Chapter 13 Chasing the murderer

Chapter 13 Chasing the murderer

Chapter 13 Chasing the murderer
Qianyang Mountain, Li family camp.

Li Kefa had a gloomy face as he looked at the camp. The buffalo county runners were busy and the coroner was checking the bones on the ground.

He is Li Xiaoding's father and the county magistrate of Shuiniu County. The Li family is powerful, and he has the final say in all matters of Shuiniu County, and the county magistrate is just a decoration.

He had three daughters and only one son, and now his son is dead!
He got the news from the Ding family and rushed here, only to find that his son had been eaten by the evil spirit, leaving only his bones!

Including the seven Jinyiwei who followed Li Xiaoding, all of them died at the hands of Xie!
"Sir, I have asked the people of the Ding family, and there should be no problem with the Ding family."

A young man in his thirties walked over quickly, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, a tall body, broad shoulders, dressed in red, and a mandarin hat on his head. He carried a strange weapon on his back, which looked like a spear but was not a spear. There was a gun head on one end and three tubes welded together on the other end, like a hammer.

This thing is called the Three-Eyed Fire Gun, and it is extremely powerful, more powerful than ordinary magic. The black iron tube is filled with gunpowder, saltpeter, and thunderbolts, and when ignited, it will burst out with the power of thunder. The thunderbolts will shoot out a hundred steps like sharp arrows, injuring people a hundred steps away!
The thunderbolt is a kind of lead bullet. It is round in shape. Ten thunderbolts weigh one or two taels. They are hollow and filled with gunpowder. They will explode when they hit the target. They are extremely powerful.

This person is Zhuge Jian, the Dianshi of Shuiniu County Government. He is a very capable person, but unfortunately his family background is not good, so he can only be a Dianshi in the county government.

Zhuge Jian bowed and said, "Yesterday afternoon, the fourth young lady of the Ding family sent a maid named Zi'e to come here, intending to strengthen the friendship between the two families and get closer. Unexpectedly, when it was getting dark, Zi'e still did not return. Because they were worried that something had happened to Zi'e, they sent someone else to come, and then they found out that something had happened in the camp. But by then it was already dark, so they had to retreat back to the Ding family camp, and the young master's body was destroyed by evil and wild beasts."

Li Kefa said coldly: "You mean, my son didn't die at the hands of evil?"

"The young master was killed by someone."

Zhuge Jiandao said, "I have checked carefully. From the scene, the person who attacked did not use any spells or runes. Instead, he relied on a knife and his fists and feet to kill nine people in just one breath. He attacked thirteen times in one breath, and the person who was injured the most was only hit twice by him."

He observed very carefully. Although only the skeletons of Li Xiaoding and others were left, he was still able to judge the number of times Chen Shi had attacked from the clues on the bones and the footprints on the ground.

Li Kefa's face was as gloomy as water. He asked, "What else?"

"He attacked thirteen times, killing nine people. No one present had time to cast spells. They were killed before they even had their spells ready."

Zhuge Jian continued, "This man is not very tall, only about five or six feet tall, but his body is extremely strong and powerful. Within ten feet, his fists and kicks can instantly kill people! His fists can directly crush bones!"

Li Kefa frowned. There were not many cultivators who practiced body cultivation.

"Using the Hercules Talisman can create such a strong body."

Zhuge Jiandao, "Use the Hercules Talisman to instantly gain the power of the Yellow Turban Hercules, and kill people with lightning speed in just a moment! But this person didn't use the Hercules Talisman."

He changed the subject and said, "I checked the ashes left by the burning talismans. Of all the people in the camp, only two talisman ashes were left. These two talismans were the body-protecting golden bell talismans. And the users should have been the young master. So the murderer must be a short-statured cultivator who practices physical cultivation! Or, he could be a master who has achieved the golden elixir stage and wanted to conceal his magic skills, so he deliberately used fists, feet, and knives to kill people."

Li Kefa frowned and said, "After killing my son, this man immediately fled. How can we find this murderer in such a huge crowd?"

Zhuge Jian said sternly: "This man left a clue because he brought a dog with him."

Li Kefa was stunned. He did not see the dog paw prints on the ground.

