Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 89 The Death Song in the Fog (3)
But now, in this vast ocean, the death song of the corpse dancer is actually resounding.What could be happening?

Boss Feng kept asking what Death Song meant, and An Xingmian patiently explained to him that Xue Huaiqing was already standing on the side of the boat looking into the distance.She found that the big passenger ship had stopped.

"Let's stop too," An Xingmian said, "see what they are doing."

So Boss Feng issued an order, and the pirate ship lowered its sails and stopped, and the three of them were still spying on the passenger ship's movements with binoculars from afar.At this time, the three of them suddenly discovered that the field of vision in the telescope began to become blurred. They moved the telescope away from their eyes to know what was going on.

"Damn it, why is there such a thick fog in the middle of the night," Boss Feng said anxiously, "It's no longer possible to sail a boat. In such an environment, you can't see the reef clearly, and you will bump into it."

"It doesn't matter, their boat didn't move anyway," Xue Huaiqing said, "I can barely see the outline, let me watch."

An Xingmian and Boss Feng simply dropped the binoculars, because it was useless to see them, and they could only listen to Xue Huaiqing's explanation.Xue Huaiqing kept notifying them of the movement: "The ship has never moved... It seems that someone has come to the deck... Strange!"

"What's wrong?" An Xingmian asked.

"I saw a lot of figures, it seemed that the whole ship had come out of the cabin and assembled on the deck," Xue Huaiqing said, "It's really strange, why did you run to the deck so late without sleeping? Do you see Night Mist?"

An Xingmian was also puzzled, and he still remembered what the female scout had told him before, that this was not Mr. Yuwen's special ship, but an ordinary passenger ship, and most of the people on board were ordinary travelers, not Yuwen. Young Master, they shouldn't have gathered on the deck after receiving some orders.And he also suddenly found that there was a strange sound in his ears.

"Death song! I heard it too!" Boss Feng yelled strangely, "What does this mean? Did the corpse dancer sing the death song louder?"

"No, it shouldn't be that the voice is amplified," Xue Huaiqing shook his head, "It's that the corpse dancer... approached."

The voice of Death Song became clearer and sharper, making everyone on the pirate ship feel uncomfortable.Xue Huaiqing stared intently at the movement in the distance.Not long after, she discovered something else.

"Here comes a ship," she said, "a ship smaller than the passenger ship, and of a strange shape, which I have never seen before."

"That must be to meet the passenger ship," An Xingmian said, "If I guess correctly, the corpse dancer who is singing the song of death is on board."

"The two boats are approaching...almost touching...someone from one of the boats threw a rope or something into the other boat, I can't see it clearly, but the two boats are moving side by side Together, there must be some force pulling," Xue Huaiqing continued, with a sudden change in tone, "It seems that it is really pulling a rope or an iron chain, but it turns out that the whole ship is lining up. Let's act together!"

"Probably everyone on the ship was coerced by Mr. Yuwen," An Xingmian guessed. "Of course, it's also possible that they were bribed with money. He won't resort to force unless it is absolutely necessary."

The scene Xue Huaiqing described next was even more puzzling: "The two boats are close together, as if they are on a board... Those people stepped on the board to the boat that just appeared! Almost everyone It's all gone, there are very few people left on the passenger ship, maybe they are all from Mr. Yuwen."

"That is to say, except for Mr. Yuwen and his men, all the other ordinary passengers left the ship and went to this strange ship that came out of the thick fog. Why? Are they really coerced?" An Xingmian frowned. He frowned.

At this time, the song of death became louder and louder, and Xue Huaiqing understood that it meant that the corpse dancers who sang the song of death needed to use more and more advanced corpse dance skills, and more and more needed to use the song of death to strengthen their own strength. strength.The dense fog, the strange ship, the strange behavior of the passengers on the passenger ship, the song of death resounding at sea... She suddenly became clear in her heart, and finally guessed what happened in front of her eyes.

Only then did she realize that what the expert who escorted her said before, "Because that's too ostentatious" and "Tigers shouldn't show their minions easily unless it's a last resort" was purely a lie.With Mr. Yuwen's ability, it is a piece of cake to prepare his own ship to berth at the port of Ningzhou.But Mr. Yuwen did not do that, but chose an ordinary ferry that carried many "outsiders", and that was only because of one reason:
He is going to give the corpse dancer in the fog as a gift from the entire ship's passengers.However, what he sent out might not be living people, but...

Xue Huaiqing suddenly felt very cold, and couldn't help but tighten the coat that An Xingmian put on her body. When she spoke, she found that her voice was also shaking. She was not sure whether it was because of the cold, or because of something coming from The deepest fear.

"The passengers I saw just now are no longer living people, but gifts, dead gifts." Her voice seemed to be soaked in the damp and cold moisture in the thick fog, and it became heavy and viscous, "Yu Wen The young master killed all the people on the ship and gave them to the corpse dancer who sang the death song as corpse servants."

