li Yan's pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints.

He had witnessed the power of the Nine Cauldrons. Although the Ascension Array from the time of the First Emperor had long been destroyed, any mishap involving this thing would still be a catastrophe.

Thinking of this, Li Yan quickly asked, "Is it the Yangzhou Ding?"

"Yes."

Shalifei nodded, took out half a tattered roll of silk from his pocket, and pointed to the blurry ink marks on it: "The news came strangely. A night watchman found it under a broken stele at the old river god temple at the Guazhou ferry. It was covered with scribbles, mostly star charts and water vein diagrams, and a few lines of small characters... Look, this is it."

He pointed to several lines of tadpole-like twisted characters, "Several old scholars in the Golden Swallow Gate have worn out the 'Seven Tablets of the Cloudy Bookcase' before they could barely recognize some ancient Chu shamanic script. They were talking about... the whereabouts of the Yangzhou tripod."

He licked his slightly dry lips and lowered his voice: "The clues point to a figure who only appears in unofficial histories and anecdotes—Zhou Yinyao. Master Wang said that this person is recorded in the Xuanmen (Taoist sect), and that he once cooked white stones for food in Guangling, Yangzhou, before transforming into a white crane and riding away on the clouds."

"It sounds like some nonsensical tales of gods and immortals. But when Master Wang and I went to the death row and interrogated a few local thugs and scoundrels mixed in with the Japanese pirates, we didn't use any torture. We just revealed your name, Li Yama, and those spineless cowards spilled the beans."

"They confessed that just a few days ago, someone really did offer a large sum of money to cast a wide net, asking them to openly and secretly inquire about an old Taoist priest inside and outside Yangzhou! The portrait they were given was strange, describing him as an old man wearing an old hemp robe who often wandered in secluded places along the Qinhuai River. The most conspicuous thing about him was that he had an old gourd tied around his waist with the character 'boil' carved on it. Occasionally, they would see him boiling water with a green stone."

"Those people even gave him a nickname, 'Old Man Boiling Stones with Green Frost'!"

"Zhou Yinyao..."

Li Yan frowned. "He's not just good at boiling stones."

He had previously asked someone to collect many stories about the evolution of mortal gods in the Xuanmen sect. After all, he was a living underworld official and had seen the power of people like Zhao Changsheng and Lu Sheng. He had also collected a lot of information about immortals from various places.

Zhou Yinyao was a legendary immortal in the Xuanmen (Taoist school). His deeds are scattered in many strange tales and local chronicles from the Tang and Song dynasties, with the most detailed account found in the Taiping Guangji, which quotes the Xianzhuan Shiyi.

He claimed to be a descendant of Mr. Luli, one of the "Four Sages of Shangshan," and practiced the "Taiyin Refining Technique" in Zhenjiang, achieving immortality through three "fake deaths."

He was resurrected six years after his first death, "died" again sixteen years later, and was resurrected seven years later.

Even though he was nearly eighty years old, he still looked like a young man.

Emperor Yang of Sui and Emperor Taizong of Tang summoned him one after another, but he politely declined both times.

The "Taiyin Refining Form Technique" is an important method for cultivating the body of an Earth Immortal, and its difficulty is self-evident. However, this guy has successfully cultivated it three times in a row, which is beyond the realm of common sense.

Could it be that he is also a criminal hiding in hiding?
Who ordered those river bandits to search for this person?
Just as Li Yan was deep in thought, his ear suddenly twitched almost imperceptibly.

Outside on the dock, the noise had grown louder and louder.

A tidal wave of voices approached from afar.

"Is this the treasure ship that Immortal Li owns?"

"Young Master Yu was cured by Young Hero Li! He's a miracle doctor!"

"My elderly mother has been paralyzed for three years. Please, Immortal Li, use your magic to save her life!"

"Make way! Make way! My child is vomiting black blood!"

"Bang! Boom!"

Slight vibrations and slapping sounds came from the hull, clearly indicating that many people were patting the deck.

"Crash-"

Something knocked over the bamboo baskets piled on the dock.

The sounds of women weeping, old people wailing, children screaming, and young men roaring impatiently all rang out at the same time.

"Bang!"

The front cabin door was suddenly pushed open, and a rush of water vapor and river wind rushed in.

The first person to step into the cabin was Wang Daoxuan.

The Taoist priest looked rather disheveled; the hem of his wide Taoist robe was covered in mud, and sweat beaded on his forehead.

Long Yan'er, who was following behind him, also looked helpless.

After Wu Ba entered the cabin, he even used his body to hold up the constantly shaking door.

