Longevity, starting from traveling and telling stories

Chapter 197 The Executioner's Strange Story
"Li Wenchang?" Chen Tianchou frowned. His appearance showed that the Prime Minister had become suspicious of him.

But it doesn't matter now. With him by my side, what do I have to fear?

Suddenly, a voice sounded in his mind: Don't be afraid, if you hold me hostage, just say that Cui Mingyuan arranged for you to do it. I will take care of the rest.

"I'm not the Prime Minister's confidant, so how can I say I'm a traitor? It was just a temporary agreement. I'm actually Mr. Cui's man." Chen Tianchou understood and said quickly, "I captured this man. If you want to steal the credit, you'll have to get past my butcher knife first."

"Then don't blame me for being rude." Li Wenchang blew a loud whistle into the air.

In an instant, a large number of men in black suddenly emerged from all directions.

Chen Tianchou frowned and tightly gripped the butcher knife in his hand, but then he thought of how Ye Aniu had easily held his knife with two fingers before, and his mood suddenly relaxed.

"Get started." Li Wenchang gave the order without any further ado.

Ye Aniu was stunned, thinking, this guy doesn't follow the routine? Is he the only one who puts on airs? I can do that too. So he blew a loud whistle into the air as well.

For a moment, Li Wenchang and the men in black were all stunned. They looked around, but there was no one in sight.

"Are you kidding me?" Li Wenchang was instantly furious and shouted, "Go ahead, tear them to pieces!"

The men in black received the order and rushed forward. However, at this moment, multiple sounds of breaking through the air suddenly rang out from the darkness.

Arrows shot towards them with cold light, and the men in black fell to the ground one after another.

Immediately afterwards, a burst of shouts and cries of killing came from all directions, instantly surrounding Li Wenchang and others.

"It's you." Li Wenchang's face was filled with horror as he exclaimed, "Didn't you already leave?"

"If not, why would you show up?" Han Mei looked at him coldly and said in a mocking tone, "Do it."

For a moment, screams were heard one after another, and Chen Tianchou and Li Wenchang were both tied up.

"You really put a lot of thought into it!" The eldest princess slowly walked out from behind the crowd.

"Bah!" Chen Tianchou pretended to be righteous and said in a pretentious manner: "Young Master will not sit idly by and watch me."

The eldest princess smiled coldly and said, "Oh? How about we play a game?"

Chen Tianchou was stunned and asked in a puzzled tone, "What game?"

The princess waved her hand and said in a low voice, "Take him away and chop him up. I want to see how Cui Mingyuan will deal with him."

After a while, a scream was heard, accompanied by the sound of blood spurting and a body falling to the ground. Li Wenchang and others couldn't help but tremble slightly.

"It's your turn." The eldest princess looked at Li Wenchang coldly and said in a cold tone.

Zheng.
A long sword with a cold light was drawn out. The eldest princess held the sword and swung it down. The fingers of Li Wenchang's left hand were cut off in an instant.

"Ah" beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Because his body was tied up, he could only tremble all over and endure the pain.

Just as the princess was about to strike with the second sword, a hand suddenly grabbed hers.

"Don't you like playing games?" Ye Aniu said calmly, "How about I play a game with him?"

The eldest princess raised her eyebrows and asked with interest, "Oh? What game?"

Ye Aniu took the sword from the princess and asked Li Wenchang in a teasing tone, "Do you want to live?"

Nonsense! Who doesn't want to live? Li Wenchang looked at Ye Aniu, and at this moment, the hunter and the prey suddenly reversed their positions.

"Do you want to or not?" Seeing that he didn't respond, Ye Aniu played with his sword, then pointed the sword at him and asked.

"Thinking" Under the fear of death, Li Wenchang finally gave in, but he immediately added: "But I will not betray the Prime Minister."

"Don't worry, I won't ask you any questions." Ye Aniu continued, "You should know that I don't know any martial arts. I'm only going to cut the rope around your neck. If you're lucky and I only hit the rope, I promise you, I'll let you run a hundred steps before I chase you."

"If you can escape, you will live. If you can't, you will die."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sword in Ye Aniu's hand suddenly flashed with a cold light, and he raised his hand and slashed.

