Pawn Crossing the River

The mountain city here is called Yishan City. It is located at the junction of Qinzhou, Shuzhou and Liangzhou. It was called "Eastern Girl Kingdom" in ancient times. In the former dynasty, it belonged to Duogansi Xuanwei Division. The Daxuan court established a county here and divided it into Chief Envoy of Yongzhou. According to the division of Taoist sects, this place is located on the edge of the jurisdiction of Kunlun Taoist Prefecture and falls under the jurisdiction of Kunlun Taoist Prefecture.

Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu came outside the city and were not in a hurry to enter the city.

Zhang Yuelu said: "Although it is such a large county, it is not difficult to find someone. All you have to do is ask what murders have occurred in the city recently. However, most of these murders will be handled by hundreds of local households, but it is a bit troublesome."

Qi Xuansu asked: "Is there no Taoist temple here?"

Zhang Yuelu explained: "Although this place is under the jurisdiction of Kunlun Taoist Prefecture, because it is located on the road to welcome the Buddha, the majority of people believe in Buddha, so the Taoist Gate only set up a Taoist temple symbolically outside the city. It serves as a post station to receive Taoists and has no duty to arrest demons. If I remember correctly, there should be no more than five Taoist priests here. "

Qi Xuansu asked again: "How is the relationship between our Tiangang Hall and Qingluan Guard?"

Zhang Yuelu shook his head and said: "Not very good. Among the three major factions, Taiping Dao has the closest relationship with the imperial court. After the position of the Grand Master became vacant, Jiutang, who was originally directly subordinate to the Grand Master, actually had their own affairs whether they wanted to or not. From a standpoint, Tiangang Hall belongs to the Zhengyi side, and now there are undercurrents among the three major factions..."

Qi Xuansu understood: "In other words, unless it is absolutely necessary, it is best not to have anything to do with Qingluan Guard."

Zhang Yuelu nodded and said, "Yes."

"Do we have to ask each household?" Qi Xuansu asked.

Zhang Yuelu thought for a while and suggested: "How about... a fortune telling?"

Qi Xuansu suddenly remembered that San people in the stage of returning to their true form can learn the supernatural power "Innate Divine Calculation", and as high-level San people, they can learn "Ziwei Dou Shu", which is the top divination technique.

Qi Xuansu agreed: "It's a good idea."

Zhang Yuelu did as he said, and asked Qi Xuansu to place the head he carried with him on the ground, using it as a medium to perform hexagrams according to the formula.

The reason why "Ziwei Dou Shu" is known as the best divination technique is because its hexagrams are the simplest and clearest, and there is no need to guess the deep meaning based on the hexagrams.

A scene like a mirage appeared in front of the two people. It was vague and indistinct, and countless pictures flashed through it quickly, as if a white horse had passed by.

Gradually, the picture became clearer and its speed of change slowed down.

Finally, it was settled in a large house with plain interior and exterior. Although there was no sound, it could be seen that the women were crying together and the monks were reciting sutras for salvation.

Qi Xuansu was a little surprised: "There was a murder yesterday, and the funeral is going to be held today?"

At this moment, the picture was distorted and broken like a reflection on water being stirred. When it returned to calm, it had turned into a new hazy scene.

In a dark morgue, three Qingluan guards dressed in green were talking in a low voice. The three Qingluan guards all covered their mouths and noses with animal-shaped masks, only their eyes were exposed, and they wore blood-stained aprons. , wearing gloves that reached to the elbow, lying on a stone platform not far from the three of them was a headless corpse that had been disemboweled.

This should be the scene where Qingluan Weiwu conducts an autopsy.

That headless corpse is probably the owner of the suffering.

Qi Xuansu said: "This is strange. There is a funeral over there and an autopsy here, but they are not delayed. Could it be a tomb?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the scene suddenly changed again.

In a stone hall, a Western-style chandelier hangs above, a human-height oriental candlestick stands below, and white candles piled up in layers for free illuminate a six-armed female statue.

In front of the statue, more than ten people stood in a circle, including scholars in Confucian shirts, gentry in Taoist robes, Taoist priests in crane cloaks, monks with shaved heads, old men dressed as officials, and Wu Zhu who escaped from Zhang Yuelu. A woman, but the most eye-catching thing is a tall figure wrapped in a cloak.

Around these people, there were still many figures standing, including Chu Chunliang, You Leifu and other three people who died in Qi Xuansu's hands.

The identity of this group of people is self-evident, they are members of the Lingshan Witch Cult. However, except for the four people Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu had met before, the faces of the others could not be seen clearly. I wonder if it was because of Zhang Yuelu's poor skills or if there was something fishy.

Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu both had expressions of concentration.

It has to be said that "Zi Wei Dou Shu" is more intuitive than the alchemist's "Retrospecting Earth Qi". However, there are also disadvantages. The earth's energy will not lie, but will faithfully record everything. Therefore, in order to prevent "retrospection of the earth's energy", the only way to completely disrupt the earth's energy is to destroy the terrain.

But "Ziwei Dou Shu" is not the case. If you meet someone who is at a higher level than you and is proficient in divination, the other party can directly tamper with the divination results, thereby misleading. In other words, "Ziwei Dou Shu" can be deceptive, and you cannot disbelieve it or believe it completely.

Soon, these mirage-like images slowly dissipated, leaving only a head that was burned beyond recognition by the fire.

Qi Xuansu looked at Zhang Yuelu and asked, "This matter seems more complicated than we expected. What should we do next?"

Zhang Yuelu said thoughtfully: "I have a hunch that this case is probably not an isolated case. For the current plan, we can start from the home of the victim."

