The girl laughed again and said, "Of course it's my uncle. My father's surname is Yuchi, with Liang on the top and Hong on the bottom. I wonder if my uncle still remembers it?"
Upon hearing this, Qiu Yizi hurriedly looked at the girl's face. She had delicate features, a pair of sparkling phoenix eyes, and two willow-shaped eyebrows that made her look heroic. She was indeed somewhat similar to her brother Yuchi Lianghong.
Qiu Yizhi was surprised and delighted and said, "I didn't expect to meet my niece here. I am so lucky! What should I call you, my niece?"
The girl from the Yuchi family pouted and said, "My father named me 'Xiaomei', but I thought it was too casual, so I named myself 'Jiming'. But my father said that this name is too big and not suitable for a girl..."
Qiu Yizi laughed and said, "I didn't expect that my brother still had this prejudice in his heart. I think the word 'Jiming' has a bit of chivalry, but also has a feminine beauty. It's very good! If your father disagrees, I will find time to write a letter, and he will naturally give me this face!"
Yuchi Jiming was overjoyed when he heard this. He smiled and said, "I just met my uncle, and he helped me accomplish such a big thing. I would like to thank you in advance!" Then he bowed to Qiu Yizi.
Qiu Yizi was about to reach out to help him, but saw Miao Zhenzhen struggling to get up and trying to escape, so he hurriedly shouted: "Don't let this evil Taoist escape!"
Yuchi Jiming glanced back calmly, picked up a bean-sized stone, and threw it towards Miao Zhen. Although the stone was small, it was infused with great internal energy, and with the sound of wind cutting through the air, it accurately hit the back of Miao Zhen's neck.
Miaozhen was hit so hard that she fainted and lay on the ground motionless.
Seeing her like this, Qiu Yizhi hurriedly asked Yuchi Jiming, "Did you beat her to death?"
Yuchi Jiming replied: "This Taoist nun is actually very skilled in martial arts. I don't have the arm strength as strong as my father. It would be difficult to kill her with just this small piece of stone!"
Qiu Yizi was relieved, and staggered to a strange rock beside the path and sat down. He asked Yuchi Jiming again: "I think my niece is very skilled in martial arts. If she practices for another ten years, I'm afraid your father won't be your opponent!"
"Uncle, you are flattering me." Yuchi Jiming said seriously, "Although the martial arts of my Yuchi family emphasizes the combination of hardness and softness, it has always been practiced by men. There are not many moves and routines suitable for women. Originally, the women in my family only practiced some simple punches and kicks for self-defense. But I was naughty since I was a child. I didn't like needlework and reading, but I loved to wield swords and guns. Therefore, my martial arts became more and more advanced. But the more I practiced, the more difficult it became. So I spent all day thinking about how to pass on my family's kung fu to women. As a result, my martial arts have improved slowly in the past two years. I am afraid that I will never be as good as my father in my life!"
Qiu Yizi was a very smart person. He could tell from a few words that Yuchi Jiming was working on a very difficult problem of harmonizing the yin and yang of martial arts. He immediately felt a little admiration in his heart, but asked, "In that case, why did my niece think of coming to my remote place?"
Yuchi Jiming returned to his playful and smiling face and said, "My father saw that I was always frowning and said that if I continued to dwell on this, I would inevitably go astray, so I might as well come out and relax. He also said that I have an uncle who is a great man and is serving as an official in the beautiful Jiangnan area. He wanted me to come over and receive some instruction. He also told me that there are many masters in the world and I should not show off my martial arts skills easily."
Yuchi Jiming paused and continued, "I arrived at the Shanyin County Office early in the morning, and wanted to look for my uncle. But the gatekeepers refused to tell me where my uncle was, and they started fighting with me after a few words. I saw that their moves seemed to have some of my martial arts skills, so I taught them a lesson and informed them of their origins. Then they told me that my uncle was here. It happened that the man named 'Wang Laowu' came to report the news, so I rushed here and happened to see the Taoist nun fighting with the black man. I lay on the tree and watched for a long time, and I was itching to fight, so I came down to warm up my body..."
Yuchi Jiming's innocent, willful and unbridled character was just right for Qiu Yizi's temperament, so he joked, "Hey, isn't my brother making a fool of me? If you hadn't rescued me in time, you might have gone to hell to listen to my lecture!"
The two talked for another half an hour. Wang Laowu, who had returned to Shanyin County to call people, finally brought twelve or thirteen personal soldiers to the "Liaochen Palace".
Seeing that most of these soldiers who were born as bandits had minor injuries on their faces, Qiu Yizi knew that they were at a disadvantage in the fight with Yuchi Jiming. Without making any sarcastic remarks, he ordered them to use the best cowhide ropes to tie up the injured Miaozhen lay Buddhist and send him to the Shanyin County prison for careful custody. He also ordered someone to send the seriously injured Zhao Chengxiao back to the county to recuperate.
As for the rest of the people, they were ordered to search this "Liaochen Palace" carefully and report any suspicious people or suspicious objects to Qiu Yizhi in time.
However, after a morning of searching, nothing was found except for the capture of twelve or thirteen nuns in the "Liaochen Palace". After briefly questioning these nuns, they all knew nothing and did not even know martial arts.
Qiu Yi had no choice but to plan to seal up the "Liaochen Palace" and take these young nuns back to the county for further interrogation.
Just as Qiu Yi and his group were about to leave the "Liaochen Palace", they heard the "Iron Head Dragon" who came with Wang Laowu say: "Sir, I saw something strange under the wisteria tree?"
