Knife splashing

Chapter 98 Bandits Blocking the Road
"Oh?"

Li Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, "What happened?"

The man with the machete cursed: "Almost every family in our village makes paper. We originally had a fixed merchant to receive the goods and settle accounts every ten days. But the merchant caravan was robbed by bandits, and even the owner lost his life."

"You are such a coward! Even rabbits don't eat grass near their burrows!"

"They've lost their lives, so how can we ask for money? But it's almost the end of the year, and other caravans don't dare to come, so we can only send it ourselves."

"Alas, poor Liu Laoer and his family, how are they going to survive..."

Sharifei patted their chests and comforted them, "Don't worry, it's relatively safe from here to Chang'an. We haven't been in any danger along the way."

"Thank you."

The man clasped his fists and thanked him, then hesitated for a moment and said with embarrassment: "To be honest, we are from Shilipu. If you want to cross Niubeiliang, you must pass by Shilipu."

"The old and young at home are waiting for food and drink. We have to continue on our way to Chang'an. We plan to leave one person behind to drive the car and take the bodies of Liu Laoer and the others back home."

"We're afraid we'll run into wild animals on the road again. Can we let him follow you?"

Li Yan pondered for a moment and nodded, "Okay."

There was a serious bandit problem near Niubeiliang, so they were going to stop to rest, gather information, and find a way to leave, so it was okay to have someone follow them.

"Thank you," the man said with a grateful look on his face.

"No problem, it's just a piece of cake."

Li Yan's face was calm, but he was confused.

No matter how vicious the bandits are, they rarely attack nearby villages. Firstly, there is no money to be made, and secondly, they are bound to have acquaintances among them.

For some bandit groups, the largest source of manpower is even from nearby villages. Those who can't survive just throw away their arms and grab knives and go up the mountain to become bandits.

But now, the bandit problem is so serious that they are not afraid of attracting government suppression, but also do not hesitate to offend the villagers down the mountain...

Something must have happened on Niubeiliang!

…………

There are Shilipu in almost every part of China.

There are usually two possible origins of this name.

One is the villages and towns around the big cities, usually Wulipu, Qilipu, etc. Arriving in such villages and towns means that you are not far from the big city.

There is another one, which is related to the post station. There is a Yingpan Post Station near Niubeiliang, which was once the place where Cao Wei stationed troops to defend Hanzhong, and was later converted into a post station.

Because wild beasts were rampant on the Qinling Ancient Road, the caravan did not delay any further and continued on its journey after sunset. It was already late at night when it arrived at Shilipu.

After hearing the news that someone had died, torches were quickly lit in the dark village, and many people rushed to the scene, followed by the heart-wrenching wails of women.

Others were unable to persuade him, and looking at the mutilated corpse, many people felt deeply saddened.

Li Yan and others were unable to say anything and could only wait by the side.

At this time, an old man came forward with a cane, clasped his fists and said to them: "I am Guo Fuan, the chief of Shilipu Village. Thank you for your help. I have heard that if it were not for you, I am afraid that more people would have died."

"I sent someone to prepare some hot meals, everyone..."

"no!"

Before Guo Cunzheng finished speaking, several men shouted to stop him, "Murazheng, as the saying goes, don't let cold coffins enter the village, and don't visit funerals. They are a team sending away the ghosts. There have been a lot of things going on in the village recently. If they are infected with bad luck..."

"Shut up!"

Guo Cunzheng shouted angrily, then said with embarrassment: "Don't blame me, country folks don't have manners..."

"no need."

Li Yan shook his head and said, "If there is a place to rest nearby, we can wait until we get into the village. No need to bother."

The village chief was obviously relieved, and pointed to the southeast, saying, "There is a White Dragon Temple over there. It was originally used to worship the River Dragon King, but later the river changed its course and it became abandoned. If you don't mind, you can stay there temporarily."

"Thank you."

Li Yan nodded, without further ado, and led the team away.

Not far from the village, Sharifei sneered, "This village chief is really good at playing tricks. Those noisy people are obviously his people. It would be fine if he didn't want them to enter the village, but he also played this trick!"

The leader of the porters Yue Ba'e smiled bitterly and said, "Master Sha, when we transport the dead, no village in Shenzhou will allow us to enter."

"If we hadn't saved their people, the village chief would be so embarrassed that he might have sent people to chase us away."

Sharifei obviously knew this custom and was too lazy to explain it.

……

Although Guo Cunzheng was cunning, he did not lie.

The team walked less than three miles before they saw the White Dragon Temple.

The temple is close to a river. The river beside it has dried up and is overgrown with wild grass as tall as a person. It is dim under the moonlight and rustles in the night wind, as if something is hidden.

The Bailong Temple is not big. It is a small temple built by the villagers together. It only has a tiled house and a brick courtyard.

Although it has been abandoned and even the wooden door has collapsed, the house is still sturdy.

