The wind blew in the middle of the night, and the white paper lanterns on the wooden poles at the entrance of the village were blown back and forth. The lights were dim, the moonlight was hazy, and the surrounding scenery was immersed in the moonlight. Occasionally, two or three dogs barked from somewhere, revealing a hint of sadness.
Under the lantern was a simple small shed with a white curtain hanging outside and a red spirit-calling flag erected next to it. An oil lamp was lit in the shed, and the dim light illuminated the thin wooden coffin. Two men were standing guard nearby, dozing off.
"It's here."
Two figures appeared out of nowhere in the shed, like ghosts. The two men guarding the coffin were unaware of it and were still sleeping soundly.
Gu Pinglin walked to the coffin, pushed open the half-closed coffin lid, reached in and looked for a while, and said: "Sure enough, this old woman did not die of illness, but was entangled by evil spirits and died of weakness."
The corpse in the coffin was the wife of Zhao Si, the deceased that the villagers had talked about during the day. Her tongue had been cut off. According to the local custom, any incomplete corpse must be completed before it can be buried. If the tongue is missing, a fake tongue must be made and replaced, otherwise the person will become mute in the next life. So the coffin was dug out and left here.
"Ordinary people wouldn't be suspicious of this method." Duan Qingming also walked to his side.
“The evil spirit has almost dissipated. This person’s skills are very skilled. Not only can he hide it from others, but even ordinary practitioners find it difficult to detect it.” Gu Pinglin withdrew his hand, and a trace of black air at his fingertips dissipated. “No wonder Feijian Palace didn’t take it seriously.” There have been accidents for several consecutive months, and it is impossible for Feijian Palace not to have received the news. It’s just that the other party is too strong and too smart. Those who investigate will only think that the deceased was unlucky and encountered evil spirits, and was eroded by negative energy, and died because of the lack of timely treatment.
"It takes time for a person to die of illness. It's not hard to find the next target. He should have already started," Duan Qingming sighed as he looked at the body in the coffin. "To be favored by the tongue-teller Mr. Lu, I think this old woman must have a very good tongue. She must be a sharp talker."
"In that case, you must be careful, senior brother." Gu Pinglin withdrew his hand.
"I am flattered by your concern, Junior Brother," Duan Qingming smiled, and pushed the coffin lid back into place. "What are you going to do next?"
"You already have an idea, why ask me?" Gu Pinglin took two steps outside the shed and stopped. "Someone is coming."
Under the moonlight, several figures appeared silently outside the shed. The first one was a middle-aged man with a straight nose, square mouth, thick beard, and extremely burly figure. He had a broad back and strong arms, but he was carrying an exquisite violin case on his back. It looked so out of place, like a soldier who had taken off his armor and pretended to be a scholar.
"Fifth Senior Brother, this is it." The voice sounded familiar, and the voice was speaking quickly. It was Zhou Caiqin.
The middle-aged man is Nie Yu, the fifth disciple of Master Zhou of Guangling Sect. His character and talent are impeccable. Apart from his senior brother Yan Han and junior brother Feng Ying, he is the one who has mastered the true art of zither and swordsmanship. It's just that his appearance is a little hard to describe, and is far from the image of an ordinary Guangling disciple. Now that he has formed an inner elixir, no wonder Master Zhou is confident in letting his daughters go out with him.
“Who? Who is talking…” The older man in the shed was awakened and looked outside with sleepy eyes. The next moment he lowered his head and fell asleep again.
Nie Yu walked into the morgue without even looking at the unconscious man next to him. He reached out to lift the coffin lid, but his hand suddenly stopped mid-air. He looked at the coffin lid carefully, then raised his eyes and scanned the surroundings: "Someone has been here."
"Could it be that evil cultivator?" Zhou Caige stepped forward quickly.
"It may not be a demon cultivator," Nie Yu said, "Junior sister, you can't believe everything outsiders say."
When being scolded by him, Zhou Caige just said "Oh" casually, obviously not listening.
Seeing this, Nie Yu could only shake his head and push open the coffin lid. Zhou Caiqin also came over to check and whispered, "There really is no tongue. I said you weren't lying!"
Nie Yu reached out and gently lifted the corpse's head. Suddenly, he exclaimed "Huh?", secretly using his internal energy, and pointed his finger at the corpse's forehead.
Zhou Caige asked hurriedly: "Brother, did you find anything?"
The oil lamp was dim and Nie Yu's face was a little unclear. He quickly retracted his hand and closed the coffin lid again. His tone was very calm: "Nothing, he died of illness. Let's go."
