At night, the moon is dark and the wind is high.
Nanshan Academy is located outside Yanjiao City and built on Nanshan Mountain, hence its name. There is a small lake on the mountain behind the academy, which is quiet and secluded. In the past, many young men and women would play here on summer nights. But recently, no one dares to come near here.
Because someone died here not long ago.
But tonight, two scholars came here.
As soon as we got close to the lake, there was a chilly breeze that penetrated our clothes, making us shiver uncontrollably.
"Brother Shao'an, why did you insist on inviting me to this place...Isn't this...isn't this the place where Situ Yan committed suicide..."
Seeing that he was about to reach the dark lake, the thin scholar behind him trembled with his legs and dared not take a step forward.
The scholar in front is a bit stronger, and he looks quite tall from the back. His voice is deep and generous: "If you want to completely settle this matter, you can only come here."
The wind blew through the surrounding woods, making a rustling sound, as if someone was passing by behind him. The thin scholar turned his head sharply in shock, turned around twice and found that there was no one there, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
He then said to the people in front of him: "I don't know what's easy to settle? If you ask me, this matter has nothing to do with me. When you bullied that Situ Yan, I didn't participate much... Call her ugly twice at most... Now that everyone is dead, what can we do?"
The thin scholar kept talking nonstop, as if he was using this method to relieve the fear in his heart.
"Yeah, you didn't do anything..." The tall scholar's voice was gloomy.
"Oh, please stop showing off!" the thin scholar said anxiously.
"Then..." The tall scholar turned his face sideways, half of his face looked extremely cold under the moonlight, "Do you still recognize me?"
"Wu Shaoan!" The thin scholar seemed to be frightened by his tone and was a little angry, "What on earth are you going to do? If nothing happens, I won't stay in this damn place with you anymore! At worst, my family will move out of Yanjiao City tomorrow. Save yourself the worry."
"Zhang Cong, you...really don't recognize me?" The tall scholar asked again, suddenly turning around, revealing his entire face.
The right half of his face was still a normal face, but the left half of his face had a thick scar that appeared at some point, as if he had experienced severe burns, and even the eye sockets were deformed, which was extremely horrifying.
And... she looks a bit like a woman!
"Ah!" When the thin scholar saw this, he screamed in shock and took two steps back. His legs weakened and he fell to the ground.
Immediately, the skin on the intact half of the tall scholar's face began to peel off, as if it were a cracked wall, falling off piece by piece, revealing the pale and bloodless face of the woman underneath.
"Situ Yan...spare me...spare me..." The thin scholar backed up and murmured, then turned around and climbed up, throwing away his life and running out of the forest!
While running, he shouted, "Help! There's a ghost!"
After running out of the woods, he felt out of breath and stopped for a moment. Looking back at the deep woods, it seemed that no one was chasing after me...
"Well--"
Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, suddenly, his hands grabbed his neck, and the pupils of his eyes began to bulge out. The left side of the face began to dry up and peel off, revealing thick burn scars...
"Spare me...please, spare me..."
"Please...ah..."
…
"Nanshan Academy is haunted, why did you invite us here?"
On the bustling streets of Yanjiao City, Chu Liang asked Lin Bei.
Previously, Lin Bei hurriedly led him to take the task and sign the mountain. Because he said the reward was extremely high, he didn't ask any more questions. Only then did he start to understand the specific situation.
This place is not far from Shushan. Shushan sect disciples are somewhat familiar with Yanjiao City. If any mysterious cases occur, Shushan sect disciples usually take over.
But there are always a few exceptions.
For example, if something goes wrong in a temple, it should be managed by Buddhist practitioners; if something goes wrong in an academy, it should be managed by Confucian practitioners.
Cultivators of the three religions will not cross the line unless there are special circumstances. It is not only causing trouble for one's own family, but also provoking other families.
"Hey..." Lin Bei said with a smile, "The matters in the academy are naturally handled by Confucian practitioners. Our responsibility is only to protect one student."
As he spoke, he pointed to the door of a large mansion guarded by stone lions in front of him, with a plaque reading "Li Mansion" hanging high above it.
"Master Li is a well-known wealthy family in Yanjiao City. His only son Li Jue is studying at Nanshan Academy. Recently, Nanshan Academy has been haunted and two students have died."
"He was worried that something might happen to his son, so he asked Shushan to send people to protect his son for a period of time. As long as this mysterious case is solved, our mission will be completed."
"Pay by the day."
After hearing the last sentence, Chu Liang felt relieved.
What Mr. Li sent to Shushan was real gold and silver, and what Shushan sent to them was sword coins. During this time, I just wanted to save money to buy a flying sword, and I needed this kind of high-paying task.
It can be considered as a pillow for dozing off.
"Oh, the two young heroes of the Shushan sect, you are finally here." Mr. Li took the whole family out to greet them in person, and the honor was quite sufficient.
This is also one of the benefits of being a practitioner. Even ordinary people, no matter how rich or powerful they are, will always respect you when they see you.
"No need to be so polite, we two are just juniors from Shushan." Lin Bei also said enthusiastically: "My name is Lin Bei, and this is my classmate Chu Liang. I see that you are a few years younger than my father, so I will call you Uncle Li, your son and I are brothers."
With that said, he turned back to greet Chu Liang: "Don't be too formal, it's just like coming to your own home."
Chu Liang smiled slightly.
With this person with terrible social skills, I can save myself a lot of trouble in communicating with others.
He noticed that behind Mr. Li was a young man with his head lowered and silent. He was dressed in home clothes and looked about sixteen or seventeen years old. He was fair-skinned, but his eyes were dark and he looked haggard.
He should be Mr. Li's only son Li Jue, who looks very worried.
After two steps into the large house, when they arrived at the inner hall, Lin Bei was already hooking up with Mr. Li.
"Uncle Li, don't worry. I will protect my brother. I guarantee that he will be safe. From today on, we will keep an eye on him at all times. From the beginning to the end of Shushan, you can ask about me, Lin Bei... …”
"My eldest nephew, actually, I have an unkind request..." Mr. Li smiled, his mustache twitching, "Although I ask you to protect my Li Jue, but can you... …Don’t let others know?”
"Don't let others know? What do you mean?" Lin Bei and Chu Liang were both confused.
"That's it...I will help you arrange your admission tomorrow and let you attend classes at Nanshan Academy. Then you can keep an eye on Li Jue and come back to my house after school. But in the meantime, don't let anyone see you. You are specifically protecting him, okay?" Mr. Li begged, rubbing his hands.
"Uncle Li, of course we will comply with your request, but can you ask... why?" Lin Bei asked.
"It's hard to talk about this." Mr. Li smiled, but kept it secret.
Let someone protect him... and don't want outsiders to find out?
Chu Liang glanced at Li Jue, who was silent, and Mr. Li, who was rubbing his hands next to him.
What are they guilty of?