"Wait a minute."

Li Yan waved his hand to stop everyone, pinched the Yang Jue and sniffed, then grasped the Guanshan knife and strode into the dark temple.

Soon, a cold murderous intent spread.

Everyone shuddered, but fortunately they knew Li Yan's method.

After Li Yan walked out of the dilapidated temple, Sharifei hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Why, is it not clean inside?"

Li Yan casually threw a rotten hemp rope on the ground and shook his head, saying, "Nothing, it should be a hanged ghost."

"what?!"

Sharifei felt his scalp tingling, "Could it be that old Muramasa wants to harm us?"

Wang Daoxuan laughed dumbly, "Don't think too much, the body should have been dealt with long ago. The villagers may not understand and didn't deal with it properly. Brother Yan, is that all?"

Li Yan nodded and said, "That's all."

Wang Daoxuan didn't waste any words. He took out some salt and cinnabar from his arms and sprinkled them on the hemp rope. He also pasted a talisman on it and lit it with a magic formula.

Call ~
The hemp rope was damp and rotten, but after being ignited by the talisman, it burned extremely vigorously, crackling and emitting a foul smell.

Seeing the curiosity of the people around him, Wang Daoxuan did not hide his secrets and explained: "Hanging in a dilapidated temple means either he has deep resentment or knows some evil magic."

"Even if the body is disposed of, the resentful ghost attached to the hemp rope will cause trouble sooner or later. If I am not mistaken, it will first possess the body in dreams, and make people worship the Dragon King in the old temple, and then attach itself to the statue to absorb the incense."

"Many evil gods in different places are formed in this way. Now that we have encountered one, we can eliminate it."

"I see."

The driver, Lao Mengtou, breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Fortunately, we have the Taoist priest and Young Master Li. If we had encountered such a situation, we would have bumped into the passengers without knowing it."

It was just a small matter and no one took it seriously.

Li Yan was tired from the journey and it was late at night, so he had no mood to cook. He lit a bonfire with everyone, and after a simple cleanup, he ate some dry food and went to bed early.

In the silent night, the fire in the ruined temple was faintly lit...

In the distance, under the woods on the hillside, several people slowly poked their heads out and stared at the ruined temple at the foot of the mountain. Although they did not have clairvoyance, the fire in the dark was very obvious.

"What did the black woman say?"

"It's a team that sends Yin people away."

"Brother, their horse is worth a few bucks, and they don't have many people, why don't we just do it?" "You coward, you don't think it's bad luck to rob the Yin team."

"What's so unlucky? It's better to get something before we break up. Who knows if the village will still be there next year..."

These words made everyone silent.

"it is good!"

A gloomy voice sounded:
"A horse cannot grow fat without night grass. You can give it a try!"

…………

"Hero, spare your life!"

Torches were burning brightly, and a row of people were kneeling in front of the Bailong Temple.

"You bunch of cowards!" Sharifei's eyes were swollen and he was so angry that he cursed with a long knife in hand: "I finally got a good night's sleep. It's just a robbery. You didn't even choose the right time. Are you in such a hurry..."

The bandits shrank their heads and glanced at him from time to time.

This big bald guy had a fierce look and was noisy, but as bandits, they had seen all kinds of ugly faces, so how could they be afraid of him?

What really frightened them was the pretty boy sitting there playing with a knife.

They were just attacking in the night, but this pretty boy was more like a ghost in the darkness. His movements were swift and brutal, and many people had their hands and feet chopped before they could even react.

Later on, it was impossible to light torches for lighting.

There is no other way. When faced with such a tough guy, I can only kneel down and beg for mercy.

Of course they didn't know that for Li Yan, as long as it was night, he would have the advantage of both time and location, so there was no need to be afraid of any sneak attack.

The reason why he held back was naturally because he wanted to find out some information.

Seeing that all the bandits were looking at him, Li Yan glanced at them calmly and said, "Uncle Sha, count to ten. Whoever confesses first will survive, and the rest will be killed!"

"I said!"

"I said!"

"Get out of the way, let me talk first..."

Before the count was called, the bandits rushed forward and even fought each other.

Li Yan: “…”

Sharifei chuckled, pointed his sword and said, "You guys are really stupid, you have no sense of loyalty at all. You go first!"

"Yes Yes!"

The bandit who was called out was ecstatic. He opened his mouth but felt a little embarrassed. He smiled carefully and said, "Hero, what do you want us to say?"

Li Yan said in a deep voice: "Why are the bandits on Niubeiliang so rampant recently? But what happened on the mountain?"

"Yes, the hero is right. Something happened."

Without any interrogation, the bandit started to complain, "You may not know, my hero, but Niubeiliang Mountain is very large and occupies the Qin-Chu Ancient Road. It is never short of money. There are at least a dozen villages of different sizes on the mountain."

