Chapter 315

"Yo, so lively?"

Li Yan looked into the distance, somewhat surprised.

Before seeing Ziyang Lake, he saw lights illuminating the night ahead, gongs and drums sounding, and various opera singing echoing.

"Patron Li doesn't know."

A yamen runner who followed hurriedly stepped forward and smiled: "The scenery around Ziyang Lake is good, with many grand mansions built by wealthy households in the city, and some restaurants and inns, which have invited quite a few troupes to set up stages and sing operas..."

The Buddhist gate was busy, and the Yamen was the same.

These yamen runners maintained order for the dragon boat race during the day and had to investigate passing ships, so they were already exhausted. Being called out in the middle of the night naturally made them unhappy.

But this Li Yan before them was a popular figure in Wuchang City recently. They also didn't dare to offend him, so they had to hide their dissatisfaction in their hearts.

Li Yan saw this and already knew what these people were thinking. He laughed dumbly and said: "Everyone, I'm just going to take a look. I might not find anything. It just so happens I haven't eaten yet. I'll find a restaurant later and treat everyone to a drink."

The heart-refining in the Mahavira Hall wiped away the dust in his heart.

To tell the truth, he wasn't a dull person, but he had experienced many calamities in the past year. Although he had passed them all safely, the pressure was not small, and his personality had become dull.

This time, he had recovered quite a bit of his original nature.

Coming out to wander the martial world this time was originally to see all things in the world. As long as he had a clear conscience in everything, even if the sky fell, he would face it calmly.

"This... how can we be embarrassed?"

"No need to be polite, but we have to find a good place later. If the wine and meat are poor, I won't pay!"

"We will definitely satisfy Patron Li!"

With a few words, the relationship was brought closer.

They turned a street, and suddenly it opened up before them. A huge lake appeared, the lake surface was calm as water, and willow trees were shaded along the shore.

Just as the yamen runners said, there were many grand mansions of wealthy households in the city here, and even tea houses and wine shops were still open.

Temporary stages were set up every few hundred meters, and in the middle were artists performing, people setting up stalls to sell power pills... many common people were walking around, very lively.

Seeing this situation, Li Yan's mood was also good.

In the Divine Land of this era, most common people would rest at night. This liveliness before him was rarely seen on weekdays.

Unfortunately, coming here this time happened to run into evil people causing trouble.

Sha Lifei was busy making firearms, Wang Daoxuan and Lu San were learning cultivation, and by the way, protecting the Tian family. Only he could come out.

"Is this Patron Li?"

Before walking a few steps, several people walked over from the side of the street, all in black brocade robes, and the people around avoided them one after another. It was the people from the Commandant Office.

Unlike Yichang and Yunyang, since coming to the Three Towns of Wuchang, Li Yan had rarely dealt with people from the Commandant Office.

After all, there was nothing to do, and no one wanted to provoke this kind of Yamen.

Seeing this person blocking the way, Li Yan smiled and said: "My lord, what is the matter?"

The person before him was burly, with dark skin. Hearing this, he said: "I am Yu Sheng, a company commander of the Wuchang Garrison, responsible for patrolling the city at night. Patron Li coming here, have you discovered anything?"

Originally, he didn't want to come up and talk.

This was Wuchang City. No matter how famous Li Yan was, it had nothing to do with them, and it would only be troublesome to record more situations.

After all, supervising the martial world was also the duty of the Commandant Office.

But Li Yan was still followed by yamen runners, so there must be something.

"Lord Yu."

The yamen runner behind him hurriedly stepped forward, smiling and bowing: "Baotong Zen Temple entrusted Patron Li to check Bawang Well, and we are ordered to guide and cooperate."

"Oh, so that's how it is."

That company commander Yu heard this, and the vigilance in his eyes suddenly lessened a lot. He said in a deep voice: "The Bawang Well water suddenly became turbid, making people panic, and some wealthy households added to the chaos, finding unreliable witches and gods to perform rituals, all talking nonsense, and they have all been driven away by us."

"If Patron Li can find out, it is also a good thing. If you need anything, you can call the Commandant Office for help at any time."

"Thank you, my lord."

"It should be."

After some inquiries, the people from the Commandant Office left quickly.

Li Yan glanced at them and found that there were gazes drifting from the crowd and the second floor of some taverns. As the company commander Yu left, they shifted their gazes.

Clearly, they were all people from the Commandant Office.

This operation had mobilized all the forces of the Three Towns of Wuchang. It looked chaotic, but each had its own focus.

The Law Enforcement Hall was mainly responsible for rituals, preventing people of the Mystic Sect from causing trouble.

And the Commandant Office mainly focused on the martial world. After all, such a large activity gathered countless martial world guests, and there must be accomplices of evil people mixed in.

Li Yan didn't pay attention either. He bought some sugar-fried chestnuts on the street, eating while weaving through the crowded crowd with the yamen runners.

