At dawn, everyone worked hard for half a night, walking around and searching Luoyan Peak, but could not find the whereabouts of Han Bing. However, they counted the heads and found that Guo Chuanlin and Qin Rong were missing. Hong Kun and Li Qixian were worried, but Zhang Lu and his peers were gloating about the misfortune. How could a newcomer with unknown origins be able to practice such powerful swordsmanship and be valued by the two masters Li and Ding? This was not a disaster. Qingcheng If you send the remnants to kidnap you, there is a high probability that you will never come back!
Li Yizhu was convinced that this was most likely Han Bing's work. Guo Chuanlin was once his personal soldier, and Qin Rong was Qin Shouzhen's niece. It was not surprising that he was involved. It's just that Han Bing sneaked up to Luoyan Peak, killed Master Ding's granddaughter, and kidnapped the two of them quietly. He always felt that something was wrong. Li Yizhu pondered for a long time and went to see Ding Shuanghe, the leader of Songshan Sect, to inquire about the situation at that time.
Ding Shuanghe stayed beside his granddaughter's body, his whole body was burned, and he was secretly traumatized. He didn't want to see the guests, but Li Yizhu was Li Shi's first disciple and the first choice for the next head of Huashan. Although his granddaughter died, he still wanted to send a message. Go ahead, delay it for a while at most, and have no regrets. He rubbed his face, suppressed his anxiety and anger, and invited Li Yizhu inside to meet him.
Li Yizhu met the head of Ding, gave him a few words of comfort, then cut to the chase and asked about the details of Ding Qian's death. Although Ding Shuanghe was grieving, his mind was very clear. Every sentence Li Yizhu asked was key. He knew the stakes of it, so he frowned and recalled it carefully, one by one.
It was past three o'clock when Ding Qian left the Lunar New Year Hall. The people who escorted her back to her home were Wei Dinghai and Zhang Ren. They were unwilling to live apart from each other. Within a few steps, they witnessed Ding Qian stepping into the small courtyard and locking the door. Then they both left. After about a few hours, a shrill scream suddenly sounded from the mountain behind Luoyan Peak. Everyone was alarmed and didn't know what was going on. Ding Shuanghe was worried about his granddaughter's safety and hurried to visit, but found that there was no one in the small courtyard. Ding Qian had no idea. Whereabouts. He was so anxious that he led his disciples to the back mountain, searched everywhere, and found Ding Qian's body in a hidden cave. Her chest had been hit hard with a sharp weapon, and a large wound was opened that reached deep into her organs. She had no breath at all. Industry has died.
Li Yizhu felt strange in his heart and asked a few cryptic questions. Ding Shuanghe stared at him for a long time with a sad and strange expression. After a long time, he sighed and said that his granddaughter was innocent and had not been stained by the murderer. Li Yizhu always felt that something was wrong, and tentatively asked to see Ding Qian's body. Sure enough, Ding Shuanghe jumped up, scolded him and drove him out.
Shibaliping was shrouded in sorrow, and people were in panic. A good thing was suddenly turned upside down. Li Shi also felt it was difficult, so he could only keep calm for the time being, loosen the outside and tighten the inside, and search for clues to find out the traces of the murderer.
A few days later, Zhou Ke found traces of the thief leaving in the dense forest at the back of the mountain. Judging from the few footprints left behind, it was inferred that the man seemed to be carrying something heavy like a wolf. His steps were heavy and his body movements were weighed down by it. The footprints were intermittent and ended on a cliff, shrouded in clouds and mist, and bottomless. The thief was obviously very familiar with the terrain. He climbed down from the cracks in the rocks and left Luoyan Peak.
Li Shi and Ding Shuanghe personally led their disciples to search down the mountain, and found some messy footprints in a hidden forest at the foot of Xiaozi Peak. It seemed that there were four people present, three men and one woman, heading west through the forest.
Both factions have experts who are good at tracking. They followed the thief's whereabouts to a remote town and checked door to door. Unexpectedly, the local folk customs are fierce, and the townspeople look at outsiders with suspicion one by one. As you like Intimidating and tempting, rolling your eyes and saying nothing. In desperation, the "chivalrous men" of the Huashan and Songshan sects had no choice but to resort to lynching. Finally, they pried open the townspeople's mouths and asked the coachman Hu Si that he had sent a group of people to the west.
