Hu Yuan and one hundred and two of his subordinates took the "Flying Dragon Ship" and set sail to the sea, sailing all the way north along the coastline.
It is the spring season now, and the southeast wind is blowing from the sea. The three white sails of the "Flying Dragon Ship" swelled in the wind, driving the hull to cut through waves on the sea and move like flying.
Now that everyone was on the vast sea, there was no need to worry about leaking secrets, so Hu Long announced the purpose of his trip to everyone. As for the detailed plot, only two leaders, Zheng Yun and Li Yingfeng, were informed.
The people on the boat were all young men in their twenties. When they heard that they were going to dig up Manchu treasures and dig out their dragon veins, they were all very excited.
After everyone was at sea for more than a day, the "Flying Dragon Ship" finally arrived on the coast of Liaodong and found a suitable place to dock.
Hu Long left thirty soldiers to guard the ship, and the remaining sixty people were divided into three teams. He, Zheng Yun, and Li Yingfeng each led one team and rushed to the "Luding Mountain" marked on the treasure map in three batches.
Hu Long, who had the full treasure map memorized in his mind, led the first team to walk at the front, leaving marks along the way to guide the two teams behind.
Their route was close to the territory demarcated by the Manchus and the Rakshasa Kingdom in the "Treaty of Nerchinsk". It was also a bitterly cold place in the far north. Even in today's spring season, it was covered with ice and snow that had not melted, so there were many places along the way. It is a wild forest with few human habitations.
There was no conversation all the way. On this day, Hu Yuan and his party arrived at a place where two rivers met. They saw a mountain on the bank of a river from a distance.
This mountain is not too high, but within tens of miles there are endless plains and wilderness, which shows its unique style.
Hu Yuan recalled the details on the treasure map, and then looked towards the mountain. He saw some broken walls and ruins looming among the trees and mountains, which looked like an abandoned city. He couldn't help but feel overjoyed and confirmed. This is the "Luding Mountain" that I am looking for.
As far as he knew, the Rakshasa people built a castle named "Yaksa" on the mountain in their early years as a military base for invading the east.
After his own Master Wei led his army to defeat the Rakshasa army and forced them to sign the "Treaty of Nerchinsk", the Rakshasa Kingdom withdrew its troops from here, and the castle was demolished by the Qing army.
Hu Yun led twenty of his subordinates to hurry up and rush to the foot of "Luding Mountain".
Nowadays, the mountains are full of grass and trees, and everyone can only separate the high and low sage grass and walk through the mountains and forests.
While walking, Hu Yuan suddenly heard a cry of surprise from behind him. When he turned his head to look, he saw that it was a soldier who stepped on the air and fell downwards.
Finally, this person had been trained to react quickly and grabbed a clump of weeds next to him in time to prevent him from falling further.
Hu Long appeared in a flash, reached out and grabbed the man's back collar, gently pulled him out and placed him on the solid ground next to him.
"Thank you, Hall Master!" The soldier had just recovered from the shock and hurriedly thanked Hu Long.
Hu Long squatted down to see where he fell. After pushing aside the clump of grass, he saw that there was a pit five feet in diameter and more than ten feet deep. The walls of the pit went straight up and down. There were obvious traces of manual excavation, but there was another pit underneath. There was no ambush such as snares or spikes, and it didn't look like a trap dug by a hunter.
He observed the deep pit carefully for a while, with a thoughtful look on his face, and then told everyone to be more careful when moving forward to prevent another accident.
At that time, these soldiers went to cut some long wooden sticks to explore the road, and found no fewer than twenty or thirty similar deep pits along the way.
Judging from the traces of excavation, some of these deep pits seemed to have been dug in the past year or two, while others seemed to have been dug much earlier, like more than ten years ago.
The look on Hu Long's face was a little solemn. He called a soldier behind him and explained something to him carefully.
The man noted it down carefully, bowed his hands to Hu Long, turned around and walked quickly down the mountain.
Hu Long and others continued to move up the mountain and gradually reached the ruins of the castle.
At this time, the red sun was setting in the west, and the sky was getting a little dark.
