The gray cat jumped away soon, and its body slowly floated in the direction of the river's flow.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the body in the river was discovered. Two blurry black shadows passing by suddenly accelerated from their original uniform speed, and appeared on the river bank with ghostly flashes. They were the other two underworld officials patrolling at night.
The two night-walking gods who appeared on the shore were wearing black tight uniforms, with long swords on their left waists. One of them had a long whip hanging on the right waist, and the other had a black bow and arrow behind his back, but there were only three black arrows in the quiver.
At this time, the two night-wandering gods were squinting at the corpse in the river. With their eyes, they naturally knew that this was a pure body without a trace of soul or vitality. Ordinary people would not die so cleanly.
Of course, in addition to these, the traces and aura left by the evil practice on the corpse were also clearly revealed in the eyes of the Night Wandering God.
"I don't know what was able to do this. I think it must be hiding in the special post station next to the newly built magic platform."
"Humph, it doesn't matter who does it, it won't cause any big waves anyway."
"Haha, that's a good point. Let the officials in the mortal world worry about it!"
The next moment, the two Night Wanderers blurred for a moment, then reappeared more than ten feet away, moving away in a trance.
On the roof in the distance, a gray cat sat on the eaves of the roof licking its paws. It glanced with cold eyes in the direction where the Night Wanderer left, and then looked at the corpse in the water again.
Whoosh~
The next moment, a dull black arrow suddenly shot towards the gray cat. The latter dodged the black arrow by dodging it, but the arrow turned in the air and shot towards the gray cat again.
At the same time, a night-wandering god in the distance bent his bow again like a full moon, and a black arrow disappeared from the quiver and automatically appeared on the bowstring.
Whoosh~
Another arrow flew out, tearing the energy at the junction of yin and yang with the force of a pincer attack from the front and back, and shot towards the gray cat that was constantly flashing and jumping.
"middle."
"boom… "
There was an explosion of negative energy on the roof somewhere, and the gray cat in it was like a bubble phantom, which disappeared without a trace as if it was punctured.
The two black arrows flew back and returned to the quiver behind the left envoy of the Night Wandering God of Gyeonggi Prefecture.
"What a profound attainment in illusion, this monster is incredible!"
"Well, let it rest for a while."
After saying these two sentences, the two night wandering gods turned into phantoms and disappeared at the end of the dark path.
Under a thatched hut about a few hundred feet away, the gray cat appeared again, with a changeable color in its eyes.
"I didn't expect that just two night wandering gods could have such a high level of ability. This Dazhen Jingji Prefecture is indeed extraordinary."
Without thinking any more, the gray cat ran back to the inn quickly. Of course, it knew the way.
Early the next morning, two bodies were found at the gate of Xiaohe City.
Although this small river connects to the outside of the city, there are gates on the city walls at the entrances and exits, so fish can pass through, but not such a large corpse.
The soldiers and officials at the edge of the city only rushed to salvage the bodies, but they were not as efficient as the underworld. They could not recognize the identities of the two people and whether they were from Gyeonggi Prefecture, so the government office had to be busy for a while. If no one reported the missing persons to the government, then it would most likely be left unresolved.
Of course, the officials had some guesses in their minds. They wondered if it might be related to the group of people sitting beside the platforms. After the beginning of autumn, many great wizards came to Gyeonggi Prefecture, and more strange cases occurred.
. . .
Ji Yuan has been renting a side room in a private house for some time. The location happens to be the alley where the storyteller Wang Li once rented a house. The people here have many empty rooms that are rented to outsiders, including some scholars who stay in the capital to prepare for the exams, and some people from the martial arts world. The rent is also very reasonable.
On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, every household in the alley hung up colorful lanterns. Every household looked joyful. It looked like Chinese New Year, but it was actually a way of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival. They even set up small tables and placed offerings on them to worship the moon.
"Mr. Ji, Mr. Ji!"
The cheerful voice of the male householder sounded outside.
"I'm coming!"
