Ask Sword

  Chapter 83 Underground

   Li Ang stopped slowly, and his boots stepped on the gravel on the ground, making a soft sound.

  The crossbow mounted on the window of the carriage was as wide as an arm, the body of the crossbow was dark and dull, and the clusters of arrows shone with icy cold light.

  In terms of shape, it is almost the same as the crossbow used by the soldiers of the Zhenfu Division.

   There is no shelter in the alley, and the walls on both sides are so high that there is no room to move, and it is impossible to hear whether there are people living behind the walls.

   Pata.

  The driver of the carriage flicked the reins lightly, lowered his sleeves, and turned his head sideways—the face under the bamboo hat was one of the two swordsmen who guarded Jiao Cheng in Pingkangfang that day.

   Extending from the bottom of its cuff is a floating, slightly trembling handleless flying sword.

   Tap, tap, tap.

   Li Ang stepped forward, boarded the carriage, and immediately smelled a smell of herbs.

  I saw the spacious car was covered with a thick layer of white cloth,

  On the double row of seats sat Jiao Cheng, Di Wu and another middle-aged sword repairman.

  Jiao Cheng's right lame leg was covered with messy linear cuts, as if a sharp object had scratched the skin.

  Although Di Wu and another sword cultivator, who had blood on their hands, had bandaged the wound with herbal powder and cloth, they still couldn't stop the blood from oozing out and dripping onto the car.

   "Cure him, and the money will be yours."

  Di Wu took a deep breath, and took out a wad of flying money from his pocket with his blood-stained palm, the smallest denomination was five hundred guan.

   "I know you can do trauma,"

Jiao Cheng, with a pale face, struggled to retract the crossbow on the window, leaned against the inner wall of the carriage, and gasped and said, "After you left with You Xiao that day, I asked someone to investigate. What did you do in Weizhou? People have healed trauma.

   Heal me. "

  Jiao Cheng's tone was firm, with his index finger resting on the crossbow.

   Li Ang glanced at him expressionlessly, and did not take the flying money from Di Wu's hand, and said indifferently: "The tools are not here."

   "Go to Huaidefang."

  Jiao Cheng lowered his voice, the monk sitting in front of the carriage shook the reins, drove the carriage northward, and stopped in front of the hotel courtyard where Li Ang lived.

  Jiao Cheng did not get out of the carriage, but asked Jianxiu and Li Ang to jump out of the carriage together, went into the house, took the medicine box out, and returned to the carriage.

   and let the carriage drive southeast.

  During the driving, Li Ang didn't use pure wine to wash his hands, and directly used silver hook and silver thread to sew up the scorched leg wound.

   I don’t know if it’s the herbal powder covered on the burnt legs, it has some special effect,

   During the suture process, Jiao Cheng didn't cry out from the pain, and the wound on his leg didn't ooze a lot of blood, but his face became paler and paler.

  Jiao Cheng handed the crossbow to Di Wu and asked him to continue aiming at Li Ang.

   Another sword cultivator in the carriage also controls the flying sword all the time, hovering above Li Ang's head.

  Changanfang City outside the car window is still noisy,

   In two days’ time, it will be July 15th, the Buddhist Obon Festival. No matter the rich or the poor, people must prepare food and drinks, and pay homage to the dead to show their memory of their ancestors.

  The roadside shops have already started various sacrificial items, clothing and hats. In some squares and markets, lanterns are hung up in advance, and lanterns are lit to pray for blessings during the Obon Festival.

  The voices of people on the street were chaotic, and the officials and unscrupulous people in Chang'an County and Wannian County maintained law and order at the intersection.

  Occasionally, some bad people can be seen holding small dogs, sniffing the smell of passing carriages and pedestrians.

   Li Ang remained silent, slowly and steadily stitching up the wound, but Di Wu and Jianxiu, who was driving the carriage, became nervous first.

  The carriage is gradually approaching the intersection ahead,

  The fine dog who was lying on the ground by the road seemed to sense something, barked "Wow", stood up from the ground, and looked at the slowly approaching carriage.

   "Gudong."

  The bald-headed Di Wu swallowed heavily, the palm of the hand holding the crossbow was covered with sweat, his eyes seemed to look through the carriage, and nailed the fine dog to death.

Snapped.

  Jiao Cheng somehow got the strength to grab Di Wu's wrist and force Di Wu to put down his crossbow.

  As for himself, he took out a pack of medicinal powder from his arms, crushed it with one hand, and sprinkled the medicinal powder in the car.

  The strange and inexplicable smell filled the carriage and escaped through the windows.

  The vigilant dog on the side of the road sniffed his nose, tilted his head in doubt, and watched Jiao Cheng's carriage passing by in front of him.

  The bad guy holding the thin dog rope also yawned, completely unaware of the abnormality.

   Unexpectedly, passed.

   Li Ang's eyelids twitched slightly. The fine dogs in charge of security and patrol in Chang'an City were all domesticated by Zhen Fusi Zhong's family, and they could easily smell and track the smell of human blood.

