Chapter 920 Even thieves have their code of honor, but tomb raiding...
At the edge of Yunmeng Sword Marsh, shrouded in a misty fog where even sunlight cannot penetrate.
The ship carrying the goods for the purchase is moored.
Ouyang Rong and the others looked up at the large ship in front of them.
Madam Chen's voice came:
"This is the fairy of Lantang. On this trip down the mountain, you must obey the fairy's orders."
When Ouyang Rong heard the words "Lantang", his eyes flickered.
They learned from Li Wan and the others that Lantang was a hall directly managed by the second daughter, Yu Nianyuan. It was responsible for various affairs of Yunmeng Sword Marsh at the foot of the mountain, as well as miscellaneous halls within the Sword Marsh, including the dining hall.
The Yue women who came to the dining hall to inquire about Li Shu's matter were from Lantang.
Their snow-white dresses had orchid patterns on the cuffs as a mark.
Similar distinctive markings can also be found on the clothing of the Yue women from Qiutang and Taotang.
The people who were buying houses were not qualified to board the large ship. Instead, a quarter of an hour later, a beautiful Yue woman with orchid-like hair gracefully jumped off the ship and onto their deck.
She was carrying a bamboo basket, which contained many lotus pods.
Ouyang Rong recognized this item; it contained lotus seeds that could ward off poisonous miasma and had a refreshing taste.
Madam Chen immediately smiled and went to greet her.
Soon, the lotus seeds were distributed, and Ouyang Rong also received one. After many days, he tasted this food again.
After everyone finished taking the medicine, Lan Hua Yue Nu did not leave but stayed on the boat, with Madam Chen accompanying her on the side.
Lan Hua Yue Nu was gentle and even asked if anyone felt unwell.
Before long, preparations were complete, the large ship set sail, and the purchasing boat, along with several other small boats, followed the large ship into the hazy white mist.
Ouyang Rong simply sat cross-legged on the deck and waited.
The entire journey was shrouded in white fog, and even when passing by small islands, one could only catch a fleeting glimpse of a rocky outcrop.
During this time, Ouyang Rong observed the large boat that the Yue women were aboard at Lantang.
If buying houses is like going down the mountain to purchase ingredients, then these orchid-wielding Yue women, besides providing escort throughout the journey, seem to have some other secret missions.
That's true. No matter how isolated Yunmeng Sword Marsh is, some necessities still need to be obtained from the foot of the mountain.
However, Ouyang Rong had heard Aunt Zhu ramble on, saying that in the past there were very few servants in Jianze, and there was no dining hall. The ancient Yue women really lived in seclusion on various islands in Jianze, almost self-sufficient, and never came down the mountain.
In recent years, after the Great Goddess ascended to power and took charge of Jianze, she and her fellow goddesses in the Queen's Palace worked together to improve Jianze. They gradually took in these menial servants and set up dining halls and other facilities to improve their meals.
As if sensing Ouyang Rong's gaze, the orchid-like Yue woman beside Madam Chen on the deck ahead suddenly turned her head to look over.
Ouyang Rong lowered the brim of his hat to cover his face, and Lan Huayue didn't notice him. Her gentle yet stern gaze silently surveyed everyone on the deck, and after finding nothing, she withdrew it.
The fleet sailed for about an afternoon.
During this time, Ouyang Rong could not look around carelessly, so he used the Kui Xing Talisman's Confucian techniques to sense the location of the white sturgeon, which also made it easier to deduce the fleet's route.
In his mind's perception, the fleet was indeed getting closer and closer to the white sturgeon, which meant it was approaching Taoyuan Town.
As evening approached, we finally emerged from the fog.
Before me, the sky was high and the lake was wide, with birds flying overhead.
As the last rays of sunlight sank behind the western mountains, the fleet arrived at a small island and stopped.
This is not the land where Peach Blossom Town is located.
But the Orchid Maiden said crisply:
"Everyone, get off the ship."
This was Ouyang Rong's first time going down the mountain with a group. He was a little puzzled by what he heard, but it was not convenient for him to ask too many questions. He mingled with the crowd and got off the boat with his companions.
The island is quite large, with some long-abandoned thatched huts hidden among the dense forest.
Ouyang Rong and the others from the purchasing hall were settled there. Lan Hua Yue Nu told them to wait there before turning and leaving.
Madam Chen and the others got used to it and settled in obediently.
And so the night passed.
The next day, nothing happened in the morning, but in the afternoon, Ouyang Rong noticed that small boats were arriving one after another, carrying a lot of food and delivering it to the island.
The newcomers were all strangers and did not interact with Ouyang Rong and the other servants.
Madam Chen directed Ouyang Rong and the others to move the ingredients. She held a list in her hand and was responsible for communicating with the visitors.
Based on their accents, Ouyang Rong realized that they were all from Taoyuan Town.
He glanced at the large quantity of fresh and neatly arranged ingredients in front of him, remaining expressionless.
The fact that they could be so organized and disciplined, delivering things so quietly, suggests that these people must be from the Nine Clans of the town, the local bigwigs of Peach Blossom Town.