Snapped!
A figure ran away like an arrow, and ran away. I finally ran away. Li Wenchang kept shouting in his heart, it was you who gave me this opportunity, haha.

"Do you think the way he escaped was strange?" Ye Aniu said calmly.

"What are you playing at?" the princess asked, bewildered. Why play cat and mouse when you can just kill him?
"Your Highness, please send someone to chase it now, but remember, you can only keep a certain distance and chase it, not catch it." Aniu said.

"Come here, do as Ye Jieyuan ordered."

"Yes."

After receiving the order, the guards immediately went to chase after them.

"Now can you tell me what tricks you are playing?" asked the eldest princess in a puzzled tone.

"Bring Chen Tianchou up here. He is indispensable for this scene."

"Bring the person up." The eldest princess wanted to hear how he would explain.

"Your Highness, before I explain, could you allow me to tell you a story?" Ah Niu said sincerely according to the guidance of the divine book.

Everyone present was stunned. This guy still had the mind to tell a story at this time.

"Hmm!" Ye Aniu coughed lightly and said loudly, "Speaking of which, the law is unforgiving and legal principles are above all else."

"There was a murderer named Yuan Sanye who killed countless people. Although he was an executioner, he had a kind heart."

Everyone was stunned. There were actually kind-hearted executioners?

Ye Aniu ignored their expressions and continued to tell the story. His best friend Wang Qian was originally going to be imprisoned for committing a crime, but because he was infected with an epidemic disease, it was inconvenient to imprison him, so he had no choice but to behead him in the wild and buried on the spot.

"Wang Qian was taken to the execution ground, and the Third Master, feeling sorry for his friend, said Ye Aniu, imitating the Third Master Yuan's tone, imitating a nearby tree to Wang Qian, "I will only cut your rope later. After that, you will run away without looking back." (From The Executioner's Tale)
"The law is unforgiving. Those who commit crimes should be punished. This is not kindness, but letting a tiger return to the mountain." The princess said in a cold tone.

"Don't worry, just listen to me." Ye Aniu waved his hand and said, "When Wang Qian heard there was still a chance of survival, he immediately nodded and agreed."

"really."

Everyone's heart was suddenly lifted. "Why don't you just tell me something? You're so shocked!"

"Sure enough, Third Master Yuan raised his sword and struck down." Ye Aniu paused for a moment and continued, "Wang Qian suddenly felt free from all restraints. He immediately ran away and returned home. He told his wife that Third Master Yuan had released him. The two of them burst into tears of joy and embraced each other."

At this point, everyone couldn't help but sigh. The law is merciless, the law is merciless. Hearing that Wang Qian and his wife were so loving, they didn't want him to die, but he had committed a crime and had to accept the punishment. This contradictory mentality made them feel very uncomfortable.

"Time flies by, and ten years have passed in a flash."

Ye Aniu continued to narrate that ten years later, the Third Master passed by his good friend Wang Qian's house and thought of visiting him to see if he could help in any way.

"An executioner who lets a prisoner go like this is unfit to be an executioner and should be punished," the princess said in a cold tone. "If we let him go, who will those he harmed turn to for justice?"

"Alas!" Ye Aniu said calmly, "Just listen to me first, don't be anxious."

Ye Aniu continued in a loud voice: "Then Mr. Yuan knocked on the door, and it was Wang Qian's wife who opened the door."

Then he began to talk about Wang Qian's wife, who warmly welcomed the Third Master into the house and poured him tea to thank him for not killing her husband.

"After hearing this, Mr. Yuan San's pupils shrank. He didn't understand what was going on, and suddenly..." Ye Aniu's expression suddenly became gloomy and terrifying.

Everyone was so frightened by his sudden turn that they drooled. It was simply a horror story.

"Suddenly, a man came out to thank me. It was Wang Qian."

Everyone looked relieved. What was so strange about this?

Ye Aniu's expression suddenly turned grim again. He said, "Then Wang Qian stepped forward and bowed to express his gratitude. Master Yuan San saw the knife mark on his neck clearly and was immediately shocked."

"So he immediately pulled Wang Qian's wife aside and told her the truth."

It turned out that Wang Qian had been beheaded by Master Yuan San ten years ago, and he had buried the body with his own hands.

"How is this possible! How could someone who died ten years ago still be alive?" Hanmei said in disbelief.

