Fairies Are Fierce

Chapter 298 Flower Hairpin

"Where should we check first?"

"According to Taoist Yunbao's... whereabouts, um... there are the most activities around Xuefeng Mountain. Let's go to Yunjiang River in the upper reaches of Zhuohe River first..."

"Okay, the other party must be wary. Do you want to disguise yourself?"

"Isn't your sword... very powerful? You want me to let this fairy... have a taste of your swordsmanship..."

"Shangguan Fellow Daoist, don't play with fire."

"Didn't...didn't you eat?"

? !

I don’t know how much time has passed, but in the cabin with the doors and windows closed... it’s hard to say anything.

Zuo Lingquan was half-lying on the couch, practicing with his neck crossed while talking seriously about the upcoming trip.

On the opposite side, Jingxun was facing away from the soft couch, stuffing his ears with cotton, holding the Tiandun card in his hand, holding it up and moving around.

Although Jingxun wanted to join the practice, he kept his word and did not forget what he promised. After taking the opportunity to spank Lingye twice, he asked the Shangguan Patriarch to see if she was busy.

Ancestor Shangguan was really busy communicating with Jianhuang City and investigating the trends in Northern Xinjiang in recent years. Seeing this, Jingxun had no choice but to withdraw from the team and watch the battle from the side.

But there are some things that you can’t stand just by looking at them.

Jingxun was so upset that she didn't dare to look at him, but she went to stay outside. She was also suspected of letting the man out so she could avoid it. In the end, she simply plugged her ears and stayed in front of him even if she didn't listen or look.

Zuo Lingquan was not left out. Seeing her walking around holding the Tiandun card, he asked:

"Jingxun, what are you doing?"

Tang Jingxun didn't look back and muttered;

"Contact the princess, how can I enjoy this kind of fun alone? I have to let the princess see how slutty her concubine is in private..."

"Forehead……"

There is no Sky Escape Tower in Northern Xinjiang, so it is naturally impossible to contact it.

After a while, the ship began to slow down.

The fight in the cabin ended. Shangguan Lingye stood up, flicked his jade fingers to dispel the charming smell on his body, and put on a gorgeous dress.

After Zuo Lingquan tidied up, he comforted Jingxun who almost died of acid pain, then opened the door and window and came to the deck.

It wasn't snowing outside, the sky was already sunny.

Xie Qiutao was still sitting on the edge of the deck, looking at the mountains in the north in a daze; Tuanzi might be hungry and confused, so he lay next to him and gnawed on the shell of the little dragon turtle. When he saw the door open, he flew in and started:

"Chi chi chi..."

When Xie Qiutao heard the noise, he turned around and landed on the deck with a strange expression. He first looked at the room behind Zuo Lingquan.

The room was neat and orderly. Shangguan Lingye was sitting behind the desk, holding a gold pen in his hand and processing the files seriously; Tang Jingxuan was holding dumplings in his arms and was taking bird food from Linglong Pavilion. The scene looked like, It wasn't as messy as expected.

"Eh?"

Xie Qiutao was stunned for a moment, put away the weirdness in his heart, came to the front and said curiously:

"Master Zuo, what are you doing in the house?"

"I'm practicing. I have to investigate something soon. I don't know what opponent I will encounter. I will fill up the Qi Sea first. I originally wanted to call Miss Xie in to join us, but the room is a bit small..."

Xie Qiutao stayed outside because the room was too small and she could only sit and couldn't walk around. Naturally, she didn't mind this:

"Yeah, I thought you were here..."

"Well, why?"

"I thought you guys were practicing, hehe..."

Xie Qiutao said something vague, quickly ran into the house, and volunteered to start feeding the dumplings.

Zuo Lingquan knew that Taotao had a suspicion, so he could only see through it without saying anything. He laughed silently and turned to the north. Unexpectedly, he was amazed by the magnificent scenery.

It was a white mountain range, like a white city wall lying horizontally on the ground. The jagged peaks were covered with snow tops, connected to the blue and clear sky. There was no cloud in the sky, and it was spotlessly clean.

A river flows out from between the mountains and converges into a surging river flowing to the south. Cities and towns are scattered on the plains. The vast and empty world makes people feel that they have arrived at the place closest to the sky in an instant.

