Chapter 143 Speed of Life and Death, One Step Too Late?
Clearly, in a life-or-death struggle, most people don't use their brains.
It uses muscle memory and inertia.
Even the pain is largely blocked by the brain, leaving only a surge of adrenaline.
Only one thought remained in his mind: to kill the other person.
Ouyang Rong was like that.
The same goes for Liu Qi.
But unfortunately.
Although Ouyang Rong was mischievous and unruly from a young age in his previous life, he was much better than ordinary people at fighting.
However, the slightly weak body he inherited in this life was inferior to the burly Liu Qi in terms of physical strength.
Even the power unleashed in a life-or-death struggle is the same.
Inside the pit.
Liu Qi roared angrily.
Ouyang Rong remained silent.
This is because the narrow space makes it difficult to move around.
Those wielding blades cannot create distance to wear down their opponents, and are instead locked in close combat by those who are unarmed.
It is slightly disadvantageous to the former.
Ouyang Rong's razor-sharp skirt blade and the advantage of severing half of his opponent's palm first were slowly disappearing.
He was holding on by the fierce energy emanating from his body.
The balance of power began to remain at an equal level on both sides.
Only ten breaths had passed.
But Ouyang Rong felt that they had been struggling for a very, very long time.
Until…
Bang!
A solid, muffled thud.
Ouyang Rong braced his leg against the wall, using the momentum to leap into the air, and delivered a powerful elbow strike that slammed into Liu Qi's fleshy face.
The latter's nose bled profusely, and the force of his left hand, which had been pressing down on Ouyang Rong's wrist holding the knife, loosened slightly.
Ouyang Rong took the opportunity to withdraw his hand.
He held the knife high with both hands and slashed diagonally at Liu Qi!
Within the narrow space flanked by earthen walls, this is the only suitable posture for accumulating power.
However, they inadvertently exposed their true colors.
In an instant, Liu Qi delivered a headbutt.
Ouyang Rong fell backward and crashed into the wall.
Liu Qi pressed forward in an instant, the two of them pressed close together.
Liu Qi, with only his left hand still intact, grabbed Ouyang Rong's right wrist, which was holding the knife, and pressed it down hard.
The blade of the skirt knife in Ouyang Rong's hand was slowly moving towards his own neck.
The original agile grappling has turned into a contest of physical strength.
It's clear that Liu Qi has the advantage.
Ouyang Rong tensed up, tilting his head back towards the origin of the blade.
Even with his wrist pinned back, the blade on his right hand still trembled and approached his neck like a magnet.
Liu Qi had two bloody knife marks on his face, and blood stained most of his face.
Blood dripped from his nose and onto Ouyang Rong's face.
Liu Qi's expression was ferocious, and he squeezed out the words he hadn't finished saying not long ago:
"You are Ouyang Lianghan!"
Ouyang Rong raised his head, looked down at Liu Qi.
Enraged, Liu Qi's massive arms, as thick as bull legs, bulged with veins as he pressed down on Ouyang Rong's resisting wrist.
The snow-white blade of Xie Lingjiang's skirt knife gradually magnified before Ouyang Rong's eyes.
His pupils contracted.
Isn't it said that villains die from talking too much?
Ouyang only realized now that it might not be so absolute.
However, this discovery is about to take on the flavor of a dark joke from hell.
The next instant.
Ouyang Rong, who had been looking down at him with arrogance, suddenly changed his expression and turned to look behind Liu Qi, his face showing surprise.
"You lied to me again?"
Liu Qi laughed in anger, without turning around.
"Ah!" he roared, using his last bit of strength to plunge the snow-white blade into Ouyang Rong's throat.
Just then.
With a "bang".
A loud clang came from inside the pit, like iron tools striking a hard object.
Blood began to flow from the back of Liu Qi's head. He turned around blankly, his eyes against the midday sun overhead, and saw a small, dark figure standing above the pit.
The thin figure, gripping the wooden-handled shovel that Liu Qi had just dug, took a step back when he saw the latter staring at him with a ferocious expression.
Liu Qi felt dizzy for a moment, and smacked his lips as if he wanted to say something.
But the next second.
He suddenly felt a void beneath him, and the wrist he had been gripping slipped away.
