A dreamless night. When Han Ling woke up, he felt comfortable all over, and the healing effect of his internal energy was more obvious than he imagined. He walked to the basin, picked up a handful of water, and was about to wash his face when he suddenly shivered.
This house was decided by Xu Zhuchen, so a bronze mirror was placed on the basin stand for dressing.
When Han Ling looked up, he saw himself in the mirror.
In the bronze mirror, the mask on his face looked like cracked earth, and some parts had even fallen off, which was very shocking.
Han Ling was not frightened by his broken face. What really shocked him was the degree of brokenness of his face.
There are two schools of disguise in the world. One is the Wan School, which achieves disguise by stimulating acupuncture points to change facial muscles; the other is the Jing School, which achieves "disguise" externally by making human skin masks. Both methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. In terms of simplicity and ease of operation, the Wan method can change the appearance with just one needle, but in terms of practicality and safety, the Jing method is superior.
Han Ling's disguise master inherited the Jing sect. After martial arts was abolished, this was one of the only two skills he had left.
By chance, he broke into the contest between the Wan and Jing factions at Jianghou. Han Ling looked through the crack in the door for a while, then made a mask of a child of his own height using local materials, and swaggered in to eat snacks. It wasn't until the girl returned to the kitchen, saw him, and screamed that Han Ling was discovered.
The girl is the granddaughter of an elder from the Jing sect. When the elder arrived, he realized that Han Ling was extremely talented, so he accepted him as his disciple on the spot and arranged a baby wedding for Han Ling and the girl. It's just that Han Ling left Jiang Hou not long after, and he doesn't know how the Jing sect is developing now, and how is the girl he has arranged a baby kiss with.
Han Ling thought as he took off the mask from his face. Although he has not practiced much in disguise over the years, he is not so unfamiliar with it. Although the mask was made in a hurry, it wouldn't break into pieces. Han Ling knew the characteristics of this mask: it is insoluble in water and does not melt in fire. To tear it off, it can only rely on the internal strength of the mask owner who is not repelled.
Did Zhuchen come last night?
This thought made him nervous instantly, and the hair on his hair stood on end. The room was already quiet, but Han Ling could even hear his heart beating wildly.
wrong. No matter how good Zhuchen's Qinggong is, he will still leave some traces, like a white hair and a shoe print, but the doors and windows in the house are closed, nothing. Besides - Han Ling knew very well - even if Xu Zhuchen really suspected him, he would not break into other people's rooms at night without permission.
Calm down, Han Ling. He covered his heart with one hand, and the touch of the book on his chest calmed him down somewhat. Han Ling focused part of his attention on listening to the noise next door, but heard nothing. After a while, he quietly used some of his inner energy to investigate, and then he was truly convinced that Xu Zhuchen was not in the room.
With Zhu Chen not in the room, things would be much easier to handle.
Right now, the top priority is to find materials to repair the mask. When Han Ling fled, he specially prepared some daylilies and camellias with him, and also brought more or less other materials with him, but this honey was the most difficult to find.
The people of Bizhou are not considered wealthy, but in the geographical annals of the eleven states of Yu State, Bizhou's luxury ranks at the forefront every year. Han Ling knew clearly that since the people were not rich, someone must have taken away the wealth. These people use less money to service the people, and use higher prices to make the people have to be driven.
The honey and beeswax that Han Ling used to make masks were saved when he was sent to clean up dangerous honeycombs when he was working as a handyman in Yucheng. Not only was the price of honey on the market in Bizhou unimaginable to him, but the quality was also difficult to distinguish. What's more, the face under the mask is Han Ling, a "wanted criminal" with a huge reward on his head.
Han Ling was worrying about the material of the mask when he suddenly heard a few footsteps.
Covert and cautious, but still revealing footsteps.
Xu Zhuchen was indeed not in the room just now.
She got up last night and went to play by the pond. After returning home, she fell asleep and forgot to close the window. It rained lightly in the middle of the night, and the raindrops fell on the scrolls she piled by the window, making a good painting wet.
When the poor scroll was unfolded again, red, black, and white merged together, and the landscape and figures were all mixed together, making it impossible to distinguish you from me.
Xu Zhuchen went out to buy drawing paper, but after taking a few steps, an ominous premonition suddenly arose in his heart.
The storm is about to come and the wind is filling the building. It was obviously a sunny day today, but Xu Zhuchen couldn't help but shudder.
Something is wrong, something is wrong with the people on the street. Today there is a different vendor on the street. Those "vendors" all seemed to be carefree and lazy, but their hands never left their weapons. And with so many masters gathered here, not even a trace of their inner strength was revealed.
Not only that, the positions of each three people form a relationship of mutual protection and mutual support; each group of people is interconnected with the following group. Such tactics can affect the whole body with one move. Anyone who overestimates his ability and steps forward to provoke will have no choice but to run away with his tail between his legs.
