Pawn Crossing the River

The nearly three hundred miles of waterway that followed followed without wind, waves, or twists and turns.

When the two got off the boat, Zhang Yuelu stretched, and Qi Xuansu was a little disappointed - the clothes were too thick, so thick that not many curves could be seen.

At the end of the waterway, there is a mountain road next.

The mountain roads in Shuzhou are world-famous. The Poet Immortal once said: "The danger is high, the road to Shu is as difficult as climbing to the blue sky."

Shu roads in a broad sense include roads leading to Shu from various places and roads within Shu.

Taking Jinguanfu as the starting point, from Jinguanfu to the north, from Qinzhou to Shu, there are Chencang Road, Baoxie Road, Tangluo Road, Ziwu Road, Jinniu Road, Micang Road, and Lizhi Road, and from Liangzhou to Shu. Yinpingdao. From Jinguan Mansion to the west, there is the Ancient Tea Horse Road connecting Yongzhou to the Western Regions. To the south of Jinguan Mansion, there is the Wuchi Road from Yunzhou to Shu and the Southwest Silk Road that can be expanded to Posuzhou on this basis. To the east of Jinguan Mansion, there is a waterway that goes up from the river.

The Shu road closest to the ferry is the Ancient Tea Horse Road. There are many caravans coming and going, and it can go directly to Jinguan Mansion. After a little discussion, the two decided to go to Jinguan Mansion via the Ancient Tea Horse Road.

What Zhang Yuelu wanted was the word "slow". If he happened to have someone to accompany him, he would treat it like a sightseeing trip.

…

The largest inn in the world is undoubtedly Taiping Inn. It has branches from Yujing to Imperial Capital, from Lingnan to Liaodong, from the snowy mountains in the Western Regions to the coast of the East China Sea, simply because Taiping Inn is an industry under the name of the Taoist sect.

However, the Taiping Inn is a profitable business of the Taoist sect. Unlike the Taoist temples in various places that also function as inns, even if the Taoist sect disciples stay, it will not be cheaper than half a Taiping dollar.

Naturally, Jinguan City also has Taiping Inn. The main building is a four-story restaurant. Behind the main building are nearly a hundred single-family courtyards. It is not only the largest inn in Jinguan City, but also the largest inn in Shuzhou. The inn charges a lot of money, and most of its visitors are wealthy businessmen. Jin gentry and others.

Xie Qiuniang and King Xiao Qin decided to meet at the Taiping Inn in Jinguan Mansion.

King Xiao Qin is not the King of Qin in the court, nor is he the crown prince of King Qin. In fact, there is no King of Qin among the kings in the court. "King Xiao Qin" is a brand name, not the real name, which comes from Qingpinghui.

After Xie Qiuniang left Yishan City, she was not like Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu. As soon as they arrived at the Ancient Tea Horse Road, she had already arrived at Jinguan Mansion.

Xie Qiuniang came to Taiping Inn and spent ten yuan of Taiping money to book a private room on the second floor of the main building.

About an hour later, a man in Tsing Yi and a woman in a curtain hat came to the lobby of Taiping Inn and asked if there was a guest named Xie. A waiter immediately led them through the bustling lobby to the second floor. , came to the second floor. Because there were many private rooms, there was a corridor outside each private room. There was a door at the entrance of the corridor. At this time, the waiter stopped in front of the door outside the corridor.

Logically speaking, the waiter should have opened the door and let the two people in, but the waiter had no intention of opening the door. He reached out and grabbed the door knocker without pushing it open. He bent half of his body to block the door, with a smile on his face: " The two guest officers will wait a moment and let the younger one go in first to report."

Having said that, the guy had no intention of moving away.

The man in Tsing Yi had lived in Jinguan Mansion for a long time, and this was not the first time he came to Taiping Inn. Naturally, he knew that the man was asking for reward, and there was a trace of disgust in his eyes, but he still gave the woman a wink.

The woman took out a peace coin from her sleeve, threw it to the clerk, and said, "Open the door."

The waiter collected the peace money, but still blocked the door. He reached out and grabbed the knocker of the other door and tried to push it. Obviously, two doors required two rewards.

The smile on the woman's face slowly faded, and she uttered one word: "Get out."

Because the Taiping Inn has a Taoist background, these guys are very arrogant. Not only are they accustomed to ordinary guests, but they even look down on wealthy people. They have been humiliated in this way several times, and now they are here. Angry, he was about to speak when he suddenly heard the man say: "I know there are members of the Shuzhou Taoist government in this inn. You can ask the mages from the Shuzhou Taoist government to support you."

How could the guy invite the mages from the Shuzhou Taoist Government? Seeing the confidence of the two of them, he became timid and said quickly: "Don't dare, don't dare..."

The woman said coldly: "I'm still worried that you don't dare. I want to see which mage is too embarrassed to stand up for you. Get out."

The waiter hurriedly walked towards the stairs, almost bumping into several other guests, and hurriedly turned sideways to let other guests pass by.

The man reached out and pushed open the door that asked for a peace coin, and entered the corridor. One side of the corridor was a wall, and the other side were the doors of private rooms. When he and the woman came to the third private room, they saw a striking sign on the door. There was a red poster with the word "Thank you" written on it, so he opened the door and walked in.

It was Xie Qiuniang who was in the private room. When she saw the two people coming in, she stood up to greet them and said, "I didn't expect the flower girl to come too."

Most of the members of the Qing Ping Society have three-character names. Sometimes, to show intimacy, they use the first character of the name as their surname and the last two characters as their first name.

The name of this flower girl's Ci brand is "Huajianyi".

