Under the sky

Chapter 183: Searching for someone ([-])

The moon is dim tonight and the stars are sparse, which is a good thing as the weather is unclear.There were few pedestrians on the road, so he could easily be spotted following him so unexpectedly.He did not light a lantern, but followed the flickering lights ahead along the road. Sometimes he even needed to rely on the sound of horse hooves to tell whether the other party had escaped.

He is very careful, because the people in the night list are also very careful. If they were not so cautious, they would not be able to survive for so many years under the noses of the Nine Families.

Two figures passed by the roadside, and they suddenly jumped up and jumped out. They stretched out their hands in mid-air, grabbed the chin of one and twisted it, and used the force to spin towards the other.

Still a step too slow, the man stepped back. When Mingming grabbed him, he had already given the signal.He was too careful and did not light up the lantern, which turned out to be suspicious.These two people were spies who were lying in ambush in the dark night. If anyone was following them, they would sound the gong as a signal.But even if you put on a lantern, you will still be discovered in the middle of the night.

Sure enough, Ming Ming heard the rapid sound of horse hooves in the distance, and the fire was hidden in the darkness, never to be seen again.

The Night List is really a very careful organization.

The man who was grabbed took out a dagger from his arms and stabbed Ming Wuxiang in the chest. Ming Wuxiang turned him around with a slight twist and pushed the man with a dislocated jaw, causing the two of them to collide.

"Sir, spare your life!" The two people knew that it would be difficult to escape, so they knelt down and begged for mercy. "We are just watching the road, we don't know anything!"

His martial arts skills didn't look like those of an assassin, so he asked, "Are you from the Night Ranking?"

"We don't know anything!" one person said, "Just help and deliver the letters."

"Where does the waiter live?" Ming asked unknown, although he knew that the possibility of asking for clues was slim.

"I don't know." The two of them shook their heads in panic, "We are both needles. We live in the town and follow the instructions of the waiter at the drug store. When the waiter comes, we will start to see if there is anyone following."

Ming Ming looked at the direction he was coming from and didn't embarrass the two people, so he let them go.

He lit a lantern and thought about it.The night list has needles all over the place, and the communication is one-way, only up to down, not down to up. The messengers are also uninformed outsiders. The two people know at most one small stronghold, which is the drug store.

It took two hours from when Xiang Zongwei notified the medicine shop to when the man in blue came to see Xiang Zongwei for an appointment. This was a round trip, so the distance was within an hour's distance where horses could reach.

The question is, does the horse run or walk?

It's not like running at full speed. If you ran for an hour when you came here, you will have to run for an hour when you get back. The man in blue robe was delayed at the inn for a short time. Running at full speed for two hours would be too hard for the horse. Moreover, he had to walk back home, so he was obviously not in a hurry. , in the middle of the night, he probably wasn't interested in spending two or three hours walking back.

Ming unknown looked towards the direction where the man in blue robe was going.

Another opportunity is to go back to the town and start with the drug store owner. He definitely knows how to contact the other party, but maybe he only knows the contact method and location, but doesn't know where the waiter's base is.

Mingming walked along the direction of the man in blue robe. Although the town was a clue, a needle's clue was too easy to break. The man in blue robe did not live in the town, but left in a hurry. Judging from the time, he lived in If there is no curfew, or if there is no strict curfew, then it is not a city, but a town or village, which should not be large.

In fact, among the nine major families, there are many people who know how to contact the night list.For them, the Night List is an invisible existence. Over the past few decades, the Nine Families have cracked countless Night List strongholds, but they have never been able to uproot them. Except for the secrets of the Night List, orders are only passed down from top to bottom. Once you reach a big stronghold, you can't trace any further. Another reason is that the night list kept by the Nine Families is still of some use.

