Judge of the Lamp

Chapter 321 Lost in a Thousand Caves

Fifteen miles away from the soft smoke spring, Xu Zhiqiong slowly appeared in the night.

From where to enter Zhonglang Courtyard, from where to exit, Liu Jiangpu and his subordinates never imagined that Xu Zhiqiong would reappear at the place where he disappeared.

The lights of the soft smoke spring are still on, and the official roads are full of horses and horses. One of the most fascinating features of Daxuan is that it has never been banned overnight.

Xu Zhiqiong walked down the official road, entered a small path, and found a magic circle under a peach tree.

Stepping on the magic circle, injecting Qi according to the ratio of yin, six and yang to four, the magic circle was activated immediately, and Xu Zhiqiong came to a long corridor under the transmission of the magic circle.

A very familiar long corridor, no matter how good your eyesight is, you will never see the end. Under the flickering candlelight, there is a mystery that makes people frightened and curious.

On one side of the corridor are doors with exactly the same shape. If the owner wants you to enter, it is right to open any door. If the owner does not want you to enter, open all the doors, and you will not find you. place that I want to go.

Onmyoji.

It's been a long time.

Xu Zhiqiong pushed open the first door, and saw a figure, wearing a loose robe, with his back to Xu Zhiqiong, sitting next to a green lantern.

Xu Zhiqiong stepped forward and saluted, "Tai Bu, long time no see."

Tao Huayuan turned her head, looked at Xu Zhiqiong and said, "Do you think Master and I look alike?"

Xu Zhiqiong sneered and said, "Who said you look like that old guy? Isn't it you who is the Yin Yang Secretary now?"

Tao Huayuan hooked Xu Zhiqiong's chin: "Why is your mouth so sweet today?"

Xu Zhiqiong smiled and said, "If you think it's sweet, come over and taste it."

After finishing speaking, Xu Zhiqiong wiped his sweat secretly.

It's not being sweet, it's because Xu Zhiqiong really admitted his mistake just now.

Tao Huayuan's back looks very similar to Tai Bu's. She is wearing that extremely tall hat and is still sitting in a backlit position. The color of her hair cannot be seen, and the wide sleeves of her robe hide many details of her body.

Fortunately, Xu Zhiqiong reacted quickly and covered it up very naturally.

With a wave of Tao Huayuan's hand, a picture appeared on the blue lantern. The picture was a barren hill with no grass growing. Compared with the surrounding trees, it could be seen that this barren hill was not big. In terms of the area occupied, it should be comparable to Xu Zhiqiong's. The open space seen in the small black room is similar.

No mistake, this is the outer body of Taotie.

Tao Huayuan said: "This mountain is one hundred and fifty miles south of Yuling City, in the main vein of Qianku Mountain."

Qianku Mountain is the largest mountain range in Daxuan. To be precise, Qianku Mountain does not completely belong to Daxuan. A part of the mountain range in the south has already stretched to Yu Xianguo.

Thousand Cave Mountain is an excellent hiding place for Taotie's outer body. The mountains are vast, steep, and the forests are lush. Many people have said that more than [-]% of the Qianku Mountain has never been visited by anyone.

With a wave of Tao Huayuan's hand, another picture was shown, a man was shouting at the crowd in the village, someone beside him was recording the roster, and someone was distributing copper coins.

"Recruitment!" Xu Zhiqiong's expression changed.

"Yes, recruiting!" Tao Huayuan nodded, "My onmyoji saw in the village that rich merchants were recruiting for workers."

"Which village?" Xu Zhiqiong immediately became nervous.

He is very sensitive about recruitment.

The Royal Hunting Garden recruited workers, and more than [-] people were planted into blood trees.

The other time was when Conglin County recruited workers, and two hundred people were fed to Taotie.

What is this recruitment for?
With Taotie's outer body here, the probability of feeding Taotie is higher.

Tao Huayuan said: "Don't be impatient, it's useless to be impatient. These people were taken away from the village more than ten days ago, and their whereabouts are still unknown. They are probably no longer alive."

"Since your onmyoji saw it, why didn't he tell you earlier?"

Tao Huayuan said: "During winter slack, farmers go out to do part-time labor and earn a few copper coins. This is a very common thing. Even if the onmyoji saw it, he didn't take it seriously."

Xu Zhiqiong said: "How many people did they recruit?"

"More than two hundred people."

"The more than two hundred people don't care?"

