At Haishi, outside the dyeing workshop in the north of the city. It was late at night, and there were no pedestrians on the street. The firelight flickered in the distance. A group of people wearing the uniforms of the hometown protection regiment and holding torches passed by the entrance of the dye house with chaotic steps. The leader was Zhang Tuanlian. The hometown protection group did not stop at the entrance of the dye house and walked straight over. After the hometown protection group walked away, a figure suddenly seemed to move in the darkness in the alley outside the dye house. Xu Shouguang was seen emerging from the shadows and sticking to the wall. He stretched out half of his head and looked at the backs of the people in the hometown protection group who were leaving.
There is no way, the current target of the hometown protection group is the three of them, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, the three of them have to avoid it temporarily.
"Senior, this is it." Xu Shouguang looked at Yuta Yuli, who nodded and whispered: "I have inspected this dyeing workshop before, and it is divided into two courtyards, the front and the back. There are several rooms in the front yard, mainly for cloth shops. Customers come to pick up goods and see samples; and there are many large dyeing vats in the backyard. There are doors in the front and backyard, and the doors are wide open, making it convenient for horses and carriages to enter and transport goods and raw materials. I will go into the dyeing workshop first, and you two People guarded the front and back doors to prevent the real murderer from escaping."
"Senior, let me go in first. This real murderer is cunning and suspicious, and he is familiar with the terrain. I am worried that he will escape, so for a while, Miss Chiyo will guard the front door, and I will leave the back door to senior."
"Boy, the real murderer's strength is still unknown. I'm worried that you can't defeat him..."
"Hahaha, senior, don't worry. Even if I really can't fight him, senior, don't forget that I have the magic elixir magic scale, so I can protect myself without any problem..." Xu Shouguang patted his chest, and then continued: "When the time comes I can still have seniors come to rescue me, but if seniors go in first, Miss Chiyo and I won’t have the ability..."
Yu Lixiong thought for a while and felt that Xu Shouguang's words seemed to make sense, so he nodded.
Seeing that Yuli Yuta stopped arguing, Xu Shouguang turned around and was about to climb over the wall to get in, when he heard a voice behind him,
"Xu Shouguang!"
Xu Shouguang turned around and saw that it was Chao Qiandai who called him.
"What's wrong?" Xu Shouguang asked.
Chao Qiandai was worried about Xu Shouguang's safety, but he didn't know how to speak. He hesitated for a while, and finally managed to say: "Be careful..."
"I got it! So are you..." Xu Shouguang said, turned around and jumped to the wall, then climbed in.
After entering the front yard, Xu Shouguang began to observe the surrounding scene. The dye house was afraid of being robbed at night, so he lit a few lamps in the courtyard. However, the lamps were lit, but the old man who looked after the door was drunk and passed out drunk at the door. He snored against the door with an empty wine gourd tied to it. With the rope, the other end was tied to the old man's arm. There are many empty shelves in the yard, which are used to display cloth during the day. It is dark now, and the cloth has been put into the warehouse, so naturally there is nothing on the shelves. The warehouse door in the distance was closed, with a large brass lock on it. The door to the living room next to the warehouse was still open, but there was no light inside and it was pitch dark.
Xu Shouguang searched in the front yard for a while, but didn't find anything special, so he bent down and felt along the base of the wall toward the backyard.
As soon as he entered the backyard, a strong and pungent smell hit his face. Xu Shouguang covered his mouth and nose, frowned and looked over. He saw several tall cloth drying racks standing in the middle of the backyard, with various colors hanging on the racks. There is a piece of cloth, and under the cloth are large dye vats. The dye vats correspond to various red, green, and water-like dyes. This pungent smell is emitted by these dyes.
There was also a weak light burning near the dye vat. Xu Shouguang looked around and saw no one in the backyard, so he followed the dim light to a dye vat. Pushing aside the red cloth hanging on the cloth drying rack, Xu Shouguang lowered his head and looked into the dye vat. The blood-like red dye was slightly turbid, so that the bottom of the vat could not be seen. There were remaining red marks on the wall of the vat where the cloth had been dragged. , Xu Shouguang tried to touch it with his fingers, but it was sticky and not yet dry.