After they left, a man raised his head.

He was dressed in coarse cloth and animal skin boots, looking like a hunter from the countryside. He was also holding a rack, covered with dried turtles, snakes, and lizards.

This was the attire of the Skin Sect, commonly known as medicine sellers, walking the streets and alleys, selling their family recipes, mainly aphrodisiacs and abortion pills.

They were effective, but they were all fierce medicines. Sometimes they could cure diseases, sometimes they would kill people, and even if you reported to the Yamen, you couldn't find anyone.

There were too many such people, and even the common people knew their methods.

But some things were just so helpless. Poor families couldn't afford doctors, and dragging it out was waiting for death, so it was better to buy a pack and gamble with their lives.

This was the cheap life of the poor.

This medicine-selling man looked at Li Yan's departing back, a trace of ferocity flashed in his eyes, and while strolling in the crowd, he shouted loudly:

"Not selling old medicine, selling new medicine. The new medicine is called 'Pouring Over the Mountain.' Everyone, listen well: if you can't pee high, eat 'Pouring Over the Mountain.' After eating 'Pouring Over the Mountain,' you can pee eight feet high against the wind..."

These were all common chants in the martial world, but he deliberately emphasized a few syllables and changed the tune, so he could pass on the message silently.

Soon, the message reached a dark room.

"Bawang Well?"

"It has nothing to do with us, don't bother."

"This Li guy has ruined things time and again, and he definitely won't be spared in the future, but now we can't alert the enemy. Is it ready over there?"

"It has been arranged properly..."

"Hmm, be careful, don't be discovered by the eagle dogs."

……

"Patron Li, it's here."

The leading yamen runner pointed ahead.

It was relatively remote here, with few people, a few hundred meters from the lake, sandwiched between several streets and alleys.

The so-called Bawang Well was a stone well with a pavilion built on top, and there were shrines around it, with incense ash piled up like a mountain.

That yamen runner explained: "Patron Li, legend has it that the Overlord of Western Chu split this well, and a dragon energy was hidden in it, so there was a Well Dragon King."

"There is a rumor that this well is connected to Ziyang Lake and East Lake, and can even reach the Yangtze River. But no matter how the lake water rises, the water level in the well never changes, so the common people offer incense to the Well Dragon King all year round..."

"Well Dragon King?"

Li Yan stepped forward a few steps and looked into the well, but it was pitch black inside. Without using his divine ability, he could smell a foul odor.

This smell was a bit strange, not like rotting fish and shrimp, but a bit like the fishy smell of silt in the river.

He shook the pulley and drew a bucket of water.

Sure enough, it was extremely turbid and carried mud and sand.

That yamen runner clicked his tongue and said: "If you ask me, it's just the underground water vein changing course, bringing in sludge from the river bottom. The common people don't understand and spread rumors."

Li Yan shook his head and said: "If it were just the water vein changing course, why would Baotong Zen Temple ask me to come and check?" As he spoke, he pinched a magic formula and took a deep breath.

Various scents flooded into his nasal cavity. Sure enough, there was a faint trace of Yin energy remaining. If he hadn't exerted his divine ability to the limit, he wouldn't have discovered it at all.

Li Yan's brow furrowed, and he said to the yamen runner: "Please, everyone, find the nearby common people. I have something to ask."

Yamen runners were naturally good at this kind of thing. Not long after, they found several old men and old women.

This place was already far from the shore, so the residents were all ordinary common people.

Seeing their trembling appearance, Li Yan comforted them: "Everyone, don't be afraid. I am entrusted by Baotong Zen Temple to handle this matter."

Hearing Baotong Zen Temple, the old men and old women clearly relaxed.

"When did the well water become turbid?"

"Reporting to my lord, it was half a month ago."

"Were there any signs at the time?"

"This... I woke up, and the well water became turbid. The imperial court sent people to check, and wealthy households also invited ritual priests to perform rituals, but none found the reason."

!.

Just at this moment, an old man behind hesitated and said: "Reporting to my lord, the old man did discover some abnormalities."

"The old man is in poor health and has to get up ten times in the middle of the night, so I can't sleep at all. I remember that night, I seemed to hear something roaring underground, but it only roared once."

"Could it be that the Well Dragon King was warning us?"

The yamen runner next to him heard this and hurriedly scolded: "You old man, don't talk nonsense!"

As he spoke, he bowed to Li Yan and said: "Patron Li, these days there are all kinds of messy rumors, and there are even people saying that the true body of the Overlord of Chu is buried underground. Isn't this nonsense!"

He was a bit impatient.

These old men and old women had nothing to do all day but like to talk nonsense. Many rumors were fabricated by them.

The old man was also anxious, "I heard it with my own ears, how could it be nonsense?"

The yamen runner scolded: "How come only you heard it? Are the others deaf? You must have been confused in the middle of the night..."