The eldest princess also looked at Aniu with curiosity.

"After hearing the truth from Third Master Yuan, Wang Qian suddenly collapsed to the ground, clutching his neck in pain. Blood began to flow profusely from his neck." Ye Aniu's eyes suddenly became dull and empty, and he spoke in a sinister tone, "When he turned back in horror to look at Wang Qian's wife, she had also turned to ash. The entire house was instantly reduced to ashes, and Third Master was suddenly in the wilderness."

"The story is over."

Everyone shuddered, feeling as if the air had suddenly turned cold, and unconsciously hugged their arms tightly.

"Why did both of them disappear into thin air when he told the truth?" Hanmei asked unconsciously.

The eldest princess also asked curiously: "If he doesn't say it, can the two of them live together forever?"

Ye Aniu was stunned. How would I know this? This is what the divine book told me. Let's ask.

As soon as he closed his eyes, the explanation in the divine book appeared in his mind.

So he pretended to say, "In fact, the Third Master deceived Wang Qian, making his obsession and belief exist like an illusion. This is what we often call a ghost."

"Let's not talk about whether ghosts exist or not. Even if ghosts do exist, they should be reincarnated." Hanmei asked doubtfully.

"That's right." Ye Aniu continued to explain, "First, the Third Master didn't execute the sentence according to the time; second, Wang Qian didn't know he was dead, and his obsession with being alive made him stay in the world, making him think he was still alive."

"Even if your explanation makes sense, why did he die when he told the truth?" Hanmei continued to ask.

Ye Aniu rolled his eyes. This woman was really difficult to deal with, but he still followed the explanation in the divine book and said, "That's because the truth is often cruel. When he learned the truth, his beliefs collapsed, his obsession disappeared, and this illusion was broken, and he finally returned to reality."

"Oh!" Hanmei nodded, not quite understanding.

"You mean, you want to create a false impression, making the Prime Minister and Cui Mingyuan hate each other, and let them fight each other?" The eldest princess pondered for a long time and asked in a deep voice. "Yes," Ye Aniu said calmly, "this way we can take a breath."

"Besides, you have one more available person within the Six Gates."

The eldest princess glanced at Chen Tianchou, who had an evasive expression on his face.

"This guy, why not just kill him? What's the point of keeping him alive?"

"Alas, his martial arts skills are not weak, and he has offended Cui Mingyuan and the prime minister, so he can only rely on you. What's more, he has been poisoned by me, and he will surely die without my antidote." Ye Aniu said to Chen Tianchou with a smile.

Chen Tianchou had a bitter look on his face. I am a great detective of the Six Gates.

"What are your plans for the next step?" the princess asked calmly. How come I hadn't noticed this guy was so sinister before? He was still so cute when he was selling tofu.

"Cui Mingyuan will definitely use my family to threaten me." Ye Aniu bowed and said, "Princess, please escort me back to Qingshi Town to encircle and suppress the Prime Minister and Cui Mingyuan."

"Okay." The princess nodded in agreement.

the other side.

"master"

Li Wenchang was in tatters and had barely escaped the pursuit. He looked exhausted and staggered into the mansion.

"Ah!" The Prime Minister hurriedly supported him and asked anxiously, "Wenchang, what happened?"

"Master, we were deceived. Chen Tianchou is Cui Mingyuan's man. I was ambushed." After saying this, he fell to the ground and died.

When Ye Aniu was chopping him, Ye Beixuan briefly controlled his body, otherwise how could he cut the rope so accurately and let the sword energy enter his body, causing him to die as soon as he returned home.

"Well, Cui Mingyuan, you dare to plot against me!" The Prime Minister angrily smashed the cup and immediately shouted, "Come here."

There was a sound of footsteps outside the door, and a servant came hurriedly: "Master, what are your instructions?"

"Contact the Shadow Pavilion immediately and go to Qingshi Town."

"Yes."

On the other side, on the road.

A team of guards was escorting a rather exquisite carriage forward. Inside the carriage, a man was taking a nap.

Opposite the man sat two beautiful women, the eldest princess and Hanmei.

"Ye Jieyuan, you haven't finished the story you just told yet!" Looking at Ye Aniu dozing off, the eldest princess couldn't help but ask curiously.