"The death song we heard was the sound of the corpse dancer inspiring his own corpse dance skills when he was manipulating the entire ship. You have to know, with hundreds of passengers, that's a big project."

three

While Xue Huaiqing and An Xingmian were wondering amidst the death song in the dense fog, the night in Ningnan City was clear and bright.But what kind of weather can't stop Xu Mizi, he easily appeared in the fourth prince's mansion, and found his apprentice Feng Yiming.Before starting to practice the corpse dance, the two had a friendly exchange.

"An Xingmian is missing," Feng Yiming said, "although someone was sent to monitor him closely, he was still allowed to run away, but it is said that before he disappeared, someone saw a masked man coming out of the place where he lived."

"I know about this, and I saw with my own eyes that bastard Feng Yufan was furious, in my judgment, it's not like pretending," Xu Mizi nodded, "so I can conclude that that little girl is indeed It was kidnapped by outsiders, not because of you people who were suspicious. I originally planned to kidnap some of the lord's favorite concubines, but this saves me a lot of effort."

"The prestigious Ningnan City has become your back garden..." Feng Yiming murmured, "But why do you still stay here instead of looking for her? Didn't you say that she is very useful to you?" ?”

"That boy An Xingmian has already gone," Xu Mizi said, "Although this guy is a bit pedantic and dull, he is still a bit smart, and his skills are passable among ordinary people. Let him do it."

"What if it can't be done? You trust him so much?" Feng Yiming frowned slightly.

"If he fails, it will be regarded as a mistake in my judgment," Xu Mizi said, "This is the first lesson I will teach you today: You can think that you are the best in the world, you can think that everyone is far inferior to you, but If you do everything with trepidation and do not trust others, your only ending is that you are exhausted to death, or you are scared to death. To do great things, you must have the guts, not only the guts to trust your subordinates, but also the guts to tolerate failure.”

Feng Yiming pondered for a long time, then stood up suddenly, and bowed deeply to Xu Mizi: "I have remembered this lesson, what you said happened to be my major flaw. Thank you, Master."

Xu Mizi waved his hand casually: "Actually, I'm just saying this. It's because I never trust others that I chose to be a corpse dancer and avoid dealing with living people."

Feng Yiming didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "I can see it, I can't become a monster like you in my life."

The master and apprentice began to practice.The introduction to Corpse Dance begins with the practice of meditation. It is easy to say, but it is really not easy to keep one's mind in a state of blankness and not thinking about anything. What's more, Feng Yiming is such a smart person. It is really difficult to drive out all kinds of complicated thoughts that come in one after another.But this little child has rare perseverance. He has been practicing and trying non-stop. From midnight to noon, he finally found a little trick. Even Xumizi, whose eyes are above the top, couldn't help but praise He said a few words, although the words of praise are actually criticisms in other people's mouths: "This kind of progress is faster than those rubbish, and it is barely qualified."

"Speaking of those 'waste garbage', I have always wanted to ask you a question," Feng Yiming rubbed his forehead wearily, "Since your mastery of the corpse dance, until now, you really haven't met Have you ever been to any opponent stronger than you? All opponents are just rubbish?"

"Of course not," Xumizi said decisively, "but there is one person whom I can never beat, and he can't beat me either."

"You mean Mr. Feng Qiuke?" Feng Yiming said, "He is the number one master of our Yu clan, no matter whether it is bow or close combat martial arts, no one can beat him. Everyone says that he can almost catch up with the old Yun Mie, the Arrow God of the Feather Clan. It is not surprising that he can draw with you. But other than that, is your Corpse Dance really far superior to any of your companions as in the legend? There is no Is a person even a little bit closer to your level?"

"They are not worthy of being my companions," Xumizi was still arrogant, "If I were the ocean, they would probably be just small streams..."

When Sumizi said this, he suddenly paused, as if he remembered something: "The sea... the sea... Speaking of the sea, I really remembered something."

Although Sumizi is proud, he will use all deceitful and insidious deceptions and lies in the battle with the enemy, and even the "lower three indiscriminate" tricks that other well-known masters disdain, but in other occasions outside of battle, he But I never want to tell a lie, and I never want to whitewash it.He thinks that he is the best in the world, and it is from his heart, but when he thinks of something that may shake this judgment, he will admit it without hesitation, even though his expression looks very reluctant.

"What's the matter?" Feng Yiming asked hurriedly.

"A matter that still puzzles me until now," Sumiko said, "I have never been able to determine what the truth of that matter is. But I must admit that if, I mean if, that matter is true If so, maybe there really are corpse dancers in this world who can surpass me."

He thought for a while, and added reluctantly: "And the extent of this transcendence may not be small."

