Bait
On Wuchen Island, under the sunset.
Bai Roushuang and her senior sister looked at the backs of the newlyweds holding hands, and couldn't help thinking, this is truly the case of only envying the mandarin ducks and not the immortals.
Love and affection... Thinking of Lu Beichen, she did not feel any regrets in her heart. On the road to becoming an immortal, everyone has different pursuits.
Bai Roushuang glanced at the things in Sheng Wuyou's parents' hands and laughed: "Senior Sister, how many ice cream cheeses did you prepare?"
"I bought a hundred of them last time I took a break," Xu Shulou blinked, "I ate eighty of them myself and left twenty for you guys."
“…”
———
After the wedding banquet, Sheng Wuyou spent her first night on Wuchen Island. Although she appeared confident and determined to get married in front of her parents, she couldn't help feeling uneasy in her heart.
The next day, she got up early in the morning and went to offer tea to Chang Yuxian. She took the tea, gave her a gift, and told her that there was no custom of greeting in the morning at Mingyue Peak, and told her that she could sleep in as late as she wanted in the future.
After serving tea, Sheng Wuyou returned to her room. She knew that most monks did not eat mortal food, and she did not expect anyone on Wuchen Island to cook. When she got married, her parents stuffed some easy-to-store snacks into her dowry, but when these were used up, how would she solve the problem of three meals a day? Should she ask for some fasting pills? While she was thinking, she heard someone knocking on the door. It was Bai Roushuang who came to take her to have breakfast.
Then he went to the lobby of Mingyue Peak, and saw Song Ping, Xu Shulou and their group sitting around the table. His parents were also in the crowd, happily tasting the lotus leaf soup. Sheng Wuyou was slightly startled, and guessed that Bai Roushuang had gotten up early to prepare this for them, a few mortals, and his heart warmed.
Just as he was about to say thank you, Bai Roushuang stopped him by shaking her head: "My senior sisters and brothers also took care of me when I entered Mingyue Peak. What I am doing now is just what I should do. There is no need to thank me."
Bai Roushuang pointed out the location of the kitchen to her, and Xu Shulou also gave her a few food boxes for storing food, telling her that she could pack some of her favorite food every time she went to the mortal world, and that it could be kept for three months.
Sheng Wuyou took it with joy. This lunch box was so convenient that it relieved her worries.
She stayed on Mingyue Peak for a few days. The only elder, Immortal Chang Yu, never interfered with her. When they met occasionally, he would just smile at her. She could do whatever she wanted. If she wanted to go back to the mortal world, her husband would take her with him. Song Ping didn't need her to worry about anything. There were only Chang Yu and his seven disciples on Mingyue Peak. There was no need to deal with complicated interpersonal relationships. Besides, everyone was easy to get along with. Xu Shulou and Bai Roushuang were afraid that she would not adapt to the new situation, so they took turns to talk to her and show her where to see the best scenery on Wuchen Island.
For a moment, I felt even more relaxed and comfortable than when I was a daughter at home.
Mingyue Peak is very big and the scenery is beautiful. She has not seen it all in the past few days. When she went to the top of the mountain to see the scenery today, she ran into Xu Shulou flying in the air with Madam Sheng in his arms. Her mother, who was always dignified and steady, spread her arms and laughed as if she was flying, while her father looked on enviously on the ground, but was too embarrassed to ask his son-in-law Song Ping to take him flying.
After living on the Wuchen Island with their daughter for a few days, Sheng's father and mother couldn't help but sigh that this was indeed much easier than marrying into the mortal world, dealing with a large family of her husband, handling the relationships between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, sisters-in-law, and taking care of the affairs of the whole family.
Song Ping also decided not to return to Xuancang Academy for the time being. Given the life span of a cultivator, he would still have time to return to the academy to continue his training even if he lived a hundred years later. He planned to accompany his wife back to the mortal world for a few months every year, then return to Wuchen Island for a while, and spend the rest of the time together to see the scenery of various places.
Father and Mother Sheng were overjoyed. They held Song Ping's hand and were so excited that they were speechless for a long time.
The custom in the mortal world at that time was that a married woman would return to her parents' home on the sixth day. On this day, a group of people set out for the mortal world. Song Ping took his wife with him, while the Sheng couple were taken to the Sheng Mansion by Xu Shulou and several junior brothers respectively.
