Chapter 1690

Qingyang waved her hand: "Let them all wait for two hours; I need to rest for a while."

Truly not a moment of leisure.

After the Yao nation was destroyed, the Heavenly God should have taken advantage of the situation, but the power they could use suddenly decreased; many tasks were originally done by the Yao nation, but there were no suitable candidates for a while, so they could only make Qingyang suffer a bit more.

In the long run, if this continues, the influence of the Lingxu gods on the Glittering Gold Plain will inevitably increase; but for now, this awkward period will continue for a while.

It was already dark, but Bai Ziqi didn't return to the temple in Tianshui City to rest after leaving the Quiet Lake Lodge, but planned to go to the Yongquan Shanzhuang to take a look.

He couldn't not check the place where the fugitive had lived for several months.

Qingyang told him that the place was empty and He Xiao had already fled with his subordinates, but she still let Bai Tan send a team of people to guard the villa.

Refugees were always wandering in the suburbs of Tianshui City; if they entered the villa to rummage through boxes and cabinets, the scene Bai Ziqi wanted to observe would be destroyed.

The old State Preceptor was still so thoughtful, Bai Ziqi pressed his temples.

At this time, they passed a small stream, and there were dense forests by the stream.

When people arrived, flocks of night birds were startled and flew away.

This instead showed that the forest by the stream was very safe, with no predators.

Bai Ziqi looked around: "What place is this?"

Qingyang specially sent a Green Guard to show Bai Ziqi the way, and he replied at this time: "This is Peach Creek. The peach forest by the creek is full of sweet peaches in summer, and people in the city like to come here to pick peaches."

"Peach Creek?" This place name had appeared in the conversation between Bai Ziqi and Qingyang, "A few days ago, did a great battle happen here?"

"Ah, yes." The Green Guard nodded, "A big pit was blown out by the creek, and a huge fish corpse was buried inside."

"Fish corpse? Let's go see."

"The government was afraid of stench and plague, so they ordered people to bury it on the spot." The Green Guard led the way in front, and before walking ten feet, a giant pit appeared on the open space by the creek. "Hmm? I remember this pit was already buried, why was it dug open again?"

"At that time, an explosion came from here, earth-shattering, and we rushed to see... eh!" He recalled while lowering his head, but was stunned when he looked into the pit.

Where was the fish corpse? He even specially raised a torch to look down, but the bottom of the pit was full of yellow soil, and the brightly colored fish corpse had disappeared!

Seeing his situation, Bai Ziqi knew something was wrong: "The fish corpse is gone?"

"Yes, yes, it was at the bottom of the pit, I saw it with my own eyes!" The Green Guard scratched his head, "Could it be dug out and eaten? There are many refugees nearby, and they eat everything when they are extremely hungry."

"That fish corpse should be Cao Wendao's demon puppet; ordinary people would die if they ate it." Bai Ziqi said simply, "Go down and see."

This was already very close to He Xiao's Yongquan Shanzhuang, and it wouldn't take half an hour to walk. Bai Ziqi felt it was necessary to investigate.

So everyone jumped to the bottom of the pit to inspect, while listening to the Green Guard describe the scene that day.

There were traces of digging at the bottom of the pit. Bai Ziqi's subordinates found several sections of white fish bones and several pieces of broken fish skin.

Just as the Green Guard said, the fish skin was dark red with spots, but both the fish skin and fish bones had traces of being gnawed.

The attendant compared it according to the tooth marks, which were close to the size of a rice bowl: "No matter what kind of thing gnawed the fish corpse, its mouth must be this big!"

Such a wide mouth and such sharp tooth marks couldn't be human, nor did they look like tigers or wolves. Bai Ziqi frowned, what kind of creature's bite marks were so flat? The attendant added: "It seems the fish corpse was truly eaten."

Bai Seventeen pointed to the fish bones: "Can you piece together a big fish with just these few bones?"

"..."

Bai Ziqi pondered: "No matter what kind of monster it is, it ate a lot of fish meat."

Eating Cao Wendao's demon puppet and being fine, what kind of copper stomach and iron gut is this? But Bai Ziqi had talked to Qingyang earlier, and she didn't know which demon puppets Cao Wendao had brought out, nor did she know how He Xiao's subordinates dealt with it.

Cao Wendao's cause of death was his head being bitten off. The cuts were smooth, and that kind of jagged wound was the work of a creature.

Qingyang also said that Cao Wendao suspected that a demon puppet master was hidden in the Yongquan Shanzhuang, and on the night of the Peach Creek explosion, He Xiao was held back by Qingyang and did not participate in the battle here.

That is to say, Cao Wendao might have been killed by the opponent's demon puppet master?

Looking at it this way, the opponent's demon puppet is quite remarkable. Bai Ziqi knew very well Cao Wendao's weight in the industry.

However, there were too few clues at the moment, so he had to hide his doubts in his heart and continue to the Yongquan Shanzhuang.

As soon as he arrived, the guards of the Yongquan Shanzhuang stepped forward to greet him, and the Green Guard said goodbye and left.

After the Yao palace coup ended, Qingyang left Tianshui City and had time to send people to the villa to check. She didn't find He Xiao, but found seven or eight refugees who were searching for food and looting property in the villa.

