The two walked more than ten miles when they saw smoke rising from a distance. Yan Dufei said: "It shouldn't be far from Yong'an City, we have to be careful." ”

Sure enough, after walking for a few miles, Yong'an City appeared in front of the two. Although there is a "city" in the name, Yongan is pitiful and small. The city wall is even more rudimentary, only two zhang high, made of adobe, not as thick and strong as the Tongzhou city wall at all. At the gate of the city, several old soldiers were leaning against the city wall and laughing lazily, and did not stop and inspect the pedestrians entering and leaving the city.

Li Qiufeng and Yan Dufei swaggered into the city, only to see that the streets were dilapidated, and the houses on both sides of the street were also dilapidated. The two inquired all the way to the Gu family's old store, and when they walked to the front of the Gu family's old store, it was already twilight. Two dead wind lamps were lit in front of the Gu family's old store, and the withered grass had already grown on the green tiles, swaying in the wind, making a palpitating whining sound.

The lobby in the store is very large, and when Xiao Er saw the two of them coming in, he hurriedly greeted him and said, "Are you two sharps or staying in the store?"

Li Qiufeng said: "Let's wait for a friend from the capital." ”

The shopkeeper said, "Dare to ask the guest officer's surname?"

"His surname is Yu. ”

As soon as Li Qiufeng's voice fell, the shopkeeper's face changed, and he took a closer look at Li Qiufeng and Yan Dufei, and said in a low voice: "Two masters, please come with me." ”

The shopkeeper carried a lantern to the back house, this courtyard is huge, but there is no light in the four wings, which looks a little gloomy. The shopkeeper opened the door of the second guest room in the east head, lit the oil lamp on the table after shaking the fire, turned back to Li Qiufeng and Yan Dufei and said, "The people sent by the owner of Yu Zhuang have already sent a message, they have been delayed on the road for a while, and they will arrive later." The two masters will rest here for the time being, and they will make plans after the arrival of the owner of the village. ”

Yan Dufei said: "There is something I am a little puzzled about, and I have to ask the little brother for advice. ”

The shopkeeper waved his hand again and again and said, "Uncle Hugh is so polite." The owner of Yu Zhuang instructed the villain to serve the two uncles well, and the uncle wanted to know what he said. ”

"I heard that Yong'an City is a big city in Changping County, and there are many merchants coming and going from the south to the north. ”

"Uncle doesn't know," the shopkeeper said mysteriously: "A year ago, there were more than 5,000 households in Yong'an City, and it was very lively. On the night of the seventh day of the first lunar month last year, Xue Ju's family in the east of the city made a ghost, and more than 30 members of the family died violently overnight.

The next day, the arresters of the Yamen of Changping County rushed to Yong'an City, searched everywhere, arrested dozens of people and tortured them, and did not ask for a clue. Unexpectedly, three days later, at night, the house of the golden family in the north of the city was also haunted. The whole family of more than a dozen died overnight. It is said that like the Xue Ju family, these dead people were bitten in the throat and died. A few days later, when Lord Peng, the garrison of Yong'an City, was patrolling the night, he suddenly stretched out a big hand from the air and carried Lord Peng from his horse into the air. The soldiers around him searched everywhere in fright, and after a long time, only to hear a 'bang', Master Peng fell from the air to the ground, and there were two tooth marks on his throat.

"In just one month, almost hundreds of people were bitten to death by ghosts in Yong'an City, and finally alarmed Shuntianfu and the Criminal Department, and they also sent many people to Yong'an City to investigate the case, but they couldn't find any clues. The people in the city were panicking, and the rich families moved away. At first, the Yamen of Changping County also sent people to intercept it, but later the government did not care, and the people in the city began to flee. When the two masters came, they passed through the street at the city gate, which was the most lively place in Yong'an City, with shops on both sides of the street, but now there is no one, and they have all gone. ”

Li Qiufeng said: "There is such a strange thing, why hasn't it spread in the capital?"

The shopkeeper said with a smile: "The government only says that it is a plague, how dare it say that it is a haunted? Since ancient times, being an official is better than one thing with less, not to mention that so many lives have been lost, and when it reaches the ears of the emperor, the magistrate can't solve the case, and he can't go out of the noon gate to ask for beheading." ”

Yan Dufei said: "Did you catch that ghost later?"

The shopkeeper said: "How can a person fight a ghost, unless it is a god." It should also be immortal. When the ghost was at its worst, the national teacher went to the imperial tomb to worship, and when he came back, he happened to pass through Yong'an City, and finally cured the ghost. ”

"National teacher?" Yan Dufei said strangely.

