Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 428 The Mysterious Monk
The next morning, before the rooster crowed, Xiao Ran and his group set off.

The team was very long, with more than twenty people, all riding horses.

Even though Li Jie is a prince without real power, even if he is a down-and-out prince, he is still a prince of the current dynasty. If you say he is rich, he may really not have much money.

But if you say he has no money, he is much better off than ordinary businessmen.

Except for local big families like Gao Yuting's family, which are famous grain merchants in the country, Li Jie cannot compete with them. In Li Jie's eyes, all other merchants are nothing but animals in human skin.

Li Jie was like this, not to mention those princes who held great power, and even the military governors.

Going south along the Wei River, it passes through Jiaozuo, Sanmenxia, Baoji and other places.

This route is called "East out of Luoyang, West to Chang'an."

Such a large team would attract attention wherever they go, but Xiao Ran didn't care.

He is fighting under the banner of Prince Li Jie. If he doesn't even have this kind of status, what kind of prince is he?

Luoyang is about 400 kilometers away from Chang'an. If you drive on the highway, it will only take two hours.

But there is no highway in this place now, we have to take the official road. For such a large team, it is good enough if we can walk more than ten kilometers a day.

At the right time, when they almost arrived in Luoyang City, the sword review was about to begin.

From time to time, you can see some gangsters on the road, and these gangsters wrap their weapons with black cloth.

Although everyone knew the truth, no one took it seriously because the sword review was about to be released.

As long as you don't take things like crossbows and heavy armor, no one will care about you.

"Sir, there aren't many people at the resting place ahead. It's getting dark soon, so why don't we take a rest there?"

The second in command came over and asked.

Along the way, he was responsible for controlling the crows to explore the way ahead, and no movement around could escape his eyes.

"Well, let's take a rest."

Xiao Ran twisted his butt. He had been traveling all day and had been riding on the horse for a long time. The horse could bear it, but his butt couldn't. It would be good to get off the horse and move around.

"By the way, you are now the prince's personal eunuch, so don't come near me if you have nothing to do."

Xiao Ran spoke up to remind the second in command.

Since you are playing the role of a eunuch, you have to look like one, otherwise, people who don’t know you would think you are a prince.

"Oh okay, I know."

"By the way, this thing is for you. It can help you save your life at a critical moment."

Xiao Ran said as he handed a Hercules mask to the Second Master, along with a [Special Pill - Horizontal Training]

This is the pill taken out of the [Outrageous Pill Box].

After eating, Constitution +10, Strength +10, and obtain the Vajra Horizontal Training Body.

Duration: 1 minutes
Cooling time: 48 hours
(Note: There is a side effect after using the pills. For thirty-six hours, you must maintain an inverted position when urinating.)
After all, the situation in Chang'an is very complicated. The second in command is a good person and is the person Xiao Ran will focus on training in the future. It is only right to give him some means to save his life.

Otherwise, if he is dead, although I can transform him into a corpse slave, a corpse slave is no match for a living person.

In the end, I had no choice but to dismantle it for parts.

Therefore, Xiao Ran still hoped that the second in command would not cause any trouble.

After the team walked a few kilometers forward, they arrived at the place mentioned by the second in command.

It is a dilapidated temple.

The original scale of the temple should have been quite large, but now it is all broken bricks and tiles and overgrown with weeds.

The main hall has collapsed.

There was only a small house on the side left, which was also in a mess, and the Ten Kings of Hell were enshrined in it.

This is not surprising. After Buddhism was introduced into the Central Plains, it was mixed with Taoism, the concepts of the underworld, the Ten Kings of Hell, and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. They made the concept of cause and effect very clear.

Xiao Ran was not picky about the environment. He had his own mobile home anyway, so at worst he could just sleep in it at night.

As for other people, there is nothing to complain about. It is just a temporary resting place, and there is one advantage of living in such a place.

There are a lot of broken wood in the temple, and you can just pick up some and use them as firewood. This is much easier than burning them in the mountains and forests outside.

After all, there is not so much dry firewood for you to burn in the mountains. Even if you cut down trees, the firewood will still be wet. If you try to burn it, it will produce thick smoke that will choke your nose and sting your eyes.

"Brother Xiao, can you please return my dagger to me? This will give me some ability to protect myself."

Seeing that Xiao Ran seemed to be in a good mood, Li Jie came over and whispered.

"You are a prince, are you afraid that someone will harm you?"

Xiao Ran looked at Li Jie and asked with some surprise.

"I'm not afraid at first, but you're dealing with the Zou family, who are notorious for their cruelty and ruthlessness. If they get desperate, I'll..."

Li Jie showed a wry smile on his face. Xiao Ran called him here yesterday, not just to tell him to get ready to leave.

I also asked him about the human traffickers.

The Zou family is the most famous human traffickers in Chang'an. Most of the children lost in Luoyang and villages around Chang'an will fall into their hands.

After careful selection and training, he kept the valuable ones and sold the worthless ones directly to the royal families to make blood pills.

