Chapter 183

Everyone was not surprised that Li Sanjiang won the lottery.

What was surprising was that this prize could actually be redeemed in time.

Of course, the lottery organizers couldn’t personally take you on a trip, but they could help you get in touch with a national-level travel agency.

Travel is very similar to engineering; layer-by-layer subcontracting is unavoidable.

But at least, it solves your basic travel expenses and food and lodging.

Li Zhuyuan and the others could, of course, set out to the destination themselves, but this was, after all, a clue, and the clearest one, so they had to follow it first.

The person who came to pick them up was a young man with dark skin that contrasted with his bright white teeth.

The guy was a Naxi person, open and enthusiastic. He would be their driver and guide for the next few days.

Oh, and the accommodation was also at his house. He had converted his family’s earthen house into a guesthouse himself.

When introducing this, the guy seemed very proud, because although with the rise of the tourism industry, more and more local people were engaged in tourism-related industries, the proportion of local people willing to start their own small businesses was not large.

The guy told everyone to call him Pang Jin Ge.

Tan Wenbin smilingly asked if the woman should be called Pang Jin Mei?

Pang Jin Ge replied that yes, according to the older generation’s tradition, fat is beautiful, and black is precious, because they believed only like this were people healthy, could work, and were suitable for childbearing.

Driving past a large construction site on the way, Pang Jin Ge pointed at it and said:

“Next time you come to play, you can fly directly to our Lijiang.”

Yunnan’s beauty carried a purity and ethereal quality unique to it.

Even just sitting in the car and roughly appreciating it still gave a feeling of walking in a fairy tale.

Pang Jin Ge’s home was not in the city, nor in a scenic spot, but in a village, which made it even quieter.

Parking at the house door, Pang Jin Ge’s parents actively welcomed them. The old couple were now helping their son.

Inside, there was also a young girl, not fat, nor dark-skinned, appearing fair and delicate.

Pang Jin Ge said this was his fiancée, they were already engaged, and would hold the wedding at the end of the year.

Clearly, young people know how to resist tradition.

The earthen house originally had ethnic characteristics, and after repair and modification, it was also very convenient to live in.

Pang Jin Ge originally planned to arrange for Li Zhuyuan and the others to live on the second floor, so it would be convenient to go to the rooftop terrace to enjoy the scenery.

Tan Wenbin refused this suggestion, only wanting three connecting rooms on the first floor.

At the same time, Tan Wenbin also refused Pang Jin Ge’s next tourism plan for everyone, saying that they wanted to walk around and see things for themselves, and didn’t need a guide.

Pang Jin Ge advised them twice, and seeing their insistence, he just smiled and let it be.

His guiding job was a package deal, and since the other party didn’t need it, he could use this time to go and take other jobs.

Dinner was local farm food, very abundant, especially the wild chicken stewed with small chicken and mushrooms. When the lid of the clay pot was lifted, a layer of thick oil floated on top.

Everyone gathered around the charcoal basin, roasting the fire while eating.

Having been notified in advance, Pang Jin Ge’s parents steamed a lot more rice, but they still underestimated the appetites of Run Sheng, Lin Shuyou, and Tan Wenbin.

The first two martial arts practitioners naturally had large appetites, and Tan Wenbin was even more like a pregnant woman carrying twins.

In the end, Pang Jin Ge’s parents had to take out the family’s dry rations, a kind of dry steamed bun-like thing, which was fried in oil and served.

Tan Wenbin wanted to pay extra for the food, but Pang Jin Ge’s parents refused. The two elders spoke in dialect, and Pang Jin Ge helped translate, saying that his parents’ meaning was: it was the host’s blessing for noble guests to eat openly at home.

After the meal, the five people went up to the roof together and started a small meeting.

Before coming, the meeting had already been held several times.

Because this wave was very special, it was highly likely that many teams or individuals would participate, and killing and snatching those three pieces of broken jade would be even more unavoidable.

Li Zhuyuan took out a small black wooden box. Inside the box lay a piece of broken jade.

The small wooden box was made by A Li for him. The material was the ancestral tablets of the Qin and Liu families, which naturally had a suppressive effect.

The array patterns on top were personally carved and designed by Li Zhuyuan, and he had spent a lot of effort on them.

It could be said that in the few days before setting out, Li Zhuyuan’s main energy was spent on this box.

His repeated wits and courage with the question setter allowed Li Zhuyuan to try and deduce its behavior logic.

Under the banner of guarding the righteous path, there were many constraints and taboos on mutual killing.

If he were the question setter, he would first help everyone eliminate this difficulty and create an environment more suitable for killing and fighting.

