Chapter 123: Back to Quicksand Town
He waited for several more hours. The sky was dark, red as fire and the golden sunlight was glittering everywhere. The sun had fallen low in the sky. However, An Guoxie hadn’t been here once. The horse bandit grew more anxious and had inkling that something might be wrong.
He stepped backwards into the shop and left from the back door. But he had changed his clothes to look like a typical desert tramp, with white clothes and headdress.
He quickly walked through the town, rounded the small lake, and finally arrived at the area where the original palace lay. Then, he entered the temple as An Guoxie had last night.
Upon entering the temple, his heart quickly sank. Though it had been a long time, the slight smell of blood and an uncomfortable but unexplainable stench still hung in the air.
With the light of the setting sun, he searched tracks on the ground inch by inch. Suddenly, his eyesight froze. There were dark black spots on the ground in front the shabby statue.
It was clear that someone had dealt with these tracks. But this spitted spot was too invisible to see. Had it not been for the light of the setting sun, it would not have shown anything special and he would not have noticed it.
The horse bandit, disguised as a counterjumper stood motionless. There was no need to check for he could guess that it was An Guoxie’s blood. Probably he had died. After all, if he had killed others, why had he bothered to clean the tracks? As long as he hadn’t killed relatives of his boss, disciples of the Ancestor, or heirs or important figures of the Snow Mountain Sect, Jin Gang Temple, Ashura Temple or Merriment Temple, who could have killed him?
It was a very serious situation… He had a deep sigh in his heart. He could not deal with this!
He was one of the two favorite disciples of the Ancestor. He was also a martial pro with Nine Apertures opened who ranked top in the Ranking List of Young Masters. How had he been killed so quietly?
The strength of the murderer was beyond his imagination!
He carefully searched for a while but to no avail. He didn’t dare to stay here for too long, so he quietly rounded the shop and wrote a letter about what he had seen and his guess in detail.
At night, he snuck into the forest beside the small lake. Then he pinched his lower lip and whistled. After three long and two short sounds, a strange bird with a white head and black feathers flew out of the forest to land on his shoulder. It tapped its head with its swing. It seemed to be very close to him.
The horse bandit communicated his feelings with the strange bird, fed it several cubes of fresh meat, and then tied the letter to its feet. Then the bird fluttered and flew to the sky.
The horse bandit stood still for a while and then gave a small sigh. He quietly returned to the shop later.
He worked and sold goods in the shop as usual the next day. By dusk, when he was about to close the shop as his tavern keeper ordered, he suddenly felt dizzy. A tall middle-aged man appeared in front of him. He wore black clothes but no headdress. He had short hair, and stubbly cheeks. An eyepatch covered his left eye. He carried a strange and evil long black Horseman Sabre around his waist.
“Boss.” He lowered his head and respectfully greeted the man in the language of the West Region instead of the unwritten language of the Great Jin Dynasty used along the business road.
The man was Ze Luoju and he was one of three horse bandits of the Immensity Sea and a Disciple of the Crying Elder. He, whose nickname was Evil Blade of the Immensity Sea, was a martial pro of the Exterior level.
Ze Luoju’s husky voice had a special magnetism. He also spoke in the language of the West Region, asking, “Tell me where the temple is.”
An Guoxie had been a martial pro with Nine Apertures opened. He was one of the most powerful disciples of the Crying Elder, matched only by Ze Luoju and Yan Shiche. His death was really an important matter, so Ze Luoju had hurried here immediately upon receiving the secret letter.
The horse bandit didn’t dare to say anything. He looked at the tavern keeper who was totally unaware of Ze Luoju’s presence. It just seemed that no one was there in front of the door. He quietly praised in his heart. Ze luoju really lived up to his reputation as Evil Blade of Immensity Sea.
He hurried to close the door and left from the back door. He led Ze LuoJu into the temple.
Ze Luoju looked hard to see the blood spot on the ground. He slowly took off his eyepatch. A deep green light suddenly came out from his void left eye. It looked as if things like fish were swimming and circling in it. Suddenly, the crying of ghosts could be heard everywhere, giving the temple a spooky atmosphere.
The Crying Elder had taken out his left eyeball, however, it was a blessing in disguise for Ze Luoju. He’d accomplished a very difficult super skill, the “Netherworld Evil Eye” which was also one of the origins of his sobriquet of Evil Blade.
The dark green light became lighter and lighter. As a result, the whole temple looked like the surface of the rippling sea. It was so forlorn and frightening that the horse bandit was extremely terrified.
Ze Luoju looked at it for a while, and then he stepped out of the temple to the small lake. He raised his hand, and suddenly a gale blew, engendering vortexes in the lake.
With a great crash, the vortexes quickly expanded and suddenly exploded. They heaved the lake to the skies and brought up two large rocks.
A corpse without a head and a broken head were tied to the two rocks.
The horse bandit carefully looked at them. Although the face was a mass of bleeding flesh from the bites of fish in the lake, the symbolic white hair clearly confirmed that it was An Guoxie. He really had been killed!
“Good job. I have longed to kill this son of a bitch.” Ze Luoju said dryly, “But it should have been us who killed him.”
His “Netherworld Evil Eye” didn’t have the ability to discern scars, so he put on his eyepatch again and squatted down to carefully check the body.
“There are scars in the mid-brow and cheeks, but it has clearly been damaged by someone. Besides, with the fish bites, it’s hard to figure out what martial skill killed him and what the cause of death was… ” Ze Luoju spoke to himself in a low voice. The horse bandit was clever to leave him alone.
