Tigers roared in the mountains and forests, and wild beasts moved in droves.
There were still some hours before dawn, the darkest and quietest time of the day, but the whole forest was in commotion with the roar of tigers, full of unknown dangers.
Hehe was awakened, got up and saw Yunqi facing a certain direction, and asked, "What happened?"
The sound carried far away, and was actually quite far away from them. Yunqi narrowed his peach blossom eyes and asked uncertainly: "Is it like a beast tide?"
Hehe walked next to him, unable to see the darkness in the distance, and muttered to himself: "It's very strange."
"What's weird?" Yun Qi turned around.
He He frowned slightly, "In the past, I only dared to collect herbs on the outskirts of the forest, because there were usually big beasts inside, but I haven't seen any animals in the past year. Even the hunters in the village said they couldn't catch good prey."
She tried her best to raise her head, but there was only a forest covering the sky and the sun, and the darkness gathered there, "Why did they all run out again all of a sudden?"
The ground trembled, and the trees trembled.
They couldn't see it, but they could feel the huge beasts roaring past with their devastating power, and the whole earth was shocked by it.
"That direction..." Yunqi flipped his wrist, holding the jade bone fan behind his back, his handsome face slightly solemn, "Longling."
—
At the same time, Zi Sangjin felt it more deeply than Yunqi and Hehe. He personally experienced the shocking scene when the beasts attacked.
Running as fast as the wind, the ground shook and the mountains shook. The huge group of beasts ran rampant like crazy. The big trees hugged by several people were directly knocked to their sides. The dust they stepped on filled the sky, and the strong wind shook them wildly, almost suffocating people.
Zi Sangjin lay down in the pit and wiped his face after the beasts ran away. His hands were covered with dust, and he waved his right hand in the air, "Where did the beasts come from?"
Shi Shui jumped to a high place, searched around, and met the eyes of a person on the opposite side of the herd. The man's eyes were vicious and sharp, and his ferocious face slowly smiled, then he turned and ran away.
He jumped down and said to Zi Sangjin: "Your Highness, Red Beard is on the opposite side. He must have driven away the herd of beasts and took the opportunity to escape."
Zi Sangjin clenched his fists and punched the air, with a look of frustration on his face. After thinking about it again, he felt something was wrong, "When did there come so many wild beasts in the forest?" Redbeard happened to arrive with him.
Shi Shui also didn't understand. "When I walked around the forest these past few days, I never encountered any wild beasts."
"Seal down Diqiu County, strictly guard all exits, and be sure to capture Red Beard. Also, find out what happened to this beast wave."
Shi Shui took the order, and another leader ran back and said: "Your Highness, what's wrong, look at the direction of the beast herd, we are going to Longling!"
—
The next day, Lu Anran woke up and found that Guanyue and Mo Yan were not in the house.
Qiu Chan brought a basin of water for her to wash up. Seeing that her face looked bad, she quickly asked, "Is the lady sick?"
Lu Anran washed her hands, dipped her handkerchief in water and wiped her face. She woke up several times last night, experiencing various bizarre dreams. She didn't remember anything when she woke up, but her head was extremely dizzy.
Qiu Chan put the breakfast on the table and said, "I'll ask my father to call a doctor later to take a look at the young lady."
"No, I'll just take a rest." During this period, he glanced at the opposite room from the window several times. The window and door were closed, and it didn't look like the owner had come back.
After finishing the meal, her enthusiasm waned. She thought of something and took out the brocade handkerchief she used to wrap things last night from the drawer.
Open it, there is only some mud inside.
"Qiu Chan." Lu Anran called the little girl who was clearing the table, "Have you ever seen such mud?"
Qiu Chan put the bowls and chopsticks on the tray, leaned over to look at them, and said with a smile: "Isn't this the red clay from Monkey Mountain? There is also a large area of azaleas there, which I have picked before."
Lu Anran raised his eyes: "Is this kind of soil only near that area?"
"Yes, the old people here say that the alchemy furnace of Taishang Laojun overturned on that mountain, and the leaked flames hit the Monkey Mountain, so the soil burned red, and later turned into red soil."
Lu Anran folded the handkerchief again, and Qiu Chan packed up and went out. Then she remembered and asked, "Miss, did you go to Monkey Mountain last night? It happened to be when the azaleas were blooming. Did you see it, miss?"
"No." I don't know whether to answer the first or second question.
Qiu Chan doesn't hide anything in her heart, and she won't dig into the root of the problem. She is completely different from Chun Miao. After all, she is a girl taught by Prince Yun's Mansion. She looks carefree, but in fact she keeps a tightrope.
The door was open, and the early summer wind was still cool in the morning, blowing the fragrance of rose flowers in the courtyard, far away and quiet.
Lu Anran closed the drawer and thought about whether she and Wu Fang should take a trip to Monkey Mountain or wait until Yun Qi came back to discuss it. She also had something to discuss with the county office about the corpses of the Zhou family stored in Yizhuang.
Just as she was thinking about this, a green shadow flashed, and there was already a figure opposite her.
Lu Taotao squatted on the chair, tilted his head, winked, and said mysteriously: "Little sister, something big has happened."
Lu Anran understood Lu Taotao's character, which always came and went, and he didn't care much about her words.
"Today before dawn, a large group of wild beasts rushed into Longling and overturned the entire dojo, haha." Lu Taotao clapped his hands happily, "I just went to see it. Half of the platform collapsed, and the ground was full of sorrow. That’s a bad Taoist priest.”
