the enlightener says

Deng Li's lieutenant general is obviously a capable person, and his speech is clear, but what he said, Zhou Gongjin only needs a little thought to understand, so he just raised his hand slightly to stop his complaints.

Suddenly, Zhou Gongjin looked at the bleak street scene and sighed: "The city has become so rotten, the family members of those dignitaries and nobles can naturally be taken into the palace to avoid the limelight, but what about the people in other places? What day is one night?"

No one answered, and the few riders beside him fell silent as if they had lost their voices.

No one can imagine such a scene. The people who used to live and work in Jianye City turned into lambs slaughtered wantonly by soldiers and monsters. This is enough to destroy the sense of honor of any soldier.

Soon, several people had arrived at the mansion where the big hole was discovered. Zhou Gongjin got off the horse in three steps and took two steps over the remaining scouts. Kneeling on one knee, he picked out some damp soil with his right hand and put it on the tip of his nose.

The soil after the rain, although there is still some spicy grass fragrance, but it is more of the smell of the fishy body fluid of the karma moth.

"How long has Deng Li been in?" Zhou Gongjin stood up and observed the dark and deep cave.

"It's been a while." The two guards couldn't explain why, but said respectfully, "General Deng said that if Master Zhou comes, please wait outside the cave."

"Nonsense." Zhou Gongjin glanced back, the school office spies had already lit the torches, he reached out to take one of them, and jumped into the hole before the guards stopped him.

Darkness surrounded his body in an instant, and the stench in the cave was far stronger than the soil at the cave entrance.

Several spies from the school affairs office also jumped down. Even though their faces were covered with black cloths, they also felt that there was an ominous smell in the whole cave.

Zhou Gongjin snapped his fingers: "Go in and have a look."

Chapter 818 Disappear

The ground inside the cave is muddy, and the road ahead is hidden in unfathomable darkness. Coupled with the strong and pungent smell, this is really not a pleasant place.

Thinking about Deng Li keeping people and asking Zhou Gongjin to wait outside the cave, there must be some considerations in this regard.

But what Deng Li overlooked was that Zhou Gongjin had been in the Jingchu gang since she was a child, worked as a boatman, repaired dams, and spent many years in the wind and rain, so why would she care whether the cave was filthy or not?

But before walking very far, Zhou Gongjin frowned. In the dirty air in the cave, there was not only mud and stench, but also...the smell of blood.

Not the blood of karma moths.

Zhou Gongjin quickened his pace, and soon felt that his boots had been wet by the sewage, and his shoes and socks were all glued together. At this moment, he saw a corpse leaning against the wall of the cave.

It was the corpse of General Jing Wu, dressed in a lean black armor, with a lifelike tiger head tattooed on his chest.

Just above the tiger's head, a huge thorn pierced through the armor and nailed the Jingwu general to the cave wall.

With just a quick glance, Zhou Gongjin could already feel the ferocity of that thorn, which might have tore the man's heart apart.

"I seem to have seen this man before." Zhou Gongjin moved the torch to the face of the corpse, looked at the seemingly relieved expression, and said in a low voice, "It seems to be Deng Li's general, Rong Lu. His cultivation level... I Remember there should be a second Qi and Blood Realm."

Looking at it this way, Deng Li should have gone further forward, but it is not known whether he took the initiative to move forward, or was chased by something, but in any case, this corpse shows that the cave is full of dangers.

"Draw the sword." Zhou Gongjin lightly tapped the jaw of the sword at his waist, making a slight sound of metal friction.

The secret agents of the school affairs office behind them drew out the long knives at their waists without hesitation. Under the light of the flames, the blades reflected a cold light.

In a sense, they are more disciplined than ordinary soldiers recruited from farmers.

These spies have undergone arduous training since the beginning of entering the school office, almost erasing all the weaknesses in their hearts, so whether they are against the enemy or their own people, they are extremely strict.

Zhou Gongjin himself did not draw the sword, but put one hand on the hilt of the knife, and once again stepped forward to go deep.

It's just that compared to before, he walked more vigilantly, and his eyes kept checking where the flames could reach.

As the people walked deeper and deeper, the flow of the wind gradually turned into strange calls in the cave, as if something was hiding in the shadows waiting for an opportunity.

Zhou Gongjin knew that this was not an illusion, but the truth.

The only difference is that it is definitely not a ghost that will stare at them in this hole, but a more real and existing monster.

There is a fork in the road ahead.

The fire illuminated two passages, but no matter which one it was, it was so dark and deep, as if they were walking in the intestines of a big snake, from life to death.

"My lord, there are traces of fighting here." A school office spy squatted down slightly, and touched the somewhat messy footprints, broken carapace and sticky blood with the palm of his hand.

The blood of some karma moths is mixed with the blood of humans, and they are no longer separated from each other.

The stench wafted from the wind, making people feel sick in their chests.

"Can you tell which side Deng Li has gone to?" Zhou Gongjin actually knows some tracking skills, but he has always been lazy. Now that he is under the school government order, there are a lot of tracking experts under his command, why bother himself?