Wang Daoxuan rushed to the porthole in three strides, pushed open the window panel, glanced at it a few times, and said with a helpless wry smile, "Brother Yan, trouble is coming."

Li Yan slowly got up and went to the window to look.

The view outside the window was chilling.

The wide pier was already packed with people, a dense, surging mass of people like a swarm of ants, stretching deep into the streets as far as the eye could see.

Countless men, women, and children, dressed in simple clothes and fine clothes, mingled together.

Some people held up crude cloth banners that read "Divine Healer Reborn" and "Life-Saving Bodhisattva";

Someone was pounding on the gunwale, the scraping sound of fingernails against the planks mixed with screams;
Someone was holding a sickly child; the child's face was ashen and he was foaming at the mouth.
Someone carried the elderly man, who was barely breathing, on a door panel. His limbs were stiff, and there were strange bluish-purple finger marks on his exposed skin...

Faces filled with a mixture of despair and hope completely blocked the dock.

The cacophony of noise crashed into the narrow porthole.
"A living god who saves people from suffering!"

"Young Master Li! Please, have mercy and take a look at my son!"

"My wife has been having affairs every night..."

……

"The news of the Yu family's young master's recovery spread too quickly."

Wang Daoxuan shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Plus, there was your impressive feat of vanquishing demons in the fog a couple of days ago... The people of Yangzhou really think of you as a living, breathing savior!"

“Hmm…” Li Yan’s gaze was calm as he swept over the desperate yet fanatical faces, but a sense of doubt arose in his heart. “Something’s not right. I’m afraid someone is stirring things up.”

Shalifei immediately understood, "Someone's stirring up trouble, what are they trying to do?"

"Of course, it's to stall us!"

Li Yan tapped lightly on the window frame with his fingertips and said in a deep voice, "The scene at the dock below the ship cannot have been formed in a day. Yangzhou has only been harassed by Japanese pirates for a few days, yet people from nearby prefectures and counties are surging in like a tide... Someone must be using the wind and sand to deliberately trap us here in the Yangzhou river port!"

"They're most likely those sorcerers who colluded with the Japanese pirates, or Jianmu!"

Before he could finish speaking, an even more intense uproar erupted at the dock.

"Make way! Silence!"

The sound of gongs rang out, swords clanged, and yamen runners shouted in their rough voices to clear a path. The once impenetrable crowd was cleaved open as if by a giant axe, forcibly tearing a passage through it.

Two squads of soldiers, their armor gleaming, marched in orderly formation to disperse the civilians, while a blue sedan chair, surrounded by a retinue, went straight to the gangplank of the treasure ship.

The sedan curtain was lifted, revealing a black-bearded official dressed in a brand-new fourth-rank official robe with a cloud-and-goose pattern.

Following closely behind was a high-ranking official of the imperial court, dressed in a crimson robe with a qilin design.

When the yamen runners boarded the ship to report, they found that the newly appointed prefect of Yangzhou, Lin Qiong, and the imperial envoy, Yuan Changqing, had arrived.

"Young Master Li."

The newly appointed prefect, Lin Qiong, didn't waste any words after boarding the ship. He said in a deep voice, "The situation is urgent. There is an urgent message from Qiankun Academy here. Japanese pirates are rampant, and the local area is in turmoil. The imperial court hopes that the Twelve Yuan Chen can turn the tide. We hope that you, young hero, will help us capture the culprits as soon as possible and bring peace to the people of Yangzhou!"

The imperial envoy nodded slightly and took out a bronze scroll from his bosom.

It is a token of Qiankun Academy.

Seeing this, Li Yan was speechless. "The preparations made by the master are quite thorough."

Imperial Envoy Yuan Changqing stroked his beard and said, "Young Master Li, please don't be offended. I am a close friend of Brother Yan. I knew that this mission would be difficult. I heard that the Twelve Zodiacs were also in Yangzhou, so I went to Qiankun Academy to ask for this item."

He's a cunning old fox too.

If it were just an order from the imperial court, Li Yan would most likely ignore it.

But with the academy's orders and Yan Jiuling's connections, they had to consider it carefully.

Seeing that Li Yan was still hesitating, Yuan Changqing quickly added, "This matter has also been approved by Minister Pei of the Ministry of Rites. If the trouble can be quelled, in addition to the academy's reward, the imperial treasury will also release two secret treasures."

"Oh?"

Li Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, cupped his hands and said, "Since the prefect and the imperial envoy trust me, how dare I disobey? Please, gentlemen, return first, and allow me to discuss a plan with my brothers."

