On a hot early autumn day, the sun was shining brightly, but everyone felt a chill in their hearts, as if there were cold snakes crawling on their backs.
A villa that did not exist three years ago, but now three years later, the escort agency was entrusted to escort a coffin to the villa. Hiss, what a horror story. Zhang Yuanqing looked around his "family". Two fire masters, Chen Wei and Zhao Youcai, stared at him.
His eyes were closed, shock written on his face.
Zhuo Peiran, the bewitched demon, raised his eyebrows upside down and showed a fierce look on his face, like a wild animal that had been stimulated and made a vicious stress reaction.
Even the calm and serious Chen Xuedao's expression suddenly became solemn.
"Impossible!" Zhao Youcai said loudly:
"Excalibur Villa is a well-known force in the world. If it was wiped out three years ago, why didn't we receive any news?"
Although the Huangqi Escort Bureau and Shenjian Villa have no contact and are far apart, the escorts are traveling all over the world, so it is impossible that such a big thing has not been heard at all.
Chen Xuedao looked at Chai Gui and asked in a deep voice:
"What else did Master Xuanyu say?"
Chai Gui shook his head, "Boss Chen, this matter is too absurd, and I don't believe it, so I asked the real person Xuanyu for details, but the real person was very secretive about this matter and refused to reveal anything."
He paused and said with some murmur: "Master Xuanyu also asked me to send a message, warning us not to go to Shenjian Villa and give up this escort trip."
Chen Xuedao suddenly frowned.
"Hmph!" Zhuo Peiran snorted coldly: "The old guy refused to say anything, but he persuaded us to give up this escort trip?"
His tone was extremely dissatisfied.
Chen Xuedao did not express his position, but turned to look at his adopted son Lin Ci.
What the adoptive father meant was to look at Chai Gui's face and beware of the Dream Master pretending to be? Zhang Yuanqing understood this and immediately opened his starry eyes to examine Chai Gui.
Illusionists have ever-changing abilities that even the scouts' insight skills may not be able to detect, but astrology can decipher them.
Appearance can be ever-changing, but life palace cannot be changed.
Zhang Yuanqing had looked at the faces of all the escorts as early as yesterday, so he remembered Chai Gui's life palace.
——When he looked at their faces yesterday, he didn't see any bloody disasters between Yang Shuo and Wang Pingle, which was why he was so shocked this morning.
The Ming Palace remained unchanged, but Chai Gui himself, Zhang Yuanqing, nodded calmly.
Chen Xuedao received the signal from his adopted son and no longer doubted it, but his brows furrowed even more tightly.
He looked around at his children and said in a low voice, "What do you think?"
Zhao Youcai: "Of course I will go to Shenjian Villa to find out."
Chen Wei: "That's right, no matter what kind of evil heretic it is, I will burn it all."
Zhuo Peiran: "The reputation of the Yellow Flag Escort Agency cannot be damaged."
Chen Xuedao sighed silently and looked at Lin Ci, the youngest adopted son:
"Ci'er, what do you think?"
Assuming that the information is true, it would be very strange that the incident of the extermination of the Excalibur Villa has not been reported for three years, and the complexity of the plot has suddenly soared.
Chen Xuedao and others were "blinded" by the spirit realm, so they didn't know about the incident at Shenjian Villa. Based on my understanding of the spirit realm, this escort trip should not be a fiction.
But this incident really happened back then. The Excalibur Villa in history was most likely wiped out silently. I don’t know how the Huangqi Escort Bureau ended up. Zhang Yuanqing’s thoughts suddenly changed when he heard Chen Xuedao’s question.
, so he asked with doubt:
"Master Xuanyu is unwilling to disclose the details. It seems that he has another hidden agenda. Foster father, are his words credible?"
Chen Xuedao said: "Master Xuanyu has been my friend for many years."
The implication is that he believes in the intelligence of Master Xuanyu.
