I've never felt happy to become an immortal.

Chapter 162 Is this Suez?

Now that the people have been hooked, we can't just ignore it.

Unfortunately, this isn't Earth, so we can't call the police.

Bai Xuan walked over and examined the body. He found that the body had lost its temperature, but the wounds were still fresh, not rotten, and did not show signs of giantification.

"The body is still very fresh," he said.

The experienced angler immediately said, "Young Master Bai, no matter how fresh it is, you can't eat it!"

Bai Xuan: “…”

The veteran angler said, "I was just trying to liven things up."

"The body was carried downstream; it must have floated down from upstream," the boatman said.

Bai Xuan examined the wound and said, "The fatal wound is on the neck. It is clearly a knife wound. The cut is wide but not sharp, and there is a loss of skin and flesh at the cut. If the knife is not dull, then it must have a nick."

"Judging from his clothes, this person should come from an ordinary family. Appearance is only one factor. There are calluses on his hands, but not on the backs of his hands. From the wear and tear on the soles of his feet and the soles of his shoes, we can roughly tell that this person does heavy physical labor."

"There is also wear and tear on the back of the neck, and the muscles in the shoulders and neck are stiff... It must be because you often carry things by hand or on your shoulders."

"If I'm not mistaken, this person is a dockworker, and there just happens to be a dock nearby."

After hearing the analysis, the boatmen all looked at Bai Xuan in surprise.

They weren't highly educated, but Bai Xuan explained things in a very simple way that even they could understand.

Judging a person's identity and profession solely from their appearance and physical characteristics, and all of this is based on logical reasoning.

He couldn't help but think to himself, "As expected of Young Master Bai, this is the renowned Crouching Dragon, the number one on the list."

"Poor man, he must have been murdered for money," the boatman sighed.

“No, it’s definitely not about money…” Bai Xuan pulled two coins from the man’s body: “People who want money wouldn’t choose this kind of target. Besides, he sewed the money inside his clothes, but the clothes themselves weren’t damaged. The other party killed him with one blow. He was after murder.”

"Moreover, the technique was very crude, and it didn't look like something a martial artist would use. A true martial artist would use such a wide blade to cut off a head, but this cut was very deep, yet it didn't sever the spine."

"It wasn't for money, nor was it done by江湖人士 (jianghu figures). Hmm... After we disembark, let's hand it over to the local authorities for investigation."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and they came up to cover the body with a white sheet and put it on a simple support.

After that, nothing happened along the way.

Everyone thought it was just a minor incident, until...

The boat suddenly stopped moving forward and got stuck in the middle of the waterway, neither advancing nor retreating.

"what happened?"

The sudden stop naturally attracted the attention of everyone on the ship.

Although Ning Jianshuang wasn't in a hurry to travel, she still had to inquire whether there was a problem with the ship.

Once you step onto the deck, the answer to the question becomes obvious without even asking.

There were more than a dozen boats moored along the shore, like a traffic jam at a highway intersection... now it was more like a boat jam on a highway waterway.

Xi Qingqing exclaimed, "Wow! So many ships are blocking the way, it's spectacular!"

“That’s a dock in Qingzhou, right? After that, we’ll reach Tianshu Gorge. Although the current is a bit rapid, it shouldn’t be enough to cause a boat blockage, right?” Ning Jianshuang, who had better geographical knowledge, said, “Let’s go ask what’s going on.”

"Understood, Master." A disciple of the Gathering Righteousness Pavilion stepped out of the cabin, channeled his inner energy, and leaped to another ship in a few steps, his movements as agile as a monkey.

Although this ship belongs to the Lin family, the cargo inside is all from the Juyi Pavilion.

Juyi Pavilion naturally had branches in Qingzhou, and Qingyun Tower was located there.

Qingzhou is a battleground for heroes of the martial arts world. Juyi Pavilion had very little influence in Qingzhou back then, and it was only thanks to the two generations of Qingyun Pavilion masters that it opened up new markets here. It is also one of the areas where Juyi Pavilion has developed the best in recent years.

