Chapter 96 Don't Move! "Zhou Yaren, what are you doing?"...
The county government has posted portraits of Chen Ying and the Iron-Faced Man throughout Puzhou, along with portraits of Lu Bing and Qin San. Anyone who provides clues can claim a reward at the county government office.
Within two days, an old man with a cane came to the county government office with a portrait. The old man was old and suffered from a leg ailment, making walking particularly difficult; he was usually out of breath after just a few steps. But for the two taels of silver reward on the notice, he walked several miles from noon until dusk. He arrived at the county government office, panting and groaning, and pointed to Chen Ying and the Iron-Faced Man in the portrait, saying that the two lived in a kiln courtyard not far from him.
Actually, he had seen these two people a few times a couple of years ago, but then he didn't know where they went. It was as if they were just passing through and staying temporarily. Recently, he didn't know when, but the two of them suddenly reappeared, which puzzled the old man. He didn't know what they were doing, but they were always hiding their heads and acting suspiciously.
That day, the old man was splitting bamboo strips and weaving reed mats in front of his yard when the woman from the notice suddenly walked in and asked him if he was selling the reed mats.
Of course they sell them. The reed mats are made by hand and then taken to the market to exchange for money and grain. They are wild reeds that are cut from the Yellow River beach after winter.
The woman bought five reed mats, which were taken by the man wearing the iron mask shown on the notice.
The old man lived in a remote mountain hollow, far from any village or shop. The adjacent earthen kilns had long been abandoned, and the area was sparsely populated, so Chen Ying's hiding place was unlikely to attract attention.
Bai Yuan and several teenagers from Taihang, led by the old man, arrived at the cave dwelling where Chen Ying was hiding. The two earthen cave dwellings were simple, dilapidated, and easily recognizable. The table legs were even eaten by insects, and there were fine wood chips on the ground. Moreover, the window paper of one of the cave dwellings was not properly pasted, and it was letting in drafts. It did not look like a place that had ever been lived in.
Bai Yuan stood inside the earthen kiln and lifted the reed mat on the kang (a heated brick bed).
Lin Mu asked, "What's wrong?"
Bai Yuan said, "There are only two reed mats here."
“Yes, the old man said the Gu master bought five reed mats from him,” Lin Mu said. “What about the other three reed mats?”
Bai Yuan said, "There should be a cellar." Cao Dali's family had dug a cellar under their stove, and they had been hiding in it to avoid Liang Youyi's pursuit.
Li Liuyun said, "Search carefully."
The group searched high and low, leaving no corner unchecked, and finally uncovered the dry well in the corner of the courtyard.
The well was indeed a hidden world, with traces of life everywhere, including leftover food that hadn't been cleaned up, and some bloodstained bandages.
Lian Zhao picked up an empty white porcelain bottle: "Wow, this is top-quality wound medicine, it costs several taels of silver a bottle."
Lin Mu, whose family was poor, widened his eyes in surprise: "So expensive?!"
After the Shen family was wiped out, all their wealth fell into Chen Ying's hands, so her living standards were naturally quite good.
In the somewhat low-ceilinged underground chamber, Bai Yuan discovered a collection of various urns and pots, differing in size, shape, and material.
Lian Zhao followed closely behind and stepped inside: "What are all these pottery jars for?"
"Pickled cabbage?" Lin Mu's imagination was limited. When he was a child, his mother would pickle several large vats of cabbage and store them in the cellar to last through the winter. So when he saw so many earthenware jars, the first thing that came to mind was pickled cabbage.
Lian Zhao: "How could a Gu master possibly pickle sauerkraut?!"
Lin Mu: "Who says a Gu master can't pickle sauerkraut?!"
Lian Zhao: "This Gu master kills without blinking an eye; he wouldn't even pickle human flesh properly!"
Just as Lin Mu was about to lift the lid of a jar, he suddenly slammed it shut, staring in horror at his senior brother Lian Zhao, who had said "pickled human flesh": "No way?"
While the two of them were exchanging words, Bai Yuan had already opened one of the jars.
Empty.
Without hesitation, Bai Yuan opened several jars in succession. Most of them were empty, with only a few containing foul-smelling filth, which Bai Yuan poured out.
