Chapter 116 The Guest is the Host:
"Blow it again, blow it a lot more!" Captain Zhao ordered.
The wind-elemental cultivator intensified his efforts, but the illusion array below was too large, like duckweed floating on the water. It would blow up on one side and close up on the other, so they could only see the occasional flashes of dense spikes. They could not see the overall situation.
"I can't blow anymore..." The wind-elemental cultivator slumped weakly to one side, and his teammates helped him up.
"Hey, what should we do? Does anyone in our team have any other ideas?" Captain Zhao asked.
Rong Xie, who had been watching from the side, finally spoke up: "Fellow Daoist Ye, do you still have the strength to blow it one more time?"
"Uh..." The wind-elemental rogue cultivator had just caught his breath when he heard Rong Xie call him out again. He said somewhat reluctantly, "I can do it once, but I'm afraid I can only do it once or twice in the short term."
“It’s alright, one time is enough,” Rong Xie pointed to a spot diagonally below. “If I’m not mistaken, the iron gate should be there. We’ll walk over there, lower the rope, and put a heavy object on one end to make sure it won’t be blown away by the wind and hang down to the bottom. Fellow Daoist Ye, please blow on that spot again to blow the iron gate out and make sure the rope hangs down to the position of the iron gate.”
“Oh…oh, no problem,” the wind-elemental rogue cultivator replied.
"Then let's do as Fellow Daoist Rong says!" Captain Zhao waved his hand, and the team members moved along the top of the wall.
A team member attached a weight to the rope and lowered it down.
Following Rong Xie's instructions, the wind-elemental cultivator blew away the illusion array beneath the Thousand-Pound Fall.
Expanding the search area slightly to the left and right, they indeed saw a tightly locked iron gate right below the illusion array.
The team members who were lowering the rope moved along with it, so that the weight was hanging precisely at the position of the iron gate.
Captain Zhao suddenly realized: "So that's what Fellow Daoist Rong meant! The people from the Lu family came in through that iron gate, and there must be a passage behind the gate. We blew on it just now and sure enough, there were no spikes. As long as we go down from this spot, we won't get hit."
"Brother Rong is indeed clever!" Linglong chimed in.
"You flatter me. I just arrived a little earlier and learned more information," Rong Xie said with a smile. "Everyone, please be careful when you go down. The incense mist down there is probably thicker than up there. If you feel unwell, immediately recite the Ice Heart Mantra and raise your hands so that Captain Zhao and I can know."
"Yes!" "Understood!" the team members immediately replied.
"Liu Er, Cang Pu, you two go first." Captain Zhao began to arrange the troops. "Ling Long, take A Ying and follow... Fellow Daoist Rong and I will cover the rear."
"yes!"
The team members slid down the rope to the bottom of the courtyard wall one by one. Two trailblazers led the way. They took out two magical banana leaf fans and fanned the black mist that filled the bottom. The mist dispersed, revealing a straight path that led to a well with a pulley in the center of the courtyard.
"This is……"
When the team members saw what was happening in front of them, they couldn't help but gasp and retreat. The once orderly team was suddenly squeezed into a mess.
Where the mist dissipated, countless sharp spikes rising from the ground were strung with tiny skeletons, which appeared to be very young, no more than five years old.
I don’t know what kind of horrific things happened here, but what is certain is that these skeletons definitely didn’t run up there on their own. It would be impossible for a child that young to climb the wall, let alone fall on the thorns.
Seeing this heinous scene, even the treasure hunters, who were used to seeing countless big scenes, couldn't help but feel disgusted, and some even vomited.
Everyone had the same thought: The Lu family deserves to die!
"Fellow Daoist Rong!" Captain Zhao, recalling Rong Xie's words, turned around and said indignantly, "Can't this serve as evidence? Although we haven't seen the monster yet, we've witnessed so many children dying tragically—the evidence is conclusive! Can we notify Sword Saint Shen to come and intervene?"
Rong Xie was also very uncomfortable, but he was always cautious and knew that if he didn't have solid evidence, it would alert the enemy and cause serious consequences.
Rong Xie did not answer immediately. He carefully observed the skeletons: "Wait a minute, have you noticed that the skeletons are all in the distance?"
"Hmm?" Captain Zhao only glanced at it and didn't look again. But after hearing Rong Xie's words, he turned back to examine it again and found that it was indeed true. "They are indeed all far away. Is there any reason for this?"
