Chapter 222

The next day, a satisfied Lu Zhongqiu began to investigate the case. He inquired in detail about everything that happened that night and had a preliminary judgment about this group of strongmen.

They were just a group of thieves and bandits wandering over from the border area of Southern Hunan and Lingnan. There were only three of them, and they were all guys who hadn't reached Qi Refinement Stage 5. Relying on a desperate fighting style, they caught Master Xie by surprise. Moreover, this group of people was aiming for spirit stones. Since they didn't succeed at the Xie family and only grabbed some gold and silver, it was very likely they would continue to commit crimes near Jiashan.

Thus, Lu Zhongqiu took Master Xie out. They first came to the jujube tree that had been burned dry. After walking around for a long time, they gained nothing. There were many footprints on the mud under the tree, but they were all left by the Xie family when they were putting out the fire.

The two walked around the vicinity again and asked the surrounding farmers, but similarly received no useful information.

Wandering and wandering, they arrived at the side of the old Yuan River course. Looking across the river, Lu Zhongqiu pondered and asked: "Old Xie, you said they didn't grab spirit stones. Could it be they won't rob manors, but change to robbing passersby?"

Master Xie was also staring into the distance, casually saying: "Robbing passersby is not a good idea. Which passerby would carry spirit stones with them? It's still better to rob manors, rob the manors of loose cultivators."

Lu Zhongqiu was retorted and was very dissatisfied: "That's not necessarily true. Are there few people who carry spirit stones with them? Not necessarily... Let's go, go to that bridge over there and take a look. Maybe this group of thieves is guarding on the other side of the bridge. Let's go over quietly..."

Master Xie realized that his words were inappropriate and hurriedly echoed: "It's this old man who thought wrong. I'm getting old, my brain can't turn around, and I'm prone to being muddled. It is indeed possible. Let's go over and take a look."

Lu Zhongqiu greeted: "Old Xie, go down to the riverbed and walk along the river embankment. You are too conspicuous like this!"

After going down to the riverbed, they quietly approached Guangfu Bridge along the river embankment. While still far away, Lu Zhongqiu signaled Master Xie to lower his body: "Look over there, behind the stone, someone is lying down. See it?"

"I see it."

"What is he doing lying there sneakily? He has been aiming at the bridge side."

"Young Master! It's truly divine. It's most likely this guy! Wearing a bamboo hat and a black scarf covering his face! Found him, Young Master is divine in his foresight, the thief really didn't leave! There are two others, don't know where they are... Hmm, not here, they should have separated."

"Heh, let's go, take him down first!"

The one discovered was exactly Fang Bu'ai. At this moment, he was looking toward the opposite bridgehead, anxiously waiting for Lu Zhongqiu to appear. The reason he was anxious was that yesterday, after Lu Zhongqiu entered an eatery in the Jiashan market, he suddenly disappeared without a trace. Not knowing where he went, the group had to retreat across the old Yuan River course and guard the west end of Guangfu Bridge.

Fang Bu'ai's squatting point was behind a large stone. He couldn't be seen from the opposite side of the bridge, but who could have thought that Lu Zhongqiu would quietly come over from under the riverbed on the side?

Fang Bu'ai was staring at the opposite side of the bridge when he suddenly saw a person walking over slowly. It was Liu Xiaolou. Not only did he walk over swaggeringly from the opposite side, but he also took off his bamboo hat and black scarf. While stepping onto Guangfu Bridge, he looked at the riverbed under the bridge.

What is the meaning of this?

Just as he was suspicious, movement suddenly started behind him. Fang Bu'ai looked back and saw two people appearing behind him at some point, no more than two or three zhang away. One was exactly Lu Zhongqiu, whom he had lost yesterday, and the other was none other than Master Xie.

Master Xie shook his gray beard and grinned hideously: "Good thief, see where you can run today!" He took two diagonal steps and blocked the bridge, preventing Fang Bu'ai from fleeing to the other end of the bridge.

Lu Zhongqiu smiled: "Kid, the incident has happened. Don't think about running. Honestly confess your accomplices, where are those two? As long as you tell me, I can guarantee you won't die."

Fang Bu'ai remained silent, looking at Master Xie, then at Lu Zhongqiu.

Lu Zhongqiu added: "Don't have doubts. I said I would spare your life, so you definitely won't die. You couldn't die even if you wanted to. Do you know who I am? I am Lu Zhongqiu, an inner sect deacon of Tianmu Mountain. In this regard, I have always been very credible."

Footsteps came, and both Lu Zhongqiu and Master Xie saw Liu Xiaolou crossing the bridge.

Liu Xiaolou was not wearing a bamboo hat or a black scarf and looked no different from an ordinary traveler, only his face was covered in dirty mud, as if he had just fallen in the swamp. Seeing the standoff between the three, he stared with wide eyes, his gaze full of curiosity.

