Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 13 Ashes (Thanks to the leader of "Subtle God")

The moonlight shone into the room through the gaps in the window lattice, making the skin of the beautiful woman sleeping soundly on the couch look as white as snow.

Suddenly, a knock on the door broke the silence.

"Feng Niang, someone from Kaiping Division is here."

Feng Niang woke up quickly, put on her clothes, and sat down in front of the dressing table.

She did not put on her makeup, but opened the window.

A sparrow that was pecking its feathers on the eaves immediately flew up, landed on her delicate hand, and chirped.

Listening to the birds singing, Feng Niang seemed to sigh softly.

"Boom."

The door was kicked open.

Feng Niang quickly picked up the clothes beside her and put them on. When she turned around, she saw a feminine man coming in. She moved her hands away from her body and relaxed.

"Mei Ji is here."

Mei Chengzong didn't even look at Feng Niang's charming figure. His eyes fell on the closet, and he took a quick look and sneered.

"I'm not saying you have such bad taste."

Feng Niang said, "When you have time, please pick out two pieces of fabric for me."

Mei Chengzong smiled and said, "Okay, let's get down to business. Have you made any progress on what I asked you to do?"

"Yes, Master Ma went to the western suburbs to refine the pond."

"A clown." Mei Chengzong sneered and asked, "Where is the strange man I'm looking for?"

Feng Niang said: "I was thinking, maybe it could be Gu Beiming's son, Gu Jingnian."

"Him? What species is he?"

"I don't know, he should be a hybrid." Feng Niang said, "I just felt that he was also a different species, so I took him to see Master Ma. Unfortunately, Master Ma was interrupted by Shen Lingshu before he could identify him."

"I know."

Mei Chengzong traced a stool with his finger and saw dust, so he did not sit down but took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands.

"It is indeed somewhat suspicious that the leech could not kill him. As for how capable it is, I will tell you after burning it... You should continue to look for it."

"Yes, there is a Pei Jishi in the Southern Court who is mixed up with Gu Jingnian."

"Oh, I don't care about mundane matters." Mei Chengzong waved his handkerchief and walked out.

"Plum investigation." Feng Niang continued, "The cat slave from Jingxin Hall caught and killed a sparrow in my house."

"What can I do? Who allowed your bird to fly into someone else's territory?"

"It is to investigate Gu Jingnian..."

"Okay, okay, this is a reward for you."

Mei Chengzong casually threw a porcelain bottle onto the couch, glanced at the mattress, and said disdainfully, "It's made of fine linen, it hurts my skin."

Feng Niang quickly picked up the porcelain bottle, poured out a pill, held it to her nose and smelled it.

Her tense body suddenly relaxed, and the lush mountains and rivers thousands of miles away seemed to appear in her mind...

--------

At dawn, a dark hill appeared before our eyes.

The wind blew up the ashes, gradually revealing the huge body that had been completely burned to charcoal, coiled under the ashes, looking majestic and spectacular.

Gu Jingnian reined in his horse and did not approach immediately.

He was not afraid that the leeches would revive, but he had a natural fear of fire and was unwilling to get close to anything related to fire, such as ashes.

"Witness." Qi Laowu turned around and said, "Come here!"

Gu Jingnian then rode his horse to catch up, and the six riders rolled over the hill.

There was a simple fence outside the western suburbs parade ground, guarded by soldiers, and no strangers were allowed to approach.

Huang Hu took the lead, running at a steady pace, holding the token high in his hand.

"Kaiping Division is on official business! Get out of the way!"

The soldiers guarding outside quickly opened the fence, allowing six riders on flying horses to rush in and stop in front of the huge ruins.

The cleanup was not yet complete, and some soldiers were digging pits. When they removed the charcoal ashes, they revealed the charred corpses of vipers and leeches.

They are tightly entangled together, a tangled mess, which can make people feel the pain and anger before being burned to death.

In comparison, the leech that Gu Jingnian encountered in the pharmacy was small, and the closer it got to the ashes, the larger its remains became.

Finally, a corpse the size of a hut appeared before them like a tree root, its charred trunk as thick as a man's arms. The soldiers took shovels and chopped at it, the ashes dancing in the wind and drifting onto Gu Jingnian's face.