If he started to arrange things in other directions, firstly it would be too abrupt and destroy the question setter’s aesthetic; secondly, the subjective initiative would not be strong, and everyone was not fools; without enough interest-driven, not many people would be willing to confront other teams head-on.

Then, the most suitable thing to trigger this killing opportunity was this piece of broken jade.

The game of finding broken jade was too dull and boring. Before this wave began, it was either given directly or obtained by other teams in the previous wave.

In short, there should be three teams, carrying three pieces of broken jade, who would come to Lijiang.

And these three teams holding broken jade would become the center of killing and snatching.

Now, the broken jade was in their hands, but whether they would still be holding the broken jade when they truly opened the door to visit was hard to say. Everyone would rely on their ability.

In fact, it was indeed so.

Before entering the boundary of Lijiang, just as they approached, this piece of broken jade began to turn black and faintly emit corpse qi.

This corpse qi was very special; it wasn’t inherent in the broken jade itself, but was absorbed from the surrounding qi and then emitted. Once it stained the body, it would endure for a long time and not dissipate.

Ordinary sealing measures were fundamentally ineffective against it.

Even though Li Zhuyuan had made sufficient targeted preparations in advance, before just entering Lijiang, he still specially stopped for a while, and according to its reaction, re-strengthened a layer of array.

Yu Xuzi, who had pondered arrays for several hundred years in that snail shell as a dojo, was a great help to Li Zhuyuan here.

At this moment, the broken jade inside the wooden box had already turned black, and a dynamic flow could be vaguely seen, but it just couldn’t be stimulated.

Therefore, it meant that Li Zhuyuan and the others, who should have been in the open, were now in the dark.

If someone who was stained with this qi appeared, it would be equivalent to a zombie jumping in broad daylight. Those who could participate in this wave were absolutely not fakes, and they would surely detect it.

Li Zhuyuan: “Our next tasks are two, divided into a bright line and a dark line.”

Under the night, everyone listened seriously.

“On the bright line, although we have a piece of broken jade in hand, we have to act as if we don’t have it. We still have to go search for the other two teams carrying broken jade, and seriously prepare for snatching.

On the dark line, we have to explore the visiting place a bit. I suspect, in order to leave us sufficient time for mutual killing, the opening time should not have arrived yet.

But being able to find more background clues before opening is also advantageous, after all, the real main event is definitely in the back.

Starting tomorrow morning, team action, don’t be alone.”

“Understood!”

“Understood!”

After the meeting ended, Run Sheng, as the first round of night watch, stayed on the terrace, and the rest all went downstairs back to their rooms to rest.

Although this bit of travel fatigue was nothing to them, during every wave, everyone would subconsciously grasp all opportunities to adjust their state.

Li Zhuyuan and Tan Wenbin shared a room, just like they did in the university dormitory before.

Lying on the bed, Tan Wenbin laughed: “The scenery here is really good, I really want to properly play here for a while.”

Li Zhuyuan covered himself with the quilt, lay down, and said: “Wait until the journey is over, you can bring Zhou Yunyun to revisit all the places we have walked.”

“Hehe.” Tan Wenbin subconsciously reached to touch the cigarette on the bedside table, but hesitated.

Li Zhuyuan had already closed his eyes, but still spoke: “Smoke.”

Tan Wenbin’s body was now recuperated, but those two children ‘growing up’ were squeezing his spirit at any time.

Tan Wenbin lit the cigarette and exhaled a smoke ring: “Really good.”

This was responding to Xiao Yuan Ge’s previous suggestion.

Perhaps, by that time, by his side would not only be Zhou Yunyun, but also his own children.

Suddenly, Tan Wenbin shook his head forcefully.

Having seen many movies, he immediately realized that what he was thinking now was very inauspicious.

Extinguished the cigarette butt, Tan Wenbin lay down, wrapped himself well in the quilt, and started sleeping.

Early the next morning, everyone got up, ate a simple breakfast, and then set out to investigate.

Calling it investigation, it was actually not much different from tourism.

After all, the clue clearly stated the five words “Mu Wang Fu Treasure.”

The difficult difference to find was probably that this group of them… were more serious about tourism than other tourists.

Tourists generally took a cursory view, while the five of them were all ‘extremely careful’.

But visiting back and forth, they didn’t discover anything special.

This involuntarily made Li Zhuyuan suspect that [Mu Wang Fu Treasure] was just providing a Lijiang coordinate, with no other deeper meaning, and even not having too much association with Mu Wang Fu itself.

Or, the real secret had to wait until the blood volume of the killing was enough, only then could it be irrigated out.

