The two followed behind the panicked Yuan Zongdi, walked through the streets and alleys, and came to the Xihe Temple in Hongsang Town.

"The smell of blood. Li Laiheng sniffed a few times and said with certainty.

How could Yuan Zongdi not smell the smell of blood, without saying a word, he directly climbed over the wall and entered, seeing that Shi Yuanji took a breath of cool air.

"It seems that the people inside are very important to him, and he is too anxious, aren't you afraid that there will be an ambush inside?"

Shi Yuanji came to the gate, kicked open the two-person high gate, and saw several bloody corpses lying inside. And Yuan Zongdi rushed to the temple early in the morning and disappeared.

Li Laiheng squatted down and examined the dead bodies one after another, and it didn't take long for him to breathe a sigh of relief: "There is no one I know, the wounds of the corpse are very messy, it shouldn't have been done by a natural disaster level master." ”

"Let's go, go inside. Shi Yuanji swept over the corpses and said thoughtfully.

The two walked into the depths of Xihe Temple, only to see Yuan Zongdi sitting on the ground, his confused eyes mixed with worry: "They may be gone, or they may be arrested, I didn't look for them, the corpses are still alive, there are none." ”

In the depths of the temple, there is a three-legged golden crow statue with wings soaring, on the left paw of the colossus, holding a silver-white bead, the incense burner still stays on the lit incense, and the courtyard is spotless.

However, there was no one here, and there was no blood, as if the owner had just gone out for a walk, not at all like a bloody battle had just taken place.

"Then where can they go?" asked Li Laiheng.

"I don't know, I've been following Niu Gongzi's instructions to gather the victims near Heishui Town, how can I know about this kind of thing?" Yuan Zongdi was obviously a little panicked, and his forehead was sweating. "Didn't you really get caught?"

Shi Yuanji looked at the silver bead without squinting, and after a while, he suddenly asked, "This is not just for Xihe, right?"

"Yes, Chang Gung is also enshrined here, and legend has it that Chang Gung is Xi He's close attendant. Yuan Zongdi explained.

Shi Yuanji looked at the three-legged golden crow statue and pondered for a moment, then asked Yuan Zongdi, "Do you believe me?"

Yuan Zongdi was worried and puzzled, and said helplessly: "Who else can I count on now? You are a natural disaster, what you say is what you say." ”

Shi Yuanji nodded, without saying a word, turned around and walked outside the temple: "Yuan Zongdi, come with me, go to the mass grave and have a look, then you may be able to find Niu Jinxing." ”

The trio found the horses they had hidden and galloped towards the mass grave.

Li Laiheng was very active and said to Shi Yuanji: "Master, are you looking for those corpse collectors?"

"Yes, they must know a lot. Shi Yuanji said.

"Okay. Li Laiheng shouted happily and rushed to the horse on his own.

The corpse collectors had just finished their work and were sitting in the shade of a tree resting when they heard the sound of horses' hooves coming towards them.

They looked at Li Laiheng with sleepy eyes, with different expressions, some could not remember Li Laiheng, and felt quite impatient that their good sleep was disturbed, and some recognized him, puzzled, and did not know why he went and returned.

Only one of the corpse collectors, frightened, hurried into the mountains, as if he had seen a ghost. He hurried into the woods, and in an instant he was gone.

Li Laiheng slapped his thigh, hurriedly turned over and dismounted, followed closely behind, and also got into the woods. However, the mountains were high and dense, and after running through the forest for a while, he found that he had long since lost sight of the corpse collector.

The lost Li Laiheng reluctantly returned to the edge of the forest, vigilantly looking at the corpse collector who stayed in place, and didn't know how to speak for a while.

The corpse collectors looked confused, and only one boldly asked, "Did this little brother come here in the morning?" Why did you come back again, did Li San'er steal your money?"

"The one who escaped is called Li San?" Li Laiheng asked rhetorically.

The bold corpse collector sighed: "No, he turned out to be a ruffian, his hands and feet were not clean, and he reluctantly came to work with us. I look at you like this, he's afraid that he is not a ** sick criminal, and he has started stealing money again. ”

The rest of the corpse collectors saw that Li Laiheng was still good at talking, and they also began to be bold.

A corpse collector said disdainfully: "I'll just say, in the morning, Li Sanfei wanted to go back to the city, saying that there was an urgent matter at home, and it turned out that he was going to steal money, how much did he steal from you? ”

Seeing this, Li Laiheng suddenly raised his voice and asked sharply, "Did you betray Niu Jinxing?"

Those corpse collectors were completely stopped by Li Laiheng, and one of the corpse collectors hurriedly waved his hand and denied it again and again: "How is it possible? Niu Gongzi is a good person, how can we do that kind of ...... that loses our conscience?"

Before he could finish speaking, the most daring corpse collector immediately covered his mouth and said with a smile: "You are joking, we don't know where Niu Jinxing went, you can ask elsewhere." ”

"Who are you if it's not you?" Li Laiheng drew his double whip, quite aggressive. "We came here, asked a few questions, and then we were stared at. ”

"My master was deceived by someone, and those people even knew that I had heard you sing, and they said that they were pretending to be confused with me here?"