Ye Aniu trembled all over and suddenly woke up. This woman was quite smart. The story in the magical book had indeed just begun.

So he replied, "It's not finished, because that's just the beginning of the story."

"Oh? I want to hear it." The eldest princess responded.

Why do women love horror movies?

Seeing that Ah Niu remained silent, the princess continued, "What's the matter? Is there a problem? Or don't you want to talk about it?"

"It's not that I don't want to talk about it." Ye Aniu said with an embarrassed look, "It's just that the plot behind this is a bit scary. I'm afraid that Her Royal Highness will be scared. If I scare Her Royal Highness, I will be guilty."

The eldest princess and her little maid suddenly looked fierce, and the meaning was very clear: if you dare not say it?
"Alright!" Ye Aniu sighed helplessly and said, "I'm sorry to show off my ugliness!"

"Continuing from the previous chapter, Master Yuan San later realized that he had committed a cardinal sin as an executioner, so he decided to retire and passed his precious sword to his apprentice, Xie Qi."

Then he began to tell how Xie Qi had always followed his master's teachings and would be beheaded at three quarters past noon.

The one he was going to kill today was a witch who had sucked the blood of ninety-nine young girls in just three days.

Xie Qi also offered wine to the knife according to the ritual, but just when he was about to chop it down, the strange eyes of the witch made him dazed for a moment, and the ghost-head knife in his hand could not be chopped down.

At this point, Ye Aniu said excitedly, "And at this moment, the chains that bound the witch were broken free by her, and a flying knife attacked. Someone unexpectedly robbed the execution ground."

"Robbing the execution ground is a capital crime." As a princess, the eldest princess cannot tolerate criminals the most.

Ye Aniu ignored her and continued to tell the story of how the witch broke free from her restraints and fought with Xie Qi on the execution platform. In the end, Xie Qi cut his palm, threw out the knife with his own pure yang blood, and chopped off the witch's head.

"The witch's head was chopped off and she fell to the ground. However..."

"Hurry up and tell me, how dare you keep me in suspense?" the eldest princess said angrily.

Hanmei was stunned. This was the first time that the prince had said a swear word. Ye Aniu was so amazing that he could make the prince have the heart of a girl.

Ah Niu had no choice but to continue, "After Xie Qi killed the demon girl, black smoke came out of her neck instead of blood, and all the people who came to rob the execution ground were reduced to ashes in an instant."

"Is there really a monster?" Hanmei shuddered all over.

"There's a fox demon in Black Mountain." Ye Aniu's tone suddenly turned sinister as he said, "Just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

Then he continued to narrate in an excited tone that after the witch was beheaded, people panicked and accused Xie Qi of breaking a taboo. He said that if the execution was carried out after three quarters past noon, he would definitely be killed by vengeful ghosts. For a while, everyone stayed away from him.

"Xie Qi clearly killed the evildoer, but ended up being isolated." Hanmei said indignantly.

"People are just stupid."

Ye Aniu nodded, agreeing with them, and continued, "One night, the owner of a herbal medicine shop was walking down the street when he saw a red lantern. Just as he was puzzled, he suddenly saw the slain demon woman behind the lantern. He was so frightened that he rolled and scrambled, and happened to run into Xie Qi."

Then Aniu continued to tell the story. The owner of the herbal medicine shop met Xie Qi and shouted that there was a ghost. Xie Qi realized that something was wrong and shouted who the person was.
At this point, Ye Aniu's eyes suddenly stiffened, his face was gloomy, his arms were extremely twisted, and he imitated the tone of the double-eyed demon woman and said: "Give me back my body, give me back my head, I want to enter the reincarnation"

Hanmei was so frightened that her hair stood on end. She held the eldest princess's arm tightly, obviously frightened. Although the eldest princess had a calm expression, her skirt, which was grasped at her knees with both hands, had become wrinkled, which showed that she was not calm at the moment.

Ah Niu smiled slightly. I thought you were made of iron, but you can get scared too! So he continued to tell the story. Xie Qi was no coward, but a true man who remained calm even when faced with a mountain collapsing in front of him. He held the ghost-head knife and prepared to chop down the witch again.

"But at this moment..." Ye Aniu's tone suddenly changed, and the eldest princess obviously couldn't control herself and trembled all over.

