The white-bearded old Taoist, the hunchbacked old man, the storyteller and the gloomy middle-aged man gathered in the tea house are undoubtedly clones of Kongxuan Sanren.
Since Gu Xu destroyed the black altar on Yishan Mountain a few months ago and prevented Kong Xuan Sanren's plan to be promoted to the "Ghost King", Kong Xuan Sanren has always held a grudge against Gu Xu and vowed to make him He pays the price.
It is a pity that after the disaster in Qingzhou, Gu Xu has been staying in Luojing City and rarely came out.
With Kong Xuan Sanren's always cautious and scheming character, he would not attack Gu Xu under the eyes of the Emperor of Da Qi and the saints in front of the "Tianlong Formation".
Anyway, as a ghost with infinite lifespan, Kongxuan Sanren has enough patience to look for a foolproof opportunity.
And the opportunity comes much sooner than imagined.
Even if Kongxuan Sanren prides himself on being resourceful and resourceful, he never thought that a talented monk like Gu Xu, who has attracted so much attention, would be able to make perfect decisions in one day without any hesitation. Symptomatically turned into a traitor.
But no matter what the reason is, this is good news for Kongxuan Sanren.
At this moment, Kong Xuan Sanren was like a spectator who was gloating about his misfortune, whether he saw Gu Xu fleeing in embarrassment under the pursuit of the Da Qi court, or seeing the Da Qi court unable to find Gu Xu. The traces and headaches can make him feel happy.
Occasionally, he will hide in the dark and use subtle causal spells to slightly add fuel to the fire, making the situation worse and more chaotic.
Despite the negative influence of "Puppetry" and "Zhaoming Forbidden Technique", the various clones of Kongxuan Sanren often have different opinions, and even the main body may not be able to control it.
But there is one thing that they hold the same view on. Gu Xu's death is approaching.
By the time it was dark, Gu Xu had left Jinyang City and arrived in the mountains several miles away.
He walked through the dense woods and came to a hidden cave. He took out more than ten talismans and set up multiple formations to confuse vision, conceal aura, and block divination.
After ensuring safety, he carefully picked it up
The night was dim and dark.
The atmosphere in the forest was as solemn and silent as a funeral. The tall and lush trees, as well as the wild weeds growing under the trees, seemed to be wearing dark mourning clothes, standing under the vast and dim sky.
Even if he was resting, Gu Xu did not dare to let down his guard at all.
He held the "astrolabe" tightly in his hand, quietly brewing the true energy in his body.
Once there is something unusual happening outside, he can respond promptly.
At this moment, a shrill scream came from outside the cave, breaking the deathly silence in the forest.
Gu Xu stood up suddenly, turned around, and saw at a glance several heads like apes, lips like cinnabar, eyes like mirrors, and horns on their heads., a monster with green fleshy wings on its back, surrounding a young man wearing a cloth shirt.
Some of these monsters are holding axes, and some are holding sticks. They are surrounded by thunder and lightning, and they look particularly scary.
Under the siege of the monsters, the young man in cloth shirt was covered in scars and bleeding. The smell of blood further aroused the ferocity of the ghosts, causing them to make frightening low roars.
Gu Xu knew that this kind of ferocious-looking ghost was called "Thunder Ghost", its strength was at the level of "Wild Ghost", and it had the ability to guide thunder and lightning to hurt people.
And that young man in a cloth shirt only has the first level of cultivation, and is obviously no match for the "Reggae".
With keen observation, Gu Xu also noticed that there was a jade pendant hanging on the waist of the young man in cloth. The surface was engraved with complex formation patterns, and the occasional flash of light was the official of the exorcism department. The magic weapon we use to record the process of the task.
“It’s really strange,” Gu Xu said silently, “Reggae is an extremely rare existence among ghosts and monsters, and is usually only found in the southern region of the Daqi Dynasty.
< p>"This employee of the Exorcism Department is really unlucky to encounter so many reggae during the execution of his mission.”
This is Gu Xu’s extremely hesitant mind.
Rationally speaking, he should stay quietly in the cave, pretend to be air, and not easily interfere with what’s going on outside. The situation of the war.
A huge state machine like Daqi must have many known and unknown tracking methods.
Once he comes into contact with the exorcism officials, It is very likely that his whereabouts will be exposed.
However, sitting back and watching a dying person being brutally killed by ghosts will undoubtedly make Gu Xu feel uneasy.
