Chapter 73 The mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 73 The mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 73 The mastermind behind the scenes
This shout frightened Zhao Fang so much that he shuddered. "I haven't been in there. I, I've heard about it... My Senior Sister Xi said that when the Sect Master was still there, he once took Senior Brother Liu in there. After Senior Brother Liu came out, he privately told everyone that he originally thought that Ranshan was not as good as the surrounding more powerful and inferior sects, but when he went to the illusion, he found that it was indeed worthy of being the orthodox sect of Xuanmen, and it really has a solid foundation..."

The crowd became agitated, and Feng Ji's anger seemed to have subsided a little: "Then think about it again, did your senior brother say where he entered from? Where did your master take him?"

"Brother didn't say where he went... He just said that he was in the sect. After Master chanted the spell, wrote the talisman, and performed the ritual, he suddenly became trance-like and was in a dreamland."

Feng Ji stared at him for a while, then turned around and said to everyone, "Okay, everyone has heard it. It should be in the sect. I guess it might be some secret room or secret passage. We have already searched for it in the afternoon. Let's search carefully this time and don't miss a single inch. I have to say one more thing, don't make trouble! Did you hear me?"

Some people responded a few times, some ignored him, and when Feng Ji said "OK" again, the crowd immediately dispersed.

Li Wuxiang followed the crowd to the back of the screen wall and saw the appearance of the Ranshan Sect.

To be honest, he was a little disappointed. Behind the screen wall was a small square, similar to the Chen family's courtyard. On both sides of the square were two rows of low stone houses, very similar to the two rows of Chen's wing rooms, also covered with black tiles, but there were only two rows. In the middle, in the direction of the Chen family's main house, was a two-story house, also covered with black tiles, with a plaque hanging on the top of the door with the three words "Taiyi Hall" inscribed on it. There seemed to be another courtyard behind the big house, but it was not very large from a vague look.

From this perspective, the Ranshan School, one of the thirty-six orthodox sects, is not even as good as some of the small temples where he came from.

A group of gangsters had already rushed back into the yard and the house in twos and threes to search. Judging from their appearance, they had indeed searched the place thoroughly in the afternoon. This time, they specifically looked under the trees in front of and behind the house, in cracks between rocks, and the like. Every time they came to a place, they would step hard on the ground to see if there was anything hollow underneath.

Seeing this group of people start to search, Lao Guo also became anxious. Li Wuxiang looked at him and said, "If you want to go, go ahead. I didn't say you have to go with me."

Lao Guo hesitated for a moment, as if he thought it would be better to search with this young knight of mysterious origin, but he looked at the people who had already gone deep into the courtyard, and finally said with envy: "Okay, I'll go and take a look first. If I'm not sure what I've found, I'll come and discuss it with you. After all, young knight, your vision is definitely higher than ours..."

He walked as he spoke, and before he had finished his words he had already rushed into the house on the left.

Li Wuxiang stood beside the screen wall and waited for a while, until the group of people slowly walked deeper into the area and the area became quiet, then he walked to the door of the wing room on the right.

He walked into each room and looked around slowly. He saw that the furnishings in the first row of rooms were very simple. They were basically compacted black soil floors. There was an incense table against the wall and a few old cushions on the floor. Everything on the incense table was gone. There was only an empty table. I guess it had been looted. This should have been the place where Ranshan's disciples meditated and practiced in the past.

He went out of the door and walked to the second row. The rooms in the second row were all equipped with large kangs with beds spread out all over the room. They should be the residences of Ranshan's disciples. Naturally, all the beddings and other things were gone, leaving only bamboo mats.

As he looked, he felt around on the wall. He was not like the others who wanted to see if there was any mechanism or something like that - Zhao Kui had hidden a brick in the stove, and Zhao Qi could use talisman paper to create a painting, so the illusion in Ranshan was definitely not a "secret passage with a mechanism".

It was because he felt that the stones used to build Ranshan were extraordinary. After looking at them for a while, Li Wuxiang felt that the buildings of Ranshan Sect seemed both broken and strong. Broken, in other words, many houses had missing black tiles on their roofs, but they were not replaced with new tiles, but were filled with thatch, wooden tiles, etc. Many of the stone bricks on the walls outside the houses were also broken and incomplete, but they were left there like that, and no one repaired them.

In our impression, a building in this condition would have the stones and bricks loosen up if pushed or pulled a little.

But there was a brick in front of Li Wuxiang - at the corner of the outer wall of the house. The top bricks looked loose, with large gaps between them, filled with dust and moss. Most of the bottom brick was exposed, and it looked like it could be pulled out with just a little tug. So Li Wuxiang tried to pull it out, wanting to pick it up and take a closer look. But when he tried to move it, he found that the brick was extremely difficult to move. He finally pulled out a knife, hollowed out some of the soil underneath, and pried it out bit by bit before he pulled the brick out.

