Chapter 70: Seeking Aid at the Chenghuangmiao

"Zheng Heibei ran away?"

"Isn't that so... The people from the Taixing Transport Agency moved first last night, and their strike was like thunder!"

"I heard that in just a moment, seventy or eighty of the Iron Blade Gang's fighters were crippled, the strikes were ruthless, hands and feet all broken..."

"Zheng Heibei must have been scared; he disappeared that very night, and I heard he took all the money in the gang. Now many swordsmen are looking for him, preparing to rob the robber and bite off a piece of fat meat..."

"By the way, this kid is really not a thing; before leaving, he even pitted his Senior Brother."

"How did he pit him?"

"He sent all those injured subordinates to Wang Yao's medical clinic, saying he would pay in full, but then he ran away. Now the clinic is full of injured people, and they can't be thrown out."

"Haha, that's truly wicked..."

In the Jianghu, all kinds of rumors spread the fastest.

What happened last night had already spread throughout Xianyang City before dawn.

People in the Jianghu naturally didn't mention it; everyone knew the Zhou family's doomsday was near.

The people of Xianyang City, however, talked about it with relish. Some clapped and cheered, but more mocked and ridiculed. If they cursed hard enough, they would even spit—it was truly satisfying.

"Excuse me, excuse me!"

Sha Lifei pushed through the crowded crowd at the city gate.

In the past, with his personality, he would have stopped to brag a bit, talking about the key role he played in this incident.

But now, he was anxious and couldn't care about anything else.

The city gates of Xianyang only opened at the Hour of the Rabbit. Since he didn't have the skill to climb walls or fly over eaves, nor enough face to let the guards lower the basket, he had to wait honestly.

An hour had passed since Li Yan left.

He didn't want to delay time and cause any trouble.

Of course, what Sha Lifei didn't notice was that Zheng Heibei, the leader of the Iron Blade Gang, had also disguised himself as a merchant from the north and left the city gate...

…………

"I am looking for Daoist Qingyangzi."

Outside the Chenghuangmiao in Xianyang City, Sha Lifei respectfully handed over his post.

This Chenghuangmiao had an ancient history, built since the Qin and Han dynasties. After experiencing the flames of war, it had been destroyed and rebuilt several times. Now it had become a large temple covering twenty mu, with nearly a hundred buildings of various styles.

The deity worshipped in the temple was the Qin general Meng Chong.

Such folk deity temples cannot be separated from folk incense, so the gates are always open for people to enter and burn incense. Every year on the 15th of the fifth month, there is a grand temple fair.

However, Sha Lifei was not here to burn incense, so naturally, he had to hand over a visiting post; otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to see Daoist Qingyangzi.

"Please wait a moment, Layman."

Seeing the name of Shopkeeper Wan on the post, the Daoist boy naturally wouldn't refuse. After saying this, he ran quickly into the back hall.

Sha Lifei was anxious while waiting outside. Inadvertently, he glanced at the couplet on the Chenghuangmiao, which read: "The divine eye is like lightning, observing the finest details; the human heart is like a mirror, knowing good and evil." The horizontal scroll read: "Observe the finest details."

In the past, he had kept his distance from such places; after all, wandering the Jianghu, who hadn't done a few shameful things?

Looking at it now, Sha Lifei couldn't help but sigh in his heart: City God, I hope your divine eye is like lightning and you observe the finest details. If you destroy the evil person and save the Daoist, I, Old Sha, will definitely come to burn incense for you often...

Just as he was letting his imagination run wild, the Daoist boy came out, bowed, and gestured. "Layman, please follow me."

Sha Lifei followed the Daoist boy, passing through the response gate and the large archway, and then came to the back hall from the corridor of the side hall.

He saw that in the main hall, a martial general was worshipped, dressed in golden armor, with a white face and red beard, holding a sword in his right hand and a large seal in his left, eyes wide open, looking majestic.

The altar in front of the statue was terraced, densely packed with various black pottery jars, all pasted with yellow talismans, surrounded by oil lamps, with incense smoke swirling.

On a meditation cushion to the side of the altar sat an old Daoist with white hair and a long beard, a full forehead, and a kind face. It was Qingyangzi, the temple keeper of Xianyang.

He wore a nine-beam scarf and a "reaching-the-heaven" robe. The Profound Heaven Sect respects black, so it was black on the outside and white on the inside, embroidered with a Green Dragon on the left, a White Tiger on the right, a Black Tortoise on the back, and a Vermilion Bird on the chest, and tied with dragon and tiger belts.

This majestic and gorgeous attire was only worn when performing rituals.

Although Sha Lifei didn't understand, his attitude was very respectful.

Wang Daoxuan had told him that City God Temples everywhere belonged to the Ministry of Rites' Mystic Sacrifice Division of the imperial court. This yamen was responsible for assessing Mystic Sect practitioners across the world and issuing Daoist certificates; its power was not small.

Anyone who could serve as a Chenghuangmiao keeper was naturally extraordinary.

