pertwk Chapter 1665: Following the clues left by He Xiao
Chapter 1665: Following the clues left by He Xiao
Chapter 1665: Following the clues left by He Xiao
Is this kid blind? Can't he see that the Palace Master is in poor health?
Qingyang waved his hand and said, "Let them wait for two hours. I need to rest for a while."
There is really no time to spare.
Once the Yao Kingdom was destroyed, the gods should have taken advantage of the situation to move in, but the power they could mobilize suddenly became less; many tasks were originally done by the Yao Kingdom, but at the moment there were no suitable candidates, so Qingyang could only suffer again.
In the long run, if this continues, the influence of the Lingxu Gods in the Shining Gold Plains will inevitably increase; but for now, this awkward period will continue for some time.
……
It was already dark, but after leaving Youhu Cottage, Bai Ziqi did not return to the temple in Tianshui City to rest, but planned to take a walk to Yongquan Villa.
It was impossible for him not to check out the place where the fugitive had lived for several months.
Qingyang told him that the people there were all gone and He Xiao had already escaped with his men, but she still asked Bai Tan to send a team of people to guard the villa.
There are always refugees wandering around the eastern suburbs of Tianshui. If they enter the villa and rummage through the drawers, the scene that Bai Ziqi wants to observe will be completely destroyed.
The old imperial teacher was still so considerate. Bai Ziqi pressed his temples.
At this time they passed a stream, and there were dense forests beside the stream.
When people arrived, flocks of night birds were startled and flew away.
This actually shows that the woodlands near the stream are safe and free of predators.
Bai Ziqi looked around: "Where is this place?"
Qingyang even sent a Qingwei to show Bai Ziqi the way. He replied, "This is Taoxi. The peach forest beside the stream is full of sweet peaches in summer. People in the city like to come here to pick peaches."
"Taoxi?" This place name appeared in the conversation between Bai Ziqi and Qingyang. "Did a big battle happen here a few days ago?"
"Ah, yes." Qingwei nodded, "A big pit was blown out by the stream ahead, and a huge fish carcass was buried inside."
"Dead fish? Go take a look."
"The government was afraid of the stench and epidemic, so they ordered people to bury the bodies on the spot." Qingwei led the way, and within a dozen feet, a huge pit suddenly appeared on the open ground beside the stream. "Huh? I remember that this pit had been buried, why was it dug up again?"
"At that time, there was an explosion here, shaking the earth. We rushed over to take a look... Eh!" He lowered his head while recalling, and was stunned when he looked inside the pit.
Where are the fish carcasses?
He even raised a torch to look down, but the bottom of the pit was nothing but yellow earth, and the colorful fish carcasses were nowhere to be found!
Seeing his condition, Bai Ziqi knew something was fishy: "The fish carcass is missing?"
"Yes, yes, it was originally at the bottom of the pit, I saw it with my own eyes!" Qing Wei scratched his head, "Could it be that someone dug it out and ate it? There are many refugees nearby, they are so hungry that they eat anything."
"That fish corpse should be Cao Wendao's demon puppet. Any ordinary person who eats it will die." Bai Ziqi said straightforwardly, "Let's go down and take a look."
This place is very close to He Xiao's Yongquan Villa, and it takes less than half an hour to walk there. Bai Ziqi feels that it is necessary to check it out.
So everyone jumped down to the bottom of the pit to check, while listening to the young guard's description of the scene that day.
There were traces of digging at the bottom of the pit, and Bai Ziqi's men found some pale fish bones and some broken pieces of fish skin.
Just as Qing Wei said, the fish skin was dark red with spots, but both the skin and bones showed signs of having been gnawed.
The boy measured the size of the bowl based on the tooth marks and said, "Whatever was eating the fish, its mouth must be this big!"
Such a wide mouth and such sharp teeth marks, it couldn't be a human, nor did it look like a tiger or wolf. Bai Ziqi frowned, what kind of creature would have such straight bite marks?
The servant boy said again: "It looks like the fish carcass has really been eaten."
Bai Shiqi pointed at the fish bones and said, "How can a big fish be made from just a few pieces of bones?"
"..."
Bai Ziqi groaned: "No matter what kind of monster it is, it must have eaten a lot of fish."
It's fine after eating Cao Wendao's demon puppets, what kind of copper intestines and iron stomach is this? But Bai Ziqi had talked with Qingyang before, and she didn't know which demon puppets Cao Wendao brought out, let alone how He Xiao's men would deal with it.
Cao Wendao's cause of death was his head being bitten off. The wounds from knife and axe were smooth, but the jagged wounds were caused by a living creature.
Qingyang also said that Cao Wendao suspected that there was a demon puppet master hiding in Yongquan Villa during his lifetime, and on the night of the Taoxi explosion, He Xiao was held back by Qingyang and did not participate in the battle here.
In other words, Cao Wendao might have been killed by the opponent's demon puppet master?
It seems that the opponent's demon puppet is quite powerful. Bai Ziqi is very clear about Cao Wendao's weight in the industry.
However, there were too few clues at the moment, so he had to keep his doubts in his heart and continue to head towards Yongquan Villa.
As soon as he arrived, the guards of Yongquan Villa came forward to greet him, and Qingwei said goodbye and left.
After the Yao Palace Incident was over, Qingyang left Tianshui City and had time to send people into the village to check. They didn't find He Xiao, but they did find seven or eight refugees who were searching the village for food, drink, and property.