No, I believe that Yan Feixi bought his life.Not many people wanted to kill him, so it was not in Master Jing's temperament to hire Ye Bang. What's more, he wanted to hire a murderer. Ye Bang should have found him a few years ago.As for Li Jingfeng, apart from his temperamental differences, he probably also has no money.The other one might be Qingcheng, but he felt it was more like what Yan Feixi would do.Kunlun Palace was trying to protect itself, but Yan Feixi was not able to do anything on the surface, so he did it secretly. Of course, it could also be that Huashan didn't want to send experts to trouble him at this time. This kind of thing would be handled more appropriately by Ye Bang stick.

There are no forks in the road, which is good. Walk slowly along the road whether it is clear or not.There are sparse private houses on the road. It's too close here, and although the clothes of the people in blue robes are not luxurious, nor are they cheap and coarse, people wearing such clothes must at least have a store or a house with a yard, so as not to go there. The third time he entered the hospital, the third time he entered the hospital was too rich and his clothes were not so noble.Maybe he has a frugal personality and doesn't enter the hospital many times, so he can start when he has no clues.

An hour later, he saw a small town.

About the same distance, Ming Xiang thought to himself. The alerted waiter might not necessarily think he was being followed, but he might have scruples and set up spies around the town. Then he would look suspicious if he entered the city at night like this. He would definitely run.

He slept in the wild overnight, and then blended into the crowd and entered the town the next day.He walked around the town, paying attention to the shops and two-story houses, and saw the horse from yesterday in the backyard of Xiji Cake Shop.

I found it.

Ming unknown walked into the Xiji cake shop and asked the waiter if the shopkeeper was there. The waiter asked the shopkeeper out and it was the man in blue robe. He was very surprised to see Ming unknown.

"I recognize you, you are the waiter." Ming said vaguely.

The shopkeeper's face suddenly turned pale, and the waiter corrected him: "This is not an inn, where is the waiter from? This is our shopkeeper."

The man in blue robe invited Ming Wuxiang into the inner room, made sure there was no one around, and then spoke: "Mr. Ming, my surname is Chen. Do you want to buy, sell, or settle accounts?"

To buy is to hire the night leader, to sell is to join the night leader and settle accounts... probably for the assassination of Xiang Zongwei.

Ming shook his head uncertainly: "I want to ask someone."

Boss Chen asked: "Who is it?"

Ming asked unknownly: "There is a master in the night list who is good at using Vajra Palm and Prajna Palm. Does the shopkeeper know about it?"

Boss Chen was silent for a long time and said, "I just passed on the message. I don't know who you are talking about."

Ming asked uncertainly: "Can I ask?"

Boss Chen thought for a while and said, "Ask me, how many days will you wait here for me?"

Ming unknown salute and thank you.

Ming stayed for an unknown night, and the next day, Boss Chen asked him to come with him.Ming followed without knowing, thinking there must be a trap there.

As he expected, eight assassins were ambushed in the woods.

Not difficult to deal with.

Looking at the eight strong men lying on the ground wailing, Boss Chen's face turned pale again, looking annoyed.

"Boss Chen, I just want to ask someone, it's not something important." Ming said vaguely.

"I..." Boss Chen gritted his teeth and asked, "If I don't tell you, what will you do? Kill me?"

Ming unknown put his disbelief into his sleeves and shook his head: "I don't kill people."

Boss Chen breathed a sigh of relief and then asked, "Are you willing to tell me?"

Boss Chen paced back and forth, thinking about the pros and cons, the stakes he was responsible for, and perhaps more about his own life.

"I know very little." Boss Chen said, "I am the waiter, and there are shopkeepers above me. I can only wait for them to find me, and I can't contact them. I have to listen to them whatever they can and can't say. I'm wrong. One word will be punished.”

"I met a shopkeeper in Gansu." Ming said vaguely, "He calls himself Shopkeeper Zhao. Can you find him?"

"Shopkeeper Zhao?" Boss Chen was stunned, "Is it the big shopkeeper or the small shopkeeper?"