"One, two, three..." Yugui counted for a while and said, "Ji Shi, it seems to have five heads."

Pei Nian said: "This is the largest one, and the other leeches are protecting it in the middle."

"Damn it."

The six people watched for a while and began to ask the guards if they had seen a short man with shifty eyes.

Before setting off, Gu Jingnian described Master Ma's appearance and asked Pei Nian to draw it.

What is strange is that although Master Ma committed a serious crime, there was no arrest warrant in the capital city.

After asking around for a long time, I found out that someone had actually seen Master Ma.

"About five or six days ago, he was hanging around here, very curious, so we chased him away."

"Which way did he go?"

"there."

The guard was pointing in the direction of the valley.

"Let's go."

When Pei Nian turned around, Gu Jingnian asked again: "Were there any prisoners of war alive that day?"

"It's burned like this, there shouldn't be any."

In fact, looking at this scene, it is clear that it is unlikely that any captive could survive. So, where did the person that Master Ma kidnapped come from?

More than ten miles south of the Xijiao Parade Ground is Qianqiu Ridge. The mountain range stretches for a barrier to the city of Shuyang.

The six people entered the mountain and followed Gu Jingnian's instructions. After walking for half an hour along a winding mountain path, they arrived at a cliff. Looking down, they saw a rift valley between two broken mountains. There were forests and swamps, but no human habitation.

There was silence and stillness all around.

"Are you sure you found the right one?" Pei Nian asked.

If there really are people raising leeches here, they shouldn't be allowed to come here so easily without any hindrance.

Gu Jingnian said: "This is where the map marks it."

He knew that it was possible that Master Ma had casually placed the records of the male viper and the corpse leech on an insignificant map, causing him to guess wrongly.

"Investigation."

Yugui squatted down near a small tree to check and said, "There is horse manure, it's dry. Someone tied a horse here about two days ago."

"Go down and have a look."

The six people took out the ropes they carried and prepared to get down the cliff.

Suddenly, Pei Nian caught something out of the corner of her eye and said calmly, "Someone is watching us in the woods behind." She was afraid that Gu Jingnian would get impulsive, so she pressed his shoulders, but she found that he was extremely calm.

"I'm fast, I'll attack first." Pei Nian continued in a low voice, "You guys cooperate."

As she spoke, she turned her back, quietly put down the rope in her hand, picked up a small crossbow, and loaded an arrow.

The next moment, she swooped down into the forest behind her, and the other five followed.

Gu Jingnian fell behind at the end. He looked in the direction where Pei Nian flew away, and finally saw a figure rushing out from behind a tree trunk and rushing towards the depths of the woods at an extremely fast speed.

The thin figure was Master Ma.

Master Ma fled very quickly and disappeared into the depths of the woods in a flash.

"stop!"

As Pei Nian shouted, he raised the small crossbow in his hand and shot an arrow, hitting Master Ma's right foot.

The thin figure rolled on the ground, and Pei Nian stepped forward and stepped on him.

Qi Laowu was also very quick. He walked forward, tied him up with a rope, and immediately began to pull out the arrow and stop the bleeding.

People who specialize in these jobs are different.

But despite such a big commotion in the forest, no birds were startled and flew away.

"Please spare my life, sir. I was just passing by!"

Master Ma was still complaining, but when he turned around and saw Gu Jingnian coming forward, he glared at him and immediately burst into tears.

"It's you? I knew you were a hook..."

Since the young man had found his pharmacy, he came for him.

"Doctor Ma, we only want to ask you a few questions." Gu Jingnian did not use the tone of interrogation as he did during the interrogation. He asked, "Why did you take the leech away?"

"What word?" Master Ma said, "I can't read."

Huang Hu sneered: "Then let me teach you!"

Master Ma said quickly: "I just saw that man fainted on the side of the road, so I brought him back...ah!"

One of his nails had been pulled out, and Huang Hu pinched the bloody finger.

"Ok?"

"I make medicine!" Master Ma finally cried out, "I make medicine!"

Pei Nian asked, "You use leeches as medicine?"

"All strange beasts... can be eaten and used as medicine..."

"How dare you lie!" Pei Nian shouted, "I think you are raising a monster and harming the people!"

