We followed the route shown on the map that showed the ghost officials of the Gongyang Pavilion transporting money and grain.
A day later, we found a clue in a place called Mituo River in the northwest of the wilderness.
The ghost official who found the clue was named Nie Gangjie. He had a very good nose and smelled blood near a gray mound near the Mituo River, and also found a lot of bloodstains.
But there were traces of blood, but we did not find the bodies of the missing ghost officials.
"Master Yang, I'm afraid it's not good. Those ghost officials who were escorting the money and grain to the Ghost Realm Fort may have been killed!"
Zhu Xinglong frowned and spoke thoughtfully.
I nodded and looked at Nie Gangjie who was holding up a handful of blood and soil and smelling it.
"Gangjie, how is it, have you found any clues?"
Nie Gangjie raised his head, faced me, and said in a low voice: "Mr. Yang, what Brother Long said is right. I'm afraid those ghost officials who were escorting the money and grain have really been killed. And this may be the first scene where those ghost officials were killed."
First scene
I looked around carefully and found that there were indeed wheel tracks and traces of fighting. A deep knife mark was left on a piece of stone that looked very solid.
I thought about it and told the ghost officials who followed me: "Everyone, spread out and search around to see if you can find any valuable clues!"
Soon, the ghost officials dispersed into groups of three or two.
I thought to myself, something that could attack more than a dozen ghost officials at once must not be that simple, it must be a very powerful ghost. Even if it is not a powerful ghost, there must be a lot of ghosts involved.
Soon, a short ghost official came up to me and said excitedly: "Young Master Yang, I found something. Brother Long just caught an old ghost. The old ghost said he knew where the bodies of the ghost officials were!"
Did you catch an old ghost
I quickly said to the short ghost official, "Okay, take me there right away!"
Sure enough, half a kilometer away from the mound, several ghost officials tied up a thin ghost.
The ghost was bound with a low-level ghost tool called the "Soul-Breaking Rope". Although it was a low-level ghost tool, the old ghost had no chance of breaking free.
The old ghost was very weak and had little ghost energy. It must be a heavy smoker, and there was a strange-looking pipe hanging on its waist. When it spoke, smoke kept coming out of its mouth.
Even from a long distance away, I could smell the strong smell of tobacco oil coming from the body of the opium addict.
"My lords, please let me go. I am just a ghost by the Amitabha River. There is no need for you to arrest me. Didn't I just tell you everything truthfully? I just happened to encounter what happened that day. I was not involved in it... Really! I beg you, please let me go..."
The opium addict was very old, with a yellow face and wrinkles all over his face. He might have been frightened by the appearance of Zhu Xinglong and other ghost officials, so he stuttered when he spoke, and his legs were shaking.
Zhu Xinglong was a little impatient and was about to deal with the big smoker with his fist.
I quickly shouted, "Stop! Brother Xinglong, wait a minute!"
Seeing me coming, Zhu Xinglong stopped.
He walked up to me and said, "Young Master Yang, we caught an old ghost, but this old ghost is not honest. He clearly has something to hide, but he won't tell me."
I nodded, smiled and patted Zhu Xinglong on the shoulder, saying, "Brother Xinglong, you have worked hard. Next, leave this old ghost to me."
Zhu Xinglong nodded and said, "Okay then!"
Then the two of us went to the big smoker together.
Seeing another person coming, the heavy smoker lowered his head and raised his head timidly.
got up.
He glanced at me furtively.
The two ghost officials next to the heavy smoker were pressing him to the ground.
The big smoker was tied with a soul-breaking rope, which left red marks on his soul. I could sense that the big smoker was very weak.
I waved to the two ghost officials who were holding down the heavy smoker and said, "Okay, you guys step back. I want to talk to this heavy smoker."
The two ghost officials obeyed my instructions and left the smoker's side.
When the opium addict saw me commanding the two ghost officials, he already knew that I was the leader of these ghost officials.
It cried out in haste, "Sir, please let me go. I really don't know who those people who killed the ghost officials are! I just happened to be passing by. If you let me go, I can take you to the place where the bodies of the ghost officials are buried. Please!"
I didn't respond to the smoker's words.
I walked forward, circulated the Yin De energy in my hands, and slowly untied the soul-breaking rope that was tied to the big smoker's body.
"Mr. Yang, what are you doing?"
Zhu Xinglong asked me in confusion.
I said loudly, "It's okay."
Zhu Xinglong said nothing more.
After the heavy smoker was untied, he looked at me with joy and then knelt down in front of me.
It thanked him profusely, "Thank you very much, sir, for letting me go. Thank you very much, sir... You are very discerning and know that what I said is not a lie."
I stared at the big smoker, and after a while, I said to him, "How about this, big smoker, first tell me the circumstances of the murder of those ghost officials, and then I will consider whether to let you go!"
The big smoker grinned, looked at me and then at Zhu Xinglong, and said helplessly: "But sir, I have already said it just now!"
After hearing what the big smoker said, Zhu Xinglong shouted angrily: "I said it just now, and now I will say it again! Old ghost, if you don't speak quickly, believe it or not, I will smash your soul!"