The stone brick was in his hand, and the weight was normal. Li Wuxiang took it and knocked it against the corner of the wall. With a bang, half of the stone brick was knocked off, revealing the gray stone core inside - there was nothing wrong with this brick.

But the piece at the corner where it collided with it was a bit strange. There was no damage on it, not even a white mark left.

So Li Wuxiang slowly pried off this piece, and used it to knock against the other piece - this piece also broke, and there was still no mark left on the piece on the wall.

He exhaled slowly and stood up. When the bricks were part of the building, they were extremely strong, but once they were taken down, they became ordinary stones. Perhaps it was because these houses were cast with spells when they were built?
But what is strange is not this, but the way these houses are damaged - some have loose bricks in the corners like here, some have several bricks indented in the middle of the wall, and some have several bricks protruding, as if they were hit by a huge force. But when you look inside the house, the walls are smooth and regular, which shows that it was not hit from inside the house, but from the inside of the wall.

It was already dark, and people in the distance were lighting torches. Li Wuxiang then slowly walked to the Taiyi Hall. The main hall was dedicated to Donghuang Taiyi. Looking at the statue from outside the door, it was no different from the statues in the temples where he came from. They were all made of powdered clay, dressed in red and green, and covered with a cloak. They also had long eyebrows and eyes, and were not as weird as the Kitchen God in Jinshui.

But when you look at the lower body, the statue is sitting on neither a lotus nor auspicious clouds, but seven little people with blurred faces. The faces should not have been eroded by time, but were not shaped when they were sculpted. Li Wuxiang took a look and thought that the seven people below might be the other seven great gods of the Eight Mystical Sects - no wonder they said the Thirty-Six Sects were evil.

Everything that could be taken away from the incense tables elsewhere had been looted, but the incense pots, copper bowls and other items on the incense table in front of the Taiyi statue were still intact, and there were even some dried-up fruit offerings.

When Li Wuxiang walked to the entrance of the hall, he saw four people in the hall. He recognized one of them as Feng Ji, the other two were his helpers, and the fourth was Zhao Fang. There was also a person guarding the door outside the hall, who should also be Feng Ji's helper. He looked serious, as if he had regarded the Taiyi Hall of Ranshan as his own territory.

He was still standing on the steps at this time and could vaguely hear the people inside talking.

Feng Ji was frowning, holding something in his hand: "...Yes, there is something wrong with my precious jade. Since it glows, there must be something fishy in the Ranshan Sect, but I can't tell what's wrong...Alas, the Thirty-Six Sects and the Way of the Sword should not be underestimated, the Third and Fourth Brothers——"

Feng Ji looked at the two helpers beside him and said, "Go out and keep an eye on the people who are looking for us in the back. If you find anything wrong, come back and tell me immediately."

The two men said yes, walked out of the hall, and hurried to the back.

Li Wuxiang stepped onto the steps and walked to the front of the palace gate. The gatekeeper immediately moved to the middle and said, "Friend, we have already searched here. Let's go somewhere else."

Li Wuxiang looked into the temple and said, "This is my first time going up Mount Ran, and I want to see what the temple looks like. I'll just take a look and leave."

The gatekeeper snorted and raised his chin: "I said I've already looked for it."

Li Wuxiang smiled: "I really just want to take a look. Otherwise -"

He walked to one side of the door and looked into the side hall, then walked to the other side: "Is it okay for me not to go in and take a look?"

The gatekeeper took a step forward and asked, "Are you trying to cause trouble?" Feng Ji turned around and asked, "Second Brother, what's wrong?"

The gatekeeper stared at Li Wuxiang and said, "This kid said he wanted to go in and take a look."

Feng Ji took a step back and looked at Li Wuxiang from the side. Seeing that he was young, he raised his head and said, "My friend, you look unfamiliar. You are not usually near Deyang, right?"

Li Wuxiang nodded: "I was just passing by and just wanted to join in the fun."

Feng Ji smiled coldly: "Some excitement is not something you can just join in. You are so young, you must have just laid a foundation, and you have a long life ahead of you. Let me give you a piece of advice, listen to others and you will live longer, go somewhere else to watch the excitement, Ranshan is not the place for you to come."

Li Wuxiang looked towards the side hall and bowed: "You are right."

Then he turned, went down the stairs and walked back into the yard.

Feng Ji and Lao Er frowned and looked at each other. Feng Ji said, "Go keep an eye on him and ask him where he came from."

Li Wuxiang walked to the door of a row of side rooms on the west side and sat down on the steps. It was already completely dark, and the surroundings were pitch black, with only some light inside and behind the main hall.

