Zezhou, Pengyu County.

Thick dark clouds pressed over the head, and the rain as big as beans hit the yellow mud, and the broken wood and weeds mixed with sand and gravel into turbid mud, pouring into the Shanling River from countless valleys.

The river, which was not big, spread out the river under the rain, and mud flowed across the river, flooding the originally overgrown roads into mud swamps.

Zuo Lingquan wore a straw raincoat, led the reins and walked slowly in the mud, heading towards the county town in the distance; the oil-paper lantern held in his hand swayed in the wind and rain, sometimes bright and sometimes dark, just like a crumbling dead tree by the river, which could be flooded by the rolling mud flow at any time.

Jiang Yi sat on the horse's back, wearing a straw raincoat, and the raindrops hit the hat and crackled. She could only shrink her neck to prevent the rain from seeping into her neck; the ball also shrank into a ball and hid under the hat.

After leaving Linyuan City, the two of them rushed to Zezhou after six days in order to eliminate the harm to the people as soon as possible.

Zezhou is located in the southeast of the Great Yan Dynasty, only more than a thousand miles away from the capital, but the terrain is not good and the rain is too full. It rains for half a year, and there are fewer people gathering places, making it even rarer to practice sects. Because the government lacks control power, there are more people walking in the martial arts world.

When she came here, she encountered rainy days. Jiang Yi was soaked in her tight pants. She felt very uncomfortable sitting. She looked into the distance in the rain and asked:

"Is Pengyu County ahead?"

Zuo Lingquan stopped, took out the map and took a look:

"If you walk for more than two miles, you should be here. This map is not accurate, so you can't walk wherever you are."

"The map is a powerful weapon for military strategists. If you can sell it on the market, there will inevitably be deviations. It would be great if you can barely find a place."

Jiang Yi saw that Zuo Lingquan was even more miserable, and she felt a little sad about her fiancé:

"Are you tired? Why don't you come up and sit down and I'll lead the horse to explore the way."

Zuo Lingquan is naturally not tired, the five elements are watery, and it is quite comfortable in the heavy rain. Although the mud on the ground is a bit difficult to walk, he was not willing to let his wife run into the mud and lead the horse. He shook his head and said:

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your kindness, for your daughter-in-law, how can you lead the princess to the princess?"

When Jiang Yi heard this complimentary words, she hummed softly, her eyes were quite satisfied, and she said softly:

"I don't love you very much. I'm all a person in the practice of cultivation. I should let go of my secular identity and come out together to eliminate demons. How can you do your best alone?"

Zuo Lingquan smiled and said, "The prince wants to do his best. When he arrives at the county town later, he will find a place to live, and give me a bath, massage my back and give me some reward."

Jiang Yi frowned: "You think beautifully, rub me... No, don't even think about it. Let's open two houses in a while, and I will sleep with Tuanzi."

"Ji~"

"It's not safe to go out. I've been on the road these days. I'm a little tired. What should I do if I'm careless when I'm asleep?"

"Then you just don't sleep. If you watch out for the night outside, your spiritual valley cultivation level will not be exhausted if you don't sleep."

"The landlord's donkey dare not use it like this. The princess is not afraid to make me angry. Later..."

Jiang Yi is really scared, but her mouth is still hard:

"What will happen later?"

"hehe……"

"What are you laughing at? If you have the ability to explain it clearly, I will tell my aunt now..."

...

The two of them just talked casually and walked forward for another two or three miles, and came outside the old city wall of Pengyu County.

Pengyu County is more than a hundred miles away from the county town, and is a remote small county with only a thousand houses. The living areas are all locals. Only some people from the martial arts world will go to the county town through this place.

Zuo Lingquan took on the job of the yamen in Pengyu County and reported it. The incident happened in the Dahuangling area on the north side of the county town. He had never entered the county town to inquire, and he did not know the specific details.

In the middle of the night, heavy rain poured.

Zuo Lingquan stopped outside the city gate with his horse, stomped his feet, shook off the mud on his boots, and looked at the city gate.

There was a big hole in the city gate in the county town. Judging from the traces, it has been a few years since the gate guards' military service cannot be seen before and after.

In the dark and deserted county town, the sound of heavy rain covered all the sounds, and rainwater accumulated on the street. In the distant center of the county town, there were several dark beams of light shining from the windows, and half of the living person could not be seen.

"Why is this place so terrifying?"

Jiang Yi turned over and got off the horse, shook her sticky skirt, and then looked more serious. She took the yellow paper lantern from Zuo Lingquan's hand and came to the front of the dilapidated city gate.

The wooden boards at the city gate are full of twisted patterns, as well as a large piece of black red marks, and several yellow paper talismans.