"Where are the palace guards who were here that night?" Bai Ziqi asked as he inspected Yongquan Villa, "Zhao Song didn't bring all his men into the palace, did he?"
"Something happened in the palace, so most of them rushed back. Only about ten people were left here." The guard replied, "But He Xiao suddenly returned with his men, arrested these ten people, knocked them unconscious, and locked them in the woodshed."
Bai Ziqi frowned, "You mean, on the day of the coup, He Xiao escaped first, and then came back?"
"Yes."
"What did he do when he came back to the Villa?"
"That's not very clear." The guard replied respectfully, "The ten palace guards were all knocked unconscious, and we don't know what happened next. When we arrived, we also caught a few refugees who sneaked in to eat and drink."
In such a big villa, how could others know what He Xiao did after he came back?
But why did he come back?
He had already escaped from Yongquan Villa and should have left Yao Kingdom as soon as possible.
Bai Ziqi remembered the note left by He Xiao.
He Xiao did not forget to provoke him before leaving. Judging from this man's character of planning before taking action, he must have made some backup plans in the villa.
"What else has happened here?"
He just asked casually. He Xiao had already left, so what else could happen at Yongquan Villa?
However, the guard was startled and hesitated. Should he tell it or not?
Bai Ziqi said in a friendly manner: "Just tell me, it doesn't matter how big or small the matter is."
"The villa is too big and needs frequent patrols, so the higher-ups have arranged three shifts here. We are the third shift and will take over from the previous shift at 15:30."
Everyone calculated the time, which meant that the second shift left their post at dark, and the third shift had taken over less than two hours ago.
"What is the problem?"
The guard said, "I heard, uh, the second shift guards seemed to be mumbling before they left. They were missing someone."
"what happened?"
"About half an hour before they left their post, a guard went to patrol Xinglin Terrace. When they were leaving, he didn't come out. They looked for him but couldn't find him, so they told us to call him back if we saw him."
Bai Ziqi understood: "He hasn't appeared until now?"
"No." The guard replied, "We patrolled Xinglin Terrace twice, but we couldn't find him. People in our team said that he might have gone back on his own. After all, the villa is so big, we wouldn't know if he left."
"But..." He hesitated again, "When I was patrolling Xinglin Terrace, I always felt like I was being watched, and I felt a chill on my back. But my teammates didn't feel anything, and they just said I was being suspicious."
"Only felt it at Xinglin Terrace?"
"Uh, yes. After leaving Xinglin Terrace, I no longer have that creepy feeling."
It would be best if there was something strange, as it would give us a direction to look for, which is better than searching for a needle in the vast sea in this mountain villa. Bai Ziqi immediately said, "Go find me one of Zhao Song's men. The more familiar he is with this place, the better."
"Yes."
Who dares not to meet the request of the Heavenly Palace Baidu Envoy? Even though it is already late at night.
So an hour and a half later, Tianshui City rushed in a palace guard, who was also a subordinate of Zhao Song. He was arrested on the day of the coup and thrown into prison.
He had lived in the villa for two or three months and was more familiar with it than anyone else.
The palace guard was waiting to die in prison, but Bai Ziqi said to him, "Cooperate well and I will spare your life."
The palace guard agreed hastily. Zhao Song and King Yao were long gone, and he didn't want to be buried with them.
In the past hour and a half, Bai Ziqi walked around Yongquan Villa and had not yet visited Xinglin Terrace.
"Take me to Xinglin Terrace."
What did He Xiao do here and what did he leave behind?
Bai Ziqi also guessed that it wouldn't be a good thing, but he became more and more curious.
Yongquan Villa is actually a large orchard. Even when the leaves have fallen off, the trees are still full of dark shadows. When the evening breeze blows, it's like there are countless evil ghosts hiding there.
There were too few people in the village now, so one had to be very brave to walk around. And the deeper into the village one went, the more eerie and scary it became.
The guards had to work in groups of two before they dared to go there.
Soon, Xinglin Terrace arrived.
As the name suggests, this platform is surrounded by apricot trees. It may be a picturesque sight in autumn, but now it is just bare trees.
"What are these talismans used for?"
Bai Ziqi pointed at the tree casually.
As they walked along, they noticed that some trees were inlaid with copper symbols, each as big as a palm.
The apricot tree was bare and leafless, and the bronze talisman was glowing faintly.
Pale blue light.
If any refugees go to dig, there will be a barrier to push them away.
Bai Ziqi knew at a glance that this was the formation board of a large talisman formation, or called a talisman board.
Yongquan Villa is not small in area, and the scale of this formation is quite impressive.
"This is the formation that He Xiao ordered his men to set up, the 'Spiritual Wind Formation' that will be used exclusively on the night of the Emperor's Flowing Juice." The palace guard explained, "Originally, Yongquan Villa was going to set up another formation, which was halfway done and cost a lot of money, but He Xiao suddenly changed his mind and decided to set up this Spiritual Wind Formation to collect the Emperor's Flowing Juice."
Rich and willful.
With such a large villa and so many obstacles, it is impossible to collect them all manually.
"Do you know how the formation works?"
"I heard that when the formation is truly activated, a total of thirty-five small tornadoes will blow out inside and outside the villa. Each one will be in the shape of a funnel, larger at the top and smaller at the bottom, and will stop in place without moving."
(End of this chapter)