Xuanyu Zhenren is a marginal supporting character in the dungeon and has little to do with this escort trip. There is really no need to spread false news. Zhang Yuanqing became more and more sure that the mysterious incident of extermination of the family at Shenjian Villa really happened, and said:
"We have already boarded the pirate ship. Abandoning the escort at this time will damage the reputation of the escort agency. On the other hand, the dangerous things in the coffin are difficult to deal with and cannot be brought back to the escort agency.
"And I haven't collected the remaining silver yet. I think the coffin should be delivered to the Excalibur Villa."
For me, no matter how weird the Excalibur Villa is, it is still a follow-up matter. Completing the side missions and solving the enemies lurking in the dark are the top priorities. Zhang Yuanqing's thinking is very clear.
Chen Xuedao nodded slightly: "That makes sense."
He also agreed with sending escorts. Lin Ci's words were well-founded and his analysis was clear. On the other hand, two sons and one daughter would only be able to show off their courage.
Zhang Yuanqing felt Zhuo Peiran glance at him displeasedly.
During these two days of getting along, he noticed that Lin Ci and Zhuo Peiran had a bad relationship. As the eldest brother, Zhuo Peiran almost never took the initiative to communicate with him.
Obviously, he didn't like this seventh brother.
With this episode, the mood of the escorts became more and more heavy, and their faces lost the smiles and became more uneasy and vigilant.
But with the Chen Xue Dao in control, and people who were used to licking blood from the edge of a knife, they really didn't care about their lives, so no one flinched.
After lunch, under the guidance of Chen Xuedao, the escorts found a creek, brushed the horses' noses, replenished water, and continued on their way.
Going all the way south, driving at full speed, we encountered two waves of bandits in just three hours.
The first wave of bandits was small, with more than 30 people. Zhuo Peiran led four riders into the crowd, chopping melons and vegetables and wiping them out.
The bandit leader was a swordsman in the extraordinary realm. Facing the bewitched demon in the saint stage, he had no power to fight back and cut off his head with one blow.
The second wave of bandits was even larger, with more than a hundred people, possessing twenty horses, a dozen bows, and each a fine iron sword. The leader was a water ghost in the saint realm.
The armed forces can directly attack the county seat.
Although Chen Xuedao was a local monster, he had an extremely strong temperament and still refused to pay the toll. He ordered his three sons and his daughter to lead ten cavalry into the formation and kill all the bandits.
In the evening, the sky suddenly turned overcast, and large ink clouds rolled in, blocking the skylight, accompanied by strong winds.
"Huhu~"
The strong wind stirred up flying dust and grass clippings on the official road, and rolled them into the sky.
The entire sky became dark, and the dark clouds were heavy on the top of the head, which was extremely depressing.
The rain came at the wrong time. Zhang Yuanqing raised his head and looked at the sky, his heart sank.
Zhuo Peiran, who was galloping on his horse, said loudly:
"Father, it's going to rain soon. Look at the sky, it's probably going to be a downpour. The linen that's used to avoid water may not be able to protect the talismans and formations on the coffin."
Chen Xuedao looked back at the black coffin and said, "Add another layer of water-proof clothing."
Zhuo Peiran shook his head: "You can guard against it for a while, but you can't guard against it overnight."
Chen Xuedao couldn't help but frown. He could control the spirit of loess and condense a layer of earth crust on the surface of the coffin, but the power of the earth spirit must be too heavy for the horse to pull.
The earth shell that does not contain the spirit of loess will be washed away in an instant when heavy rain comes.
The escorts in the team are still mainly earth monsters and scouts, and there are no water ghosts.
At this time, Chen Wei happily pointed to the distance and shouted:
"Dad, there is a place to stay ahead."
Everyone followed the sound and saw that on the wasteland in front of them stood a dilapidated yizhuang, with a straight roof and a small courtyard attached. The whole building was gray and black.
It stood quietly under the gloomy sky, exuding an indescribable gloom.
But for this group of traveling escorts, in the wilderness, this is the best place to stay.
Chen Xuedao's face was slightly relaxed and he said:
"Stay overnight in Yizhuang tonight to take shelter from the wind and rain."