A meeting was held previously, but Qingyun Tower may not fully agree with Ning Jianshuang as the new tower leader. She needs to take over the place herself, select people she can trust, and cover up the influence of Song Qingtang in the past.

Therefore, she transferred some of the Langya Hall's personnel to prepare for taking over Qingyun Tower.

The young man we just saw was nicknamed Flying Cat. He was very skilled in light-footed skills and intelligence gathering.

A short while later, Flying Cat returned and quickly found out the news.

A large ship was blocking the narrow waterway, preventing other ships from passing. The ships were very unhappy about this, but dared not speak out.

Because this ship has a very prestigious background; it belongs to Bahe Manor, one of the six major sects in Qingzhou.

The reason for stopping the ship here is to block passing merchants and travelers.

The root cause was a conflict between the nearby Wuya Academy and Jingyunzhai.

Wuya Academy, judging from its name, is just a literary academy and should have no connection with the six major sects of Qingzhou Jianghu. However, this is not actually the case.

Wuya Academy is the largest literary academy in Qingzhou, boasting nine thousand disciples, and its founder, Meng Wuya, is known as the second sage of his time.

The Meng family behind it is the Meng clan, one of the six evergreen sects of Qingzhou.

The Meng Clan and Wuya Academy are one of the six major schools.

Bahe Manor is also one of the six major sects.

Two of the six major sects joined forces, but their target was the little-known Jingyunzhai?
“Jingyunzhai is just a Taoist temple,” Feimao explained. “I didn’t have time to find out the specific reason, but it seems to be related to some kind of statue?”

"Six major sects joined forces to suppress a small Taoist temple?" Bai Xuan expressed his incomprehension: "Is there some kind of expert hiding inside?" Ning Jianshuang also shook her head, indicating that she did not know.

Xi Qingqing asked eagerly, "Why don't we go take a look? I'm very curious too."

She's always at the forefront of gossip-loving.

Bai Xuan nodded, and the three of them left the boat one after another and came to the shore. Walking along the shore, they saw a large ship blocking the middle of the waterway. Only a few small boats could barely pass through, but the large ship could not pass at all.

This scene reminded Bai Xuan of a major news story from 2021.

A large cargo ship was stranded in the middle of the Suez Canal after being blown aground by a typhoon, blocking this vital world-class waterway.

This disruption is causing daily trade losses exceeding six billion US dollars.

The most remarkable thing is that, for such an important event, they initially only sent out one excavator and one small tugboat.

The ensuing dramatic saga of shifting blame kept Bai Xuan entertained for quite some time.

This time, my gossipy nature also took hold.

Moving to the very front, Bai Xuan nudged the person next to him with his elbow: "Hey buddy, want to ask what's going on here?"

The person in front turned around and said, "I don't know either."

"Didn't you know you were standing here?"

"I'm just here for the fun." The other person glanced at Bai Xuan's hair and said, "As a fellow fan of Bai Yueguang, I suggest you keep quiet and just watch, so you don't say anything that might cause trouble."

At that moment, a thunderous roar resounded.

"I think you've never seen the Six Major Sects before."

"Don't you dare to sign with me!"

"I'll show you what iron hands really are!"

On the dock, a group of people were facing off.

There were three groups of people in total, which could be distinguished by their clothes.

The people of Wuya Academy were all dressed as Confucian scholars, but only in appearance. In reality, they all had swords hanging at their waists, and the leader was a smiling Confucian scholar.
The people from Bahe Manor used knives and guns, and their uniforms were predominantly black and red, with a skirt-like armor around their waists. The leader was a bearded man.

There were relatively few people in Jingyunzhai, only five in total. The leader was an old nun, followed by three young nuns. To the right of them was a monk in yellow robes, but he was not wearing a kasaya and did not appear to be of high rank.