While Gu Xu’s reason and emotion were fighting in his heart, the cloth-shirted clerk outside the cave had clearly understood the fact that he was bound to die.
This clerk’s name was “Sima Chang.” , affiliated with the Jinyang Exorcism Department.
The task assigned to him by the Exorcism Department was to deal with a group of the weakest ghosts, the "monsters".
With a bunch of "fire characters". , it can be solved easily.
According to Sima Chang’s expectation, after completing this mission, he will be able to redeem a bottle of "Jingxin Pill". >Unexpectedly, after he entered the mountain, he didn't see any trace of "Monster", but he was smelled by a group of "Reggae" who appeared out of nowhere.
Under such circumstances, Sima Chang's identity instantly changed from a hunter to a prey.
As a newbie in the exorcism department, Sima Chang is not only of a low level, but also has very few spells. He usually does ghost killing tasks. , basically relying on the talismans he received from the yamen.
Facing these powerful "reggaes", he knew that he would definitely die.
Thinking of getting married soon and waiting at home. His wife, Sima Chang couldn't help but have wet eyes,With tears streaming down her face, she murmured, "I'm sorry, Yu'e, your husband is too incompetent and can't stay with you for the rest of his life."
However, when Sima Chang closed his eyes and waited for death, At that time, the lightning controlled by the "Reggae" did not fall on him as expected.
On the contrary, he heard the shrill screams of the "Reggae" and felt the temperature in the forest rising sharply.
He opened his eyes in confusion.
What came into view was an overwhelming sea of golden-red fire.
The scorching flames were like countless wildly dancing dragons, roaring and leaping. They regarded the ferocious "reggaes" as prey and quickly swallowed them up.
The "Reggae" were struggling in the flames, powerless to resist.
It is like a ghost in hell, being tortured in a frying pan.
In the middle of the sea of fire, Sima Chang saw a vague figure
The man was tall and tall, wearing a black robe and a mask, standing with his hands behind his back.
He is like a king in charge of fire, punishing disrespectful subjects.
The sudden change in the situation made Sima Chang temporarily suspect that he was dreaming.
At first, he thought that maybe a senior in the exorcism department had calculated the danger he would encounter during this mission and came to the rescue in time.
But in his impression, there are no high-level monks who are good at fire-attribute spells in the Jinyang Exorcism Department.
After a few seconds, the flames went out.
The "reggaes" who had previously bared their teeth and claws have turned into black and gray.
The expert who eliminated the "reggae" seemed to have a high sense of "doing good deeds without leaving a name". As soon as the flames disappeared, he turned around and left.
"Senior, can you leave your name?" Sima Chang shouted hurriedly, "Senior's life-saving grace will never be forgotten by this junior. If there is a chance in the future, I will definitely sacrifice my life to repay it."
The man in black robe looked back at him, said nothing, and continued to move forward.
However, at the moment when he turned back, a strong wind roared past, making the leaves rustle like cries at a funeral.
The black mask on the face of the man in black was blown to the ground unexpectedly.
When he saw the face behind the mask, Sima Chang was suddenly stunned.
It’s not because he is too young.
It’s not because he is too handsome.
But because he has seen this face before.
This person's portrait is everywhere in the government documents and on the wanted notices posted on the wall.
The man in black who killed "Reggae" was naturally Gu Xu.
He hesitated in the cave for a while.
When he heard Sima Chang crying and talking about his new wife, he couldn't help but think of the situation in which he and Shi Xiaohan were forced to separate.
He thought that if nothing unexpected happened, he would have married that greedy silly girl.Go home.
Emotion suddenly overwhelms reason.
To be precise, there was a rush of heat rushing into his heart, driving him out of the cave.
As a person who thinks rationally and works steadily, Gu Xu rarely experiences the feeling of "impulse".
But today, he was unusually hot-headed.
Because of the "wife", the "impulse" of having empathy with the other person seems reasonable and reasonable.
He came in front of the "Reggae", manipulated the spells, and solved them effortlessly in the simplest and crudest way.
Then, just as he was about to leave, a strong wind came at the right time.
Because when the wind blew, his attention temporarily fell on Sima Chang, and he "reasonably" ignored it for a moment.
The mask fell off.
His identity was exposed in front of Sima Chang.
According to the logic of a normal fugitive, he should immediately silence this witness to prevent the other party from reporting it to the police.
