Chapter 176

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

Yu Si Wu did not understand her meaning — mere flies and insects.

In the sweltering summer, a puddle of filth at the alley mouth, some household just slaughtering a chicken or goose, plucking and bleeding it, or a pigsty or ox shed in someone's backyard nearby — any of these could easily attract hundreds of flies... a scattered three or five fluttering past one's eyes now and then, what is so strange about that?

Not to mention three or five, even thirty or fifty flies passing through the streets would be commonplace; what is uncommon is that they flew along one after another, all moving sluggishly.

Shaowei strode forward.

When in Taoxi Township, every summer and autumn, Jiang Fu would often order Shaowei to fumigate the house with specially prepared herbs to drive away the incessant mosquitoes and flies.

Shaowei's constitution, conditioned through repeated regulation, easily attracted mosquito and fly bites; Jiang Fu always praised her blood qi as abundant and sweet. Shaowei hated those words, and hated the frequent offending mosquitoes and insects even more; therefore she had no mercy toward them — every fumigation, she would shut doors and windows tight, vowing to fumigate them all to death.

But there would always be a few flies that escaped through the door cracks; poisoned by the medicine, the severely affected would be dizzy and disoriented, falling to the ground struggling, the mildly affected would fly clumsily, their buzzing intermittent.

The morbid manifestations of flies do not require supreme hearing to discern; one only needs a heart willing to quiet down and pay attention.

Fly bites can cause illness; wealthy families often burn medicine to repel them; encountering a few dizzy, sick flies is not surprising — but the direction they flew from was clearly an uninhabited abandoned mansion.

Shaowei had already run close to that mansion with seals posted on its gate.

Yu Si Wu could not understand the fox-cat's actions, but that did not hinder blind obedience; she immediately issued orders for the Wu practitioners to circle this mansion and dispel pestilence.

The Wu practitioners' movements were noticed by the Imperial Guards behind; they had already followed the Sixth Prince dismounting, preparing to search the Immortal Master's Mansion adjacent to this sealed estate.

"Who knows what abstruse mystery the Tai Puzhe will stir up this time." Liu Qi looked over, his tone ambiguous between praise and blame — at least not purely blame.

The Imperial Guard commander at his side, seeing this, was about to speak, wanting to say "This humble post will lead men to investigate," but was cut off by Liu Qi, who said: "I'll go see for myself; you take men and search inside first, I'll go and return at once."

He did not need to seek anyone's agreement; words spoken, steps followed; Deng Hu led ten men to keep up.

Dispelling pestilence by imperial decree is a major matter, but the official seals posted on the main gate still cannot be casually torn down. Under countless watching eyes, the fox-cat could not reveal her true form and vault the wall to enter directly.

But Shaowei, who had been here before, knew of an entrance — on the rear side of this mansion there is an inconspicuous small door, weeds growing thick inside and out concealing the door leaves, the lock broken, the narrow old door equivalent to being ajar.

Mosquitoes and flies flew in chaos, among them still mixed the sluggish buzzing of flies; Shaowei quickly pushed open that broken old door, simultaneously pushing the mask on her face up to the top of her head, and stepped into the courtyard vigilantly.

A cry of alarm rang out — in this courtyard hid two beggars with disheveled hair who had sneaked in; they had built a fire and were cooking begged food in a ceramic jar missing an ear; seeing someone push the door open, and wearing elaborate Witchcraft Attire, one of them said in panic: "... We, we just arrived today, only temporarily staying here!"

Shaowei ignored them and walked straight inside.

Last time, passing here late at night with the household servants, Shaowei had seen an impoverished scholar kneeling in this courtyard performing salutes and kowtows, trembling with fear, muttering: 【Deep night, curfew, nowhere to go, staying one night temporarily, no offense intended... once dawn breaks, I will leave immediately, go seek a Taoist Temple to lodge at!】

This is an empty mansion, and also a haunted mansion; its former master was a Military Official, accused of disloyalty; the Embroidered Uniform Guards burst in at night to search, found dozens of armor suits; hiding armor is a capital crime; the Military Official resisted desperately, his entire family of dozens all died under the Embroidered Uniform Guards' blades, fresh blood splashed across the entire mansion — since then it became a haunted mansion.

