Chapter 220: He Chunhua's Means

The smoke moved without wind, as if something was about to take shape inside. If the He brothers were here, they would probably be shocked, not expecting their father to play these tricks.

But just at this time, the candle flame exploded with a "chi" sound, and a lamp flower exploded.

Steward Old Mo felt that the atmosphere was different, and he watched the green smoke slowly disperse from here, all returning to nothing, no matter how He Chunhua recited repeatedly.

Clearly, this spellcasting encountered some obstacles and could not proceed smoothly.

Old Mo looked at it with eyes wide open, and couldn't help but say: "What happened?"

He Chunhua wiped the sweat on his forehead: "It refuses to respond to the call, saying that there is a more powerful existence nearby."

Old Mo was surprised: "A more powerful existence?" This is just a small county town, what kind of existence can there be? "What does the master plan to do?"

"While the midnight hour has not passed, we will look for another place, preferably to the east."

Old Mo packed his things, and He Chunhua put on his cloak and went out in a hurry.

However, they had only taken two steps down the stairs when Lady Ying woke up, walked out with sleepy eyes and asked: "Oh, where are you going so late?"

"I'm going out to do something, I'll be back soon." He Chunhua said in a deep voice, "You sleep, don't worry."

He spoke in a low tone, which represented his style that could not be questioned. Lady Ying was very familiar with her husband's style, so she didn't think much, said "Take care of yourself," and returned to the room.

He Lingchuan, who was sleeping soundly, turned over.

He knew he was dreaming again, but this time he didn't go straight into Panlongcheng, but returned to the scene of falling into the ruins pool a few months ago.

At that time in the Panlong ruins, the He father and son and Sun Fuping led the Black Water City army to catch prey from the sand sea and bleed into the pool.

After the heroic spirits of the Great Wind Army appeared, He Lingchuan accidentally fell into the pool, and there was water in all directions.

Dark red blood water.

Where is this a well, it is clearly a bottomless dark pool.

He Lingchuan floated in the water with a confused face, and a green light seemed to flash above, about to drill into the water.

At least He Lingchuan felt that the top layer of the pool water seemed to have turned light green.

This light green color spread rapidly downward.

But just at this time, He Lingchuan found that the pool water under his feet began to surge.

He looked down and saw a huge red figure swaying in the depths of the pool.

Every time it moved, the pool water set off a huge whirlpool.

The calm dark pool suddenly had countless rapid currents and dark surges, interacting with each other.

The little green light on the upper layer was crushed and disappeared.

He Lingchuan swam down, wanting to seize the time to see the true face of the red figure. After a few months of parting, he almost forgot that there was such a behemoth on the outermost layer of the dream.

What exactly is it doing here? The closer he swam, the more he felt its vastness.

But the light became darker and darker, and soon he couldn't see anything.

Opening his eyes again, he stood in the bustling street of Panlongcheng, and a peddler carrying a jewelry load smiled at him stutteringly: "Guest, guest, this little, little brother, buy a pearl flower to give, give to someone?"

Ruxian, this small place, has no curfew, the night is deep, the watchman has just left, and there is not even a wild dog on the road.

It is already the first month, and the snow on the ground is often more than a foot deep.

It snowed again tonight, and someone will get up to sweep the street tomorrow morning. With the light reflected by the snow on the ground, the surroundings are not completely pitch black. He Chunhua and Old Mo stepped on the snow and walked east, their boots creaking.

They didn't bring attendants.

The further east they went, the sparser the houses.

Later, Old Mo pointed to a dilapidated residential house: "This is the house I saw with the thickest snow at the door, it should be empty."

The snow was almost piled up to the door bolt position, and it

"It's over a hundred zhang from the post station; let's try it." He Chunhua nodded and climbed over the courtyard wall with Old Mo.

The courtyard was also piled high with snow; the trees and crops had long since withered and died, the house door was half-open, and there was not a trace of human presence.

The times were bad; there were a hundred reasons for a house to be left vacant.

The two walked into the small house and closed the doors and windows.

The window gaps were large, and the cold wind could still pour in, bringing with it a low, wailing sound like the howling of rock wolves, requiring Old Mo to use straw to plug them tight. The wooden door was slightly warped; the two of them worked together to close it and propped it shut with a millstone.

This took some effort. He Chunhua rubbed his hands and said, "Hurry, the time is almost up." If they missed the hour, they would have to wait another day, and they did not have time to waste in Ruxian.

He Chunhua straightened the overturned table, relit the cyan candle, and began to chant the incantation.

Old Mo also took out the Shoushan stone paperweight and gripped it tightly in his hand.

This time, the cyan smoke took shape smoothly, finally condensing into a blurry pattern—it was unclear whether it was a ghost face or a dog face, but it had a nose and a mouth regardless.

The temperature in the room plummeted suddenly, and frost flowers condensed on the tabletop.

Although this face had only two empty eye sockets, the two could sense that it was observing them, with a faint, malicious intent.

Sure enough, the next second, the face lunged forward without warning.

Old Mo had received instructions from He Chunhua beforehand and did not move at all.

Just as the cyan smoke was about to cross the table, He Chunhua flicked his left hand, revealing the State Order in his palm.

The aura of the nation can suppress evil spirits! The cyan smoke was startled and retreated rapidly, staying at least four feet away from him.

