The cold rain has stopped, the lead clouds are stagnate, and the mood of autumn is chilling. The dense reeds on the south bank of the Luo River have turned golden, and they are dancing together in the howling cold wind. One or two lone wild geese are burrowing in the reeds with their heads buried.
As he crawled in, he was suddenly startled by something, and then he fluttered his wings and escaped into the sky.
There is a low hut hidden in the reeds. It is only a few feet long and wide, and is only tall enough for one person to stand. It must be a place where fishermen occasionally rest when fishing at night. The wood door of the hut is crude, leaking, and there is a branch inside.
A dilapidated wooden couch with no other furnishings. This is the real situation of this hut in a corner of Luo City, inaccessible to people.
To this day, the thatched cottage is experiencing a rare bustle. Two masked Taoist priests are taking off their coir raincoats and bamboo hats aside, sitting on the couch chatting. Occasionally they exchange a few words with a voice under the wooden couch, but they don't get what they want.
After the answer, I ignored it.
Taoist Priest A was chewing something in his mouth and said incoherently: "Is this little Taoist really that powerful? Shouldn't we be captured for such a powerful little Taoist?"
Taoist B also snorted disdainfully: "Maybe it's a bit powerful. Four against twelve, it can last for a while and a half. The four we met today are not mediocre. But it doesn't matter if they are powerful. Even if they are geniuses, they are too young.
To what extent can you practice swordsmanship and boxing?"
Taoist Priest A chewed for a while and then said again: "The master of the temple said that this boy's sword skills are good, but he doesn't know the origin. If the two of us can pry it out from his mouth, we will practice it too."
Aren’t you going to become famous in the world!”
At this time, a voice came out from under the wooden couch, and there was a faint echo: "Don't even think about it... let me go quickly..."
Taoist Priest A stamped his feet and said with a smile: "We were talking about ourselves, and we didn't ask you anything! Just wait and see! Whenever we want to talk about swordsmanship, let's have a good chat!"
Taoist B also smiled sarcastically: "I also accidentally heard the origin of this sword technique. I heard it from the senior brother who came back that day. It's called 'Gongsun Sword Technique'! It's the old Taoist priest from Shangqingguan, whose lay name is
Gongsun Xuantong’s set of swordsmanship passed down from his clan. It is said that it was used to kill everyone in the past, and it was hard to find an opponent in this area of Henan Province!"
Taoist Priest A wiped his saliva and spoke with envy: "Good guy! Is he really that powerful? Then why didn't you arrest that old Taoist Gongsun early in the morning? Wouldn't it be more straightforward? If you catch a little Taoist priest, you don't know how to learn it all.
Is there any more!”
Taoist Priest B hit him on the back of the head: "You are a pig! I have said that Gongsun Xuantong has no rivals in Henan Province. Why don't you go and try to catch one? The little Taoist priest caught now is a living sword."
Even if you don’t learn it completely, you can use it to blackmail the old Taoist Gongsun later. Wouldn’t it be more convenient?”
Taoist Priest A nodded in deep agreement: "It makes sense! The master of the temple is really good at calculating... he is really wise and powerful! Let's guard him. When the master of the temple comes and asks about the swordsmanship, maybe we will be happy.
The first group of direct disciples..." As Taoist Priest A was talking, his mind began to outline his peak life of traveling across the world, killing the rich and helping the poor, and having heroines from all walks of life compete to throw themselves into his arms, and his saliva flowed down unconsciously...
…
Seeing him like this, Taoist Priest B just smiled bitterly and muttered somewhat depressedly: "I have to suffer the cold in the wilderness again tonight... Those guys who bully the weak and fear the strong..."
However, it was said that Master Yuchi and Zhuo Songtao had his hands tied up by a group of unscrupulous guards and were taken to Wuhou's shop in Luxinfang. Zhuo Songtao suddenly asked: "Master Wuhou, something is not clear on the trail. Why Suifufang?"
Do you want to take the matter to Lu Xinfang for questioning?"
Zhang Wuhou's face was calm and his voice was still loud and loud: "Are you questioning me? After a while, you can get out of here!"
