I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 11 Recruiting!

"Grandmaster??"

This time, Chen Xiao didn't dare to get close. Master Tian's expression was out of control just now, and he rushed forward because he was sure that nothing would happen to him. His concern at that time was just to win his favor. After all, he was a first-class sorcerer, how could he easily get into trouble?
But it’s different now. If there is a possibility of losing control, you have to be careful. Who knows how many evil spirits are bound to a first-class sorcerer. Once they lose control, they may sometimes be more dangerous than the sorcerer himself.

But what is going on?

Master Tian was rated as a first-class sorcerer twenty years ago thanks to his pupil spirit technique. It's not a technique he just mastered, so how could the backlash be so severe?

Before he could figure it out, after a few breaths, Master Tian with his eyes exploded fell down like a dried corpse. The black holes in his eye sockets made people dare not look directly at him. Everyone, including Chen Xiao, did not dare to step forward. The next moment, there was a loud bang, and Master Tian's body exploded directly, and the dried corpse pieces immediately broke into pieces on the ground.

"Sir, let's retreat?" The guard protecting Chen Xiao asked hurriedly.

Chen Xiao gritted his teeth, his face dark.

Tian Ye was the only sorcerer in their group. The prince's safety was more important, so all the sorcerers stayed to ensure his safety. Moreover, in this strange painting market, without this only sorcerer, it would be difficult to move forward. The key was how the other party set up the trap? Tian Ye had been a first-class sorcerer for more than 20 years, and he was gone just like that? Even if they managed to escape unscathed, how would they explain it after returning?

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

A familiar voice interrupted Chen Xiao's thoughts, and he immediately shouted at his men: "Don't do it!!"

The man was wearing a green official robe, had a handsome face, and looked to be in his early twenties. Wasn't he the county magistrate of Fuchun County? Why did he come back? Where were the third prince and others?
The person who spoke was Zhang Rui who had just returned. He came back to verify his guess, but he didn't expect to see a group of sneaky people as soon as he came back.

"Who are you? What are you doing outside Master Qian's door?" Zhang Rui asked righteously, but his body shrank obediently behind Murong Yunji.

Chen Xiao calmed down and walked to the front. Looking at the county magistrate who had returned, a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes, but what he cared about most was the little girl in front of the county magistrate. The girl looked only six or seven years old, but she was holding a black sword in her hand. He remembered the heads on the ground when he passed by the dark alley just now. The cuts on the heads looked a little weird, but now he understood why it was weird. It turned out that the sword for cutting was too small.

After figuring it out, I was shocked. The swordsmanship master turned out to be a little kid?

"Master Zhang, you are polite. I am Chen Xiao, an aide to the Crown Prince's Mansion." Chen Xiao looked at Zhang Rui and then at the strange little girl. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said directly, "We came from the North Sea, but accidentally entered this painting market."

"Staff members of the Crown Prince's Mansion?" Zhang Rui's heart skipped a beat. Could all this really be related to the Crown Prince's sudden death?
"Do you recognize me?" Zhang Rui immediately realized that the other party had introduced himself. It was obvious that he had never seen him before, but the other party kept calling him "Master Zhang".
"I heard Master Tian Ye talk about you." Chen Xiao replied tentatively.

He wanted to know which side the mysterious county magistrate in front of him was on.

"That person surnamed Tian is actually from the Prince's Mansion?" Zhang Rui was stunned for a moment. It seemed that he had made a big misunderstanding.

"Master Zhang doesn't know?" Chen Xiao's heart moved. Although he was a little unconvinced, he continued to test: "Master Tian has been a distinguished guest in the Prince's Mansion for many years. Many people in the officialdom know about this."

"Well, I have only been in office for a short time and I am in such a remote place, so I really don't know." Then he asked hurriedly, "What about Master Tian?"

"Master Tian, he."

Half a minute later, Zhang Rui listened to the other party's narration and roughly understood the situation.

"You mean, the prince got into trouble in Beihai, Master Tian came to help, and you were dragged back to the painting market before you could go far? And Master Tian just died?" Zhang Rui was a little unbelievable, but the clothes of the corpse did look the same as that of the man surnamed Tian.
"Yes," Chen Xiao said honestly, "Just now, we saw you, Master Zhang, and the Third Prince's group from a distance, so we didn't dare to get close. After you left, we saw Master Qian's family being exterminated. When we thought that you stayed here for a long time, we wanted Master Tian to use his magical powers to take a look at the situation, but we didn't expect the result."

"Why did you come back here? Didn't you just say you were in Heishui County?"

"Master Tian said that the scroll is in your possession. The female painter in the scroll has escaped from the painting market before, so there may be a way to quickly leave the painting market."

"I see." Zhang Rui touched his chin. This made sense. He then looked again at the place where Master Tian died suddenly according to the scholar with a face full of kidney deficiency, and frowned.

I originally thought that the man surnamed Tian was a conspirator, but I didn’t expect he was just a supporting role. How could he die just like that?
"Is Master Tian's technique very risky?" Zhang Rui asked in confusion.