"He didn't say anything. He just said that he was shopkeeper Zhao and that someone offered [-] yuan to buy Yan Feixi's life." Ming said vaguely, "Have you never heard of such a big deal?"

"There is no shopkeeper Zhao, only shopkeepers big and small." Boss Chen said, "We won't accept the heads of the nine heads. It's too difficult and will cause endless troubles. Besides, even if we accept it, there is no reason to ask outsiders for help, especially you are nothing. Famous people.”

"They are looking for Senior Peng." Ming said vaguely, "Senior Peng, little beggar Peng."

Boss Chen was even more confused, and after a while he said: "This is weird. I'll leave you a message. I can't guarantee whether or when the shopkeepers will come."

Ming unknown nodded: "Okay."

After waiting for another two days unknown, that night, Boss Chen came to the inn to look for him.

"The little shopkeeper would like to see you." Boss Chen said.

He held a torch and led Ming Wuxiang out of the town. As soon as he left the town, twelve strong men followed him, four in the front, four in the back, two on the left and two on the left.When they arrived at the nearby woods, the four strong men at the back dispersed in pairs to guard outside the forest. When they walked into the forest, the four strong men on the left and right also dispersed in an orderly manner.

This is completely different from the way Ming Wuxiang met Ye Bang for the first time.

There was a man sitting in the woods. He came out of nowhere and pointed to the straw mat spread on the ground: "Please sit down."

"My surname is Bai, please call me little shopkeeper." The man cupped his hands and said, "I heard from Young Master Ming that someone came to you, claiming to be Ye Bang, and wanted to buy the head of Master Yan?"

This man had a square face and a wide forehead, and his mouth and nose were extremely uncoordinated. It was unknown that he was a disguiser, and it was difficult to identify his face under the dim light.He nodded and said, "You should have heard about the news that Senior Peng died in Kunlun Palace."

The young shopkeeper thought for a while and said, "What's going on?"

"Gansu." Ming Wuxi answered readily. He had already guessed that the people who came to him and Yang Yan that day were not the real night list.

"Do they look and act the same as us?"

"Almost the same."

"In that case, why didn't you ask last time?"

"I asked him, and he said he didn't know. He could evade anything I asked him."

"Can't I shirk it now?" The shopkeeper smiled, "I can say I don't know now."

"I was injured at that time, so I couldn't pursue him even if I had clues." Ming said vaguely, "Now I can pursue him."

"Isn't he just a waiter with a needle? He can afford to be thrown into the night list."

"That's how it used to be, but now we have the line of little shopkeeper."

The young shopkeeper raised his eyebrows, thought for a moment and said, "No wonder Xiang Zongwei can't do anything to you, you are really capable. What do you want to ask?"

"There is a person in the night list who is good at using Prajna Palm. I want to ask him if he is a monk." "I don't know his origin." The little shopkeeper said, "The night list is very big. There are people from all nine families. I am a small shopkeeper. I am only in charge of the affairs of one place, and with so many people, I can’t possibly know the origins of everyone, otherwise I won’t be able to take over everything if I get caught?”

"What can the shopkeeper say?"

"This man is nicknamed the King of Pagodas. He does not use weapons and is a proficient master in Prajna Palm. He may have been a monk before. He has done many major cases and was named one of the top ten masters on the night list seven years ago."

"But these top ten masters are just saying it. They have said that the night list assassins are not familiar with each other, so who knows how good they are? Whoever takes more business and does it beautifully will be respected more. Take Xiang Zongwei. Generally speaking, he is good at martial arts and can kill every time he kills... He is particularly flamboyant and famous, and he is also included in the top ten masters. Speaking of which, the top ten masters in the night list are after the arrow flies like time and shatters pottery with one arrow. At that time, for this major case, the world listed some famous names on the night list, and they were called the top ten masters. After decades, things that had never happened were spread around and some people took it seriously."