Compared with the people in the pharmacy yesterday, the people today are not necessarily more skilled, but they are more disciplined, like an elite army.
army! Xu Zhuchen was startled and couldn't help but wonder: Who is the person they are looking for?
She didn't want to face the sharp edges of those people, so before they noticed, she turned around and walked in the opposite direction.
Just after walking around a street, Xu Zhuchen walked into an alley, but was suddenly pulled by his sleeve.
The force holding her was not strong, but the owner of that hand was quite firm. Xu Zhuchen turned around helplessly and saw an old lady sticking her head out of the wooden door.
"You, you," the old lady said in a low voice, "are you a human or a ghost?"
Xu Zhuchen couldn't help but laugh. She pushed her snow-white hair back and said with a smile, "Old man, I am a human being."
Her voice was very young, and the old man's eyes flicked back and forth on her white hair and face several times before he felt slightly relieved. She pulled Xu Zhuchen into the yard without any refusal and carefully closed the door.
"Girl, how dare you walk on the street alone!" the old lady said while locking the door, "You don't know, they have been looking for people crazy these past two days, driving us crazy too! In broad daylight , no one dares to go out. Once out, there will be a round of interrogation, alas..."
Xu Zhuchen finally found someone he could inquire about. She helped the old lady into the house and sat down. She poured the old lady another cup of tea and asked, "Grandma, I just got here two days ago. What's going on?"
The old lady took a sip of tea, looked around, and whispered: "Not yet. Regarding the martial arts conference, if you ask me, these martial arts students should not be gathered together every now and then... Oops, this is terrible. Something happened!"
Xu Zhuchen calmly lowered his hand, covering the sword at his waist, and said with a sincere smile: "I also heard that something happened at the martial arts conference, which made people panic."
No one can resist Xu Zhuchen smiling like this, not even the old lady. She put down the tea cup in her hand, and Xu Zhuchen quickly poured her another cup.
"It's all to blame. It's all the fault of the evil apprentice of the martial arts leader, Han Ling! He didn't kill someone and had to run away, which is why these things happened!" She got excited and patted the seat hard with her hand. When he turned around, he saw Xu Zhuchen's face was pale and he was holding the table with one hand, almost unsteady on his feet.
The old lady quickly stretched out her hand to support Xu Zhuchen: "Girl, what's wrong with you? Don't blame the old lady for being too excited, it's really that Han Ling who is too cruel and evil!" She lowered her voice, "I heard that he killed others alive His arm was torn off, and blood spilled over half of the place. The man could only breathe out but not take in air on the spot!"
Xu Zhuchen felt dizzy for a while, and the world in front of him became a little dark. She tried her best to hold herself up and said with a forced smile: "Grandma, is that person called 'Han Ling'? Is he the apprentice of the martial arts leader, 'Han Ling'?"
The old lady nodded. Seeing that she looked wrong, she stood up and tried to help her sit down. When she lowered her head, she saw the sword on Xu Zhuchen's waist.
"Ah!" The old lady screamed and immediately covered her mouth, "You, you, you, you are..."
Xu Zhuchen was so immersed in what he just heard that he didn't notice what the old lady was saying. Until the old lady threw a chair towards her, she raised her hand to catch it and turned to look at the old lady.
"Go away!" the old lady shouted, "It's all you martial arts practitioners... who are hurting us, hurting us!"
Xu Zhuchen was silent. She put down her chair and bowed her hands.
"Thanks to the old man for informing me, Xu Zhuchen will say goodbye."
She stepped on the wall and jumped up, rushing to the inn impatiently.
Along the way, she was thinking about Han Ling. The Han Ling she knew was by no means a murderous and cruel person, not to mention that in front of thousands of people at a martial arts conference, in full view of everyone, he actually killed someone and absconded?
Impossible, impossible. Han Ling must have had some difficulties in doing such a thing.
But no matter what, the man still died.
Xu Zhuchen's pace slowed down, the inn was already in front of her, and before she realized it, she was already sweating and sweating.
She could no longer stay in the inn, and she was going to find Han Ling now.
As for the groom, let him continue to live here, she will pay enough.
Xu Zhuchen jumped up to the second floor in one step, jumped from the skylight, and was about to go to the room where the groom lived. That's the first room before the stairs.
She walked a few steps and suddenly heard a sigh.
"Zhu Chen, why did you come back?"
Immediately afterwards, there were three knocks, one long and two short, which were their childhood codes.
One is long and two is short, which means "hide to a high place and don't come down."
Before Xu Zhuchen could understand what was going on, his body had already jumped onto the rafter unconsciously. She lowered her head and looked down, a little shocked for a moment:
A group of people walked up the stairs in darkness, the same people she had just seen downstairs. Their inner strength was well hidden, and Xu Zhuchen had so many emotions just now that he didn't notice it at all.
If it hadn't been for that signal, the two parties would have collided head-on.
Xu Zhuchen wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and looked down without saying a word.
