Chapter 298: Xue Bangzhu

The sun is high.

Zheng Yi opened her eyes, slowly spat out a breath of turbid air, reached out and knocked on her slightly numb thighs, turned over and got out of bed. She walked to the table, poured a cup of water and drank it in one gulp, then sighed long again.

From the time she sent Yin Suqin and Cao Hanyan to inquire about news until now, it was exactly the third day.

In these three days, Zheng Yi had seen Li Miao's "true nature."

He didn't get out of bed until noon, and didn't open his eyes when talking to people. All day long, besides eating and sleeping, he was either disguised and walking around with his hands behind his back, or sitting there like a puddle of mud. He was a completely different person from the fierce and cruel appearance on Mount Song.

Clearly, it was Li Miao who forced her to find someone, but now Zheng Yi was the one worried all day long.

After pondering for a long time, Zheng Yi gritted her teeth.

"I don't know what he's thinking... Yingzhou has lost four Heaven-Man experts, they definitely won't let it go. Although the sea route is far, unlike the land route where one can use light skills to rush, at most three months, the next wave of people will arrive."

"If we can't find out Yingzhou's background within three months, it's equivalent to fighting the enemy empty-handed. The enemy is in the light, I am in the dark, if Li Miao dies, I fear it will be difficult to find such a strong helper again... relying only on myself, I fear it will be difficult to pose any threat to Yingzhou in this life."

"No, he's a martial arts fanatic, maybe he's hoping for people to kill their way to the door, but I can't sit here and wait!"

Once her mind was made up, she grabbed the long sword on the table and walked out of the room quickly.

"Where to?"

Just as she stepped out of the room, Li Miao's lazy voice sounded in her ears.

Li Miao's crazy appearance that day had left Zheng Yi with no small psychological shadow. Hearing Li Miao's voice suddenly, she couldn't help but shiver, almost instinctively drawing her sword, and it was only with great difficulty that she suppressed the action and looked toward the sound.

In the courtyard, a huge blanket had been laid out at some point, with low tables and cushions placed on it. Li Miao was half-lying on it with his eyes narrowed, a book covering his face. There were also two maids who didn't know where they came from, blushing as they kneaded his shoulders and hammered his legs.

Zheng Yi pursed her lips and couldn't help but say.

"Lord Li, you this... Yingzhou..."

Li Miao waved his hand, signaling the two maids to stop, took the book off his face, and looked at Zheng Yi with a smile.

"Little Yizi, it's clear you've practiced martial arts until you're stupid."

He reached out and took a pot of wine from the side and took a sip.

"These four seasons, every season has the most appropriate things to do. Spring outing, winter snow viewing, this September season, the autumn is high and the air is crisp, the weather is a bit cool, which is just right for martial arts practitioners."

"At this time, not drinking some wine and basking in the sun, but carrying a sword and running out to find people?"

"Your martial arts practice is really boring."

Zheng Yi took a deep breath.

"Lord Li, it's been three days since those two left... how can you still sit still? Do you really think those two first-rate kids can find the traces of the Penglai people?"

Li Miao sneered upon hearing this.

"Just finding something to toss them around."

Zheng Yi said urgently.

"Then you waiting here, what's the point?"

Li Miao asked back with a smile.

"Then what's the point of you running out with a sword?"

"Not to mention that if you and I appear in front of the Penglai people with this face, they might think Yingzhou is looking for them and flee directly. Even if you disguised yourself, a Heaven-Man expert swaying and swaggering through the streets, inquiring about news, wouldn't the Penglai people run?"

"Taking a step back, even if you found the traces of the Penglai people, without me present, are you sure you can keep them?"

Zheng Yi widened her eyes: "Both are from Penglai, I can explain to him, my internal energy foundation can also prove my identity—"

Li Miao smiled: "So what?"

Zheng Yi was stunned.

Li Miao smiled and pointed at Zheng Yi.

"Penglai has been annihilated for nearly fifty years. Human feelings in this world, those that can last for three years are rare, and if you don't see each other for ten years, even your own father and mother should be distant, let alone fifty years."

"Even you, didn't you bring me to find them in order to take revenge? You still expect people to hug you and cry when they see you, and pour their hearts out to you?"

One of the maids peeled a slice of pear, inserted it with a bamboo stick and sent it to Li Miao's mouth. Li Miao chewed while saying vaguely.

"Don't be naive, talking about feelings is useless. Now you and I are looking for Yingzhou's trouble, and we want to forcibly drag these people who have lived a quiet life for fifty years into this trouble, it's good if they don't beat you up."

"Without me present, finding them is useless, maybe you'll even lose your life."

