Fifteen miles outside the Soft Smoke Spring, Xu Zhiqiong slowly appeared in the night.
No matter where you enter or exit Zhonglang Courtyard, Liu Jiangpu and his men never imagined that Xu Zhiqiong would reappear in the place where he disappeared.
The lights of the soft smoke fountain are still there, and the official roads are full of traffic. One of the most fascinating features of Daxuan is that there has never been a night ban.
Xu Zhiqiong walked down the official road, entered a path, and found a magic circle under a peach tree.
Stepping on the magic circle, injecting Qi according to the ratio of yin, six yang and four, the magic circle was activated immediately. Xu Zhiqiong came to a long corridor under the transmission of the magic circle.
It's such a familiar long corridor. No matter how good your eyesight is, you can never see the end. Under the flickering candlelight, there is a mystery that makes people scared and curious.
On one side of the corridor are doors with the same shape. If the owner wants you to go in, it is right to open any door. If the owner does not want you to go in, open all the doors and you will not be found.
Place you want to go.
Onmyoji.
Long time no see.
Xu Zhiqiong opened the first door and saw a figure, wearing a loose robe, with his back to Xu Zhiqiong, sitting next to a green lantern.
Xu Zhiqiong stepped forward and saluted: "Taibu, long time no see."
Tao Huayuan turned around, looked at Xu Zhiqiong and said, "Do you think Master and I look alike?"
Xu Zhiqiong sneered and said: "Who said you are like that old guy? Aren't you the Yin Yang Sitai Bu now?"
Tao Huayuan hooked Xu Zhiqiong's chin: "Why are you so sweet today?"
Xu Zhiqiong smiled and said: "If you think it's sweet, come over and have a taste."
After saying that, Xu Zhiqiong secretly wiped his sweat.
It's not that he was being sweet, it was because Xu Zhiqiong really admitted his mistake just now.
Tao Huayuan's back looks very similar to that of Taibu. She is wearing a very high hat and sitting in a backlit position. The color of her hair cannot be seen. The wide sleeves of her robe hide many details of her body.
Fortunately, Xu Zhiqiong reacted quickly and covered it up very naturally.
Tao Huayuan waved her hand, and a picture appeared on the green lantern. The picture was a barren mountain with no grass growing on it. Compared with the surrounding trees, it can be seen that this barren mountain is not big. Judging from the area alone, it should be as big as Xu Zhiqiong.
The empty space seen in the small dark room is similar.
That’s right, this is the outer body of Taotie.
Tao Huayuan said: "This mountain is one hundred and fifty miles south of Yuling City, in the main line of Qianku Mountain."
Qianku Mountain is the largest mountain range in Daxuan. To be precise, Qianku Mountain does not entirely belong to Daxuan. Part of the mountain range in the south has extended to Yu Xianguo.
Qianku Mountain is an excellent hiding place for Taotie's body. The mountains are vast, steep, and densely wooded. Many people have said that no one has ever been to more than 90% of Qianku Mountain.
Tao Huayuan waved her hand, and another picture appeared. A man was shouting to everyone in the village. Someone around him was recording the roster, and someone was handing out copper coins.
"Recruiting!" Xu Zhiqiong's expression changed.
"Yes, we are recruiting workers!" Tao Huayuan nodded, "My onmyoji saw a wealthy businessman recruiting workers in the village."
"Which village?" Xu Zhiqiong immediately became nervous.
He is very sensitive about recruitment.
The Royal Hunting Garden recruited workers, and more than two thousand people were planted into blood trees.
Another time they were recruiting workers in Jungle County, and two hundred people were fed to gluttons.
What is the purpose of this recruitment?
Since Taotie's outer body is here, the probability of feeding Taotie is greater.
Tao Huayuan said: "Don't be impatient. It's useless to be impatient. These people were taken away from the village more than ten days ago. Their whereabouts are still unknown. They are probably no longer alive."
"Since your subordinate Onmyoji saw it, why didn't he tell you earlier?"
Tao Huayuan said: "During the winter off-season, farmers go out to do part-time work to earn a few copper coins. This is a very common thing. Onmyoji wouldn't take it to heart even if he saw it."
Xu Zhiqiong asked: "How many people did they recruit in total?"
"More than two hundred people."
"You don't care about more than two hundred people?"