Qi Xuansu disapproved and said: "Based on my experience, Qingluan Guards must be keeping an eye on the home of the sufferer at this time, because there is a type of perpetrator who likes to return to the place where he killed afterward to observe the reaction and movements of the eagle claws. If we If you come here rashly at this time and bring the head of the suffering master, you will be regarded as a member of the Lingshan Witch Cult, and you will either have to fight with Qingluan Weihuo, or reveal your identity and explain your purpose. "

Zhang Yuelu didn't take this into consideration: "What Tian Yuan said makes sense, but I didn't think carefully."

Qi Xuansu added: "One more thing, if it is as Qing Xiao said, it is not an isolated case, then the Hundred Household Office will probably report it to the Thousand Household Office, and it may have alarmed the local Thousand Households Office."

From the sixth grade, a hundred households will be tested, and from the sixth grade, a hundred households will be tested. From the fifth grade, a thousand households will be tested, and from the fifth grade, a thousand households will be tested. Among the Qingluan Guards whose highest official rank is only the third rank, Qianhu is already a high-ranking figure in the Qingluan Guards, and his status is roughly equivalent to that of a fourth-rank wine-sacrifice Taoist priest in the Taoist sect. Because among the nine levels of the Taoist sect, except for the first and second levels, there is no distinction between masters and subordinates in the other levels, so the equivalent of Qianhu is actually a fourth-level wine-sacrifice Taoist priest like Zhang Yuelu who holds real power, rather than the ordinary fourth-level sacrificial priest. Wine Taoist.

Zhang Yuelu had a headache. She really didn't want to involve Qingluan Guard and Qingluan Guard's Qianhu during the holiday.

In fact, Qi Xuansu didn't want to deal with the Qingluan Guards. After all, just a few months ago, he had killed the Qingluan Guards in Fengtai County.

The two of them looked at each other, and for a moment they both had no idea.

In the end, Zhang Yuelu simply gave up and said, "Never mind this, let's go into the city and take a look step by step."

"That's all it can do." Qi Xuansu nodded, then turned to look above Yishan City. He could vaguely see a series of buildings, which should be the Taoist temple mentioned by Zhang Yuelu.

…

Qingbai Temple is located outside Yishan City. Because it was built outside the city, the land was not valuable, so it occupies a large area. In terms of scale, it is a large temple. But in terms of number of people, it is an out-and-out small temple. There are only four official members of the entire Taoist temple, namely: the temple master, the temple master's wife, and two disciples. The rest are Taoist people who maintain the operation of Taoist temples, not Taoist priests.

Because of the prosperity of Buddhism in Yishan City, there is almost no incense in the Taoist temple. And because Yishan City is located on Yingfo Road, as the name suggests, people from the Taoist sect generally will not pass by this place, so you can imagine how deserted it is.

The master of Qingbai Temple is named Bai Yongguan. He is a Taoist priest of the fourth grade offering wine. In his early years, he offended a real person in the ancestral court and was demoted and sent to this small place for ten years.

Bai Yongguan saw that there was no hope of returning to Yujing, and there was really nothing to do here, so he imitated the ancient celebrities and devoted his love to the mountains and rivers. He climbed high and explored the mountains and rivers all day long, wandering around, often not seeing anyone for months.

So only the temple master's wife and two disciples were left guarding the huge Taoist temple. After nightfall, it was pitch black and particularly intrusive.

When Bai Yongguan was assigned to this place, he was in his prime. Ten years passed in the blink of an eye, and he was already at the age where he knew his destiny. It can be seen that the master's wife, Li Zhen'er, was less than thirty years old when she married Bai Yongguan. Now she is only in her thirties. In addition, the Taoist sect has good looks, so she can be said to be a mature woman, and her charm is still there. .

Such an old husband and young wife spend less time together and more time apart, which makes them somewhat disharmonious.

As for the two disciples, one male and one female, senior sister Bai Yue and junior brother Lu Yu are both in their twenties and are now only eighth-grade Taoist priests, exactly the same as Qi Xuansu's past situation.

The two of them had just left the Wanxiang Taoist Palace when they were selected as disciples by Bai Yongguan. It was originally a good thing to be accepted as a disciple by a fourth-grade wine-sacrifice Taoist priest, but they did not expect that Bai Yongguan was demoted, and his disciples were also affected, so they could only Leave Yujing.

It is not difficult to go from the ancestral court to the local Taoist government, but it has never been a simple matter to transfer from the local Taoist government to the ancestral court.

Xu Kou was able to enter Tiangang Hall from Qizhou Daofu because of Zhenren Qingwei. As for Qi Xuansu, it was because of the secret operation of the Qingping Society. Without the operation of the Qingping Society, Qi Xuansu just wanted to "do his best" and could not find the temple gate with a pig's head, so Qiniang regarded this opportunity as a reward.

As for Mu Jin and others, they were originally serving in the ancestral court, but they were transferred back and forth between the nine halls. Zhang Yuelu regarded them as flower garden Taoist priests.

The benefits of being transferred to the ancestral court are also obvious. There are more opportunities, broader prospects, and completely different people to come into contact with. Qi Xuansu was promoted from a seventh-grade Taoist priest to a sixth-grade Taoist priest in less than half a year, and his income increased significantly. More importantly, he was favored by Zhang Yuelu, and even came under the eyes of the real person in charge. If he were in the local government, he would never have achieved such an achievement in such a short period of time.

It has to be said that in many cases, the end point is determined. The seventh-grade Taoist priests in the local Taoist government will fight for their whole lives for a fourth-grade Taoist priest to offer wine. The size of the platform is far more important than the quality of individual abilities.

In this case, one can imagine the distress of the Qingbai audience.

It's just that: floating clouds can always cover the sun, and the absence of "Jade Capital" makes people sad.