Zhou Caiqin was still skeptical: "But cutting the tongue is too weird..."
Nie Yu interrupted her: "Maybe someone is taking revenge. Humiliating corpses is a matter for the human government. Even if there are demon cultivators, there is still the Feijian Palace. It is not our turn."
“But…” Zhou Caige wanted to say more.
"What did the master tell you to do? Stay away from me!" Nie Yu waved his hand and frowned, "Everyone go back."
The Zhou sisters were in awe of this senior brother. No matter how much they disagreed, they dared not object to his decision. They could only pout and follow him.
Under the lantern, two figures appeared quietly.
Gu Pinglin looked at the direction where everyone was leaving: "Nie Yu is indeed capable."
Duan Qingming said: "Smart man."
Nie Yu saw the real cause of this person's death and realized the seriousness of the situation. There were few people from the Guangling Sect traveling together, so he did not want to cause trouble and would not report the news to the Feijian Palace. He guessed that the Feijian Palace had not discovered the problem, and if an outsider rashly reminded them, it would be like slapping the master in the face. Besides, this matter was not difficult to resolve. As long as the same thing happened a few more times nearby, the Feijian Palace would naturally pay attention to it again. It would only be a matter of a few more deaths. If the demon cultivator was smart enough, he would not only attack in one place, and the matter would be over when he left.
Monks will take care of the mortal world, fight demons and defend the way, but the lives of mortals are just like ants to monks, and the number of deaths is just a number. This is the gap caused by the realm. When you are strong enough to enter another level and world, you may still help the weak at the bottom, but in your heart, you will no longer regard them as equal to yourself.
After all, humans have always been good at forgetting their roots, forgetting when they were weak, so they look down on the weak others.
If it weren't necessary at the moment, Gu Pinglin had no interest in meddling in other people's business. Now that they had already gotten the clue, the two of them returned to the town's post station at night and rested.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Gu Pinglin once again tried to break through the third level of Qi Transformation. He made some progress, but failed in the end. He spat out a mouthful of blood on the ground in front of the bed.
His tendons were damaged, and his dantian and chest were in severe pain. Gu Pinglin coughed violently, and forced himself to calm the backlash of his true qi. He took two breaths, supported himself on the edge of the bed, and slowly stood up.
Within a year, he went from forming an external elixir to the second stage of Qi transformation. For ordinary people, this speed of cultivation is already a huge surprise. However, with the "Creation Art" technique, even if his Taoist lineage was destroyed in his previous life and he had to start all over again, his progress would be far better than it is now.
I wonder what Duan Qingming is like? With his talent and the "Heaven-Repairing Technique", he should be at least at the sixth level of Qi Transformation, or... the seventh level, right
Gu Pinglin wiped the blood from the corner of his lips with the back of his hand, sat quietly for a while, then put aside all distracting thoughts and started to circulate his Qi again.
The injured tendons and veins are warmed and the pain gradually eases.
At dawn, Gu Pinglin finally finished his practice and let out a long breath. There was no major problem with his Dantian, but the injuries to his tendons were a little more troublesome, but he should be able to recover after a few days of rest. Gu Pinglin used the Water Purification Technique to roughly tidy himself up and walked out the door.
The courtyard was very lively. A large vat of hot water was delivered from the Yiguan trail. The water purification technique consumed a lot of energy, so many cultivators were still fetching water to wash their faces. Zhou Caiqin and several female cultivators were there. Lan Feiyu also walked in from outside with a scholar. The two of them talked and laughed, and seemed to be very compatible.
"Thank goodness I met Brother Zhang today, thank you very much." Lan Feiyu finally showed some of his youthful liveliness, his tone full of gratitude.
Zhang Sheng said modestly: "When we are out and about, we are all friends. We should take care of each other. Brother Lan is a Taoist, and he is not something that ordinary people like us can compare to."
"Brother Zhang is not interested in this."
…
Seeing Gu Pinglin, Lan Feiyu put away his smile, came over cautiously to greet him, and introduced: "This is a friend I just met, Brother Zhang."
Zhang Sheng was neither humble nor arrogant, he smiled and bowed: "My name is Zhang Ding, I am honored to meet you, Da Xiu."
Gu Pinglin had already sized him up. He had an ordinary face, two slightly conspicuous broom brows, a thin body, and no trace of a cultivator. He seemed to be a mortal. Gu Pinglin nodded and said, "My cultivation is still shallow, I dare not call myself a great cultivator. You are too polite, sir."
Lan Feiyu was always in awe of him. After saying a few words, he pulled Zhang Ding into the room.
