Secular world: My destiny has no taboos

Chapter 124 123: Dog-skin Taoist

This offer of amnesty, in the final analysis, must have started with this group of bandits in Wumeng Mountain.

Wumeng Mountain is not small, but rather very large. It not only covers Anle County, but also overlooks other counties in Qingzhou. It is one of the several mountain ranges that run across Qingzhou.

There are many bandits hiding inside, they hide in the mountains and hills and are scattered in every corner.

These bandits not only plundered in Anle County, but also rode their horses to other counties, specifically robbing the wealthy and unkind gentry who oppressed the poor people. In response, the wealthy landlords joined forces with the county officials and mobilized a number of soldiers to go into the mountains to suppress the bandits.

Unfortunately, in these mountains, not only are there evil spirits everywhere, but there are also ghost caves everywhere. It is extremely difficult to clean up these bandits. Another point is that the bandits in Wumeng Mountain are very powerful, and no matter how the officers and soldiers attack, they can't do anything to them.

After several rounds of discussion, they could only come up with the idea of recruiting the enemy.

But when the time came, who to send became a big problem.

The bandits in Wumeng Mountain were at war with the government officials and gentry, and many people from both sides died in the fight. If we send our own people, they would probably be shot to death by arrows before they reach the village.

So the government posted notices everywhere, asking for help from capable people. The only thing they wanted was to go to Wumeng Mountain to offer amnesty, and they would get 5,000 taels of silver and 1,000 taels of incense money.

Li Xizhao and Cui Dongcan were the ones who received a government notice and went to Wumeng Mountain to seek amnesty.

For a secular man, he would naturally not miss any opportunity that comes before him.

Moreover, as long as he goes up the mountain to convey the message of surrender to the bandits in Wumeng Mountain, he will receive a handsome reward, so it is worth it even if he dies once.

Li Xizhao took out a map from his arms and looked at the markings on it.

"The place we are currently at is called Eagle's Beak Cliff. We should be able to reach Cangfeng Ridge soon."

Cui Dongcang tilted his head and looked at the shadowy scene in the forest beside him, with a smile on his face: "It is said that there is a kind of strange people in Wumeng Mountain, called Wushoumin, who look very much like the legendary Xingtian clan, with no head, eyes on both breasts, and speak by drinking water from belly buttons. I don't know if it's true or not, I really want to see it for myself."

He was dressed in a blue shirt, waving a fan to fan the wind, blowing up his long flowing hair behind his head, looking elegant and free and easy.

"hypocritical."

Li Xizhao snorted coldly, showing disdain for Cui Dongcang's behavior.

"Each of the thirty-six bandit leaders in Wumeng Mountain is a strange person. This leaderless person might be a member of the clan of one of the bandit leaders. You'd better not make any rash plans."

"I know, I know, you talk too much nonsense." Cui Dongcang's good mood was ruined by Li Xizhao, and he immediately returned to his original state.

What he cultivated was the Confucian righteousness, and the yang fire in his body was upright and vigorous, which naturally had a considerable killing power against evil spirits, so even if an evil spirit passed by them, they would subconsciously stay away from it.

The two men rode the wooden ox at night and soon arrived at Cangfeng Ridge.

Not far in front of them, there appeared a mountain village hidden in the mist, sitting on the top of a steep cliff. The whole village was shrouded in darkness, with only sporadic lights flickering in the night.

They didn't dare to get too close. Cui Dongcang got off the wooden ox first and spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the side of the road: "We're here. Should we go in directly or report it as written in the novel?"

Li Xizhao took a look at it with some disdain. After he came down, the wooden ox's body shrank and curled up rapidly, turning into a basketball-sized ball, which Li Xizhao put into the brocade bag on his waist.

This brocade bag is actually a space prop similar to Lin Beixuan's Bai Na Qian Kun Bag.

"We are here as official envoys, so it would be better to have someone inform us to appear polite." Li Xizhao said with a slight frown.

"That makes sense!" Cui Dongcang nodded, then took out a piece of white paper from his pocket and folded it in the night.

With his fingers dancing, he quickly folded a paper crane.

"Go!"

Cui Dongcan took out a pen and touched the paper crane's eyes. The paper crane immediately moved twice with great intelligence, then slowly flapped its wings in his palm and flew up.

"Can your paper crane convey our meaning?"

“Just look at it.” Cui Dongcang stretched lazily, found a stone nearby to sit down, and admired the majestic Wumeng Mountain which could still be seen even at night.

……

Qingyun Village.

This is the name given to it by Goupi Taoist, the only cultured person in Wumeng Mountain, which means rising to the sky.

Although they were seen as bandits on horseback and plundering by others, they themselves never thought so. They were just doing it for survival.

In this secular world, unless one is forced to have no other way to go, who would be willing to leave the safety of the human state and run away to live in the mountains where evil spirits abound.

Most of the bandits in this mountain are people with miserable lives.

They did not rob poor ordinary people, but corrupt officials and wealthy businessmen who did evil.

In the silence of the night, the paper crane flew towards Qingyun Village on the night wind.

But at this moment, there was a rustling sound in the bushes beside the mountain road, and a huge mangy dog rushed out, jumped three or four meters high, and directly bit the paper crane in mid-air.

The mangy dog's ears hung limply on both sides of its head, and its big mouth opened and closed. It soon swallowed the paper crane.

"Eh..." The mangy dog suddenly narrowed his eyes, licked his lips with his scarlet tongue, and made a human-like sound of doubt.

Then he raised his head and looked in the direction of Cui Dongcan and the other man.

"Cuckoo..."

The mangy dog laughed strangely for no apparent reason, turned around and slowly walked towards Qingyun Village.

It was already midnight and most of the villagers had gone to bed, but there were still a few houses with lights on. Through the simple windows, one could see a few figures discussing something with each other.

The people in Qingyun Village are not like the people in the city who hang up red lanterns to distinguish between humans and ghosts. Instead, there is a ferocious stone statue in front of every household. The eyes of the stone statue are carved extremely lifelike, gazing quietly at the floating ghosts in the dark night, making the other party dare not get close to the door.

After the mangy dog entered the village, he walked towards the room with the light on. When he reached the door of the room, he stood up, stretched out his feet and knocked on the door, uttering human voices.

"I'm in."

The people who were discussing things inside the door were not surprised when they heard the voice. The middle-aged man sitting at the first seat had a calm expression and uttered a "hmm".

At this time, the three people in the room all looked towards the door, watching the mangy dog step in.

"Two guys came in from outside. I don't know what they were thinking, but they sent in a paper crane."

As the mangy dog spoke, his stomach suddenly swelled and churned, and his flesh and skin broke open on both sides. A bloody hand stretched out from inside and handed out the paper crane that was supposed to be swallowed into his stomach.

"Master, you don't have to look like this now that you are with us." A man in the room took the paper crane and said with a smile.

He is four feet tall and looks like a child, but he always speaks in a dignified manner, with his hands behind his back, sounding very old-fashioned.

The mangy dog shook his head and said in an old, hoarse voice: "This dog skin is getting tighter and tighter around me. I may never be able to get out again."

As soon as these words were spoken, the few people in the room who were originally smiling fell silent.

"I'll go keep an eye on those two guys!" The scabby dog sighed and quietly left the room.

He came to the gate of the village and looked at the plaque hanging high with the words "Qingyun Village" inscribed on it, with a human sadness revealed in his eyes.

The mangy dog is not a dog but looks like a human, and his name is the Dog-Skin Taoist!

(End of this chapter)