Painter

Chapter 158 Seven: Man-made Disaster
Changping is fifty miles southwest of Qingling County, at the throat of Qizhou.Since ancient times, countless large and small wars have taken place here, the most famous of which was the one in which Feng Kuo, the famous general of Zhao State, and 800 of his subordinates were murdered more than [-] years ago.This ancient mass grave is rarely inhabited today, and there are seven towers with mottled red paint standing upright in the mountains.

The demon hunters in green evil-dispelling clothes trampled on the dead leaves, and in front of the dragon's claw willow by the tower, untied the cloth straps from the horse's back.There were iron shovels, copper sticks, small flags, rulers and a sword stuck in the cloth, and he took out the shovel and started digging.

The former mass graves are now full of white grass, and the halberd of the sinking sand has been dug away long ago.Using a ruler to measure, the anti-monster officials dug a pit seven feet seven feet wide, inserted six flags into the edge, and drew out the sword in the cloth.

This ancient sword has been battle-tested for a long time, killing people is useless, the sword body is covered with blood-like red rust, it is a thing that attracts evil spirits.The demon hunter inserted the rusty sword into the center of the pit, and performed the magic-gathering spirit response method that he had prepared long ago.

The rusty sword trembled slightly, and a gust of wind blew up the fallen leaves by the edge of the pit, spinning them, flying faster and faster.Woohoo!I don't know if it's the ghost crying or the wind echoing in the mountains and plains.

The demon hunter looked solemn, looking at the gust of wind, as if he was facing a formidable enemy.But after a while, the wind stopped by itself, the dead leaves fell, the dust settled, and the rusty sword in the pit looked even older.The demon hunter went into the pit and grabbed the hilt of the sword, but the red rusted sword body broke away from the hilt like rotten wood and remained in the soil.

"The evil spirit disperses but does not condense..." The demon hunter breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his head, and held the broken sword hilt in his palm, "This will not support a ghost master."

……

In the posthouse in Qingling County, Chen Haochu sat down heavily on the collapsed bed, pulled out the life talisman, sighed at the scattered cinnabar image of a mysterious turtle with an image, folded the useless talisman carefully and put it in his arms .Immediately afterwards, he took out a piece of letter paper with feather patterns on the edge from the table, rubbed the ink, took a pen, and recorded the details of the ghost trace in the Jiang's ancestral hall in Qingling County.

While writing, he thought of the man in Tsing Yi who entered Yizhuang together.In this chaotic world, it is rare to see people who still have good intentions and are willing to help others.It's a pity, I didn't see him escape from the righteous village, so it must have been a disaster.

Chen Haochu shook his head, finished writing the letter, and marked it with the word "odd ghost".Fold the letter into a bird shape, and take out a black wooden box the size of a fist.A stack of gray bird feathers was neatly stuffed in the box.He took out a feather and stuck it on the letter, the paper bird seemed to come alive and flew out of the window.

This method of bird writing can fly [-] miles a day, although it is not as fast as the sword, talisman and crane letter, it is better in that the consumables are easier to get.Chen Haochu put down his pen, he couldn't deal with the monster in the crow's nest, so he could only inform Sizhong and invite Gao Ming.However, the world has become chaotic recently, and monsters have appeared everywhere, and the backlog of monsters in the company has only increased, not diminished. I am afraid that no one will take care of the affairs in Qingling County.

When Chen Haochu was thinking this way, another bird book flew from the window.His expression was fixed, Zhan Xin looked at it, and said in a low voice, "The evil energy is dispersed but not concentrated", his brows were slightly relaxed, and then they were tightened even more in the next moment.

"The only demon trace in Qingling County is in Jiang's ancestral hall. There is a group of old birds gathered there. Most of them have become spirits and have nothing to do with the ghost master. In the ancient battlefield of Changping, there are no soldiers. There is no sign of the destruction. The loss of grain in Qingling County is undoubtedly a man-made disaster."

The demon hunter next to him said: "I didn't expect that Zheng Ming's mansion would do such a self-destructive thing. Shall we inform Ning Xun first?"

"No need."

Chen Haochu shook his head and told the two demon hunters to retreat.When there was no one in the room, he let go, took off his green suit, changed into plain clothes, and left the posthouse.