Looking at the backs of the two people, Gu Pinglin frowned slightly.
"Good morning, Mr. Gu." Zhou Caiqin raised her eyes and saw him, and greeted him specially.
Gu Pinglin didn't want to get involved in Lan Feiyu's affairs, so he looked away: "Morning, Miss Zhou."
Because he was too strict in his words and deeds, Zhou Caiqin couldn't help but look at him a few more times. Her eyes immediately lit up and she smiled, "You don't look like Mr. Duan's junior apprentice brother like this."
As the former head of a sect, Gu Pinglin naturally knew how to deal with all kinds of people. Upon hearing this, he just smiled slightly and did not answer.
As expected, Zhou Caiqin stopped teasing him. While no one was paying attention, she quickly walked up to him and whispered, "My fifth senior brother checked what happened yesterday..."
"Hey, what are you whispering about so early in the morning?" a voice interrupted her.
They both turned around and looked at the same time.
Duan Qingming was still wearing a straight-collared white robe, a plain cross-collared long gown underneath, and a white silk belt, but he didn't wear a headband on his head, but a jade crown, which swept away his usual leisure and added three points of nobility, like a pearl and jade, warm and shiny, impeccable. He stood on the steps with his hands behind his back, his figure was handsome, just like the usual posture of a young man from an aristocratic family, but also easy-going.
"Mr. Duan." Zhou Caiqin immediately became reserved, her face slightly red.
"Morning, Miss Zhou," Duan Qingming greeted her kindly, then walked over to Gu Pinglin and said to him, "By the way, the deceased seemed to have died of illness, but the evil spirit was still there. It turned out that a demon cultivator killed people and took their tongues. Fortunately, we have some clues..."
"What!" Zhou Caiqin was speechless, "Evil spirit?"
"Oh, this is just our speculation, it may not be true." Duan Qingming raised a finger to his lips and winked playfully, "Please keep it a secret, young lady."
"But my fifth senior brother said..." Thinking of Nie Yu's suspicious expression last night, Zhou Caiqin stopped and asked cautiously, "So what are you going to do?"
"That person must have another target. He wants to make someone look like they died of illness. There must be someone sick nearby. It is said that the previous victims were all eloquent. Maybe..." Realizing that he had said too much, Duan Qingming ended the topic and gently reminded, "This matter is very dangerous. I don't think Nie Daxiu wants to get involved. Miss, please don't pursue it."
With a gleam in her big eyes, Zhou Caiqin agreed.
After she left, Gu Pinglin turned sideways to face Duan Qingming: "You are like this..."
"Getting information is a woman's specialty. I just let the right person do what he is good at," Duan Qingming said nonchalantly. "She is happy to do it, and it's not a dangerous thing. What are you worried about?"
Gu Pinglin's tone was not very good: "If you just want to get information, it's fine."
"He's just an outsider, why do you care so much? Have you forgotten what you said?" Without waiting for Gu Pinglin to say anything else, Duan Qingming suddenly raised his hand and touched his face, "Hey, you look bad, what's wrong?"
Zhou Caiqin, on the opposite side, was just pulling her sister Zhou Caige out of the room. The two were talking in whispers with cunning looks on their faces. They were probably trying to sneak out to get some information. Suddenly they caught a glimpse of what was happening here, and the two sisters were startled.
Slightly cool fingers brushed across his lips, and Gu Pinglin came back to his senses.
Duan Qingming was a mysophobe. In his previous life, he had never been close to anyone in public. He was restless in his bones, and his ideas were different from those of ordinary people. It was no exaggeration to say that he was shocking. Didn't he know that such intimacy was inappropriate? It was clearly intentional, and he took other people's reactions as fun. This was the hateful thing about him.
Knowing that he was deliberately trying to provoke him, Gu Pinglin certainly would not do as he wished, but he could not remain indifferent either. He immediately pretended nothing had happened and brushed the hand away calmly: "It's okay."
Duan Qingming seemed to have just noticed the two sisters and naturally stopped, "Girls, are you two going out to relax?"
"Ah... yes... yes." Zhou Caige answered stutteringly, lowered his head, and ran away with his sister.
"The people of Guangling Sect are really interesting," Duan Qingming said with a smile as he watched the two girls disappear. "What do you think they are thinking about?"
Gu Pinglin didn't care at all: "When it comes to controlling people's hearts, aren't you the best at it? If even you don't know, how can I know?"
"Yeah?"
Gu Pinglin clenched his hands in his sleeves again and again, ignored him, and went straight to Xin Ji's room.