As for why Qi Xuansu chose the pseudonym "Wei Wugui" instead of directly using the brand name "Jincuo Dao", there are two main reasons.

The first reason is that when Qi Xuansu went to Fengtai County, he did not know that he would enter the Tiangang Hall in the future. He also felt that his status as a seventh-grade Taoist priest was dispensable, so he used his real name "Qi Xuansu" casually in the "inn", and the pseudonym was for Avoid such situations.

The second reason is that Qi Xuansu wants to enter the Tiangang Hall, which is a key entrance for major secret societies. The identities of the members of the Qingping Society must not be exposed. For the sake of safety, an additional layer of disguise must be added.

To put it simply, the Cipai name is used to hide the second identity of the real name, and the pseudonym is used to hide the third identity of the Cipai name. Xie Qiuniang, Xiao Qin Wang and others are not in Daomen, let alone Jiutang. It doesn't matter if others know that they are members of the Qingping Society. As long as their real names are not revealed, they will just use their Cipai names.

Hua Jianyi asked: "How is Qiu Niang doing lately?"

Xie Qiuniang cupped her hands and said, "Everything is well. Miss Laohua is thinking of me."

The three of them sat down separately, and Xie Qiuniang said softly: "I have failed Brother Qin this time."

Prince Xiao Qin waved his hand and said in a low tone, "I already know the matter. Qiu Niang doesn't have to blame herself. It's my fault for not thinking carefully."

Xie Qiuniang asked: "Will 'Xuanyu' be wiped out by the power of the ancient immortal?"

"Absolutely not." King Xiao Qin shook his head with certainty, "'Xuanyu' is extremely difficult to destroy. Maybe pseudo-immortals can do it, but it is extremely difficult for ordinary celestial beings and congenital people to do it. The ancient immortal's magical power is not that of the ancient immortal." Taking action in person is at best the power of ordinary heavenly beings."

Xie Qiuniang said: "Then the 'Xuanyu' fell into the hands of the Buddhist and Taoist families. I don't know if it was the monk of Jingzen Temple or the female crown of Tiangang Hall."

King Xiao Qin thought for a moment and said: "According to what you said, the chance of falling into the hands of that monk is more likely to be greater. There are three reasons. First, when you arrived at Yulan Temple, the monk had already arrived, and even more The two people from the Taoist sect probably came here because of the 'Xuanyu'. Secondly, the reason why the two people from the Taoist sect came to Yulan Temple was because of the rebellion in the Lingshan shaman sect. It was a coincidence, not because of the 'Xuanyu'. , when the ancient immortal's divine power fell, there were only the monk and another Taoist disciple in the hall, and the Taoist female crown was fighting with you. In terms of realm cultivation, the Taoist disciple was only at the Kunlun stage, but the monk was. He is still a disciple of Buddhism at the stage of returning to his true form. Even if the Taoist disciple discovers the 'Xuan Jade' accidentally, if there is a fight, the monk will definitely win."

Xie Qiuniang said: "So, we have to look for traces of this monk."

King Xiao Qin looked at Hua Jianyi who was sitting next to him: "I still need to trouble Miss Hua about this matter."

Hua Jianyi nodded: "It is not difficult to distinguish the Buddha who is in the stage of returning to his true form and traveling alone. If this monk really got the 'Xuanyu', no matter how he detours, he will return to Jingchan Temple in Zhongzhou. We Just wait and see in Zhongzhou. I happen to have some connections in Zhongzhou, so as long as he returns to Zhongzhou, I can determine his approximate whereabouts."

Xie Qiuniang suggested: "After all, we are under the nose of Jingchan Temple. I'm afraid there is something wrong with just a few of us. Why not find a few more people?"

"People must be reliable." King Xiao Qin added.

Hua Jian said: "If you are reliable, I know one."

"Who?" King Xiao Qin asked immediately.

Hua Jian said: "Seventh Lady."

"The Seventh Lady known as 'Pixiu Qi'?" Xie Qiuniang was startled, "I've heard of this one, but isn't she a businesswoman? It's rare to hear that she does it herself."

"Seventh Lady usually doesn't take action personally. In fact, she is a middleman." Hua Jianyi explained, "Not only can you approach her for private transactions, but you can also approach her for matchmaking and introduce some reliable people. After all, because she is the middleman, The contacts are vast and far beyond compare. The only downside is that the charges are very high and they refuse to bargain. ”

Xie Qiuniang laughed: "It's just a matter of others. What Brother Qin needs most is peace money."

Hua Jianyi nodded and said: "That's right. The Seventh Lady also likes guests like Brother Qin the most."

"You two, please stop teasing me." King Xiao Qin smiled helplessly, but did not deny it. "Where are we going to meet this seventh lady?"

"The Seventh Lady's whereabouts have always been elusive. The last time she appeared was in Huainan Mansion in Luzhou, and now she has left Luzhou." Hua Jian said, "But the meeting at the end of the month is coming soon. She is never absent. We can go to the meeting to see her. ”

"That's it." King Xiao Qin made a final decision, "Please ask the Seventh Lady to introduce some capable experts to us, preferably local people in Zhongzhou, to cooperate with us in setting up a dragnet in Zhongzhou to surround and kill this monk."

King Xiao Qin added: "But just in case, you should also pay attention to that Taoist female crown... I have heard that this person is not only a banished immortal from the Zhang family, but also a priest of the Tiangang Hall appointed by the Earth Master. After all, your status as a wine Taoist is unusual. Don’t alert others unless you have to.”

Hua Jian nodded solemnly: "You can leave this matter to me."