The little shopkeeper smiled and said: "It's good or bad. The good thing is that there are people who want to make a name for themselves when they are ranked, and those who love fame rush to take over big cases. The bad thing is that you should not be too conspicuous in this business. "

"The name Tota King has two meanings. One is that he uses his palms, and the other is that he is a black knife."

"Only kill evil people?" Ming asked unclearly.

"Brother Ming is really smart. He can make sense with just one click." The little shopkeeper said, "Evil people are dirty inside. If you stab them with a knife, the knife will be dirty. The only thing that kills evil people is the black knife. That's all I know."

"When did he join the night list?" Ming asked again, not sure.

"It's been at least ten years. I don't know how long it actually took. I'm not his leader." The young shopkeeper asked, "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

Ming shook his head uncertainly.

"Originally, I don't need to tell you these words. Although you are very capable, it is not easy to catch up with Boss Chen. But you have brought important news. Someone is pretending to be a night leader and blaming us for the debt. This But I can't, so I have to repay you some kindness." The little shopkeeper stood up and said, "Your head is worth 300 taels, you have to be careful, there may be others after Xiang Zongwei."

Ming said vaguely: "Thank you for reminding me." He stood up and said, "Please help me send a message to King Tota, please tell me that I want to see him."

The little shopkeeper said: "I can tell you whether you can see him or not, not necessarily."

Ming nodded and left the woods.

■

If he hadn't sprained his ankle while cutting firewood, Ah Fu wouldn't have been unable to return home at night.Carrying firewood on his back, he limped along with difficulty, and he was reluctant to leave behind the hard-caught firewood, so he had to grit his teeth and hold on.

The night was dark, he didn't bring a lantern or a torch, and it was still a long way home. In the dark, with the weak moonlight, he was sweating profusely in pain, and he took a few steps to catch his breath.A gust of cold wind chilled his soaked clothes, and the howling of wolves came from far away. He felt uneasy and could not walk fast.

Another gust of chilly wind came, and Ah Fu's scalp went numb and he shivered.There were still two miles to go before he got home, and he kept chanting Amitabha and Guanyin Bodhisattva in his mind.

Suddenly, two figures walked past, and Ah Fu was startled. He felt that the two people were not touching the ground, and they were a little floating.Ah Fu was hurting his foot and shouted: "Help me!"

The two people didn't move, and turned around to look at him steadily. Ah Fu was surprised again when he saw their appearance.I saw these two people wearing linen clothes, and they were more than one foot tall. It was rare to see such tall people, and there were actually two of them.There was a word embroidered on the linen clothes. Ah Fu was illiterate and didn't know what it was.The two of them each held a long bamboo pole, with lanterns hanging from the front of the bamboo poles, one white and one red. The two faces were illuminated by the lights, flashing red and white, which was very strange.

The person holding the red lantern asked: "What's wrong with you?" The voice was extremely strange, light, thin, and sharp, without any cadence, and the ending was fluttering, making it extremely uncomfortable to listen to.

Ah Fu shuddered and stammered: "I have a sprained foot."

The man holding the white lantern asked, "What is your name?"

Why do you ask?Xu Tianfu was puzzled, but he didn't dare not answer these two weirdos, and hurriedly said: "My name is Xu Tianfu."

"The surname is Xu?" Bai Lantern frowned, took out a thick book from his arms and flipped through a few pages, "It has nothing to do with Xu Fangge."

Ah Fu couldn't help but be surprised when he heard him mention the name of the leader.Then I heard Red Lantern ask: "What's going on--?"

Bai Lantern said: "He often goes up the mountain to cut firewood and tramples many insects and ants to death. With this retribution, it is not a bad thing to have a great cause but a small loss."

Ah Fu heard something strange. It was so late at night. Could it be that he encountered a ghost?I couldn't help but feel pimples all over my body. I already sprained my feet. Then I felt weak and fell to the ground. My eyes were blurry and my throat was dry.I want to ask them if they are ghosts, but if they say "yes", how can I talk to them?Ah Fu could only say: "I, I, I...it's okay, I...by myself...huihuihui...huihui..." But he couldn't say the word "jia".