Before the terrified Liu Qi could react, a line of blood slowly appeared on his neck.
It's like a bulging water sac that's been slashed open with a knife.
Blood gushed out like water.
Liu Qi knelt down, covering his neck with his hands, making "hoarse" sounds, staring wide-eyed at Ouyang Rong, who had silently stood up in front of him.
Ouyang Rong raised his foot and stepped on Liu Qi's head, pushing him forward. The latter, his eyes glazed over, fell heavily to the ground in the grave he had dug himself.
Ouyang Rong's mouth was dry. He crawled out of the pit and slumped to the ground.
His hair was trembling. Looking at the corpse in the pit, the shovel in his hand clattered to the ground. The little monk covered the two large bumps on the back of his head with both hands, wincing in pain. It seemed that he had been pretending to be dead for a long time.
"Great job, well done."
Ouyang Rong weakly gave a thumbs-up, looked up at the sun, and muttered a compliment. It seems this shiny little bald head is quite useful after all; at least it's relatively durable. Everyone in the temple has an iron head, right?
After the secretion of adrenaline decreases, sensory functions return, and fatigue sets in.
The cold wind blowing through the forest blew on his sweaty neck and head, making him shiver and clear his head considerably.
In addition, Ouyang Rong realized something that seemed insignificant.
He did not lose any merit for killing two people today.
It seems that the karma of killing depends on the situation. Not everyone you kill will have their merit points drastically reduced. There might be a red-name system, and if you kill someone with particularly heavy sins, you might even gain merit points...
As Ouyang Rong gasped for breath and his mind wandered, he pondered a series of events.
His hair was still a little dazed and confused. He had just woken up suddenly for some reason. When he woke up, he felt a strange breeze on his face. Then he got up and saw the county magistrate fighting with the villains in the pit next to him, so he helped out.
"Your Honor, this...this...I..."
"You clean up here. Go find the abbot first. Don't go into the Beitian Nursing Home yet!" Before Xiufa could finish speaking, Ouyang Rong immediately forced himself to stand up, left a sentence, and then staggered out of the bamboo forest.
Ouyang Rong rushed to the waiting pavilion, picked up the red cloth and the white sandalwood scabbard, wiped the skirt knife, sheathed the knife, and wore it at his waist.
Without stopping for a moment, he rushed out of the bamboo forest and headed straight for the main hall where his junior sister had burned incense and drawn lots earlier.
Master Shandao and his junior sister were both absent, so they stopped an elderly monk who was in charge of receiving guests and pressed him for answers.
The latter looked at him with a strange expression.
"Wasn't that female bodhisattva walking with you, magistrate, just a quarter of an hour ago?"
Ouyang Rong felt a chill run down his spine, then took his leave and turned to leave.
He rushed to the main gate of Donglin Temple without stopping.
Looking around, the figures of Yan Liulang and his group of constables had long since disappeared from the waiting pavilion not far from the gate, leaving only some ordinary pilgrims.
Just as I expected.
Ouyang Rong took a deep breath, gripped his waist knife, and charged down the mountain.
They didn't dare to stop for a moment, as if they were trying to catch up with something.
Ouyang Rong's expression was serious.
Braving the mountain winds blowing from all sides, he shivered and became much more awake. Certain things in his mind and the conspiracy behind them gradually became clear in his heart, like beads strung together on a fine thread.
All of this must have been orchestrated by Liu Ziwen and his group!
The "female immortal" that the two Liu family thugs were shouting about must have been disguised as him using some kind of strange trick!
This also explains why they mistook the real him for some kind of "female fairy".
The only thing that puzzled Ouyang Rong was...
According to the two henchmen of the Liu family, there should be a powerful assassin waiting for him inside the Beitian Aid Home, and they said it was some kind of swordsman from Chang'an.
If that's true, then how was he able to inspect the Beitian Nursing Home without any problems?
Since his junior sister wasn't around, Ouyang Rong now realizes in hindsight that this was indeed the best time to strike, and he wasn't on guard at all.
Ouyang Rong had to admire the Liu family; they were indeed very good at seizing opportunities. This was right before the ribbon-cutting ceremony, when he was at his most relaxed.