"... ... We are the ghost officials of Gongyang Pavilion, in charge of the ghosts in the entire Gongyang Pavilion. If you dare to offend us, you will end up in a miserable situation."
Under Zhu Xinglong's intimidation, the heavy smoker finally confessed everything.
The smoker lived in a small house by the Mituo River. There were northern-dark fish in the Mituo River, and the smoker made a living by catching northern-dark fish. One day, he was just about to go home after fishing when he saw a group of ghosts hiding behind a hill. Out of curiosity, the smoker followed them.
Not long after I followed them, the smoker saw a dozen ghost officials following the paper horse pulling the cart passing by the other side of the hill. The paper horse that the smoker mentioned should be the same as the paper horse and paper cart that I rode with the Black and White Impermanence when I came to the Gongyang Pavilion.
From the robes of those people and the marks of Gongyang Pavilion on their chests, Big Smoker had already determined that those people were ghost officials of Gongyang Pavilion. But what puzzled Big Smoker was that those ambushed ghosts actually stared at those ghost officials fiercely and lit fireworks on the ground.
What happened later frightened the smoker even more. When the ghost officials following the car came to the hill, the smoke from the fireworks actually made them faint. There were a few ghost officials who did not faint, but the dark energy in their bodies seemed to be corroded, and there was not much left.
At this moment, a group of ghosts hiding behind the hill, led by a fierce ghost, rushed out from behind the hill.
The evil ghost was very ferocious, and he rushed forward and started fighting with the few ghost officials who had not fainted. But the evil ghost was so terrifying that in just half a minute, he chopped off the heads of the few ghost officials who had not fainted.
Later, the smoker witnessed with his own eyes that the ghosts took away all the paper carts carrying things.
As for the bodies of the dead ghost officials, they were also dragged away by the ghosts.
But I heard from the big smoker that the people who dealt with the corpses of the ghost officials and drove away the paper horses and took away those things were separate. One wave went north, and the other wave went west.
The wave of ghosts heading north was larger, about 70 or 80, and the smoker didn't follow them for fear of being discovered. The ghosts heading west were only 7 or 8 in number, and they were all dragging corpses.
In this way, the smoker followed the group of ghosts heading west.
When he said this, the smoker saw that I was frowning, so he quickly said, "Sir, please let me go. This is all I know! ... By the way, if you let me go, I can take you to find the burial place of the corpses of the ghost officials, really."
The smoker's expression was very fluent, with an anxious and fearful look in his eyes. I don't think he was lying.
I nodded to the smoker and said, "Well, then you take us to the place where the bodies of the ghost officials are buried. If we really find the bodies of the ghost officials, not only will I let you go, I can also give you a reward!"
When he heard there was a reward, the big smoker said quickly: "Okay, okay, since there is a reward, I am willing to take you all there!"
This heavy smoker is really greedy.
Then, under the leadership of Big Smoker, we headed towards the west side of the hill.
We stopped at a depression about three kilometers from the hill.
The smoker pointed to a huge rock and said, "Sir, I saw the ghosts bury the bodies of the ghost officials there the other day. After the bodies were buried, the ghosts left."
I nodded to the heavy smoker and arranged a ghost official to guard him.
Then Zhu Xinglong and I and other ghost officials walked towards the big rock.
In front of the big rock, the ghost official Nie Gangjie found a blood-stained stone.
He sniffed the stone and said to me, "Young Master Yang, there is blood on the stone. It is very fresh. If I am not mistaken, the blood has been dripping on the stone for two days, which coincides with the time when those ghost officials were killed."
"I think the bodies of those ghost officials might really be down there."
I nodded and told Zhu Xinglong, "Brother Xinglong, then you should arrange for someone to dig under the stone. If we find the body, we must take it back. This matter is very serious and we must let Lady Magu know. The territory of the Gongyang Pavilion is under the jurisdiction of Lady Magu. Any ghost who dares to kill the ghost officials is really too brave!"
"Okay, I'll arrange for the ghost officials to dig the stones right away!"
Afterwards, several ghost officials used tools and began digging under the big rock.
In just two or three minutes, a ghost official exclaimed: "Young Master Yang, Brother Long, they are really our people, they are really ghost officials!"
By this time the pit had been dug quite large and many corpses of the ghost officials were exposed.
I walked over and took a look, and was very surprised.
Inside the stone pit, the clothes of the ghost officials had been stripped off, and their weapons had long been taken away. Only the tattered black robes were left beside the corpses.
White corpses were lying in the stone pit in all directions. Many of the ghost officials' heads had been smashed. A strong smell of blood filled the stone pit.
It wasn't long, just two days, but the corpses were already showing signs of decay. There were insects similar to ants crawling around on the bodies of the dead ghost officials, occasionally going in and out of their ears, nostrils, and mouths.
It gave me goosebumps all over my body!
However, just when a ghost official had just moved the body of a dead ghost official, something strange suddenly happened on the stone pit.
(to be continued)
(End of this chapter) (End of this chapter)