That is, the powerful family from which Chen Jiaxin and others came from.
This further confirms that the Nine Clans of the town were supported by Yunmeng Jianze, and that Taoyuan Town was a transit point, or rather a filter, between Yunmeng Jianze and the secular world.
After observing for a while, he understood something and silently withdrew his gaze.
Clearly, this trip down the mountain wasn't to let them go to the town on their own. Instead, according to the list, someone would escort them to this small island, which was far from the mainland where Peach Blossom Town was located... The Lantang Yue women wouldn't allow these menial servants to directly contact the people down the mountain.
As for how to secretly transport so many ingredients from various parts of Taoyuan Town by small boat, that's another matter.
If even the transportation of ingredients is handled in this way, then the other supplies needed by Jianze will naturally be even more discreet.
Ouyang Rong nodded slightly, somewhat appreciating the work of these Yue women from Lantang.
No wonder his previous efforts to mobilize the Jiangnan government to investigate clues about Yunmeng Sword Marsh yielded no results.
However, now that he has figured all this out, a problem has arisen in front of Ouyang Rong.
The struggle between Yunmeng Jianze and the Great Zhou Dynasty is now a life-or-death battle, and neither side can back down, whether for the sake of face or substance.
For the Great Zhou Dynasty, there was the blood feud between Yunmeng Jianze and the Southwest Restoration Army, as well as the collapse of the Four Great Buddhas and the Divine Capital's Heavenly Pivot.
In the Jianghu of the South, Yuanjun can no longer belong to Yuanjun; everything must belong to the Empress. This matter will not end until death.
The same applies to Yunmeng Jianze.
Unless Empress Wei Zhao steps down, the two treacherous kings of the Wei clan are executed, and the plan for the Great Buddha Sword Formation is completely abandoned, the entire Great Zhou Dynasty will be the enemy of Yunmeng Sword Marsh.
The conservative faction, the military merit faction, the Xunyang Prince's Mansion, the Xiang Prince's Mansion, and the powerful clans within the pass are all enemies.
From then on, Yunmeng Jianze supported whoever rebelled in the world, and even secretly incited heroes across the land to oppose Zhou.
This is Lady Zhi Shuang's idea; her division of factions is simple and crude.
All that talk about winning one faction over another, attacking the other, or breaking through from within—it's all just rambling, incredibly troublesome, and makes you look weak.
The word "cowardly" is the most intolerable way that people, both inside and outside the court, view her.
From her perspective, the souls of the numerous Yue women and sword cultivators from Zhutang who tragically sacrificed themselves in the Xingzifang Buddha and Donglin Buddha incidents are all watching her from below.
Thousands of eyes throughout Yunmeng Sword Marsh were also watching her, the chief female ruler, observing her every move.
Given Lady Zhishuang's dignity and temperament, she would never take the initiative to "appease or make peace."
Now that Ouyang Rong has infiltrated Yunmeng Sword Marsh, he is gradually learning about Yunmeng Sword Marsh's tricks and understanding their flaws. So, should he send the message back to Xunyang in Jiangzhou and have Yan Liulang report it to the imperial court?
This question arose spontaneously and was now before him.
Ouyang Rong remained silent for a short while.
"Liu Aliang, this box is full. Move it to the boat. Be careful, it's full of farm eggs..."
"They're here."
Ouyang Rong, with a blank expression, pressed down the brim of his hat, stepped forward, and began to carry things.
...
It was dark and windy.
On this small island, which stands apart from the mainland of Taoyuan Town, the crowing of the Camellia Chicken is absent.
Those accustomed to the Sword Swamp Islands found it slightly disorienting.
The woodland huts, inhabited by servants, were quiet, save for the occasional snore of an old woman.
A dark shadow flashed past in the dense forest.
Ouyang Rong quietly arrived at the abandoned beach on the other side of the island, dragged a newly made simple wooden raft out of the hidden jungle, and pushed it into the lake.
He secretly made this over the past few nights.
During the day, they diligently followed the main group, moving things; at night, they slowly felled trees, built rafts, and hid in the forest.
Through Ouyang Rong's recent observations, he has also figured out the day and night routines of the Lantang Yue women and Madam Chen and others on the island, as well as the hidden sentries in various places on the island.
Moreover, according to his observation, most of the Lantang Yue women who came with the large ship had disappeared and gone nowhere. Only about ten people remained on the island, led by two silver-ranked Yue women. There were only two Yue women in charge of managing these accompanying servants, and the management was strict on the outside but loose on the inside.
There weren't many sentries on the island, and the Lantang Yue women weren't really wary of Ouyang Rong and other internal servants, as long as they didn't wander off the island. This gave Ouyang Rong room to sneak out.
The raft was successfully launched, and Ouyang Rong deliberately chose this secluded spot on the west side.
Ouyang Rong has broken free from Ashan's false body and returned to his original form, wearing a bronze mask.
He looked back at the island, watching for any movement, and touched the bamboo tube at his waist.
The journey was completely silent and uneventful.
