Sueños Florales en la Ciudad

Capítulo 177

Zhu Huihui stared wide-eyed incredulously: "What? Stones!" Stones can be exchanged for money? Has this old man suddenly gone mad?

The Sky Over the Martial World is Clear - Part One: The Sky Over the Martial World is Clear - Chapter Six (4)

Feng Xuese was too lazy to talk to him. This rascal used all his cleverness and cunning on crooked ways; he was incredibly stupid when it came to doing something worthwhile! He moved nearly a hundred stones without realizing that this area of stones had been deliberately turned over not long ago.

These stones have been by the river for countless years. Due to wind, sun, rain, and water erosion, the side touching the ground and the exposed side are different. Although the difference is not obvious, a careful person can tell at a glance.

If only one stone is flipped over, it might be unintentional, but since almost all the stones in this area have been flipped over, it must have been intentional. Moreover, among the stones that have been flipped over, some have marks from sharp tools, the cut surfaces are fresh, and there are small amounts of reddish-brown blood in the cracks of many pebbles.

Turning over stones with bloodstains and chop marks to the bottom is clearly an attempt to hide traces of murder; only the murderer would do such a thing.

It is normal to dispose of bodies after a large-scale massacre, but such meticulous handling of the scene only makes it more suspicious and suggests a hidden conspiracy.

"Who were the people on your boat?" This matter is of great importance, and this rogue's one-sided account is not enough to prove anything.

Zhu Huihui shook her head: "I don't know him."

"You haven't spoken to anyone?"

"They all ignored me. Hua Hua and I sat at the stern, far away from them." He was used to this treatment wherever he went!

"So, did you hear their conversation?"

Zhu Huihui understood what Feng Xuese meant. Sitting on the rock, she held her head and slowly recalled, "Besides Huahua and me, there were eleven other people on the boat: the boatman, a strange old man, a man with a knife, a fat woman, a young girl, a nun with a wrinkled face, a mother with her daughter, an accountant, and a scholar with a page..."

"Very good! Anything else?"

"Before I boarded the boat, I stole—uh, I mean bought—a big bag of shortbread and rice candy, but Hua Hua accidentally spilled it into the water. When I was hungry at noon, I had nothing to eat. The nun gave me a very sweet red bean paste bun, and then the mother with her daughter said, 'The nuns at Luomei Nunnery are so kind-hearted.'"

Luomei Hermitage! Fengxue Se memorized the name. It seems I'll have to make a trip there.

"Ah, and that man with the knife, he was the one who rowed the boat after the boatman died. I remember he had a blue tiger with long wings embroidered on his belt."

Feng Xuese fell silent. Donglin Escort Agency! This man with the knife was from the Donglin Escort Agency.

He was knowledgeable and experienced in the martial arts world. Upon hearing the name "blue-winged tiger," he immediately recognized it as the emblem of the Donglin Escort Agency in Guyuan Prefecture. Tang Lin, the chief escort of the Donglin Escort Agency, was nicknamed "Black Tiger Flying to the Sky" by people in the martial arts world. Therefore, the Donglin Escort Agency used the blue-winged tiger as its symbol, and it was embroidered on the escort flag!

However, the Donglin Escort Agency had ceased to exist a month ago!

"Tang Lin, the chief镖头 (bodyguard/escort) of Donglin镖局 (escort agency), killed thirty-three people of the镖局 while they were having a meal in the dining hall, and then chopped off his own head with his sword."

This information was gathered by my friend Fang Jianwu on his mission from Tianshui Island, and it is absolutely correct.

A sudden light shone in Maple Snow's heart.

If the people from Donglin Escort Agency were on the ship at the time, could the tragedy at Donglin Escort Agency be related to this massacre?

Furthermore, he had personally witnessed the brazen methods of killing the villagers on their corpses in Half-Moon Village. While he couldn't be entirely certain that the black-clad assassins he killed outside Yanhe Pagoda were the same people who massacred Half-Moon Village, their methods were identical, suggesting a connection. And this petty rascal, who was temporarily staying at Yanhe Pagoda at the time, was one of the witnesses to the massacre, hiding on the wooden boat.

The five horrific cases, though different in method of killing—some involving weapons, some clearly poisoning, and some staged suicides—were all cases of wiping out entire families. The killer was arrogant, seemingly unconcerned about arousing suspicion, but very careful not to leave any survivors.

For this reason, he has always believed that there is some necessary connection between these cases—if people in these places were passengers on that ship, then that is the common point among these cases.