The one holding the red lantern said: "We are going to Fuzhou and we will give him a ride on the way."

After saying that, the two of them took Ah Fu's armpits and lifted him up. Ah Fu's feet were off the ground, his lips turned white with fear, and his whole body was trembling.The two of them moved forward quickly, taking one big step at a time. Ah Fu felt like he was floating, and the world was spinning. He quickly closed his eyes and didn't dare to look.

The one holding the red lantern asked: "Send it to - where?"

Ah Fu said hurriedly: "Just... right in front! There is still more than a mile to go..."

The one holding the white lantern said: "The bones are so light, this boy has no good fortune."

The three of them ran for more than a mile, and when they were about to reach home, the red and white men suddenly stopped and put Ah Fu down.

The one holding the red lantern said: "Your Yin blessing is too weak and you cannot bear Yin's kindness. I can only take you one mile. If I walk too much, my life will be shortened."

Ah Fu had already wet his pants and said hurriedly: "Don't bother me, don't bother me..."

The man holding the red lantern said: "We are going to Fuzhou to collect the souls, and we won't leave here. If we meet, please listen to my advice. If you have nothing to do in the near future, don't enter Fuzhou."

The man holding the white lantern said: "It will be good for you to do more good deeds in the future."

Ah Fu said hurriedly: "I know, I know!" He became confused again and asked in a trembling voice, "You... what are you doing in Fuzhou?"

The man holding the white lantern took out a stack of paper from his arms and said one by one: "Zhao from Ganzhou, Lin Guiping from Yueyang, Chen Huayue from Xinyu, Zhou Meier from Ningde..." He read out twenty or thirty names in one breath and said, "These people jointly signed a petition, saying that the stinky wolf is harmful to nature and the bad woman is innocent. They also accused the disciples of the Peng family and the general helmsman of Fuzhou of being the accomplices of the tiger and killing Zhongliang. All of them were implicated. The king of hell sent a knife dealer to give Peng Xiaobei some advice. "Unexpectedly, Little Beggar Peng didn't hear the prophecy. The King of Hell was furious and issued an order to arrest all the principal criminals and accomplices. There will be a big disaster in Fuzhou."

Ah Fu was stunned for a moment, surprised and scared, but also a little happy.

Just listen to the man holding the red lantern say: "If you have relatives and friends in the Fuzhou sect, advise them to leave as soon as possible to avoid trouble." After saying this, the two tall men floated away and disappeared in the distance.

Xu Tianfu almost crawled back home and knocked on the door with all his strength. As soon as his wife opened the door, he shouted: "Ghost!!"

The daughter-in-law was shocked and quickly closed the door, leaving Ah Fu outside.Ah Fu was so anxious that he knocked on the door and shouted: "Let me in quickly! I've seen something wrong!"

■

Within a few days, news spread to Luling, saying that someone had seen a two-foot-tall ghost with a soul-calling flag in his left hand and a life-or-death sign in his right hand, and was going to Fuzhou to claim his life.Some people also said that they saw the three-foot-long Vajra crossing the river with angry eyes, and they were so scared that ghosts cried and howled.Some people said that a few days ago, when the rain stopped at night, I looked up at midnight and saw a big eye in the dark clouds looking in the direction of Fuzhou. It was an eye from the sky, to reward good and punish evil.

What is more convincing is the paper I saw in Yichun, which stated that more than [-] decent women had been killed by the stinky wolf. The names and causes of death were all correct, and some little-known scandals were also revealed.

If it weren't for ghosts, how could it be so detailed?

This again involves the matter of the knife loaner last time. At that time, the listeners did not care, but later it came true one by one. Everyone believed that it was a prophecy, and everyone was talking about it in the streets and alleys.Some people think that the theory of ghosts and gods is not credible, while others think that the laws of nature are clear and retribution is coming.The common people were half frightened, half happy, and half undecided. They got up early every day to inquire about each other's news.