The group of people had already arrived in front of the groom's room. The leader made a gesture, and the people behind followed quietly, forming an arc and forming a line around the guest room door.
They were so cautious that Xu Zhuchen was distracted and thought: There was no sound downstairs. Did they knowingly acquiesce to this incident, or did they get killed?
She tried her best to numb herself with the things around her, so as not to let herself think about who the person in the room was.
And she did all this because she knew exactly who the person in the room was.
Suddenly, the leader made a gesture, then turned his hand and made a chopping motion. The people behind him took out their machetes one by one and walked forward.
Xu Zhuchen couldn't understand the previous movements, but she could clearly see the meaning of the last movement.
"Kill the people in the house and leave no trace."
Xu Zhuchen was so confused that she almost wanted to jump off the beam, but just as she was about to move, she heard a slight noise.
"Click"
Immediately afterwards, countless small wooden arrows pierced the window and flew straight into the face of the person at the door. Several people in the first row of the team couldn't dodge and were stabbed in the eyes. They screamed and fell to the ground. The remaining people were somewhat injured, but they did not lose their combat effectiveness.
Seeing that he had been discovered, the leader was not annoyed. He just made a few quick gestures to signal the people around him to spread out and stay away from the doors and windows.
The other people in the team moved to both sides, and just when they stood still, they heard a few muffled groans.
Xu Zhuchen looked down and saw several wooden nails several inches long scattered on the ground, blending in with the wooden floor. The head of the nail was so sharp that even if it scratched the calf, it would be seriously injured, let alone stepping on it.
Before she could marvel at the cruelty of the people in the room, she saw two puffs of smoke blowing out from both sides of the door.
The leader was afraid that the smoke would be poisonous, so he signaled those who could still move to avoid the smoke and attack directly.
Really unlucky. Xu Zhuchen thought.
The door has been broken into pieces by hidden weapons and can be kicked open with one kick. But the leader was worried about the wave of hidden weapons just now, and motioned to several people to stand sideways, press the blade of their sword against the door, and slowly open the door.
Unexpectedly, there was another whistling sound in his ears. The leader used his knife to block it. His face hurt, and his tentacles were filled with warm and bright red blood.
The hidden weapon actually fell from the sky.
A group of people immediately panicked. The next wave of hidden weapons was about to attack, but not only where did it come from, how could it not be alarming.
The leader spat and cursed secretly. As if he was finally irritated, he opened the door of the room with two knives.
Inside the door is an exquisite carved screen.
This was the screen in the lobby downstairs. Xu Zhuchen was puzzled. In martial arts competitions, the most important thing is to be upright. Even if you are using a hidden weapon, you should not be so covert. It was understandable that the person was in the house just now, so he kept the door closed, but after the door was opened, the person still refused to come out to see the person, which was a lack of moral integrity.
The leader obviously had the same idea as her. He looked calm and stretched out his hand to direct the person behind him to lift the screen.
The man flinched a little, but moved forward. She walked to the screen cautiously, and as soon as she stretched out her hand, she suddenly heard a "step".
It was as if someone had stepped heavily on the ground, and then it was as if a buckle had been loosened.
Before she could figure out what the sound was, her feet suddenly went weak.
Hua Gong Powder!
The people in the room are really unscrupulous, and this room has long been filled with Hua Gong Powder. With this method of injuring the enemy by one thousand and damaging yourself by eight hundred, who is the person behind the screen?
But that person didn't care what she was thinking, or what these people who were losing strength and falling limply to the ground were thinking.
He raised his hand and unfastened the remaining seven clasps at a time.
The sound of "treading" was heard seven times in a row, and the ground beneath their feet suddenly collapsed. That team of excellent warriors fell straight down like puppets that had been thrown away.
Xu Zhuchen turned over and walked down the beam. He didn't care that the Hua Gong Powder in the room had not been dissipated yet, so he used Qing Gong to jump over the big hole in the ground.
Her hands grasped the screen, trying to pull it open and see who was behind it.
But a hand grabbed her and struggled with her, refusing to let her open the screen.
Xu Zhuchen felt funny in his heart, but tears fell down. She exerted force, and the screen shattered into pieces in her hands.
The person behind the screen lowered his eyes and extended his hand without taking it back for a long time.
He said: "Zhu Chen, I'm sorry."
Xu Zhuchen's internal energy was almost exhausted. She gritted her teeth and said, "Han Ling, where is Shi Song?"
Han Ling didn't answer, turned around and jumped from the window. The wind of his palm struck the pond, sending up water mist several feet high, covering his whereabouts. Xu Zhuchen wanted to pursue him, but the Hua Gong Powder had already begun to take effect, leaving her overwhelmed but unable to do anything.
She stared at the window where Han Ling left for a long time. The night before, she was still lingering by the pool. Today, the pool water became a tool to throw her away.
But if there is no pond water, how will the fish live?
