Chapter 362: Treacherous and Unpredictable

Lu San pointing the way, Sha Sha Li Fei providing cover, Li Yan launching the surprise attack.

The coordination between the three was as smooth as flowing water.

This was the result of their special training during those few months at Lake Liangzi Lake.

After the imperial court released firearms, Li Yan knew that they would inevitably face them in the future, and their strategies for dealing with enemies would certainly change.

Therefore, they conducted coordinated training for various situations.

Judging from the current situation, the effect was quite good.

Only a few breaths after the other party fired, Li Yan had already found the target.

While clinging to the wall, Li Yan smelled that there was a person inside the room, surrounded by Yin Sha Qi.

At the same time, strange noises came to his ears.

This second divine ability of his was called the Ghost God Ear. Besides extraordinary hearing, its greatest ability was being able to hear the language of ghosts and gods.

With the two divine abilities combined, he obtained more information.

The other party was a sorcerer, and there was the sound of insects crawling in the leather bag at his waist; he should be able to control poisonous insects.

Of course, Li Yan had expected this long ago.

At such a distance, and with the cover of a formation, it wasn't detected by him until the moment of firing; it was definitely the work of a sorcerer.

The person inside also realized something was wrong, quickly put away the gun, and prepared to flee, while simultaneously scattering the poisonous insects from his waist.

Li Yan narrowed his eyes, pulled out the Dust-Severing Flying Blade from his waist, flicked his hand, and immediately flipped and jumped onto the window.

The Dust-Severing Flying Blade whistled through the air and drilled into the room.

When Li Yan jumped onto the window, he happened to see a man with the flying blade stuck in his shoulder, his soul suppressed, lying on the ground motionless.

Shasha sha!

The ground was densely packed with tiny spiders, moving extremely fast, scurrying everywhere, and most of them climbed onto the man's body.

Although these spiders were small, they were very terrifying.

They climbed onto the man's body, arched their backs, and actually bit through the skin and burrowed inside.

Li Yan felt itchy all over just looking at it. He immediately blew two loud whistles and then leaped into the room.

Ding ding ding!

The tassel of the Three Talents Demon-Suppressing Coin shook, and the spiders scattered.

As for Lu San, he had already set off to provide support when Li Yan arrived. Hearing the whistle, he took the opportunity to pat the demon gourd.

Hum!

A swarm of poisonous bees roared out, surged into the room, and captured and killed all the scurrying poisonous spiders.

Li Yan came to the man and checked.

This man had a square face, thick eyebrows, and big eyes, and was wearing ordinary coarse black cloth. He looked plain and could not be found even if thrown into a crowd.

Li Yan tore open the other party's clothes.

On his chest was tattooed a Qiongqi beast pattern.

Sure enough, it was someone from the Maitreya Sect!

It seems this epidemic was mostly their doing.

Thinking of this, Li Yan looked to the side.

The other party used a Divine Guard Department divine fire gun, which should have been snatched, but it had already been modified and wrapped in a layer of strange tree bark.

This tree bark was covered in tumors, with a layer of red tree gum condensed in the middle; it was this thing that interfered with his sense of smell.

If he hadn't heard the sound, plus his martial artist's intuition, he truly wouldn't have been able to dodge it.

Clatter clatter clatter! Dense footsteps sounded in the corridor outside, and a group of yamen soldiers holding guns rushed up.

Li Yan directly broke the man's teeth, threw away the poison fangs inside, put away the Dust-Severing Flying Blade, and directly pierced his dantian.

"Ah!"

The man woke up immediately, screamed in pain, and then glared at Li Yan with hatred. "Running dog, if you want to kill or cut me..."

Pa!

Li Yan slapped him dizzy with one slap and said coldly: "A piece of trash that can't see the light, what kind of hero are you pretending to be?"

"Speak, who gave you the information!"

He was assassinated as soon as he entered the city; clearly, someone had tipped them off in advance, and their status definitely couldn't be low.

The man's mouth was full of blood, and he gritted his teeth without saying a word.

Just at this moment, his expression changed suddenly. He began to scratch his skin, his eyes filled with horror, and he scrambled to reach into his bosom.

"Are you looking for this?"

Li Yan held up a small wooden bottle and shook it.

"Give it to me quickly!"

The man was anxious and wanted to come up and grab it.

Li Yan kicked him away, moved his ears, and shook his head: "Speak quickly. I can wait, but those little things can't."

"Ah—!"

The man became itchier and itchier. He scratched desperately, and some places on his skin were torn open, only to see the little spiders inside had bitten through the empty cavity and were spinning cocoons in the flesh.

It looked very ghastly.

Hum!

The poisonous bees remaining in the room surged up and captured the little spiders.

This scene made the soldiers' hair stand on end, and they retreated repeatedly.

"I'll speak! I'll speak!"

The man was anxious and said hoarsely: "Divine Guard Department, Xu Huang Sanlang."

The Thousand-Household official of the Guard Station who followed the soldiers up changed his expression drastically upon hearing this. "Quick, send a message to the Divine Guard Department to make an arrest!"