The spy touched the soil on the ground, put it on the tip of his nose and smelled it, and said, "It's a bit messy, it seems that they separated from here."

This spy was named Yin Lu, and he lived up to his name. In terms of tracking skills, his accomplishments ranked first in the school office, which was why Zhou Gongjin brought him with him this time.

Zhou Gongjin thought that she could only be regarded as a layman in front of this person, so naturally she would not point fingers, but nodded: "Whichever side has more people, go to that side."

It is a stupid way to divide the troops into two groups, especially in such a situation where the enemy and the enemy are unknown. The division of troops can only disperse one's own forces. Once something happens, their situation will become very passive.

As for the road with fewer people, Zhou Gongjin ruthlessly treated them as abandoned sons—the war was not over yet, and he really didn't have the extra strength to save everyone.

What they didn't expect was that just as they walked a hundred steps forward, they encountered a second fork in the road.

"What are these moths digging so many holes for?" Zhou Gongjin looked at the three roads ahead, frowning tightly.

When he received the report, he thought that Ye Mo was just trying to sneak into the palace, but the water tank beside the palace wall didn't move at all, and Zhou Gongjin was a little uncertain.

Because of this, his intuition told him that this matter was a bit unusual, and he had to bring someone to check it out in person.

Yin Lu didn't notice that Zhou Gongjin was talking to himself, thought he was asking himself, and after thinking for a while, he replied softly: "Maybe they want to build a nest here? If so, there may be a large army lurking here."

Zhou Gongjin shook his head, not thinking that Ye Mo had such an intention: "If that's the case, why bother to hide? Their intention is to destroy the formation of Jianye City. What's the use of ambushing an army in such a meaningless place?" effect?"

The formation of Jianye City is one of the top secrets even in the school affairs office, and it was only after the war started that it was declassified one after another to the school affairs office spies.

Even so, the spies of the school affairs office present only knew that the runes of this formation were inscribed in the palace.

This is just a pretense.

The large formation in Jianye City has already been integrated into the entire city.

Four years ago, Jianye City was under construction for renovation. It seemed that Jing Wu’s national power had resumed and wanted to show the spirit of the capital. Since then, every plant, tree, house, and bridge in the entire Jianye City have followed certain rules.

It was precisely because of this large-scale transformation that the treasury was empty that year. At that time, the leader of the gentry, Sun Zhong, fiercely opposed Zhuge Wanling's construction of the formation in the court, and even "dismissed" and went home angrily.

But he also only knew that Zhuge Wanling was secretly building a large formation, but he didn't know that this large formation had already sprung up in the open like mushrooms after rain.

Gao Changgong knew about it.

It was also because he knew that the soldiers in the night city were destroying intentionally or unintentionally. Although this level was not enough to destroy the formation, it still caused some damage to the formation.

But what is the purpose of the pawns he laid out here?

A group of people were also thinking about it, feeling that this matter was getting more and more confusing.

And as they walked forward, they could still rely on the compass commonly used by Feng Shui masters to identify the direction before, but now the compass seems to have been disturbed, and the rotation has become disordered and chaotic.

At this time, everyone stopped.

Yin Lu dawdled on the ground for a long time before finally turning around and bowing to Zhou Gongjin, "My lord, the traces have completely disappeared here."

This is a wide passage, the cave wall is uneven like the intestines of some kind of animal, but as far as the eye can see, there are piles of insect corpses. At least six karma moths died here, and the huge body almost blocked the passage. access.

Zhou Gongjin slowly bent his knees, and picked up a broken horn from the ground. It was cold and hard to the touch, like metal and jade, exactly the same as the horn that Sun Jianan cut off.

"Six unicorns?" Zhou Gongjin looked at the corpses of these karma moths, and probably guessed what happened to Deng Li.

Judging from the comparison of strength, every single-horned moth can rival a practitioner at the second level of energy and blood realm, and its carapace is hard and powerful, especially in this kind of cave where it is difficult to move.

Deng Li must have escaped here, and was chased and intercepted, so he fought with the moths.

If Deng Li and his subordinates all died here, why is there nothing left?Not to mention clothing and weapons, even bones and teeth are not left behind...

Although karma eats people, they always spit out some bones, right?

Chapter 819 Muddy Hands

All traces seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.

If it wasn't for everyone still feeling the disgusting smell in the entire cave, they would really think that they were just in a long and endless dream in a trance.

Zhou Gongjin turned her head, and behind her were ten spies from the school office, all dressed in dark black. Although their bodies were different, they could all see a sturdy and strong skeleton.

They were silent under the firelight, looking at Zhou Gongjin with piercing eyes, like a group of yakshas walking in the sun, they only need to get an order, and they will take away the souls of others.

But even with such strength, how can he not make the same mistakes as Deng Li?

Zhou Gongjin was silent for a long time, knowing that she had to make a decision, whether to continue moving forward, or to turn back and make a long-term plan.