He was familiar with many things in this world, such as the Painting Market, Painted Skin Ghosts, and evil spirits, which were all quite consistent with the settings of his failed manuscript. The only thing was that the sorcerers were not in his original manuscript, so he didn't know much about these sorcerers.

"Any technique has risks, but Master Tian's pupil spirit technique is his best technique, so it shouldn't have such a serious backlash. We suspect there are other reasons."

"Most of those who drowned were able to swim." Zhang Rui sighed, "Maybe Master Tian was too skilled and therefore lost his caution. You just said that Master Tian's so-called pupil spirit technique can see some information about the deceased before his death?" "Yes, this technique is extremely useful. This is why we urgently summoned him. With him here, it will be easier to find the murderer who framed His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Is that so?" Zhang Rui nodded when he heard it: "If that's the case, it is possible that this was a setup." Thinking of this, he subconsciously moved away from the place where Master Tian died. Who knows if there is anything else there.

I was a little confused. That Master Tian was framed and killed here. Did Master Qian have anything to do with all this?

"Master Zhang, this place is dangerous. Why don't we go to the night market to discuss it in detail?"

"it is good"

The group was also very scared about this place. When they heard that they could leave, the guards immediately breathed a sigh of relief and quickly escorted Chen Xiao to a brighter place.

"Lord Zhang, are you willing to help us?" Along the way, Chen Xiao asked directly to the point.

Zhang Rui paused when he heard this.
"We are at the end of our rope now." Chen Xiao said with a gloomy look in his eyes, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is in danger at any time in the North Sea. Master Tian is also dead now. We have no idea about the Painting Market and are basically doomed."

"Sir, this is your first time meeting me, right?" Zhang Rui looked at him and said, "Aren't you afraid that I'm also the person on the other side?"

"Sir Zhang shouldn't be it," the other party shook his head.

"Why?"

"Master Tian said that the scroll in Lord Zhang's hand is the key to get out. Now that Master Tian is dead, we don't have any information about the Painting Market. As long as they ignore us, we will be useless. There is no need to deliberately contact them, and there is no need to show up with the key." Chen Xiao said, pointing to the scroll that Zhang Rui had been holding in his hand.

"I believe that it was an accident for Master Zhang to come back and see us, and for us now, any opportunity is worth trying."

Trouble still came
Zhang Rui sighed. However, since he knew that Master Tian was from the Prince's Mansion, he knew that he could not escape. If the Prince died afterwards, then as the county magistrate who detained the scroll, no one would believe that he did not do it on purpose. Judging from the emperor's tyrannical behavior in the end, he would most likely end up with his entire clan in trouble.
After thinking it through, he looked up at the group of people claiming to be from the Crown Prince's Mansion and said, "I need to know the Crown Prince's current condition before deciding whether to help you."

"A word is settled!"
-
"Your Highness, why don't you choose to stay with the county magistrate? In my opinion, it is indeed safer to stay in the night market."

After leaving the night market, Qin Fang stayed close to the Third Prince. Holding the life-saving lanterns that they had exchanged for the blood of two guards, they slowly tracked the whereabouts of Master Qian.

"That county magistrate is too weird, and there are people around him that you are afraid of. Wouldn't it be better to stay away from him?" Li Yu asked in return.

"I saw that Your Highness was talking to him happily, and I thought you wanted to recruit him."

"Only a fool would want to recruit someone with such strange behavior." The third prince yawned, "Humans are always more dangerous than ghosts. Didn't you teach me this, Eunuch Qin?"

Qin Fang nodded slightly and said nothing more. He also felt that the county magistrate was a little too abnormal, but he also did not quite agree to go out to the night market and take risks in this dark wilderness.

“Stop.”

Suddenly, Qin Fang looked to the front and asked the guard who was tracking the traces with the light to stop.

"Sir?" The guard turned around, looking puzzled.

Qin Fang took a breath, and the flame of the life-saving lamp in his hand suddenly grew. Under the light of the fire, everyone's vision suddenly recovered, and they saw a horrifying scene hundreds of meters away.

A group of green-eyed painted ghosts surrounded there, with a woman holding a child in the center. Judging from the traces, the one who escaped from Master Qian's house to the night market was not Master Qian as they had speculated, but this woman.

At this moment, she was sitting in the middle of the Painted Skin Ghosts. She had no head on her neck and was holding a child in her arms. Next to her, a short Painted Skin Ghost in a long gown was gnawing on the head that should belong to her. Looking more closely, the child in the woman's arms also had a pair of flashing green eyes, but the newborn baby was roaring like a beast and gnawing on the woman's stomach!
The third prince subconsciously took a step back. It's not like he had never seen evil spirits before, but the scene before him made even someone like him feel uncomfortable.

"Cui Cui Yan?" Xia Xuezhou fell to the ground with a pale face. He stared at the Painted Skin Ghost who was gnawing on the woman's head. It was none other than Master Qian!

"You haven't called me by this name for a long time." Master Qian grinned, his mouth full of blood and flesh making his smile look particularly ferocious: "Master Xia, how are you?"

(End of this chapter)