Li Yan's suspicion lessened slightly upon hearing this.

The Near Wuchang Guard Station Thousand-Household official Liu Yizhong was the son-in-law of Squire Tian of Hanyang City. Being able to mention this relationship meant he was also one of their own.

With such an incident, they were naturally delayed.

The group simply waited in this inn.

This inn had nothing strange about it. After Xiangyang City was blockaded, the original boss dismissed the workers, and he himself died of the epidemic. He was a lone individual, and the inn was abandoned.

Before long, a fat Thousand-Household official from the Divine Guard Department walked up the stairs with large strides, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief as he walked.

He was a bit fat. After entering the room, he smiled bitterly: "Brother Zhou, this time your brother has lost face. You have to help me."

The Thousand-Household official Zhou changed his expression immediately. "The person ran away?"

"Not ran away, but died."

The fat Thousand-Household official of the Divine Guard Department smiled bitterly: "That Xu Huang Sanlang was a Hundred-Household official under my command. After receiving the news, I went to surround and capture him myself, who knew this kid would be forced into a corner and directly commit suicide."

"This person must be handed over to me to handle."

The Thousand-Household official Zhou shook his head immediately upon hearing this: "This person was captured by Benefactor Li. How to handle it is not for me to decide."

Although both were Thousand-Household officials, one was a local military officer of the Guard Station, and the other was the Emperor's trusted aide of the Divine Guard Department; their statuses were naturally different.

He couldn't afford to offend him and could only push it to Li Yan.

Of course, he didn't want to offend Li Yan either, so he said: "Benefactor Li, let me introduce you. This is..."

"No need, no need."

The fat Thousand-Household official Wu Wu Degui waved his hand directly, then a smile appeared on his face, and he bowed: "Is this Benefactor Li? I am Wu Wu Degui. The Thousand-Household official Huang of the Yunyang Prefecture Divine Guard Department asked me to send you his regards." Another relationship-based person.

Back then, when Li Yan and his group came from the Manchuan Pass, they got to know the Thousand-Household official Huang of the Shangjin City Divine Guard Department and even asked him to remove Lu San's wanted notice.

Later, there was infighting in the Divine Guard Department, and Thousand-Household official Huang pretended to be sick to avoid disaster.

The Jingchu mountain people attacked, and those few Thousand-Household officials handled things poorly and were dismissed and investigated, while Thousand-Household official Huang obtained Li Yan's information, fought a turnaround battle, and directly became the Seal-Holder of the Yunyang Prefecture Divine Guard Department.

There was also the Seal-Holder of the Unlike Yichang Divine Guard Department, the original Thousand-Household official.

The favors Li Yan scattered casually had now begun to show results.

"Oh, Thousand-Household official Huang."

Li Yan was a bit helpless and shook his head: "Who gets the person doesn't matter, but make sure he doesn't die, to avoid breaking the trail."

"Easy to say!"

This fat man Wu Wu Degui squatted down, looked at the man who kept his head down and didn't speak, and chuckled. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and said: "Brother, this official knows your tricks."

"Don't say that Xu Huang Sanlang, this insider, died because of you; even if you didn't say anything, I fear you would be silenced."

!.

"Tsk tsk, people, some things are just said casually. You treat them as brothers, but they want your life..."

This fat man Wu Wu Degui didn't look very reliable, but he had a good way with words. In just a few sentences, he made the man hesitate.

"If I speak, can you spare my life?"

"Of course. With so many people here, how could this official break my word?"

Wu Wu Degui patted his chest and guaranteed it, and the man finally spoke: "My name is Cheng Zixing. I grew up in the Jingchu mountains, learned sorcery from my grandmother, and was recruited by the Maitreya Sect."

"I was forced. Those people in the village have all gone crazy. Besides farming, they spend all day worshipping that Maitreya Duke."

"I don't know much about coming out this time, and I didn't expect them to dare to cause an epidemic, harming so many people..."

Li Yan said in a deep voice: "Who are the people taking action?"

"I don't know."

The man looked dejected and shook his head: "We were all arranged by Xu Huang Sanlang. Before the epidemic broke out, we were already hiding in Xiangyang City, unable to contact each other, and could only listen to the arrangements from above."

"On ordinary days, I hid in the grain and oil shop opposite to work. The boss's family were honest people who didn't know my identity, but they were infected with the epidemic two days ago..."

"Are they dead?"

"Xu Huang Sanlang told us to spread rumors. The boss's family was scared when they heard it, so they went to rush the checkpoint. When I came back, they were already..."

Clearly, although this man was from the Maitreya Sect, he still had a conscience. These things had already made him dissatisfied, so after some interrogation, he told everything.

Fat Thousand-Household official Wu Wu Degui nodded: "Not bad. Since this official promised, I won't kill you, but you have to stay in the prison for a while until this official requests a pardon."

"Men, take this righteous man to get his wounds treated."

After the men took him away, Wu Wu Degui's expression changed rapidly, and he called another Thousand-Household official, saying coldly: "Release the news. There must be accomplices in the city coming to silence him. Don't let a single one go; try to capture them alive!"