But there was currently nothing else to do, so they could only continue to visit and play; anyway, they had already come.

As dusk approached, the crowd returned to Pang Jin Ge’s home.

With the experience of last night, today Pang Jin Ge’s parents steamed the rice very full.

After each dish of food was served, Yin Meng would wave her hand over the food to cover her Gu insect crawling on it.

The Gu insect itself carried strong poison, but the premise was that it secreted it itself; most of the time, it was actually no different from ordinary insects.

Perhaps innate, or trained after following Yin Meng, in any case, this Gu insect had extremely high sensitivity to toxins.

Since entering Lijiang, everything entering their mouths had to be probed by this insect.

When it was a fight between people, no amount of vigilance was excessive.

Pang Jin Ge was not here, nor was his car. His fiancée said he went to pick people up.

After the meal, Lin Shuyou went to the terrace alone to stand guard.

Tan Wenbin was in the yard, sitting and chatting with Pang Jin Ge’s parents, with Pang Jin Ge’s fiancée translating.

Even though they didn’t understand the language, Tan Wenbin could still chat very happily with the two elders.

He also extracted some local special customs and strange legends through the chat.

Li Zhuyuan sat in the room, consolidating the seal for the box.

The corpse qi inside the broken jade constantly impacted the prohibition. If left alone, it would definitely breach it within two days. For safety, Li Zhuyuan would add a layer of seal to it every day.

This was also because Li Zhuyuan’s initial underlying seal logic was well-designed, which allowed for the space to continue stacking layers.

If it were someone else, just suppressing it in the early stage would be extremely difficult, and there would be no spare effort to think about the follow-up.

There was movement from the roof. Li Zhuyuan put away the box and walked out of the room.

Run Sheng and Yin Meng also came out of their rooms. Lin Shuyou leaned out from the terrace and pointed outside.

Something was happening.

Pang Jin Ge was back. He had picked up a group of new tourists, four of them.

The leader was a woman, very young, just over twenty, wearing white casual clothes and a ponytail, appearing refreshing and capable.

When she passed in front of Li Zhuyuan while arranging rooms, she specially stared at Li Zhuyuan for a while and smiled:

“There’s actually such a cute little brother here.”

Behind her were three men, one wearing short sleeves, one wearing cotton clothes, and one with a very old face and very short stature, just a bit taller than a normal dwarf.

The short-sleeved man’s walking posture was a bit uncoordinated, with a sense of tension.

The cotton-clothed man had both hands tucked into his sleeves, looking like he was really cold, and even the air he exhaled had some white mist.

The short-statured man, except for his short stature, appeared much more normal.

When he entered the house, he first sized up Pang Jin Ge’s fiancée with a playful gaze. When he saw Yin Meng, he kept looking at Yin Meng while licking his lips.

The woman walking in front turned her head and pinched the short-statured man’s ear: “Do you want to die?”

The short-statured man was pulled upstairs while shouting in pain.

Li Zhuyuan returned to his room and put two talisman papers on the door and window respectively to do sound insulation.

Tan Wenbin pushed the door in and carefully closed it.

“No need for a night watch tonight. Notify them to pay attention to daily communication.”

“Understood.”

At this very moment, any team that suddenly appeared in sight could not be taken lightly, especially since this team’s appearance was still very strange.

It was not too surprising that they could live here. Pang Jin Ge was an important clue, and he didn’t want to give up.

Hiding was certainly safe, but it would thus miss important information. They didn’t want to find out in the end that the other two teams had mastered rich clues, while their side was seriously lacking in information.

Tan Wenbin asked: “Xiao Yuan Ge, do you want to probe them a bit?”

Li Zhuyuan shook his head: “Before corpse qi appears on them, we, as a team without broken jade in hand, have no reason to do extra.”

Tan Wenbin: “Then what if they make a move to probe us?”

Li Zhuyuan: “That means they have broken jade in hand.”

Tan Wenbin asked somewhat puzzled: “Then why won’t they be like us?”

Li Zhuyuan lightly flicked the wooden box with his fingertip and said:

“Because they can’t be like me and constantly suppress the corpse qi inside the broken jade.”

At night, all was silent.

The white-clothed woman finished bathing, changed into a loose white shirt, and lay down on the bed. Her pair of beautiful white legs were largely exposed.

But even the short-statured man who gazed most lewdly during the daytime didn’t dare to lift his eyes to look more, just obediently sat on the chair with his head down.

The cotton-clothed man and the short-sleeved man then sat cross-legged on the floor.

“Kekeke…”

The cotton-clothed man’s teeth began to chatter. He was truly cold.