Master Ma was shocked and said hurriedly, "It is true. As the Fengwuzhi says, 'The pearl turtle is shaped like a lung. Eating it will protect you from all diseases.'"

"What are the benefits of eating leeches?"

"I don't know yet. This thing is vicious and poisonous. I'm afraid it can't be eaten... I just want to try to make medicine out of it."

Pei Nian and Gu Jingnian looked at each other, using their eye contact to determine whether they could believe this man's confession.

Upon seeing this, Master Ma burst into tears and said, "Everything I said is true!"

"How did you know about Viper? What is your connection with the Western Suburbs Incident?"

"I just love to delve into these things. I have nothing to do with the Western Suburbs Incident. I knew about the leech before that."

"What did you say?!"

Pei Nian didn't expect to find an important clue so quickly.

"Where did you find the prisoner of war..."

Suddenly, there was a sharp sound of arrows firing, and three sharp arrows suddenly shot towards the few people.

"Ding."

Huang Hu swung the long sword in his hand and immediately blocked the arrow.

Pei Nian turned sideways in a flash, and the arrow brushed past her.

"careful!"

As You Gui shouted, Gu Jingnian had been pierced by the last arrow, blood splattered on the spot, and his body was thrown away by the huge force.

"Damn it, the witness is dead, what should I do?!"

Before they could finish their words, three men in black appeared in front of them and started slashing with their swords.

Huang Hu was furious when he saw that they dared to bully the majority with a small number. He swung the machete in his hand and rushed towards one of them. In the blink of an eye, he exchanged several moves and found that the other party's martial arts was not weaker than his, and his body movements were even more agile.

He was born in a humble family, and was able to serve as a police officer only because of his great martial arts. He had rarely encountered such an opponent in his life, and at this moment he couldn't help but wonder who could command three such first-class masters. He was also worried that Pei Nian and You Gui were slightly inferior to him in martial arts, and Qi Laowu and Yu San were only second-rate, and they might not be able to fight against the enemy.

"Who dares to touch Kaiping Division?!"

Before Huang Hu finished speaking, Qi Laowu screamed and fell to the ground after being stabbed. You Gui, who was fighting together with Qi Laowu, suddenly lost his strength and was kicked away.

The man in black immediately raised his sword and slashed at Yougui.

At the moment when he was about to chop down with his sword, he suddenly felt someone rushing towards him.

"call--"

The single sword changed direction in an instant and chopped into the person's body with a "puff" sound.

The next moment, the man in black narrowed his eyes, quickly retracted his sword, blocked the thrusting sword, and instantly swung out two consecutive strikes, both hitting the opponent's chest.

But when he looked up again, the young man who was shot by the arrow did not retreat at all, and stabbed him with another sword.

"puff."

The man in black blocked Gu Jingnian's sword, but was stabbed in the chest by You Gui.

He stared at Gu Jingnian in disbelief and slowly fell down.

When You Gui got the chance, he immediately picked up his sword to help Huang Hu. Huang Hu was already evenly matched with the other party, and with the help, he was finally able to injure the black-clad man with a single blow.

"go!"

The two men in black had no desire to fight and retreated decisively. They came quickly and left quickly, quickly disappearing into the woods.

Huang Hu raised his knife and was about to chase him, but Pei Nian raised his hand to stop him and hurried to look at Lao Wu.

But Qi Laowu's face was black and his eye sockets were sunken. He was already dead. Pei Nian looked at his wound and saw that even the blood had turned purple.

"The knife is poisoned! Who among you was hit by the knife?"

As several eyes turned to Gu Jingnian, Yu San staggered and fell to the ground. When he was fighting with Pei Nian just now, he accidentally cut a shallow cut on his abdomen. At this time, the poison had spread. His face was in pain and he couldn't even breathe.

"This is the poison of the wild grass!" Master Ma exclaimed.

Pei Nian picked him up and said, "Can you cure it?!"

Master Ma stared at Yu San, observing his changes, and said, "The wild grass is not from Zhongzhou, how can I cure it?"

Huang Hu was furious and went forward to torture him.

"Yu San?" You Gui called out twice and said, "He's dead."

The four people's eyes then fell on Gu Jingnian, each with a different expression.

Especially Master Ma, his small eyes showed not only shock, but also a thoughtful look...

(End of this chapter)