Zheng Yi pursed her lips.

She couldn't refute Li Miao's words, and had to admit that what Li Miao said was right.

After a while, she breathed a sigh of relief and said slowly: "Then, Lord Li, how about you disguise yourself and go out with me to look for them?"

Li Miao lay down with his hands behind his head.

"I'm not going."

"Yingzhou has been looking for fifty years and hasn't found them, can we find them relying on the few words your mother left behind? Moreover, whether these people are still alive is a question."

"I'm just out for a stroll because I have nothing to do, and looking for them by the way. If there's news, I'll go see it; if there's no news, I'll wait for Yingzhou people to come and seek death."

"I stopped doing low-end work like inquiring about news twenty years ago."

Zheng Yi was silent for a while, sighed, nodded, and turned to go back to the room to practice internal energy.

Just at this time, footsteps came from outside the courtyard.

Zheng Yi looked back and saw Cao Hanyan and Yin Suqin walking in quickly. Looking left and right, they walked to Li Miao's side and stood still, but didn't dare to speak for a while.

Both were haggard, eyes full of blood, eye sockets faintly bruised, clearly having not rested for these three days. Cao Hanyan was slightly better, Yin Suqin had his right arm wrapped in cloth strips and hung on his chest, his face was pale, and he didn't even have the spirit of the previous two days.

These three days could be said to be like years for Yin Suqin. One foul mouth, his dominant hand was abolished by Li Miao, and he dragged Cao Hanyan into the water, Li Miao's finger was hanging over his head like a Yama sticker—martial arts, brothers, life, all were a mess.

In three days, he seemed to have become a different person, his mouth tightly pursed, not saying a word, without the demeanor of the "Foul-Mouthed Young Master" at all.

So it was Cao Hanyan who spoke first.

"Lord Li."

Li Miao opened his eyes and said indifferently.

"Found news?"

Cao Hanyan gritted his teeth, but shook his head.

"Lord, Brother Yin and I ran through the entire Kaifeng Prefecture these three days, and couldn't find anyone who looks similar to you."

"We found quite a few Jianghu people surnamed Zheng who came to Kaifeng fifty years ago, but the vast majority have already died, and only two are still alive, both are already old, their backgrounds are clear, and they don't look like there's anything tricky."

"As for people with high Wu Gong and unknown origins... we only found two, one of whom is only thirty-something, doesn't look like the person you are looking for."

Li Miao narrowed his eyes: "Talk about the one left."

Cao Hanyan nodded, reached into his bosom and took out a portrait, unfolded it, revealing a woman's face on it.

"This person is named Xue Bangzhu, came to Kaifeng forty-five years ago, married and had children locally, later encountered a disaster, her family died, so she moved alone to the foot of Yishan outside the city."

"Thirteen years ago, she moved to the righteous village outside the city, specifically doing some work of collecting corpses. But that righteous village has already been abandoned, we inquired, it is said that no one has seen her for several years."

Cao Hanyan shook the portrait.

"This painting was drawn by us finding her neighbors from back then, according to the description of her appearance when she first came to Kaifeng. Not to mention the appearance, the brows and eyes are vaguely similar to yours."

Li Miao listened, twisted his fingers and asked.

"Besides the brows and eyes, what is the basis for you to pick her out alone?"

Cao Hanyan didn't answer, elbowed Yin Suqin in the waist, and signaled him with his eyes. This matter was originally caused by him provoking Li Miao, now that he saw Li Miao and didn't speak, what if he made Li Miao dissatisfied?

Moreover, Yin Suqin's spirit had been getting worse day by day these three days, Cao Hanyan saw it all. If he didn't force him to say a few words, Cao Hanyan was afraid he would go seek death.

Yin Suqin pursed his lips, knowing this was his friend worrying about him, so he braced himself and took over the conversation.

"Actually, this person can't be said to be a Jianghu person, and no one has seen her display Wu Gong, and Brother Cao and I heard people mention it unintentionally, so we found her."

"It's because there are too many tricky things about this person."

"First, the origin is unknown. According to those who know, she came to Kaifeng alone back then, and bought a courtyard to live in as soon as she arrived. She never heard her mention her relatives—as if she was deliberately hiding it."

"Second is the disaster her family encountered back then."

Yin Suqin took a piece of paper from his bosom and handed it to Li Miao.

"She married a wealthy household in the city back then, and the life could be said to be happy, but she never had children. Twenty years ago, she took some servants to pray for children at a Guanyin temple outside the city, and when she returned, she found that her whole family had been annihilated."

"The person who did this was a Jianghu thief back then, nicknamed 'No Trace,' who was an Evil Path expert who specifically did this kind of annihilation and robbery, first-rate top-notch level, and was quite famous back then."

