Jiulingtai is as tall as a hill, with thousands of stone steps extending upward. At the top, a bronze statue of a giant bird can be vaguely seen.
It was the place where the relatives and nobles of the Zhao Kingdom paid homage, and it was also the holy place where Gaotian was worshiped every year.
The lower end of the Nine Spirits Platform is surrounded by eight huge copper furnaces. At this moment, one of the fires has started. The raging flames are spitting out heat waves and sparks are swimming among them.
Even if Ning Qinshui's body was covered with a piece of white cloth, one could still see the rotten flesh and blood and the sores on the bones.
Song side glanced at the pair of young girls behind him. The young girl frowned, and she must be in great pain. The young man who dared to speak arrogantly just now will probably not get up again after seeing this live scene. What a ridiculous idea, right
It's just that Song Zi observed Ning carefully for a long time, but he couldn't see much emotion on his face.
Ha, pretending to be calm.
Song Zhi was about to say a few words when he saw Ning Changjiu walking over and bowing slightly to the corpse as a salute.
Ning Xiaoling looked at him nervously and followed him, closing her eyes and bowing hypocritically to the old man whom she hated so much in her heart.
Song Fang's hands were folded in front of his abdomen, and the sleeves of his robe were drooped.
Nowadays, wars of various sizes break out from time to time between Zhao State and Jin State, and the lives of people are not destroyed overnight. Therefore, when he looked at the brothers and sisters, he could not feel any compassion in his heart and just wanted to send them away as soon as possible.
In his thoughts, Ning Changjiu walked to him and said, "Let's go."
Song Zhi breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that this young man had finally given up. Naturally, he would not say any sarcastic words, but simply said: "Someone will see you off later."
Ning Jiujiu shook his head: "Master Song, I mean to go to the young general's mansion."
Song Fang's expression changed drastically: "What did you say?"
Ning Changjiu said: "Last night was not peaceful. There was something strange in the young general's house. The deceased should be the son of General Wang Pangyu."
"Who told you?" Song asked.
Ning Jiujiu said: "Deduction and calculation."
Song Zi didn't speak, but the look in his eyes at the young man in front of him changed: "It's a bit interesting."
Ning looked at him quietly for a long time.
After a while, Song Zi took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Just follow me."
…
In the young general's mansion, a line of servants and servants were outside, and several guards stood with their swords drawn, their brows furrowed, a bit afraid.
"Since the death of General Wang Paiyu, the young general has placed many Buddha statues in his home. Today, the young general offered incense as usual. After praying three times, his head banged on the ground and he never got up. The maid felt something was wrong. In the past Looking at him, I smelled blood... His neck was cut open, and there was no major injury on his chest, but there was a lot of blood oozing out. The blood was vaguely shaped like a strange bird through his clothes."
"Sparrow ghost?"
"Yes! This is the fifth person. All dead people will have this blood mark on their chests, including the Taoist priests invited to perform the ritual."
"Has something like this happened before?"
"No."
"What happened twenty days ago?"
Song looked at the childish and handsome young man with a somewhat displeased expression, "Young man, you may have learned some skills by practicing with your master, but no one can save you if you rely on yourself."
While talking, Song Zi had already led him across the threshold and walked towards the young general's mansion. Ning Xiaoling followed them, lowering her head and not daring to interrupt.
After entering the gate, the pungent smell of blood came to the nose, and the thick black blood snaked like a long snake. At the end of the blood, in front of the solemn golden Buddha statue, a young man with a strong body but had long since lost his breath knelt numbly, looking behind him. Go, the skin on the neck is rotting as if scalding water has been poured over it.
Ning Xiaoling covered her mouth and nose and couldn't help but take two steps back.
Ning Jiujiu walked up to him, squatted down, and without changing his expression, tore off the clothes on his chest. The weird bird pattern was made up of countless tiny red dots, which looked like the marks of thousands of needles.
Ning watched for a long time, then looked at Song Xi, who was frowning, and asked: "Sir Song, what happened twenty days ago?"
Song Fang also had an angry look on his face: "You Taoist priests are only responsible for exorcising evil spirits. If you can, do it. If you can't, let those who can come. How come there are so many problems?"
Ning Jiujiu said: "Until the sparrow ghost is eliminated, people will continue to die. If we can find the crux, the matter will be much simpler."
Song glanced at him, wanting to get angry, but finally sighed: "Go back. In a few days, the monks from outside the world will be able to arrive at the palace, and everything will be settled by then."
Ning Jiujiu asked: "What if tomorrow is Master Song?"
Ning Xiaoling was startled and looked at her senior brother in horror, thinking how dare you speak like this in the palace
Song stared at him and asked: "You are so concerned about this matter, what do you want to get?"
Ning didn't answer for a long time, and the tense atmosphere was broken by the voice outside the door.
"Your Majesty is here!"
Song Zhi's expression changed slightly, and the other accompanying officials had already gone out and knelt to greet him.
A man in bright yellow robes got out of the luxurious chariot at the door. Although the man was young, he already had the majesty of an emperor in his movements.
He stood at the door, motioned to the officials and guards to stand down, and then glanced at the palace from a distance.
The guard next to him was hunched over, saying something to him.
The young emperor listened, with a look of sadness on his face, and spoke a few words generously, roughly praising the father and son's past achievements and regretting their mysterious death.
Then, he lifted up his front shirt and tried to cross the threshold, but the officials around him quickly tried to dissuade him. They all looked sad and said that although His Majesty is a noble man, the country of Zhao is now in a critical situation and he should take care of his dragon body. How can he risk it like this
The young emperor stopped only after being dissuaded by everyone.