“Benefactor, that’s really inappropriate,” the old nun said, frowning at the bearded man. “This matter has nothing to do with your Bahe Manor.”

“How can it be unrelated?” The middle-aged scholar spoke up, shaking his head. “A pact was made ten years ago. This Dragon King Stone was merely borrowed. Now that ten years have passed, it’s time to return it.”

The old nun frowned: "What you said... was a gift, and my Jingyunzhai also sent a return gift!"

The bearded man said calmly, "What you gave me was nothing more than a Purple Cloud Golden Pill. What I'm returning to you is... the Dragon King Stone."

The old nun was so angry she laughed: "Back then, when Bahe Manor came to borrow the elixir, I only agreed to return it because Master Meng vouched for it. Now, Master Meng has only been gone for less than a year, and you're already going back on your word. The original Purple Cloud Golden Elixir was stored for more than fifty years. Is your Purple Cloud Golden Elixir only ten years old?!"

The Purple Cloud Golden Elixir is a life-extending substance that can cure stubborn diseases. The longer it is used, the better the effect. A fifty-year supply is definitely a treasure.

The bearded man casually said, "At worst, I'll just give you three."

The middle-aged scholar continued to smooth things over: "Master Ranchen, well, after all, the Dragon King Stone is also a family heirloom of Bahe Manor. It was originally a feng shui treasure to ward off evil spirits. Now it can be redeemed at a high price. Not only the Purple Cloud Golden Pill, but also this boatload of wealth can all be given to you."

The nun Ranchen gave a low, cold laugh: "That sounds nice... If you want it today, just take it back. Why put on this act here?"

“What you said, Abbess, is hurtful.” The middle-aged scholar shook his head and sighed, “The Dragon King Stone is not in the river at all. We have searched for a long time without success. It must be in the hands of Jingyunzhai. Please return it, Abbess.”

Suppressing her anger, the nun Ranchen questioned, "Meng Changgao, have you read all those Confucian classics but forgotten them? The Dragon King Stone is ten feet tall, where could I possibly hide it? It was originally left here to suppress the feng shui of the area and prevent floods from changing course. If it's not in the water, where else could it be!"

The bearded man retorted, "We've searched along the river for over ten miles, why can't we find anything?"

He pointed at the nun and said, "You must have secretly taken her away."

The monk beside him chanted, "Amitabha, this benefactor is mistaken. If the Dragon King Stone is hidden in the river, then anyone could take it away. Who knows if you all took it back beforehand?"

"What an eloquent bald monk," the bearded man said. "But unfortunately, this matter is a secret. Only the three people who knew about it back then knew about it. Two of them are no longer alive. We only recently found out about it, so we came to retrieve the Dragon King Stone. Only the nun of Jingyunzhai knows about it."

The three parties each held their own version of events, and the dispute continued.

In the crowd, Ning Jianshuang said softly, "On the surface, it's about fighting for the Dragon King Stone, but it looks more like they're looking for an opportunity to cause trouble."

Xi Qingqing gazed at the Taoist temple on the hilltop not far away: "Could there be something special about this Jingyunzhai?"

Bai Xuan saw through it all: "The only thing you can tell from the outside is that this place has excellent feng shui, a place where tigers and dragons hide... It's quite suitable as a tomb. Could it be that some important figure is about to die and wants to prepare for his funeral in advance?"

Xi Qingqing's eyes widened: "You even know about feng shui?"

Bai Xuan said, "I know a little."

Are you kidding me? Do you think I read Ghost Blows Out the Light without any knowledge?
Ning Jianshuang pondered silently.

Suddenly, a loud shout was heard.

"Oh no, someone is trying to force their way through!"

Looking in the direction of the shouts, a large ship painted yellow with a yellow dragon on its bow was rapidly approaching on the river. It seemed to have lost patience and intended to ram the obstacle blocking the waterway.

(End of this chapter)