Xuanxia

Chapter 459 Follow the Shape
"This is it."

Tang Jiao stood alone in front of a wooden door deep in the alley and took a deep breath.

The night was still very deep, and the sky was covered with dark clouds, as if it was going to rain heavily at any time.

After leaving Chang'an Lane, she did not stop at all. Although it was already very late at night, she still rushed all the way... as if she would miss her uncle if she stayed one more hour later.

It was obviously so late, but she still felt anxious.

What’s interesting is that the address Nan Muzhi gave her was actually just across an alley from the courtyard that Fu Qingzhou was renting now... It only took her a short walk to have a cup of tea.

"I didn't expect that my uncle's residence was so close to our current courtyard..."

Tang Jiao took a deep breath, reached out and gently knocked on the wooden door.

In the deserted alley late at night, the knocking on the door sounded particularly clear and crisp.

The late autumn wind blew through the alley, bringing a bit of coolness. Tang Jiao hugged her arms tightly... No one responded from inside the door.

She hesitated for a moment and knocked on the door again.

Still no response.

Tang Jiao bit her lip, a trace of solemnity flashed across her eyes. She slowly stretched out her hand, placed it on the door panel, and pushed it gently. The door panel swayed slightly back and forth, making a clanging sound. It was obvious that there was a bolt behind the door.

This time she did not hesitate, and did not move her hand away. She let the internal energy flow in her body, and she exhaled lightly. Then a crisp "click" sound came from behind the wooden door, which was the sound of the door bolt being broken.

The door creaked open and Tang Jiao walked in slowly.

Inside the gate was a small courtyard that looked abandoned for a long time.

The house was overgrown with weeds and had dried up wells. The roof tiles and walls had long since fallen off and shattered due to years of erosion. When she walked into the yard, the first thing that startled her was the ground full of rats and ants.

With just one glance, Tang Jiao roughly realized...there was no one here.

There was deep disappointment in her eyes, but she finally pursed her lips and continued walking inside.

Even if he couldn't find his uncle, would the things that Nan Muzhi gave him still be here?
Are there any clues related to my father’s case?

The yard is not big, the front and back yards together are only about 30 to 40 square meters, and there are not many houses, only two rooms in total.

It didn't take Tang Jiao long to search the house and yard inside and out, but she found nothing.

Not to mention any clues to the case, there was not even any sign of human life, only spider webs everywhere.

"Ugh……"

Tang Jiao returned to the courtyard and sighed deeply: "I am still late after all."

She walked around the house and yard a few times unwillingly, but still found nothing, so she had to leave in disappointment.

But she didn't notice that after she closed the door and left, a person slowly walked out from the shadow of the originally empty yard.

……

Fu Qingzhou dragged his tired body and threw himself on the bed.

That night, his body was not actually very tired, but his mental exhaustion was enormous... He lay on the bed, his head was dizzy, but he was too tired to fall asleep, and he felt so uncomfortable that he wanted to vomit.

As a last resort, he had to force himself to sit cross-legged and practice the two major skills in his body to repair the extreme fatigue of his soul.

As time passed, Qi Ran Jue's strength was once again revealed, and the uncomfortable feeling of nausea was quickly suppressed.

The only thing that was uncomfortable was that after practicing Qigong, he became extremely alert and seemed to have difficulty falling asleep...

Just at this moment, the voice of the smoker rang out: "Hey, Fu boy, Tang Jiao is back."

"I'll go back when I get back."

Fu Qingzhou exhaled a breath of foul air and opened his eyes: "It's so late, I'll tell her about what happened today tomorrow."

"No..." The smoker said faintly, "Someone is following her."

"Ok?"

Fu Qingzhou's pupils narrowed.

Is someone following Tang Jiao?

After Huixin's matter was settled, he had already put down half of the burden in his heart, but now it was lifted up again.

Tang Jiao follows Nan Muzhi to teach and write every day, how could she be targeted?
These past two days, I have either been going to the Sword Academy or dealing with Huixin's affairs. If I slack off for a moment, someone will target Tang Jiao?
"What realm is that person in? What actions did he take?"

Fu Qingzhou asked with a frown.

The Smoker smiled and said, "His realm is not particularly high, only the sixth realm. He is a warrior, not young anymore, and a man. Tsk, he has a lot of hidden injuries, but his concealment skills are amazing, no worse than those assassins from Xiyu Pavilion."

Fu Qingzhou's brows furrowed.