Suddenly, Xu Shouguang saw a thin trace on the red mark. This mark ran straight across the red mark and pointed to another dye vat not far away. Xu Shouguang quickly looked over and saw similar fine marks on the purple dye vat. The difference was that this time the fine marks were deeper, leaving a cut mark directly on the wall of the vat.
"Xiao Bai, do you recognize this trace?" Xu Shouguang asked Xiao Bai.
"...soft...tough...well...this may be traces of sky silk..."
"Celestial silkworm silk?"
"Well, that is the silk thread spun by an extremely rare species of Celestial Silkworm. This species of Celestial Silkworm lives in extremely cold snowy mountains and feeds on camphor maple leaves. Celestial Silkworm silk is sharp and tough and is often used to make mechanisms."
"Will silk be used to weave cloth today?"
"Weaving... Hahaha... That's crazy. The Celestial Silkworm itself is extremely rare, and the Celestial Silkworm silk is even more precious. If you use Celestial Silkworm silk to weave cloth, even the palace can't afford it..."
"Since Tiansi silk is not used for weaving, why does it appear in the dyeing workshop..." Xu Shouguang thought quickly in his mind. At this moment, the purple cloth hanging on the cloth drying rack above Xu Shouguang's head was suddenly lifted, and a big black bird was seen hanging upside down on the cloth drying rack. It aimed at Xu Shouguang who was thinking below and kicked it violently. The legs and the entire bird were like a huge sharpened wooden stake, piercing Xu Shouguang's Tianling Gai.
At this moment, Xu Shouguang's body suddenly tilted to the side, and he avoided the big bird's body. Then Xu Shouguang quickly swung his sword forward and slashed at the big bird's back. Xu Shouguang was so clever. He had already seen the clues, so how could he not take precautions? He had just deliberately used a flaw to lure the big bird to show up.
Just when Xu Shouguang thought that his great work was accomplished and was feeling proud, he didn't expect that the iron sword collided with the bird's body and was bounced away with a clang.
"What a hard body!" Xu Shouguang thought to himself, but he kept working hard on his legs. When he saw the sword bounced away, he immediately kicked the big bird with a flying kick. The big bird immediately fell into the dye vat beside it and made a clang. The dye vat was broken and green dye flowed all over the floor.
The big bird fluttered a few times among the debris, stood up, turned to Xu Shouguang, and stared at him, but unexpectedly Xu Shouguang smiled at this time.
"Hahaha, what did I think it was? It turned out to be a parrot..." Xu Shouguang looked at the big bird dyed green in front of him and squatted on the ground with a smile.
The big bird seemed to be able to understand people's words. It couldn't help but feel angry. It flapped its wings and flew towards Xu Shouguang. A pair of huge bird claws were spread out, and its sharp nails were like eight daggers. Xu Shouguang grabbed him while he was on the ground.
Xu Shouguang suddenly stopped laughing, rolled forward, and slipped behind the big bird from below. However, he did not turn around to attack the big bird. Instead, he just rushed forward, raised his iron sword, and plunged straight in. The wall of a large black dye vat.
The iron sword sank deeply into the cylinder wall, and some cracks suddenly appeared on the cylinder wall. These cracks spread quickly and soon covered the entire cylinder wall. From the cracks, black dye continued to seep out, starting with a small amount. , then more and more, and finally the big dye vat could no longer bear it, and the whole thing collapsed with a clang.
As the big dye vat collapsed, Xu Shouguang was seen holding an iron sword in a thrusting motion. At the other end of the iron sword was a man in black robes. The iron sword pierced the bulging black robe, but then there was only a crash. The iron sword left a cut in the robe, and the man in black robe grabbed it and retreated. Then the man in black robe used another force and pushed Tie Jian and Xu Shouguang back several steps.
"How did you know I was hiding here?" The voice of the man in black robe was strange and harsh.
