Chapter Nineteen
Sai Xue was unusually sarcastic today, her every word revolving around Li Zhi, which annoyed Bao Zhu. Fortunately, after a big argument with her, she fled back to Ruan Garden.
The moment she stepped into the courtyard and saw everything that came into view, Baozhu sighed again.
This originally dilapidated courtyard has become more charming thanks to Li Zhi's daily hammering and tinkering.
He repaired the roof where you could see the stars from inside the house, and the floor that used to creak when you walked on it became quiet. Every piece of furniture was cleaned until it shone.
Outside the small kitchen next to the courtyard, there was a pile of firewood that Li Zhi had chopped, and the water vat had been washed clean and filled with water.
He even transplanted a few wildflowers that were growing freely from the garden and placed them under the windowsill.
He transformed what was originally a temporary residence into a home.
What would such a person do to Baozhu?
This time, he remained respectful, and none of the ambiguous words and passionate entanglements from their previous life occurred. However, Baozhu could see into Li Zhi's eyes, and she could sense a certain unspoken affection flowing between them.
Baozhu slowly sat on the threshold, resting her chin on her hands in a daze.
Two people were fighting in her mind. One was saying to her, "How can you not believe Li Zhi? Don't you know what kind of person he is?"
Another retorted, "That's all from your past life. He didn't say anything this time, so maybe he really has discovered you're a monster. What you should do now is pack your bags and go home!"
"He should go home. We promised each other we would never have anything to do with each other again in this life. We have already escorted him safely to Xiandu Prefecture."
Baozhu muttered to herself, her eyes vacant.
But her thoughts were completely different. In their previous life, they had lived happily together for so long, and Li Zhi had never discovered that she was a demon. If they could do it all over again, if they could be together happily, if Li Zhi didn't actually care that she was a demon...
Baozhu buried her head in her knees.
She hugged herself tightly and whispered, "What are you thinking? He's just a mortal. How can a mortal not be afraid of monsters?"
She was all alone in the courtyard, so naturally no one answered.
The little flower that Li Zhi planted shook its head slightly, as if it were also saddened by Baozhu's passing.
Baozhu got up, rubbed her eyes, and decided to bury her head in the sand and take a nap to forget about it for the time being.
Just then, she heard a call coming from the entrance of Ruan Garden.
"Li Zhi, is Young Master Li here?"
Baozhu was startled and looked in the direction from which the sound came.
Who came to Ruan Garden to find Li Zhi? Was it a classmate he had mentioned?
"Young Master Li! Are you there?"
There was another call, but this time it was a woman's voice.
For some reason, Baozhu felt that the name sounded familiar.
She didn't answer, but quietly walked to the door and silently pressed herself against the crack to look outside.
Standing outside the door were two people Baozhu had seen before, the two Celestial Masters from Qiling County.
As if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head, Baozhu froze on the spot.
How could it be them? How could they have come to Xiandu Prefecture?
Did Li Zhi have any private contact with them? If it was just to report a case, why would these two celestial masters come out of the city to look for him?
Baozhu's unease grew stronger.
The two celestial masters called out several times, but received no response from Li Zhi, so they began to talk anxiously.
"Is something wrong with Young Master Li?" Pei Xuanji asked worriedly.
“We didn’t find that Young Master Zhou yesterday. He knows nothing about it, so he shouldn’t be in trouble,” Zhang He said, scratching his head thoughtfully.
Baozhu, who was hiding behind the door, was completely confused. Just as she was about to listen again, the Taoist priest at the door looked into the distance and called out Li Zhi's name.
Li Zhi has actually returned.
Upon seeing the two celestial masters, he wore an expression of relief, and even from a distance, he announced loudly, "I've found a clue; it's related to the corpses on Yonglian Mountain."
Upon hearing this, the two celestial masters perked up and stepped forward, asking, "Is it true?"
“It’s true, of course. Come with me.”