However, although the scenery is beautiful, this place is indeed desolate for practitioners, and the spiritual energy is extremely thin. Zuo Lingquan's state is basically inaccessible.

Zuo Lingquan looked at the scenery for a moment, and then the boat slowly descended and parked in an inaccessible mountain forest.

Shangguan Lingye had heard terms like Xuefeng Mountains and Caiyi Dachen in the past, but she had never set foot here in person. This place was also unfamiliar to her, and there was not even a map for reference.

In order to get to the bottom of the madness matter as soon as possible, Zuo Lingquan chose to go out in disguise with Xie Qiutao, just like when he first arrived in Caiyi Country, and relied on Taotao's rich experience in low-level walking to inquire about the surrounding news.

Xie Qiutao traveled around all year round and was very good at these things. He had a few casual conversations with fortune tellers and bodyguards in the market and got a rough idea.

The Dachen Dynasty was located on the south side of the Xuefeng Mountains, and its territory was extremely vast, but most of it was uninhabited land, and it only really controlled a few states and counties along the Yunjiang River.

As for the power of the Immortal Family, it is as rare as the Caiyi Kingdom on the surface. They are all small sects called ancestors in the eighth level. There is no way to know whether there is Old Bastard Deepwater hiding in secret.

In addition, Zuo Lingquan also learned from the visit that madness does not only occur in Caiyi Country. Several patients were also found in Dachen Country. Their reactions were exactly the same as those in Yanjiazhuang, but the number was too rare. There were no concentrated outbreaks like those around Yangcheng, so it was treated as an ordinary stroke and there was no news at all.

Although this news is simple, its implications are alarming - ordinary people across the two countries who may not have interacted with each other for hundreds of years have the same symptoms. If it is caused by the same cause, it can only mean that the matter has spread widely. Gotta exaggerate.

But Zuo Lingquan still couldn't figure out what was going on behind the scenes, because except for the people in Yangcheng who were affected by Tielingcrow, the rest of the people who got mad just fell into madness, and in the end, people who slowly recovered like Yan Ge also Quite a few, it’s completely impossible to tell what the people behind the scenes are up to.

The motives of the evil heretics were not ordinary, and Zuo Lingquan did not delve into it; the whereabouts of Yunbao Taoist were already known, and the subsequent investigation was nothing more than following the clues. After getting the general information, they came to Wangwang in the northern part of Dachen Kingdom. Shanjun, looking for the sect where Taoist Yunbao became a disciple when he was young.

In the memory of Taoist Yunbao's practice, he has appeared many times in the Shenhao Sect where he became a disciple when he was young, but he did not stay there permanently. If Yicheng returned to the sect to visit, this frequency is too high, and it is said that the Shenhao Sect has nothing to do with this matter. , Zuo Lingquan didn’t believe it.

It took two days to go around and get information. By the time we arrived in Wangshan County, it was already noon on the third day.

Zuo Lingquan dressed up as a secular warrior and walked towards Daiti Mountain outside the county town; Xie Qiutao originally wanted to dress up as a heroine, but she didn't look like a knight, so she could only wear a bamboo hat and dress up as a tomboy, following Zuo Lingquan.

Xie Qiutao was very talkative. After seeing the mountain outside the countryside, he talked enthusiastically:

"The word 'Dai' in Daiti Mountain should come from 'Daiyu'. Rumor has it that it is a fairy mountain overseas that is carried on the back by a turtle. There are countless treasures on it. Only those with great opportunity can stumble upon it..."

Zuo Lingquan paid attention to the surrounding trends and continued casually:

"Then the combined meaning of Daichi Mountain is 'the turtle calls the mountain'?"

Xie Qiutao really thought about it, shook his head and said:

"It's not like, judging from the words, it feels more like the mountain is on the back of a turtle, and it will make a sound at certain times..."

Zuo Lingquan did not take this explanation as a joke, because most of the place names are related to the local environment. Below Wangshan County is the root of the Xuefeng Mountains. It is not surprising that a whole rock formation was regarded as a turtle's back by ancient explorers. .

