Ji Yuan shook the letter paper to make sure there was nothing missing before folding it again and putting it back into the envelope.
"Looking at the handwriting is like seeing the person. Du Heng's left handwriting is so smooth and powerful. It must be just like his martial arts practice, which is not perfect but extremely vigorous."
After putting away Du Heng's letter, Ji Yuan started to read the letters from Yin Qing and Yin Zhaoxian again.
The content of Yin Qing's letter was the same as expected. Most of it was just an ordinary description of his recent situation. He also talked about reading by the river, what books he read, the reaction of the water surface, etc., but he did not write any words such as "big bluefish" or "old turtle". This should be the most recent letter, written just half a month ago.
Yin Zhaoxian's letter was written in late autumn. The distance between Wanzhou and Jinzhou is actually not that far, but Du Heng's letter was sent more than a month later because of the difference in the smoothness and development of the roads, and Yin Zhaoxian was a prefect, so the speed of letter transmission was so different.
In the letter, Master Yin rarely confided some of his worries to Ji Yuan, saying that even though he had been mentally prepared, the officialdom was still more complicated than he had imagined. From top to bottom and even within the government office, there were many messes, and things like false flattery were secondary. Some people were really good-for-nothings who could not do anything except eating and drinking, yet they were unwilling to be idle. However, over the past two years, his skills in cultivating his energy have improved, and he has become more and more adept at it, and has begun to reorganize the Lishun Prefecture.
Of course, the main purpose of Yin Zhaoxian's letter was not to complain to Ji Yuan, and he was not such a boring person. The real important news was that Mrs. Yin's pulse had been taken and it had been confirmed for some time, so he wrote a special letter to inform Ji Yuan and Yin Qing.
After reading the letter from his friend, his expression was quite strange.
"Well... I wonder how Yin Qing feels after reading Master Yin's letter..."
After reading the three letters, Ji Yuan stood in the yard for a while, thinking. He looked up at the branches of the jujube tree covered with snow, then stretched out his hand and said to the jujube tree.
"Ask for a new date."
As soon as he finished speaking, a red date fell from the branch and landed right in Ji Yuan's palm.
Similar to the previous rock turning into ashes, this fire date also feels cool when held in the palm of the hand, but one can also feel a fire filled with spiritual energy inside, of course, this fire is softer.
After taking the jujube, Ji Yuan hurried back to the house, found two locks from inside, closed the door and locked it, then went out of the yard and locked the gate. Although the chance of someone coming to see him was not high, at least people would know that he was away on a long journey and they wouldn't have to wait for him.
After doing all this, Ji Yuan stood outside the courtyard gate, took out a brocade bag from his arms, left a message on it with a point of his finger, and then threw it towards the courtyard of Ju'an Pavilion. With a whoosh, the rope of the bag drew an arc and directly hung on the door of the main house inside.
The brocade bag hanging on the door was still swaying from side to side. During this process, a tiny white paper head quietly popped out from the opening of the bag, looked outside, and then immediately shrank back.
Ji Yuan outside looked around and did not hesitate any longer. He used a magic trick and then leaped up into the sky with his light Kung Fu. He raised a gust of wind in the air and rose to a high altitude. Then he rode the cloud and left Ning'an County.
. . .
Jinzhou is located northwest of Jizhou and directly north of Gyeonggi Prefecture. In terms of straight-line distance, the journey is closer than from Jizhou to Gyeonggi Prefecture. However, if ordinary people really want to go from Jizhou to Jinzhou, it will definitely take longer than going to Gyeonggi Prefecture. This is because the transportation conditions are too poor. Not only is the road rugged, but there are also not many waterways that can be used.
Although Ji Yuan flew without some ground restrictions, it was not really smooth sailing without any worries. After flying for three or four hours, the strong wind in the sky seemed unstable and sometimes had a downward trend, so Ji Yuan had to be careful when flying. If it were not for the pursuit of speed, there were some places where it would even be smoother than running.
About an hour after sunset, Ji Yuanzhong set foot on the land of Jinzhou in the dim sky and clearly felt that the temperature was much colder than that of Jizhou.
This is a state in the northern border of Dazhen. In terms of prosperity, it is one of the lowest in the territory of Dazhen, mainly because the population is relatively sparse. Natural disasters are not frequent, but winter and early spring are really hard to endure, so there is much less time for farming.
The place where Ji Yuan landed was a town whose name he didn't know. He didn't ask for directions or divine, but just found this place based on the energy sensation between the chess pieces.
Standing outside the town, he opened his Dharma eyes wide and looked at the situation in the town. Although it was a rough view, at least there was no obvious evil aura. It was just that the fire energy did not seem too strong, and it felt like the fire was not burning well. This alone made Ji Yuan more cautious.