After hearing this, Xu Shouguang raised the corner of his mouth and said with a rather proud smile: "The weird big bird that moves like a puppet, the small holes in the joints of Xie Wei Xie Meng, the sky silk that appeared in the dyeing workshop... you are a Yanshi Bar..."
"Hmph!" The man in black robe snorted in a strange tone.
Seeing that the man in black robe did not answer, Xu Shouguang continued: "Since Yanshi is here, the big parrot that appeared first must be just a puppet, and for his own safety, Yanshi usually lets the puppet stand in front of him, so I I guess you should be here..."
"Hmph! Boy, you are a little clever...but cleverness can't save your life!" Before the man in black finished speaking, Xu Shouguang felt a strong wind coming from behind him. The big bird didn't know when it had sneaked up behind Xu Shouguang, While Xu Shouguang was talking to the man in black robe, he opened his sharp beak and rushed towards him.
Xu Shouguang couldn't hide this sneak attack trick. Xu Shouguang just turned slightly sideways and easily passed the big bird. But this man in black robe is obviously not that simple. The five fingers of his right hand are shaking rapidly. It looks like a big bird that has missed a sneak attack. It suddenly turns around in the air, its two wings are crossed into a cross, and the feathers on the wings suddenly spread out, like sharp pieces. The blade of the knife suddenly moved forward and slashed towards Xu Shouguang's neck.
"Sure enough, it's not that simple..." Xu Shouguang said in his heart, and then he hurriedly jumped back and barely avoided the fatal blow.
But what Xu Shouguang didn't expect was that the big bird in the sky turned its wings and pointed all its blade-like feathers at Xu Shouguang. Then with a "swish, swish" sound, the feathers shot out from the big bird's wings. When he came out, he came straight towards Xu Shouguang like a rainstorm of pear blossoms all over the sky.
Xu Shouguang had just used the magic scales during the day, and now he could no longer summon the shield again. In desperation, he had no choice but to keep swinging his iron sword to knock off these feathers. Xu Shouguang danced the three-foot iron sword into the wind. Some of the feathers hit by the iron sword were blown away and stuck on the ground, and some were directly cut into two pieces. However, there were still many feathers that passed through the sword formation defense. , leaving many wounds of varying depths on Xu Shouguang’s arms, shoulders, and waist.
After a round of feather shooting was completed, there was a sound of gears inside the big bird's body, and the surfaces of the wings that had been stripped of feathers just now were instantly filled with new feathers.
"Boy, how does this machine bird taste?" The man in black robe looked proudly at the embarrassed Xu Shouguang in front of him.
"Too old, my flesh is a bit dull..." As soon as Xu Shouguang finished his words, he shortened his stature, rushed forward with a lunge, and raised his sword to stab the machine bird's throat.
"Stupid! This machine bird is made of centuries-old iron birch wood, which has been repeatedly soaked in tung oil. Its hardness is comparable to fine steel..." The black-robed man saw Xu Shouguangming knowing that the machine bird's body was hard but he insisted on stabbing it. , couldn’t help laughing. But before he finished speaking, Xu Shouguang suddenly changed direction and turned to the side of the machine bird. He raised his iron sword and raised it upwards, slashing directly at the puppet wire connected behind the machine bird.
The iron sword struck the filament behind the machine bird. The filament deformed with the swing of the iron sword, and the machine bird fell backwards as if it was drunk. Xu Shouguang was overjoyed and said, "It works..." But before he could say anything, he saw the man in black robe in front of him suddenly pulled his left hand back, the filaments straightened instantly, and the machine bird straightened up immediately, followed by the machine bird. Opening his mouth, a tongue as sharp as a spear suddenly shot out from the mouth. Xu Shouguang was very close at this time. He screamed in his heart that it was not good, so he had to turn his head to dodge. The tongue of the machine bird brushed Xu Shouguang's face and licked it. The tip of his tongue left a long gash on Xu Shouguang's face, and bright red blood seeped out from the gash.