Ding Shuanghe came to Hu Si anxiously. He first threw two ingots of patterned silver on the table, then took out his sword, put it on his neck and asked him which one he would choose. Hu Si was a weakling, so he confessed everything without much hesitation. According to what he said, there were four thieves in total, a middle-aged scholar, a barbarian from the North, and a young man and woman. They hired a carriage to gallop along the post road. It took him a whole day to walk, but he finally stopped at an abandoned inn and sent him back.
Li Yizhu carefully questioned the appearance of the four people and confirmed that the young man and woman were Guo Chuanlin and Qin Rong.
Ding Shuanghe escorted Hu Si to the inn. Hu Si got the money and agreed. It's just that it's a long way from the town to the inn. The disciples of the second sect possess light skills, and their full strength is comparable to that of a galloping horse. But humans are not horses after all, and galloping short distances is not a big problem. Running for a whole day would be too much for an Iron Man. Li Yizhu went to the town market to buy mules and horses at a high price, but the town was really small and the number of mules and horses was limited. Li Shi had to send back some of his third-generation disciples, leaving behind a group of good hands to ride on the mules and horses with the Songshan sect and rush on the road.
Before they arrived at the inn that Hu Si mentioned, they saw thick smoke billowing from a distance, as if they had lost water.
Everyone rushed forward and saw that the fire was in a manor, which was located in the mountains and had been burned to a white ground. There is a large river winding through not far from the mountain col. It stands to reason that pouring water to put out the fire would have been enough, so why did it burn to such a scene! Li Yizhu's heart tightened. He drove his horse to a high place and looked far into the distance. He saw a wilderness with no trace of people around him. There was a big boat in the middle of the river. It raised three sails and sailed downstream like an arrow with the wind and the current. The thieves took the boat and walked away like this. There was no way they could catch up with the waterway.
He informed the two masters of his speculation. Li Shi pondered for a moment and ordered his disciples to search for ships separately and be sure to intercept the big ship. But having said that, there is no trace of people in the wilderness. Wherever you go to find a boat, even if you find one or two fishing boats, relying on oar power alone will not help.
This was done just to show off and comfort the head of the Songshan Sect. Ding Shuanghe did not give up, and led his disciples to continue chasing along the river. Li Shi had no choice but to accompany him to the end. However, before leaving, he ordered Li Yizhu to return to Luoyan Peak first and guard Shibaliping to avoid falling into the enemy's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain.
Li Qixian returned to Luoyan Peak with his father and waited for more than a month before his uncle and his entourage came back. In the end, they failed to catch up with the thief. Ding Shuanghe has an upright figure, his hair is completely white, and he seems to have aged more than ten years. No one mentioned the merger of the Huashan and Songshan sects again. Ding Shuanghe felt cold and disheartened. He supported his daughter's coffin and left Luoyan Peak quietly.
Three days later, a pigeon with iron feathers and strange eyes flew down to Shibaliping and stopped on the eaves of a roof. It purred several times. Li Yizhu heard the sound and came out, wrapping a piece of cooked cowhide around his right arm and holding it high. Lifting it up, the iron-feathered dove with different eyes fluttered and landed on his arm, its sharp claws like hooks making the cowhide squeak. Li Yizhu untied a letter from the pigeon's leg. It came from Songshan Mountain, thousands of miles away. It was full of small characters, densely packed, and verbose. It was full of trivial matters, which seemed to be intended to whet his appetite.
Li Yizhu used his eyesight to read ten lines at a time, and saw the key sentences at the end of the letter. Ding Shuanghe doted on his granddaughter Ding Qian very much, and begged Lancang to send an envoy to plant an immortal talisman and water it with blood. It would protect him from disasters. She was safe for once. Li Yizhu suddenly understood that the reason why Ding Qian kept her innocent body was because the immortal talisman protected her body and repelled the murderer in time. However, the power of this immortal talisman was limited and failed to save her life in the end.
He had never met Han Bing, so he didn't know if he was injured by the immortal talisman. However, there was another person on the 18th floor of Luoyan Peak, and there was something slightly strange in his movements. Unless someone was extremely familiar with him, he wouldn't be able to detect it.
