Chapter 84 Suspended Soul Silk Night Stay
After giving the gift to Xiaobai, Shao Yanzhe, carrying Xuanyao, and Zhou Jiming got into the carriage and headed towards the place they had arranged with Liu Mingyuan and the others.
Liu Mingyuan, Chen Yunhe, Su Yuheng, Shen Jingzhou, and Wen Yanqing were already waiting there. When they saw them arrive, the worry on their faces vanished, and they walked towards them with smiles.
"Brother Shao, Brother Zhou, it's good that you're alright!"
Zhou Jiming snapped open his folding fan and said smugly, "How could anything happen to us? With Brother Shao here, no demons or monsters can do anything to us!"
"Tch! You look like you're the one who got all this done for me!" Liu Mingyuan rolled his eyes at him, clearly disapproving of his demeanor.
The others couldn't help but smile. These two would definitely argue whenever they met, and they were used to it.
After that, the group boarded the same carriage, while the other carriages carrying luggage followed behind.
"Where should we go first?" Shao Yanzhe asked.
“I’ve already inquired around. I heard there’s a great scholar in Suzhou who was the top scholar in the imperial examinations. He was very knowledgeable. After he resigned from his official post and returned to his hometown, he opened an academy. Many successful candidates have come from this academy. Why don’t we go there and take a look?” Su Yuheng said.
"good!"
The remaining people nodded in agreement. They had also heard of Wang Daru from Suzhou and had long wanted to see him for themselves.
The carriage swayed and bumped along the somewhat bumpy official road. Shao Yanzhe and the others each found something to do to pass the time, so they weren't bored.
It was getting late, and the next post station wasn't too far away.
They then decided to stop at the post station for the night.
However, when they arrived at the location of the post station, they found that all that should have been there were four collapsed walls.
"What, what happened? How did the post station become like this?" Liu Mingyuan was surprised as he looked at the desolate scene in front of him.
Logically speaking, the post stations were part of the official communication and transportation system of the Dayong Dynasty, and they would have been regularly maintained, so they shouldn't have become such desolate places.
Zhou Jiming glanced at the desolate post station, but was not surprised; instead, he gave a mocking smile.
Since Gu Huiming seized power, court officials have colluded, only caring about seizing power and completely disregarding the lives of those below them.
This post station is probably not an isolated case. Since the higher-ups don't care, it's not surprising that the lower-ups embezzled the money meant for repairs.
After scanning the area and confirming that there was no place to stay nearby, Shao Yanzhe said, "It seems this place has been abandoned. It's getting dark soon, so let's keep going and see if we can reach the next post station."
"Alright," Su Yuheng nodded.
The group then got back into the carriage and continued their journey.
However, before they reached the next post station, it became completely dark.
The coachman stopped the carriage, lifted the curtain, and said to Shao Yanzhe and his companions, "Gentlemen, the carriage cannot proceed any further."
Shao Yanzhe glanced at the sky outside, only able to vaguely make out the outlines of the surrounding scenery. He couldn't continue walking; it was too dangerous.
"Okay, let's stop then!"
As he spoke, he jumped down from the carriage, and Xuan Yao gently jumped onto his shoulder.
"Meow!"
Shao Yanzhe gently patted his head, looked around, and then lifted him off his shoulder and hugged him. He felt the body, which had been a little cold, warm up.
"Wait here, I'll go check the surroundings."
"Brother Shao, are you alright on your own? Do you need me to come with you?" Zhou Jiming asked, lifting the curtain. He looked around at the dark and quiet environment, and a cool night breeze blew in, creeping up his neck, making him shiver.
"No need, I'll be right back. Don't wander off," Shao Yanzhe instructed.
“Okay!” Zhou Jiming and the others nodded solemnly.
Before leaving, Shao Yanzhe used his jade hairpin pen to mark several carriages as a form of protection before departing with Xuan Yao.
He didn't go far, just wandered around. Finally, by a small path extending from the main road, he saw a long-abandoned temple, much better than the previous post station, at least it had a roof and walls to shelter him from the wind and rain.
"Meow!" Xuan Yao suddenly called out towards the temple, his golden and black heterochromatic eyes narrowing slightly as he stared at the temple in front of him with a wary expression.
"There's a yin energy here!"
He said.
Shao Yanzhe was not alarmed. Judging from Xuan Yao's current appearance, the yin energy in the temple was not strong enough to pose a danger to him.
"Can you handle it?" he asked, looking down.
"Meow!"
Xuan Yao called out, and then he lightly jumped down and leaped through the door with a large hole in front of him.
He came out a short while later.
"solve!"
"That's amazing!"
Shao Yanzhe praised him sincerely, and Xuan Yao was very proud. He raised his head and called out softly.
After confirming that it was safe, they headed back, intending to rest there for the night.