Moreover, not far away is Marquis Ling Ke's former residence — truly misfortune upon misfortune, adding unspeakable grievance qi; this mansion is even more untouchable, no one dares to easily take it over or purchase it, so it has remained sealed and vacant.

Being a haunted mansion, and belonging to the Court, with many wealthy and powerful nearby, beggars and vagrants also would not easily trespass; occasional lodgers dare not stay long.

But there are always two or three people secretly coming and going probing — absolutely not a place on alert; also minor yamen clerks patrol occasionally; at any time the Court might repair and requisition it — such a place, however you look at it, is not a good choice for carrying out secret affairs.

Added to that, after Shaowei's night infiltration of Chiyang Residence's courtyard, she had largely confirmed there were no hidden chambers or mechanisms in the Immortal Master's Mansion; thus she and the household servants deduced: Chiyang is treacherous — it seems he would not hide his true secrets close at hand, easily guessed and found by them.

So unconsciously they turned their gaze farther, trying to explore more "unexpected" locations.

But walking here now, a thought suddenly flashed in Shaowei's mind: precisely because this place looks completely unsuitable as a secret location, could it be another kind of "unexpected" — the proverbial "darkness under the lamp"?

However, all such speculations, like debates, both pro and con can produce countless angles; no matter how you think, each has its reasoning — therefore speculation can only be speculation... ultimately how it is, only digging to the bottom yields the true answer.

Shaowei is digging for the answer right now.

Compared to the night visit last time, most of the weeds growing wild in this courtyard have now withered in drought; the view is a scene of desolate dry heat, flies dancing in chaos.

Shaowei carefully distinguished the flies' states, searching back and forth, and guided by the pungent smell, gradually arrived at a wall corner.

The beggars had fled in alarm, not forgetting to carry off the ceramic jar.

Yu Si Wu brought people following, guarding inside and outside that narrow old door; seeing the fox-cat staring and sniffing, not knowing what she sought, for a moment they dared not approach rashly, fearing to disturb her sensing.

The Wu Nu all held their breath waiting; although they had sensed nothing at all, that must be because their comprehension was insufficient — absolutely not the Witch God's problem.

They were of one mind and virtue, serving ghosts and gods with utmost sincerity; even Liu Qi leading men here was blocked by Yu Si Wu: "Witch God dispels pestilence, Sixth Prince halt your steps."

Liu Qi looked at the figure in the courtyard and said: "After the Baoquan matter, I am already convinced in heart. Witch God enters a living ground, I come specially to protect and support."

Yu Si Wu was surprised that the youth's tone no longer held questioning or mockery; he seems to have truly "basked in this light, passed through this matter, and conducted himself well" — and regarding the search for Baoquan's dark waters, this person was at the side at the time, and indeed did not hinder the Witch God; now these words "protect and support" inexplicably carry a certain persuasiveness.

"Si Wu, let him come." The fox-cat in the courtyard instructed without even turning her head.

Yu Si Wu hesitated no longer and let him pass.

Liu Qi walked quickly to where the Choose Yi Zhu Chang was; drawing near, he immediately asked in a low voice: "What have you found?"

Shaowei extended her hand pointing at the wall corner: "I followed flies and insects here, and found this object."

Two more steps, Liu Qi stood shoulder to shoulder with her, and saw the thing emitting rotten stench — two rat corpses not far apart, already rotting with maggots, flies swarming incessantly.

Rat corpses attracting flies — nothing more common; but since she paid attention, it must be uncommon.

Liu Qi stared and distinguished for a moment, then concluded: "The rats died of poisoning."

On close observation, the flies that had bitten the rotting rat flesh mostly flew abnormally.

