Zhao Shu was awakened by a scream. He rolled over and got up. Lingxiao did not show up, but her voice rang in his mind: "Things have changed."
"No reason." As soon as Zhao Shu changed his clothes, someone banged on the door outside the guest room.
"What happened?" Zhao Shu opened the door and asked.
The servants of the Dai family were frightened: "Old, Master... our guests, please go and have a look!"
"lead the way!"
Zhao Miao put the bamboo basket on his back and followed the servant to the other courtyard with suspicion. What he saw was a bloody scene.
The body of a servant fell on the stone steps outside the door. The chest and abdomen were torn open, and the broken organs were scattered everywhere. There were obvious wounds on the throat, blood flowed all over the floor, and there were vague bloody footprints.
Extends to the courtyard wall.
On the other side of the courtyard, Mr. Dai fainted and fell down. The housekeeper and servant pressed him down, with his chest and back hanging down, but he did not wake up at all.
"I'll do it." Seeing this, Zhao Shu took out a small porcelain bottle from the bamboo basket. After uncorking the bottle, a burst of purple smoke slowly rose. Zhao Shu quickly placed the porcelain bottle under Mr. Dai's nose and shook it gently.
This soul-reviving incense is considered to be the most precious thing in the Zhao millet bamboo basket. It can not only wake up a comatose person, but even a person who is dying can barely hang on to his life and explain his funeral after one sip of it.
Master Dai took a sharp breath, Zhao Shu pulled his hand away with some pain, and carefully put away the porcelain bottle. Before he could speak, Master Dai started wailing:
"My son——"
Zhao Shu didn't want to waste his time, so he asked the housekeeper: "What happened? Where is your young master?"
"I don't know either. I heard someone shouting, so I rushed over with the master." The butler's face was covered with cold sweat, and he was frightened at first sight: "Young master, he seemed to have hit an evil spirit, bit the boy servant to death, and then he
He climbed over the courtyard wall and ran away..."
Zhao Shu gritted his teeth, stood up and walked outside the bedroom, bypassing the blood stains of corpses in front of the door, and carefully entered. The situation inside was even more tragic. A maid fell on the bed, and the blood stained the bedding gauze curtain into a red and black color.
Color. The maid's throat was also bitten open and her belly was disemboweled. Her face retained the expression of fear at the moment of death.
A brave servant took a look indoors and was so frightened that he turned around and ran away. The sound of vomiting was heard in the distance.
"How could this happen?" Zhao Shui was also full of confusion and secretly asked Lingxiao: "The wolf-dog spirits that were attached to the young master of the Dai family have been completely wiped out. The "Shenhu Hidden Text" you taught me can deal with the spirits.
The evil spirits are very effective and cannot be repeated again."
"Now I can only use your ears, eyes and senses to make a judgment. Ordinary miscellaneous spirits can only rely on people who are weak and mentally weak. If they are really evil, this young master of the Dai family will not be able to support you to drive them away.
, the vitality can be drained alive." Lingxiao gave his own judgment: "There is another hidden meaning in this matter, it is not like the possession of ordinary spirits."
"Is it possible that the Dai family has been cursed by Renma Town?" Zhao Shu asked: "I heard on the road that the Dai family is not well received by the people inside and outside Chengyang County."
Lingxiao replied: "It's not impossible. But the effectiveness of ordinary people's use of witchcraft and nightmare is uncertain, and they often use it too many times without any results. Like the young master of the Dai family, he was possessed twice in a row, even to the point of sucking people's blood.
It’s definitely not an ordinary nightmare technique.”
"Is there a powerful person targeting the Dai family?" Zhao Shu scratched his head. He obviously planned to do some work for the wealthy family to exorcise evil spirits and make the house safe. Who would have thought that there was something behind it?
"What are you going to do?" Lingxiao's tone became more critical.