Liu Ziwen is ruthless to resort to such underhanded tactics; his name has been wasted.
Ouyang Rong frowned and remained silent.
But the current situation is that not long ago, he walked out of the Beitian Nursing Home unharmed, without even noticing anything amiss.
This even surprised the two Liu family henchmen; otherwise, he wouldn't have subsequently uncovered the conspiracy, killed the two warriors, and gone down the mountain to chase after them.
Ouyang Rong was completely baffled.
Did the swordsman from Chang'an change his mind halfway and not come, or was there some uncontrollable force that prevented him from coming?
Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he thought to himself:
"Wasn't there a blessing worth three thousand merits that you hadn't redeemed before? Could it really be a blessing meant to save his life? Like what's happening now?"
Ouyang Rong shook his head to dispel his distracting thoughts.
They stopped dwelling on the matter for the time being and turned their attention to what was about to happen.
Liu Ziwen sent men to intercept and kill him, but instead of killing him, he had a woman called "Female Immortal" impersonate him and lead the group down the mountain.
What exactly do they want to do?
Was it simply a desire to kill him?
Why would they secretly transport oil to the Di Gong Gate in preparation for blowing it up? Wouldn't that have also killed him?
Wouldn't that be redundant?
Or perhaps the act of using the gate-washing ceremony to transport oil was just the tip of the iceberg of a conspiracy, a smokescreen to mislead him.
On the surface, the Liu family is on the first level and Ouyang Rong is on the second level, but in reality, the Liu family is on the third level.
Liu Ziwen actually knew that he already knew about the fried gate incident and even knew that he had made preparations for the ribbon-cutting ceremony to make trouble for the Liu family.
So they devised a plan within a plan, first using the fact that the oil-frying gate had been exposed to lull them into a false sense of security.
The current plot at Donglin Temple is to eliminate him, then have the woman known as "Female Immortal" impersonate him, switch places, and go down the mountain to invite the officials from Jiangzhou to the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
After sorting out and summarizing the clues, another question popped into Ouyang Rong's mind.
Why is Liu making such a big fuss about going in circles? Is she just trying to kill someone?
Ouyang Rong suddenly shook his head.
No.
He didn't know about the other members of the Liu family, but Ouyang Rong had a unique understanding of Liu Ziwen's personality.
From the moment Ouyang Rong first saw the plain-looking Liu Ziwen at Yuanming Tower, he knew he had met someone like him in some way.
Like him, once Liu Ziwen takes action, he will never be satisfied with simply killing.
What kind of skill is it to kill someone?
Destroying the heart is the ultimate tactic.
So how do we attack someone's heart?
On the mountain road, Ouyang Rong, who was trying to adopt Liu Ziwen's perspective, fell silent for a moment.
The existing information and conclusions swirled in his mind, piecing them together, and finally, like a jigsaw puzzle, he could vaguely see a panoramic view.
He looked up, sighed, and murmured:
"I don't know how many strategies Liu Ziwen has, but I have three..."
First strategy.
He had the "female fairy" impersonate him and publicly blow up the gate at the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Di Gong Gate, thus taking the blame for the crime.
Second strategy.
The "female fairy" will still impersonate him to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony. However, this time, the Liu family will publicly expose "Ouyang Lianghan's" conspiracy to blow up the gate, and put all the witnesses and evidence in "Ouyang Lianghan's" face.
As for how the witnesses and physical evidence came about, with a "female immortal" who could impersonate him, it wasn't difficult to prepare witnesses and physical evidence a few days in advance. Using the fake "Ouyang Ronglianghan," any kind of accusation could be thrown at him.
The third strategy.
Ouyang Rong thought it was the simplest and most direct approach.
The officials from Jiangzhou have just arrived, haven't they? I remember this was a "small request" that Liu Ziwen made at the apology banquet back then.
All they need to do is have Ouyang Lianghan, disguised as a "female immortal," assassinate the Jiangzhou officials in full view of everyone, either killing them all or killing one of the important court officials.
Even if Ouyang Rong were a local official, even if he were a renowned upright gentleman, he would be finished. This mudslinging was enough to ruin his future.
All three of these strategies can be used to smear someone's reputation and discredit them.