“From a distance, it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s fake,” Rong Xie said. “Don’t forget, we’re in an illusion array.”
"Fellow Daoist Rong means..." Captain Zhao thought for a moment, then called out, "Linglong, tell Aying to go and check if the skeleton is real or fake!"
Despite her discomfort, Linglong sent out Aying. The eagle-headed falcon, unaffected by the illusion array, spread its wings and flew over the spikes. With a swipe of its iron claws, it grabbed a skull, flapped its wings, and flew back, throwing the skull into Linglong's arms.
"Oh my god!" Linglong cursed, "I told you to throw it to Brother Zhao, why did you throw it to me!"
"This thing isn't a skull," a teammate remarked after taking another look.
"What is this if not a skull?" Linglong said, looking down. "Eh...?"
The head-shaped object she was holding wasn't actually a skull, but a flower bud the size of a human head.
The flower buds had dried up, looking like solidified, dried blood scabs, layered on top of each other, forming a spherical shape.
From afar it looks like a skull, but up close it doesn't look like one at all. It feels light in your hand, and if you apply a little force, it crumbles into pieces that scatter like dust.
"This... could it be a rosebud?" Linglong exclaimed. "Brother Rong, Brother Zhao, this isn't a skull, it's a rosebud!"
"It was a rosebud, how come it looks so much like a skull?"
"So those aren't children's remains, but just some flower buds and leaves."
"Looking closely, these spikes don't seem to be hidden weapons deliberately placed here; they look more like plants growing from the ground..."
After observing this, everyone calmed down from their state of agitation.
What they saw was not a horrific scene, but just an ordinary rose bush.
Although it's hard to imagine that the Lu family would plant so many strange varieties of roses here without any malicious intent, and even layer upon layer of illusion magic, it's clearly not enough to use these as evidence to expose Madam Mei; it would only result in Madam Mei turning the tables on them.
"Fortunately, Fellow Daoist Rong was cautious..." Captain Zhao had almost said this a million times.
“Let’s move on. The key is to find evidence of the modification of the servants,” Rong Xie said. “We can’t stay here any longer, Captain Zhao, watch your incense.”
Before they knew it, the black mist enveloped them again, while the emerald green fragrant mist compressed rapidly, barely covering the treasure hunters.
"The Banana Leaf Fan!" Captain Zhao reminded him, while pouring spiritual energy into the incense burner to increase the concentration of the incense mist according to the method the incense master had told him.
The team members who led the way once again swung their banana leaf fans to disperse the black mist, and the group arrived safely at the well in the center of the courtyard. They stood around the well and peered into it.
Captain Zhao and Rong Xie squeezed to the front and looked down: "Done?"
I thought it was some kind of magical spring well, with a magical spring at the bottom, but there wasn't a drop of water, and I could easily see the bottom of the well.
“This well is definitely haunted,” one of the team members analyzed. “Why would a well with a water pulley be placed next to it? I think the bucket of this pulley is just big enough for a person to sit in. If you lower it down with a rope, there must be a hidden world down there!”
“The analysis makes sense,” Captain Zhao nodded, but he still turned to Rong Xie and asked, “What do you think, Fellow Daoist Rong?”
This time, Rong Xie's idea was similar to theirs. However, the well was too small. If it continued like this, and someone blocked the well opening, they wouldn't be able to get out.
“It’s alright,” Captain Zhao laughed. “We’re used to going down these kinds of tunnels—no, wells—we’re experienced. We usually send out scouts first to find out the depth before deciding how many people to go down together.”
"Okay, I'll follow Captain Zhao's instructions," Rong Xie said.
Captain Zhao then called out two more team members and told them to set up "scouts" to scout ahead. The two men pulled out two cages from somewhere, one containing pigeons and the other containing mice.
They first placed the pigeon coop into the well, opened it with a traction mechanism, and then pressed their ears against the well wall to listen for a while.
They used the same method to make a rat cage, and I heard about it once more.
Finally, the two straightened up and reported to Captain Zhao that there was indeed a hidden world down in the well, but the space was not large. There was plenty of air inside, and the pigeons and mice were all alive and well.
"It seems we're getting close to the truth."
Rong Xie and Captain Zhao exchanged a glance, both seeing excitement in each other's eyes.
Meanwhile, at Lu Yingqi's main house.
Several gray figures flew up the wall and silently approached the main house.