This dirty, muddy-legged appearance made Lu Zhongqiu very displeased. He waved his hand and called to Liu Xiaolou: "Hurry up and pass. Tianmu Mountain is handling affairs, bystanders should not watch..."

Before the words fell, Fang Bu'ai, who had been silent, suddenly drew his sword. His body merged with the sword light and crashed directly into Lu Zhongqiu's arms!

Lu Zhongqiu had never seen such a desperate fighting style right from the start and was suddenly a bit flustered. In his haste, he flew out his magic treasure to block. The silver hook flew and swirled like a bright moon in front of him, while his figure flew back, widening the distance from Fang Bu'ai.

Seeing he couldn't catch up, Fang Bu'ai spat out a swarm of poisonous insects from within the sword light. The poisonous insects danced and surrounded Lu Zhongqiu, biting him crazily.

Lu Zhongqiu dodged after turning a few times and continued to form a light wheel in front of him with the silver hook. The light wheel was impenetrable, and he finally flicked away all the densely flying poisonous insects.

Being attacked so miserably by a low-stage cultivator, he really couldn't hold his face. Gritting his teeth, he shouted: "Good thief, seeking death!" The silver hook counterattacked forward, covering Fang Bu'ai entirely within the light wheel.

Fang Bu'ai tried his best to resist, but how could he block it? The bamboo hat, black scarf, clothes, and trousers on his head were all torn by this light wheel, hanging on his body in strips. Through the tattered clothes, one could see countless blood marks on his entire skin.

But he didn't care about his injuries at all and fought to the death without retreating. His goal was only one: to win time for Liu Xiaolou's surprise attack.

And he indeed won the time. He heard Liu Xiaolou give a violent shout: "Retreat!"

Fang Bu'ai tried his best to fly back, retreating more than three zhang away. He saw Lu Zhongqiu on the opposite side suddenly bound by a rope, bumping around on the spot like a headless fly. This was being wrapped into the array by Liu Xiaolou.

Liu Xiaolou sat cross-legged at the end of the bridge, his hands forming seals, his brows tightly locked, his mouth calculating non-stop, trying his best to trap Lu Zhongqiu in the array.

Looking at his feet, the one lying there was exactly Master Xie, motionless, staring with extreme terror at Liu Xiaolou, who was operating the array with all his might. Clearly, his meridians had been sealed.

Fang Bu'ai didn't understand Liu Xiaolou's array, so he didn't dare to enter it rashly, only circling around Lu Zhongqiu in the array anxiously.

He saw Lu Zhongqiu suddenly sitting in the air, staring at a certain place in front with a flushed face, blue veins bulging on his forehead, sweat pouring down. From time to time, he would suddenly stand up and strike the silver hook into the void. After striking a few times, he would sit down panting heavily, as if he were being forcibly pressed down by someone, his behavior extremely strange.

Suddenly, he heard Liu Xiaolou shout: "Call people!"

Fang Bu'ai realized and hurriedly ran out. After running two steps, he ran back again, slashed a few times with his sword at the neck of Master Xie, who was sealed on the ground, completely finishing him off, and then ran away wildly.

Because he had lost Lu Zhongqiu's trail by accident last night, Wei Hongqing, Zuo Gaofeng, and Tan Bazhang were all searching for Lu Zhongqiu around Jiashan. At this moment, they had to hurry to find them all back.

Fortunately, they were not far away. Wei Hongqing arrived first, followed by Zuo Gaofeng, and finally Tan Bazhang. After everyone was gathered, they surrounded Lu Zhongqiu in the array.

At this time, Liu Xiaolou had been operating the array for more than a quarter of an hour. His true qi consumption was extremely huge, and he was almost unable to hold on. Seeing that everyone had arrived, he suddenly retracted the array and released Lu Zhongqiu.

In the array, Lu Zhongqiu had been made restless and anxious by various illusions, especially tormented by the images of Lu Yanshi, causing evil fire and jealousy to surge in bursts. In the illusion, this Lu Yanshi was sometimes lingering with Wei Hongqing, sometimes fighting a fierce battle with another person, just ignoring his own burning desire. And that person fighting the fierce battle looked so familiar—it was actually the appearance of Elder Kuai?

Just as he wanted to take a closer look, the small courtyard in front of him suddenly disappeared, making his heart skip a beat, as uncomfortable as falling directly from a high cliff.

It was also at this moment that he saw the figure standing opposite.

Wearing a bamboo hat and covered in a black scarf, this figure seemed somewhat familiar.

It seems to be...

Wei Hongqing?

His mind was a mess. Suddenly, he understood something, but it was still a paste.

So annoying!