The common people nearby also shook their heads and said: "We didn't hear it."

"This..."

The old man felt aggrieved but didn't say any more.

"Stop arguing."

Li Yan stopped everyone and asked the yamen runner: "Did the imperial court not invite any sorcerers to check?"

The sorcerers he spoke of naturally didn't refer to ordinary witches and gods.

The yamen runner whispered: "I heard that experts from the Prince's Mansion also came to see, but they didn't find anything either, only saying it was the water vein changing course."

"Hmm."

Li Yan nodded slightly, thoughtful.

This kind of thing was also very likely. Ezhou is a land of thousands of lakes, and the underground water veins are extremely rich, with countless large and small tributaries. Changing course is very normal.

If it connected to some lake and brought the Yin evil energy from under the water, this situation would occur.

Of course, to prevent himself from misjudging, he still pinched a magic formula and hooked his little finger lightly.

Whoosh!

In the leather bag at his waist, a paper man suddenly floated up, dancing in the air, and then submerged into the well.

The scene before his eyes made the surrounding common people widen their eyes.

This was a real Mystic Sect technique.

They saw most of the things they saw on weekdays were pretending to be gods and ghosts, so when had they ever seen such means?

Li Yan didn't care to pay attention and closed his eyes tightly.

The paper man was best at exploring. Even if it was pitch black inside, he could see it clearly.

This Bawang Well was indeed ancient. The well walls were all built with bluestone, mottled and covered with moss.

The water level was about five or six meters from the ground. A stone shrine was embedded in the well wall, looking quite old, and half-submerged in turbid sewage.

In this shrine, a stone statue was enshrined, dragon-headed and human-bodied, wearing official robes, and there was no abnormal aura.

But several cracks appeared on the head of the statue, and the traces looked like they had appeared recently.

Besides this, nothing else was found.

Li Yan's brow furrowed, he withdrew his hand formula, and the paper man instantly burned, turning into fly ash and falling into the water.

Subsequently, Li Yan opened his eyes, turned around, and asked: "How long have you been offering incense to this Well Dragon King?"

One of the old men said: "I heard from my ancestors that it started from the Tang and Song Dynasties. It was interrupted once due to war, but when the years were stable, the residents around would offer incense on time."

"Oh."

Li Yan looked at the water well again, thoughtful.

There was indeed a Well Dragon King inside, but it was not true dragon energy, but a secular god born from the common people's year-round offerings, somewhat similar to the Earth God.

This kind of secular god generally had no harm, feasting on incense, and at most could keep the water quality clear and eliminate Yin evil energy.

Now it seems that it is mostly because the underground water vein changed, the secular god Well Dragon King also dissipated, so the Yin evil energy rose.

Of course, this was just his guess.

If there was really any problem, with his current Mystic Water Escape Technique, he couldn't travel through the water vein.

Thinking of this, Li Yan shook his head, "It is very likely that the water vein changed course. It is estimated that it will take several months to half a year for the water quality to recover."

"Did you hear that?!"

The yamen runner hurriedly said: "This is a real master. He said it, and you still don't believe it? Don't spread rumors anymore..."

What Li Yan didn't discover was that the paper man turned into fly ash and fell into the water, and the residual aura kept falling.

In the turbid water, a water flow suddenly rolled up, rolling these fly ashes and the aura into the depths of the water vein.

In a dark corner, huge cold eyes slowly opened...

"Alright, that's it!"

After the leading yamen runner scolded the common people, he turned to Li Yan and smiled: "Patron Li, let's go. I know a place where the donkey meat is a must..."

Before the words were finished, Li Yan's hair stood on end, and he turned around suddenly.

Whoosh~

Only to see a black smoke whistling out of the water well, rolling in the air. The terrifying aura made everyone present feel cold in their hearts.

Li Yan widened his eyes even more.

He had smelled this aura before; it was the mysterious giant alligator in the lake on the way to Boji Pier!

Before he could react, the black smoke whistled over and drilled directly into the mouth of the yamen runner.

"Patron Li, this, this..."

This scene scared the surrounding yamen runners until they were trembling all over.

And the possessed yamen runner lowered his head, tiptoed, and phlegm rattled in his mouth, making a gurgling sound.

"Don't move!"

Li Yan hurriedly stopped everyone and then bowed: "Senior Yin God, I don't know what important matter you have?"

He knew that this thing was related to the mysterious Yunzhongjun God Palace and had profound cultivation. Once angry, they would all be unlucky.

Appearing suddenly must have a reason.

Sure enough, the alligator demon adapted for a while before gurgling in his throat and saying in a stiff tone: "Call... that kid... have something... to trade..."

Li Yan understood immediately. This giant alligator wanted to find Lu San!

They passed through the crowded streets and went straight to the southwest corner.

(End of chapter)