Dozens of yamen runners at the Shuiniu County Yamen did not find any dog ​​paw prints.

"There are bones on the ground that the dog has gnawed."

Zhuge Jian held a piece of bone in his palm and said, "This bite mark is left by canine teeth. And there is some cinnabar dust on the table. Then the identity of the person who came is obvious. This person must be the talisman master with a black dog. The young master invited him to draw talismans! Black dog blood is used to draw talismans. Black dog blood has the heaviest yang energy and is a good material for grinding cinnabar. Therefore, this dog must be a black dog! This person is short, and he is a talisman master with a black dog. It is not difficult to find out his identity."

Li Kefa breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. There were very few people who met this identity.

"There is another way, that is to summon my son's soul and find out the real culprit."

Li Kefa said, "Go prepare some talismans and get ready to summon the soul. I also want to see my son..." As he spoke, his eyes turned red.

Zhuge Jian hesitated for a moment and said, "Sir, I have already acted on my own initiative and summoned the soul once. I failed to summon the young master's soul..."

Li Kefa was stunned and looked at him in confusion.

Zhuge Jian said carefully: "Not only can't I summon the young master's soul, I can't summon other people's ghosts either. The souls of those who died at the hands of this talisman master disappeared."

Li Kefa stood there in shock, looking quite sad: "My son's soul disappeared? Could this person have eaten my son's soul when he killed someone?"

Zhuge Jian thought for a moment and said, "I have a guess. That is, there must be an evil spirit in this person. Only evil spirits or demons have the ability to eat ghosts. This talisman master may have raised an evil spirit, or he may be possessed by an evil spirit."

This kind of thing has happened before. Evil spirits have possessed people and lurked around in towns and villages eating people. They can eat up all the people in a town in just a few days!

Li Kefa exhaled a breath of foul air and said, "Zhuge Dianshi, I'll leave it to you to capture this short talisman master with the black dog. Don't kill him. I must interrogate him personally, cut open his chest and take out his heart to offer sacrifice to my son's spirit in heaven!"

Zhuge Jian bowed and agreed, then passed down the order, asking the yamen runners to go to various intersections, post stations, and villages to search for the talisman master with the black dog.

The grandfather and grandson returned to Huangpo Village. As usual, the grandfather went to boil the medicine, and Chen Shi took the medicine and took a medicinal bath. In the middle of the night, Chen Shi suddenly felt his heart twitch and was awakened by the piercing pain!

His heart pain problem broke out again! Since he practiced the Three Lights Righteousness Art, he had not suffered from this problem for several days. He did not expect it to be so severe this time!
The five fingers of the green ghost hand on his chest tightly pinched his heart, causing his chest muscles to tighten and his heart felt like it was about to burst!
Chen Shi's body was shaking and twitching. His body was stiff and veins were popping out. He was in so much pain that he couldn't breathe and his face quickly turned red!
The red gradually turns into purple.

He couldn't open his mouth, couldn't make any sound, and couldn't call for his grandfather for help!

After a long time, Chen Shi was sweating all over, his sweat almost soaking the bedding, before he took his first breath.

With this breath of support, he seemed to have grasped a glimmer of hope. He hurriedly mobilized the Three Lights Righteous Energy Technique and fought with all his strength against the green ghost hand that was holding his heart!
It was not until the second half of the night that he finally suppressed the green ghost hand.

The five fingers of the green ghost hand were inserted into his chest, and at this moment they slowly stretched out, and the pain was getting less and less.

Chen Shi was still in shock. This time, the green ghost hand held his heart more heavily and for longer than any other time before. If he had not taken his first breath, he would have died of the pain on the bed!
"Could it be that I consumed too much energy when I killed Li Xiaoding during the day, and my body couldn't suppress the ghost handprint, so this problem broke out?"

Chen Shi thought about it carefully. He did feel a strong sense of hunger when he killed Li Xiaoding and others. It must be because he had consumed too much.

"Grandpa's medicine can suppress the blue ghost hand, but it seems to be getting less and less effective. Only the Three Lights Righteousness Art is still useful. I must go to the True King's Tomb again as soon as possible to get the complete Three Lights Righteousness Art!"