If the information revealed by those two Liu family thugs not long ago is correct...
He was beheaded at Donglin Temple, and his subsequent actions were disguised as a crime committed during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, during which he fled in fear of punishment and then committed suicide out of guilt.
In the end, all three strategies could utilize his status as a "dead man".
Moreover, once these three strategies are successfully implemented, after Ouyang Rong is falsely accused of "committing suicide," all the disaster relief and water conservancy projects he undertook during his lifetime can be overturned.
The Liu family's porridge stall and orphanage can reopen and prosper; Di Gongzha's big business can also continue, bringing in wealth every year with great floods!
Ouyang Rong pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly, then shook his head.
Of these three strategies, the first one is the worst, with the lowest probability of success.
If Ouyang Rong's guess was correct, the Di Gong Gate, which collapsed every four years, should be a core interest of the Liu family.
There's a better plan; there's no need to build another expensive Di Gong gate just for Ouyang Lianghan, who has already been beheaded.
As for the second and third strategies...
Ouyang Rong felt that the first strategy was superior, but in terms of effectiveness, they were equally good.
The only difference is that the former is more literary, while the latter is more martial.
Moreover, neither of them requires a power outage, which can save costs.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to leave the gate for Di Gong to blow up when the time is right?
As for whether it is one of these three strategies, and which strategy Liu Ziwen will choose...
If we believe the name wasn't chosen incorrectly, then it's the one with the character "文" (Wen), which is the second strategy.
But was Liu Ziwen truly a scholar?
Ouyang Rong pursed his lips.
He rushed down the mountain, stopping only briefly by a mountain spring along the way to drink a large gulp of the icy water from his parched lips...
Finally, Ouyang Rong, panting heavily, reached the foot of the mountain.
However, at the foot of the mountain, looking left and right, all the carriages that had been parked there had disappeared.
He ultimately failed to catch the tail.
Or rather, his initial hope was dashed—the fake "Ouyang Lianghan" didn't linger at all, and went straight down the mountain with his junior sister and Yan Liulang to pick up the officials from Jiangzhou.
Ouyang Rong frowned deeply. He only had two legs now; was he supposed to chase after them on foot?
However, according to today's schedule, after the fake "Ouyang Rong" and his party pick up the officials from Jiangzhou, they will go straight to the ferry at Butterfly Creek, take a fast boat with the wind to the Yue Nu Gorge camp to welcome them and then immediately hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
"How can we possibly catch up with that!"
Even if he could get a horse right away, he would already be at least 25 minutes late, even if he chased after it at full speed.
Even though Ouyang Rong rushed to the ferry crossing in the county town, they had already boarded the boat and set off.
Even if he hired a boat to catch up, on waterways, most boats of that era had almost the same speed, so he still couldn't catch up.
Ouyang Rong was still two quarters of an hour to half an hour behind!
By the time he finally arrived at Di Gongzha, the ribbon-cutting ceremony would probably be almost over. One step behind means one step behind!
what to do?
Ouyang Rong took a deep breath, trying to keep his expression calm, and frowned as he looked around.
Longcheng County is located west of Dagushan Mountain. To the south of Dagushan Mountain is the direction of Yunmengze, which is the direction of Yue Nuxia Gorge. To the north is the Yangtze River.
Ouyang Rong glanced towards the western county town where the fake "Ouyang Lianghan" and his group were probably on their way to pick someone up by boat.
Then he turned his head and looked south towards the direction of Di Gong Gate.
They'll definitely be going to Yue Nu Gorge for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Di Gong Gate eventually, so how should I pursue them...?
Just then, an image flashed through Ouyang Rong's mind: the winding and complex waterway of Butterfly Creek, which he had briefly stopped to look out from when he was drinking spring water halfway up the mountain.
The next second, Ouyang Rong took a step and shot out like an arrow.
What's strange is...
He was not running west to try and catch up with the fake "Ouyang Lianghan" and his group.
They didn't head directly south, but went straight to Yue Nu Gorge.
Ouyang Rong ran north as fast as he could.
That's the direction of the great river.
However, there is... the starting point of a new canal.
Pine Forest Crossing.
(End of this chapter)
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