  First of all, the package of medicinal powder in Jiao Cheng's hand must be extremely precious.

  Secondly, no matter what they are plotting, they don’t want the outside world to find out—otherwise there is no need to sneak around and threaten treatment with kidnapping.

  Li Ang is a student who is going to take the final exam in the academy. If he suddenly disappears the day before the exam,

  Even if someone thinks that Li Ang abstained because of fear of the exam,

   There will also be students from the same town and school personnel looking for them in the city, causing disturbances—after all, we must guard against the situation that some students want to eliminate competitors, and the school will definitely attach great importance to this.

   It is even possible to send monks to jointly search the city with the people from the Zhen Fu Division.

  At this point in time, holding Li Ang

  ‘What is it for? '

  Li Ang gradually sped up his stitching, and the carriage drove out of the intersection smoothly and continued eastward.

  Guangdefang, Xinghuafang, Lanlingfang, Jinchangfang

  The carriage went all the way to the southeast until it entered the wall of Qinglongfang and stopped in a hidden bamboo forest.

   "Sewn and bandaged."

  The gauze bandage in Li Ang’s medicine kit was wrapped around Jiaocheng’s injured leg,

   I put away the silver hook and thread, and the white cloth in the medicine box, and wiped the dirty blood on my palms and surgical instruments.

  Jiao Xiang seemed to feel no pain, stretched out his hand and pinched his right leg, which was tightly wrapped with bandages several times, and got off the carriage with the support of Di Wu and the middle-aged Jianxiu.

  The breeze raised the window curtains, and through the shade of bamboo leaves, one could see the river not far in front of the carriage, and a flat-bottomed painting boat slowly approaching.

   On the side of the painting boat, there is a sign of a certain building in Pingkangfang—not Lianhua Building.

  The bamboo hat boatman standing at the bow of the painting boat, holding the bamboo pole, parked the boat on the shore,

  Jiao Cheng turned around and said to Li Ang who was still in the car: "Mr. Li Xiaolang, will you come with us?"

   "Where to?"

Li Ang didn't ask the other party why he was held hostage, and whether the other party knew the possible consequences of holding him hostage. Jiao Cheng is a smart man, so there is no need to talk nonsense, "Your leg injury, I have cured it. Tomorrow, I have another The final exam in the palace."

   "I know that if things go well, Mr. Li Xiaolang, you will be able to bring 10,000 guan flying money tonight, and return to Chang'an in time to participate in tomorrow's final exam. Now, I just ask you to come with us."

  Jiao Cheng said hoarsely: "Please."

  Jiao Cheng was resolute, even risking the wound on his right leg bursting, and refused to rest.

  ‘What they are planning must have been planned for a long time, and the situation is extremely urgent. This painting boat sailed from Jinchangfang in the northeast direction and sailed to the southeast. In other words, the destination is in Huangqu. '

   Li Ang's thoughts turned sharply, 'They are going out of the city? ! '

  The water system of Chang'an City in Yu State is collectively called the Eight Waters and Five Canals.

  Bashui refers to the eight rivers around Chang'an City, such as Jishui, Jushui, Jingshui and so on.

  Five canals refer to the five main channels artificially constructed to bring water from outside the city into the city to use the water sources of the eight rivers. They are Qingming Canal, Longshou Canal, Yong'an Canal, Huang Canal and Cao Canal.

  The Yellow Canal is located in the southeast of Chang’an City. It is the main channel of Qujiang Pond. Along the river of Qujiang Pond, you can go out of the city directly—there are too many pleasure boats driving on Qujiang Pond every day.

   Now it’s almost time for the Obon Festival, the crowds of tourists are dense,

  Even if the government servants, unscrupulous people, and soldiers of the Zhenfu Division come out in full force, they may not be able to take care of every corner.

  According to the usual rules, on the Qujiang Pond, only the boats that want to enter the city have to search carefully, and the boats that go out of the city can just glance at it. What's more, it is a high-end painting boat of Pingkangfang.

  Pingkangfang has always had the jargon of "walking the horse" and "staying in the mud". Staying in the mud means staying overnight, and walking the horse means traveling with prostitutes—

  Especially going out for a walk in the city, which is not a shameful thing among scholars, on the contrary, it is very romantic and unrestrained.

   Many literati, dignitaries and dignitaries will do this.

  The soldiers in charge of the security patrol on the Qujiang Pond naturally wouldn’t run into trouble by searching for a high-end Pingkangfang painting boat that was about to leave the city—

  Wouldn't it be embarrassing if you found a certain prime minister or minister in it.

   Li Ang guessed where Jiao Cheng and the others planned to go,

  With his face still calm, he picked up the medicine box and got out of the carriage.

   Under the gaze of the two sword repairmen, they stepped onto the boat.

  In the painting boat of Diaolianghuadong, there are a few men with tattoos on their foreheads, and a few Pingkangfang women with nervous expressions.

   Li Ang glanced at them, then found a place to sit down, holding the medicine box.

   "Little Doctor Li, please."