Yin Suqin said in a deep voice.

"After returning home and seeing the blood all over the ground, the servants who went out of the city with her were all dumbfounded, but this Xue Bangzhu was inexplicably calm, while ordering the servants to report to the officials, while running into the house to check the corpses."

"When those servants brought the officials back, she was nowhere to be found. After searching around and not finding her, the official thought she had colluded with outsiders to murder her husband and had already fled. This matter was spread widely in the city back then."

"After a few days, those servants couldn't wait for her to return, so they sold the land in the house, took a part for themselves, and used the rest to hold a dharma ceremony for the dead."

"This Xue Bangzhu, however, suddenly returned."

Yin Suqin took out another piece of paper and sent it to Li Miao's hand.

"This is the news we got from the servants back then, it should all be accurate."

"They said, after they took the money from selling the land, they all felt a bit guilty, so they took turns guarding the spirit for the master. After guarding for three nights, they didn't see anyone open the door, and Xue Bangzhu suddenly walked in from outside the spirit hall."

"The clothes were the same as when she left that day, as if she had just gone out for a walk—but one servant had sharp eyes and found that the places she stepped on vaguely left some traces."

"Bloodstains that were close to drying."

"From that day on, that 'No Trace' who annihilated Xue Bangzhu's family never appeared in the Jianghu again."

"Xue Bangzhu didn't say anything, handled the dharma ceremony as usual, moved outside the city, and never associated with anyone again."

Li Miao nodded and said: "Anything else?"

Yin Suqin hesitated and nodded.

"There is one more thing, but it's just hearsay, it sounds a bit absurd, I don't know if I should tell you."

Li Miao waved his hand: "Tell me."

Yin Suqin then said.

"She moved outside the city twenty years ago, moved to the righteous village outside the city thirteen years ago, and then this righteous village was abandoned five years ago, and no one has seen her since."

"But when Brother Cao and I inquired about her recent situation, some merchants who often traveled there said that the righteous village where Xue Bangzhu lived began to—have some abnormalities."

Li Miao raised his eyebrows: "Oh? What abnormalities?"

Yin Suqin said.

"It is said that it seems to be haunted or something."

"From the time she moved there, the corpses in the righteous village were always missing, and the number was always wrong when the coroner went to check."

"However, the corpses that entered the righteous village were all of no concern to anyone, so no one pursued it—until five years ago, a passing merchant died in Kaifeng, the corpse was brought to the righteous village for placement, and the accompanying person sent a letter home, asking his family to come and receive the corpse."

"Who would have thought that after his family rushed to the righteous village, they couldn't find the corpse."

Yin Suqin talked for a long time, finally recovering a bit of spirit, and when he spoke, he had the demeanor of high-talk and broad-discussion from the previous few days, spreading his hands and describing vividly.

"The family died in a strange land, these people traveled thousands of miles to collect the corpse, their hearts were already filled with anger, seeing the corpse missing, how could they endure it? They immediately grabbed Xue Bangzhu, forcing her to ask if it was her who lost the corpse."

"During the pushing, Xue Bangzhu fell. She was already sixty or seventy years old, and she was already at the end of her life, and unfortunately, she hit the back of her head, and fainted on the spot."

"Those people saw this situation, didn't dare to entangle, and fled Kaifeng overnight."

"That Xue Bangzhu didn't die, and some people saw her a few days later. But a few days later, someone went to the righteous village to send a corpse, but couldn't find her trace anymore."

"Since then, this righteous village began to have accidents."

"First, the situation of missing corpses became more and more serious, and the person who took over the righteous village woke up to find that all the corpses in the righteous village had disappeared. Sometimes the corpse was just sent, and in a blink of an eye, the corpse disappeared."

"The person watching the righteous village was afraid, so he directly abandoned the righteous village and fled back to his hometown, and this righteous village was abandoned."

"But this wasn't the end, since then, merchants passing by there wanted to go in and rest, and they always had nightmares and lost things at night."

"If it was just like this, it would be fine, after a year or two, a group of foreign merchants didn't know the situation, went in and rested for a night—guess what?"

Yin Suqin said mysteriously.

"The whole team, all gone."

"If it weren't for the merchant firm that had an appointment with them in the city noticing something wrong and reporting to the officials, and people passing by seeing them enter the righteous village, I fear this matter would be unknown to anyone!"

"Since then, no one dared to go to this righteous village, and it was gradually unmentioned. If we hadn't found an old man who told stories, we wouldn't have been able to inquire about this matter!"

"You say, this Xue Bangzhu—could there be no problem?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 299 =====