Could it be that those killers have come again?
After all, there is a Zhu Mei living in my yard...

These days, he hadn't heard anything about Wu Yan, and there was an all-round coachman, Yuan Ziping, in the courtyard. Old Yuan hadn't noticed anyone watching the courtyard, so Fu Qingzhou naturally relaxed a little. After thinking for a breath or two, he no longer hesitated, picked up the Cloud-Splitting Long Knife, and walked out of the room.

At this time, Tang Jiao had returned to her room. The light was on in the room, and there were faint sounds of washing.

Fu Qingzhou narrowed his eyes and looked towards the shadows surrounding the courtyard late at night.

What the Smoker said was right, this guy's hiding skills were indeed very strong. With his skills, he didn't even notice that there were people hiding around him.

"Old man, where is that person?"

He asked in his mind, "Point it out to me."

The smoker smiled, and a faint, light scent wafted from the jade pendant.

The breath flashed by, but Fu Qingzhou could clearly sense the direction the breath pointed to.

"understood."

He smiled lightly, his eyes not looking there, but his hand was already on the hilt of the knife.

The next moment, the Cloud-Splitting Sword was unsheathed, spreading a patch of moonlight!
The knife flashed like water, and in an instant it approached a shadow in the corner of the courtyard!
"Ok?"

A light exclamation was heard from the shadows, and then a black shadow rushed out at an extremely fast speed, with a flash of knife light like a ghost, and quickly came to the courtyard wall, and then flew up quickly along the wall, obviously trying to escape.

Fu Qingzhou sneered, kicked up a cloud of dust with his feet, and chased after it like lightning. The blade deflected, and in an instant, a blade shadow like a net was swung out, covering the black shadow!

"Stay!"

He shouted softly, and the sword light came down all over the sky, leaving no room for anyone to move and escape.

The dark shadow suddenly raised his head, and his astonished eyes were reflected in the knife light.

This is a middle-aged man with gray hair on the temples. His face is covered with old scars of varying depths. The scars even spread to his neck and onto his body covered by clothes.

In a flash, the middle-aged man raised his hands.

He slid two short sticks out of his sleeves and crossed them in front of his body, trying to forcibly block the knife flashes.

Of course, Fu Qingzhou didn't want his life either.

He just wanted to capture this man and find out his origins.

So, at the same time as the middle-aged man swung out his two sticks, the momentum of the knife in Fu Qingzhou's hand had changed!
With two bangs and a muffled groan, the short stick in the middle-aged man's hand was suddenly knocked away, and his whole body was also heavily shaken and hit the courtyard wall. Countless shallow knife marks appeared on his body in an instant, and blood splattered.

The next moment, the long knife in Fu Qingzhou's hand was already placed on the middle-aged man's neck.

"who?"

Before he opened his mouth, other people in the yard could already hear shouts of surprise.

Then, footsteps were heard approaching rapidly.

Without looking back, Fu Qingzhou knew that Yuan Ziping and Qiu Chan heard the noise and rushed over from their respective rooms.

"Sir?"

Yuan Ziping shouted from a distance: "What happened?"

"Someone sneaked in." Fu Qingzhou looked at the middle-aged man in front of him calmly: "He came with Tang Jiao...Qiu Chan, call Tang Jiao out."

Qiu Chan responded, turned around and went to Tang Jiao's room.

"Tang... Jiao?"

When the middle-aged man heard Fu Qingzhou say this name, he was obviously startled.

He spoke in a hoarse voice: "You just mentioned Tang Jiao?"

Fu Qingzhou frowned.

He did not rush to ask questions, but put away the knife - of course it was not because he wanted to let the middle-aged man go, but because Yuan Ziping had already rushed over with a knife. He handcuffed the middle-aged man's hands behind his back and put the knife on his neck.

But the middle-aged man seemed not to care at all, and even stopped looking at Fu Qingzhou. Instead, he turned his gaze to... Tang Jiao who was following Qiu Chan.

"You, are Jiaojiao?"

Seeing Tang Jiao, the middle-aged man immediately asked in a calm voice.

There were still some water droplets on Tang Jiao's face, obviously she had just washed her face. She looked at the middle-aged man with shock in her eyes.

Fu Qingzhou narrowed his eyes: "Jiaojiao, do you know him?"

"伱......"

Tang Jiao stared at the middle-aged man, her voice trembling: "You look... like my father..."

"Haha... Of course." The middle-aged man laughed: "After all, he and I are brothers."

(End of this chapter)