However, killing an innocent human monk was not only unforgivable for Gu Xu, but the Daqi court might also discover him through divination or retrospective magic during the investigation of the cause of Sima Chang's death. .
So he picked up the mask, put it on again, then used his body skills, turned around and left.
Sima Chang stood there stunned for a long time before finally coming back to his senses.
After he recognized Gu Xu’s identity, the first thing he thought of was not the other person’s amazing cultivation talent, nor his various legendary experiences, but the valuable bounty on the wanted order. .
According to the description on the wanted order, if someone kills or captures Gu Xu alive, he can be promoted several levels and advance to the top of his official career.
Even if you just discover a clue and report it to the Yamen, you can get a generous amount of money as a reward, which can also be replaced with an equal amount of cultivation resources.
The reward Sima Chang received from performing tasks through life and death many times was not worth one-tenth of that reward.
As expected, Sima Chang was moved. < /p>
If he successfully passes the examination and officially becomes an official of the imperial court, not only will his salary be much higher than it is now, but he will also be more face-saving, and Yu'e will definitely be happy for him.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that a better life was beckoning to him.
As long as he returns to the Yamen and truthfully reports what he saw and heard today to his superiors
"But he saved your life," a voice suddenly sounded in his mind. , "If you do this, aren't you repaying kindness with hatred?"
"But" Sima Chang took a deep breath.
At this moment, he lowered his head and caught a glimpse of the jade pendant around his waist still flickering.
JustEverything that just happened was obviously recorded by the jade pendant.
"No matter what, I have to give this jade pendant to my superiors when I get back and report the status of the mission," he thought silently, "I am just reporting on my work, not repaying kindness with enmity."< /p>
Thinking of this, he held on to the tree trunk next to him with scars all over his body, and walked tremblingly towards the direction of Jinyang City.
Everything seems to be running quietly according to a pre-written script.
Sima Chang returned to the Yamen and handed the jade pendant to his immediate superior, Wei Xinxun.
When Inspector Wei saw Gu Xu in the image, he immediately reported the situation to Pu Shilong, Qianhu, Jinyang, without daring to delay for a moment.
There is just one thing that makes Inspector Wei feel a little confused
According to the description in the official documents of the court, Gu Xu is a cold-blooded and ruthless careerist who will do whatever it takes to achieve his own goals. , he can collude with the ghosts and let the ghosts massacre the people of Luojing City.
It is unbelievable that a person like this would risk his whereabouts being exposed in the process of escaping to rescue a petty official whom he has never met
.
After hearing the news, Pu Shilong of Qianhu in Jinyang also immediately interrupted his practice and went straight from the underground retreat room to the attic of the Yamen. He used the communication array to inform Princess Zhaoning who was far away in Luojing City.
Luojing, Princess Mansion.
Princess Zhaoning Xiao Wanjun sat at the marble table, staring at an urgent document in front of her, frowning slightly.
After the disaster in Luojing City, she had spent many sleepless nights.
As a mortal without the talent for cultivation, she could not use cultivation to replace sleep like the monks.
She was undoubtedly exhausted at this moment.
She leaned forward, holding her forehead with her right hand, and the turbulent waves in her chest were pressed heavily on the table. Her posture was lazy and casual, without her usual dignity and elegance.
To be honest, to this day, Princess Zhaoning is not willing to believe that Gu Xu would collude with ghosts and harm Luo Jing.
A genius monk like him will have an extremely bright future as long as he stays in the Exorcism Department and practices quietly.
Why do you need to do such a risky and thankless thing?
But now, Princess Zhaoning does not dare to question the fact that her father wants to punish Gu Xu by name. . She knew that the governing power in her hands came from her father. If the father is not satisfied with her performance, he may take back these powers at any time.
"Actually, I have always wanted to find an opportunity to discuss with you and compare each other's knowledge." She stared at Gu Xu's name on the document and said silently, "It's a pity. As luck would have it, the competition between us can only be conducted in this way."
Then she stood up and told the maid guarding the door, "Use the communication formation for me immediately. , contact Jinyang Qianhu Pu Shilong, Hedong Province General Soldier Zhu Qiuyi,Que Juchang, a Qianhu in Liaozhou Prefecture, Shangwei, a Qianhu in Fenzhou Prefecture, and Shen Guangyao, a Qianhu in Qinzhou Prefecture.
"Even if they fall asleep, wake me up."
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