The two of them came here not to discuss the issue of turtles. When they approached Daiti Mountain, they stopped talking and quietly came to the snow forest at the foot of the mountain.

There is a market at the foot of Daiti Mountain. There are many people at noon. From time to time, you can see people walking in and out of the market with their children.

Xie Qiutao has been to Huajunzhou and has more experience than Zuo Lingquan. He looked at the stone path up the mountain and whispered:

"This sect must have a long heritage. Those floor tiles are green vine stone with a vine-like pattern on the surface. Only the more conservative sects in Huajunzhou still use this stone. Today's sects need to lay various formations on the ground. , they have all been replaced by artificial formation stones, and small sects that cannot afford the formation stones don’t know how poor they are.”

Zuo Lingquan followed the guide and found that the stone path going up the mountain was light blue in color with some texture. He thought it was just anti-slip, but he didn't expect such a saying.

After Zuo Lingquan memorized this knowledge, he became a little more wary. Just as he was about to take a detour through the mountains and fields to touch it, Xie Qiutao beside him suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Zuo Lingquan thought he had discovered something strange, so he quickly leaned forward and followed Xie Qiudao's gaze, only to find that Xie Qiutao was looking at the fortune-telling stall in the market.

The fortune teller at the stall showed no signs of practicing spiritual practice. Judging from his conversations with the people around him, he was a local and had nothing special about him. However, on the banner behind the fortune teller stall, there were three big characters written on it:

You came

? !

Seeing these three words, Zuo Lingquan, who had just arrived here, was naturally startled. He felt that these three words seemed to be spoken to them, and also seemed like a dirty trick to attract customers. The more he thought about it, the more suspicious he became.

After Xie Qiutao frowned for a long time, he said:

"What can we do? If we go and ask, we might be exposed. If we don't ask, someone might actually know our whereabouts. How about we withdraw first?"

Zuo Lingquan encountered this kind of psychological tactic for the first time, thought about it and said:

"The people behind the scenes know that we will follow the clues to find out here. If we know the exact whereabouts, there is no need to leave three words to pretend to be a ghost. I think it is just a bait. Asking up will expose our current location."

Xie Qiutao thought it made sense, but if she didn't see it, she felt weird. She always felt like someone was staring at her from the dark.

Fortunately, the two of them didn't observe for long before they noticed a woman dressed as a market girl, carrying a bamboo basket containing incense, walking towards the fortune-telling stall.

The woman is wearing a brown coat, which is relatively thick. I can't tell her specific figure. I can only feel that she has good bones. She has a pretty figure even if she doesn't wear clothes. Her dress is relatively simple, and the only decoration is between her hairline. A flower hairpin - the head of the hairpin is a peach blossom.

Zuo Lingquan naturally did not focus on the woman's figure, but only paid attention to her movements. He saw the woman walking slowly to the fortune-telling stall, looked at it curiously for a moment, and then asked:

"Taoist Priest, what do these three words mean? Did you know I was coming?"

When the fortune teller saw the guests coming, he quickly put on a fairy-like posture and said in a calm voice:

"The secret must not be leaked..."

"Oh, forget it, I went up the mountain to burn incense..."

"Hey, don't worry, why don't you show Madam her face first? For ten cents, I won't be allowed to die!"

? !

Damn, so cruel...

Zuo Lingquan and Xie Qiutao, who were watching in the dark, were stunned!

The woman with the hairpin was also stunned for a moment and sat down in front of the stall:

"Taoist priest is so courageous. Just by saying this, no one can make big money unless you make a lot of money. Just forget it."

"What do you want, madam?"

"Count it as a marriage."

"Calculate... cough - you want to calculate your marriage? This is the best way to do it, hmm... The plumpness of the sky, the eyebrows are straight, and the face is good for life. Logically speaking, you shouldn't worry about getting married?"

"Taoist Priest has really good eyesight. I haven't met the one I like yet."

"Pinch your fingers and do the calculations... um... yo~ Daji, if my calculations are correct, the girl's luck will arrive soon, and it will be nearby, not more than a hundred miles away..."

Ordinary people may not be able to travel a hundred miles in their lifetime, and they will soon have no time. After all the words are said, it is as if they have not been said.