The Three Lights and Righteousness Technique is the only martial art he has obtained so far that can suppress the Green Ghost Hand. It is Chen Shi’s only life-saving straw.

“But to obtain the Three Lights Righteousness Technique, it will definitely alarm the realm of ghosts and gods.” Chen Shi frowned.

The last time he was able to walk so far, he relied on the spiritual power in the spirit chest that Miss Zhao Er gave him. Now without the spirit chest, he can only rely on his own strength. With his current strength, he is afraid that he will not be able to reach the stone tablet before the ghost realm of the True King's Tomb is opened.

"I must go to the deserted temple in the mountains to practice for a while to make my body stronger before I can break into the True King's Tomb again!" He made up his mind and went to bed.

Chen Shi's life became the same as before. He got up early to eat, dueled with all the dogs in the village, stole watermelons, offered sacrifices to his godmother, listened to the scholar ghost answering his questions, and then went to the deserted temple in the deserted mountains to practice the Three Lights Righteousness Technique. At night, he went home to take medicine and take a bath.

On this day, Chen Shi had just paid homage to his godmother outside the village and was listening to Zhu Xiucai preaching when suddenly the sound of horse hooves was heard. A group of more than ten yamen runners galloped past on the post road at full speed, raising a cloud of dust that looked like mist as they headed towards the loess slope.

"Six doors again!"

Chen Shi looked around curiously and asked in confusion, "Weren't all the six gates in Xinxiang County killed by the godmother of Fangdian Village? The bodies were taken away by the ghost bride."

Strangely enough, there has been no news about the ghost bride since that night, and no one has cared about the sudden appearance of the deserted temple in Xinshan. Even when more than 30 people died in the Liushenmen, no news has been received. It is very strange.

Chen Shi had been worried about the murder of Li Xiaoding, fearing that he would be found out, but it seemed that the matter had fallen into oblivion and there was no news at all.

Zhu Xiucai sneered, "What's so strange about this? The so-called six doors are just toilet paper for wiping buttocks in the toilet, just consumables. There are millions of such poor scholars in Xiniuzhou every year. It doesn't matter if a few dozen die. As long as the county magistrate announces the list, countless scholars will try their best to get in."

Chen Shi knew that what he said was right. After a monk passed the examination to become a scholar, if he failed to pass the examination to become a juren, he would have to make a living everywhere. After all, the yamen runners in the county government were public offices in the Ming Dynasty. As long as there was a vacancy, the scholars would flock to it.

"Uu——"

The dozen or so yamen runners suddenly stopped their horses, and the leader dismounted, walked quickly to the yellow slope, and said with a smile: "Little brother, I am Zhuge Jian, the prefect of Shuiniu County. What is your name?"

"honest."

"Brother Honest, I want to ask, is there a talisman master named Chen Yindu in Huangpo Village?"

Chen Shi blinked his eyes and said, "There is a man named Chen Yindu. What do you want to see him for?"

Zhuge Jian smiled and asked, "How tall is this Chen Yindu?"

Chen Shi said: "About the same height as you."

Zhuge Jian frowned slightly, and several yamen runners behind him said one after another: "Boss, it seems that Chen Yindu didn't do the crime. What should we do now?" "We have been running around the nearby villages these days, and the county and town have also sent people. Can that murderous talisman master still escape?"

Zhuge Jian also had a headache. He had been searching everywhere these days, but had not found any suspicious people in any county or town. He had originally thought that there might be some in the countryside, but after searching through all the villages, big and small, he had not found any talisman master who fit the description of a short man with a black dog.

“Am I going in the wrong direction?”

He was about to go home when he suddenly saw a big black dog trotting up the loess slope and wagging its tail towards the little boy under the tree.

The black dog had a kind face and even looked like it was laughing.

The little boy under the tree looked up and said with a smile: "Master Dianshi, my grandfather asked me to go home for dinner."

Zhuge Jian nodded, and looked at the little boy and the black dog leaving, and suddenly there was a thunder in his mind.

"What if the murderer was not a short adult, but a child? A child talisman master with a strong body!"

(End of this chapter)