Outside the door, two burly old women rolled up their sleeves, stepped over the threshold, and strode into the courtyard.
Their gazes followed the gray-clad figures lurking on the rooftop. They watched as the shadows blended seamlessly with the roof's blue tiles, remaining motionless, before stepping forward, bowing towards the main house, and saying in unison, "This old servant greets Young Master Rong! Madam Mei invites Young Master Rong to the main hall for a family banquet, and has specially sent this old servant to welcome him."
After a moment of silence, a lazy voice came from inside: "Hmm? You're inviting me? I'm not hungry, so I guess I won't bother."
"This..." The two old women exchanged a glance. "Young Master Rong should still go. The master is treating you. Whether you're hungry or not, you should at least show your face so as not to give the master any reason to think otherwise."
A mocking laugh came from inside the room: "Are you trying to teach me how to do things?"
"We wouldn't dare," the two old women explained. "It's just that Madam Mei sent us to invite Young Master Rong. If Young Master Rong doesn't show up, we can't give him a reply."
The two old women were talking and exchanging glances. They had learned how formidable Rong Xie was yesterday, so they came prepared today. But they didn't expect Rong Xie to have changed his tactics again today, just talking big inside and refusing to show himself.
Madam Mei's orders to them were to lure Rong Xie out first, confirm his identity, and then surround and kill him on the spot. This person was too much of a threat, knowing too much, and could not be allowed to live.
As for Lu Yingqi, Madam Mei will find a way to explain.
The two old women only needed to lure the person out and confirm their identity; the killing would be handled by someone else. Who knew that such a simple step would go wrong?
"Heh, whether you can answer me or not is none of my business. I'm not your father." The voice inside the room was just as gentle as it had been yesterday, but the words spoken were exceptionally arrogant. It was unexpected that the two old women, at their age, could still be taken advantage of in terms of seniority.
“Since Young Master Rong doesn’t want to go, then come out and meet us directly. Explain things to us in person. This avoidance is far too rude!” one of the old women retorted.
Believe it or not, choking on it like that actually worked.
Footsteps approached the main house door, and Rong Xie's voice came from behind the door: "Come out, come out. I'm about to die of suffocation in here."
The gate opened with a bang, and the two old women beamed with joy, quickly peering inside.
Inside the door stood a handsome young man with exquisite features, still wearing the same plain long robe as yesterday. He stood on the threshold, not in a hurry to come out, allowing the two old women to see him thoroughly before speaking:
"But, with so many of you here, do you all want to see me? If you want to see me, why don't you come down and meet me together? What are you doing, sneaking around on the roof?"
The two old women were stunned, their smiles freezing on their faces.
The two old women cursed in their local dialect and beckoned the gray-clad men to attack. Suddenly, the gray shadows on the roof appeared, and several magic orbs condensed in their palms.
With a loud "boom," several golden beams radiated outwards from Rong Xie, piercing through the roof and accurately striking the gray-clad man lying in ambush on the eaves. Before the gray-clad man could even utter a cry, he tumbled down from the eaves and landed on the open ground below the steps.
The two old women were stunned. They never expected that the elite troops sent by Madam Mei would be killed so easily. They had only come to identify the people and collect the bodies. Now, the pressure was on them.
The young man in plain clothes inside the threshold flicked his sleeves, slowly lifted his leg, and stepped out of the threshold.
The two old women involuntarily took a step back, about to beg for mercy, when suddenly they heard a cracking sound from the roof. Then, to their expectant gaze, the entire roof collapsed, landing heavily where the young man in plain clothes was standing.
Smoke and dust rose everywhere.
The two old women looked at each other in surprise, hardly believing their luck. That man surnamed Rong had actually killed them.
"Quickly, go and report to Madam Mei that things have been accomplished!"
"Now look what's happened. We don't even need to make up a reason. Our people were just trying to help him fix the roof, but he ripped it off and even caused it to collapse. Tsk tsk, who would have thought this would happen?"
The two old women discussed it and turned to report it, but suddenly they noticed a familiar figure in plain clothes standing behind them.
Rong Xie smiled and said, "Yes, who would have thought this would happen? I thought I was only in charge of things inside the house, but I didn't expect there would be business outside too. Come on, let's go to the banquet and ask your wife what she means by wanting to kill me."
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Bingbing: Even if I don't have a role, I'll still create one for myself. [doge emoji]
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