The escort team immediately turned into a path overgrown with weeds, and ran towards Yizhuang with their horse hooves flying.
This charity village has been around for some time. The closed door is full of holes, the lettering on the plaque is peeling off and hung with cobwebs, and the foundation of the courtyard wall is covered with moss.
A scene of depression and dilapidation.
But in fact it was not abandoned. The Yi Zhuang next to the official road was a social welfare facility in this era, specially designed to accommodate tourists who died in a foreign land.
Every once in a while, officials would bring family members to pick up the body.
The bodyguards quickly untied the hemp ropes, unloaded the coffin, unhooked the horses pulling the cart, threw the flatbed cart outside, led the horses to carry the coffin, and pushed open the gate of the righteous village.
Passing through the narrow courtyard, pushing open the leaky lattice door, the bodyguards led their horses in.
When Fang Fu stepped into Yizhuang, Zhang Yuanqing smelled an unpleasant rancid smell.
I glanced around and saw that there were no rooms in the righteous village. Six pillars supported the straight roof ridge, and there were six or seven thin, faded and blackened coffins on display. The rotten smell emanated from these coffins.
The bodyguards tied their horses' ropes, cleaned the dust on the ground, and got busy.
Zhang Yuanqing handed the horse to an escort, quietly opened his starry eyes, and examined the faces of each escort.
Although yesterday's experience told him that astrology could not tell the life and death of this group of NPCs, he still took a look out of habit.
"There is still nothing abnormal. I can't tell if the escorts are in danger. It should be that the spiritual realm has blinded my perception, but why does the spiritual realm do this?"
"The Dream Master lurking in the dark will definitely continue to attack tonight. The Dream Master is really troublesome. Dreams and illusions are hard to guard against."
"In comparison, among the evil professions, the bewitching monster is more lovable. The bewitching wizard who likes to curse and use poison is also annoying, but it is not as disgusting as the dream master."
"Chen Xuedao knew that the team was being targeted by the Dream Master, but he still dared to stay overnight in Yizhuang. I wonder what he had to rely on. Or is it because he is brave and not afraid of the enemy because of his skill?"
"The Dream Master didn't attack me and Chen Xuedao last night. Could it be because he didn't dare to disturb the mountain god? Fortunately, Lin Ci is protecting me."
"Princess Yin Yao has almost never announced it to the public. Blood Rose has also never faced level 6 enemies directly, but she has used it more often. The Dream Master didn't recognize me last night. Either she has almost no interaction with me, or
It was the spiritual realm that had secretly manipulated it, well, I don’t know the identity of the Dream Master, and it’s even less likely that he knows that the enemy is Yuanshi Tianzun.”
"I just hope that the Dream Master is at the early stage of level 6, so that I still have the possibility of confrontation. If he is at the peak of level 6, it will be dangerous. Such people are among the strongest among the elders."
Thinking of this, Zhang Yuanqing felt heavy in his heart. He took out his sword, used the sharp blade as a mirror, and looked at his own face.
This glance made his expression change uncontrollably.
I saw blood gushing between my eyebrows!
In the predictions of astrology, the bloody disaster represents a crisis of life and death. If you cannot survive it, you will die.
Fuck, my vest has been seen through? That dream master knows that I am, and plans to attack me tonight?
Or am I unlucky enough to be chosen as a sacrifice?
Zhang Yuanqing's heartbeat inevitably accelerated and adrenaline surged, resulting in a physiological stress response.
Then he took a deep breath, suppressed all his emotions with experience, silently opened the inventory and gang warehouse, stared at the props and materials inside, and paused for a few seconds on the ten gold bars.
Then, he closed the inventory and gang warehouse, approached Chen Xuedao, and lowered his voice:
"Father, I will have a bloody disaster tonight."
Chen Xuedao glanced at him and said slowly:
"It's easy to deal with the Dream Master, just wake up."
Just wake up? How to wake up? The Dream Master also has a skill called Dream Master. Zhang Yuanqing showed his thoughts.