"We'll see." Zhao Shu simply replied, "If I go back to the Huaiying Hall in despair now, I won't be able to deal with it in front of the chief. I'll find the young master of the Dai family first, and I guess I can follow the clues to find out the person behind it."
After walking out of the bedroom, Mr. Dai was still slumped on the ground. He looked as if he had aged more than ten years in an instant. Zhao Shu comforted him and said: "Master Dai, since I haven't left yet, I won't ignore this matter. Now the situation is unclear, I need to
Find your son first. If there are no other accidents, please don’t report to the official yet."
Zhao Miao is a fu official in the Huaiying Pavilion. Although he does not have a serious rank, he can still be exempted from corvee and tax. After all, all the bureaus in various places reserve talents for the country, and the fu official is considered a public figure. If he goes one step further, it will be equivalent to a formal official status.
.
And if something like this happened to the Dai family, it would be a huge loss of face. If the young master of the Dai family hurt someone outside, it would be difficult for the officials. Master Dai understood the reason and nodded with difficulty: "Then I will be the one to blame Zhao Sheng."
After asking the Dai family to leave the other courtyard, Zhao Shu took out the Qingxuan pen and swiped it in front of his eyes. The "Yingxuan Illuminating Scenery Technique" that can understand the flow of Qi was activated, and he naturally saw the evil aura all over the garden.
Also mixed with other gas engines.
Whatever you do, there will be residual Qi. Especially in places where killings have occurred, the evil Qi is often difficult to cover up. If there is a fortune teller who is good at fortune telling, he can sense the Qi at this moment and calculate the time of the murder.
Where the person is currently, unless the perpetrator knows how to hide his or her depravity.
However, Zhao Shu did not have a deep understanding of the study of horoscopes, and only relied on the techniques taught by Lingxiao to gain insight into the qi movement.
Looking at the wisp of evil in the fierce aura, Zhao Shui raised his pen and drew it, condensing the evil into the tip of his pen as if peeling off a cocoon. Then he took out the white paper and cinnabar, wrote a chasing talisman on the white paper, and folded it into
Paper crane, chanting a mantra:
"The red talisman chases and captures evil spirits. If anything is not right, you are ordered to reveal yourself!"
After reciting the mantra, the paper crane naturally soared into the air, circled twice above Zhao Shu's head, and flew towards the outside of the courtyard wall. Seeing this, Zhao Shu picked up the bamboo basket on his back, raised his feet and stepped on the wall, and climbed over the wall with great skill.
…
The sun was blazing and the heat was unbearable. Wang Miaoshou carried two buckets of water and came to the edge of the vegetable garden. An old man about his age walked over with a cane. One of his trousers was empty and tied with a small knot.
Old Man Chuguai took a gourd, scooped up water and poured it into the vegetable field. At the same time, he said: "Boss Wang, when you went to Dai's house yesterday, those rogues came to steal vegetables again."
Wang Miao Shou looked around and said, "There is no shortage of food."
"I drove them away." Old Man Chuguai sighed: "My strength has become increasingly weak in the past two years. Back then, I could have broken their necks with my bare hands."
"Okay! Are you the coward you were back then?" Wang Miaoshou joked: "The first time I went to the battlefield, I wet my crotch directly. Even though I was wearing heavy armor, I took arrows from the barbarians from Jiuli Kingdom and lost all my skin.
Damn it, cry for father and mother immediately. Later, you were punished by the old general thirty lashes, why didn’t I bear half of it for you?"
Old Chuguai laughed, and Wang Miaoshou continued: "Don't worry, I will be able to provide a home for my brothers in a few days."
"What's the matter? Are you willing to spit out what you put into your mouth?"
Wang Miao Shou curled his lips and said, "Just wait, don't ask any more questions."
"Boss Wang." Old Chuguai stopped and said, "What's been going on with you recently? You haven't been seen for three days, and the brothers are all worried about you."
The old man Chuguai still wanted to speak, but Wang Miaoshou suddenly stood up and looked up at Zhao Shu holding a paper crane outside the vegetable garden.