"It's not in one village, but in more than 30 villages, scattered in various counties in Huazhou. Each village has about six or seven people. In total, there should be more than 200 people.
The onmyojis in various counties in Huazhou didn't pay much attention at first, but later they found out that these workers were all recruited at the same time, and they all said they were going to work in the mountains, so they thought it was suspicious."
When you go to work in the mountains, you are almost certain to be overfed.
More than two hundred.
This number is very familiar.
In Lincong County, more than 200 people were eaten by gluttons.
Shortly after that incident happened, the case was settled by Liu Jiangpu.
Not long after, Liu Jiangpu was transferred from Lincong County.
Liu Jiangpu's departure proves that Taotie is also gone, and his task is to take care of Taotie.
Xu Zhiqiong pinched his chin and said: "It seems that Taotie is full. When he is full, it is time to move!"
Tao Huayuan said: "I am also worried about this matter, so I asked you to discuss it together. With the means you and I have today, it is really a fool's dream to destroy Taotie's outer body. Even if Master is here, there is nothing we can do.
But now that we have found this monster, we must at least keep an eye on his whereabouts. I plan to personally take action and place a magic circle on him to mark it so that it can be tracked in the future."
It's the equivalent of a baby drawing a map on a tiger's forehead.
Xu Zhiqiong still remembers the situation after the fight between his master and Taotie. The master whose strength was unfathomable became extremely weak.
Taotie is the true god.
With Tao Huayuan's strength, trying to perform a formation on Taotie's back is pure suicide.
Tao Huayuan sighed: "Are we just going to leave him alone? The information you worked so hard to find out in the Soft Smoke Spring was just wasted?"
Xu Zhiqiong thought for a long time and said: "Why did he recruit workers in more than thirty villages?"
Tao Huayuan said: "This must be Liu Jiangpu's idea. He doesn't want to make a big fuss."
Xu Zhiqiong shook his head and said: "Liu Jiangpu's hands and eyes are very good. Even if the commotion becomes too big and he changes his position and becomes an official again, he will not be traced afterwards.
They recruited workers in more than 30 villages, and after the incident, they had to bribe county magistrates from various places. Although the commotion will not cause a big fuss, if there are too many people involved, it will inevitably leave hidden dangers, unless..."
Tao Huayuan understood what Xu Zhiqiong meant: "Unless he doesn't want to leave!"
Xu Zhiqiong nodded and said: "He still wants to stay in Huazhou and continue to be an official. In this way, it will be safer to recruit workers in more than thirty villages and leave the matter to the county magistrates in each place first.
If he doesn't leave Huazhou, Taotie's body will not leave Huazhou, he will just move nearby."
Tao Huayuan waved her hand, and a map of Huazhou appeared out of thin air: "Huazhou is also very big, and we don't know where the monster will move!"
Xu Zhiqiong stared at the map for a moment: "I do have a magic weapon. As long as he doesn't go too far, I won't worry about not catching him."
…
Late at night, a peach branch grew out of the grass at the foot of Qianku Mountain. On the branch, peach blossoms bloomed, and the petals fell to the ground, touching the magic circle. Xu Zhiqiong and Tao Huayuan both appeared in the magic circle.
Tao Huayuan waved her sleeves and collected all the peach branches and petals on the ground, leaving no trace at all.
She pointed to a small path: "Follow this road for about twenty miles and you will see the hill. There are sergeants guarding the hill. There are not many people. It is not too difficult to kill them. But if
I don’t want to alarm them, but I have to be more careful.”
Xu Zhiqiong took out the hidden mirror and hid the two people's figures. The two walked along the mountain road for four or five miles when they suddenly smelled a pungent smell.
After the fishy smell passed, mist followed. Tao Huayuan used the telegraph to transmit: "Seeing the mist proves that we are very close to the barren mountain, but it's a little weird tonight."
"Why do you say it's weird?"
Tao Huayuan said: "In the past, we only saw fog after going more than ten miles into the mountain. Today, the fog came earlier."
It seems that Taotie is very excited tonight.
The two of them continued walking up the mountain in the mist, and suddenly saw a little fire flickering in front of them.
Is it a sergeant?
Seeing how fast they moved, Xu Zhiqiong and Tao Huayuan hid in the grass nearby.