He sat down and adjusted his skirt a little, and then Lao Er came over aggressively from the darkness and stopped three steps away from him. Just as he was about to speak, Li Wuxiang looked at him and asked, "What's your name?"

The second brother was stunned for a moment: "What?"

"Feng Ji calls you Lao Er, so I'll call you Feng Er." Li Wuxiang raised his chin towards the back of the palace, "We've searched everything. There's no secret room or dark room left, right?"

Feng Er glared: "You ask me? Who are you?"

Li Wuxiang smiled and said, "Just now your boss clearly said that everyone came here to search for treasure together, but now he is staying in the palace and asking you brothers to keep an eye on everything. Doesn't this mean that others are doing things for him? Since you have already saved yourself some trouble, why not save me some trouble too?"

Feng Er stared at him for a while, then turned his face, laughed in anger, and strode forward: "Where did you come from, little thing, you don't know how high the heaven is and how deep the earth is, want to save trouble? Are you worthy? I tell you——"

"What if I say I am the Immortal Xu? Is the Immortal Xu worthy of asking you this?"

Feng Er took only one step forward, then stopped immediately and blinked rapidly: "You...you are Xu Xianren?"

"So is that so?"

Feng Er turned to look in the direction of the main hall, but Feng Ji seemed to be talking to Zhao Fang. He could only turn his head and said, "Well... yes, I have searched several times, but I couldn't find the secret room. Here, Mr. Xu, why didn't you show up before? We brothers..."

"Oh, I'm not Xu Xianren." Li Wuxiang couldn't help laughing, "I just asked if you are Xu Xianren, would you be worthy of me?"

Feng Er was stunned again, and raised his eyebrows suddenly: "You!"

Just as he was about to explode, he saw Li Wuxiang's eyes suddenly turn white. He was startled, and then he saw his mouth open, occupying half of his face, and inside it were layers of mouths - suddenly a ball of white beard spurted out!
Feng Er was so frightened that his whole body went numb, his head buzzed, and he almost fell to the ground. But when he looked again, the boy in front of him was still a handsome boy, but his expression became colder, as if what he saw just now was an illusion: "Do you think I look like an immortal? Haha, go back!"

After he said that, he jumped onto the roof and disappeared.

Feng Er took a few deep breaths, took a few steps back and looked at the roof - he couldn't see anyone, so he immediately ran back to the main hall.

Li Wuxiang lay prone on the black tiles on the roof and saw Feng Erxian go in and say a few words to Feng Ji. Feng Ji's face changed, and he strode out of the hall and looked over here, then hesitated for a moment and walked back.

Li Wuxiang could guess what the two people said roughly - the young man seemed to be a strange thing, and no one knew where he came from. But Feng Ji would not want to cause more trouble at this critical moment. First, they wanted to find treasure, and second, as Zhao Qi and Zeng Jianqiu said and as he saw along the way, it was very troublesome to provoke enemies of unknown origin in this world. It was better to have less trouble than more, so it was best to deal with the things at hand as soon as possible.

But what he wanted to see was not Feng Ji's reaction, but that of Zhao Fang beside him.

Feng Ji said that Xu Xianren might be among them. Li Wuxiang didn't know whether he really thought so or whether he planned to use Xu Xianren's influence to ask the Jianghu people to behave themselves and not cause trouble. But as far as he was concerned, he did have two suspects - the mastermind behind the scenes was mixed in the crowd and secretly observing. He had heard too much about this kind of thing where he came from.

One was the man who brought Zhao Fang here. But when the crowd dispersed earlier, he saw that man greet the other two people, so they must know each other, so he ruled it out for the time being.

The second one was Zhao Fang. Because of what he said before, Li Wuxiang felt something was wrong. "After the master chanted the spell, wrote the talisman, and performed the ritual" - Ranshan's talisman paper did not need to be written, but was drawn. This statement may be that his senior brother said drawing was written, but Ranshan's talisman did not seem to need "ritual".

And now, when Feng Ji walked to the door and looked in his direction, Zhao Fang, who had been standing respectfully behind him, also turned around and looked over here - his expression was solemn, his brows were slightly frowned, and his expression was completely different from the previous Zhao Fang.

Li Wuxiang felt that he could be sure that he was Xu Xianren.

In fact, after seeing this group of people and listening to what Zhao Fang said, he knew what the "Ranshan Illusion" might be and where it was.

He originally planned to wait until the group of people dispersed and then quietly take what he wanted, but since "Xu Xianren" might really be here, he didn't want to delay any longer. It was a pity, he had planned to learn more about the local customs and practices from these Jianghu people.

　Two chapters merged into one
　　
　
(End of this chapter)