Taihe Mountain has been closed recently.

A notice was posted at the foot of the mountain, saying that no one was allowed to go up the mountain, including those who were on the same path, and that they needed to pass on the book in advance. This is bitter for those people who go up the mountain to burn incense and have peace of mind, some people go all the way to the foot of Taihe Mountain, but when they see such a notice, they can't help but feel a little cold.

In fact, Mount Taihe is rarely closed, and it doesn't last long. But this time the mountain has been closed for a whole week, and it has not even ended, and the people have received the news that the mountain is holding a sacrificial ceremony, saying that Taihe Mountain is sacrificing the Zhenwu Emperor. But there is also news that the old immortals on the mountain are practicing in retreat, and it is said that the demon sect on the rivers and lakes is becoming more and more arrogant, and these old immortals in Taihe Mountain are ready to go out of the customs to eliminate harm for the people.

The Demon Sect is just a folk name, it is actually a sect, and its full name is the Valley of Grievances. Located in the territory of the Xiyue Empire, the people of this faction prefer to haunt the Yuanqing Empire. The people in the Valley of Grievances are said to know witchcraft, and the people in the sect are holding a wooden battle, and when the wooden battle is waved, the people in front of them will be fascinated and at a loss.

This is not the reason why the Valley of Grievances is called the Demon Sect, but because the Valley of Grievances has a strange personality, loves to kill and anger, and likes to kill ordinary people. It is rumored in the rivers and lakes that the wooden battles they hold need to be nourished with blood, so the Valley of Grievances loves to slaughter the people the most, so they have the title of this demon sect.

As for why he didn't kill those who practiced martial arts, the folk rumor was that the witchcraft of the Demon Sect only had an obvious effect on ordinary people, and the effect on those who practiced martial arts was average.

And the attitude of the Xiyue Dynasty towards the Valley of Grievances is very vague, every time it is under the banner of going to exterminate, but it only sends two or three thousand troops, making a formation outside the valley, and the general shouts a few more words, and the result is less than a day before returning home. However, it seems that every time I go, it has an effect, at least during the month, the number of massacres of civilians in the Valley of Grievances has decreased a lot, but only in the territory of Xiyue.

But the Yuanqing Empire is different, the Valley of Grievances is not a sect in its own territory, but it still likes to slaughter the common people in its own territory, so the emperor gave a death order, saying that in his territory, when he sees the people in the Valley of Grievances, he will kill them once he sees them, so each state and county has a master sent by the capital.

But the people in the Valley of Grievances are haunted, and their traces are very difficult to find, and even the masters of the capital can't help them. The people in the Valley of Grievances are cunning, and those masters in the capital can't find them, and according to the spies, they are divided into small teams to fight, not to mention the strong combat effectiveness, and they also like to hunt down lonely people.

Moreover, during this time, the number of people hunted was increasing, even more than before the capital sent people.

Therefore, the people in the Yuanqing Empire were panicked all day long, and there were more and more twists and turns in the small study room in the capital from all over the country, and the discussion in the small house in front of the palace became more and more intense.

In the small house, there is still a large table in the middle, with a few chairs on either side.

The gray-bearded old man sitting in the second chair on the right-hand side sat on the chair, drowsy. The man leaning against the corner also looked like he hadn't woken up, but fortunately his eyes were open, unlike the old man in the chair whose eyes were closed.

There were also men with flutes and an ancient book in their hands, but they were clearly playing with their own things.

The fat man sitting in the fourth chair on the left hand side was anxious at the moment, and every time he wanted to stand up and say something, but when he thought of the virtues of the people in the small house in the past few months, he couldn't help it.

There are not many normal people in this room, sleeping, absent-minded, carrying a bundle of books, holding a flute, and they are really all weirdos.

Fortunately, the fat man has seemed to mingle with them in the past few months, and he almost has a certain understanding of everyone's temper, so the fat man can calm down and not speak. Today's meeting is the old man who is dozing off in the chair to organize everyone to come together, generally speaking, there are not so many people in this small room, at most three or two are about the same, but today there are five people, but there are still people who have not arrived.

The old man in the chair was already drowsy, but now he is really asleep. As soon as the old man fell asleep, all the people in the room were speechless, and everyone went their own way, and no one got up to be the first to speak.

The fat man held his chin in one hand and looked out the window thoughtfully.

Finally, after two incense sticks, the old man woke up from his dream, and did not forget to yawn. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the people in the room slightly, without the slightest expression of embarrassment on his face, he cleared his throat and said, "Then let's get started." ”

There was not a single voice in the room that answered.

The old man was not surprised, and said to himself: "Qin Luwei, you are the first to say." ”

The fat man, whose eyes were still outside the window, shuddered, and he turned his head to look at the old man blankly.

The old man squinted and did not speak.

Qin Luwei had no choice but to stand up slowly, handed the old man a begging look, and said in a low voice, "Old Lu, what are you asking me to say?"

The old man, who was still squinting, paused, and said, "What is being discussed in that little study. ”

Qin Luwei was still confused, what was being discussed in the small study? There were so many things discussed every day in the emperor's small study, how could I know what it was?

Drought is no, it's been solved. It's not right in Fenggu Town, there is a special person in charge of the affairs of that town, and it is not our turn to interfere. Or is it about the resignation of the Tobe Shangshu?

Qin Lu thought a lot for a while, but nothing felt like it was worth discussing.

