Chapter 75

Hou Sheng looked at the cave and listened carefully for a while, then pulled a rope from his sleeve, put it on Liu Xiaolou's waist, fastened the knot, and wrapped the other end of the rope around his wrist, saying: "You go down first."

Liu Xiaolou felt the faint spiritual power fluctuation coming from this rope and said unhappily: "Hou Zhishi, it's already like this, do you still not trust me?"

Hou Sheng's face remained unchanged: "What if you and that couple are in collusion and set up an ambush in the cave? I have to guard against it. If it is really like this, you will be the first to die."

Liu Xiaolou sighed, shook his head, and climbed down the rock wall.

Hou Sheng followed down, holding the rope in one hand and digging his two fingers into the rock wall, right on the right side of Liu Xiaolou.

The cave entrance was an irregular long strip, which was actually a crack on the rock wall. There were many such cracks in Killing Tiger Mouth, mostly located above and below the water surface, which should have been washed out by the river water.

"Go in." Hou Sheng shook the rope, as if leading a dog.

After Liu Xiaolou entered with his body lowered, it was slightly more spacious inside, divided into two places, inside and outside. The outside was less than a zhang deep, and there was an extinguished campfire in the corner; the other side of the cave turned at an angle, and after entering, it was the inner cave chamber, also less than a zhang deep. There was a "bed" made of dry grass against the rock wall, and apart from that, there was nothing else.

The closure of this cave was very good, the river wind could not blow in, perfectly matching the requirements for launching the Illusory Fragrance. Several cracks that leaked wind were directly blocked with broken stones, which should have been Wei Hongqing's handwriting.

Hou Sheng fell at the cave entrance, shot a talisman into the cave, and the paper burned to ashes in the cave. After waiting for a while, he carefully entered the cave. He came to the campfire, reached into the embers, and pondered: "Yesterday's."

Liu Xiaolou asked curiously: "Can this be seen?"

Hou Sheng was calm, shook the rope again, and signaled Liu Xiaolou to enter the inner cave chamber.

The two entered one after another. Hou Sheng ordered: "Lift the grass bed."

Liu Xiaolou did as he was told. Hou Sheng bent down to check, and then said: "Newly made."

He looked around the inner cave chamber again, and then said: "Start, what token to leave?"

Liu Xiaolou asked unhappily: "Does Hou Zhishi not suspect that I am in collusion with that couple?"

Hou Sheng urged: "Hurry up."

Liu Xiaolou reached out to ask for the array plate. Hou Sheng replied: "I will give it to you after leaving the token."

Liu Xiaolou, who had compromised many times in a row, was unwilling to compromise anymore: "Hou Zhishi, without returning my array plate, I will not leave any token."

Hou Sheng said indifferently: "In fact, after arriving here, it doesn't matter whether you leave a token or not. If you don't leave it, I will kill you, and then wait for them here."

Liu Xiaolou stared at Hou Sheng and asked: "In fact, Hou Zhishi never intended to let me live, right? Since that's the case, please do it, Hou Zhishi."

Hou Sheng touched his nose: "What I intend is not for you to worry about. Your life and death are only in my thought, but you can bet once, bet on whether I will spare you and give you a reward. Of course, you can also not bet. I will count to three. If you still don't leave it, then go to the river to feed the fish. Three... two..."

"I bet... I bet..." Liu Xiaolou took a deep breath, pulled out the Three Mystical Sword, and began to carve on the cave wall.

Hou Sheng didn't care about Liu Xiaolou's act of pulling out the sword. A low-level rogue cultivator at the third level of Qi Refinement pulling out a sword had no threat. He just watched Liu Xiaolou finish carving the four words "October 5th" on the cave wall, letting the stone chips fall to the ground.

"October 5th? Today? Is this the signal you agreed on? Where to meet? Right here?"

"Of course not meeting here, Hou Zhishi. What I left is the date of today's message. The appointment date is not today, nor is it here. As for when and where to meet... please return the array plate to me, Hou Zhishi. I will leave a message on the willow tree above to inform you. Of course, I also ask Hou Zhishi to go out half an hour later."

"The campfire and the grass bed..."

"Not theirs, it was me who made the fire. Before leaving a letter for you at the Lotus Pond Reaching the Sky, I came here once myself and stayed for one night, but didn't wait for Xingde Jun and Zhou Qi."

Hou Sheng suddenly smiled: "It seems you are unwilling to bet, or, you lost the bet. After you die, I will wait here for three days. If I don't see Xingde Jun, it will be considered that I fell for your trick, and Hou will admit defeat. I investigate Xingde Jun, not just because of your clue. At worst, I will find another way. Your corpse will stay here, and this cave will be your burial place. The line of words you carved will serve as your tombstone..."

Before he could finish speaking, Liu Xiaolou said first: "Hou Zhishi, why are you investigating the case privately? Why not report it to your Qingyu Sect? What do you want to get from Xingde Jun?"

Hou Sheng was stunned, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Sure enough, the mind is delicate, it's a pity..."

The rope tied to Liu Xiaolou's waist suddenly surged with spiritual power, and the rope tightened more and more, making Liu Xiaolou unable to breathe. No matter how he resisted with true qi, it was of no avail.

Hou Sheng said slowly: "Is it because I didn't summon helpers that you asked this? Finally, let me give you a word. Some things, don't ponder blindly. Even if you really ponder something, don't say it out loud, otherwise, people will die."

Liu Xiaolou's eyeballs were squeezed out, and he said with difficulty: "I say... I say... cough cough cough..."

The rope suddenly loosened, and he finally gasped for air, lying on the ground coughing loudly.

"Say it, this is your last chance." Hou Sheng sat on the grass bed, staring at Liu Xiaolou curled up on the ground.

Liu Xiaolou's voice was hoarse: "Seven... seven days... every seven days... will come to see once..."

Xingde Jun smiled, and the rope tightened again. This time he didn't keep his hand, squeezing Liu Xiaolou until his internal organs were about to turn over, and white foam kept bubbling from the corners of his mouth.

Liu Xiaolou, while coughing, crawled toward the outside of the cave.

Hou Sheng didn't stop him, looking at Liu Xiaolou crawling toward the outside of the cave, and said jokingly: "You didn't ask me, why did I dare to come alone to catch Xingde Jun and his wife? This deacon can tell you, it depends on this Ground-Dispersing Yuan Rope. This rope is a good treasure. You died under the Ground-Dispersing Yuan Rope today, which can be considered a proper death, the same treatment as those big thieves and villains I handled..."

Liu Xiaolou was still crawling out, crawled to the outer cave chamber, grabbed the stone wall at the cave entrance and was about to roll into the river.

Hou Sheng didn't know why, but he was a little excited at this moment, and couldn't help but want to say a few more words: "Your cultivation is shallow, but your foundation is solid... but this rope is like a blood leech, how can it be so easy to break free?"

Seeing Liu Xiaolou was about to crawl out of the cave entrance and roll into the river water, he laughed again: "Don't waste your effort, you can't run away. This deacon will hang you here, like a spider web..."

He laughed until his face was red, excited until his mouth was dry, and couldn't help but lick his lips. His heart was beating wildly, and a picture appeared in his mind: a woman wearing only light gauze, holding a pipa, tied into a spider flower by the Ground-Dispersing Yuan Rope, hanging on the rock wall, making him dry-mouthed, his body shook, and he sat down again.

At the same time, Liu Xiaolou was squeezed by the rope until he spat out his tongue, finally rolled out, and rolled into the river bottom.