After leaving the post house in the west of the county, he entered the market, walked on Lunti Street for a while, and turned into the alley next to the pawn shop.There are several houses in the alley, all of which are closed.The end of this alley can be seen at a glance, but when you walk to the end, there is another narrow wall road on the left that can barely allow one person to pass through.Chen Haochu walked through the narrow wall path, and at the end of the wall path was a narrow wooden door.

The narrow wooden door is quite old, but the tin ring in front of the door is polished very brightly, which is quite conspicuous.Chen Haochu ignored the tin ring, looked up, and saw a dusty, inconspicuous copper bell hanging under the door.He pinched the brass bell and shook it lightly four times.After a while, a wooden board on the door was removed and became a viewing window, revealing a pair of examining eyes.

Chen Haochu took out a wooden sign, and revealed the engraved words "Shen Zha Si You Ban Judgment" on the sign, the gaze in the window relaxed, and he opened the door.Behind the gate is a small courtyard sheltered by high walls and deep tiles. This small courtyard has only two entrances, three rooms in the front and one in the back, connecting to the pawn shop on Lunti Street.

Chen Haochu walked into the room on the left. The place was very dark. Even in the daytime, the goose foot oil lamps were lit, emitting a strong smell of lamp oil.

In front of a shelf full of documents, a man with an ocher face was flipping through the Qingling county annals. When he looked up and saw Chen Haochu, he grinned and said, "Judge Chen..."

Chen Haochu said directly: "Tell me, about the case of ghost soldiers crossing the border, what has Ning Guangxing found out in Qingling County these days."

……

When Colonel Shenzhasi was asking and answering people in the secret courtyard behind the pawnshop, people came and went on Lunti Street, all dressed in green clothes, passing the pawnshop and walking towards the north of the street.There was a dagger hanging from his waist, it was Li Chan who had returned from the demon, and was going to Zheng's house to rest after working hard in the east.

Not far from the pawnshop across the street was a grain store. When Li Chan first came in the morning, there was a scene of shoulder-to-shoulder crowds in front of the grain store. , Resell in the Ming Dynasty, Doumi for [-] yuan" notice was pasted in front of the door, and it seemed that it was about to close.

When Li Chan saw the four thousand dollars for a bucket of rice, he couldn't help but think of Mr. Zheng Lang, who bought rice in Baitou Village.There are some rice bags stacked in front of the cabinet, some of which are quite full.

In a moment of surprise, he saw a smear of ink, and when he took a closer look, half of the word "Ba" was vaguely written on a rice bag, and the characters behind it were blocked by other rice bags.

Li Chan turned around and walked towards the food store.

"It's closed today... Hey, I said it's closed today, where do you have the guts to..."

The shop assistant who wanted to stop him was gently pushed by Li Chan, and fell backwards, staggering a few steps before he stood still.During this time, Li Chan had already walked into the food store, dragged out the bag of rice, and saw that the words "Ba Que Disaster Relief Food" were written on it.The grain collected by Mr. Zheng Lang was not received by the Qingling county government, but it went to this grain store.

"What are you doing!"

It was the time of the famine, and the food store kept guards at all times.A burly man came striding over, grabbed Li Chan's shoulder and pulled it, but it was like grabbing an iron lion. Instead of shaking him, he staggered himself.He twitched his eyebrows, knowing that he had met an expert, he was in a state of surprise, then saw the intruding man in Tsing Yi turned his head and said: "The family is really out of food, can you make an exception and sell me some more?"

"This..." The guard hesitated, looking behind the counter.

The shopkeeper also came back to his senses at this time, knowing that he had met someone who was not easy to mess with, and with the intention of calming down the matter, he said with a smile: "It's okay, I should see you when the rice price comes in, a bucket of rice is four thousand dollars."

"So expensive?" Li Chan took a deep look at the shopkeeper, said "That's all", then turned and left.

Under the suspicious gazes of people in the grain store, he stepped out of the threshold, took one last look at the notice of "[-] yuan for a bucket of rice", and strode away.

When he arrived at a secluded place, the half-foot painting scroll held by the cloth suit on his waist swayed slightly, and he said to himself, "Check out this business."He turned around and disappeared around the corner of the street.

(End of this chapter)