In addition, smuggling, brothels, casinos, human trafficking, everything you can see and cannot see in Chang'an City has the mark of the Zou family. The Zou family also became a fourth-rank Zhongshu Sheren through manipulation, entered and left the court, and controlled the underworld.

People even called him the Night Emperor in private.

He was a powerless little prince, and his enemies wanted to kill him, but no one in the court dared to speak for him.

If things go wrong, you might even be put on the spot and charged with forcing the people to rebel.

Li Jie's strength is not bad, but he has not been able to taste the blood pill during this period of time.

The level of his practice of the Blood Transformation Sutra would immediately decline if he lost the supply of blood pills. Before that, he still had the courage to launch a sneak attack on Xiao Ran.

Now, even if it was just a third-rate small-time character in the underworld, Li Jie felt that he could not beat him.

Just after walking two steps, he felt dizzy and short of breath.

These are all side effects of the Blood Transformation Meridian.

Once you start practicing this thing, don't even think about stopping. Li Jie hasn't practiced it very deeply yet. If he practices it more deeply, stopping would be tantamount to costing his life.

This is also the reason why he wanted to ask Xiao Ran to get back his dagger [Picking Stars].

After all, with this dagger, he still has a chance to fight back when facing danger.

"Is that so? Then I'll send you a bodyguard."

Xiao Ran said this and patted the [Yin Bing Gourd] on his waist and released the old eunuch, Eunuch Li.

"Eunuch Li!"

When he saw the familiar face, Li Jie's eyes suddenly became moist.

It is said that what is lost is the most precious. Li Jie used to look down on this old eunuch.

But only after he really lost the protection of Eunuch Li did Li Jie realize how well Eunuch Li had taken care of him.

It’s a pity that Eunuch Li can no longer respond to him.

"This is just the shell of Eunuch Li, but he is still quite powerful. Having him by your side can be regarded as fulfilling Eunuch Li's obsession after his death."

When Xiao Ran was sewing up Eunuch Li's body, she saw Eunuch Li's soul. At that time, Eunuch Li was still thinking about Li Jie.

As for the dagger, Xiao Ran had no intention of returning it to him. For those who had entered the Tao, the effect of that dagger was like a divine weapon.

But for those who have entered the realm of Taoism, the effect is minimal. Although Xiao Ran cannot use it himself, he can give it to painters.

Combined with the painter's profession and tattoo, this dagger can greatly enhance the painter's strength.

Although Li Jie did not ask for his dagger back, he was much happier to have Eunuch Li stay by his side than to get a dagger in return.

"squeak!!"

At this time, a snow sculpture was circling in the sky, and then flew towards the crowd.

Before he got close, he threw down a bamboo tube.

Upon seeing this, Gao Yuting took the bamboo tube and opened it, revealing only a small wooden sign inside.

“They are here too.”

Gao Yuting saw the wooden sign and said to Xiao Ran, "What a coincidence! Two of my sisters are here too. I'll go meet them. If they're not back by daybreak, you guys should leave first and I'll chase you."

"sisters?"

"Yes, Shui Mo Villa. They helped me when I was traveling around the world before. Now that I met them this time, I naturally have to go and say hello."

"Oh, do you need me to accompany you?" Xiao Ran asked with a smile.

"There are three women sitting together. It must be uncomfortable for a grown man like you to be caught in the middle. Don't worry, I'll be back soon."

As Gao Yuting spoke, she jumped on her horse, waved the whip and ran in the direction of the snow sculpture.

"Sir, do you want me to..."

The second in command approached cautiously and asked.

"Need not."

Xiao Ran waved her hand. Yu Ting was just like that. She was a girl from the underworld and her personality was straightforward.

Besides, Xiao Ran is also a person from the 21st century. As long as the other person is a woman, Xiao Ran won’t care so much.

However, since Yu Ting was not here, there was no need for him to waste another mobile villa. He lit a bonfire with everyone else, pulled out a blanket from the space, and rested together.

As it got darker, the bonfire crackled and from time to time a few sparks flashed in the night light.

Everyone had been traveling for a whole day, except for the attendants who were in charge of taking turns to keep watch.

The rest of the people were already fast asleep.

Xiao Ran sat in front of the campfire, adding firewood from time to time, while thinking in his heart how he should further develop the Amazing Pavilion in the future.

"The Changchun Club has collapsed, but a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Who knows where they are hiding now. Besides, even without the Changchun Club, they still have the Changchun Bank, the hospital, and various large and small businesses. It's not so easy to boast. Penglai Tower and Donglongfang have not been affected either. It's not easy for me to bite off a piece of meat from under their eyes..."

Just as he was thinking about it, Xiao Ran suddenly felt dazed and vaguely heard someone calling him.

“Xiao Ran! Xiao Ran!!”

The voice was hollow and distant. Xiao Ran looked up in confusion. The next second, he saw a monk appear at the temple gate. The monk was wearing a cassock, barefoot, playing with a circle of prayer beads in his hands, and waving at him...

(End of this chapter)