"It's not in one village, but in more than [-] villages, scattered in various counties in Huazhou. A village employs about six or seven people. Together, there should be more than two hundred people.
The onmyojis in various counties in Huazhou didn't pay much attention at first, but later they found out that these workers were all recruited away at the same time, and they all said they were going to work in the mountains, so they thought it was suspicious. "

When you go to work in the mountains, you can basically be fed gluttonous food.

More than two hundred.

The figure is familiar.

In Lincong County, more than [-] people were eaten by gluttons.

Soon after that incident, the case was settled by Liu Jiangpu.

Not long after, Liu Jiangpu was transferred from Lincong County.

The fact that Liu Jiangpu is gone proves that Taotie is gone too, and his task is to take care of Taotie.

Xu Zhiqiong pinched his chin and said, "It seems that Taotie is already full, and it's time to move when he's full!"

Tao Huayuan said: "I was also worried about this, so I asked you to come and discuss it together. With the means you and I have today, trying to destroy Taotie's outer body is nothing but a dream. Even if Master is here, there is nothing we can do.
But since we have found this monster, we must at least keep an eye on his whereabouts. I plan to do it myself and set up a magic circle on him as a mark so that we can track him down in the future. "

"Inappropriate!" Xu Zhiqiong immediately vetoed it.

Make a magic circle on Taotie?
It's the equivalent of a baby drawing a map on a tiger's forehead.

Xu Zhiqiong still remembers the situation after the master and Taotie fought, the master with unfathomable strength became extremely weak.

Taotie is the real god.

With Tao Huayuan's strength, trying to perform a formation on the back of Taotie's body is purely a matter of death.

Tao Huayuan sighed: "Should we just leave him alone? The news you worked so hard to find in the soft smoke spring before, just go to waste like this?"

Xu Zhiqiong thought for a long time and said, "Why did he recruit workers from more than [-] villages?"

Tao Huayuan said: "It must be Liu Jiangpu's idea, he doesn't want to make a big noise."

Xu Zhiqiong shook his head and said: "Liu Jiangpu's hands and eyes are open to the sky, even if there is a big commotion and he becomes an official in another place, he can't be tracked down afterwards.

Recruit workers in more than [-] villages, and have to buy county magistrates after the incident. Although the commotion will not be big, but there are too many people intervening, it will inevitably leave hidden dangers, unless..."

Tao Huayuan understood what Xu Zhiqiong meant: "Unless he doesn't want to leave!"

Xu Zhiqiong nodded and said: "He still wants to stay in Huazhou and continue to be an official. In this way, it is safer to recruit workers in more than [-] villages and put the matter in the hands of county magistrates.
If he didn't leave Huazhou, Taotie's outer body would not leave Huazhou either, but just moved a little closer. "

Tao Huayuan waved her hand, and a map of Huazhou appeared out of nowhere: "Huazhou is also very big, and we don't know where that monster will go!"

Xu Zhiqiong stared at the map for a moment: "I do have a magic weapon, as long as he doesn't go too far, I don't have to worry about catching him."

……

In the middle of the night, a peach tree branch grew out of the grass at the foot of Qianku Mountain. On the branch, the peach blossoms bloomed, and the petals fell to the ground, touching the magic circle. Xu Zhiqiong and Tao Huayuan both appeared in the magic circle.

With a flick of her sleeve, Tao Huayuan gathered the peach branches and petals on the ground without leaving any traces.

She pointed to a small path and said: "Follow this road, walk about twenty miles, and you will see that hill. There are soldiers guarding around the hill, and there are not many people. It is not too difficult to kill them, but if I don’t want to alarm them, but I have to be more careful.”

Xu Zhiqiong took out the hidden mirror to hide the figures of the two of them. They walked four or five miles along the mountain road when they suddenly smelled a pungent smell.

After the smell passed, fog followed. Tao Huayuan used a sound transmission talisman to transmit the sound: "Seeing the fog proves that we are very close to that barren mountain, but it's a little weird tonight."

"Why do you say it's weird?"

Tao Huayuan said: "In the past, I didn't see the fog until I went more than ten kilometers into the mountain. Today's fog came earlier."

It seems that Taotie's outer body is very excited tonight.

The two continued to walk up the mountain in the mist, and suddenly saw a little light flickering in front of them.

Is it a sergeant?

Seeing how fast they were moving, Xu Zhiqiong and Tao Huayuan hid in the grass nearby.