Li Qiufeng said on the side: "Brother Yan doesn't know, this national teacher is Shao Yuanjie, a real person by the emperor's side today. This Shao Zhenren is a master of Longhu Mountain, and the younger brother has seen him open the altar to pray for rain in the capital, and it is really effective, and the emperor also relies on him a lot. However, the folk legend is too bizarre, calling him 'the national teacher'. The word 'national teacher' is a Buddhist term, and it is inevitably a little nondescript when used on Shao Zhenren's head. ”

Yan Dufei said: "These Jianghu warlocks are just playing tricks and cheating people out of money, if they have magical powers, they would have plotted to usurp the throne a long time ago, what kind of Taoist priests should they be?"

Li Qiufeng had seen Shao Yuanjie cast spells, and he admired him a lot, and at this moment, when he saw Yan Dufei making sarcastic remarks, he was quite disapproving.

The shopkeeper continued: "This master is right, this protector is really good, he opened an altar in the land temple in the north of the city, and fought with the evil ghost for three days and three nights before the evil ghost was subdued and sealed in the bell tower behind the land temple. Since then, there has been no evil ghost hurting people in Yong'an City, but the people in the city have run away two-thirds of the way. Now, more than a year later, the population of Yong'an City has not yet recovered. ”

After the shopkeeper said goodbye, Yan Dufei said: "I didn't expect that there would be such strange things in the small Yong'an City. Brother Li is on an errand in Jinyiwei, haven't you heard about the haunting of Yong'an City?"

Li Qiufeng shook his head and said, "I haven't heard of this. Jinyiwei has two divisions and twelve institutes, each with a different division of labor. The younger brother is just an errand boy in the palace, and he doesn't know much about the cases in these places. ”

Yan Dufei pondered for a while and said, "Yu Changchang is followed by a Xu Yingyang, many things will definitely not be done, I don't know how this matter will end?"

Li Qiufeng said: "Xu Yingyang is Yun Feiyang's right-hand man, if my guess is right, it was Xu Yingyang who led people to slaughter Ma Kongkong's family that day." This person has extremely high martial arts skills and is extremely wise. The girl in the Murong family didn't know the height of the sky, and wanted to stand up for Ma Kongkong's daughter, but fortunately she didn't meet Xu Yingyang, otherwise with her martial arts, Xu Yingyang would have taken her life easily. I saw that Yun Feiyang sent Xu Yingyang to follow Yu Changchang and others, and nine times out of ten he received a secret report, so he planted this nail beside Yu Changyuan. Yu Chang has been planning this matter for ten years, and even if Yun Feiyang arrives in person, I'm afraid he won't stop. This old thief is ruthless, and he doesn't know what means he will use to subdue Xu Yingyang. ”

While the two were talking, they suddenly heard a soft "click" from the roof. The voice was extremely slight, but the two of them were so martial that they immediately knew that there was someone on the roof. Li Qiufeng made a gesture at Yan Dufei, jumped to the window with an arrow step, and looked out from the gap in the window.

At this time, the moon had risen, but I saw a man standing on the ridge of the opposite wing.

Yan Dufei had already arrived behind the door at this time, and Li Qiufeng lightly pointed to the roof of the opposite wing house, signaling that there was someone on the other side. Yan Dufei opened the door latch little by little, and was about to push the door out, but he heard the sound of "popping" clapping on the opposite roof. Then several figures appeared on the roof, gathered together as if discussing something.

Seeing that so many night walkers suddenly appeared, Li Qiufeng hurriedly signaled Yan Dufei not to go out. He peeked through the crack in the window, and saw five people standing tall and low on the opposite roof, whispering something freely. The man in the middle was very tall and danced as he spoke, and the other four nodded their heads repeatedly.

I saw the man in the middle wave his hand, and the other four immediately scattered away. The man looked into the courtyard, and when he saw that no one noticed, he went east along the ridge of the roof.

Li Qiufeng said: "These people don't know where they came from, I'll go up and find out." Brother Yan stayed in the store, waiting for Yu Changchang and the others to arrive before making plans. ”

The autumn wind jumped on the roof, and under the moonlight, I saw a figure running east on the ridge of the roof in the distance. Li Qiufeng thought to himself, looking at this person's light skills, kung fu is really ordinary, I don't know where it is sacred, and he sent such a subordinate to inquire about the news.

He followed him more than half a mile away, and suddenly saw the man leap into a courtyard. Li Qiufeng didn't dare to hold it up, bent down, and tiptoed along the ridge of the roof.