vstars Chapter 245 Human Skin
Chapter 245 Human Skin
As night fell, the distant town resembled a colossal beast in the darkness, silently crouching there with its jaws wide open.
The long queue stood by the roadside, like pitiful insects eager to join the procession.
A dozen or so people sat together on the ground, each with a serious expression.
Among the team of about twenty vehicles and a hundred people, the truly key figures were all gathered together.
The leader was an old镖头 (bodyguard/escort), with gray hair, carrying a four-foot-long copper pipe, and was taking deep drags on his pipe.
This pipe was longer than a regular longsword, made entirely of fine bronze, as thick as a baby's arm, and heavy in his hand, which he didn't seem to mind.
The pot in front was as big as a fist. When the old镖头 (bodyguard) took a drag, the pot turned red-hot, and two long plumes of smoke billowed from his nostrils, reaching more than ten feet away.
This shows how strong his internal organs are. This person is the old镖头 (head镖师, a kind of镖师 who is a master-level镖师) who led the Yuanwei镖局 (镖局, a kind of镖局, a kind of镖师 who is ...
"Let's discuss this... There's been an evil spirit in the town ahead. Our usual Chunlai Inn has been ruined. More than a hundred people have died in the inn."
"They were all drained clean by that evil spirit, leaving only a hundred or so human skins. Even grandmasters and scholars were drained dry. Should we go into the town?"
Guo Laogan spoke very directly. His face was bright and dark, and his wrinkles were faintly visible in the light and shadow. His face was very solemn.
A burly, bearded man with an open chest revealing his breast hair, wearing a scholar's blue robe and a long sword at his waist, coughed and spoke slowly.
"Chief镖头 Guo, I think we still have to enter the city."
"The discovery of over a hundred human skins may not necessarily be the work of evil spirits. It's more likely that a martial artist poisoned the inn, thus wiping out the entire inn without outsiders noticing immediately."
"Even if it is truly an evil spirit, with you, me, Brother Yang, Brother Li, and Chief Constable Xu—five grandmasters in our team—we can fight it off."
"After all, the essence and blood of a grandmaster are specifically designed to subdue evil spirits."
"It's better to be in the city; at least it's safer than in the wilderness, where there's no cover at all."
As he spoke, the muscles in his arms bulged, stretching his outer robe tightly around his body, revealing the definition of his muscles.
However, in this situation, the man looked like a robber who had stolen a scholar's robe and forcibly draped it over his body, which seemed rather incongruous.
"What do you think, Brother Yang?" The man turned to Yang Silang, his face full of expectation.
Yang Silang thought for a moment and said softly.
"Brother Wu's words make sense."
It turns out that this "bandit" scholar was also a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) of this year. His name was Wu Tiechuan, and he was registered in Nanling Province. His situation was the same as Yang Silang's; he was also a courier.
Since the goods were already being escorted, Yuanwei Escort Agency waived a small portion of his silver and asked him to take care of the goods being escorted to the best of his ability.
On the list of successful candidates, he ranked second, far above Yang Silang, and he was not from a prominent family, which only proves one thing.
Wu Tiechuan is most likely backed by a powerful family, with a strong patron protecting him.
However, this person speaks in a very straightforward and bold manner, which is not annoying.
Yang Silang turned to look at another person, whose face was somewhat pale. He was holding a bamboo stick with two small snakes coiled around it, their mouths open and fangs showing.
"Brother Li...you come from the Southern Xinjiang Province, a place I've heard is rife with evil spirits."
What's your opinion?
It turned out that this person was Li Hui, who was ranked right behind Yang Silang on the list of successful candidates.
He, Helan Jin, and Yang Silang were ranked next to each other and were all Grandmasters. They would always get together at every Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) gathering in the capital, so they were considered to be half acquaintances.
He was also part of the escort team this time. After arriving in Nanling Province, he would travel by waterway back to southern Xinjiang.
Li Hui shook his head.
"Evil spirits are mysterious and strange, and there are many kinds of them."
"Without seeing the scene, no one can be sure exactly how those people died."
"Was he poisoned by a martial artist? Was he killed by a venomous insect? Or was he attacked by a demon at night? All are possible."
"It's hard to say."
What do Master Qingfeng and Chief Constable Xu think?
Everyone turned to look at the two people sitting cross-legged in the corner.
One of them was dressed in a Taoist robe, about forty or fifty years old, with a fair face and narrow eyes. He had a whisk draped over his arm, and the whisk contained a faint golden light, clearly indicating that it was filled with gold threads.
The man's Taoist robe had a flowing blue light, which clearly indicated that he was no ordinary person; he was a Taoist cultivator with accomplished cultivation.
Yang Silang simply couldn't discern whether the other party's cultivation level was at the Body Condensation Realm or the Soul Transformation Realm.
He was accompanied by a middle-aged chief constable.
The constable was dressed in a black robe, with a yellow leopard with a roaring cry and auspicious clouds embroidered on his chest, and his eyes gleamed.
The two were inseparable, one a Taoist and the other a martial artist, and they were accompanied by five constables.
They were not part of the military system, but rather belonged to the Six Doors under the government.
Xu Huaihua was a third-rank constable, already a high-ranking member of the Six Doors. However, Yang Silang and the others saw that he consulted this Taoist priest Qingfeng on everything, so they knew that this Taoist priest was the one who made the final decision.
As expected, Xu Huaihua remained silent, while the Taoist priest Qingfeng casually waved his whisk.
"What's the point of sitting here guessing? We'll know what happened in that inn at a glance."
"With five Grandmasters in our team, are we afraid of him?"
"With five Grandmasters in our team, are we afraid of him?"
