Pawn Crossing the River

Qi Xuansu originally thought that the case in Baidicheng was due to another case, but it turned out to be nothing, and the case was finally closed with Ma Feng's sudden death.

When those few businessmen saw the fourth lady of the Governor's Palace and a chief military officer coming forward in person, they didn't know that the water was very deep. Even the two Tiangangtang Taoist priests almost fell into trouble. Naturally, they did not dare to mention it any more. sentence.

There are too many big figures in Yujing City, and no one can cover the sky with one hand. Under mutual restraint, the environment in Yujing is still quite clear, but the situation in the local government is very complicated. Various forces are intertwined, and the court, government, and gentry are powerful. , secret societies, you have me, I have you, except for the real local snakes, it is difficult for outsiders to distinguish everyone's true position.

Taking the case of Baidi City as an example, Wang Ruyi certainly could not command a dignified military commander. There is no doubt that only Wang Chuanzun, the governor of Shuzhou, could command Zhao Fuan, the commander-in-chief of Shuzhong. Although nominally speaking, the commander-in-chief of Shuzhou must obey the dispatch of the commander-in-chief of military affairs of Shuzhou. The governor of Shuzhou controls the commander-in-chief of military affairs of Shuzhou, and it is not easy to dispatch directly across levels. However, before Wang Chuanzun was promoted to the governor of Shuzhou, he was The commander-in-chief of military affairs in Shuzhou, Zhao Fuan is considered to be Wang Chuanzun's old subordinate. And this is a private matter, not official business.

In other words, Wang Chuanzun is inseparable from the demons in Baidi City.

But it is absolutely impossible to say that the Governor of Shuzhou, one of the nine great governors, is a member of the secret society. The governor is not a very popular minister, but he is not far away. Such a big shot would not and would not bother to join the secret society. At most, they have some kind of cooperative relationship with some secret societies, and they even secretly support secret societies. Just like Zhang Yuelu said, the reason why secret societies are endlessly suppressed is because there is a Taoist master standing behind them. These people behind the scenes can be real people from the Taoist sect, or they can be high-ranking officials of the imperial court.

Thinking of this, Qi Xuansu finally understood why Zhang Yuelu always said that arresting demons was just to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. If the roots could not be eradicated, the secret society would be burned out by wildfire and reborn again with the spring breeze.

One of these so-called "roots" is the ancient immortal and the leader of the secret society, and the other is someone like Wang Chuanzun.

Now the two of them want to thoroughly investigate the affairs of Baidi City, which is a fool's dream. Wang Chuanzun has not yet shown up, and just his lackeys have made the two of them miserable, and the attitude of the Shuzhou Taoist Office is extremely ambiguous. clear.

This is different from the Jiangnan case. Although Zhang Yuelu is the number one contributor to the Jiangnan case, the premise is that Shibotang, Beichentang, and Duzhitang have decided to thoroughly investigate the Jiangnan Provincial Government's deficit. Only then did Zhang Yuelu and others go to Jiangnan. .

Needless to say, the dangers of the trip to the south of the Yangtze River are still a little "aftertaste" to this day. The key involves another important person, that is Zhang Yuelu's master Cihang Zhenren. Cihang Zhenren was once the governor of the Jiangnan Taoist Prefecture. The Palace Master, who has been operating in Jiangnan Daofu for many years, can be said to be a tree with deep roots. Later, he was promoted to the leader of Huasheng Hall and the Duzhi Hall. Although he left Jiangnan Daofu, there are still many old subordinates. Without her help, Zhang Yuelu would be fierce. Much luck and little luck.

Now that the two of them have neither the will of the ancestral court nor the help of a certain master, they are naturally helpless.

After discussion, the two decided not to stay in Baidi City for long and decided to leave by boat and continue to Huzhou.

The White Emperor's farewell speech is among the colorful clouds. A thousand miles of rivers and mountains are returned in one day.

Although it is not so exaggerated, traveling by water is indeed extremely fast, second only to taking a flying boat.