"Originally, everyone lived in peace and harmony. We divided the land into different areas, and the fat sheep belonged to whoever's territory they landed on. Moreover, we would not do anything too aggressive to avoid attracting government suppression."

"But just a few days ago, the most powerful Laolong Village suddenly announced that all the villages should submit to him. If they don't agree, they should get out of Niubeiliang."

"It's reasonable to say that there's nothing wrong with merging the villages and lighting a stick of incense together, but there must be some rules to follow. What's more, this Old Dragon Village has gone crazy and has become arrogant and domineering..."

"There was a village chief who didn't believe in evil, so he personally led a few good fighters to sneak into Laolong Village. He was a ruthless man at the peak of dark energy, but he was killed immediately. Only one of them ran back alive, but he was scared crazy and kept saying there was a ghost..."

"After something like this happened, everyone had no choice but to accept defeat. Some decided to join the Old Dragon Village, but more decided to leave. So they all went down the mountain, hoping to do a few more jobs before winter..."

Hearing this person's chatter, Li Yan seemed to be thinking about something.

Wang Daoxuan stroked his beard and said, "Looking at the situation, there are not only masters, but also sorcerers. Even the peak of dark energy has been broken. With this ability, what can't he eat? Why do you want to attack the bandits?"

"Then you must have another request!"

Sha Lifei's eyes lit up. "I heard that some powerful gangs of local thieves found large tombs in the mountains. They didn't try to hide them at all and often required a large number of people to dig. Could it be that there are treasures on this mountain?"

"There is no ancient tomb."

The bandit kneeling on the ground shook his head and said, "To be honest, some villages, in addition to robbing fat sheep, also tried to search for treasures in Qinling Mountains. There are also many local rats who can divide gold and determine the burial site. There is no ancient tomb on Niubeiliang at all."

After he said that, Li Yan also became interested, "Oh, what treasures are there in Qinling Mountains?"

"That's a lot!"

The bandit seemed to be getting excited, and spitted out, "The treasures buried in the Qinling Mountains are countless."

"It is said that the First Emperor unified the world, collected all the soldiers in the world, and cast twelve golden men. They were mysterious and unpredictable. Later, when the Qin Dynasty was in chaos, they hid in the Qinling Mountains..."

"There is also the ancient Huaxu Kingdom, which is rumored to be the residence of immortals..."

"The most terrifying are the Ten Deadly Tombs and the Qin Palace of Immortality built by Fang Xiandao for the First Emperor, which hides the secret of immortality..."

"There is also the Qinling White Python God. Someone once saw it circling the entire mountain. When it exhaled, the sky became bright and when it inhaled, the sky became clear and the earth became bright. It is said that if you get its python treasure, you can become an immortal right away..."

"Alright, alright!"

The more Li Yan listened, the more speechless he became.

Sharifei was also amused. "You are such a fool. You are really good at talking nonsense. Why don't you say that the Queen Mother's Peach Garden is also in Qinling Mountains?"

Wang Daoxuan laughed dumbly and said, "The Twelve Golden Men were melted by Dong Zhuo a long time ago. Besides, the locations of some large tombs in Guanzhong have never been hidden, but none of the rats who entered could come out. Even if these places exist, no one dares to enter."

"What you said is nothing but rumors spread by the people."

"Yes, yes, I don't have much knowledge, please don't blame me."

The bandit nodded quickly, but his eyes were full of disbelief.

"Forget it, don't talk about this."

Li Yan asked in a deep voice: "Is Niubeiliang passable now?"

"I can't get through."

The bandit shook his head quickly, "If it was yesterday, with your skills, you could have sneaked through at night, and you still had a chance."

“But now, the road is completely blocked.”

Li Yan frowned, "What happened again?"

The bandit smiled and said, "Just today, a piece of news came that Lu Kang, the former left councilor of Shanzhou, was going to retire and return home. This old man used himself as bait to attract attention, but in fact he secretly hired several escort agencies in Chang'an to escort a batch of valuables back home."

"Because this batch of red goods is so valuable, the escorts dare not make it public. Instead, they disguise themselves and travel in secret."

"Right now, all the villages on the mountain have united, wanting to swallow up this bonanza and then disband. No matter where the ancient roads or mountain paths are, they are all guarded, and not even a fly can fly over them."

"Let's not talk about the caravans. The peddlers, the opera troupe, and even the two escort agencies were all blocked on the road. Hero, you brought such a big coffin..."

"It's impossible not to arouse suspicion!"

Sharifei cursed: "Good fellows, blocking the official road and killing senior officials, you are too bold."

The bandit smiled awkwardly, "We're going to disband anyway, so we might as well grab the ruthless one."

Li Yan said in a deep voice: "Where are those people blocked?"

"Qilipu, Changfeng Inn!"

　I’m recommending a book to a friend. The author is a real academic master with excellent grades. He has created many famous internet memes. They are interesting and good looking.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)