There was laughter and joy all the way. Father and Mother Sheng were no longer crying like they were a few days ago. When they landed in front of the Sheng Mansion, they still had smiles on their faces.
The steward of the Sheng Mansion came over to greet them. From the looks of the two of them, he knew that the trip was going very well, so he hurriedly congratulated them.
Mother Sheng agreed with a smile and asked the steward if anything had happened at home in the past few days. She also asked if Errong had returned.
When the matter was mentioned, the steward frowned: "Master, Madam..."
"You can talk as you please. These are my son-in-law's fellow disciples."
"Yes," the steward nodded in response, "the people we sent to the countryside to ask around found out that Errong's parents actually thought she had returned to the Sheng Mansion a long time ago. When the two sides met, they realized that she was missing. Nanny You has already reported it to the authorities. I also went to the government office, but there is still no news!"
"Oh," Mother Sheng asked worriedly, "What's going on? Have you sent anyone to look for it?"
"We've searched. We sent people to search the road from the village to our house twice." The manager shook his head, obviously finding nothing.
"What did the government say?" Sheng Wuyou asked.
"They said that two young ladies went missing in a nearby village last month and have not been found yet. I don't know if it has anything to do with Errong's case."
"What should I do?" Sheng Wuyou became more and more worried.
Xu Shulou and his companions had originally planned to send the Sheng family back to the mansion and then return to Xuancang College. After hearing this, they comforted them, "Don't worry, we will all go and help find them."
The Sheng family didn't care about the rules of returning home. Sheng Wuyou changed into light clothes and said, "I'll go too!"
"Then Miss Sheng, you and Second Junior Brother should go to the government office to inquire about any more missing persons," Xu Shulou arranged. "Several Junior Brothers should go to the nearby villages to inquire about the news, while Junior Sister and I will go to Errong's home to check."
"good!"
Everyone quickly split up and the Sheng couple stood at the gate and looked at each other. Mother Sheng said, "See, this marriage is really a match."
Father Sheng also nodded: "Yes, there are all kinds of people in the mortal world, and cultivators are no exception. If you forbid your daughter from contacting Song Ping because of Feng Jiuyou's incident, it would be a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater."
———
Xu Shulou and Bai Roushuang went straight to Youjia Village where Errong and Nanny You's family lived. They asked some questions. The nanny's family looked worried, but they knew nothing about anything. They only said that when Errong left that day, she said that she couldn't miss the young lady's wedding banquet, and her younger brother sent her to the village entrance, but she disappeared in broad daylight.
Errong's brother pointed out the mountain road that his sister often walked with tears in his eyes. Xu Shulou and Bai Roushuang followed the road and observed carefully: "If Errong had struggled, there might be traces left."
"Senior Sister, look here!" Bai Roushuang quickly found a sword mark on the mountain wall and hurriedly called Xu Shulou.
Xu Shulou came over to take a look and asked his junior sister to use the sword to measure the depth. Bai Roushuang did as she was told: "My entire sword almost went in. The sword mark is about three feet long."
"So, the sword was completely inserted into the stone wall at that time. It must be the masterpiece of a cultivator."
Bai Roushuang recalled the past with lingering fear: "The cultivator took Errong away? Are they going to sacrifice mortals to practice some kind of soul-calling flag?"
"It shouldn't be. It's too slow to arrest people one by one. The last time we met those two, they were so generous that they wanted to flood the whole town in one go." Xu Shulou shook his head. "If they want to make a soul-calling banner, it would be better to bury several nearby villages with them."
"But if he is a cultivator, even if he is only in the Qi Refining Stage, it seems that he doesn't need to use a sword to deal with Er Rong, right?"
Xu Shulou nodded: "Go and ask if there are any other people missing in the village."
In response to this question, the villagers all shook their heads. After the two asked around, someone finally remembered: "It seems that the bald man in the village has not been seen for some time."
"What baldhead?"
"He's just an annoying guy who steals chickens from one house and picks vegetables from another all day long. He just relies on his natural strength so that others dare not do anything to him. If he really disappears, we will applaud!"
Xu Shulou and Bai Roushuang looked at each other, thanked each other, and seeing that they could not get any other information, they returned to Sheng Mansion to reunite with everyone.