The fog thickened, and a group of people gradually approached. Xu Zhiqiong couldn't see their faces clearly, but he could barely see the outline of their clothes.

They didn't look like combat uniforms, and when the wind blew, their rags fluttered back and forth, making them look more like farmers.

A woman fell down, carrying a pannier on her back, and there was a child in the pannier, who looked like a three or four-year-old girl with shofar braids.

A man beside her hurriedly helped her up: "Go quickly, that big snake is about to come after you."

Serpent?Where did the big snake come from?
Could it be the monster in Qianku Mountain?

The woman was out of breath: "You take the child and go, I really can't run anymore."

"Grit your teeth again, it's only a few steps, and you'll be fine once you get down the mountain!"

A group of people stumbled and disappeared on the mountain road. Xu Zhiqiong said to Tao Huayuan, "It seems that there are still hired workers who haven't been eaten."

Tao Huayuan shook her head and said, "Since they are hired workers, why are there women and children? Onmyoji told me that they only recruit men."

Looking at the flames going away, Xu Zhiqiong sighed: "Who is running for his life with a torch? Even if Taotie doesn't chase them, the sergeant will soon catch up."

Tao Huayuan said: "Perhaps he was walking at night and accidentally bumped into that monster. Let's be more careful."

The two walked carefully along the mountain road. After a while, there was a sound of footsteps ahead.

Another group of people ran over, they didn't have torches.

Xu Zhiqiong and Tao Huayuan hid on the side of the road, only to hear the group of people running across the mountain road noisily:

"Erqiuzi, my mother was fooled by you, stay at home well, and come out to work with you, what should I do now?"

"Why did you treat you badly? Didn't you also get a lot of money? I saw you pick up seven or eight hangs just now."

"No matter how much you pick up, what can you do? What if this life is gone?"

Repeating the old trick, it must be the sergeant throwing money up the mountain again, waiting for these poor people to go up the mountain to pick it up, and then it all becomes the gluttonous food.

It seems that these few people have a lot of lives, and they can run out after picking up the money.

The two continued to go up the mountain, and after a short walk, they encountered a group of people rushing down the mountain in a hurry.

They were all men, about seven or eight.

When they walked away, Xu Zhiqiong turned around and said to Tao Huayuan, "Tao'er, your news is not accurate, there are still many hired workers alive."

Tao Huayuan wiped off her sweat and said, "It's hard to say, maybe this is a newly hired worker from elsewhere."

Xu Zhiqiong frowned and said, "How many people does he want to eat? If he eats four or five hundred, I'm afraid something big will happen!"

Stopping and walking along the way, it was estimated that in an hour, with the speed of the two of them, the twenty miles of mountain road should be finished.

Xu Zhiqiong asked, "How far is it from that monster?"

Tao Huayuan's face was pale, her clothes were soaked in sweat, she panted for a long time and said, "I guess there are at least two or three miles left."

Tao Huayuan was very weak, and every step was difficult.

It doesn't make sense, she is a fifth-grade cultivator, let alone walking [-] miles of mountain roads, even if she walks [-] miles in one breath, she won't be so strenuous.

Xu Zhiqiong took her to rest in the chaotic grass for a while, and after resting for a meal, Xu Zhiqiong also felt his legs were weak, and his physical strength was also exhausted.

Another group of hired workers ran down in front. Counting them, Xu Zhiqiong had already encountered seven or eight groups of fleeing people.

Xu Zhiqiong looked around, smelled the fishy smell in the fog, pulled Tao Huayuan up and said, "Tao'er, can you really find that barren mountain?"

Tao Huayuan looked around with difficulty, with a dazed expression: "The fog is too thick, and I can't tell the direction for a while, but this mountain road is not wrong, in short, just go forward."

Xu Zhiqiong said: "I'm afraid we'll get lost, there seems to be an enchanted formation on this mountain, and the mist is not right, it seems to be able to breathe air!"

Tao Huayuan wiped off the sweat from her face: "If we go another three miles, if we still can't see the monster, let's go down the mountain. I left a formation at the bottom of the mountain, so I can get there in a blink of an eye when I go down the mountain."

After walking for a while, another group of people came ahead and fled for their lives down the mountain.

They held torches.

Through the fog, Xu Zhiqiong saw a woman.

The woman was carrying a pannier, and in the pannier was a child with a braid.

What's wrong with this?
How did you meet them again?

Didn't they go down the mountain?
　Readers, guess what happened

　　
　
(End of this chapter)