As Li Zhi spoke, he glanced at Ruan Garden without leaving a trace, and then quickly left with the Celestial Masters.
Li Zhi actually discovered the clue; it turned out that the Celestial Master had come to their door because of this.
Baozhu, who was behind the door, saw the three leave and wanted to follow them to see what was going on, but she was afraid that if the excitement was too great, the Celestial Master would implicate innocent people and take her along with him.
After hesitating for a while, seeing that the three people were about to disappear from sight, he hurriedly followed them.
"I will just watch from a distance and never get close. The Celestial Master should not find out."
Baozhu tried to comfort herself furtively.
Li Zhi led the Celestial Masters away from Ruan Garden and rushed towards the village where he had hidden Zhou Huan.
Due to the urgency of the situation, Zhang He and his group only had time to make a paper crane out of talisman paper and fly back to Yiren Temple to report.
"I imagine your other two classmates are already on their way back with their men. If they can catch up with you and apprehend the mastermind you mentioned, this case will be much easier to handle."
As Zhang He spoke, he emphasized to Pei Xuanji, "This time, when you're capturing people, you can only stand by and watch. If things go wrong, run immediately, understand?"
Seeing that Pei Xuanji did not answer, Zhang He said anxiously, "You have only been a disciple for a short time and your cultivation is shallow, but your future is limitless. If you perish here, it will be a loss for the Temple of Strange People!"
Pei Xuan remained silent for a long time before finally replying with a single word: "Okay."
Seeing that Pei Xuanji agreed, Zhang He breathed a sigh of relief. His cultivation was decent, and he was always confident in dealing with demons. However, his colleagues were too inexperienced, which worried him more than the demons.
As for Li Zhi, who led the way, Zhang He didn't even consider him a usable person.
Li Zhi knew what was going on, so he kept quiet and continued on his way without getting involved in Zhang He and Pei Xuanji's discussion.
When they arrived at the small courtyard rented by Gu and Zhao, it was exactly as it had been before Li Zhi left. They were very fast and arrived before their opponents.
Seeing this, Zhang He smiled and said, "That's very good. Let's do as we just said."
After saying that, Pei Xuanji quickly began to make arrangements, while Zhang He waved for Li Zhi to leave.
Li Zhi had no other words to say. He had already brought the person there, and now he was just a burden. So he nodded, turned around, and went back the way he came.
But just as he took a step, he spotted a group of three people walking quickly toward him in the distance.
Oh no! If we try to leave the village now, we'll run into them. Li Zhi made a quick decision. After warning the Taoist priests, he jumped into the empty courtyard where he had hidden Zhou Huan and hid in the dilapidated side room.
In the urgency of the situation, Li Zhi had no time to clean up his tracks and could only pray that the three men were completely unaware of his presence.
Before long, Li Zhi heard voices outside.
"This is it. Gu Chen and I rented this courtyard specifically to plan this."
"Hmm." Li Zhi heard a cold male voice, "I will report your loyalty to the Supreme One."
"That's wonderful, that's wonderful! Please put in a good word for us."
Upon hearing the squinty-eyed man's words, Gu Chen and Zhao Jing were overjoyed and wept tears of joy. The obsequiousness in his words was chilling.
Two perfectly good scholars have ended up like this.
The squinting man smiled and reached out to brush the tops of their heads: "Blessings on behalf of the Supreme One."
The two of them then began to cry in an exaggerated manner.
After some pretense, Zhao Jing took out his key, opened the gate to the courtyard, and gestured for them to enter.
The squinting man stopped after taking just one step in. A glint of shrewdness flashed in his narrow eyes as he turned and asked, "Did anyone else know about your plan?"
Gu Chen and Zhao Jing exchanged a glance, and Zhao Jing whispered somewhat guiltily, "Of course not, we did it very discreetly. Zhou Huan is a playboy, and he always has different companions when he goes out drinking and traveling. He wouldn't suspect us."
The squinting man gave a noncommittal "hmm" and walked into the courtyard first.