Everyone gained something from this trip. Several fellow apprentices ran very far, visiting almost all the surrounding villages. They learned that many people had disappeared here one after another, both men and women, mostly young and middle-aged people, but very few elderly people and children.
Mother Sheng frowned: "Then he is not a kidnapper. Kidnappers always like to target children."
Someone else asked, "Then why did the government only say that two girls went missing last month?"
"Not every family reported the case to the authorities. Some of the children were orphans, so no one reported it to the authorities. Others thought their children had eloped with someone else, and they were too embarrassed to report it to the authorities. We also met a man who had a quarrel with his wife and threatened to kill each other in front of the villagers. So he didn't dare to make it public when his wife went missing, fearing that the authorities would arrest him as a criminal," Jiang Yan shook her head helplessly. "In short, there are all kinds of reasons."
Sheng Wuyou continued, "Moreover, not all of the nearby villages are under the jurisdiction of the Yunzhou government, so Yunzhou has not received any reports. My husband and I went to several nearby county offices and asked about the missing persons in recent years. We learned that most of the women were decent looking, while the men were strong and healthy. We are not sure whether it can be considered the same case."
The crowd was not good at solving cases, and they were at a loss with these clues. Xu Shulou looked around at his fellow apprentices, wanting to pick a bait, but none of them looked strong and muscular, so he could only sigh: "I'll be the bait, you guys sort out the areas where those people went missing, and I'll go over there and try my luck."
"If the other party is also a cultivator and senses that you have spiritual power, he will definitely not show up."
"I will seal my spiritual power in advance."
"Senior Sister!"
"Don't worry, I have a backup plan."
———
Xu Shulou learned that none of the missing people were of particularly high status. He thought that such people would easily cause trouble, so the bad guys would not touch them. So he simply asked the steward for a dress and asked his junior sister to help him comb his hair into double buns, and dressed up as a maid in the Sheng Mansion.
She sealed her spiritual power and walked the road from Sheng Mansion to Youjia Village like an ordinary mortal. When she reached the mountain where the sword marks were left, she was afraid that she would not attract the attention of the villains. She sobbed at a deafening volume and cried loudly: "My sister Errong, why did you disappear? You still haven't paid me the three taels of silver you owe me!"
After walking for a while, he started to improvise a story: "That's the money that Erniu and I were going to elope with!"
Her voice was so loud that even the birds on the roadside treetops looked at her with disdain.
The journey passed uneventfully until Xu Shulou arrived at You's house. He felt that the daytime was too safe, so he stayed at her house until midnight, and then he went out to cry and wail when the moon was dark and the wind was strong.
In the next few days, she came to visit You's nurse every day with a bamboo basket, and Madam Sheng helped her to put on a good show, packing some snacks for her to take back every day. I don't know if Xu Shulou was lucky, or if she made too much noise, or maybe her appearance was especially in line with the standards of the people behind the scenes, anyway, she ran into bad guys after only a few trips.
Xu Shulou was hit on the back of his neck, a black cloth bag was put on his head, and he was carried away by someone.
I didn't feel dizzy, but it was quite painful and the snacks were scattered all over the floor.
Xu Shulou kept this person in mind.
The man flew for a long time. Xu Shulou could feel that his cultivation was not very high. He was not flying fast and his breathing was short. He was afraid that his foundation was not well laid. No wonder he had to use a sword to intimidate a strong mortal. When he finally stopped, he handed her to someone. The man lifted the cloth bag on her head and hummed, seeming to be satisfied with her appearance. Not long after, she was carried up and thrown into a place. When she finally opened her eyes, she found herself in an iron cage. Several inmates were young women, staring at her, the latecomer, quietly.
Some of them looked lost and at a loss, probably newcomers like her, some were distraught, and some looked numb, as if they had already accepted their fate.
Xu Shulou asked: "Where is this place?"
The girl with a wound on her forehead looked at her and said, "Colosseum."
"What Colosseum?"
"Shut up!" A ferocious-looking man knocked on the cage impatiently with an iron rod. "People are locked up here. What do you think this is? A gladiatorial arena?"
A girl in the cage was so scared that she started crying: "Using mortals to fight beasts, how can you do such a heinous business?"
The man laughed, as if he thought she was ridiculous: "You mortals can fight cocks, dogs and crickets, so we monks can fight mortals. The strong prey on the weak. Is that so strange?"
“…”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com