Twenty years ago, Xu Mizi traveled around Kyushu, looking for a suitable corpse servant.At this time, he is already the well-deserved No. 20 corpse dancer in the world. Even outside the group of corpse dancers, there may only be very few people who can match him, such as his old friend Feng Qiuke.But this is a madman who is never self-satisfied, and still insists on rigorous penance and research.He not only wants to conquer the enemy, but also wants to conquer himself and surpass himself.

This year is pushed forward four years, which is the winter of the 20th year of Donglu Jinian Shengde. He once experienced a thrilling ambush and was almost buried alive by the enemy using landslides, but he escaped the disaster after all. And wipe out the enemy with a fierce counterattack.Before killing all the enemies, he learned through eavesdropping that these killers were all sent by the city-state of Kadiku, a city-state of the feather tribe in Lanzhou, to avenge Xu Mizi for killing the second son of the lord of the city-state.

Therefore, if we go back to the source of this matter, we should blame Xumizi, but Xumizi naturally would not blame himself for this matter, but immediately regarded all the feathered people in Kyushu as a thorn in his side.In the following years, he frequently traveled between Ningzhou and the northern part of Lanzhou, specifically fighting against Yuren.

In the summer of that year, he went to Ningzhou again, found two high-quality noble children from Qingdu, the capital of the Yu clan, killed them and made them corpse servants, and then returned to Lanzhou by boat.However, this return journey was really not smooth. First, there was a strong wind and waves, and then when it was only half a day away from Lanzhou, it encountered heavy fog. The owner of the passenger ship did not dare to drive in the fog, so he had to stop temporarily.It just so happened that it was time for dinner. In order to appease the passengers, an extra dish of fish soup was added to the dinner.

The aroma of this fish soup is attractive, and it smells very delicious. Passengers put aside the uneasiness caused by the fog and enjoy this delicious fish soup. Xu Mizi also drank it, but at the same time he was also sneering in his heart .As a master who has dealt with all kinds of poisons all his life, he can tell with his nose that the deadly three-leaved centipede venom is put into these fish soups, and just a small bowl is enough to kill an ordinary person A dozen times.

Of course, such a poison would not be useful to Sumiko, but it also aroused his curiosity.Based on his experience of taking several ferries between Ningzhou and Lanzhou, it is impossible for ordinary passenger ships to attack guests. Usually, only pirate ships do bad things on the sea. What's more, he has been on this passenger ship once before, and he still remembers it. The face of the owner.

That is to say, someone else wants to kill all the passengers on this ship. The identity of this "other person" may be an ordinary passenger, or he may be a subordinate of the ship owner, but why does he use such a powerful poison? What about killing the whole ship?Even pirates usually only kill those who dare to resist. It is too cruel to poison everyone to death indiscriminately like this.

"It's a bit like my style," Xu Mizi drank the fish soup nonchalantly, "it's interesting."

Soon, the toxicity of the three-leaf centipede broke out, and the passengers on the ship collapsed and died suddenly.Xu Mizi stopped the corpse dance, and the two corpse servants with him immediately fell to the ground, losing the ability to move, and he simply fell on the bed and began to pretend to be dead.The behavior of pretending to be dead may be disdainful in the eyes of ordinary experts, and may feel that it is a loss of everyone's status, but Xu Mizi doesn't care at all. What he cares about is whether he is the ultimate winner. Other than that, there are no taboos in all processes .

After a while, Xu Mizi heard footsteps, which was undoubtedly the poisoner.They inspected all the cabins one by one to see if there were any living people, and Sumeru naturally held his breath and pretended to be dead to cooperate.Finally all the cabins were inspected, and a man came to the deck and reported to his leader: "Everyone is dead."

Xu Mizi was a little surprised, because the reporter's voice sounded very immature, like a little boy about ten years old.

"Very good," the leader replied, "It's the first time to inspect a dead body with your own hands, are you nervous?"

"There's nothing to be nervous about." The boy's voice was indeed calm. "I've seen many more dead people than this."

"You really have the style of a general, young master." There was some compliment in the leader's words.

"I've already said, don't call me young master," the little boy said with a hint of reproach, "Since I followed you out to practice this trip, I will be your subordinate. An ordinary man."

"You're right," the leader immediately changed his address from the word "you", "then you should pay attention to the changes in the weather, the fog is not thick enough now, if you find that the fog is getting thicker, please report to me immediately .”

The little boy went away.Xu Mizi, who was still playing dead, began to think about the meaning contained in these few lines of dialogue.First of all, this group of people should be from the same family, and they seem to have completed a task more than once, that is to say, killing all the passengers on a ship like this, they may have done it many times .

Secondly, this little boy is the eldest master of the family, and it seems that he followed him out to practice at a young age, so the status of the leader should be lower than him.Although his voice is tender, his tone of voice is mature and solemn, not like a child at all.What kind of family is this?
(End of this chapter)