Just as the two left, something floated over from a distance, moved with incredible speed, slipped through the broken door, and disappeared into the dark hole.
Shao Yanzhe carried Xuan Yao back to the carriage. Seeing that there was no difference between the place and before he left, and that the spiritual energy he used to protect the carriage was also normal, he felt relieved.
"Brother Shao, you're back! How did it go? Did you find a place to rest?" Zhou Jiming heard footsteps, eagerly lifted the curtain, and asked Shao Yanzhe as soon as he saw him.
Shao Yanzhe nodded: "We've found a dilapidated temple. We can rest there today."
“Okay, let’s go!” Zhou Jiming was very happy. He was very hungry and wanted to eat something right away.
Led by Shao Yanzhe, the group arrived at the dilapidated temple.
Zhou Jiming and his companions got off the carriage and looked at the somewhat dilapidated temple in front of them, feeling inexplicably afraid to go in.
"Brother Shao, are you sure there are no problems inside?" Liu Mingyuan asked.
The dilapidated temple looked rather eerie, and he was afraid that some ghosts or monsters might be hiding inside.
"Of course, no problem. We've already driven away the little devils inside. It's very clean inside, there's nothing there. Don't worry," Shao Yanzhe reassured him.
"If Brother Shao says so, then I'm relieved!" Zhou Jiming said. "Besides, even if there is something, with Brother Shao here, I won't be afraid!"
"Alright, stop flattering me and hurry up and go inside, I'm starving!" Liu Mingyuan was speechless, so he pushed him and shoved him into the dilapidated temple.
"Hey! What are you doing! I can walk by myself!"
Zhou Jiming began to shout in dissatisfaction.
Shao Yanzhe and his companions followed, but the coachman did not go in with them. They would rest in the carriage at night and guard it, as the carriage was their most precious possession.
Soon, a bonfire was lit in the dilapidated temple.
Shao Yanzhe took out three salted fish and several sesame cakes from his luggage, forked them, and slowly roasted them by the campfire.
Zhou Jiming took out a large piece of beef that he had prepared in advance from his luggage. After smelling it to make sure there was no odor, he took out a dagger and started cutting it.
"Here's some beef for you."
Shao Yanzhe and the others did not refuse. After thanking him, they accepted the beef and took out some dry food from their luggage to give to the others.
Zhou Jiming ate some beef and then some food from the others, and soon he was full.
He looked at his somewhat greasy palms and wanted to find something to wipe them. He stood up and looked around, finally fixing his gaze on a piece of white silk cloth hanging next to a pillar not far away.
He walked over in a few steps, tore off the piece of white silk cloth, and found it to be cool and soft to the touch, indicating that it was a fine piece of fabric.
However, having seen many fine fabrics, he didn't feel it was a waste to use this white silk cloth to wipe his hands.
He thought for a moment, then used only a corner of the silk cloth to wipe the oil stains off his hands before taking the cloth back.
"Here, let me wipe your hands. This cloth is fairly clean."
"Thank you, Brother Zhou, but let's forget about it. This cloth looks white, but I don't know how long it's been hanging here. It must have gotten dirty. It's better to just wash it clean with water."
The oil stains on their hands weren't too much, and they quickly cleaned them off.
Zhou Jiming didn't care. He casually tossed the silk cloth aside and sat back down by the campfire.
Behind him, the silk cloth he had thrown on the ground twitched, as if a gust of wind had just blown it up.
No one noticed this, and even if they did, they probably wouldn't have paid it any mind.
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they each made their own sleeping place, lay down fully clothed, closed their eyes, and slowly breathed into a deep sleep.
Shao Yanzhe had to keep watch tonight. He glanced around and found that he didn't have enough firewood, so he got up and went out of the dilapidated temple to collect some firewood outside.
Xuan Yao glanced at him, yawned widely, closed his eyes, and soon began to snore softly.
Suddenly, the dilapidated temple fell silent.
The next moment, the limp silk cloth on the ground seemed to be lifted up by something and fluttered in mid-air.
Then, the white silk cloth circled in front of the group of people with their eyes closed before finally stopping in front of Liu Mingyuan.
The silk cloth first extended a corner and burrowed under his neck, then quickly coiled around his neck like a snake.
The long piece of silk was crossed and wrapped around Liu Mingyuan's neck in the middle, while the remaining two ends were quickly wrapped around the roof beam above his head.
Suddenly, Liu Mingyuan, who was fast asleep, was hung from the roof beam by this piece of silk.
His once calm face contorted in pain as he reached up to scratch his neck, but he couldn't breathe and could only sway helplessly with the draped cloth.
The silk cloth seemed to be not enough, and the other end was already eager to move towards the next target.
"What is that!" Upon seeing the scene inside, Shao Yanzhe instantly threw away the firewood in his arms, took out his jade hairpin pen, and attacked the silk cloth.
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