Jiao Cheng and others also boarded the boat. Di Wu stepped forward and handed over a black square scarf. Li Ang glanced at it, took out the handkerchief sewn by Chai Cuiqiao from his arms, and covered his eyes .

  The painting boat moved again without a sound, and the sound of silk and bamboo music and the interlacing sound of toasting came from the boat, just like an ordinary painting boat.

  Li Ang, who was wearing a blindfold, silently felt every turn of the ship, and calculated the flow rate of the water and the speed of the ship in his heart.

  The boat leaves the stream and sails into the water of the Yellow Canal,

   Gradually, the sound of other boats gradually came from the surface of the river.

  ‘Out of town. '

  Li Ang felt the course of the ship, and with a jolt of bumps, the boat docked.

   Brush and pull.

  Sounds of standing up came from around, Li Ang took off the blindfold, and saw Jiao Cheng, Di Wu and others walk out of the boat and came to the bow.

  Here seems to be a hidden forest, and horses have been prepared in advance in the open space.

   Li Ang followed Jiao Cheng and others down the bow, watched the painted boat sail away slowly, moored in the middle of the river with other painted boats, and lit the candles for evening lighting.

   "Mr. Li Xiaolang took the first exam in the palace, and he was the first in the royal department. You should be familiar with riding a horse, right?"

  Jiao Cheng raised his chin, and with Di Wu's support, he mounted the horse and tied the bamboo crutch around his waist that never left him.

   Li Ang glanced at him, did not speak, and chose a horse to ride on.

  The peripheral vision from the corners of the two sword repairmen's eyes always enveloped him.

  Li Ang didn't doubt that as long as he made any changes, the two sword repairmen would sacrifice their flying swords and stab them quickly.

   "Can your legs hold on?"

   Li Ang asked lightly, Jiao Cheng grinned, "I don't need Mr. Li Xiaolang to worry about this. Let's go."

  Jiao Cheng flicked the reins, and galloped away.

  Two Jianxiu, Di Wu, and the tattooed man who got off the boat and met in the forest all rode their horses to keep up.

  The road in the forest was quite bumpy, and Jiao Cheng, who was wrapped in gauze on his legs, did not slow down at all.

Half an hour later, the crowd stopped in a mountain depression. Di Wu dismounted first, and after a little bit of orientation, he went straight to a withered pine tree, squatted on the ground and swept away the fallen leaves, revealing the hidden treasure hidden under the fallen leaves. square wooden boards.

   Di Wu pulled the copper ring on the wooden board, lifted the wooden door,

  There is a hole with a diameter of half a foot hidden under the door. Looking down along the hole, you can see a staircase that is slanting downwards.

   Listen carefully, and you can faintly hear the sound of gurgling water below it.

  ‘Chang’an Ghost City.’

   Li Ang exhaled imperceptibly. He had thought that the destination of Jiao Cheng and others was here, but after seeing it with his own eyes, the doubts in his heart became even greater.

  ‘Chang’an Ghost Market is a place for underground trading, selling prohibited goods such as monsters and monsters. Take Jiao Cheng's status, contacts, and financial resources in Chang'an City.

   It is completely possible to let the people under him go out of the city, conduct transactions on their behalf, and then find a way to transport them back to the city through other methods.

   There is absolutely no need to risk yourself—the ghost city hides many desperadoes and defecting monks.

  If there was a conflict, even the two sword repairmen might not be able to keep him.

   Unless he is not here to trade in the ghost market.

   But for other things. '

  Di Wu took the lead in going down the steps in the dark, and lit the torch on the wall of the tunnel with the torch he took out from his pocket.

  Jiao Cheng limped forward with a bamboo cane, and glanced at Li Ang when his head disappeared into the hole.

  'Do you still want to watch me? '

  Li Ang frowned slightly, and walked forward with the medicine box in his arms, countless guesses arose in his heart.

The risk of holding oneself hostage is not directly proportional to the benefits. Jiao Cheng is a rational and calm person, and he will not deliberately retaliate for taking away Song Shaoyuan and You Xiao six days ago—especially when he finds out that he took the money from the government of Yan State. After arriving.

  There must be something extremely important to come to the ghost market this time.

  Cure the person behind the Ghost City?

   or.

  Li Ang looked at the scorched right leg in front of his eyes—below the bandage there, faint blood oozes out.

  ‘Jiao Cheng’s injury was not cut by a sharp object, but scratched by a sharp object. That's why the injury looked terrible, but it didn't hurt the main arteries and veins, and it could be sutured. '

  Li Ang supported the cold and damp tunnel wall and walked down, "There are two possibilities for causing such a large area and a large number of sharp objects to scratch.

  One, the sword master's flying sword.

  Second, the congenital wind. '

  The congenital gang wind that only exists in high places, six days ago, Jiao Cheng's subordinates inexplicably suffered from plateau cerebral edema that shouldn't be in the flat environment

   Li Ang stared at Jiao Cheng's back, and went down to the bottom of the steps.

  Here is an underground river, three canoes are chained to the bank of the river,

  The river flows continuously, leading to the depths of the cave, deep and unknown darkness.

  (end of this chapter)