The fog became thicker, and a group of people gradually approached. Xu Zhiqiong could not see their faces clearly, but he could barely see the outline of their clothes.
What they wore didn't look like battle clothes. When the wind blew, their rags swayed back and forth, making them look more like farmers.
A woman fell down and was carrying a backpack on her back. There was a child in the backpack, who looked like a three or four-year-old girl with braids.
A man beside her quickly helped her up: "Hurry up, that big snake is coming after you."
Big snake? Where did that big snake come from?
Could it be a monster from Thousand Cave Mountain?
The woman was out of breath: "You should take the child and leave. I really can't run anymore."
"Just grit your teeth and take just a few steps and you'll be fine once you get down the mountain!"
A group of people stumbled and disappeared on the mountain road. Xu Zhiqiong said to Tao Huayuan: "It seems that there are still hired workers who have not been eaten."
Tao Huayuan shook her head and said: "Since they are hired workers, why are there still women and children? Onmyoji told me that they only hire men."
Looking at the disappearing fire, Xu Zhiqiong sighed: "How can anyone run away with a torch? Even if Taotie doesn't chase them, the sergeant will catch up soon."
Tao Huayuan said: "Maybe I was walking at night and accidentally bumped into the monster. Let's be careful."
The two of them walked carefully along the mountain road. Not long after, they heard the sound of footsteps in front of them.
Another group of people ran over, but they didn't bring torches.
Xu Zhiqiong and Tao Huayuan were hiding on the side of the road, only to hear the group of people running across the mountain road noisily:
"Er Qiuzi, my mother has been fooled by you. I just stayed at home and had to go out to work with you. What should I do now?"
"Why did I treat you so badly? Didn't you also get a lot of money? I just saw you pick up a lot of money."
"No matter how much I pick up, what will happen? What will happen if my life is gone?"
The old trick was repeated, and the sergeant must have thrown money into the mountain, waiting for the poor people to go up the mountain to pick it up, and then they all became gluttonous meals.
It seems that these people are lucky enough to escape after picking up the money.
The two of them then went up the mountain. Not long after walking, they encountered a group of people rushing down the mountain in a hurry.
They were all men, about seven or eight of them.
When they walked away, Xu Zhiqiong turned around and said to Tao Huayuan: "Tao'er, your information is not accurate. There are still many hired workers alive."
Tao Huayuan wiped her sweat and said, "It's hard to say, maybe these are newly hired workers from elsewhere."
Xu Zhiqiong frowned and said: "How many people does he want to eat? If he eats four to five hundred, I'm afraid something big will happen!"
They walked and stopped all the way, and estimated that in an hour, depending on the speed of the two of them, the twenty-mile mountain road should be completed.
Xu Zhiqiong asked: "How far is it from the monster?"
Tao Huayuan's face was pale, and her clothes were soaked with sweat. She panted for a long time and said, "I estimate there are still two or three miles at most."
Tao Huayuan was very weak and every step she took was difficult.
It doesn't make sense. She is a fifth-grade cultivator. Let alone walking a twenty-mile mountain road, even walking two hundred miles in one breath will not be so strenuous.
Xu Zhiqiong took her to rest for a while in Luancao. After a meal, Xu Zhiqiong also felt that his legs were weak and his physical strength was also very high.
Another group of hired workers ran down from the front. Counting them, Xu Zhiqiong had already encountered seven or eight groups of people running for their lives.
Xu Zhiqiong looked around, smelled the fishy smell in the fog, pulled up Tao Huayuan and said, "Tao'er, can you really find that barren mountain?"
Tao Huayuan looked around with difficulty, looking a little confused: "The fog was too thick, and I couldn't tell the direction for a while, but I'm on the right track on this mountain road. Anyway, just keep going forward."
Xu Zhiqiong said: "I'm afraid we're lost. There seems to be a enchantment array on this mountain, and there's something wrong with this mist. It seems to be able to suck people away!"
Tao Huayuan wiped the sweat off her face: "If we still can't see the monster after walking three miles, we will go down the mountain. I have left a formation at the bottom of the mountain. I think we can get there in the blink of an eye if we go down the mountain."
After walking for a while, another group of people came in front and fled down the mountain for their lives.
They held torches.
Through the fog, Xu Zhiqiong saw a woman.
The woman was carrying a basket on her back, and in the basket was a child with a braid.