Master Yuchi explained from the side: "The number of households in Luoyang City is very few now, so there are not so many Wuhou Shops anymore. Sometimes, it is normal for the chores of several towns to be handled in one Wuhou Shop."
However, Zhang Wuhou paused and said, "Come here! Lock up this old Taoist first and ask questions slowly. The others will take this little Taoist on horseback. We must first go to the road where the accident happened in the morning to have a look." After that, he explained again.
As for some other matters, he led seven or eight bad guards, tied up Zhuo Songtao as usual, and followed his instructions and rode to the road where the fight took place in the morning.
Zhang Wuhou and several bad guards got off their horses, pulled Zhuo Songtao close, and asked him to tell him what happened in the morning. Zhuo Songtao knew that Zhang Wuhou wanted to solve the case, so he started from the time he left Linji Temple in the morning.
Walking along the road to avoid the rain, where did I encounter an ambush in Xuanfanfang, what was the masked Taoist's hair, crown, clothes, characteristics of the sword used, etc., all in detail. I untied the condom and threw it aside in the morning.
Masuo found it and handed it to the bad guard as one of the physical evidence.
When talking about the horses at the northeast entrance of Xuanfanfang, a bad guard had returned from inspecting there and shook his head at Zhang Wuhou: "The marks of the horse's hoofs on the ground, those made in the past half hour, are still clear, and those made earlier are still clear.
However, the horse's hoofprints have been soaked loose by the rain and mixed with the new ones, making it impossible to follow the hoofprints to find them."
Zhang Wuhou frowned and asked the bad guards who came with him to continue to explore nearby. Some traces of the fight between the two Taoist priests in the morning could be seen, but the clues that could be used to analyze the identity of the masked Taoist priests had not yet been found. Zhuo Songtao also followed.
He followed his bad guards to search carefully, trying to find something from the area where the four of them jointly counterattacked in the morning to help Wuhoupu find Yang Zhaoxi as soon as possible.
This search lasted for less than half an hour. Just when he was about to give up, a bad guard suddenly picked up a small piece of neat porcelain in the muddy water on the ground. After wiping it clean with his hands, he brought it to Zhang Wuhou. Zhuo Songtao saw it.
It seemed that something had been gained here, and the bad guard who was pulling him came up. The porcelain piece was oval, light green in color, with small holes at both ends, and a shallow yin and yang fish pattern painted in red glaze in the middle.
Zhuo Songtao was looking puzzled, but Zhang Wuhou's brows relaxed a little: this is a hat-zhengshi used only by Taoist priests, but it is not yet certain whether it was left by a masked Taoist priest. Fortunately, it is a clue, and some unscrupulous guards can be arranged.
, secretly go to various Taoist temples to investigate. If there is a similar stone, the temple owner can be sent over for questioning. But if you want to solve the case, I am afraid it is not enough.
Thinking of this, Zhang Wuhou called all the bad guards who were traveling with him and said: "Chang Si, Lu Da, Tang Liu! Take this hat-zheng porcelain piece and secretly compare and inspect Taoist temples in various places in the city. Don't reveal your intentions first. If
If you have any news, come back and report to me... Gao Mazi, Fatty Tian, you are familiar with the rangers, gamblers, and scoundrels in the city. I allow you to hang out today and come back with some useful news..." Zhang Wuhou finished a few words.
, then the bad guards were dispatched, leaving only the bad guard who was still dragging Zhuo Songtao.
Zhuo Songtao saw that Zhang Wuhou acted decisively and logically, and couldn't help but admire him. He bowed his hands and said, "Master Wuhou! I would like to thank you in advance. I wonder if you can tell me your name? When you meet my temple master in the future, you must tell me the truth.
Good preparation for Xie Yi..."
Zhang Wuhou's expression did not change, but his tone became more relaxed: "We have already clarified everything here, and you can leave here. If you have any news, you must come and report it as soon as possible! My name is Zhang Songyue, and it doesn't matter if it is troublesome or troublesome, I will tell you."