Clearly, this Taoist priest Qingfeng's idea was to go into the city.
Guo Laogan, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), tapped his pipe on the sole of his shoe and said in a deep voice.
"Since the Taoist priest has said so, let's set off immediately... and make sure we settle in as soon as we enter the town."
Everyone here is a highly skilled cultivator, and they won't be scared into entering the town by some supernatural rumor.
Yang Silang noticed.
Upon hearing the word "evil spirit," news of the hundred or so people at the Spring Comes Inn had already been completely drained.
Master Qingfeng and Xu Huaihua's eyes lit up, and they felt a surge of excitement.
Yang Silang suspected that the two men might be leaving the capital with some kind of mission, and wondered if it was related to Emperor Jinghe.
After all, the emperor lost his father, even if he was dead. He was still a father, especially since it involved the body of the late emperor and the face of the royal family.
Sometimes, a dead father is more troublesome than a living one, especially a dead father who ran away and might have become a rigor mortis.
Perhaps the burial mound at Jinghe Mausoleum hasn't even been repaired yet, and they're waiting to capture their deceased father and rebury him.
On one hand, Emperor Yongchang had to send people to repair the formation in the mausoleum; on the other hand, he also had to bring back his father, who had brazenly run away from home.
If there's no emperor inside an imperial tomb, can it still be called an imperial tomb?
Therefore, they will definitely send out a large number of men to search all directions; causing chaos in the capital, they will naturally not relax their efforts outside either.
Strictly speaking, people like Master Qingfeng and Xu Huaihua were not members of the escort agency; they were just companions who ate and traveled together. They didn't pay a single penny, yet the agency still provided them with all the necessary services.
Yang Silang estimated that perhaps all merchant caravans and escort teams traveling from the capital to various places would have to be openly accompanied by people from the imperial court.
In a normal escort agency, a head镖师 (chief escort) like Guo Laogan'er can make all the decisions about the team with a single word, so why would he need to consult with anyone else?
To put it bluntly, what he was discussing today was with Qingfeng Xu Huaihua.
Now that the decision had been made, everyone reacted very quickly.
Soon the wheels rolled over the official road and headed towards the town.
This is a commercial town, without any walls around it. However, the town is quite prosperous, and the main road inside is paved with bluestone slabs, wide enough for two horse-drawn carriages to pass side by side.
The town is mostly made of brick and tile houses, which shows that the town is very wealthy. There are many shops with signs on both sides of the street, which is why it is a hub of trade routes.
However, this once bustling place now appears quite desolate.
As darkness fell, people hurried along the street, their faces grim. After all, Chunlai Inn was no small inn; it had been operating in the town for decades.
Now, over a hundred people, including those who stayed at the inn, have died. The worst part is that their deaths were extremely bizarre; they were left with only their skin. Who wouldn't be afraid?
The escort agency used to stay at the Chunlai Inn when they came to town.
Now that the innkeeper and all the staff are dead, it's naturally no longer a place to stay. Fortunately, this town is lively and bustling enough.
They found a few more places to stay next to the inn.
Because there were so many people, they were divided into four or five groups before they were properly settled.
The ordinary bodyguards, porters, and grooms could finally breathe a sigh of relief. They quickly ate, settled their horses, and prepared to set off for work the next day.
Master Qingfeng, Xu Huaihua, Yang Silang, Guo Laogan, Li Hui, and Wu Tiechuan went to Chunlai Inn together.
There were local thugs guarding the gate, wearing prison uniforms and carrying guns to prevent unauthorized personnel from approaching. He himself kept a distance from the inn's entrance, as if there were ferocious beasts devouring people inside.
In addition, a dozen or so local archers loosely surrounded the inn.
This person was originally standing loosely and lazily.
However, upon seeing Yang Silang and his group approach, he immediately stood up straight, a fawning smile plastered on his face.
Putting everything else aside, he recognized the official robes Xu Huaihua wore—a status that even the county magistrate had to fawn over.
"Gentlemen..."
Xu Huaihua didn't reply, but one of the constables he brought with him took out his token and waved it.
"The Six Doors are on official business. Take us inside..."
The man with the quick hands looked scared and troubled, but he dared not disobey and could only drag his legs and slowly move inside.
It was only after the head constable kicked him in the backside and cursed him as a lazy good-for-nothing that he had no choice but to quicken his pace.
Upon entering the inn.
Yang Silang's eyes narrowed. He could sense a sinister and cold aura lingering in the shop, along with a faint smell of stale corpses.
Master Qingfeng stopped in his tracks, but his expression became excited. He said in a deep voice.
"This aura is definitely not from a martial artist."
"But it's not necessarily true that demons are evil spirits."
This inn offers both food and lodging.
There were more than a dozen tables on the first floor, and four or five of them still had leftover food. The guests who should have been sitting around were now slumped on the floor or the tables.
Because they had all become human skin, with their clothes intact on top, and their exposed heads, hands, and feet were flat, so at first glance they looked like parts of the clothes.
"Gentlemen... there's more in the back..." The local express deliveryman pointed to the counter.
The counter was completely empty from the outside.
"I recognize him, it's Manager Qiu..." Guo Laogan pointed to the man in the middle, dressed in silk, with only five holes on his face beneath his black hair, but a large circle of long-haired black moles on his forehead.
"His mole was easy to spot; he was a very shrewd person, but fair in his dealings. I never expected it to be gone like this..."
The constables behind Xu Huaihua had already squatted down, wearing gloves as thin as cicada wings of unknown material, and together they "invited" the shopkeeper's skin out of the clothes and laid it flat on the counter.
The entire human skin was like a work of art, without even a single tear.