The Sky Over the Martial World is Clear - Part One: The Sky Over the Martial World is Clear - Chapter Six (5)

Do you remember anyone else?

Zhu Huihui tilted her head, thought carefully for a while, and finally shook her head: "I can't remember! Most people on the ship were seasick, some vomited, some had headaches, so they rarely spoke."

Feng Xuese nodded.

It doesn't matter if you can't remember clearly. Just send someone to investigate thoroughly: among the five families involved in the massacres—Donglin Escort Agency, Wuque Village, Banyue Village, the Zhou family of Wanjiangji, and the old man surnamed Sun—who had traveled a long distance a month ago, traveling by boat down the Hulan River from Minhua County? Although no one survived in these five locations, if anyone witnessed the riverbank massacre, they would likely have mentioned it in their conversations. Such news always spreads quickly and will eventually reach other people's ears.

If the investigation confirms his deduction, then the five cases and the riverbank massacre can truly be attributed to one case!

Beyond Longchou Rock lies Jimo Ridge; beyond that lies Guying Ravine; a plank bridge leads to Pobei Mountain; beyond Pobei Mountain, one ascends the official road connecting the four provinces and nine prefectures and thirty-six counties of the northern frontier, the western border, the eastern region, the central region, and the southern region.

A rugged path, hidden among the wild grass.

On both sides are towering cliffs and steep peaks, and below are surging waves and thick fog shrouding the river. Maple leaves and snow colors climb up the steep Longchou Rock, and white clothes appear and disappear among the green forest and white fog.

The mountain wind was strong, causing the thick mountain fog to gather and disperse intermittently. When it gathered, everything was a white blur, and when it dispersed, the steep mountain walls became visible. Zhu Huihui followed behind him, using both hands and feet, her heart pounding with fear, lest she lose her footing and fall into the ravine and lose her life.

Seeing that Feng Xuese had already rounded the bend in the mountain ahead and his figure had been hidden by the cliff, Zhu Huihui became anxious and shouted, "Hero, please slow down, I can't keep up!"

Not being able to keep up isn't a big deal; the real fear is that he'll falsely accuse me of trying to escape and then attack me with his sword—well, actually, it's not that I don't want to escape, but firstly, his martial arts skills are too high, and I definitely can't escape like this; secondly, before I left, that scarlet-robed monk detained Hua Hua, saying that if I tried anything funny, he would kill Hua Hua and braise her. So, I have to go back with this Master Feng no matter what, and then redeem Hua Hua.

Unable to hear Feng Xuese's reply, he had no choice but to speed up his climb. Finally reaching the top of the mountain, he saw Feng Xuese standing under a tree, hands behind his back, gazing into the distance. He couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief and sat down on the ground: He had finally caught up with him!

The terrain here is very high. Feng Xuese looked at the dark clouds piling up on the horizon and frowned slightly: "You're too slow! If we can't cross Broken Stele Mountain before dark, we'll have to spend the night on the mountain."

"I'm not actually that slow, it's you who's too fast!" Zhu Huihui asked with a bitter face, "Hero, why do we have to climb the mountain? Wouldn't it be much easier to take a boat on the Hulan River?"

The maple leaves, white as snow, remained silent and aloof.

He certainly didn't need to tell this rogue, because he suspected that the assassins and the dead had likely walked along this road to Longchou Rock—if such a large number of dead and assassins came by water, there should be boats near the riverbank, and more than one.

However, Zhu Huihui's account never mentions seeing any other ships...

This old man had always been short-tempered and didn't like to talk to people, but Zhu Huihui didn't mind. After sitting on the ground panting for a while, he got up again, broke off a branch from a nearby tree, plucked off the leaves, held it in his hand to compare the thickness, and felt that it was just right for him, so he immediately became happy.

Seeing that his breathing had calmed down, Feng Xuese resumed her steps.

Zhu Huihui followed behind with her cane, and walking became much easier. Feeling pleased with herself, she started singing loudly.

First, she strained her throat and sang: "The crescent moon shines through the clouds, little sister sits by the window, her delicate eyebrows and fluffy eyes make brother's heart sweet." Then, she suddenly switched to a high-pitched female voice: "The crescent moon shines through the clouds, I sit by the window, brother's sly eyes outside the wall make my heart flutter."

He was singing a folk song he'd picked up somewhere as he walked, trying to find joy in his misery, when he didn't notice he'd stepped on a pebble, slipped, and rolled down a steep slope.