"Yes, sir!"

After the arrangements were made, Wu Wu Degui smiled again, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Benefactor Li, what do you think of this arrangement?"

Li Yan nodded: "Just follow the official's instructions."

Sure enough, none of those who could sit in the position of Thousand-Household official were fools.

Wu Wu Degui was happy and asked again: "Benefactor Li, the city is not peaceful now. Would you like to go to my Divine Guard Department..."

The Thousand-Household official Zhou of the Guard Station on the side was anxious: "Official Wu, I was ordered by my superiors to invite Benefactor Li."

"Wait!"

A scream came from the corridor.

Only to see Judge Wu Wu Maoze of the Xiangyang Prefecture also rushing up, panting: "I was ordered by the Prefect. Benefactor Li must stay in the Prefectural Yamen; besides, we still have to investigate the disappearance case of Benefactor Li..."

Sha Sha Li Fei laughed: "Yo, we've become popular."

Li Yan was speechless; he had already seen the trick.

These people didn't think they were rare, but were afraid that after they solved the case, the credit would be snatched by others.

Just as they were talking, Thousand-Household official Zhou and Thousand-Household official Wu both changed their expressions and retreated several meters away, covering their noses tightly with coarse cloth.

"Wha... what's wrong?"

Judge Wu Wu Maoze asked stammeringly.

He didn't notice that his face had already begun to turn purple, and some green moss had appeared in his mouth.

Li Yan's face also became ugly.

Sha Sha Li Fei on the side muttered: "Why is it suddenly so stuffy in the chest?"

As he spoke, he began to cough violently, and the saliva was full of green moss...

…………

"It was a trick!"

Lu San's face was gloomy, and he said in a muffled voice.

Inside the room, Wang Wang Daoxuan and Sha Sha Li Fei were all lying on the bed.

Their faces were all a bit purple, their lips white, and they would turn over and cough slightly, and the saliva they coughed out was full of green moss.

Sha Sha Li Fei smiled bitterly: "Damn it, I didn't expect that even wearing a vinegar cloth wouldn't stop it."

That shot earlier shattered the corpse.

One could imagine the power of the new-style firearm. Blood foam and broken flesh splashed everywhere, and Sha Sha Li Fei and Wang Wang Daoxuan, who were closest, were directly hit.

At this time, they had already arrived at the Divine Guard Department to stay.

After all, there were many experts here, and Li Yan also wanted to see if he could catch the accomplices coming to rescue them and ask for the source of the epidemic.

Seeing that it was still early, Li Yan pondered for a moment. "Brother Lu San, let's go to the riverbank and ask the Tuo Master."

"You guys go ahead."

Wang Wang Daoxuan pulled out a yellow talisman and stuck it on his chest. "These plague-eliminating talismans should be able to suppress it for a while."

Lu San was worried and gave instructions to Wu Ba to guard the two, before he and Li Yan strode away from the Divine Guard Department.

With the situation urgent, the two didn't care about anything else. They rode the horses borrowed from the Divine Guard Department, showed their tokens all the way, and flew toward the riverbank.

On the wharf, it was still as cold as before.

They were too lazy to look for other places. Lu San immediately burned incense, danced the Nuo dance while forming hand seals, and chanted ancient incantations.

After about three sticks of incense, a thin mist rose on the river, and a huge Tuo dragon poked its head out of the river and swam to the shore.

This Tuo dragon was also a monster, and its size was not small, but it wasn't the Tuo Master.

Lu San frowned and immediately asked in the local language.

But before he could say two sentences, his face became extremely ugly.

"What happened?"

Li Yan asked hurriedly.

Lu San sighed. "The Tuo Master has disappeared."

"What?!"

Li Yan was stunned. "When, where did it happen?"

They were looking for the Tuo Master, firstly to ask about the Xiangyang City epidemic to see if it knew anything.

Secondly, they wanted to ask clearly who gave it the idea to go to Mount Wudang Mountain to "borrow" incense.

He hadn't expected the Tuo Master to have an accident too.

Lu San said in a deep voice: "It happened two days ago. The navy reported that there were water monsters causing trouble on the river nearby, and the Tuo Master went to pursue and kill them, but then it disappeared without a trace."

"By the way, before the Tuo Master left, it told this subordinate that it guessed the one who took action was an old acquaintance—that East Lake Ancestor!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 363 =====

"What?!"

Li Yan looked astonished, "When, and where did this happen?"

They were searching for the Alligator Master, firstly to inquire about the plague in Xiangyang City and see if the other party knew anything.

Secondly, they wanted to ask clearly who had given it the idea to go to Mount Mount Wudang to sponge off the incense offerings.

He had not expected that something had happened to the Alligator Master as well.

Lu San said in a deep voice, "Just two days ago, the naval forces reported that water demons were causing trouble on the nearby river. The Alligator Master went to pursue and kill them, but then it disappeared without a trace."

"By the way, before the Alligator Master left, it told its subordinates that it suspected the one who made the move was an old acquaintance—that Ancestor of Donghu!"

(End of chapter)