Chapter 322: Chapter 225: Night Talk at the Inn
The Wujiang Ferry crossing had long been a pile of charred wood. The waters of the Wujiang River were calm and still, making it a very suitable spot for ships to dock.
Qin Yuesheng took out the spiritual fox eyes and Exorcism Toad to observe, finding nothing unusual, he then began searching the area thoroughly.
Under Qin Yuesheng’s careful search, he finally found some clues. At certain places within the Wujiang Ferry crossing, there were numerous chaotic footprints, all belonging to adults. If Qin Yuesheng guessed correctly, these footprints should have been left by the team from the Seven Star Monitoring that passed through here.
Following the footprints, Qin Yuesheng arrived at the shore of the ferry crossing. Here, the obvious signs of battle could be seen, with many sword and knife marks.
"After the Seven Star Monitoring officials arrived here, they must have encountered enemies. Who could they be—water ghosts, or people from the martial arts world?" Qin Yuesheng frowned and thought to himself.
Just then, a pile of rotten wood by his side caught Qin Yuesheng’s attention. Such piles were numerous in the Wujiang Ferry crossing, but this pile was the newest, seemingly accumulated in recent days.
With a wave of his hand, Qin Yuesheng unleashed a strong Inner Strength that instantly blew the pile of wood apart, revealing two decayed corpses in a mess before his eyes.
Looking at the clothes on these two corpses, Qin Yuesheng’s expression changed; they belonged to the Seven Star Monitoring officials!
Taking a stick, he flipped the bodies over, and immediately the fronts were facing up towards the sky. Their faces had been bitten to a pulp, making it likely impossible for even their families to recognize them.
"The shape of these bite marks is human, not beast." Qin Yuesheng tore open the official robes on these two bodies with the stick, revealing deep red scratches on their skin and numerous meatless pits, deep enough to show bone.
"According to the message sent from Chang’an, six people came to Antong County to investigate, and now two of them are dead. We don’t know if the remaining four are dead or alive."
Qin Yuesheng looked towards the Wujiang River, then gazed across to the opposite bank. On the other side of the river was the neighboring province, no longer part of Jiangnan.
"If the bodies fell into the river, retrieving them would be extremely difficult." Qin Yuesheng thought to himself.
Suddenly, he had a bright idea and decided to try using the Yellow Springs Eye on the two corpses.
In an instant, the two corpses swayed and stood up from the ground, even after death, walking as if they were still alive.
Qin Yuesheng had rarely used the Yellow Springs Eye before, and now as he exerted it fully, an anomaly appeared.
"Help... help...!" The two corpses stiffly twisted their bodies, even speaking with human voices.
This left Qin Yuesheng stunned; could the Yellow Springs Eye actually have the power to bring people back to life? This would be truly miraculous.
"So... so... many ghosts! Don’t... come closer... don’t come closer..."
"Sir... you must flee... just survive... to seek help... don’t... don’t worry about us..."
The two continued waving their arms, until they began disintegrating in place, turning into a burst of sparks vanishing into the air, leaving nothing behind.
"Judging by this, the remaining Seven Star Monitoring officials probably ran away. Though whether they died after escaping is uncertain; it’s unwise to hope for too much." Qin Yuesheng wandered around the Wujiang Ferry crossing, rummaging through everything that could be overturned, but ultimately found nothing new. He had no choice but to turn and leave.
With the remaining Seven Star Monitoring officials’ fates unknown, Qin Yuesheng could only reside in Antong County for the time being, sharing an inn with the White Lotus Sect members. Originally, Antong County was sparsely populated, and the local people had their own homes, thus the inn was solely occupied by Qin Yuesheng’s group.
Night fell.
"This wine is nice; I’ve never tasted anything like it before."
"It’s waxberry wine, unique to Jiangnan. Living in the north, of course, you’ve never had it."
"Well, northern sorghum wine is something you don’t get to drink in the south either. It’s not a big deal for you southern folks to have tasted it."
In the inn’s hall, four White Lotus Sect members were enjoying a candle-lit night snack, eating and drinking merrily.
The hall was extremely quiet, with only the shadows of these four slightly swaying in the candlelight.
One White Lotus Sect member picked up a chicken leg, took a bite, and said, "Isn’t it strange? I’ve searched the first floor and the backyard thoroughly, but there’s no trace of the shopkeeper or the waiter. We even killed these chickens for the dishes ourselves, and these bamboo shoots, soybeans, and eggplants—I stir-fried them myself in the kitchen. Where do you think these people went?"
Looking at the pondering expression, the person next to him casually slapped his shoulder: "Why do you think so much? Being so paranoid. It’s late; no one is awake in the night to make dishes for you."
"Exactly, exactly, let’s keep drinking. This waxberry wine tastes really good."
After several rounds of drinks, one White Lotus Sect member suddenly clutched his belly, saying with a look of pain, "Oh no, oh no, I need to go to the latrine first."
Not waiting for the other three to jest, he instantly got up and ran towards the backyard.
Between the inn and the backyard, there was a corridor. Hanging along the corridor were copper lamps, each lighting up the hallway with red candles, creating an odd light flickering in and out of darkness.
In pain, the White Lotus Sect member couldn’t care less, quickly rushing out, heading straight for the backyard.
At this moment, the copper mirror hanging on the wall beside the backyard entrance caught his attention.
Beneath the copper mirror was a washing table, with a wooden basin filled with clear water and a bowl of snow salt beside it, meant for handwashing.