However, the woman with the flower hairpin was very cooperative and looked happy. After listening to the fortune teller's good words, she gave out ten big coins:

"By the Taoist priest's auspicious words. By the way, the Taoist priest hasn't said these three words yet. Is it written to attract customers?"

"No, Xiaodao relies on his ability to make a living, so how can he do these little tricks? Two days ago, someone gave Xiaodao ten taels of silver and asked me to hang up the banner. If anyone asks, just say, 'One Huangshi, Feng Siniang Restaurant.' , Xiaodao doesn’t understand what it means either…”

Xie Qiutao, who was listening in the dark, looked shocked in his eyes when he heard this and looked at Zuo Lingquan.

Zuo Lingquan heard the meaning of these words - a brilliant stone was left at Feng Siniang's Restaurant in Changning City and asked him to go and pick it up. Of course, the price was to stop looking into the current matter.

Zuo Lingquan did not expect that the person behind the scenes wanted to bribe him, so he asked softly:

"Thank you, miss, what is Huangshi?"

"It's an incredible thing. It's a kind of fire essence bred in the south of Huajunzhou. It's similar to the rootless sky fire. It's basically not going to be leaked to the market. It's a priceless treasure. The person behind it is so generous. What should I do now?"

Xie Qiutao asked what to do. He asked if he would go and get the Huangshi, but he was not tempted by the temptation of evil ways.

After all, taking something belonging to the evil heretic and helping others is called being tempted; taking the thing and continuing to fight the evil heretic is called accidentally seizing the loot on the way to slaying demons, and the treasures of heaven and earth that were prostituted for free are not for nothing.

Zuo Lingquan is currently short of natal fire and has plans to engage in prostitution for free, but after careful consideration, he still shakes his head:

"As for the suspicion of the enemy, let's just go back and forth or divide our forces. If we really go back, we might be ambushed. No matter what, we will continue to investigate."

Xie Qiutao nodded lightly: "Yes, but if someone dares to leave a message here, it means that the Shenhao Sect has been prepared for it. How can we check it now?"

Zuo Lingquan thought for a moment secretly: "It's easy to leak your whereabouts if you go in now, and there probably won't be any clues left inside. If you can't find the most places, just go to the places with the fewest trips; Taoist Yunbao has only been to Beiya once, so he must be there." There’s something fishy, ​​so we need to hurry up.”

"good."

The two left quietly, but before leaving, Zuo Lingquan took another look at the woman with the flower hairpin.

This was not because Zuo Lingquan discovered something strange, but because the timing of the woman's appearance and questioning was a bit coincidental.

After looking around from head to toe and confirming that the face and measurements were unfamiliar, Zuo Lingquan left the market with Xie Qiutao without stopping.

In front of the fortune-telling stall, the woman with the flower hairpin still listened with great interest to the fortune-teller's good words. She didn't get up and go up the mountain until she was satisfied.

The Shenhao Sect is at the top of the mountain and is not large in scale. The woman with the flower hairpin walked slowly outside the mountain gate. It can be seen that some people are queuing up to wait for people from the sect to check their bones, and more people go inside to go incense and pray for blessings.

For ordinary people, Shenhao Sect is just a Taoist temple. No one knows the meaning of the word "Shenhao", and no one knows who the ancestor of the ancestor worshiped in the hall is.

The woman with the flower hairpin came to the main hall and looked at the statue of the ancestor carved by an unknown descendant. She shook her head slightly, took a stick of incense from the incense basket and inserted it into the incense burner in front of the statue.

There are many people in the Taoist temple, which is quite lively, and there are people queuing up to burn incense. After the girl with the hairpin finished offering the incense, she left the main hall and wandered around the sect as if admiring the scenery. Finally, she came to a viewing pavilion facing the market at the foot of the mountain.

The viewing pavilion is located on a high place, with a bird's-eye view of the panoramic view of the mountain. At this time, a man in Taoist robes stood inside, with his sleeves folded, looking at the fortune-telling booth below the mountain.

After glancing at her eyes, the flower hairpin woman came to the viewing pavilion as if she was tired from walking, and said unexpectedly:

"Yo, there's someone..."