Ouyang Rong, instead of heading to Taoyuan Town on land, traveled on a raft following the direction of the white sturgeon that he had sensed in the darkness.
About an hour later, after circling most of the lake, we finally arrived at a somewhat familiar small island.
According to Li Wan, Lu Jinghong, and other members of the Lu clan of Fanyang, this island, named Zhuo, was the place where Fang, the imperial tutor of the Lu clan of Fanyang, settled after migrating south. Now it is abandoned and only a few lonely graves remain.
Ouyang Rong landed on the island from the south, taking a different route than when he brought Li Wan and Lu Jinghong there last time.
He had just stepped ashore and hadn't even had time to hide the raft when a fish with a faint, fluorescent glow emerged from the woods and circled around Ouyang Rong.
It is a Chinese sturgeon.
It floats in the air, as if it were floating among the clouds and water.
Ouyang Rong breathed a slight sigh of relief and reached out to touch it.
The white sturgeon affectionately nuzzled the back of his hand.
The cool touch on the back of his hand was slightly itchy, and Ouyang Rong glanced at it.
It is intelligent and full of vitality.
But he knew in his heart that beneath the skin of this agile white sturgeon, there was no flesh and blood, but rather cold, hard bronze.
It was once transformed into a hundred-zhang white dragon by the forbidden technique of Yunmeng Sword Marsh, and fought fiercely against the Donglin Buddha. Later, it was subdued by him and Cui Hao and returned to its original form. It was on the verge of death, and after the effect of the forbidden technique was lost, it was about to explode and die. However, he was able to withstand the heavenly lightning and he miraculously captured it to help resist a special and rare heavenly lightning.
A strange reaction seemed to have occurred between the two.
Thus, the bronze sturgeon, like a tree reborn in spring, regained its vitality.
According to Cui Hao's whispered words before leaving, nothing in the world is more yang than heavenly thunder.
This white sturgeon appears to have been contaminated by something extremely yin in the world.
The harmony of Yin and Yang, in the darkness, conformed to a certain destiny, and by some twist of fate, triggered a rare event that he could not have foreseen.
Ouyang Rong walked silently into the forest, where the white sturgeon followed closely behind.
A man and a fish walked towards a distant valley.
The white sturgeon emitted a shimmering white light, like a lantern beside Ouyang Rong, dimly illuminating the surrounding area.
On the way, he turned his head and gazed at the white sturgeon.
The lightning bolt did not leave any scars on it; instead, it made the bronze white sturgeon look lifelike.
However, Ouyang Rong's mind flashed back to the hundred-foot-long white dragon that accompanied Lady Zhishuang in her rampage through the Xunyang Grottoes.
The fish beside him were two sides of the same coin: one was lively and honest, the other was ferocious and terrifying.
I wonder if this little guy can turn back...
About fifteen minutes later, the two arrived at the cemetery in the valley.
A hazy, luminous light occasionally swept across the inscriptions on the roadside tombstones, and the names of people with the surname Lu flashed by in an instant.
A moment later, the man and the fish stopped in front of one of the graves.
The Tomb of Lu Changgeng.
Ouyang Rong reached out and touched the dusty seal script on the tombstone.
Because Li Wan and her son had visited the grave not long ago, the area around the tomb was very clean, and the remnants of the yellow paper and incense they had burned that day remained in front of the grave.
Ouyang Rong grabbed a handful of leftover yellow paper, lit it with a tinderbox, and gently sprinkled the paper money onto the tombstone.
They then used the remaining incense from the burning paper to rekindle the flames, and placed it on the yellow earth in front of the grave.
Then, he took out a small gourd and poured some tea he had prepared in advance onto the upright tombstone.
As he collapsed, a small black shadow slipped from Ouyang Rong's sleeve, turned in mid-air, and leaped onto the lonely tombstone:
"Xiao Rongzi, stop dawdling."
Upon closer inspection, it was a small figure dressed in Confucian robes and wearing a female headdress. He impatiently urged her on.
She kicked the gourd away, then crossed her arms and shouted at Ouyang Rong, who was turning his head to look at her expressionlessly:
"Don't pour it out, it'll get all wet. Where will this fairy sit? Besides, he's not your ancestor. Why are you burning paper money, offering incense, and serving tea? You're a tomb raider, why are you being so sentimental? Don't let him feel comforted in the afterlife, only to find out he doesn't have any descendants when he looks through the family tree. Wouldn't that be embarrassing?"
Ouyang Rong glanced at the little ink spirit with its extremely strong destiny, silently picked up the small gourd, and said softly:
Even thieves have their code of honor; when disturbing the eternal rest of our ancestors, we must not neglect proper etiquette.
Miaosi sat on the tombstone, swinging her little feet back and forth, and scoffed:
"You've already dug up someone's ancestral grave, and you're still talking about manners? Do you want to avoid losing some of your karma?"
After asking a question, she jumped up with a "whoosh," pointing excitedly and expectantly to the mound of earth beneath the tombstone, saying:
"Dig quickly, dig quickly, this fairy misses Little Cui a bit!"
Ouyang Rong: ...
Grave mound: ?
(End of this chapter)
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