Before leaving, Qi Xuansu wanted to thank the Taoist Ji whom he met by chance in person, but this person turned out to be a mysterious dragon and never showed up again. Qi Xuansu had no choice but to give up.

Tang Yongde specially came to see him off. In addition to apologizing repeatedly, he not only offered a thousand peace coins, but also took the initiative to arrange for the two of them to take a boat in Shibotang.

Zhang Yuelu did not vent his anger on Tang Yongde, but declined a thousand Taiping coins, boarded the ship hall's ship with Qi Xuansu, and sailed south.

Shibotang has both cargo ships and passenger ships. Since Tang Yongde wanted to make up for it, of course he would not let the two of them take the cargo ship, but a first-class passenger ship.

This passenger ship is in charge of a steward from the Shibo Hall. She is a middle-aged female crown prince. Although she is not a middle-aged woman, she has an elegant and calm temperament, which is about the level of cultivation in Kunlun. This is also one of the characteristics of Shibotang. It is not as overly focused on cultivation as Tiangangtang. After all, Shibotang is doing business with people. No matter how high your cultivation is, it is useless if you don't understand the way of business.

Tiangang Hall is just the opposite. If you have to fight against the demons, if you don't have enough cultivation, you will have to die. Therefore, with only the Kunlun stage of cultivation, except for special cases like Qi Xuansu, it is difficult to be a deacon in Tiangang Hall. This can be regarded as Industry specializing in surgery.

The two were arranged in a first-class cabin, a suite with a bedroom on each side and a small living room in the middle. It was located on the third floor, where they could enjoy the surrounding scenery from a high position.

At this time, Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu were sitting in the living room, looking out at the scenery outside the window.

The two of them went down the river, leaving Shuzhou and entering Huzhou. The junction of Shuzhou and Huzhou is the famous "Badong Three Gorges and Wu Gorge". Wu Gorge starts from the Daning River in the east of Wushan County and ends at Guandukou in Badong County. It is ninety miles long and is known as the Grand Gorge.

Wu Gorge is beautiful and deep, and is famous for its beauty all over the world. The gorges are long and deep, the peaks are abrupt, the mountains are stacked on top of each other, the clouds are rising and the mist is swirling, and the rivers are twisting and turning. During the boat trip, on both sides of the gorge river, there are continuous green mountains and peaks like a screen. As the boat goes in the gorge, sometimes the mountains are in front of us, and there is no way to go because of the stone blockage.

As the saying goes, "When you sail down the Wu Gorge, your heart is set on the Twelve Peaks." The Twelve Peaks of Wushan, which line the north and south banks of the Wu Gorge, are extremely spectacular, and among the twelve peaks, the Goddess Peak is the most majestic.

Zhang Yuelu pointed to the Goddess Peak visible in the distance and asked: "Tianyuan, do you know who the 'Goddess' is?"

Qi Xuansu thought for a while, shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Zhang Yuelu reminded: "Think about it again, why are the twelve peaks called 'Wushan', and why is this place called 'Wuxia'?"

Qi Xuansu was startled and said hesitantly: "Isn't it related to the Lingshan Witch Cult?"

Zhang Yuelu said: "It is indeed related to witchcraft, but it is not the Lingshan witchcraft that emerged later, but the orthodox ancient witchcraft. Seriously speaking, before the rise of the three religions, witchcraft was the orthodoxy in the world, and the eleven great witches were honored She was a goddess. Later, the witch religion declined due to civil strife and the three sects rose. Xuandu and Zifu were the places where Taishang Taozu preached. The Ancestral Heavenly Master worshiped the Taoism taught by Taishang Taozu and established the Zhengdao Tianshi Sect. Following the decree of Taishang Daozu, he followed the general trend and eliminated the witch religion. At that time, the witch religion had greatly declined, and the remaining forces gathered in the area of ​​the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. Wu Gorge was named after Wu Yang, and the Goddess Peak also referred to Wu Yang. ”

Qi Xuansu suddenly remembered that dream.