"We locked Zhou Huan in the cellar."
Zhao Jing, who was following behind, couldn't wait to go forward and open the cellar door for the squinty-eyed man.
Despite his attentiveness, the squinty-eyed man stood still, looking around the small courtyard.
"Wait a minute."
The squinting man lowered his head, smiling as he looked at the ground: "Of the three of you, who has such small feet?"
On the ground, there was a small, clear footprint.
Zhao Jing stood there, unsure whether to open the cellar door or not, while Gu Chen was completely baffled: "Perhaps, perhaps."
The squinting man stopped talking and turned to leave.
Gu Chen instinctively reached out to stop him.
His hand stopped in mid-air before it even touched the squinty-eyed man's sleeve.
A fat worm, about the size of an arm, poked its head out of Gu Chen's abdomen.
Gu Chen slowly looked down at his abdomen, wondering how the worm had appeared.
The next instant, the poor scholar who had studied for over twenty years collapsed with a thud. A large gash ran down his abdomen, but not a single drop of blood splattered out.
His eyes stared blankly at the sky, his abdomen empty.
The squinting man bent down and picked up the wriggling worm, then reached out his hand towards Zhao Jing from a distance.
Stunned by the scene before him, Zhao Jing knelt down softly.
He felt his stomach was swollen, as if something was struggling inside, but he dared not reach out and touch it.
In his fear, Zhao Jing saw a plump white worm floating in the air, flying towards the squinting man.
Then his consciousness dissipated.
"What a waste."
The squinting man took the worm, muttered something, and walked outside.
From the moment the squinting man discovered the small footprints to the successive deaths of Gu and Zhao, everything happened in the blink of an eye. Zhang He, who was impersonating Zhou Huan in the cellar, and Pei Xuanji, who was lurking on the beam of the main room, had no time to react.
At this point, the deaths of the two scholars were a foregone conclusion. Seeing the squinty-eyed man about to leave, Pei Xuanji hurriedly jumped down, pulled out a dull, dark sword, and stabbed at him.
"A Taoist priest like you actually needs this sword?" The squinty-eyed man smiled and turned back, shaking his head at her. "You can't utilize its full potential."
As they were talking, Zhang He pushed open the cellar door from the inside. He leaped up, brandishing a peach wood sword with great force, and shouted, "What about my sword?"
Zhang He moved swiftly and fiercely, subtly pushing Pei Xuanji aside and engaging in a fierce battle with the squinty-eyed man.
In the blink of an eye, the two exchanged blows dozens of times. The squinting man used his arm to block the peach wood sword, which was not metal, but the clanging sound was incessant.
As soon as they clashed, Zhang He knew he had encountered the strongest monster he had ever seen. In his surprise and doubt, he subconsciously thought of Pei Xuanji, who was just starting out in the world, and the scholar Li Zhi and Zhou Huan, who had not yet left the place.
He had used all his strength, but his opponent, this demon, still had some strength left to spare!
Zhang He no longer dared to try to entangle the demon. Once reinforcements from the Strange People's Temple arrived, he only hoped to protect the lives of those around him.
Sweating profusely, Zhang He found an opportunity and pulled out a bright red talisman from his pocket.
"Senior!" Pei Xuanji exclaimed from behind him.
The squinting man clicked his tongue and said softly, "It's pointless to fight to the death after only a few exchanges."
Having said that, he reached out and forcefully blocked and shook Zhang He, who flew into the house along with the peach wood sword, crashing into the furniture. Zhang He was so disoriented that he saw stars.
He forced himself to look up again, but the squinting man had already disappeared.
The squinting man clutched his injured arm and tried to leave like a whirlwind.
He was well aware of the actions of the Temple of Strange People. Although there were only two Celestial Masters at the moment, they were just waiting for reinforcements. If the elite troops arrived, he would not fare well either.
only.
The squinting man stopped and looked at the big tree at the entrance of the village.
Why is there a little bug hiding here peeking at us at this time?
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