the next day.
The news that Zhong Yan was seriously injured and dying spread like wildfire and quickly spread throughout the city.
Then, out of nowhere, word started to spread that the robbers might have come from the Colosseum.
Restaurants, teahouses, streets and alleys are becoming more and more popular.
Passed from person to person, the word 'maybe' disappeared and turned into a certainty, and everyone seemed to be sure that it was the Peng family who did it.
As time went on, the rumors became more and more widespread.
Some even said that Peng Wanli personally participated because he happened to be out of town.
The cause, of course, was that the Peng family forced Zhong Yan to sell his share of the Colosseum, and the two sides formed a grudge.
The 'fierce ape' of the Zhong Mansion was bullied, so he held back and waited.
Peng Wanli acted preemptively and snatched back the low-priced spiritual stones he had bought the shares for, penny-pinching.
Of course, there are also people who hold objections, saying that on the day of Zhong Yan's wedding, Peng Wanli came to congratulate him with gifts, and there was no suspicion between the two parties.
But this argument was quickly dismissed as mere showmanship.
People are like this, they always like to think the worst about things, tend to conspiracy theories, and love to watch other people's hilarious jokes.
There are many different opinions...
Bai Siyuan was shocked and doubtful, and was the first to visit Cangbao Street. Yu Qingyao greeted him, but refused to meet him on the grounds that "my husband was recovering from his injuries and it was not convenient to meet."
The monks who had a good relationship with Zhong Yan gathered together and each had their own guesses.
Some people feel sorry.
Some people are secretly happy.
It’s true: I’m afraid that you’ll have a bad life without a capable friend, and I’m also afraid that you’ll have a good life and won’t be able to catch up to you or be worthy of you.
In the Yang family, Yang Yanqing's eyes flickered and he muttered: "Seriously injured and dying, real or fake, why do I feel that this guy is not so prone to accidents?"
His Taoist companion Huo Qingqing said: "How about bringing a gift to visit? Or I can summon Yu Qingyao and ask him?"
Yang Yanqing raised his hand to stop: "Wait a minute!"
In the city lord's mansion, Qin Ben frowned and said: "Peng family, Peng Wanli..."
The general of the government army, the city lord's confidant, and the three-faced spy 'Chen Xiaorong' spoke up: "City lord, why don't you send a summons to ask Miss Ziyue? Or maybe the general will go there?"
Qin Ben shook his head: "No, my brother-in-law is very scheming. If he is planning something, asking about it rashly may disrupt the plan."
Zhang Shun said: "Wait a little longer."
At the Colosseum, Peng Wanli brought back a group of monsters from his family. Hearing the rumors, he looked confused: "What the hell? Did I do it? How the hell didn't I know?"
He looked at the old man in black robe: "Are you really going to die? Aren't those eight hundred spiritual stones and three magic weapons given away in vain? I still expect him to place a bet to support me!"
Sitting on the Grand Master's chair, he frowned and said, "Do you want to go to the Zhong Mansion to explain? This guy has something to do with Qifeng. Don't accuse me wrongly. When the yellow mud gets into your crotch, it will be either shit or shit."
The old man twitched the corner of his mouth and said with a smile: "Uncle Wu, these are just rumors. Wouldn't it be shameful for you to come to visit us now? Just wait and see."
"That's true."
Three days later.
Qin Ziyue and his maid Qin Youbai walked out of the gate of Zhong Mansion, and in the eyes of many followers, they took a sedan chair to the East District and entered the City Lord's Mansion.
"I've met my brother!"
"This slave has met the Second Young Master!"
Qin Ben smiled and nodded, and looked at his sister's face.
His face was glowing and his skin looked more radiant than before.
It has obviously been moisturized, and the only shortcoming is the hint of worry between the brows.
"What's going on with Zhong Yan?"
"My husband's life is safe."
Qin Ziyue said simply, took out the retinue mage token from his sleeve and handed it over.
"My husband needs to stay in seclusion to recuperate. He is unable to take up the position of retinue mage again. Please ask my brother to do it."
Qin Ben took the token and looked at it, his eyes flickering.
Zhang Shun raised his hands and asked, "May I ask Madam Yue, Master Zhong, if he has any guesses about the origins of the bandits?"
"Sir." Qin Ziyue returned the salute and said, "But I don't know that the leader is a strong foundation builder."
Zhang Shun asked again: "The Master has returned. Have you seen Madam again in the past few days?"
Qin Ziyue was silent for a moment and shook his head slightly: "No."
Zhang Shun put his hands in his sleeves and stopped talking.
Qin Ben asked some questions about Qin Ziyue's situation after arriving at Zhong Mansion, and then asked the sergeant to send him out of the house.
"What do you think, sir?"
Zhang Shun pursed his lips and said, "It feels a little weird."
"First of all, Zhong Yan's purchase of the Colosseum by the Peng family was entirely of his own free will. We know this very well."