"Li Zhao Fu? Why are you here?"
Zhao Shu followed the paper crane and headed south of the city. He saw Wang Miao Shou on the way and stopped for a moment. Judging from Yingxuan's landscape technique, this old man had strong vitality and killing spirit. Thinking of what he saw yesterday
If we had this person's help in dealing with the young master of the Dai family, we might be able to save a lot of trouble.
"Wang Miao Shou, can we take the liberty to discuss this?"
Seeing that Zhao Miao had no intention of coming in, Wang Miaoshou put down the bucket, wiped his hands and walked out of the vegetable garden, and asked with a restrained expression: "I wonder what the official Zhao Fu ordered?"
"Instruction is out of the question." Zhao Shu looked around. Under the scorching sun, the heat was rising from the withered yellow earth. The light and shadow in the distance were twisting, and the scenery was blurry. There was a drafty general's temple, several broken rammed earth courtyard walls, and the corners of the walls.
The old soldiers with severed limbs crouching motionless below, resembling statues, represent the true condition of this land.
"I wonder if Wang Miaoshou saw the young master of the Dai family passing by?"
Hearing this question, Wang Miaoshou was stunned for a moment: "Young Master of the Dai family? Is he awake?"
Zhao Shu nodded: "Not only did he wake up, but the situation was more serious than yesterday. He killed two servants at home and fled Chengyang County. I was trying to track the evil spirit with magic, but the evil spirit was destroyed by the sunlight after leaving the city.
There are few clues, so I wanted to ask if you noticed anything strange."
Wang Miao Shou was at a loss: "How could this be? Apparently Zhao Fu had killed the spirits yesterday. I also checked and found that there are no external evil spirits in the young master of the Dai family."
"I suspect that someone is trying to use witchcraft to suppress the Dai family." Zhao Shu asked: "The Wang Temple has been guarding Chengyang for a long time. Do you know of any monks who are good at this?"
"This... I'll be honest with Zhao Fu, the little old man and I, the temple guardian, are not very authentic. I really don't recognize many of the local magicians. Like Mr. Zhu, I saw him for the first time yesterday." Wang
The temple guardian's words are shameful.
Zhao Shu nodded slightly. He looked to the south and saw vaguely undulating mountains, so he asked, "What does that mountain mean?"
"That's Alexander."
Zhao Miao raised his eyebrows: "Where is Mr. Zhu's cave?"
"Yes." Wang Miaoshou said: "It is said that a long time ago, an immortal descended from Mount Li, and you could see colorful lights rising into the sky at night."
"Is this the case now?" Zhao Shu suddenly became interested.
Wang Miao Shou shook his head and said, "Where can there be any more now? Outside the city at night, it's all dark."
"I plan to go to Lishan to explore. I wonder if I can go with Wang Miao Shou?" Zhao Shu asked.
Wang Miao Shou looked troubled and gestured to the vegetable garden behind him: "Li Zhao Fu, this..."
"I was the one who was abrupt."
Zhao Miao also understood that most rural temple ministers could not actually live a prosperous life. Wang Miaoshou also had to take care of a group of disabled old soldiers, so his life was inevitably difficult, and he also needed to carry water and grow vegetables by himself.
After bidding farewell to Wang Miao Shou, Zhao Miao continued his journey south. He didn't go far when he heard Ling Xiao suddenly say: "That temple Shou has a sinister aura about him."
"What's weird about this?" Zhao Shu didn't feel strange: "He is a veteran who has experienced the Five Kingdoms War. I have seen many such people. Even if he is discharged and returns to the fields to work in the fields, the vicious aura on his body will never fade away.
The battlefield is cruel, I guess I don’t need to say more.”
"Since ancient times, wars have been dangerous, and it is most likely to breed ghosts with old spirits and develop evil spirits." Lingxiao reminded: "In my opinion, the war in Kunlun Continent seems to have subsided, but there is no open revolution to eliminate the old spirits.
