Zhuyang is 730 miles away from Guangling, including 300 miles of mountain roads and 400 miles of official roads

Xiang Yuan whipped his horse, and galloped one hundred and fifty miles of official roads in a day, until after dark, he dismounted and rested, allowing the horses to drink water and graze.

Without modern roads and street lights, the night falls, and the bright moonlight is the only way to illuminate everything.

Tethered the horse to a dead tree, Xiang Yuan found a place to lie down on clean grass, and slowly shook his body bones on the horse's back all day.

It's a chore.

He stretched his waist widely, and the joints up and down his body made a crackling sound.

Spit out a mouthful of turbid air, unscrew the kettle to Xiang Yuan, and take a few sips, the cold well water is cold in the mouth.

Bidding farewell to the comfortable and superior environment at home, Xiang Yuan did not feel much discomfort, but had a fresh and free sense of being one person and one horse, happy rivers and lakes.

Reaching out and taking out a note from his arms, this was his grandfather, Xiang Munan, the head of the Xiang family, handed it to Xiang Yuan on his deathbed.

In this world, after a man is crowned at the age of 20, he is given a letter by the elders of the family.

The note that Xiang Mu Nan handed to Xiang Yuan when he was dying was the word he took for this grandson!

Gently opened the note, and two powerful words came into Xiang Yuan's eyes: Ziyu.

The fish dives in the abyss, stings and turns into a dragon!

I'm going to be what you want me to be, old man......

Reading his grandfather's expectations for himself, Xiang Yuan's eyes were bright and thorough, and he looked up at the starry night sky, his eyes were deep......

......

Linquan

A small city separated from Guangling and Zhuyang.

After two days of travel, Xiang Yuan came to this town, which was slightly smaller than Guangling.

led the horse into Linquan City, a city with sparse pedestrians, and a slightly empty street, filled with a faint sense of desolation.

How strange is this city?

Muttering in his heart, Xiang Yuan found an inn called Tingxuanlou along the street.

Entering the inn, the guy hurriedly greeted him with a smile: "Is this master eating or staying in the hotel?"

"Stay. ”

After handing over the horse to the man, he paid the house money and deposit to Yuan.

Under the leadership of the innkeeper, he went to a room on the second floor of the inn.

"It's the first time the guest has come to our Linquan City. Xiang Yuan filled the teapot with water, and the innkeeper with a lapel felt hat asked with a smile.

"Hmm. ”

Looking at this not gorgeous but very delicate room, Xiang Yuan nodded lightly.

"Then I'll give you a reminder not to go out after sunset.

We're here, and the night isn't peaceful. Looking around, the shopkeeper whispered.

"What do you mean?" asked Xiang Yuan, who was aroused by the shopkeeper's mysterious expression.

Putting down the copper kettle in his hand, the shopkeeper turned around and closed the door of the room, walked to Xiang Yuan's side with a solemn face and whispered, "Don't hide it from you, we are here......

Haunted at night!"

"Haunted?!"

Raising his eyebrows, Xiang Yuan looked at the shopkeeper with a cautious face: "What the hell?"

"Shhhh

In fact, this thing is also mysterious, what the hell it is, everyone has never seen it.

But at night, there is always a gust of wind blowing in the city, and there are cries of children and women.

For a while, the yamen also organized people to patrol at night, but they only patrolled for a day, and then they never mentioned the matter again.

Therefore, it is rumored that our feng shui in Linquan City is not good, and we commit yin and evil at night.

No, in the past few years, many people in the city have moved away.

If it goes on like this, after a while, my inn will be closed. ”

seems to like talking to people about these things, and the shopkeeper smiled at Xiang Yuan after speaking: "When you're old, you like to talk to people, don't mind."

You rest, I'll go down first......"

After speaking, the shopkeeper left Xiang Yuan's room with the copper kettle.

The speaker has no intention of listening, maybe for the residents of Linquan City, although they are afraid of ghosts, they actually don't believe in it in their hearts, after all, no one has ever seen a real ghost.

But Xiang Yuan is different, when he was six years old, he had experienced what real demons and monsters were up close!

So he still has some faith in what the innkeeper said.

But what does this have to do with me?

Shrugged his shoulders, anyway, he was just passing by Linquan City to rest, even if it was really haunted, he would just stay for a day and leave.

The sky was getting dark

Xiang Yuan, who had been bumping on horseback for two days, asked his man to make a few pots of hot water, took a bath happily, changed into clean clothes, and began to sleep on the bed.

Night falls

Before darkness fell, the entire city of Springs became a silent city with no life.

The streets are empty, so all the vendors close their stalls early and go home, and even the shops along the street close their doors and turn off their lights.

During the day, you can still see a little bit of vitality in Linquan City, but at night, it seems to become a deserted dead city.

Call......

A bleak wind blew, rolling a bunch of weeds from nowhere, rolling wildly on the empty and lonely streets

In the room of the inn

Xiang Yuan's earlobe, who was sleeping soundly, lifted the quilt on his body upward, turned over and continued to sleep.

Bang bang!

The wind from outside is blowing stronger and stronger.

As the innkeeper said, the terrifying cries of children and women also began to be wrapped in the wind and permeate the entire Linquan City.

The window of the room was pounding with the wind, as if a pair of big hands were pushing the window hard outside, trying to push it open.

Lying on the bed, Xiang Yuan did not move at all, and there seemed to be no sign of being disturbed at all, even though the wind was thundering outside.