Ji Yuan in the room put down the jade slip in his hand, stood up to open the door, and saw the man outside holding a plate with a few moon cakes on it.
"Mr. Ji, these mooncakes are for you. They were made by my third uncle himself. Although they are not exquisite desserts, they taste very good."
"Oh, okay, thank you very much. I'm about to go out to enjoy the moon, so it would be nice to have a few mooncakes to take with me as a snack."
Ji Yuan didn't even take the plate, but directly grabbed all six small mooncakes in his hands, then bowed to the owner and prepared to go out.
"Uh...Mr. Ji, are you going out?"
When the householder saw Ji Yuan preparing to go out, he said something worriedly.
"Sir, you'd better not go out at night recently. There are notices everywhere asking people to go out less at night because there are a lot of things going on recently."
Ji Yuan, who had already walked into the yard, turned around and looked at him, then nodded.
"Indeed, it's better not to go out at night. I'm just walking around Yongning Street. There should be quite a few people going out to enjoy the moon today."
After nodding to the household owner again, Ji Yuan went out. Every household in the alley was celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in their own way, and some people were sitting in the yard to admire the moon.
After Ji Yuan came out of the alley, his pace gradually quickened. He did not look at the pedestrians along the way, nor did he look at the moonlight in the sky. Before long, he arrived at the destination of this trip, the largest Dharma assembly platform in the east of Gyeonggi Prefecture.
This altar is about three meters high, and the platform above is two hundred meters long and wide, with gentle sloping steps on all four sides leading up. In a few days, this will also be the main altar for the water and land ceremony, or in the words of Ji Yuan in his previous life, the main venue for the opening ceremony.
But now, the area around this high platform made of huge stones is very quiet. After all, the area near the platform is relatively empty and there are not many houses. Few people would walk so far to come here at night recently. The inns of those magic masters are mostly on the edges of various sub-platforms.
"Hey, this place is quiet."
Ji Yuan flicked his sleeves and climbed up the stairs two steps at a time, and soon arrived at the huge and empty platform.
Looking up at the sky, you will see a round bright moon hanging high in the sky surrounded by slightly dim starlight.
“It is often said that the moon is fullest on the 16th, but today is the day when the moon shines the brightest!”
Ji Yuan smiled, then moved his eyes downwards to the two figures standing by the distant steps. One of them was an old beggar in ragged clothes, with one leg bent and the other leg resting on the bent knee. A pair of tattered straw sandals jumped up and down with the shaking of his feet but would not fall off.
The second person was a middle-aged scholar with a long beard and meticulously dressed. He was standing next to the beggar and looking at the stars and the moon in the sky.
Ji Yuan looked intently at the unfamiliar man, opened his Dharma eyes slightly and looked carefully for a moment, then slowly walked towards the old beggar. The voice rang out before he arrived.
"Mr. Lu, did the clerk at the Dazhen Posthouse neglect you, or do you just like wearing this tattered shirt?"
Ji Yuan's voice seemed to startle the middle-aged scholar, who turned around in surprise, not knowing when this person came.
"Hehe, I knew there might be something interesting tonight. I didn't expect it to be you, Mr. Ji. The moonlight is very bright during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In a few days, a bunch of people will come here to attend the meeting. Hehe..."
"Mr. Lu is a man of foresight. He is not here to stop me, is he?"
"Oh~ How can that be possible!"
The old beggar then sat up.
"I'm just an old beggar, I don't have that ability, but I'm very curious about what brilliant tricks Mr. Ji will use!"
Ji Yuan smiled and shook his head, then walked closer, bowed to the old beggar, and then saluted the middle-aged Confucian scholar.
Although the old beggar's return of the greeting was casual, he at least stood up to return the greeting, and sat down again after finishing the greeting. Seeing the old beggar's look, the middle-aged Confucian scholar did not dare to be negligent and bowed solemnly to Ji Yuan.
"Who is this?"
Ji Yuan asked, and before the old beggar could say anything, the man hurriedly introduced himself.
"I am the Chief Astronomical Observatory Supervisor, Yan Chang!"