The more elusive this matter is, the more it proves that there is a ghost in it. If the truth cannot be found out, who would know, Ye Mo... No, Gao Changgong's plan?

Zhou Gongjin clenched her fists.

"Going forward, I'm afraid it will be very dangerous, and we may not even be able to get out, but now that the military situation is urgent, I must take you down. But please don't forget the oath you made."

The heavy voice echoed in the cave, and every word seemed to contain a great weight.

In fact, the original purpose of the establishment of the school affairs office was not to monitor the officials, but to establish a news channel behind the enemy's country based on the enemy's situation on the battlefield.

Therefore, the internal personnel have a close relationship with the military. Among them, there are quite a number of retired military generals, and many of them even participated in the great war when the Tang Dynasty went south.

It's just that with the passage of time, with the growth of the school affairs office, newcomers like Shen Dao and Qin Ke are constantly joining, those pasts are rarely mentioned.

But most of the people present were old people in the school affairs office, so they looked at each other, solemnly cupped their hands and re-read the oath to Zhou Gongjin: "With my body, I will offer the light."

The voices became one, and until the end, it became that sentence: "I am willing to go through fire and water with my lord, and I will die!"

Although the cave is dark and deep, the flames and beating hearts seem to emit a tremendous light.

"With my body, I offer the light..." Zhou Gongjin also read out this oath, only feeling that his whole heart was poured into a ball of flames, and the faces of those who sacrificed for glory appeared in front of his eyes one by one. .

Didn't Jing Wu come to this day because of the accumulation of countless lives to achieve what he is today?

That being the case, why should he be afraid of his mission?

Just as he was about to turn and move forward with great pride in his chest, he suddenly felt a hand grabbing his ankle.

The cold hands were barely warm, slippery and wet, but the nails were as sharp as knives, making it painful to scratch.

Zhou Gongjin's face was a little ugly, but she didn't move in a hurry, but lowered her head slightly stiffly, trying to see what it was.

It's a pity that the torch at the height of his head couldn't illuminate his lower body, so he couldn't see the deep darkness clearly with his downward gaze.

But that real touch was like something crawling out of the darkness, and it was so powerful that it vaguely meant to drag him down.

At this time, it's not that the subordinates are in the mood to make such a joke with him, so they can only...

So in a serious atmosphere, the spies of the school affairs office suddenly found that the superior they had sworn allegiance to suddenly yelled and started to raise his legs and dance wildly, as if he was trying to shake off something while jumping.

It looked like a goat that had just escaped from its cage, or a savage dancing around a bonfire in a wild place.

"Big... my lord..." All the subordinates were dumbfounded, wondering what my lord is playing?

Although on weekdays, Zhou Gongjin would do some amazing things from time to time.

For example, when he was walking well, suddenly he went crazy and jumped into the icy river to swim for a whole day, so that he fell seriously ill; or he swallowed that bowl of soup that looked suspicious. I fell down, and then I vomited and diarrhea for half a month...

But at critical moments, Zhou Gongjin has always been rigorous, and rarely shows that madness.

It's just that Zhou Gongjin's appearance really made people laugh, and the old people had no choice but to lower their heads to hide the smiles on their faces.

Zhou Gongjin finally felt that she had shaken off that hand, walked aside with lingering fear, stared at a few people and scolded: "A bunch of bastards, they only know how to read jokes but don't know how to help!"

Only then did the crowd understand, suppressed their smiles, and rushed forward in confusion, wanting to check what happened to Zhou Gongjin.

But Zhou Gongjin slapped one hand off, and said angrily: "Don't worry about me, just take the torch and see what's there!"

Several clusters of flames dispelled the darkness, and only then did everyone realize that at some point, a hand covered in mud stretched out on the muddy and wet land.

Of course it couldn't be a crop in the field, in fact, the hand wasn't even stationary, but was constantly making mechanical movements, as if trying to grab something.

"It belongs to us." Zhou Gongjin's eyes were fixed. Although the hand was stained with countless mud, but looking down along the wrist, some broken clothes and armor pieces could still be seen.

It is the cowhide armor of Jing Wu army.

"Save people!" Without caring so much, Zhou Gongjin knelt down on one knee and started digging with both hands.

Although the soil in the cave is very wet, it is not very soft, and it is not easy to dig with bare hands.

However, Zhou Gongjin's Qi and blood cultivation has reached the level of a small master, and his body is far beyond what anyone can match.

I saw him stabbing downwards with his fingers like a knife, and his hands were already deeply sunk into the black soil. As he flew up and down, the outline of a person gradually appeared.

It was a guard of the Imperial Guard. Although the armor on his body was broken, a helmet made of metal and cowhide was still tied on top of his head. The gold-plated royal emblem shone brightly in the firelight after the mud was wiped off.

It's just that the owner of this helmet is very embarrassed now. The mud all over his body has completely turned him into a clay figurine, and it is even more difficult to open his eyes, so he can only half-close them and look at Zhou Gongjin.

And when he was dug out from the soil, he opened his mouth and let out a heavy panting sound.