But in fact, facing the wall and snoring like thunder, he had already opened his eyes, and his ears were closely watching all unusual sounds.

Gradually, the wind began to subside, and the mournful wails began to fade

Just when Xiang Yuan thought that the weirdness of the night in Linquan City was about to end, there was a sudden muffled sound on the first floor of the inn!

Teng bounced off the bed.

Xiang Yuan heard the muffled sound just now, it was the sound of the door being pushed open and the latch breaking.

In the room without fire and light, Xiang Yuan stood silently in the room, concentrating and listening to the movements in the inn.

Something is wrong, such a loud voice, why is there no movement at all in the inn, could it be that they are all deaf?

Realizing the slightest abnormality, Xiang Yuan turned around and got dressed, and sat on the edge of the bed, guarding against any sudden situations that might happen!

Tuk tuk!

His gaze shifted to the door of the room, and a faint but continuous sound of stamping on the stairs reached Xiang Yuan's ears.

The footsteps are getting closer and clearer!

His eyes narrowed slightly, Xiang Yuan straightened his spine, like a big bow drawn into a full moon, and the strength of his whole body was invisibly condensed, preparing for a sudden blow.

Footsteps stopped in front of the door.

Through the gap in the door, Xiang Yuan could vaguely see a tall and thin figure standing stiffly in front of his door.

Not from this inn......

The innkeeper and his partner Xiang Yuan have all seen it, and they are not as tall as this person, so obviously the figure standing at the door of his room now is not a person from the inn.

If the enemy doesn't move, I won't move!

Xiang Yuan, who was sitting in the guest room, and the strange figure standing quietly in front of the door confronted each other silently.

I don't know how long it took, but the figure outside the door slowly turned around, and the slight footsteps moved forward again.

This strange figure actually gave up on Xiang Yuan, turned around and walked to the next room.

Listening to the slightest movement, but after a while, no sound came again.

Sitting all night

At some point, a rooster crowed and fell to the ground, and the morning light of Qiming gently penetrated the window of the room and scattered on the floor of the room

Xiang Yuan slowly got up and pushed open the window, and on the empty and lonely street, the outline began to become clear under the morning light.

The strong winds of last night didn't seem to cause anything unusual

Hmmm? That's ......

Just as Xiang Yuan was about to close the window, the corner of his eye suddenly caught a glimpse of two child-sized handprints on the edge of the window!

Judging by the size and angle of the handprints, there should have been a seven or eight-year-old child last night!

I've been lying out of the window, staring at the inside of the house!

His brows slowly furrowed into a Sichuan character, and just as Xiang Yuan was about to take a closer look at the two handprints, a frightened shout suddenly came from outside.

Opening the door, the innkeeper who was sitting on the ground pointed to the room next to Xiang Yuan in horror, and stammered: "Death...... Dead man!"

With a tense expression, he walked over to the guy and looked sideways into the room.

In a room with the same furnishings as him, a man in a white robe was disemboweled, and his intestines were hung from the beam of the room.

The foul-smelling and sticky blood and the organs in the stomach formed a black-red sticky substance under the man's body.

The smell of blood is disgusting.

Just as Xiang Yuan was observing the man's death, the innkeeper also heard the man's exclamation and hurried up.

Seeing that someone had died in his inn, the shopkeeper's face turned pale and he clenched his hands.

He muttered, "What...... How so?"

......

A moment later, the catchers and servants of the Linquan City Yamen arrived one after another, and when they saw the man's terrifying death, the two younger ones were about to vomit out as soon as their faces turned blue.

After asking for a while, a catcher surnamed Hu found Xiang Yuan: "You just live next door to the deceased, right?" ”

Raising his eyebrows and looking at the bearded head catcher in front of him, Xiang Yuan nodded: "Yes." ”

Looking up and down, the head-catcher said in a suspicious tone: "You're not a local?"

"I'm from Guangling, and I only came here yesterday afternoon, just to rest for one night.

If you don't believe me, you can ask the shopkeeper. Seeing the suspicion of the head catcher, Xiang Yuan immediately explained.

"Guangling?" walked up to Xiang Yuan and sat down, looked at Xiang Yuan's fearless face, and grinned: "You don't seem to be scared at all." ”

"What do you mean by that?" his eyes flashed, and Xiang Yuan's voice was slightly deep.

"Nothing, just ask.

Since you live next door to the deceased, it stands to reason that your suspicion is the greatest, so for the sake of the investigation of the case, I now officially inform you that you are not allowed to leave Linquan City for the time being.

Until the case came to light. Unceremoniously ordered Xiang Yuan to stop, and he was about to leave with his head raised, but as soon as he got up, there was a soft shout from behind.

"Wait a minute, please. ”

Raising his eyebrows and turning around, the bearded head turned his hand and grabbed the straddle knife at his waist: "What, do you have anything to say?"

Slowly stood up, stared into the bearded eyes, and whispered to Yuan: "There are some things, I said, you may not believe ......"

"Oh, then you talk about it first...... the corners of his eyes twitched, his bearded eyes were like torches, and he walked back to Xiang Yuan.

Repeating everything he heard and saw last night, Xiang Yuan also led the bearded head to the window and looked at the two handprints that were still clearly visible.

"These ...... Can it help to catch the head and solve the case?"

Seeing that the bearded head had obviously become a little ugly, Xiang Yuan asked.

......