Zheng Ruxue, lying on the bed,’s gaze slightly condensed, and she asked: “A Leng, how long can you hold on?”

A Leng, the cotton-clothed man, first opened his cotton clothes. On his chest was a piece of frost. In the position of his right chest, there was a dent, and inside it was embedded a piece of broken jade.

“The corpse qi inside this broken jade is getting heavier and heavier. I almost can’t suppress it.”

Zheng Ruxue heard the words and rubbed her forehead.

This thing was a treasure, but the earlier you got it, the hotter it was.

Once A Leng couldn’t suppress it and the corpse qi burst out, they would be the searchlight in the night, attracting many gazes from the surroundings.

The short-statured man spoke: “How about we first deal with the hidden dangers nearby? There are two groups living downstairs. One group seems normal, with tourist appearances. As for that single woman, my room is just above hers. I listened carefully. Since she entered the room, she hasn’t made any sound, not even a breathing sound.”

Zheng Ruxue shook her head: “If she’s really alone, it’s not easy to deal with. Those who dare to walk the jianghu alone naturally have their confidence. Instead, that group makes me feel strange…”

Short-statured man: “Strange in what way?”

Zheng Ruxue: “Strange in being too normal.”

The three men heard the words and looked at each other.

Zheng Ruxue: “At this time, the more normal the target, the more dangerous they often are. This means they can calmly disguise themselves.”

Short-statured man: “How about I go probe a bit?”

Zheng Ruxue hesitated for a moment, but when her gaze fell on A Leng’s chest, she still nodded: “Go confirm a bit, pay attention to the measure.”

“My body technique, aren’t you still assured of me?”

The short-statured man left the room.

The rest of the people were all waiting in Zheng Ruxue’s room.

Also waiting together were Run Sheng and the others living in the room on the first floor.

Although they were all covering themselves with quilts and sleeping, Run Sheng was hiding the Yellow River shovel in his quilt, and Yin Meng was hiding the demon-whipping whip in her quilt.

Lin Shuyou put the trident under his pillow and pretended to be sleeping with his legs clamping the side of the quilt.

Even Tan Wenbin seemed to be sleeping, but his hands, placed on his abdomen, were maintaining the first hand seal of the ghost-controlling technique.

The only one sleeping normally was Li Zhuyuan.

Because he believed his companions could provide him with a warning, he couldn’t waste their efforts.

Tonight, he not only walked slowly, but also walked quietly.

Zheng Ruxue waited in the room for a long time, neither hearing a sound nor seeing the short-statured man return.

“Something happened.”

She got out of bed.

The cotton-clothed man and the short-sleeved man both stood up.

The short-sleeved man was the first to push open the door, and he discovered the short-statured man limping towards here, covering his chest. Although he was in a mess, he was still quiet.

His body technique was originally so wonderful, flying on the roof and walking on walls, like Tu Xingsun.

Zheng Ruxue breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was injured, he had still probed.

The short-sleeved man turned his body sideways, wanting to let his companion in.

But just as the short-statured man approached the door, his hands suddenly plunged towards the short-sleeved man’s chest.

“Pu!”

Everything happened too fast, completely in an instant. Plus, they were defaulted as companions, so the short-sleeved man was fundamentally unprepared.

Clearly human hands, at this time they were as sharp as knives, not only instantly penetrating his flesh, but also cutting open his bones.

In shock and pain, the short-sleeved man disregarded everything else, wrapped his arms around the short-statured man, and his whole body’s muscles quickly swelled, embracing the short-statured man into his arms.

The expected explosion sound did not appear. The short-statured man’s whole body appeared with dense cracks, and then it completely cracked, turning into splashing porcelain fragments.

“Ah…”

A piece of porcelain was completely embedded in the short-sleeved man’s neck, making it very difficult for him to make a sound.

This injury could no longer be described as severe, because all vital points throughout his body had been stabbed, and it was already impossible to treat and save his life.

The short-sleeved man collapsed on the ground, the vitality within his body quickly cut off.

Some originally cracked porcelain fragments flew towards Zheng Ruxue and the cotton-clothed man, but they were all blocked by the frost that the cotton-clothed man stirred up with his open hands.

But even so, these porcelain fragments still entered the frost deeply, forcing the cotton-clothed man to mobilize more power for defense.

Therefore, the cold qi inside his body used to suppress the broken jade was weakened, and the corpse qi overflowed.

Strands of black qi circled his chest.

A voice faintly transmitted from the floor below:

“Corpse qi, evil spirits, should be executed!”

This was a disclaimer statement.