At this time, Xu Shouguang saw in the peripheral vision that the tongue of the machine bird seemed to be slightly bent, and a strong sense of crisis suddenly came up. Xu Shouguang had no time to think, and his intuition made him duck down quickly, and he heard a "click" sound. The cloth drying rack behind him suddenly broke, and the machine bird's long tongue curled into a ring, tightening it while retracting into its mouth. Wherever the long tongue passed, wood and cloth were chopped off.
How dangerous! Xu Shouguang didn't dare to stay any longer, so he quickly rolled backwards to put some distance between himself and the machine bird. The man in black didn't seem to want to give Xu Shouguang any chance to breathe, so he controlled the machine bird to flap its wings and fly over. I saw the machine bird opening its mouth, throwing out its long tongue, and rolling towards Xu Shouguang again. Xu Shouguang hurriedly avoided it to the side, but it seemed that Xu Shouguang's speed had slowed down a little. The machine bird's long tongue tore off a piece of Xu Shouguang's clothes. , and where the clothes were torn, there seemed to be another long wound, and blood slowly oozed out.
The machine bird raised its head, swallowed the torn piece of cloth directly into its belly, and then turned to look at Xu Shouguang again. At this time, Xu Shouguang was already scarred. He covered the wound and looked up at the machine bird. Big beads of sweat dripped from his forehead down his chin to the ground.
"Boy, it's your fault for your bad fate. Anyone who has seen me will not survive..." The man in black robe said in a strange and harsh voice, and then he controlled the machine bird to curl its long tongue and attack Xu Shouguang wildly. , Xu Shouguang had to dodge left and right, so embarrassed. Every time the machine bird licked Xu Shouguang, it would tear off a piece of cloth from his clothes and swallow it in its belly. What was left on Xu Shouguang's body were bloody wounds of varying depths.
Suddenly, Xu Shouguang's foot slipped while dodging, he staggered, and his body tilted to one side. How could the man in black robe let go of such an opportunity? He quickly controlled the machine bird to shoot out a long tongue, directly into Xu Shouguang's heart. The sharp tip of the tongue penetrated the clothes and pierced the skin of Xu Shouguang's chest, but could not move forward. It turned out that Xu Shouguang had abandoned the iron sword and was holding the tongue of the machine bird tightly with his right hand. Seeing Xu Shouguang holding his tongue, the machine bird turned the tip of his tongue crazily. The tip of his tongue messed up the clothes on Xu Shouguang's chest, and the skin on Xu Shouguang's chest was also scratched. The pain made Xu Shouguang couldn't help shouting, but he gritted his teeth, turned his left hand into a palm, hit the tongue of the machine bird, and slapped the tongue of the machine bird aside.
The machine bird rolled a piece of bloody rag with its tongue and took it back into its mouth. Xu Shouguang was half-kneeling on the ground with his chest covered, blood oozing out from between his fingers. The man in black robe waved his fingers, intending to use this moment to deliver the final fatal blow to Xu Shouguang. The machine bird approached step by step, its beak slightly opened, the blade-like feathers on its wings shone with a cold light, and its claws left shallow pits on the ground. . Suddenly, a puff of black smoke came out of the machine bird's mouth, and then a ball of blazing flames violently strung out of the machine bird's body, instantly wrapping the entire machine bird in flames.
The fire quickly crawled towards the man in black robe along the puppet wire. The man in black robe was startled and quickly disconnected the puppet wire at his fingertips. As soon as the broken puppet wire hit the ground, it was quickly engulfed in flames and burned to the ground.
"This..." The man in black robe was extremely puzzled as to why his machine bird suddenly caught fire. At this time, Xu Shouguang, who was half-kneeling on the ground, picked up the iron sword and stood up. He simply tore off his torn shirt and tied it on his chest to stop the bleeding.
"You...what did you do!" The man in black robe yelled at Xu Shouguang.
"It's nothing, it's just that you said before that this green parrot was soaked in tung oil, so I secretly stuffed a fire stick into it to see if it was true...cough...cough..." A pain in the chest interrupted. After listening to Xu Shouguang's words for a while, he finally recovered. Xu Shouguang raised his head, the corners of his mouth turned up, and looked at the man in black robe in front of him with some pride.