"And it is an uncommonly seen virulent poison." Shaowei, already returned from her thoughts, voice low and fast: "Rats and flies have very different constitutions; rats dead from ordinary rat poison generally do not cause obvious effects on the flies themselves — this poison's toxicity is broad and fierce."

"Strange poison is troublesome to make, costly to produce — impossible to use it solely to poison rats; the rats must have ingested it by mistake or accidentally inhaled poison mist." Liu Qi looked around, subconsciously saying: "But it's also possible they fled here from elsewhere — need to continue searching for any others..."

His words unfinished, Shaowei had already sprinted out in large strides, heading straight for the main mansion body ahead.

This mansion followed the front-hall rear-garden architectural structure; Shaowei and Liu Qi left this wild garden, led men through a rear corridor, and stepped into several successive courtyards.

The courtyard rooms' utensils and tools had long been confiscated clean; everywhere spider webs and dry grass, vermilion lacquer peeling, most doors and windows collapsed in disorder; each courtyard's original features all blurred, becoming one desolate old ground after another.

During the process, besides finding two more rat corpses, there were no other discoveries. And during the search, mosquitoes and insects bit, the blazing sun scorched; from time to time spider webs and dust fell from the beams, causing coughing or getting into eyes; bodies and faces covered in filthy sweat, making one unconsciously want to leave this rotten filthy place quickly.

Three courtyards had all been searched; only the front hall remained — if still nothing found, the search would be over.

Thinking of this, the guards all unconsciously wanted to quicken their pace; looking at those hurriedly passing legs, Shaowei instead slowly stopped her steps, suddenly turned her head and asked Liu Qi beside her: "How many courtyards have we searched?"

Liu Qi: "Three seats."

Shaowei looked at him: "What features does the second seat have?"

Liu Qi was asked by her and startled for a moment, carefully recalled, but shook his head: "It seems there was no distinction from the other two seats."

"Why do you say 'seems'?" Shaowei stared at him, asked: "When you recall just now, do you have a feeling of cursory glance, fleeting impression?"

Liu Qi nodded, realized something was wrong.

"To put it another way, even if you could have that, I absolutely should not have a cursory glance either..." Shaowei frowned in a daze: "Since I came seeking flies, I should observe every step in detail..."

Even though the summer heat, dust, and spider webs were disturbing, she firmly believed she would absolutely not have the slightest distraction or carelessness; because of one hundred thousand percent self-confidence, Shaowei suddenly came to her senses, said: "Not right!"

——Immediately turned and ran back!

Liu Qi called back Deng Hu and the others, also immediately followed.

This return, Shaowei recited the Quiet Mind Mantra in her heart, striving to keep her mind clear, undisturbed.

And since suspicion arose, she also raised vigilance; she ran back into that courtyard, eyes like tigers and wolves patrolling, first locked onto a glaring copper mirror embedded above the Hall Gate beam.

Many households hang mirrors on door beams to ward off evil. But this mirror was already suspected by Shaowei, could no longer remain. Stone breaks copper; she immediately drew the short knife hidden in her sleeve, violently threw it.

The short knife pierced toward the copper mirror, only heard a bang, the mirror surface cracked, fragments splattered; Liu Qi quickly stepped in front of Shaowei, blocked those flashing fragments, raised hand horizontally caught the rebounding short knife.

The glaring copper mirror shattered and fell; vision seemed to become clear quite a bit; Liu Qi had this feeling for the first time, turned back and asked: "Is there a Qimen Array set up here as you spoke of?"

This time he searched all around; Shaowei had previously explained to him, if encountering strange matters similar to Ghost Wall, must inform her; that was mostly array interference.

But at this time there was no Ghost Wall, nor had they been trapped in the formation; they merely passed through unknowingly, only after her reminder and deep thought did they notice a bit of blurred memory, but could still use summer heat as explanation.

While Shaowei nodded, she still surveyed all around; she said: "This should be an extremely brilliant obscuration technique, meant to conceal something; therefore we stepped inside without noticing... The position of this mirror is the Jing Gate; the Jing Gate governs illusions and confusion; placing a copper mirror there is to obstruct visual judgment."