Causing sediment to rise."
"You have been sealed for thousands of years, and you have only been with me for a few months, and you can understand the current world?" Zhao Shu was a little curious.
Lingxiao did not hide anything: "I am not ignorant in the True Essence Lock. Every time it changes hands, I can more or less notice the changes in the current situation."
"Okay." Zhao Shu said, "But I can't control it too much. Let's go to Lishan to find Mr. Zhu first. He may know something about the situation."
Lishan Mountain is not a majestic and towering famous mountain. From a distance, it looks like ordinary vegetation, and there is not much magical weather. When Zhao Shu went to the foot of the mountain, he happened to bump into a woodcutter coming down the mountain, so he went up to talk and inquire, and learned about the general structure of the Yanquan Cave.
direction.
Fortunately, Mr. Zhu didn't seem to understand the art of forbidden magic formations, so there were no other obstacles to the trip to Yanquan Cave except for the rugged mountain road.
Zhao Shu crossed the mountain ridge and saw a small stream, and knew that Yanquan Cave was close at hand. At the same time, he noticed that all kinds of qi around him were gathering towards higher places.
"Mr. Zhu is breathing and refining qi?" Zhao Shu was a little surprised: "Mobilizing the qi machine all over the mountain, this skill is not bad!"
"That's not right." Lingxiao warned: "The Qi machine is inhaled but not exhaled. This is not the art of exhaling and inhaling."
Zhao Shu made a quick decision, shook out a talisman from his sleeve, his hand gestures instantly changed, and he shouted: "Golden armor protects you from death!"
A layer of golden light that is difficult to detect with the naked eye flows around Zhao Shui's body. This is the "Golden Armor Technique" passed down by Huaiying Hall. After the technique is performed, it is like wearing armor, which can withstand sharp swords and blades, and there is no heavy armor that hinders the movement of the hands and feet. Zhao Shui
Not only did he master this technique proficiently, but he also wrote down the spell in advance for backup.
Holding the Qingxuan pen in his hand, Zhao Shu did not dare to be careless. He carefully approached the rock spring cave along the stream, then walked a few hundred steps higher. When he raised his head, he saw a horrifying scene.
In a huge cave, there is a strange wooden sculpture. It is the hollow shell left after the vines strangled the trees. The branches extend in all directions, roughly in human form. Mr. Zhu is trapped inside the vines, with countless roots.
It entered his chest and then sprouted out of the seven orifices on his head and face. It was impossible to imagine the miserable condition under his skin.
"Who are you..."
Mr. Zhu's body trembled, he made a strange hoarse voice, and his seven orifices stained with dried blood swayed vividly.
Zhao Shu didn't bother to reply at all. He was already sure that the monster in front of him was a mountain spirit, and he was crazy to answer its words. Although Mr. Zhu was arrogant, he at least had good skills, but he was still killed by it.
In short, in Zhao Shu's eyes, this demonic vine uses Mr. Zhu as a medium to absorb Lishan's energy and nourish itself. It can almost be regarded as an evil spirit causing harm to one party.
The two sides faced off in silence for a while. Except for the sound of the gurgling stream, the atmosphere inside and outside the cave was solemn.
Whoosh!
There was a sound in the air, and the demon vine threw out several vines to attack. Zhao Shu didn't recite the incantation with his mouth, and he didn't make any seals with his hands. The Qingxuan pen pointed forward, and a few sparks suddenly appeared and rushed towards the demon vine.
The sparks were as small as fireflies at first, then suddenly expanded as big as fists, burning people's faces with blazing heat. The demonic vine reacted quickly, and the vines instantly curled up into shields, blocking several sparks and causing sawdust to fly, but it was not enough to shake the foundation.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Shu didn't fight it to the end. Taking advantage of the demon vine to protect itself, he turned around and ran down the mountain as fast as smoke.