The man who kept the flute in his hand to his mouth, but never blew it, saw that Qin Luwei didn't say a word, and couldn't bear to look at him embarrassed, so he kindly prompted: "What kind of valley is that." ”

After Qin Luwei heard this, he suddenly realized, he smiled and handed the flute man a grateful look, and then said slowly: "According to the reports from the governors from all over the country, recently, the number of people in the Valley of Grievances has begun to increase slowly, and they no longer tiptoe, but sometimes use witchcraft to slaughter the common people in the city. As he spoke, he peeked at the expressions of the people in the room, but unfortunately he couldn't see anything, so he had to continue, "I speculate that this matter is not just the Valley of Grievances that is at fault. ”

"There are several reasons: First, when I was a general judge in Huangzhou a few years ago, I found that unknown people were killing people in the city, and five men died in a row at night within a month, all in the same way, with no wounds on their bodies, and they died extremely peacefully, without any pain on their faces. At that time, there were no clues in the investigation of those cases, because no one saw the murderer, and the men who died had no enemies, they were all ordinary people. It took me half a year to investigate, and I even sent officers and soldiers to walk alone at night disguised as civilians, in an attempt to meet those people again, but I never met them again. Qin Luwei spoke slowly, and the people in the room were still absent-minded.

He continued: "The case was closed afterwards, because the murderer could not be found, and it has not been closed to this day. But just a few weeks ago, I found that there were several similar cases in Liuzhou, Meizhou, Luo'ancheng and other places mentioned above, and the death method was the same, and more and more people died. In addition, there were eyewitnesses who saw that the people who killed the people had a wooden battle in their hands. Only then did I deduce that a few years ago in Huangzhou, the people who killed the people were the people of the Valley of Grievances. ”

The man leaning against the corner seemed to be a little impatient, and he interrupted Qin Luwei's speech with a loud voice: "Okay, let's get to the point." ”

Qin Lu shook the flesh on the fat face slightly, and nodded at the man with a smile. He said loudly: "Why did the Valley of Grievances kill a few people in a small Huangzhou a few years ago, and then disappear without a trace? And now they have killed dozens of people in various places in the empire in a row, but they still haven't escaped, although the masters in the capital can't track them, but their spies have learned through analysis that the people in the Valley of Grievances have been around and have not left. And now, where is their confidence?"

Qin Lu asked questions one by one, and finally made the old man feel a little energetic.

The old man looked directly at Qin Luwei and said, "Oh? It seems that you think that the people of the Xiyue Empire are supporting you behind your back? But the Xiyue Empire is so far away from us, how can you support it?"

After Qin Luwei saw the old man's gaze, he didn't dodge or dodge, and said in a deep voice: "Perhaps, the current Valley of Grievances is the Xiyue Empire, and the Xiyue Empire is the Valley of Grievances." ”

As soon as these words came out, the man with the flute in his hand also put the flute down. He put the flute on the table, got up, and whispered, "What do you mean by that?"

Qin Lu couldn't help but be a little happy in his heart when he saw that they had finally come here, so his voice was a little louder: "Let's look back and think about it, a few years ago, we didn't even send masters in the state or in smaller counties, but the Valley of Grievances didn't dare to commit crimes in one place in a row at that time, why?" he said as he unfolded the drawings on the table and picked up a pen in his right hand.

The fat man picked up the pen and began to scribble, and continued: "You see, if the former man of the Valley of Grievances is compared to an adult, then when he killed the people a few years ago, it was like bullying a child. But this adult was very careful, and after bullying the children, he was afraid that the parents behind him would come to them to settle accounts, so they ran away as if they were thieves. However, the parents of these children did not come to him to settle accounts, and they did not even show up in person. ”

After speaking for a while, Qin Lu sketched the appearance of an adult with a few strokes, although there was only an avatar.

However, during this time, the adult who did bad things became more and more arrogant, and the parents of these children seemed to be unable to help it, and came to the children one after another, and appeared on the bright side, telling the adult that my children are not unattended, and I am the parents. ”

Qin Luwei sighed as he spoke: "But the strange thing is that the adult who bullied the children has now seen these parents, and it stands to reason that he will be a little jealous, but on the contrary, he has intensified, and even bullied these children in front of the parents, which is a little more decisive than in previous years, and he is more than a little more bold than before." Why do you think about that?"

The man holding an ancient book closed it, looked at Qin Luwei and said, "You mean, that adult's purpose is not as simple as bullying children, but just to lure out parents?"

Qin Luwei nodded, but shook his head again, he saw that the man who spoke just now was at a loss, so he smiled and said: "Then why didn't that adult do this a few years ago? Why didn't you act boldly a few years ago, wouldn't it be better to attract parents? But what you said also has some truth, of course, I think that the purpose of that adult is not just to attract parents, but also to humiliate parents in public, and even bully them together with parents." ”

As soon as the words fell, the middle-aged man leaning on the corner of the wall finally stopped leaning, he stepped forward, snatched Qin Luwei's pen, and didn't care about the latter's gaze, picked up the pen and began to write.

The people in the room didn't speak, just watched the middle-aged man write to his heart's content.

Half incense time.

The middle-aged man wrote about the thirty-eight masters of the Xiyue Empire who had disappeared in recent times.

All of them have names, and some even have realms behind them.

The lowest on this list is eight floors, and the highest... The realm is unknown.

Qin Luwei was dumbfounded, and the others were expressionless.

The people in this room are really... This is virtuous. It seems that if this room belongs to me, I still have to put some effort into it.

The fat man looked out the window and muttered that he was a little hungry.