This Qingyangzi, although his cultivation was only at the third floor, was virtuous and respected, with many disciples and grand-disciples, so he must not be offended.

"Oh, you found them?" Hearing Sha Lifei's account, Qingyangzi stroked his beard and said, "I didn't expect that a living Yin Messenger was hiding in Xianyang. It is Chen Fagui's fate that he cannot escape this calamity. You may go now. Come to the Chenghuangmiao again at the Hour of the Snake, and someone will accompany you."

"Ah?"

Sha Lifei became anxious upon hearing this and hurriedly bowed. "Daoist, human life is at stake! My little brother is guarding there, and Daoist Wang's living soul is still in the hands of the evil person. If something happens..."

"Do not panic."

Qingyangzi shook his head slightly. "That Chen Fagui is staying in the tomb only because his soldiers and puppets are difficult to deploy during the day, and the ancient tomb has heavy Yin Qi and is unaffected. But if anyone enters, he will be detected."

"Similarly, if I were to drive the Chenghuangmiao soldiers to make arrests, it would also have to be at night. If we are too hasty, we will startle the snake, making it harder to save the people."

"Come at the Hour of the Snake; it won't delay things."

This old Daoist was high-ranking and powerful, yet his attitude was kind, so Sha Lifei couldn't argue and had to leave the Chenghuangmiao with a bitter face.

Remembering Li Yan's instructions, he hurriedly turned back, asked for a "Calamity List," went to a nearby coffin shop to get a high-quality coffin, and took people to outside the city to lay Wu Laosi to rest, temporarily placing him in the righteous cemetery.

After doing all this, it was the Hour of the Snake (09:00 to 11:00).

!.

Sha Lifei hurried back to the Chenghuangmiao. In the main hall, besides Qingyangzi, there were two more Daoists.

One was wearing a black Daoist robe, embroidered with a Taiji diagram on the back, carrying a Seven-Star precious sword. His features were upright, but there was a hint of Sha Qi between his brows.

The other was wearing a white Daoist robe, with a white Eight-Trigrams band tied around his head. His skin was scorched black, he had a long, bushy beard, and his figure was tall and looked fierce, but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes.

Qingyangzi said to Sha Lifei, "This is Daoist Luo Mingzi from the Law Enforcement Hall, and this is Dharma Master Zhao Facheng from the Jiuyuan Sect. They will accompany you."

"Ah, I have met the two of you."

Sha Lifei bowed respectfully, but his heart skipped a beat.

He remembered that Chen Fagui came from the Jiuyuan Sect. Why let them go to arrest him? What if they practiced favoritism and ruined things?

Zhao Facheng of the Jiuyuan Sect nodded slightly and bowed respectfully to Qingyangzi. "Thank you, Senior Qingyangzi."

"No matter."

Qingyangzi shook his head. "Your Jiuyuan lineage has guarded the First Emperor's Mausoleum for generations and has made contributions to the country. I must give you this much face."

Good, there really is a ghost!

Sha Lifei was so angry he couldn't speak, but he didn't dare to say anything more.

He could see that Luo Mingzi's momentum was extraordinary and he should be a master of Dark Jin; plus his sorcery, he was not someone he could deal with.

If he acted impulsively and ruined things, it would be troublesome.

Bidding farewell to Qingyangzi, the three of them came out of the main hall and entered the back door of the Chenghuangmiao. A Daoist boy had already led three fast horses over.

The three of them didn't talk nonsense and immediately rode away from Xianyang City...

…………

Rumble!

The autumn day was gloomy, and a few muffled thunders rang out in the air.

In the dense forest, Li Yan stared at the dirt mountain opposite with a solemn expression.

He had set off early and ridden a fast horse, but when he arrived at the place Wu Laosi mentioned, he encountered trouble.

There were indeed ancient tombs here, far from villages and towns, located in the wilderness. Looking from afar, it looked like a giant turtle overlooking the Guanzhong Plain.

Although he didn't understand Feng Shui, he could tell it was a treasure land.

But the problem was, there was more than one ancient tomb on it!

Just by looking with the naked eye, he discovered three, but they were ancient, and even the tomb gates had been opened by others; clearly, they had fallen into the hands of grave robbers.

And he didn't know what sorcery Chen Fagui had used, but he could actually conceal his aura. When he used his supernatural ability, he could only smell a little Yin Qi in a few tombs and couldn't find the other party's whereabouts at all.

He didn't dare to go up the mountain rashly, lest he be discovered by the other party.

Thinking of this, Li Yan couldn't help but feel anxious in his heart.

Encountering this situation, his means were still a bit lacking.

Just then, the sound of horse hooves faintly rang out in the distance.

Reinforcements?

Li Yan was overjoyed and hurriedly came to the side of the forest to check.

He saw two riders galloping on the dirt road in the distance. One was wearing a sheepskin jacket and a dog-skin hat, and the other was wearing a coarse black cloth garment.

Although the two had disguised themselves, Li Yan saw them clearly.

It was clearly Yuan Qu and Zheng Heibei!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 71 =====