Ji Yuan said "Oh" and replied, "So it's Lord Yan, my surname is Ji."
"I don't dare act like an adult in front of a real person!"
The Taishi Sitianjian, which may also be called the Taichangshi or the Qintianjian in the Dazhen period, was responsible for observing celestial phenomena, calculating the solar terms, and formulating the calendar.
This person seemed to know that the old beggar was unusual, and could sense Ji Yuan's peculiarity even more. He did not have the majesty of an imperial official at all, and appeared to be extremely respectful.
The old beggar laughed on the ground.
"Hehe, this Dazhen is indeed a place of outstanding people. I never thought that an old beggar like me, living and eating in the inn, would be caught by Lord Yan. I brought him to see Mr. Ji, you won't blame me, right?"
"oh?"
After hearing this, Ji Yuan was really surprised. He looked at the Si Tianjian again carefully and confirmed that he was a mortal. He wondered in his heart how this old beggar could be so close to a court official.
"Oh, by the way, I still have a few mooncakes. There are three of us, so we can each have two later. Now I will take care of the business first."
Ji Yuan seemed to have just remembered something. He took out six small mooncakes from his sleeve and placed them on the edge of the table one by one. Then he walked towards the center of the huge altar, not caring about the presence of the court official.
Yan Chang looked at Ji Yuan and then at the old beggar, seeming to be hesitant as to whether he should go over and take a look, but seeing that the old beggar did not move, he finally stood aside without moving.
Ji Yuan stood in the center of the platform and pointed his sword towards the sky. The green vine sword behind him appeared from the void and turned into green light and flew into the sky in a flash.
Under the bright moon hanging high in the sky, endless moonlight was faintly gathering towards the location of the green vine sword. As if sensing the signal, the extremely burly God of the Land in Gyeonggi Prefecture also showed up at a corner of the platform, pointing his rattan stick at the platform.
The entire stone surface of the altar seemed to have turned into a glass mirror, and the moonlight in the sky followed the location of the Qingteng Sword, converging downward like a funnel.
Ji Yuan's posture at the Dharma platform was like dancing with a sword. He waved his hand and the sword fingers pointed continuously, drawing horizontally and vertically, and the moonlight guided by the Sky Fairy Sword also followed like a pen.
In Yan Chang's eyes, it was such a magnificent scene, and it seemed so magical and extraordinary, as if the moonlight from all over the sky had gathered together and swept across the entire vast platform as Mr. Ji waved his fingers and danced with his sword.
"What a great move! Such an exquisite decree is rare!"
The old beggar could no longer lie down, so he sat up and watched. Yan Chang's attention was completely on Ji Yuan and he couldn't see the overall situation. However, he could see that Ji Yuan was writing big characters one by one. The seemingly soft and bright moonlight was actually merging into the entire mirror-like altar like iron painting and silver hooks.
In about a cup of tea's time, the moonlight in the sky faded away, and a large piece of text flashed on the mirror surface of the entire altar. The glass-like altar gradually returned to its original color and turned into a piece of stone.
"Hey, the mooncakes are ready to eat, Master Yan, please enjoy them."
"No, no, no, please eat, I'm not hungry!"
"Oh? Lord Yan, are you sure? You may not be able to eat this mooncake a second time in your lifetime."
Yan Chang, who had just answered casually, was moved when he heard the words. He lowered his head to look at the six mooncakes lined up. The halo of moonlight was still faintly visible between them, but it was gradually dimming.
Seeing that the old beggar had already taken two, Yan Chang's face became anxious, but he squatted down honestly and put two of them in his hands.
However, the old beggar did not eat the mooncake, but put it into his pocket. Then he waved towards the roof in the distance. As if there was a huge traction force pulling, a gray cat was pulled directly to his side and its head was pressed dead on the stone steps.
"Meow..."
Ji Yuan was also walking over at this time, glanced at the gray cat casually, and at least smiled.
"Hey, now that you're here, you still want to leave?"
Seeing that the old beggar had finally caught the cat, Ji Yuan was in a good mood.