Hanmei covered her chest and said in a fearful tone, "Can you please stop being so startled?"

Seeing that the frightening effect had been achieved, Ye Aniu chuckled playfully and continued, "But at this moment, a voice was heard, accusing Xie Qi of his guilt. At the same time, four coffins flew over from the opposite side, standing upright on the ground. The coffin lids opened instantly, and four ghost messengers walked out from inside."

As Aniu continued to speak, the ghost came out of the coffin and questioned Xie Qi for killing someone after three quarters past noon, causing the ghost to be unable to rest, and asked him to hand over the head of the female prisoner.

However, Xie Qi firmly believed that evil could not prevail over good, and did not believe any of this at all. Instead, he loudly questioned why the underworld messenger would help such an evil person.

"However, the Yincha only threw out a hook and struck. After Xie Qi dodged, he looked forward again but saw nothing, as if no one had been there at all."

"Could it really be the work of a ghost?"

"If Xie Qi misses the chance to kill someone, will that really mean he won't be able to reincarnate?"

Ah Niu smiled calmly, but in his heart he didn't agree. How would I know? Anyway, it was the divine book that told me to say so.

But he continued to tell the story, and the wax sealing the witch's head suddenly fell off and broke.

Qi Ye's heart tightened, and he had a bad feeling that the situation was not good. He hurriedly handed the body to the tailor, who planned to sew up the body and then cremate it.

Then he began to describe the horrific appearance of the corpse seamstress, which frightened the two beauties so much that they turned pale, and even the eldest princess completely lost her composure.

This made Ye Aniu feel proud. He even suspected that the magic book had deliberately sent him to scare them.

"Just as the two were talking, a mosquito suddenly flew in. Xie Qi immediately felt something was wrong and turned to look at the corpse tailor. He saw him suddenly vomit centipedes from his mouth and die on the spot. The female corpse on the platform also disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye."

"Huh... so disgusting." Hanmei pretended to vomit.

"What? Are you pregnant?" Ye Aniu teased.

"You..." Hanmei quickly stopped vomiting and said to the princess coquettishly, "Princess, look at him, he's so vulgar..."

The eldest princess gently touched Hanmei's arm and said, "Okay, girls will get pregnant in the future, so you should get used to it in advance."

"..." Hanmei was stunned for a moment. She hadn't even married him yet, but she started speaking for him. How would she live her life in the future?

When she thought about the torture she suffered from him every day... Hanmei couldn't describe what she felt for a moment.

Ye Aniu found it funny, and the princess frowned slightly. He straightened his expression and continued to narrate: After Xie Qi consulted ancient books, he found that this was the witchcraft of the Seven Yin Sect.

Legend has it that on Ghost Festival, a ghost will take away seven girls born on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month and set up the Seven Yin Flying Fairy Formation. Once the formation is successful, they will be able to achieve immortality.

"Can you become an immortal by using such harmful means?" The eldest princess frowned tightly, her face full of doubt.

"Of course not. This is just a legend. It's a crooked way figured out by those who practiced but couldn't become immortals." Ye Aniu's tone was full of disdain.

Hanmei and the eldest princess nodded in agreement. "How could someone who becomes an immortal by harming others really be called an immortal?" They were practically no different from demons.

Ye Aniu continued, "Xie Qi realized the seriousness of the matter, so he immediately took his junior sister to the mountain to investigate... Who knew..."

Seeing a hint of chill in the eldest princess's expression, Ah Niu quickly continued, "I didn't expect Xie Qi and Junior Sister to encounter a mountain of medicine men with indestructible bodies."

"What is a medicine man?" Hanmei couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Medicine men are those who voluntarily take drugs to develop an indestructible body. However, they will also lose their minds and will only obey the orders of the person who gave them the medicine." Ye Aniu explained.

"If such an evil thing is controlled by someone with bad intentions, it will probably cause big trouble." The eldest princess said after listening.

"At the same time, strange things happened one after another in the town. The ghost catcher even brazenly took away seven girls." Ye Aniu continued, "The villagers even surrounded the government office, saying that Xie Qi's execution was delayed and caused these incidents. They even smashed his house."

"Why? Are people in this world really so heartless?"

(End of this chapter)