The yellow paper talisman was stained with paste, but it was not slapped in prison. It was blown by the night wind and swayed left and right, making a "wavering" sound, making the county town under the night rain a little more weird.

Zuo Lingquan had a serious expression, looked around and said:

"The yin energy here is very heavy."

"Can you feel the yin energy?"

"I can't feel it, but my spine is cold."

Jiang Yi actually felt palpitations. She carried a yellow lantern and came to the city gate, applied it on the black marks with her water-dipped fingers, and then went to her nose to smell it.

Seeing this, Zuo Lingquan reminded:

"Beware of toxicity."

"You don't need to remind me, be honest with the surroundings."

Jiang Yi carefully smelled the black marks with a fishy smell. She frowned:

"It's blood, not human blood."

Zuo Lingquan stood in front of him, pressing his sword hilt and scanning the black and black bushes outside the city gate, and asked:

"Beast Blood?"

"It's not the blood of a ferocious beast, it smells like dog blood, chicken blood, etc."

Jiang Yi used to be in charge of the Great Pill to have a lot of contact with cases of ferocious beasts and folk ghosts. Her understanding of these aspects is really more than Zuo Lingquan, who has been disrespectful to ghosts and gods since childhood. She explained:

"People who are all interested in using these things to drive away evil spirits. Putting yellow talismans on the door is also a common method to drive away evil spirits. I'm afraid there has been a ghost in this place."

When Zuo Lingquan heard this, he took out the case file and looked at it:

"The file says 'It seems like there are ferocious beasts in chaos', and there is no mention of the haunted thing."

"How can the people in remote counties distinguish between ferocious beasts and ghosts? In the past, the people mistakenly thought of as water ghosts in the Bailu River. If they dragged people into the water, they would be mistaken for water ghosts. Let's investigate and solve the problem. If all the files are written, what else should we do?"

"That's true."

Zuo Lingquan put away the file, led Ma and Jiang Yi through the hole in the city gate, and came to the small black county town.

It was raining heavily at night, and the uneven streets were filled with water.

Jiang Yi sat in front with a lantern, looking left and right as she walked; Zuo Lingquan pulled out an oil-paper umbrella from the side of the horse, covering the heads of the two of them, and listening to the subtle movements around her.

Beep tick

The cold raindrops hit the surface of the umbrella, slid down the umbrella bone, and were stuck to the straw raincoat by the wind on the street.

There were no people in the town, and the atmosphere was indeed a bit gloomy. Duanzi didn't dare to scream, but just shrank in front of Jiang Yi's neck and looked carefully.

Jiang Yi walked forward and found no abnormality. She was about to speak, but she saw Zuo Lingquan beside her raised her fingers and signaled to stop the sound.

She held her breath and listened with her ears. Between the crackling rain, she faintly heard:

"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It seemed like the sound of a woman crying in a low voice.

Zuo Lingquan stopped and said softly:

"A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall, why don't he come over again during the day?"

Jiang Yi hid her emotions very well, her expression calmly, and she hesitated:

"We don't do bad things and don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door. We are here to subdue demons and eliminate demons. Well... there is light in the shop in front, so let's go and take a look first."

Zuo Lingquan was not afraid, but he felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange. Seeing that Jiang Yi was not afraid, he took Jiang Yi's hand and walked forward quickly.

But as soon as the two of them walked along the street, they had only walked more than ten feet away. Under the eaves of black houses on the street, the subtle footsteps of "stepped" came.

The two of them stopped at the same time. Jiang Yi raised the yellow lantern to check that the door of a house on the street was not closed, and there were messy things inside.

An old woman with disheveled hair raised her two hands full of pleated ones and staggered over.

“Woo woo…”

The old woman was too old, her gray hair was wet with rain and pressed against her face, her eyes were grayish-white, and her sallow skin looked like dried human skin under the dim light. After the teeth in her mouth fell off, she could only make a whimper like a wind-running sound after opening her mouth.

They are not very far apart from each other.

Jiang Yi raised the lantern and saw this scene. She was so shocked that she took a step back and her sword was unsheathed two inches.

Knock

However, before the sword was pulled out, it was pressed down by Zuo Lingquan next to him.

Zuo Lingquan heard the old woman's breath, and saw a hint of anxiety on the old woman's face, unlike a demon; he pressed Jiang Yi's hand, retreated two steps back, and spoke loudly:

"Old lady, have you recognized the wrong person?"

“Woo woo…”

The old woman walked tremblingly in the rain, opening her mouth and sobbing, but couldn't hear what she said, and kept walking forward.

Jiang Yi frowned and did not dare to step forward rashly, so she could only retreat with Zuo Lingquan.
To be continued...