One person will take it." After saying that, he glanced at the bad guard. The bad guard understood, untied the rope, and let Zhuo Songtao go back. Zhuo Songtao was not polite, bowed his hands, and hurried back to Hongdao Temple.
.
Zhang Wuhou watched Zhuo Songtao walk away, frowning slightly, thinking of some of the bits and pieces that had been secretly circulating in the city recently, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart: I'm afraid this matter is not that simple, and it will have to happen again.
I’d like to report it to the superior officer...
Zhu Jieran, Fang Qidou and other Taoists had returned to Hongdao Temple at this time. After asking the little Taoist boy who stayed behind, they found out that Zhenren Gongsun had not come back yet. However, the temple owner Wei Chiyuan who led them to the door was accidentally killed by Zhang Wuhou.
He was detained as the culprit, and he thought he wouldn't be able to come back for a while. Everyone stood loosely in the spacious courtyard, feeling quite sad as if they were leaderless.
Naturally, Hongdao Temple also has some elderly Taoist priests who have been on the job for a long time, but most of them are Confucian scholars with no academic qualifications who have turned to Taoism. Most of them teach scriptures and lectures, and there are also some who have some skills in boxing, but they are as timid as chickens. If you coerce them out to fight with others,
Dou has neither bravery nor crude martial arts, and is nothing more than a human-shaped sandbag sent to him.
Although Fang Qidou is not a eldest disciple, he is usually the one who shows off his courage and is quite popular among his fellow disciples. At this time, he has persuaded everyone to come back. If he doesn't say anything, he is afraid that this hostile attitude will soon spread.
It will be scattered, and it is impossible to save the Guanzhu or the Chonglingzi.
Fang Qidou's thoughts turned quickly, and he said in a deep voice: "Dear brothers and Taoist friends of Shangqing Temple, the temple master is not here at the moment, and the lecturers in the temple are all old. If we want to save people, we have to do it.
.Our Qi Dou is invisible on weekdays and has never done anything shocking in front of our brothers and sisters. Today something unexpected happened, so I will boldly make some suggestions. If you are willing to listen, I will act accordingly; if what I say is wrong
, I will go alone and will never mislead everyone!"
Zhu Jieran, the Qinglingzi, saw that the Taoist priests in the Hongdao audience had calmed down, but no one had responded yet, so he followed up and said: "I am here, I would like to thank all the fellow Taoists in advance! This matter originally arose due to the kidnapping of my junior brother, our master.
Even if I risk my life to save my brother, I still have no shirking duty! All the fellow Taoists have tried their best to search for it, but I really don’t dare to go too far and encourage you to take risks again. I naturally understand the difficulties in your hearts, so why not leave this matter to us?
, to ensure that Yuchi’s view is intact.”
Fang Qidou looked slightly angry: "Brother Zhu, do you just look down on our Taoism? If we, the Taoists, cannot have clear desires and do good deeds, then what kind of Taoism can we practice? Now that we understand the difference between good and evil,
He is also skilled in martial arts with fists and feet, even if he gets angry and kills all evildoers, Taoist Master will not blame him!"
When the Taoist priests in the audience heard what he said, all the remaining hesitation and cowardice in their hearts were eliminated, and their momentum suddenly lifted.
Zhu Jieran then bowed his hands and bowed to everyone: "I would like to thank all the fellow Taoists for their help!"
Fang Qidou continued: "There are only two things now: one is to save the Master, and the other is to save Junior Brother Yang. Although it is a bit troublesome to save the Master, it is not impossible, but you can't use force, you need to do this...
...It is more difficult to save Chong Lingzi. I originally thought it was Dao Chongguan who did it, but after I went there, looking at their reactions, it didn’t seem like it. There are too few useful clues now. Is Wuhou Pu willing to do their best?
It’s hard to say how to find it. We can only hope that the Luoyang Mansion is heavily guarded and Chong Lingzi has not been transferred out of the city. Naturally, we cannot just wait for the news. We must first stabilize our position and then search for it inch by inch in Luoyang City..."
While everyone was discussing with Fang Qidou, the door of Hongdao Temple was pushed open.