"Say, where did you catch Niu Venus?"

Li Laiheng was about to continue to ask, but saw Yuan Zongdi riding on a horse, holding another horse in his hand, and Shi Yuanji was nowhere to be seen.

"Yuan Zongdi, where is my master?"

Yuan Zongdi did not answer, and motioned behind Li Laiheng with his eyes. Li Laiheng looked back vigilantly, only to see Shi Yuanji carrying Li San, who had a broken leg, and returning to the edge of the forest unhurriedly.

Li San was thrown to the ground by Shi Yuanji casually, in pain, looking extremely pitiful. But the corpse collectors just watched silently, without the slightest pity for him.

"Outsiders beat people, outsiders beat people. Li San screamed and wiped his tears while covering his broken legs.

But his cry was not exchanged for any mercy.

Yuan Zongdi put down the reins, walked in front of Li San in three steps and two steps, and asked angrily: "Xihe Temple was attacked by people, and there were dead bodies everywhere, did you tell the truth!"

When the corpse collectors heard this, their eyes widened, and then they looked at Li San with resentment.

"How can you outsiders wronged good people?" Li San covered his legs and retorted loudly. "How do I know what's going on in Xihe Temple?

"You ......" Yuan Zongdi was very unwilling, and walked up to Li San with a red face to reason with him.

Li Laiheng looked puzzled, and asked in a low voice: "Master, this Li San refuses to admit it, what should I do?"

"This person doesn't matter, we're waiting here for Bull Venus to come to us. Shi Yuanji found a clean shade and sat down to rest.

"I see. Li Laiheng said suddenly realized. "Niu Jinxing was forced to a dead end by Qu Qianren, how could he run anywhere? He could only come to us. ”

Li San and Yuan Zong argued loudly and became the only voices in the mass grave. Li Laiheng tied up his sycophants and closed his eyes with Shi Yuanji to recuperate, but it was also easy. It's just that the corpse collectors are suffering, and their rest is completely in vain.

After a long time, a man cautiously walked out of the mountain forest, looking at Shi Yuanji intently, as if looking at him.

Li Laiheng drew his double whip and was about to ask, but he heard Yuan Zongdi say in surprise: "Song Miaozhu, are you okay?

"We're alert enough, we're fast, we're all right. The man known as Song Miaozhu saluted the corpse collectors and said respectfully. "Folks, we have to bring Li San over, so that he doesn't talk too much, and I hope to understand. ”

The corpse collectors nodded one after another, and said seriously: "You have to hide it, it's ...... them" The corpse collectors pointed at Shi Yuanji with a suspicious expression.

Song Miaozhu picked up Li San and said with a smile: "They can be trusted, I just came to find them." ”

With that, he made a gesture of please.

"Chonghe Hou, in the Song Dynasty, let you wait for a long time, come with me to see Niu Gongzi. ”

Shi Yuanji returned the courtesy, followed behind Song Xiance, and went into the woods.

......

In King Yan's study, Qu Qianren sat at the desk, looking blankly ahead, thoughtful.

King Yan had already entered Beijing, leaving him with the task of killing two people, one overlapping Hou and the other Niu Venus, with a good reward.

But ask yourself, he doesn't really want to kill these two people, not to mention Niu Jinxing's resourcefulness and cunning, and the strength of the coincided Hou is strong, and he is also His Majesty's right-hand man.

Killing Niu Venus is nothing, it's just that it takes a lot of effort to find him, and it's very troublesome. But the coincidences are different, once he is killed, it means that he will completely join the camp of the Eight Pillars Kingdom, and he is a little disgusted by this.

As the number one master in the register of Dayu, worthy of the name of the world's first, he is very proud, but he also feels depressed. Being the number one in the world brought him wealth, fame and status, but it also made him no longer free.

And killing Shi Yuanji will only exacerbate this unfreedom, Qu Qianren doesn't need to think about it to know.

He picked up a book next to his desk, which was an illustrated catalogue that recorded the scenic spots and cultural monuments of Xiniu Hezhou. He looked at it page by page, reveling in it, as if his body was traveling among the famous mountains and rivers of Xiniuhe Prefecture, and he no longer had to think about killing and fighting.

After a long time, he reluctantly put the catalogue back on the shelf, looked straight ahead, as if he had lost his mind, and muttered to himself:

"I'm just someone else's knife. ”

With that, he took up the salute and walked out of the room without looking back.

......

In a cave deep in the mountains of Hongsang Town, Li San was rudely drugged on his leg by Song Xiance and thrown aside.

A young man came out of the depths of the cave, saluted Shi Yuanji respectfully, and said with a smile: "Coincide Hou, in the lower ox Venus, don't come unharmed." ”

He knew me before?" Shi Yuanji said in confusion in his heart.

He looked at the man in front of him, and saw that he was dressed plainly, with an ordinary posture, but his eyes were like hot flames, full of passion and impressive.

"We've met before?" he asked calmly, giving him a serious salute.

Niu Jinxing sighed: "It's a long story, Hou Ye and I participated in the Chengyun Pavilion exam together. At that time, Hou Ye was still called Shi Yuanji, and he ranked first in the law department, and I was just a nobody. ”