Chapter 296: Many Attendants

Everything about Master Wen Bin Bin was merely Xu Yuan's "one-sided account."

The Old Lord naturally believed Xu Yuan, yet he could not arrest Master Wen Bin Bin based solely on Xu Yuan's few words.

These pure-stream officials were not to be provoked; they were all like mad dogs.

The four lords had all set out together, only to return silently.

Lang Xiao Ba felt ashamed, his face flushed red as he lowered his head, too afraid to speak.

The Lord had ordered him to keep watch on Master Wen Bin Bin, so he was convinced that Master Wen Bin Bin must be up to something!

Thus, when Master Wen Bin Bin went out and headed straight for Beicheng, Lang Xiao Ba assumed the fellow was trying to flee and rushed back to report.

Xu Yuan waved his hand at him, signaling that it was fine.

Only then did Li Yichuan and Wu Chenxin ask, "Old Lord, what exactly is the matter with this case?"

Ma Tianshou could not hide it any longer and had to lay out the entire case as Xu Yuan had described it the previous night.

Upon hearing "one million two hundred thousand taels of silk food," the two Preachers immediately wanted to back out, only to realize it was too late...

"This..." The two were momentarily speechless and couldn't help but glance at Xu Yuan with some reproach.

But then they thought of his "Old Lady," and even words of complaint died on their lips.

The four then deliberated together: "What shall we do next? The Wang Fei still refuses to make a move..."

Xu Yuan said, "Directly attack the ancient tomb!"

Before, as a sixth-rank nobody, I dared not confront the Wang Fei head-on; what is there to fear now?

If you do not make a move, we will march right to your door.

Ma Tianshou considered for a moment: "Very well."

Before leaving, Xu Yuan wrote a letter and handed it to Di Youzhi: "Deliver it to Bai Yue Guan on Xie Liu Lane."

"Rest assured, my lord."

Bai Hu received the letter and tossed it directly to the Fox Sisters: "Read it yourselves. This Lady won't force you, but as for my brother, hehe, that's another story."

Xu Yuan and the other three changed into plain clothes, arrived at the dock without revealing their identities, and blended into the crowd crossing the river, waiting a quarter of an hour before boarding the ferry with the others.

Yet when they reached Zouzhugou and stormed into the ancient tomb, they found it completely empty.

The Ghost Wang Fei was nowhere to be found.

Xu Yuan followed the passage into the underground river and discovered that the monsters were gone as well!

After coming up, Xu Yuan reported the situation.

Ma Tianshou's face darkened: "Something is wrong! Those monsters were released, so the Wang Fei's plans must have already begun, yet why is there not a single sign of movement inside or outside the city?"

Wu Chenxin inspected the ancient tomb thoroughly, and upon seeing the skeletons in the side chamber, suddenly let out an "Eh?"

"Brother Wu, what do you see?" Ma Tianshou asked.

Wu Chenxin said, "These skeletons did not die long ago. When I was young, I served as a County Commandant for one term and was very close to an old coroner in the yamen; I learned some things from him.

These skeletons are no older than a hundred years at most, and some were killed only in recent years."

Xu Yuan frowned in confusion: "If they were not buried as sacrifices... judging by the condition of the skeletons, they were all tortured to death..."

Xu Yuan immediately understood: "She is torturing these dead to obtain even more powerful resentful souls!"

"She is a ghost body; creating so many resentful souls... swallowing them to strengthen herself?" Wu Chenxin thought for a moment and then discarded his own guess: "Unlikely. These resentful souls are too weak for her; even if she swallowed them all, the gain would be negligible."

Everyone was puzzled once again.

Xu Yuan suddenly remembered that those monsters had two brains; theoretically, a body with two brains could house two souls!

Could the Wang Fei be trying to make something of this?

Ma Tianshou pondered deeply but found nothing: "Let's go; return first."

Xu Yuan emerged from the ancient tomb, unwilling to give up, and said, "Three lords, wait a moment; I will go inquire for more information."

Li Yichuan: "Are there villages in these mountains?"

"Not in Little Yu Shan," Xu Yuan said bluntly. "If the three lords are curious, follow this humble official."

Xu Yuan stepped onto his Fire Wheel, while the other three each had their own methods; none of them were slow.

They soon arrived beneath the nest of the Corpse Sparrows. Xu Yuan took out his slingshot: "There are living humans; who wants some?"

A flock of Corpse Sparrows chirped and rushed out: "Where is it? Where is it?"

Seeing it was Xu Yuan, they flew back without hesitation: "You want to catch us again? We're not stupid."

But one dared not fly away.

The fear of being dominated by the slingshot once again enveloped it.

"You... why are you here again? We have to move."

Inside the nest, many Corpse Sparrows poked their heads out of various holes: "Move, move, move..."

Xu Yuan shook his slingshot, and the Corpse Sparrows obediently landed.

"I'm here to ask you: have you seen the Wang Fei these past few days?"

The Corpse Sparrow's pale eyes rolled upward as it asked suspiciously, "Why do you keep asking about the Wang Fei?

Don't tell me you're a toad trying to eat swan meat and have set your sights on the Wang Fei?

No wonder you schemed so hard to kill the Wild Boar Tusk last time!

But I tell you, it's impossible; only the Great King of the Naga..."

Xu Yuan struck it hard with the slingshot: "Answer the question!"

"Chirp!" The Corpse Sparrow let out a pained cry and finally behaved: "The Wang Fei went into the city early this morning."

"Into the city?" Xu Yuan frowned in confusion: "Did she find another body?"

"I don't know either, but this time it's strange. Wang Fei used her true appearance. Before, when she borrowed other people's bodies, she never changed her face."

In the tree hollow, another Dead Corpse Sparrow interjected, "Wang Fei was very imposing today, surrounded by a retinue."

"Yes, I joined the commotion and followed all the way, escorting Wang Fei across Dahe."

Xu Yuan frowned again: "Dahe? They even crossed the river?"

"It's precisely because they crossed the river that we know Wang Fei entered the city."

"How did they cross the river?"

"By boat. Wang Fei and her group separated by the riverside and boarded boats with others to cross."

Ma Tianshou and the other two watched Xu Yuan extract information from the evil spirits and were momentarily dumbfounded.

At first, they found it hard to accept, but after a few rounds of questions and answers, the three suddenly felt: asking evil spirits for news... is actually a good method!

When the Dead Corpse Sparrows mentioned crossing the river, Ma Tianshou flew into a rage: "The Canal Gang deserves death! They actually dared to transport evil spirits across the river!"

"No, no! The old man is wrong!" the Dead Corpse Sparrow refuted, "Today's Wang Fei smelled of a human, very sweet."

All four trembled violently. Smelled of a human?!

Evil spirits disguising themselves as living humans is not rare.

Although it is hard to disguise without any flaws, as long as they can mix into the city, it becomes very difficult to find them again.

The evil spirits within the city all follow the rules; what one fears is this kind suddenly mixing in from the outside!

And the four also thought of another question: "Wang Fei's entourage today... must also be evil spirits, right?"

Xu Yuan added further, "Highly likely, they are the monsters from the underground dark river!"

Ma Tianshou asked the Dead Corpse Sparrow, "How many attendants did Wang Fei bring today?"

"How would I know that? I can't count."

Ma Tianshou:...

Xu Yuan changed his questioning method: "More or fewer than you?"

The Dead Corpse Sparrow recalled for a moment, "We can't compare; there were many, many more."

This group of Dead Corpse Sparrows numbered around a hundred.

"Disaster!" Ma Tianshou said, "So many evil spirits mixing into Zhan City, calamity is coming!"

(End of this chapter)