Chapter 79: Abandoned Mountain City

The mountain city here is called Yishan City. It is located at the junction of Qinzhou, Shuzhou and Liangzhou. It was called "Eastern Girl Kingdom" in ancient times. In the former dynasty, it belonged to Duogansi Xuanwei Division. The Daxuan court set up a county here and divided it into Chief Envoy of Yongzhou. According to the division of Taoist sects, this place is located on the edge of the jurisdiction of Kunlun Taoist Prefecture and falls under the jurisdiction of Kunlun Taoist Prefecture.

Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu came outside the city and were not in a hurry to enter the city.

Zhang Yuelu said: "Although it is such a large county, it is not difficult to find someone. All you need to do is ask what murders have occurred in the city recently. However, most of these murders will be handled by hundreds of local households, but it is a bit troublesome."

Qi Xuansu asked: "Is there no Taoist temple here?"

Zhang Yuelu explained: "Although this place is under the jurisdiction of Kunlun Taoist Prefecture, because it is located on the road to welcome the Buddha, the majority of people believe in Buddha, so the Taoist Gate only set up a Taoist temple symbolically outside the city. It serves as a post station to receive Taoists and has no duty to arrest demons. If I remember correctly, there should be no more than five Taoist priests here. "

Qi Xuansu asked again: "How is the relationship between our Tiangang Hall and Qingluan Guard?"

Zhang Yuelu shook his head and said: "Not very good. Among the three major factions, Taiping Dao has the closest relationship with the imperial court. After the position of the Grand Master became vacant, Jiutang, who was originally directly subordinate to the Grand Master, actually had their own affairs whether they wanted to or not. From a standpoint, Tiangang Hall belongs to the Zhengyi side, and now there are undercurrents among the three major factions..."

Qi Xuansu understood: "In other words, unless it is absolutely necessary, it is best not to have anything to do with Qingluan Guard."

Zhang Yuelu nodded and said, "Yes."

"Do we have to ask each household?" Qi Xuansu asked.

Zhang Yuelu thought for a while and suggested: "How about... a fortune telling?"

Qi Xuansu suddenly remembered that San people in the stage of returning to their true form can learn the supernatural power "Innate Divine Calculation", and as high-level San people, they can learn "Ziwei Dou Shu", which is the top divination technique.

Qi Xuansu agreed: "It's a good idea."

Zhang Yuelu did what he said and asked Qi Xuansu to place the head he carried with him on the ground, using it as a medium to perform hexagrams according to the formula.

The reason why "Ziwei Dou Shu" is known as the best divination technique is because its hexagrams are the simplest and clearest, and there is no need to guess the deep meaning based on the hexagrams.

A scene like a mirage appeared in front of the two people. It was misty and blurry, and countless pictures flashed through it quickly, as if a white horse had passed by.

Gradually, the picture became clearer and its speed of change slowed down.

Finally, it was settled in a large house with plain interior and exterior. Although there was no sound, it could be seen that the women were crying together and the monks were reciting sutras for salvation.

Qi Xuansu was a little surprised: "There was a murder yesterday, and the funeral is going to be held today?"

At this moment, the picture was distorted and broken like a reflection on the water being stirred. When it returned to calm, it had turned into a new hazy scene.

In a dark morgue, three Qingluan guards dressed in green were talking in a low voice. The three Qingluan guards all covered their mouths and noses with animal-shaped masks, only their eyes were exposed, and they wore blood-stained aprons. , wearing gloves that reached to the elbow, lying on a stone platform not far from the three of them was a headless corpse that had been disemboweled.

This should be the scene where Qingluan Weiwu conducts an autopsy.

That headless corpse is probably the owner of the suffering.

Qi Xuansu said: "This is strange. There is a funeral over there and an autopsy here, but they are not delayed. Could it be a tomb?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the scene suddenly changed again.

In a stone hall, a Western-style chandelier hangs above, a human-height oriental candlestick stands below, and white candles piled up in layers for free illuminate a six-armed female statue.

In front of the statue, more than ten people stood in a circle, including scholars in Confucian shirts, gentry in Taoist robes, Taoist priests in crane cloaks, monks with shaved heads, old men dressed as officials, and Wu Zhu who escaped from Zhang Yuelu. A woman, but the most eye-catching thing is a tall figure wrapped in a cloak.

Around these people, there were still many figures standing, including Chu Chunliang, You Leifu and other three people who died in Qi Xuansu's hands.

The identity of this group of people is self-evident, they are members of the Lingshan Witch Cult. However, except for the four people Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu had met before, the faces of the others could not be seen clearly. I wonder if it was because Zhang Yuelu was not good at his skills or there was something fishy.

Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu both had expressions on their faces.

It has to be said that "Zi Wei Dou Shu" is more intuitive than the alchemist's "Retrospecting Earth Qi". However, there are also disadvantages. The earth's energy will not lie, but will faithfully record everything. Therefore, in order to prevent "retrospection of the earth's energy", the only way to completely disrupt the earth's energy is to destroy the terrain.

But "Ziwei Dou Shu" is not the case. If you meet someone who is at a higher level than you and is proficient in divination, the other party can directly tamper with the divination results, thereby misleading. In other words, "Ziwei Dou Shu" can be deceptive, so you cannot disbelieve it or believe it completely.

Soon, these mirage-like images slowly dissipated, leaving only a head that was burned beyond recognition by the fire.

Qi Xuansu looked at Zhang Yuelu and asked, "This matter seems more complicated than we expected. What should we do next?"

Zhang Yuelu said thoughtfully: "I have a hunch that this case is probably not an isolated case. For the current plan, we can start from the home of the victim."