"Compared to the future income of the Colosseum, forty thousand spiritual stones is indeed small, but Zhongfu will not suffer a loss, especially in the capital that is about to take over the stall of Keqingfu."
"Then who spread the rumor that the Peng family forced the Zhong family to sell off their share?"
"If outsiders don't know, it's impossible for the Peng family. We didn't do it. Could it be Bai Siyuan? Or Qi Xianzong who was present?"
"In addition, this time, since the persecution was fictitious, why did the Peng family take action? They never saw the true face of the robbers."
"There is an uproar in the city, but there is no smoke without fire!"
"in addition……"
Zhang Shun looked at the token in Qin Ben's hand and said, "Zhong Yan came back from serious injury and the house was quiet for a few days. The first thing he did was to resign as a mage and avoid contact with Si Tianjian. But it was a prescient move."
"But if we say that the whole thing was led by Zhong Yan himself..."
Zhang Shun looked suspicious, shook his head, and said: "Resigning from the position of mage can be directly proposed, or it may be suspected of inviting you to the urn. With these two points, there is no need to go to such trouble. If it is really his plan, there must be another purpose that we have not seen. !”
Qin Ben pondered for a long time and said: "Then his wish will be fulfilled. Anyway, the Keqing Mansion will have nothing to do with this city lord from now on."
"Somebody come!"
"Draw up a notice and post it in the guest house, saying that Zhong Yan is not suitable to continue to serve as the retinue mage, and he will be relieved of his duties. The new appointment is to be determined..."
As soon as the notice was posted, the news spread quickly.
The crowd became more and more certain: Zhong Yan was seriously injured.
Finally, a bold and desperate person had evil thoughts, which became stronger and stronger, and he was eager to try.
The Zhong Mansion itself is not very strong. There are only two late-stage players confirmed, both on the seventh floor.
Yuan Ziyi revealed to the outside world that she was at the peak of the eighth level of Qi refining, but no one knew her true identity.
Even her ordinary appearance has never been shown to outsiders, and is covered with mist condensed by treasures.
The rest, such as Gu Baiyu, are weak characters in the early and middle stages.
The reason why Zhong Mansion is as stable as Mount Tai in Qingyang City is that there were few monks in Qingyang City and their general level was not high.
Secondly, after Zhong Yanchu went to Qingyang to make friends with Yang Yanqing, Bai Siyuan and others, he used his position as a retinue mage to accumulate many connections in a few years.
But now, Zhong Yan is seriously injured, the mage position is gone, and all kinds of relationships have naturally faded away.
It would be nice for close friends such as Bai Siyuan not to add insult to injury.
Come forward to help?
Without the value of mutual use, who can call you a brother?
Hoeing the strong and supporting the weak is a joke!
This is reality.
Of course, this is the general public opinion.
Those who truly understand Zhong Yan's ins and outs will naturally not be reckless.
For example, the Yang family at this moment.
After some mental struggle, bearded Hu Zhangyufu felt that this was an opportunity and said: "My boss, the former Zhong Mansion should not be underestimated. It has a wide network of people. If it establishes a clan in Qingyang, it will definitely be a strong competitor of the Yang family."
"Now that Zhong Yan is seriously injured, it's a great opportunity to suppress him. If nothing else, the profits from the Colosseum, the income from the talismans, plus the gifts from the recent wedding banquet, it's a huge windfall!"
Among the guests, Liu Zhengchun's eyes flashed and he said, "Zhong Yan was robbed. He didn't take most of the resources with him, right?"
Yang Yanqing said directly to Zhang Yu: "There is no need to mention this matter again."
joke.
After intercepting and killing the retinue mage together, he secretly attached great importance to Zhong Yan and kept an eye on Zhong Mansion.
Outsiders didn't know it, but he knew it very well. Through the Zhou family, he learned that one of the two women who had visited Zhong Mansion was Pei Nanjin, the more active fifth disciple of the Seven Peaks of Fire Cloud Sect.
Now that the clan has just been established, what the Yang family wants is stability. He will not take advantage of the Zhong Mansion until the situation is unclear.
"Xiao Qing, you go to Zhong Mansion with your gifts. There is no need to pry. Just chat with Yu Qingyao and reminisce about the past."
Huo Qingqing: "Yes, husband."
At this time, a guard came in and reported: "Master of the house, Immortal Master Ming'ang wants to see you."
Yang Yanqing's eyes flashed, "Okay, I'll be here in a minute, so I can entertain you."
Ming'ang, from Snake Island, is a casual practitioner of Qi Refining Dzogchen and is a first-level high-grade talisman master.
At this moment, he came to the door, obviously because he wanted to replace Zhong Yan and enter the cooperative talisman shop in Zifang City.
…
Zhongfu, deep courtyard.
After spending a few days, Yuan Ziyi carved many white jade formation patterns, which, combined with her previous legacy, were enough to build a second-level defensive formation.