The White Lotus Sect member withdrew his gaze, quickly arriving at the latrine, and upon entering, all went quiet.
Time passed unknowingly, and the three sitting in the hall began to feel somewhat puzzled.
"What’s with Ah Zong? He’s been gone for ages; did he fall into the latrine?"
"Haha, then you better go check; don’t let him really die there. It’d be embarrassing to talk about later."
"Alright, I’ll go take a look." The White Lotus disciple quickly stood up and headed towards the backyard.
As he passed by the bronze mirror, he couldn’t help but glance at his own hands, which were now greasy from eating chicken legs.
"Just in time to wash them," he said, rubbing his hands with snow salt before placing them in the copper basin to clean.
Moments later, the first White Lotus disciple who had gone to the toilet returned to the corridor, humming a tune in relief.
Perhaps he had eaten something bad because he had taken an unusually long time, but after releasing it, he felt detoxified and rejuvenated.
"Hey, why are you here, Third Brother?" he chuckled upon seeing his brother washing his hands in front of the mirror.
But to his surprise, the other continued washing his hands without responding.
He found it odd; they were just two steps apart, so he should have heard him. Thinking his brother was teasing him, he walked over and put his hands into the basin as well, saying, "Third Brother, that’s not fair. I just finished in the toilet, let me wash with this water."
His brother remained still, and Ah Zong couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart. What’s going on? Why was he silent while washing?
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the bronze mirror and saw a face staring at him with a peculiar smile—it was his Third Brother.
At that moment, a chill ran down Ah Zong’s spine, and a cold shiver spread through his limbs.
He knew his Third Brother was still washing his hands with his head down...
So why was the person in the mirror staring at him...
"Th-Third Brother, I’m suddenly hungry again after just going to the toilet. You, you wash slowly. I’m going back to eat some more." Trembling, Ah Zong started to walk towards the main hall. He wanted to run, but for some reason, his legs felt like they were weighted down with hundreds of pounds of sandbags, making escape impossible.
As Ah Zong turned, he felt a gust of cold air brush against the back of his neck, as if someone were blowing on it.
"Ah!" Not daring to think further, Ah Zong bolted, breaking into the fastest speed of his life.
Yet before he could rush out of the hall, the corridor’s candles began to extinguish one by one, and with the final flicker of light, a white-clad figure with a deeply wrinkled face and blood-stained eyes appeared out of nowhere, reaching out to grab Ah Zong’s clothes, silently dragging him into the darkness.
Early morning.
Qin Yuesheng, brimming with energy, descended from the second floor. As he entered the main hall, he saw a group of White Lotus disciples wandering about like headless chickens. Upon seeing Qin Yuesheng, they hurriedly gathered around with anxious expressions.
Qin Yuesheng said, "What’s happened?"
"Holy Envoy, four of our brothers are missing."
"Tell me the details."
An older White Lotus disciple immediately replied, "Last night, An Rui and the other three went downstairs for a midnight snack, and the rest of us didn’t go with them. They never returned, and we still haven’t found any trace of them."
Qin Yuesheng frowned. This Antong County truly exuded an eerie aura. First, the disappearance of the Qixing officials, then the several uninhabited homes for days, and now four White Lotus disciples have mysteriously vanished. Could it be that the water ghosts from the Wujiang River were at work again last night?
"Ah!!!"
At that moment, a deafening scream suddenly came from the direction of the backyard.
Qin Yuesheng leaped forward and, in a blink, reached the backyard, where a group of cooks and servants stood by the well, their faces pale with terror, screaming mindlessly.
Qin Yuesheng pushed them aside and approached the well, asking, "What happened?"
He leaned over and peered into the well, instantly feeling a chill run from his spine to his head, his eyes widening instinctively.
Inside the well, four men with faces unrecognizable and bloodied were each impaled through the throat with a steel spike, pinned to the wall. Their faces looked skyward, with eerie smiles gazing at anyone daring enough to look down.
Seeing the blood-stained red robes of these four, Qin Yuesheng immediately realized they were the missing White Lotus disciples, now deceased.
"Although these White Lotus disciples are barely worth a mention in my eyes, they are still skilled fighters in the martial arts world. Had they made any noise before their demise, I could have rushed to their aid, but they couldn’t even call out once, proving the perpetrator’s extraordinary skills."
By now, the White Lotus disciples had arrived and were horrified at the sight in the well.
Even those adept in martial arts are not always accustomed to such gruesome scenes.
"Holy Envoy, this..."
"Let’s pull them up first, and we can discuss the rest later."
Suppressing their fear, the White Lotus disciples gathered ropes to tie the bodies and pull them up. This was only possible with Qin Yuesheng’s help, who broke the steel spikes in their throats to free them.
Four mangled bodies lay in a row on the ground. The cooks and servants didn’t dare take another look and quickly retreated to their rooms, fearing nightmares if they saw too much.
Qin Yuesheng stood by the bodies and, after dispersing everyone, utilized the Yellow Springs Eye.
The four corpses stood up one by one, performing different actions. Qin Yuesheng increased his focus, hoping to uncover what the four had encountered before their deaths, just as he had with the Qixing officials the previous day.
As expected, the moment Qin Yuesheng intensified his efforts, the four corpses began to utter terrifying statements.
Listening briefly, Qin Yuesheng couldn’t help but look grim, overwhelmed by surprise at what he heard.
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