Qi Xuansu disagreed, "Based on my experience, the Qingluan Guard must have been keeping a close eye on the victim's home at this time, because there is a type of murderer who likes to return to the place where he killed someone after the fact to observe the reactions and movements of the Eagle Claws. If we rashly come to the door at this time and bring the victim's head, I am afraid we will be regarded as members of the Lingshan Witch Cult, and either fight with the Qingluan Guard or reveal our identity and explain our purpose."

Zhang Yuelu did not consider this point: "Tianyuan is right, I was not thoughtful enough."

Qi Xuansu added: "There is another point. If it is really as Qingxiao said, it is not an isolated case, then the Hundred Households will most likely report it to the Thousand Households, and it may have alarmed the local Thousand Households."

From the sixth-rank trial hundred households, the sixth-rank hundred households, the fifth-rank deputy thousand households, and the fifth-rank thousand households. In the Qingluan Guard, whose highest official rank is only the third-rank, the thousand households are already high-level figures in the Qingluan Guard, and their status is roughly equivalent to the fourth-rank Taoist priests of the Taoist sect. Because there is no master-servant distinction in the other ranks except the first and second ranks among the nine ranks of the Taoist sect, so the Qianhu is actually equivalent to the powerful fourth-rank priest like Zhang Yuelu, rather than an ordinary fourth-rank priest.

Zhang Yuelu had a headache. She really didn't want to get involved with the Qingluan Guard during the holiday, and she was a Qianhu of the Qingluan Guard.

In fact, Qi Xuansu didn't want to deal with the Qingluan Guard either. After all, just a few months ago, he had just killed the Qingluan Guard in Fengtai County.

The two looked at each other and were at a loss for a while.

Finally, Zhang Yuelu simply gave up and said, "Forget about it. Let's go into the city first and take it one step at a time."

"That's the only way." Qi Xuansu nodded, and turned his head to look up at the Yishan City. He could vaguely see a continuous building, which should be the Taoist temple mentioned by Zhang Yuelu.

...

Qingbai Temple is located outside the Yishan City. Because it is built outside the city, the land is not valuable, so it occupies a large area. In terms of scale alone, it is a grand temple. But in terms of the number of people, it is an absolutely small temple. There are only four formal members in the whole Taoist temple, namely: the temple master, the temple master's wife, and two disciples. The rest are Taoist people who maintain the operation of the Taoist temple, not Taoist priests.

Because of the prosperity of Buddhism in Yishan City, there is almost no incense in the Taoist temple. And because Yishan City is located on the road to welcome Buddha, as the name suggests, people in the Taoist sect generally do not pass by this place, so its desertedness can be imagined.

The temple master of Qingbai Temple is named Bai Yongguan, a fourth-rank Taoist priest. In his early years, he offended a real person in the ancestral temple and was exiled to this small place. It has been ten years.

Seeing that there is no hope of returning to Yujing, and there is really nothing to do here, Bai Yongguan imitated the ancient celebrities and indulged himself in the mountains and rivers. He climbed high and explored the secluded places all day long, wandering outside, and often disappeared for months.

So only the wife of the temple master and two disciples were left to guard the huge Taoist temple. After nightfall, it was pitch black and particularly creepy.

When Bai Yongguan was exiled here, he was in his prime. Ten years had passed in the blink of an eye, and he was already at the age of knowing his destiny. But when the wife of the temple master, Li Zhener, married Bai Yongguan, she was less than 30 years old. Now she is only in her 30s. In addition, people in the Taoist sect have the art of maintaining their youth. She can be said to be a middle-aged woman with charm.

Such an old husband and young wife, who are often apart, are somewhat inharmonious.

As for the two disciples, one male and one female, the senior sister Bai Yue and the junior brother Lu Yu, are both in their twenties. Now they are only eighth-grade Taoist priests, which is exactly the same as Qi Xuansu's past situation.

As soon as the two left the Wanxiang Taoist Palace, they were selected by Bai Yongguan as disciples. It was originally a good thing to be accepted as disciples by a fourth-grade Taoist priest, but Bai Yongguan was demoted and his disciples were also damaged, so they had to leave Yujing.

It is not difficult to go from the ancestral temple to the local Taoist temple, but it is never an easy thing to transfer from the local Taoist temple to the ancestral temple.

Xu Kou was able to enter Tiangang Hall from Qizhou Taoist Temple because of the Qingwei Zhenren. Qi Xuansu was able to enter Tiangang Hall because of the secret operation of Qingping Society. If there was no operation of Qingping Society, Qi Xuansu would not be able to find the temple door even if he wanted to "do his best", so Qi Niang would regard this opportunity as a reward.

As for Mu Jin and others, they were originally employed in the ancestral temple, but they were transferred back and forth between the nine halls and were regarded as flower garden Taoist priests by Zhang Yuelu.

The benefits of being transferred to the ancestral temple are also obvious, with more opportunities, broader prospects, and completely different people to contact. Qi Xuansu was promoted from a seventh-grade Taoist priest to a sixth-grade Taoist priest in less than half a year, and his income increased significantly. More importantly, he was favored by Zhang Yuelu and even entered the eyes of the Zhenren Zhangtang. If he were in the local Taoist temple, he would never have achieved such success in such a short time.

It has to be said that in many cases, the end point is determined. The seventh-rank Taoist priests in the local Daofu fight for a fourth-rank priest for their entire lives, and most of the seventh-rank Taoist priests in the nine halls of the ancestral temple can guarantee that they will retire as fourth-rank priests. The size of the platform is much more important than the quality of personal ability.

In this case, the depression of the Qingbai audience can be imagined.

It is exactly: always because the floating clouds can cover the sun, "Yujing" is not seen, which makes people sad.