After the two left, Li Yan looked down at the dock, which was now congested again, and immediately closed the window. He then said to the crowd, "Since things have come to this point, there's no way to avoid it. Let's just go with the flow!"

"The enemy wanted to trap me here, so I did as they wished. Old Sha, Sister Long, and I stayed in Yangzhou to draw attention, while the Taoist priest took Wu Ba and the Lü brothers to investigate the whereabouts of the Yangzhou Ding."

His arrangement was quite deliberate.

Shalifei's methods are more suited to city life. With Long Yan'er by his side, most of the various illnesses can be resolved.

Wang Daoxuan was well-versed in the secrets of the Xuanmen sect. With Wu Ba protecting him and Lü San tracking him, they could handle any unexpected events. If they received news, they could even send a falcon back to deliver the message.

Everyone knew the truth and did not question it.

After arranging everything, Li Yan looked at the surging crowd outside and said thoughtfully, "We've only just arrived in Jiangnan, and everyone already knows about us. I'm afraid we won't be able to live in peace from now on."

"Since that's the case, let's make a big scene. Daoist Master, you must act secretly and be very careful..."

…………

Outside the treasure ship's cabin, the sounds of people were like boiling water.

The Lin family's giant ship has now become the headquarters where Li Yan is stationed.

He spread the word and registered everyone, and the chaotic scene finally calmed down.

The first person to come up was a man, who was tied up with hemp rope and carried up, looking like a madman.

Li Yan merely sniffed, then made a hand seal with his left hand, softly chanting the scripture of the "Northern Emperor's Exorcism Technique," and gently touched the man's forehead.

The man's face was ashen. As Li Yan uttered the words "Imperial decree to pacify the town," he jolted awake, then gasped for breath. The ashen color faded from his face, and he looked around in confusion, "Where...am I...?"

"Your yang energy is weak and your spirit is failing. You should avoid visiting gravesites from now on. Next!"

Without wasting words, Li Yan gave a brief instruction and sent the man away.

The second was a woman with bloodshot eyes and dirt stuck under her fingernails. She was painfully scratching her neck, and something seemed to be moving under her skin.

Without Li Yan saying anything more, Long Yan'er flicked her wrist, and the silver chain vibrated slightly. A tiny, multicolored Gu worm, the size of a grain of rice, crawled out silently and landed lightly on her earlobe.

The worm's tentacles touched her lightly, and the woman's body suddenly stiffened. Then, with a "whoosh," she vomited a pool of wriggling, black, foul liquid, filled with maggots the size of rice grains...

To be honest, they were all minor things like being possessed by evil spirits or curses.

Local witch doctors and shamans may be difficult to deal with, but for them, they can resolve things with a wave of their hand.

At the same time, Shalifei, carrying a musket, paced back and forth along the ship's side like a storyteller, his voice booming as he vividly described, "Fellow villagers, watch closely!"

"That old man just now, he was visiting his mother's grave during the day when he stepped on some money on the grave mound. That's money the spirit of the dead uses to guide its soul; be careful if you encounter it in the future..."

"And this woman! She was poisoned not by human hands, but by eating raw river fish. The poisonous worms entered her stomach and gnawed at her day and night. Remember, all river fish must be cooked thoroughly before eating!"

"Oh, this one's a newbie. Tell me, did he offend the carpenter...?"

His storytelling was like a vernacular novel, and he unknowingly drew everyone's attention.

Amidst the commotion, Wang Daoxuan and his two companions used their escape techniques to quietly disembark from the other side, pass through the chains blocking the Yangzhou dock, and board a small sampan to leave the shore, quickly disappearing into the river...

There were many people gathered at the dock, but it had been a long time since they had gathered.

Ordinary people rest at sunset, living in densely populated areas, so it's not easy for them to encounter anything unclean. Therefore, by sunset, most of the problems have already been resolved.

However, the docks remained bustling.

Some residents of the city refused to leave, insisting on asking for some kind of peace charm. In addition, there were onlookers and small vendors who took the opportunity to sell food, which made it look like a small market.

Seeing this, Li Yan didn't say much. He simply had the Lin family cook prepare dinner and leisurely ate his meal.

"Brother Yan, what are you waiting for?"

Long Yan'er finally couldn't help but ask a question.

"of course."

Shalifei chimed in, laughing, "We're the bait, so naturally we have to wait for the fish to take the bait."

As he spoke, he glanced out the window and said, "We've seen so many people. If they want to keep us trapped here, the person behind the scenes will definitely cause trouble."

"The moment you make a move, you'll reveal a weakness!"

(End of this chapter)