Not killing ordinary people, not killing fellow righteous path members, just suspecting them as evil spirits, and now confirming there was no mistake, thus having merit without crime.

Zheng Ruxue bit her silver teeth tightly, reaching to push the cotton-clothed man in front. The other voice was downstairs.

The next round of attack would be launched from the floor below.

However, because the corpse qi from the broken jade inside the cotton-clothed man’s body overflowed, not only did it make him very painful and his figure very stiff, but Zheng Ruxue’s push, which was originally a boost from a companion in battle to facilitate his better dodge, now made him fundamentally unable to fully control his body, only able to fall forward.

“Pu!”

A sharp weapon probed out from the floor gap, directly piercing the cotton-clothed man.

Zheng Ruxue’s eyes cracked. Within a short time, all three of her subordinates were dead!

If the other side was very strong and completely crushing, then so be it, but the other side did not show such terrifying strength, yet her side died one by one neatly.

Zheng Ruxue’s figure retreated, wanting to leave this room. In the direction of her retreat was a window.

Her speed was very fast, but just as she was about to reach the window, her figure suddenly turned, forcibly changing direction with an extremely weird posture, no longer retreating, but rushing forward instead.

The window was opened, and a figure was waiting for her there.

Zheng Ruxue: Indeed, you already predicted my next step!

Rushing forward, Zheng Ruxue came to the cotton-clothed man’s side, waved her single hand, and the cotton-clothed man’s body flipped up. Zheng Ruxue reached into his chest and grabbed. The broken jade emitting black qi was grabbed out and fell into her palm.

But just at this time, the long porcelain piece that had earlier pierced the cotton-clothed man once again probed out.

Its timing of appearance was just when Zheng Ruxue had just contacted the broken jade, and was affected by its corpse qi, causing her figure to fall into a state of stagnation for this small instant.

“Pu!”

Zheng Ruxue’s body was pierced by it. The part that entered her body shattered directly, turning into countless small porcelain fragments that rushed and collided horizontally inside her body.

“Thud…”

Zheng Ruxue’s figure fell on the ground. After twitching a few times, she made no movement.

The shadow outside the window appeared at this time. It was not the person who had been waiting in ambush, but a picture of ladies that had been hung there in advance.

After a while, someone from downstairs walked up, pushed open the door and walked in. It was the single woman living downstairs.

She ignored the corpses on the ground, first taking down the piece of broken jade from Zheng Ruxue’s corpse’s hand and putting it into the exquisite porcelain bottle in her hand.

The blue and white porcelain bottle gradually became stained with black patterns.

The woman sighed:

“Alas, I can’t suppress it for too long.”

Then, the woman clapped her hands, and small porcelain dolls walked in one by one from outside. When they arrived at the corpses’ side, they all shattered, turning into patches, wrapping the corpses.

Soon, “Zheng Ruxue and the others” all stood up and began to clean up the traces in the room.

After cleaning up, “Zheng Ruxue and the others” carried their luggage and went downstairs.

The front house was where Pang Jin Ge and his parents lived.

Pang Jin Ge was woken up by the sound of knocking on the door. Rubbing his eyes, he looked at the four guests who had just checked in today, puzzled: “What happened, do you need something?”

“Zheng Ruxue” spoke: “We have an urgent matter to leave, checking out.”

The other party’s voice was very hoarse and harsh. Pang Jin Ge only felt that listening to it made his eardrums ache.

“Leaving Lijiang, not coming back?”

“Not coming back.”

“Then I’ll refund you the room fee for the remaining days.”

“No need, goodbye.”

“Hey, how can that be?”

Pang Jin Ge ran to the counter, opened the drawer with a key, took out the money, and immediately chased out.

“Late at night, where are you going? I’ll drive you there, and the money…”

Pang Jin Ge chased out the door, but was stunned to discover that “Zheng Ruxue” and the others, who had just walked out the door, had actually already disappeared.

Outside the house was a village road, farmland, and the starry sky was bright, with good visibility, but no matter how he looked around, he couldn’t find any human figures.

Only at the edge of the field ridges were there four slightly convex mounds of soil compared to the surrounding soil.

……

Early morning.

Li Zhuyuan pushed open the door, walked out of the room, and lightly stretched.

At the edge of the wooden tea table opposite his room door, the single woman sat there, drinking tea. The tea set she was using was very exquisite.

The woman raised her teacup, raised it slightly to Li Zhuyuan from a distance, and smiled genially:

“Little brother, good morning.”

Li Zhuyuan also showed her a shy smile and waved his hand in response:

“Good morning.”

———

There will be one more chapter during the daytime tomorrow to make up the word count for this chapter.

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