"Nothing else?" Lin Mu peeked over. "Just soil?"
Bai Yuan used a wooden chopstick to pry open the filthy soil and pulled out a few broken eggshells.
She picked it up and examined it closely. A few faint streaks of blood could be seen on the shell—could it be a Gu snake that was dug out of the filthy soil of the river mound?
Thinking that it didn't contain any weird stuff, Lin Mu confidently opened the jar in his hand, only to be met with a stench that almost knocked him over.
Lin Mu hadn't expected his jar to be so full; the first thing he saw was a clump of wrinkled red meat.
Lin Mu immediately yelled "Aww!" and covered his nose, backing away: "What disgusting thing?"
Could it be that Senior Brother Lian Zhao was right and he actually opened a can of human flesh?
Bai Yuan reached out and grabbed the edge of the pottery jar, pulling it over. Inside was a clump of sticky, disgusting rotten flesh, unlike the plump and intact placenta dug out from the river tomb.
Bai Yuan tried to stir it gently a few times. The lump of flesh had already been cut open with a sharp knife, revealing a dark, paste-like substance inside that emitted a foul stench.
Bai Yuan thought, "This should be the womb that Liang Taohua had taken away by the Gu Master."
"What?!" Lin Mu and Lian Zhao both felt a chill run down their spines!
"The Gu master didn't take it away because this batch failed to produce a Gu inoculant."
"Unexpectedly..." Before Lian Zhao could finish speaking, a cry of surprise suddenly came from another cellar. The group rushed over and saw Wen Yi and Yu Heqi pressed against the wall as if they were in shock, while Li Liuyun lifted the reed mat covering the pit.
The two people were terrified by the two rotting corpses in the pit. They were almost completely decomposed, with most of their faces turned to bone, their eye sockets hollow and sunken, and their lips and cheeks bald. They were baring their teeth, to the point that even their own parents would not recognize them. Countless maggots were crawling on the reed mat that had been lifted.
"This..." Lin Mu could hardly bear to look. "Could it be Officer Lu and that other guy?"
That "who" naturally refers to Qin San.
If the rotting corpse in the cellar was Lu Bing, wouldn't the blind man be spitting blood? Being sentimental and loyal is often not a good thing. Sentimentality is often the most deadly thing, while being indifferent and ungrateful is the best way to prolong life. The blind man was already half-dead, and if he were to suffer from this terminal illness caused by being sentimental and loyal, he would definitely choke to death from a stroke.
Although life and death are beyond human control and everything is predestined, Bai Yuanbu walked to the front of the corpse pit and looked around: "Judging from the physical characteristics, they are two men, but they don't match Lu Bing's height. Lu Bing is a few inches taller."
Alright, then the blind man won't choke to death.
If it weren't for the fact that both corpses were men, Bai Yuan would have thought the Gu master had captured a pregnant woman to perform Gu rituals.
It's not hard to imagine that these two rotting corpses were definitely innocent passersby robbed by that evil sorcerer.
“A rotting corpse emits a foul stench that is difficult for most people to bear,” Li Liuyun said. “What is the purpose of the Gu Master placing two corpses here?”
"Yeah, she's probably here by herself, how could she stand it?" Lian Zhao glanced at the maggots crawling on the rotting corpse and felt a wave of nausea wash over him. "Why didn't they just take it out and bury it?"
Lin Mu didn't dare to approach even half a step, only pinching his nose and watching from afar at the door: "Burying is impossible, at most the body will be abandoned in the wilderness."
“It can’t be that she wants to keep rotting corpses to smell them,” that would be too disgusting. Although the Gu Master is unorthodox and acts eccentrically, Bai Yuan speculated, “Or maybe she’s making Gu people.”
Li Liuyun looked up: "What?!"
“By planting the prepared Gu-inducing agent into these two bodies, we can raise a Gu-human like we raised Shen Yuanwen, turning them into a humanoid ‘breeding ground’ for the Gu-inducing agent,” Bai Yuan strolled to the edge of the pit, looking down at the two rotting corpses. “I just don’t know if Chen Ying was a half-baked Gu master, or if the Gu technique itself is exceptionally ‘tricky,’ causing death with the slightest mistake, which is why these two couldn’t survive. As for Shen Yuanwen from Bei Qu, he should be a successful case, a veritable walking calamity, bringing harm wherever he goes.”