Hu Long immediately ordered him to find a place to stay at the ruins of the castle for one night, and then continue up the mountain early tomorrow morning.
Two warriors passed through the crowd and headed toward the ruins of the castle to find a suitable temporary location. But when they had just reached the half-ruined city gate, they seemed to suddenly see something extraordinary, and they all stopped and froze in place like wood carvings and clay sculptures.
Hu Long knew something was wrong, so he hurried forward and asked, "How do you..."
"Hall Master, retreat immediately!"
When the two soldiers heard Hu Long's voice, they turned around and saw that he was approaching. Their expressions changed dramatically at the same time. They shouted in unison. They rushed forward one from the left and the other to grab Hu Long's arm and dragged him back. .
Hu Long was angry and funny at the same time. He stood firmly as if his feet were rooted. How could the two of them drag him?
"You have something to say, what does it look like to be so scared!"
After hearing this reprimand, the two men calmed down a little. Although they loosened their grip on Hu Long's hands, they still stood side by side in front of Hu Long, as if they were afraid that he would take even half a step forward.
One of them had a nervous look on his face and lowered his voice: "Hall Master, we saw a simple note at the city gate, which was left by the 'Poison Hand Medicine King'!"
"Poison Hand Medicine King?" Hu Yuan had a look of surprise on his face, and at the same time he understood why these two elite warriors were so nervous.
They are all children of the "Tiandihui" congregation. They have grown up listening to all kinds of secrets and stories told by their elders since they were young. Among them, the most bizarre and full of weirdness and horror is undoubtedly about the "Poison Hand Medicine King" legend.
In the mouths of the elders, the "Poisonous Hand Medicine King" has countless incarnations like a god and demon. Sometimes he is an elegant scholar, sometimes he is an old monk, sometimes he is a short and fat man with a sinewy face, sometimes he is an ugly woman with a limp and a hunchback. .
Wherever the "Poisonous Potion King" appears, there will always be people who die suddenly from poisoning, and their deaths occur in all kinds of strange ways.
Some people are poisoned unknowingly despite taking strict precautions in advance.
Some of them were poisoned and killed along with the people around them, so that was fine.
There are also some people who clearly advance, retreat, drink and eat with everyone around them, but in the end, only he is poisoned while everyone else is safe. It is really weird to the extreme.
In the early years, there was a proverb circulating in the world, which goes like this: "It is better to meet the King of Hell than to meet Lao Wang; it is better to be shot than to meet Lao Zhang."
This refers to the power of the two top masters in the world. "Old Wang" is the Bagua Sect master "Megatron Heshuo" Wang Weiyang, and "Old Zhang" is the Wudang Sect master "Firehand Judge" Zhang Zhaozhong.
Later, Zhang Zhaozhong died and returned to Xinjiang because he was an enemy of the Honghua Society. Wang Weiyang also lived out his life at home. This sentence was changed to: "It is better to accept the invitation of the King of Hell than to be exposed to the poison of the King of Medicine!"
When it comes to real killing, no matter what kind of powerful enemy they face, these soldiers under Hu Yun are fearless.
But facing a terrifying figure who uses poison to kill people invisible, they can't help but feel nervous.
What's more, they don't care about their own life or death, but they must consider Hu Long's safety.
Hu Long frowned slightly, casually pushed aside the two people blocking him, and took a few steps forward to reach the broken city gate.
Sure enough, I saw a piece of plain paper taped to the broken wall next to the door, which was only one person high. It said: "Instructions to fellow Jianghu fellows, a certain person will stay in this deserted city for three days due to secular affairs. I hope that my friends who have passed by will take shelter for a while." For the sake of the Supreme Being, I earnestly carry out this instruction.”
In the lower left corner of the signature, the four characters "well-known but not known" are written, and a gourd pattern is drawn next to it, which is the unique symbol of the legendary "Poison Hand Medicine King".
He read it several times, and when he saw that there was some graceful charm in the calligraphy, he had some guesses in his mind, and suddenly raised his voice: "I am a poor Taoist, Hu Long, whose Taoist name is 'Taipu'. I sincerely ask the 'King of Medicine', senior, to give me some grace." See!"