On the other side, Zhuo Peiran held a knife, pushed open a coffin, and cursed:
"The corpses were so rotten that they were infested with insects, and no one came to collect them."
He opened the coffins one by one, and finally found a thin coffin without a body, and said:
"Father, should I split the coffin to make a fire?"
Chen Xuedao shook his head slightly, "The living and the dead should have the dignity they deserve."
He glanced at the sky outside and said:
"The rain won't fall for a while. If you have money, you can take people around to collect some firewood."
Zhang Yuanqing's heart moved and he said:
"Fourth brother, I'll go with you."
Without any explanation, he quickly followed Zhao Youcai and ran out of Yizhuang.
Dark clouds were accumulating more and more, the sky was completely dark, and the wind was howling, and when it penetrated the doors and windows, it made an unsettling scream.
The firewood-gathering team had only been walking for less than a quarter of an hour when it started pouring rain.
The big raindrops crackled on the tiles, dripping down along the eaves and forming a crystal clear bead curtain. When the strong wind came, they flew sideways like flying flowers and broken jade.
Chen Xuedao stood under the eaves, silently watching the rainstorm without saying a word.
"Dad, what are you thinking about?" Chen Wei came over cheerfully, "Don't worry, there are many people in our escort agency. It doesn't matter whether it is Shenjian Villa or Sword God Villa. With your order, I will lead my brothers to level the ground.
.”
Chen Xuedao looked back at his daughter, with a gentle expression on his serious expression, and said:
"Don't be reckless!"
At this time, several figures rushed into Yizhuang with their heads lowered and holding firewood. It was Zhao Youcai and Lin Ci.
"Father, we are back. We picked up half the rain and came here. If we don't come back, the firewood will be all wet." Zhao Youcai ran into Yizhuang, throwing down the half-wet firewood and shouting:
"Fortunately, there are many of us, so we should have enough firewood."
The bonfire was quickly lit. The escorts collected the rainwater in an iron pot, set it on the bonfire, threw in dried meat and salt, and cooked a pot of hot broth to eat with steamed buns.
After filling their stomachs, the escorts sat around the campfire in silence.
With the disappearance of the escorts in the previous two nights, no one dared to sleep, and the atmosphere was slightly solemn.
There was a heavy rain outside Yizhuang, and the strong wind became more and more fierce. The doors and windows that had been in disrepair shook slightly in the strong wind.
Zhang Yuanqing was sitting cross-legged at the door, and the heartless third sister was half-leaning against him, bleary-eyed, as if she would fall asleep at any moment.
Alas, I suddenly understood why Zhuo Peiran didn't like Lin Ci. No matter how dull he was, he should be able to feel that Chen Wei and Lin Ci were close. Zhang Yuanqing murmured in his heart.
As for whether Zhuo Peiran noticed that his head was green, he didn't know.
After all, Zhuo Peiran is a bewitching demon with some wit and authority, not a fire master.
Suddenly, a gust of wind struck, and the lattice door of Yizhuang "clanged", raindrops and strong wind poured in, and the bonfire shook violently.
Zhang Yuanqing, who was already nervous, suddenly turned his head and saw the wind and rain outside and the dark night. Other than that, there was nothing unusual.
I was shocked. Zhang Yuanqing muttered in his heart, got up and closed the lattice door.
Just when he closed the door and turned around, he was suddenly stunned.
The bonfire crackled, and the bodyguards sitting around the flames all had their heads lowered and their eyes closed. They fell into a deep sleep at some point, including the four saints Chen Xuedao and Zhuo Peiran.
Are they all being dragged into a dream?
Zhang Yuanqing's pupils contracted violently.
At the same time, in the dark corner of Yizhuang, there was the sound of nails scratching the lid of the black coffin.
"Crunch, crunch"
Immediately afterwards, the coffin lid slowly opened, and a green black ghost hand covered with corpse spots appeared and grabbed the edge of the coffin.
PS: Correct the typos first and then correct them. The good news is that except for the burning of the throat, loss of energy, and easy fatigue, all other symptoms have improved.