Lu Anran's eyes narrowed and she stood up suddenly, "Seriously?"
"Tch, if you don't believe me, go see it yourself."
No wonder Guan Yue and Mo Yan went out early in the morning. She thought they were looking for Yun Qi.
No, Yunqi is also in the mountains.
At this moment, Qiu Chan hurried over and said, "Hey, miss, all the doctors in the county have left the city. I heard that something happened over there in Longling!"
Although Lu Anran said no, Qiu Chan still went to the medicine hall and ran out of several medicine halls. She was puzzled and asked about it.
"Not only that, all the medical disciples in Jixia Palace were also called."
Lu Taotao took a pastry from the plate on the table to eat, and curled his lips disdainfully: "What else can you say about Immortal Dixian? He can't even deal with a few wild beasts, and he pretends to be struck by lightning. Look, even God can't see it. past."
"Miss, where are you going?" Qiu Chan chased after Lu An.
Lu Anran stopped and said, "Let Uncle Zhong set up a carriage and park it at the side gate. I'll go to Longling to have a look."
Qiu Chan blinked: "But, miss, you are not a doctor either."
"I want to go." A pair of eyes are clear and sharp, pure black and deep, and there is an indescribable aura when looking at people in silence.
Qiu Chan's heart trembled, "I, I'll go right away."
Lu Anran lowered her eyes and walked toward the side door. She walked quickly, her skirts flying around, and she only had one thought in her mind -
Will Yunqi encounter a riot of beasts by chance?
The carriage drove out of the side door on the way out of the city. As soon as she bent down and got in, Lu Taotao jumped up on her hind legs, "Hey, will you go to pick up the corpse at the scene, little sister?"
Lu Anran pursed her lips, raised her eyelids and glanced at her.
Lu Taotao covered her heart and said, "Hey, don't look at people like this, they are afraid."
"Let's go." Lu Anran whispered to the carriage driver.
—
On the other side of the county town, Yun Qi, He He and Xun Qing just came in from the city gate.
The people in the city were still living their lives. Apart from gathering together to chat in their spare time, they knew very little about it. They just heard that the Longling Dojo was attacked by ferocious beasts and many people were injured.
"Isn't even Master Dongyue useless?" A commoner who witnessed Zhang Tianshi being skinned sighed.
Others said:
"It was Master Dongyue who was able to calculate and accurately predict this disaster, so he placed the dojo there and took over the disaster for us Diqiu people. Otherwise, there would be nothing wrong with the beast herd's attack, but it would be aimed at the dojo. Woolen cloth?"
"It just shows that the Tao is boundless and can eliminate disasters and solve problems."
"Yes, yes, Master Dongyue sacrifices himself, which is true cultivation and true compassion."
…
Yun Qi walked by and listened, smiling and saying nothing. His peach blossom eyes moved slightly, and a figure flashed quickly through his eyes.
"Sir, I heard that many people were injured in the Taoist temple." Hehe held Xunqing's hand and said with a sympathetic expression.
Yun Qi turned around as if nothing had happened and said without knowing whether it was true or not: "The purpose of Diqiu's Taoism is to eliminate disasters. This difficulty is written in the book of merit and virtue, and it is counted as the good fortune of their cultivators."
Upstairs, Shi Shui flashed back to the room and reported: "My subordinates have inquired, and the bad comments among the people have gradually been eliminated. Everyone now believes that the beasts originally attacked the city, and Master Dongyue sacrificed his life to help Di Qiu solve the problem."
Zi Sangjin breathed a sigh of relief, but the look on his face was still not good, "You pay close attention, and if there is any heresy, be sure to root it out."
As a prince, no one knows better than him the influence of public opinion on people and events, but he knows better how to control public opinion in his hands.
Therefore, when something happened, Sang Jin asked Shi Shui to arrange for someone to pretend to be a commoner and spread the story about Dongyue Zhenren's deeds of self-sacrifice for others.
"Yes." Shi Shui nodded in agreement and walked out of the room.
Hua Jian said worriedly from behind: "Your Highness, it's a pity that we didn't catch Red Beard this time." The success fell short.
Zi Sangjin held the teacup in his hand, tea sloshing in it, "It's no longer Red Beard's problem. My first consideration now may be how to inherit my father's thunderous wrath."
Hua Jie's eyelashes trembled slightly, looking at the young man sitting upright in front of him with a stern face, trying hard to maintain his composure, but it was actually not as good as a weak crown, revealing unbearable sadness.
In the eyes of others, the prince is in a high position and is the proud son of heaven, but only those who are close to him understand how difficult it is for the prince. Every step he takes is like stepping on the tip of a knife. One careless move can result in his body being shattered to pieces.
The status of the prince is more like a constraint than a gift.
But Huajian couldn't say anything, because of her identity, and because she remembered the five-year-old prince saying to her with tearful and stubborn eyes: "Huajian, I must be strong. No one can bully or insult anyone." .”
The young prince became one with the one in front of him. He seemed to sigh and said softly: "Hua Marry, I can't do anything well."
Huayuan's eyes were sour, she tilted her head and said, holding back her sobs: "No matter what your Highness does, your servant and Shi Shui will always be with you."
Negative emotions spread in the room. Downstairs, Yunqi and the three of them happened to walk in front of a medicine shop. Just as they were about to pass the gate, there was a bang, and a man was pushed down in front of them.