Zhong Yan said: "Put it on the east side door. If someone wants to sneak into the house, they are most likely to enter from there."
Yuan Ziyi nodded: "It can be assembled tonight."
"It's a pity that neither of us know how to kill the formation." Zhong Yan sighed. It takes a lot of time to learn the formation pattern, successfully draw it, and then become proficient.
"But that's enough. There is a small psychedelic formation, plus dozens of martial arts masters and standard crossbows. Whoever comes will die!"
Yuan Ziyi secretly thought that you are so brave, taking the initiative to invite enemies in. He looked at him and asked seriously: "Aren't you afraid of the strong ones who come to build the foundation?"
Zhong Yan smiled and said: "Where did the strong foundation builder come from? Qingyang City currently only has one Colosseum, and the Peng family will not touch me for the time being."
"As for those outside, they won't take action at will if they don't understand the situation. Once they understand the situation, the matter is over, and outsiders can't even figure out the details of the Zhong Mansion."
"Furthermore, the higher your cultivation level, the more cautious you are. The more cautious you are, the more detailed you will be at investigating. The deeper you investigate, the less likely you will act easily."
"Besides, my storage bag was robbed. Who knows how many resources are missing?"
"Others only know about the income from the Colosseum and the income from making talismans. Who knew that Lin Zhengping gave me 120,000 spiritual stones and many spiritual materials?"
"It's just some poor ghost cultivators who covet the Zhong Mansion's small fortune and make evil plans."
"Here comes the ten late stage ones that will stand up to the sky!"
Zhong Yan looked sure and didn't take it seriously.
Yuan Ziyi said: "There is a foundation-building monk at the gate of the city."
Zhong Yan raised his eyebrows, "Which city gate?"
Yuan Ziyi: "The hunchbacked old man sweeping the floor at the South City Gate is at the second level of the Foundation Building. I saw him several times before entering the Zhong Mansion."
"Uncle Li?!" Zhong Yan was stunned, a face appeared in his mind, with white hair and wrinkles, showing his old age.
He also drank with the other party and the city guard sergeant. When passing through the south gate, he would occasionally say hello when he saw him.
I heard from Li Henian that Uncle Li was a native of Qingyang and had been sweeping floors at the South City Gate for more than ten years.
Yuan Ziyi finally saw Zhong Yan's shocked and stunned look, and wanted to laugh for no reason. The corner of his mouth curled up and explained:
"His aura is concealed by treasures. Outsiders can't see it unless he uses his vitality. Moreover, his hunchback is also fake."
After a pause, she continued: "But his soul is not as good as mine. I used 'Void Concealment' to hide my aura, but suppressed my realm. He doesn't know my details, and will only think that I am an ordinary eighth-level Qi refining peak, and I have not yet reached the peak of Qi Refining." Pay attention to me."
Zhong Yan nodded, frowning in thought, secretly guessing the identity of 'Uncle Li'.
A foundation-building monk, even if he retires in Fan City, will not spend so many years sweeping the floors at the city gate.
Could it be related to the Marriage Pavilion... Zhong Yan remembered that Yan Sandao had been searched for his soul when he was in the small black room in the Marriage Pavilion. It was most likely that it was the hand of a foundation-building monk.
After thinking for a while, he took out the talisman and sent a message to Zhong Xiaozhong, asking him to find Liang Yi, the commander of the city's defenders.
Yuan Ziyi flipped her slender palm, and a black token appeared in her hand. Then she waved, and a female general in red armor stood beside him.
Zhong Yan looked at it and immediately recognized it as a puppet. The female general's eyes were a little dull.
"Her name is Hong Jia. She is for you to use. She has the second-level combat power of foundation building."
Yuan Ziyi handed over the token, and then shot a light of divine consciousness into Zhong Yan's eyebrows.
"This is the command formula. Five spiritual stones each time can last about half a quarter of an hour of fighting time."
"I integrated the beast soul into her body and refined it with my spiritual consciousness every month, so she is quite smart. As long as the general meaning of the order is correct, she can complete the order."
Zhong Yan's eyes were bright, and he was worthy of being called a puppet master who had achieved some success. He praised: "So this is a puppet with a spirit!"
"Semi-conscious."
Yuan Ziyi nodded in response, blinked and said, "You know the spirit puppets, do you really plan to learn puppetry? It's very time-consuming."
"It doesn't matter!"
There is nothing to be afraid of if there is a system, just sleep with you.
Saying something in his mind, Zhong Yan stood up and walked towards the lifelike red-armored female general, who was as tall as anyone else, and took a closer look.
"With her here, I can sit back and relax and sit firmly on the Diaoyutai!"
Yuan Ziyi stood up, her eyes bright, thinking: I still have my fourth sister!
Unfortunately, Zhong Yan only paid attention to the puppet at the moment and did not see her expression.
Otherwise, you will definitely find that her expression has changed a lot compared to the 'calm and indifferent' look when she first entered the house.
Feelings can be dealt with.
…