On the dark mountain, ten tall figures were shrouded in a layer of shadow that was so thick that it could not be dissolved. Standing in a row behind the fire, only a blurry outline could be seen, and only two eyes lit up. A little blood red light.

Then a maverick figure appeared out of thin air. Compared with the ten tall figures that looked like giants, this figure was very small. He kicked over the fire and laughed with his hands on his hips.

There are eleven figures in total.

Now Qi Xuansu is roughly certain that the eleven figures he saw are the eleven great witches of the ancient witch sect, and the last slim figure to appear is Wu Yang. Her kicking over the fire probably means the rebellion of the six enlightened witches. The Ten Witches of Lingshan.

As for that dark mountain, it is naturally the legendary Lingshan Mountain.

Wu Gorge is actually related to Wu Yang. In Taoist terms, is this the Taoist temple of Wu Yang?

Qi Xuansu took advantage of the situation and asked: "What is the relationship between Wu Yang... and the ancient immortal Wu Luo?"

After all, Zhang Yuelu is a member of the Zhang family, and the witchcraft religion was exterminated by the ancestors of the Zhang family. In addition, she has been dealing with the Lingshan witchcraft religion for many years, so she knows the secrets of the witchcraft religion very well. She explained: "Strictly speaking, Said they were colleagues. In the legend, the Ten Wus of Lingshan and Wu Yang were all subordinates of the Emperor of Heaven."

Qi Xuansu asked again: "Then what is the relationship between Taishang Daozu and the Emperor of Heaven?"

Zhang Yuelu thought for a while and replied: "It is roughly similar to the relationship between the Grand Master and His Majesty the Emperor."

"This analogy is very simple and easy to understand." Qi Xuan understood clearly. "The Ancestral Heavenly Master is like a real person from the Taoist sect. The Ten Witches are the high officials who were left behind by the Emperor of Heaven in the human world. Then the real people from the Taoist sect killed the high officials..."

"Be careful!" Zhang Yuelu glared at Qi Xuansu, "It was the ten witches who killed each other first, causing the world to be turbulent. The Ancestral Heavenly Master calmed down the chaos behind. He destroyed the witchcraft and raised the Taoist sect just to follow the trend."

Qi Xuansu also felt that it was a bit outrageous and did not dare to talk nonsense anymore.

Zhang Yuelu expanded and said: "The Book of Mountains and Seas: The Western Classic of Seas and Seas contains: In the Kaiming East there are Wu Peng, Wu Di, Wu Yang, Wu Lu, Wu Fan, and Wu Xiang. Wu Peng among the ten witches is Wupeng among the six witches. "Wudi" among the ten witches is "Wudi" among the "six witches". "Xie' and 'Xiang' are in harmony. Only Wu Yang is not among the ten witches of Lingshan, but only exists among the six enlightened witches."

"According to ancient legend, Wu Yang once respected the order of the Emperor of Heaven and summoned the souls of the King of Chu. Most of the soul-calling methods circulated in our Taoist sect today come from this great witch."

"Yaoyu was the son of the ancient god Zhulong, who was killed by his subordinates. The Emperor of Heaven couldn't bear the pain of Zhulong losing his son, so he ordered his body to be sent to Lingshan and let the ten witches come to rescue him. The ten witches of Lingshan used the power of immortality. The medicine awakened Yaoyao, but his temperament changed drastically from then on, and he became a monster with a dragon head and a cat body, eating people everywhere, and was eventually shot to death on the order of the Emperor of Heaven. "

"It can be seen that the ten witches of Lingshan and Wu Yang are all subordinates of the Emperor of Heaven."

"My master once said that both Xuansheng and Emperor Gaozu were favored by this great witch, so the reputation of this great witch was completely different from that of Wu Luo. The names of Wu Gorge and Goddess Peak have been retained. It is said that the name of Goddess Peak is There are also statues and temples in Wuyang, which are not temples of obscenity.”

Qi Xuansu felt a little regretful. If he was alone, then he really wanted to go to the Goddess Peak. Maybe he would gain something and discover something.