This is not because there are few people. In fact, even if there is only one person, people's tempers can vary.
There is only one small inn in Tingshui County. Although it is called a county, in Ji Yuan's eyes it is almost like a larger town.
In this inn called Yingkelou, several upper rooms had not been rented by any new guests for half a month. They were Du Henghu and some of his chivalrous friends.
What was strange was that of the three upper rooms that were adjacent to each other, the wooden walls on both sides of the middle room were broken through, and there were nine beds placed in the three rooms, and they were as close together as possible. There were several stoves in the room with charcoal fires burning constantly, making the inside warm.
In the middle of the third company room, Du Heng sat in the center with his horse and sword in his hand, holding a long sword that had not been sheathed in his left hand and sticking it on the ground. Although his eyes were closed, looking at his appearance, he was definitely ready to attack at any time.
There were three martial artists in clothes nearby. Some were sitting in front of the tea table, while others were sitting cross-legged on the ground practicing internal skills. The beds that were very close to each other were all occupied by people. Three of them were intact, while the other four had pale faces. Even when they were asleep, they were still sweating, and their bodies were curled up as if they were very cold.
“Knock, knock, knock…”
"who?"
When there was a knock on the door, Du Heng suddenly opened his eyes, and a warrior at the table asked in a low voice towards the outside of the door.
"Sir, the hot water is ready. Do you want to bring it in?"
It was the waiter's voice. Du Heng winked at one of the warriors. The other nodded, stood up, opened the door and looked carefully at the waiter before answering.
"Bring it up. By the way, is there any news?"
The waiter yawned and looked inside before answering.
"It's winter, what news can there be? It's snowing heavily here and the roads are closed. Not many people are walking around."
"Well, go ahead and get busy."
"Oh good!"
After watching the waiter leave, the warrior closed the door again.
"Master Du, we have been in this county for a long time and everything has been peaceful. It seems that we have gotten rid of it this time."
Du Heng looked at his companions, frowned and shook his head.
"Not necessarily. We must not let our guard down. Our opponents this time are not scums of the underworld. If we are not careful, we will be doomed!"
"Yep!"
While others echoed this, there was also worry in their eyes.
"We've really been delayed by this winter, otherwise we would have gone to the capital city long ago."
"There's nothing we can do. Jinzhou is vast and sparsely populated, and the roads are even worse. If these small counties were county towns, they wouldn't even be as good as the big towns in Neizhou. They don't even have a City God Temple!"
As if to ease the atmosphere, someone made a joke while they were talking.
"After encountering this, I will have something to talk about in the martial arts world. Master Du, remember there was a story about a master in your Du family who killed a ghost after drinking. We are not far behind, right?"
Du Yutian's story of slaying ghosts after drinking is no secret in the martial arts world. Of course, few people believe it, including Du Heng in the past. However, the people here now are more willing to believe it.
Du Heng didn't say anything, but the other person said something self-deprecatingly.
"But we can't seem to kill those ghosts!"
At this point, the man who had just spoken didn't know whether he was scared or angry.
"Damn it, we clearly chopped off the witch's head, but she still managed to survive and came back to our door again. Those horrible children were almost all fine, except for the one who caught fire when Master Du used his sword to chop them. If I tell anyone about this, no one will believe it!"
"The most abominable thing is this poison. Even with Li Tongzhou's high martial arts, he couldn't force out the poison. He used up all the medicine and became even more dying. Otherwise, with him and Master Du in charge, how could we be... Alas!"
Du Heng just sat there holding his knife and listening to what others were saying, but he himself didn't say a word.
"Brother Du, do you think we can escape?"
A man next to him had dark circles under his eyes and looked as tired as Du Heng. As he spoke, the people in the room moved closer.
Du Heng looked at him, then looked around.
"Of course we can. We have written so many letters, there will definitely be help coming!"
"But the situation in Jinzhou... after winter, those may not be delivered, but before winter..."
The warrior didn't continue speaking. Everyone knew that they had not realized the seriousness of the matter before winter and had been healing their companions. It was not until winter that the situation suddenly became strange and the injuries of the wounded who should have been stable worsened.
"Will not!"
Du Heng shouted in a deep voice to boost the spirits of those around him.
"I once received news from the Wei family that one of my great teachers had returned home from his travels, and they suggested that I go visit him. At the time, I was out of town and couldn't go back, but I had written to him before winter. As long as my teacher could receive the letter..."
“Clackla…clackla la la la…”
A subtle sound was heard, and Du Heng stopped talking. The warriors in the room subconsciously looked up.
One of them got goose bumps all over his body, pointed upwards and whispered.
"The roof..."