While he was talking, the young emperor vaguely saw the boys and girls standing in the palace, their expressions vaguely displeased, but seeing that they were wearing Taoist robes, they did not get angry. With a sad look on his face, he gave some instructions to the officials around him, and then he seemed relieved and took the chariot back to the palace.
Ning Xiaoling withdrew her gaze quietly and whispered: "So hypocritical... He is actually the king of a country?"
Ning Jiujiu smiled and asked, "If you were the emperor, would you come in?"
Ning Xiaoling whispered: "How can a woman become the emperor?"
The young monarch returned to the palace and the officials dispersed. When Song Tie came back, he saw the brother and sister still standing here, and he became more and more displeased.
Your Majesty has just come in person, but you don't go to kneel down and worship. Your Majesty is kind and does not blame you. What are you doing here now
He was too lazy to quarrel with this young man who was pretending to be profound, and said to the guard beside him: "Arrange the widower to come for the autopsy, and then send someone to send these two little Taoist priests out of the city."
Ning Jiujiu didn't seem to hear him. He still stood there, but his eyes had fallen deep into the hall.
"Who?" Ning asked for a long time.
Deep in the hall, an old voice came over with a bit of surprise.
"Young man has good eyesight. Where did you learn from him?"
Deep in the dim hall, a wooden cane with deep grained wood tapped gently on the ground. Then, following the wooden cane, images seemed to condense on fine sand, and an old man with a stooped body slowly appeared, but there seemed to be a gap between him and everyone else. Through the fog, it was impossible to see his true face.
Ning looked at him quietly for a long time without answering.
Song Zi was startled, and then he looked upright, as if he was respectful and pious from the bottom of his heart: "Master Witch Master, why did you come out of seclusion?"
The old man known as the Witch Master smiled dryly and said, "When you get tired of reading, you come out for a walk."
Song Zi vaguely heard what kind of book he was referring to, so his expression became more respectful: "Congratulations, sir, for reaching a higher level. I must be very close to the way of heaven."
The old man waved his hand and did not answer. Instead, he looked at the corpse kneeling in front of the statue. The old man slowly raised his hand, and the air around him seemed to freeze with his movements.
Song Zi seemed to have taken a reassurance and said with a smile: "Now that the witch master is out of seclusion, how can there be any place for such evil and filthy people?"
The sleeves of the old man's robe bulged, and the shadow across the light mist began to sway. Between the ancient gray sleeves and robe, a finger as dry as burnt wood slowly poked out from the light mist and pointed at the corpse.
No one spoke anymore, everyone was holding their breath and concentrating.
Ning Changjiu's expression changed slightly.
Before the old man's fingers touched the corpse, an extremely unpleasant burning smell suddenly came over. Then, someone screamed, and an unknown fire suddenly ignited under the corpse. The flames came from nowhere. It started and spread in an instant, covering the entire body at once, and the fire seemed to have ignited from hell, and the whole place was filled with coldness.
Along with the fireworks, the mysterious witch master actually retracted his hand. After the light mist, the witch master's breath sank, and his voice seemed to be angry:
"Xueyujun?"
After saying these three words, the fog faded away like quicksand blown by the wind, and the witch master disappeared.
On the cliff north of the imperial city, in the gray forest with a cracked trunk, stands an ancient and majestic tower.
The ancient copper-cast high platform was pulled by several huge iron chains and was buried deep in the lifeless forest. Under the huge altar-shaped disc, an ancient tower-like spire was revealed, which was difficult to light. Wherever you touch, along the slope of the ancient tower, every window is pitch black, not letting in a trace of light.
In the ancient tower connected to the altar, a white-haired old man sat cross-legged. His forehead was very narrow, but his chin was wide and pointed. The color of his skin was like the dead wood in the forest, and there was something hidden under his wrinkled eyelids. The pupils are like the eyes of a dead fish in turbid muddy water.
The old man was dressed in snow-white linen clothes wrapped around his thin torso. It was dark on all sides, except for a beam of light falling from the top of the tower in the center, which happened to fall on his hunched spine.
Snapped.
The old man suddenly opened his eyes and closed the ancient scroll in his hand.
"He's back again... but at this time, he's looking for death!"
He stroked the jagged and broken pages, his expression unclear whether he was happy or sad, and the pages seemed like flames licking his fingers.
Somewhat hot to the touch.
…
The witch master who was in retreat mysteriously appeared and disappeared silently, leaving only a charred wood-like corpse on the ground.
Everyone reacted after being stunned. Remembering the words the witch master said before disappearing, they were even more frightened and started whispering among themselves.
Ning Xiaoling asked in a low voice: "Xueyujun... what is it?"
Ning Jiujiu said: "The legendary demon bird is said to be the red-feathered falcon in the mountains that mutated after being contaminated with the blood of the Suzaku God. It is half demon and half god, hiding in the world, and is very powerful, but rarely appears. About There are very few records of it.”
Ning Xiaoling's eyes widened. Although she was full of questions, she didn't continue to speak.
Song Zong stood blankly beside him, his hands in his official robes couldn't help but tremble. His eyes rolled, his expression changed, and he murmured in a low voice: "Xue Yujun? How could it be... shouldn't it be her..."
Ning Jiujiu asked: "Who is she?"
Song Zhi looked a little crazy and ignored his questions. The person next to him sighed deeply and said, "She is..."
But before he could continue, another voice came from outside the palace door, interrupting his next words.
A young man in green clothes was kneeling at the door, with a look of horror on his face:
"Your Highness... Your Highness is here!"
In the misty autumn rain, in front of the gate of the Little General's Mansion, an ancient dark red umbrella was held up by fine ribs, blooming quietly.