Since this person could not be touched, it turned its head to look for Old Mo.

Old Mo was a loyal servant of the He family, not a court official, so naturally, he had no true qi to protect his body. But the paperweight in his hand suddenly emitted a cyan light, and the carved kite head turned as well, its pair of red eyes fixed directly on the cyan smoke.

Held by its gaze, the cyan smoke suddenly froze in mid-air, nearly dissipating.

After a long while, the smoke gathered again, and the ghost face became clearer, staring straight at He Chunhua. It tilted its head as if asking a question, but its expression was no longer as arrogant as before. He Chunhua said sternly, "I offer you a delicacy, but he is protected by a talisman and a formation; you may not be able to find him."

He held up the note with Li Zhao's birth date and lit it on the candle. "This is his birth date and time."

The note met the fire and quickly burned to ash. The cyan smoke rolled across the tabletop, sucking up all the ash until not a single speck remained.

The flame trembled incessantly; it was clear it was very interested.

He Chunhua asked, "Can you find him?"

The cyan smoke did not react.

Sure enough, the birth date alone was not enough; Li Zhao was under the protection of magic, which forbade evil spirits from tracking him personally.

Only then did He Chunhua take out the porcelain bottle.

The stopper was actually jammed very tight; even He Chunhua had to use some effort to pull it out, which also showed the deep disgust of the person who had taken the sample.

Steward Qian was not wrong; after brewing for two or three days, the liquid poured from the bottle was pungent, foul, and yellow.

He Chunhua pinched his nose and dripped two drops onto the candle wick, fearing he would extinguish the flame.

But to be honest, this smell was nowhere near as potent as the "fragrant balls" made by the sand bandits on Red Cliff Road; that stuff was a true biochemical weapon.

With a "hiss," the candlelight flared high, and its color turned deep green, reflecting on the two faces at the table in a ghastly green, which was quite frightening.

The cyan smoke became more solid, and eyeballs grew out—each eye socket sprouted three pupils, within which light seemed to shift uncertainly; one could not look too closely.

Being able to see meant it had a target and a direction.

"He has done no shortage of evil deeds in public and in private; he should be your favorite prey." He Chunhua reminded it, "When he was young, he encountered a great flood and abandoned his close brother, causing him to drown. This matter may be a knot in his heart; you might as well strike from there."

The three pupils of the ghost face suddenly merged into one, and the face became very clear. It slowly opened its mouth and formed a smile.

But this mouth opened too wide—a hundred and forty or fifty degrees—and the cheeks, eyes, and even the forehead were stretched long, the muscles twisted and wrinkled, looking like a wax figure about to melt.

More terrifying than meeting a ghost face was this ghost face laughing silently at oneself.

Old Mo, the housekeeper, felt a chill down his back, and goosebumps broke out all over him.

He Chunhua, however, did not change his expression. "Found him? Go, while it is still dark."

The ghost face looked at the two again, then suddenly turned and drifted outside, its form becoming increasingly faint.

Before it even reached the door, it vanished.

The candle went out along with it.

Old Mo, the housekeeper, blinked, as if waking from a dream. He looked at the room again; it seemed different from just a moment ago, but he couldn't say how.

Hmm, it seemed that eerie atmosphere was gone.

He Chunhua turned his head and said to him, "You were asleep just now."

Asleep? How could that be? He had been protecting the master just now, fully focused.

Seeing he didn't believe it, He Chunhua pointed to the corner of his mouth.

Old Mo reached out to touch it; it was wet.

He had actually drooled, and it was hanging quite long, yet he hadn't noticed it himself.

In other words, he had indeed been dazed just now.

"Did the master also see the cyan smoke?"

"Of course, we were in the same dream." He Chunhua pointed to the kite-shaped paperweight Old Mo was holding. "Without this treasure to protect you, you wouldn't have been able to wake up."

Old Mo shuddered. "How terrifying, I didn't even know when I was caught."

If he was like this despite being on guard, what about Li Zhao, who was dozens of miles away? "Li Zhao has magic artifacts to protect his body; ordinary evil spirits cannot get close, otherwise I wouldn't have had to spend so much effort." The cyan candle was burned down to a small stub, and He Chunhua put it away. "This thing is its ration, otherwise how would it respond to my summons? It's a pity the candle is hard to come by; there isn't enough to perform it again."

Old Mo asked him, "Master, why only mention one knot in Li Zhao's heart?"

"That matter of two lives lost in one corpse, he won't take it to heart." He Chunhua waved his hand. "A concubine, dead is dead. Do you think he lacks women or descendants?"

Speaking of this, he remembered something, his brow furrowed. "However, what is going on with the post station? Is there something near there that can suppress my magic?"

￥￥￥￥￥

Old Master Li dreamed of that summer he would never forget for the rest of his life.

He hadn't had this dream for a long time. His brother was even better to him than usual, giving him a particularly beautiful belt. The children took off their shirts on the rocky beach and jumped into the river to play; the cool river water could defeat the scorching heat.

Everyone was having a great time when human voices came from afar.

Li Zhao looked up and saw a girl carrying a medicine basket; she was standing halfway up the mountain, waving frantically at them and shouting.

It was too far away, and the sound of the water was too loud; no one could hear what she was saying.

(End of chapter)