"What about the palace guards who were guarding here that night?" Bai Ziqi asked while patrolling the Yongquan Shanzhuang, "Zhao Song didn't take all his subordinates into the palace, right?"

"There was a change in the palace, and most of them rushed back, leaving only about ten people here." The guard replied, "But He Xiao suddenly returned with his subordinates and captured these ten people, knocking them unconscious and locking them in the woodshed."

Bai Ziqi frowned: "You mean, on the day of the palace coup, He Xiao fled first, and then came back?"

"Yes."

"What did he do when he came back to the villa?"

"This, this is not very clear." The guard replied respectfully, "The ten palace guards were all knocked unconscious and didn't know what happened later. When we arrived, we also caught a few refugees who had sneaked in to eat and drink."

Such a big villa, what could He Xiao have done when he came back? No one knew. But why did he come back?

He had already escaped from the Yongquan Shanzhuang; he should have left the Yao nation as soon as possible.

Bai Ziqi remembered the note He Xiao left behind.

He Xiao didn't forget to provoke him before leaving. Based on his character of planning before acting, he must have arranged some backhands in the villa.

"What else happened here?"

He was just asking casually. He Xiao had already left; what else could happen in the Yongquan Shanzhuang?

However, the guard was stunned, showing hesitation. Should he speak or not? Bai Ziqi was amiable: "Just say it, things don't distinguish between big and small."

"The villa is too big and needs regular patrols, so the superiors arranged for three shifts here. We are the third shift and handed over with the previous shift at 3:45 PM."

Everyone calculated the time, which meant the second shift left at dusk, and the third shift had been on duty for less than two hours.

"What's the problem?"

The guard said: "I heard, uh, the guards of the second shift seemed to be muttering before they left that they were missing one person."

"What happened?"

"About half an hour before they left their posts, a guard went to patrol the Apricot Forest Terrace. As a result, he didn't come out when they left. They looked around and couldn't find him, so they told us to call him back if we saw him."

Bai Ziqi understood: "He hasn't appeared until now?"

"No." The guard replied, "We also patrolled the Apricot Forest Terrace twice and never found him. People in our team said he might have gone back himself. After all, the villa is so big, we don't know if he left."

"However—" He hesitated again, "When patrolling the Apricot Forest Terrace, I always felt like I was being watched, and my back felt cold. But my teammates in the same group didn't feel it and just said I was suspicious."

"Only felt it at the Apricot Forest Terrace?"

"Uh, yes, after leaving the Apricot Forest Terrace, there was no such creepy feeling."

It's better to have something strange, which means there is a direction to investigate, which is better than looking for a needle in a haystack in this villa. Bai Ziqi immediately said: "Go find me one of Zhao Song's subordinates, the more familiar with this place, the better."

"Yes."

Who dared not satisfy the request of the Heavenly Palace's Envoy Bai? Even if it was late at night.

So an hour and a half later, Tianshui City sent a palace guard, who was originally Zhao Song's subordinate, arrested on the day of the palace coup and thrown into prison.

He had lived in the villa for two or three months and was more familiar with it than others.

This palace guard was originally waiting to die in prison, but Bai Ziqi said to him: "Cooperate well, and I will spare your life."

The palace guard agreed without hesitation. Zhao Song and the King of Yao were long gone, and he didn't want to be buried with them.

Over the past hour and a half, Bai Ziqi had walked around the Yongquan Shanzhuang, but hadn't been to the Apricot Forest Terrace yet.

"Take me to the Apricot Forest Terrace."

What exactly had He Xiao done here, and what things had he left behind? Bai Ziqi also guessed it wouldn't be anything good, but instead became more and more curious.

The Yongquan Shanzhuang is actually a large orchard. Even if the leaves of the trees fall, there are dark tree shadows everywhere. When the night wind blows, it is like hiding countless malicious ghosts.

There are too few people in the villa now, and it takes great courage to walk around here. And the deeper you go into the villa, the more eerie and terrifying it is.

The guards have to be in groups of two to dare to go over.

Soon, the Apricot Forest Terrace arrived.

As the name suggests, this high platform is full of apricot trees, which might be beautiful in autumn, but now they are all bare poles.

"What are these rune arrays for?"

Bai Ziqi pointed to a tree trunk.

Along the way, everyone had noticed that some trees were inlaid with copper runes, each the size of a palm.

The apricot trees were bare, and the copper runes had been glowing faintly.

Pale green light.

If any refugees went to dig, the barrier would push their hands away.

Bai Ziqi knew at a glance that these were the array plates of a large rune array, or called rune boards.

The Yongquan Shanzhuang is not small, and the scale of this array is quite considerable.

"This is an array arranged by He Xiao's subordinates, specifically for the 'Spirit Wind Great Array' on the night of the Di Liu Jiang." The palace guard explained: "The array originally intended for the Yongquan Shanzhuang was another one, and it was half-built, and it cost a lot of money. As a result, He Xiao suddenly changed his mind and changed it to this Spirit Wind Great Array to collect Di Liu Jiang."

Rich and willful.

Such a big villa, so many obstacles, it is impossible to rely purely on manpower to collect.

"How does the array work, do you know?"

"I heard that after the array is truly activated, a total of thirty-five small tornadoes will be scraped inside and outside the villa, each in a funnel shape, large at the top and small at the bottom, and will stay in place without moving."

(End of chapter)