“There are scars caused by a concealed weapon. And he’s been poisoned. As a result, his heart was badly damaged. This must be one of the main causes of his death. The remaining poisonous gas in his meridians and his inner forced dissipated before he died… ” Ze Luoju said, observing thoughtfully.
“His skeleton has been completely softened, which infers that he had to dodge a sword or blade. There could only have been two reasons. One is that the killer was overwhelmingly stronger than him, the other is that he was too late to react… Violent Sand Super Force had signs of reversal. Along with my speculations above, it should be the effects of fighting with un-spiced and poisonous gas. If the killer had been stronger than him, he wouldn’t have bothered to do so… ”
Ze Luoju clapped and stood up. He spoke to the horse bandit, “The strength of the killer was not more than Six Apertures. He was good at using poison and concealed weapons. He was forbearing and might also be good at bladesmanship and sword art. An Guoxie made a mistake and relaxed his guard. He was scented by Dispersing Force Poisonous Gas and attacked when he was unprepared. Sword and blade is the pretext and the legendary concealed weapons caused his death. But judging from the scars that the killer purposely damaged, the killer must have super skills of the sword and blade which should not be neglected.”
“Boss, it must have been that little monk. Judging from his age, he was likely to have just opened his Eye Aperture. What should we do?” the horse bandit asked.
“We should take it seriously. I will order all our brothers to kill the killer inside the Immensity Sea.” Ze Luoju could deal with lots of things in the Immensity Sea. When he found that the killer had to use some skills to kill An Guoxie, he could see that the killer’s strength was not so great as he’d first imagined. Therefore, he didn’t plan to kill the killer by himself.
However, it was still a terrible thing to be hunted by one third of the horse bandits of the Immensity Sea.
There were numerous Enlightened Master Pros among these horse bandits. They were also desperados who were familiar with the geography of the Immensity Sea and had the ability to gather the crowds and communicate with each other. If one was spotted by horse bandits and couldn’t escape from the Immensity Sea or hide, he was likely to be killed even if he was a martial pro with nine apertures opened.
“Yes, my boss.” The horse bandit didn’t dare to look at Ze Luoju’s right eye as his eyesight was sharp as a knife.
Meng Qi, in white monk frock and Gu Changqing, like a feeble intellectual both returned on horseback to Quicksand Town. They looked like two scholars who had travelled from far away.
“We’re finally here.” Gu Changqing felt quite relieved.
He’d misled Meng Qi several times along the way, so they arrived at Quicksand Town one day later than expected.
Meng Qi twitched his mouth. He seems to be unreliable. Is it my own fault to rely on him to look for Junior Brother deep in the Immensity Sea?
“Yes, we finally got here.” Meng Qi didn’t use Buddhist terms.
Hearing his reply, Gu Changqing was very embarrassed. He said, “I have little experience with the terrains and locations here. But you see, we did get here, didn’t we?”
“Yes.” Meng Qi nodded to save his face.
Poplars, on both sides of the road, took on thousands of forms. Quicksand Town seemed to have gotten rid of the effects of the big battle between Xuan Bei and the Crying Elder. It was livelier.
Meng Qi and Gu Changqing entered the Immensity Sea Hotel together. Beside the counter, they first saw the beautiful Qu Jiuniang whose characters were extremely bad.
Qu Jiuniang was cold and indifferent. She bent over the counter and looked indolent but charming. Many customers were attracted but they didn’t dare to look at her too long.
“Tavern keeper, I want to know something.” Meng Qi wore an official’s cap to conceal his bald head.
“No news.” Qu Jiuniang replied forthrightly. She didn’t want to say anything more. It was a place to eat and sleep, not a place for information!
Meng Qi’s impulse was to teach her manners again. Her attitude was so bad. But considering that she may be a martial pro of the Exterior, he had to control himself. He took out an emerald. He said, “Tavern keeper, I would like to offer a high price.”
Seeing such an extraordinary emerald, Qu Jiuniang’s eyes suddenly lit up. She immediately perked up and looked more charming and gorgeous.
“I take it back. Money can buy everything!” Qu Jiuniang said in a matter which seemed to hated iron not to become the air of steel.
It was the first time she had looked at Meng Qi since he’d entered the inn. After she finished her words, her facial expressions changed a little. She began to look Meng Qi up and down. She saw his eyes, ears, skin, hands, the dark red Buddhist Commandment Blade around his waist and the long sword inside a light golden sword scabbard. Her behavior made Meng Qi very uncomfortable. What was she looking at?
Then Qu Jiuniang regained her face color and said coldly, “You should go to the room if you want to ask about something in case others should hear us.”
Meng Qi totally agreed. He might expose himself because of the information he wanted to know. There could be spies of horse bandits here.
Qu Jiuniang walked out from behind the counter and went upstairs first. She had a slim waist and looked graceful. She slowly walked like weak wind and willow. Meng Qi and Gu Changqing closely followed her.
Some customers smiled and whispered in low voices, “When should we go to the room for information? I never recall Jiuniang having such rules?”
“It turns out that Jiuniang likes such kept men. They are nutritious and easy to clean up. Hee.” They laughed.
Qu Jiuniang was so angry that her willow-leaf shaped eyebrows rose. She picked up the wooden basin the errand boy used to scrub desks and splashed the water on them, “Screw you.”