At an unknown date, he called the waiter, paid for the meal, and walked away, passing by a wood carving shop.

This store is quite large, with various Buddha and Bodhisattva statues of different sizes listed on one side of the store.There were several pieces of wood placed inside, one of which was particularly large, a foot tall, and could easily hold two people in their arms. The bark had been shaved off, revealing the white flesh of the wood. Such a fine piece of wood must be worth a lot of money.

There was a person standing in front of the giant tree. He had a blessed figure and stretched out his hand to touch the giant tree. He seemed to be in distress.Judging from his attire or the mottled scars on his hands, he must be the owner of the shop, and these wood carvings must have been made by him.

Ming Mingwen walked forward, looked at the giant tree for a while, stretched out his hand to touch it, and said, "What a good piece of material, master, what are you going to do with it?"

"I plan to invite Maitreya Buddha, but I haven't started yet." The shop owner turned around and looked at Ming Wuxi, "Do you want to invite the saint to return home? I have these Buddha and Bodhisattva statues, all of which are consecrated and dotted by Master Guangde of Ciyun Temple in Wugong Mountain. Yes, it’s particularly effective.”

Ming Ming shook his head and said, "In this world, there are not as many people who believe in Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as there are people who believe in evil ghosts."

The shop owner smiled and said, "That's different. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are good, evil ghosts are evil. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas give blessings and eliminate karma, while evil ghosts seduce souls and seek life. They all want to seek good luck and avoid bad luck. Which family would worship a Yaksha?"

Ming said vaguely: "I heard that many temples in Jiangxi were smashed by people. They all said that the sky has no eyes. Instead, everyone was spreading rumors about ghosts and monsters."

The shop owner hurriedly said: "Sir, it's not good to talk nonsense in front of Bodhisattvas and gods."

"Maybe the Bodhisattva is useless, so there are demons and ghosts in power." Ming Wuxiang thought for a while and said, "The book said that in the previous dynasty, someone fished out a one-eyed stone man from the Yellow River and started the rebellion. This rumor may not be true. It’s true, it’s just that when people believe, they have the courage to rebel, and later they actually succeed. Isn’t it the same with Bodhisattva? If you believe, you can turn disaster into good. If you don’t believe, Bodhisattva can’t take care of you.”

The shop owner thought for a moment and said, "I don't have any Yaksha-like evil ghost statues to sell."

Ming caressed the giant tree in an unknown way, turned around and asked, "Do you want to sell this piece of wood? I'll give you a good price."

The shop owner smiled and said: "The guest is also traveling with me? What do you want this wood for?"

Ming said vaguely: "I want to try carving some wooden statues."

The shop owner was surprised and said: "It's such a good piece of wood. It's a pity to chop it into pieces. Sir, if you want to practice your skills, you can just use some pieces of wood."

Ming unknownly said: "Even if we invite Maitreya Buddha inside, it will be useless if we don't bless good people. You give me a price, and I will give you any amount."

The shop owner pondered for a long time, and finally said: "I use this for myself, and I won't sell it."

Ming unknown smiled slightly and said, "Excuse me."

After Ming unknown left, the shop owner stroked the giant tree for a long time.He never knew what to carve on this huge tree. They said that Buddha and Bodhisattvas protect good people. Where did all this blessing go?As the young man said, people in Jiangxi would rather believe in ghosts than gods.

He may know what he should do.He picked up the tools on the ground and used force to carve out the first trace.

A few days later, a statue of the King of Hell weighing more than [-] kilograms was fished out of the Ganjiang River.I saw the King of Hell wearing a crown on his head, holding a broadsword, and straddling a scurrying evil wolf, posing to kill, lifelike.

So another prophecy was added in Jiangxi.

(End of this chapter)