A few days later.

The sky was bright and foggy filled the mountain town.

Wei Tao was still the same as usual, he got up before dawn, went to the street shop to buy a stack of meatloaf, and filled his stomach with a large bowl of mutton soup.

In late autumn, after several mountain rains, the temperature dropped one after another, and a thick layer of hoarfrost was clearly visible on the ground.

Several ragged men huddled in corners to keep warm, occasionally reaching out to beg for food and copper coins.

Passers-by covered their mouths and noses and hurried away, and no one glanced at the corner.

After eating a stack of meatloaf and refilling two bowls of broth in a row, Wei Tao sighed with satisfaction, got up and threw a small piece of broken silver to the shopkeeper, and asked casually while waiting to find money, "Are those people refugees who fled from Mozhou?" ”

The shopkeeper stretched out his head to take a look, "The guest officer is right, they have been wandering around a lot these days. ”

Wei Tao nodded and said casually, "You don't need to find the rest of the money, give each of them a meatloaf to warm up." ”

"Guest officer, I can't help it, I can't help it." The shopkeeper was stunned, but his face was embarrassed.

"Oh? It's hard to make it happen, and it's not for you to pay. ”

"It's not that the villain doesn't want to do good deeds, but as long as the villain gives them soup cakes today, tomorrow there will be a lot of people around here begging for food and money, and even the villain's stall can be lifted if the trouble is so big."

"My husband is worried about it."

"Don't worry about it at all, the guest officials don't know, some of these people from Mozhou continue to flock to the mainland, some sell themselves as slaves, and some rely on their strength to make ends meet, and the rest can ......"

The shopkeeper let out a long sigh when he said this.

"The rest are the factors that affect security and stability in the city, is this what the old man wants to say?" Wei Tao took the copper coin recovered by the old man of the shopkeeper and said in a calm tone.

"Yes, yes, as the guest officer said." The shopkeeper lowered his voice, "The villain also heard that they even set up a gang to fight a small piece of land in the outer city, and even the shops near the inner city were robbed by them more than one." ”

"As for the city defense army, they dare to make trouble on the edge of the inner city, and the city defense army should directly destroy it."

"Alas...... It's not an old man, this city defense army was suddenly transferred out by the court officials who came down from above a few days ago, and they haven't come back yet. ”

"The guest officer may not have been walking around the street much recently, and I am afraid that he doesn't know what the chaos has become in this outer city."

The city defense army was transferred and has not returned until now?

Wei Tao frowned slightly, and just as he wanted to say something, he heard the sound of horses' hooves.

He immediately turned his head to look.

The sound of horses' hooves approached quickly, galloping across the stone pavement, heading straight for the inner city.

A total of more than 20 horsemen swept in front of the restaurant, and one of them carried a hunting banner with a huge Zhou character embroidered on it.

"It turned out to be the Black Cavalry, the most elite force of the Zhou family in the inner city!" The old man of the shopkeeper exclaimed, and hurriedly lowered his head and didn't dare to look more.

Huang, Zhou, Xu, the three families of the inner city, put the entire Cangyuan City under control.

Most of the so-called gangs in the outer city are just small characters that can be destroyed in their eyes.

Wei Tao watched the Zhou family ride away, but there were more thoughts and doubts in his eyes.

These knights seemed to have just gone through a hard battle, and Zhou's body was still filled with the smell of blood that had not dissipated.

And several people were seriously injured.

With the height of his vision that reached the blood condensation level of the Red Line Fist, he could see at a glance that the faces of the few knights who were behind were gloomy, and there was a heavy bloody aura between every breath and breath.

"The city defense army was transferred out, and the Zhou family's martial artists returned in a bloody battle, could it be that outside Cangyuan City, what special event happened?"

Wei Tao's heart moved, watching them disappear at the end of the long street leading to the inner city, but he inexplicably recalled that terrifying rainy night.

Terrible and crazy women, as well as Taoist priests and armor soldiers who are strewn all over the place.

The mist began to dissipate, and the crowd huddled in the corner rose and submerged into the street in all directions.

Coming out of the shop, Wei Tao walked through the hurried pedestrians and walked towards the Red Line Martial Arts Hall.

Suddenly, he paused, and his eyes glanced down the narrow alley on one side.

On the morning when the sun was about to rise, there was a group of six or seven people carrying red lanterns, lined up in the alley and walked slowly.

His heart moved, and he immediately pretended to be interested in the stall placed at the entrance of the alley, and approached and picked up a pair of silver hairpins.

But it was this turn of effort that the group of lantern bearers disappeared from the narrow alley.

The whole alley was deserted and empty, except for a black cat speeding through the stone wall.

There are also a few stalls of sewage flowing freely underground, emitting a turbid stench.

"How much does this pair cost?" Wei Tao withdrew his gaze and looked at the owner of the stall.

"The weight of the two hairpins is a total of six yuan, son, if you sincerely want it, we will only earn you ten big dollars in manual fees."

Wei Tao took out a piece of broken silver and handed it to the stall owner to weigh, took the pair of hairpins, and was still thinking about the row of pedestrians carrying the lanterns.

Looking up at the dim sky, he didn't know why, which made him feel an indescribable depression.

The entire Cangyuan City seemed to be like a mud pond that was gradually rotting, and like a dense cobweb, enveloping all life, no matter how hard it struggled, it was difficult to escape.

……………………

A quarter of an hour later, Wei Tao came to the martial arts hall.

As soon as he entered the door, he noticed that today seemed different than usual.

All the registered disciples were practicing in silence, no one spoke, and the entire martial arts training ground was shrouded in a dead and dull atmosphere.

"Seventh Senior Brother, all the senior brothers have arrived, and now the inner courtyard is waiting for you." A petite girl ran over.

Wei Tao recognized her as Qi Wuya, the granddaughter of the old dragon leader in Tiexiang, but the clothes she was wearing had changed from a registered disciple to an official disciple.

"You've become an official disciple?" He asked.

Qi Wuya smiled and nodded, "Back to Senior Brother Seven, I just reached the entry standard yesterday, and I was admitted to the inner courtyard early this morning and became a personal disciple." ”

When Wei Tao heard this, he couldn't help but pause, and asked as if unintentionally, "The teacher is back?" ”

"The teacher hasn't come back yet, I am an apprentice by the senior brother on behalf of the teacher, and this is also a gathering convened by the senior brother." Qi Wuya smiled again, her two eyes bent into crescents, looking pretty and cute.

Wei Tao nodded, and asked again, "Did Senior Brother say what the hell is going on?" ”

She restrained her smile, and her voice was no longer as cheerful as just now, "I don't know, it should be related to the second senior sister and the eighth senior brother, hasn't the seventh senior brother heard that something happened to the Silver Wolf Gang?" ”

"I did hear this rumor, so, how are the second senior sister and eighth senior brother doing now?"

"The second senior sister was beaten to death, and the eighth senior brother disappeared for no reason...... The Silver Wolf Gang is also a thing of the past, and the gang members are scattered as birds and beasts, hiding in fear all day long. ”

"I see." Wei Tao didn't ask any more questions, and strode towards the inner courtyard.

Qi Wuya followed behind, her eyes fell on the body of this seventh senior brother, and she suddenly found that he had brought an inexplicable feeling of oppression to herself.

In the past, only teachers and elder brothers would give her similar feelings.