The Taoist in the pavilion looked back, but his attitude was peaceful:

"Girl, rest here, I'm going somewhere else."

Said ready to leave.

After the woman with the hairpin bowed, she stepped out of the way:

"Thank you for the long time."

The viewing pavilion is not big, and the steps at the entrance are only one person wide.

The Huazan girl was waiting by the steps, and when the Taoist passed by, she said again:

"Master?"

The Taoist turned his head instinctively and looked at the woman with the flower hairpin next to him. Unexpectedly, as soon as he touched the woman's eyes, he smelled a faint fragrance, and then he froze on the spot, and his eyes lost their vitality.

The woman with the hairpin kept her original expression and asked with a smile:

"Who made you stare here?"

"Old Zheng."

"Who else is there among you?"

"I don't know many people. Apart from Mr. Zheng, there are also Wu Songzi, Lu Tong, and Taoist Yunbao. Taoist Yunbao just died. The other two followed the immortal chief who just came from outside and their whereabouts are unknown."

"What are you doing?"

"I just did some odd jobs. I contacted the government and local gentry all over northern Xinjiang to open rivers and build canals. This lasted for more than ten years. I never knew Mr. Zheng's purpose."

"What's the matter with madness?"

"Ever since I helped Mr. Zheng, crazy diseases began to appear in various places. The reason was not explained by Mr. Zheng. In recent years, Caiyi Kingdom has appeared on a large scale near Yangcheng. When the news spread to the outside, we tried to cover it up. Mr. Zheng captured the Iron Bell Crow , and asked Taoist Yunbao to place it near Yanjiazhuang to hide it from others. Unexpectedly, Taoist Yunbao failed, and the news was completely leaked. "

"Without the Sky Escape Tower, how can you contact your superiors if you discover your opponent's whereabouts?"

"Crush the jade slip and Mr. Zheng will feel it. If nothing happens, he will come over in ten days and arrange things for me."

The woman with the flower hairpin nodded slightly, but before she spoke, the Taoist who was already confused could not hide what was in his mind and continued:

"But Mr. Zheng is very thoughtful and will never reveal his whereabouts. This time I said he would come here in ten days. In my opinion, it was just a delaying tactic. Even if I were caught by you, it would be a lie. You will stay here for ten days."

The woman with the flower hairpin was a little surprised: "It seems that Mr. Zheng underestimated your scheming and treated you as an abandoned child. You are overqualified and underused."

"Excuse me. If you follow the path of spiritual practice, if you don't hide your clumsiness, you will be suspected sooner or later. Unfortunately, you hid it too much this time."

"You might guess where they went?"

"Everyone I know is running around building water conservancy projects according to Mr. Zheng's arrangements. The plans must be related to water. I think it is at the source of water in Northern Xinjiang."

source of water...

The woman with the flower hairpin turned her eyes towards the Xuefeng Mountains in the north and nodded.

The Taoist stared blankly, and continued:

"Can the Immortal Chief not kill me? We are just getting paid to run errands. Mr. Zheng doesn't want to make mistakes and attract attention. How dare we do anything evil? The things we have done in the past few years are probably more decent than the Immortal Chief..."

"I guessed that the higher-ups were up to something evil, but I still turned a blind eye and took money to do things. No matter what I did, I was working for the tiger. It is a much greater crime than being ignorant and being driven by others. But I think you are not the mastermind, and you have not done any great evil. I only ruined your cultivation. , be a mortal for the rest of your life."

"Can the Immortal Chief give Xianxian a chance to start over?"

"You have evil intentions and shouldn't practice. You should think about it in your next life."

After the woman with the flower hairpin finished speaking, she raised her hand and waved lightly, sweeping across the Taoist's eyes, and her figure disappeared at the same time.

The Taoist stood alone outside the viewing pavilion. His eyes were dazed for a moment, then returned to normal, and then showed doubts.

"What did you want to do just now? Why did you forget it when you turned around..."

The Taoist frowned and thought for a moment. He didn't think of anything, so he returned to the viewing pavilion and continued to watch. He had not yet noticed that the Qi Sea in his body was slowly passing by like an hourglass...

(end of this chapter)