“That’s right,” Lian Zhao chimed in, “He ran home and ended up ruining his whole family.”
It's even more sinister than this tortured person who escaped from the Taiyin Dao body.
Li Liuyun squatted by the pit, enduring the intense discomfort as he carefully observed: "The two corpses have no healthy flesh on their bodies, and most of them have turned into bones, making them difficult to distinguish."
The young man from Taihang was furious and could not bear to look at the two rotting corpses in the pit.
"How could this person be so vicious?! How many people are they going to harm?!"
"This kind of crooked and evil practice is utterly depraved and inhumane!"
"We must catch her as soon as possible; we absolutely cannot let this scourge get away!"
They found nothing else. The boys pinched their noses and dealt with the rotting corpse, temporarily wrapping it in reed mats, and then had the government officials come to remove it.
As for the urn containing the body, Liang Taohua's body was still at the county government office. The boys carefully wrapped the urn in cloth and took it directly back to Puzhou for disposal.
As dusk fell, the exhausted youths returned to the city. Lian Zhao yawned, feeling a real sense of urgency: "This won't do, we don't have enough manpower."
Several people survived the Jingguan (a mound of corpses) by the skin of their teeth, and they have been working day and night to collect bones. There is still a mountain of bones left to collect. Then they discovered the location of the Gu Master and rushed over to search for it. In the end, they still have to go back to Jingguan to collect bones.
As if yawning were contagious, Lin Mu opened his mouth wide and mumbled, "Senior Brother Liuyun has already sent a message to the sect, but I don't know when the senior brothers will be able to arrive in Puzhou."
Bai Yuan glanced at the listless teenagers. Although they were young, they were able to handle things in an orderly manner under Li Liuyun's arrangement, and they did not make any mistakes.
Bai Yuan looked at the silent Li Liuyun. This young man was steady, fearless in the face of danger, and knew how to put the big picture first. Naturally, he became the backbone of this group of young people.
Of course, Bai Yuan was quite satisfactory in use. With them diligently cleaning up the mess along the way, Bai Yuan saved a lot of unnecessary trouble.
When they reached the fork in the road, the teenagers continued their busy work for what was to come, while Bai Yuan turned back to the inn.
The door to Zhou Yaren's room was suspiciously ajar. Bai Yuan paused, hesitated for a moment, and only pushed the door open after hearing no unusual movement from inside.
The rest of the room remained the same, except that the bed curtains had been removed and a white porcelain bowl had been placed on the bedside table, with the remaining dregs of herbal medicine still inside.
Who brought the medicine?
Bai Yuan was puzzled and was about to pick up the medicine bowl when suddenly a hand with distinct knuckles reached out from under the bed curtains and gently gripped her wrist.
Bai Yuan didn't break free because the hand holding her was weak and feeble, posing no threat whatsoever. On the contrary... Bai Yuan stared at the long, clean fingers and the smooth lines of the back of the hand, and was naturally pulled into the bed curtains by this hand.
"What are you doing..." Before Bai Yuan could finish asking, he saw that the man on the bed seemed to have been immersed in wine and women, his hair disheveled and his clothes in disarray, a blush spreading from the corner of his eyes to his thin lips, revealing a strange spring-like color.
No, did she wander into the wrong territory? Which male fox spirit in heat transformed into this thing?
"Please forgive me," the male fox spirit called out to her in a low voice, his restraint remarkable.
Bai Yuan's breath hitched, and he steadied himself before asking, "Zhou Yaren, what are you doing?"
Zhou Yaren felt like his whole body was on fire, but it was different from the previous heat. It felt like countless ants were crawling inside his body. He endured the torment and said in a hoarse voice, "Bai Yuan, I'm so hot."
Sure enough, this person's body temperature was several times higher than before, almost like a red-hot coal, no wonder he had stripped his inner clothes so messily.
Zhou Yaren had been suffering terribly for a while, and he couldn't take it anymore. He vaguely remembered that Bai Yuan had used ice silk to help him reduce his fever: "Could you please..."