Qiu Yizi saw that the "Iron Head Dragon" had a bald head and a rough face, so he asked nonchalantly: "I think this wisteria tree is very good, what's so strange about it?"
The Iron-Headed Dragon replied, "The mud under the wisteria tree seems to have been newly turned over."
"Nonsense!" After all the twists and turns this morning, Qiu Yizi just wanted to go back and rest and sleep, and said impatiently, "To plant flowers, you naturally need to loosen the soil and apply fertilizer. It's normal to turn over the soil. Have you, 'Iron Head Dragon', never planted land before?"
"Iron Head Dragon" had never seen Qiu Yizi lose his temper like this. A layer of sweat oozed out of his smooth forehead. He wiped it with his hand and said, "Before I became a bandit, I was also a farmer. Most people who farm the land will only turn over the surface soil once, and it's a big deal if it's more than one foot deep. But look, sir, the soil here is obviously seven or eight feet deep."
Qiu Yizhi then remembered that this "Iron Head Dragon" had learned the skill of digging tunnels from Shi Dajian, a master of drilling holes in the Tianzun Sect, so he was no amateur in inspecting the soil quality. So he took a few steps and saw that the soil under the wisteria tree was indeed black and damp, but there was no moss or lichen growing on it, which was obviously different from the surrounding soil.
So Qiu Yizi said to the Iron-Headed Dragon: "I was just speaking hastily, don't take it seriously. In your opinion, what's the strange thing here?"
"Iron Head Jiao" was a servant. Hearing that such a noble person like Qiu Yizi could apologize to him, he was extremely excited and quickly replied: "I have been stupid since I was a child. How can I know what is going on here? I am willing to spend the effort. Why not help the adults dig it up and see what is going on."
Qiu Yizi felt that what he said made sense, so he called several other soldiers and asked them to find tools in the "Liaochen Palace" to show their skills. Unexpectedly, the "Liaochen Palace" was fully equipped with shovels. In just a few moments, the soldiers gathered under the wisteria tree with their tools in hand.
The "Iron-Headed Dragon" was the person in charge. He took the lead and chose a place where the soil was still fresh. He wielded a shovel and a pickaxe and started digging. He dug for about seven or eight feet, but it was still just soil, nothing unusual.
Just when "Iron Head Dragon" was discouraged and thought he had misjudged the location, the shovel in his hand suddenly lost its strength and sank down. He was also a person who had participated in the excavation and blasting of the Ministry of Justice Prison, Yanshi City Wall, and Luoyang City Wall. He knew that in this situation, either the water veins below were dug through or there was a gap underground. In short, there must be something wrong.
So he changed to a light shovel and carefully cleaned and dug on both sides.
In just a cup of tea, the "Iron Head Dragon" suddenly stood up from the pit, holding an object of unknown color in his hand, and said to Qiu Yizi: "My lord, what do you think this is?"
Qiu Yizi was still dizzy after the recent incident and had not yet recovered. She took a few steps forward, squinted her eyes and looked at the thing in the hand of "Iron Head Dragon", but was suddenly startled. She staggered and fell down on the pile of earth behind her.
It turned out that the object held by this "Iron-Headed Dragon" was actually a human head - and it had been buried for so long that the flesh attached to the skull had rotted away, and the few remaining strands of hair were all stuck together, with even a few maggots crawling in and out of the empty eye sockets - it was truly terrifying and disgusting.
So Qiu Yizhi calmed down, swallowed his saliva, and said, "Okay! You, 'Iron Head Dragon', have done a great job today. I'll give you a few taels of wine money when you go back!"
The Iron-Headed Dragon was very happy to hear that. He placed the head in front of Qiu Yizi as if to ask for credit, and said, "Sir, I see that the soil under the purple wisteria tree has been turned over. I'm afraid there are more than one corpse. Why don't we search them all?"
"Okay! Take a few of your brothers with you and search this place again. Don't leave anything missing. I'll reward you all when you go back!" Qiu Yizi spoke as he stepped back involuntarily, hoping not to see the disgusting human head.
When the soldiers heard that there was a reward, they all gathered their strength, picked up their tools, found the right spot and started digging. The wisteria trees were so poor that they were shaking under the destruction of these rough men. Countless blooming flowers could no longer support themselves and fell on the path, as if it was covered with a layer of purple velvet carpet.
Qiu Yizi was unwilling to appreciate this rare sight, fearing that his personal soldiers would dig out something indecent again, so he pretended to be calm and said to Yuchi Jiming who was watching the fun on the side: "Jiming, I'm new here and haven't really visited the mountains and rivers in Shanyin County. I think this place is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it is a beautiful place. Why don't you accompany me to have a look around?"
Yuchi Jiming didn't want to miss such an adventure, so he said to Qiu Yizi, "Although these guys' martial arts are not that good, they are quite skilled in digging the soil and sand. I want to see more of them here! As for the mountains and rivers, if you don't see them today, they won't run away, and there's no need to rush, right? If you really want to see them, it's okay for you to go alone."
Qiu Yizi really wanted to leave here early, but was afraid that someone outside the "Liaochen Palace" would do something bad to him, so he said: "My dear niece, I am doing this for your own good! How could you not appreciate it? There are extremely profound martial arts hidden between the mountains and rivers here!"
Yuchi Jiming was a martial arts fanatic. When he heard Qiu Yizhi say this, he hurriedly asked, "Uncle, where do you get this from?" (To be continued)