The so-called "Qi" in Qimen refers to Yi, Bing, Ding Three Oddities, representing the operational variables of the universe heaven and earth.

"Men" refers to Smelling, Sheng, Shang, Du, Jing, Si, Jing, Kai Eight Gates, representing eight different directional powers.

The Daoist faith claims heaven and earth's operation has its own laws; once the gate of laws is disturbed, the Qi mechanism becomes chaotic.

Qimen Obscuration Technique uses objects arranged to change this place's Qi mechanism operation, to confuse people's sight, disturb people's judgment, using eyes to transmit wrong information to the brain, achieving the immediate effect of "self-deception". The more concealed and profound the method, the harder for those entering the formation to detect.

Shaowei admits she is newly out of the thatched cottage, learning Qimen Array for a short time, not necessarily a match for Chi Yang, but Jiang Fu clearly also praised her talent as extraordinary; how could she only detect the formation long after exiting? And this still benefited from her today possessing unprecedented quiet mind power; last time she passed here, she fundamentally did not discover the formation's existence.

Shaowei racked her brains, deduced: "There must be an extremely special Qi object variable here."

Variables brought by ordinary Qi object arrangements cannot be profound to this extent. If mutual abilities are not far apart, the disparity must lie in the array objects.

Liu Qi already had people searching all around; Shaowei also paced measuring directions in the courtyard; when she looked toward a water well inside the courtyard, Liu Qi immediately walked to the well side, but felt something wrong underfoot; he used the short knife to push aside the covering dry grass, only saw a stone buried in the soil, only revealing slight edges.

Shaowei hurriedly urged to dig out this stone; everyone combined forces, quickly dug out this stone; looking at it, whole body pitch black, surface full of pits; while Shaowei was guessing, only heard Liu Qi declare: "This object is an Extraterrestrial Meteorite; I saw local officials present one in my childhood."

At this point no more doubt; extraterrestrial object is a deserved otherworldly Qi object; it occupying the Qi position, serving as the formation eye, this obscuration technique is truly flawless. Wanting to detect it is truly difficult as climbing to heaven.

If not for today achieving Great Stillness Mindset, and seeing poisoned rat corpses, heart already predetermined this place must have something fishy, Shaowei would still find it hard to see through.

Formation eye removed and moved away, the dazed unclear feeling dispersed; eyes and brain both became clear; Shaowei ran into the House; only then saw a side room previously missed and undetected, hanging a worn Bamboo Curtain blocking.

She waved aside the curtain and entered; only saw the room in a mess, a bathtub split into four or five pieces, but at the edges faint dark red residue remained.

Stale Blood Qi drilled into her nose; Shaowei's heartbeat began to speed up.

Liu Qi led people to carefully feel for mechanism traces; the side room was narrow, and no other objects; even if checking every inch of wall, every brick, could be completed very quickly.

In just a moment, a guard discovered a wall area had a strip brick suspected of repeated touching traces; he tried a push, the strip brick indeed indented, inside appeared a Copper Axis style object.

Liu Qi ordered him to retreat; he does not deal with mechanisms, but also vaguely knows; many Mechanism Techniques' opening, if turning direction is wrong, there may be locking mechanisms or triggering hidden weapons.

Shaowei had already quickly stepped forward; since being schemed against in the Changling Tomb, she also asked Mo Li for simple Mo School Mechanism Identification methods.

At this moment slightly distinguishing, Shaowei controlled the force, turned that Copper Axis to the right three wraps; only heard a click sound.

Mechanism activated; the Di Shi door appeared.

?? (Flies bite poisoned dead biological corpses, generally flies won't die, but severe cases will show flight abnormalities sluggish movement (this point verified)

? Qimen Dunjia, did homework specifically when opening the book, but not necessarily perfect, please everyone be tolerant of shortcomings!)

? Good night everyone! And, it's month end, asking for a monthly ticket wow babies!