Am I here for you to cool down?
"Of course not," Zhou Yaren said, holding onto her tightly, her head spinning. "I just feel really bad, I'm worried..."
"I'm worried about damaging his brain." Bai Yuan didn't make things difficult for him. He grabbed the wrist with his other hand, and strands of ice immediately spread up the wrist vein.
The sudden chill almost made Zhou Yaren shiver slightly, but he adjusted to it, and the burning sensation spread throughout his body with the icy silk.
But that wasn't enough. It seemed the ice silk only suppressed the burning heat on the surface of his body; the heat couldn't dissipate, so the evil fire burned inward, beginning to scorch his internal organs...
What happened?
It's so hot. Zhou Yaren's brain felt dazed from the heat. Why is it so hot?
He instinctively reached for the source of the cold...
Bai Yuan tried to stop him: "Don't move... Zhou Yaren... I'll say it again... Don't move..."
Bai Yuan truly didn't expect that this hot coal would cling to her directly, its clothes disheveled, pressing against her body and enveloping her like fire.
Bai Yuan froze abruptly, unable to react in time, until the man buried his hot face in her neck, his scalding breath spraying onto the base of her neck. Goosebumps immediately rose on Bai Yuan's neck.
"What's going on?!" Bai Yuan was about to throw the person off, but was frozen in place by a whispered "Bai Yuan, I'm so hot."
A strange, inexplicable desire burned Zhou Yaren's reason to ashes. Just as he pressed his hand against Bai Yuan, something seemed to be stirring within him, like a hundred claws scratching at his heart, forcing him to press even tighter.
Bai Yuan felt suffocated by Zhou Yaren's body heat. She tried to create a small gap but failed. At this moment, the person inexplicably became difficult to deal with, and she was instead pressed even closer to him: "Zhou Yaren."
Perhaps hearing the other person's voice, Zhou Yaren half-opened her eyes, her mind still somewhat confused.
At that very moment, Bai Yuan saw through his raven-feather-like eyelashes a very suspicious ripple in his half-open eyes.
Bai Yuan was stunned for a moment.
She traversed the boundary between life and death, witnessing all living beings and the mortal world. She was certainly not some ignorant demon or heretic. On the contrary, she understood the seven emotions and the six desires, but she had not personally experienced them, because experiencing them would likely lead to tribulations. Humans who indulged in the seven emotions and six desires would suffer countless hardships and death.
At this moment, Bai Yuan grabbed Zhou Yaren's chin, forcing the delirious man to raise his head, and then stared at the suspicious lust in his eyes, asking, "Are you... going to be with me...?"
Zhou Yaren's slightly pale pupils seemed to be covered with a layer of glistening water film, and the intense heat, like wildfire, made her dizzy and extremely uncomfortable.
The robes were already disheveled, and they unknowingly came undone, like an unspoken statement.
Bai Yuan heard him say unbearably, "It's hot..."
How could it not be hot? Zhou Yaren was roasting her as well.
Bai Yuan lowered his eyes, his gaze sliding to Zhou Yaren's thin lips, which were burning with heat. A section of wet, slippery tongue could be faintly seen between her breaths. She seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying, "But you are covered in injuries."
After saying that, she grabbed Zhou Yaren's chin and pressed her down.
When the cold lips and tongue suddenly covered her, Zhou Yaren, who was in a daze, stiffened as if stimulated. Her eyes suddenly opened, but she was confused and helpless, unable to find focus. Her eyes were blank, with only her long eyelashes trembling slightly.
He was so ill that even Bai Yuan felt his mouth was burning. Without much hesitation, she pried open Zhou Yaren's lips and teeth by his chin, and pressed her tongue against his burning lips, sending in a breath of frosty air.
Zhou Yaren submitted almost without resistance, until the cold, damp sensation slid into her mouth, and the chill on her tongue spread down her throat, gradually extinguishing the raging fire in her lungs...
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The author says: The symptoms are almost right. If there is internal heat, it needs to be regulated from the inside. Simply using ice silk to move the meridians is not advisable.
In other words: The sickly one owes his family!
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