I am about to die of old age, and I have awakened the character of longevity.

Chapter 110 The Monster from Dayin Mountain! ?

Corpse Refining Hall?
Corpse poison?

These five words instinctively emerged in Xie An's mind.

Suddenly, Xie An's heart, which had been relaxed and comfortable for a few days, was suddenly stretched straight by an invisible force.

Xie An still vividly remembers the scene of the plum blossom monster besieging Chen's mansion.

Because of a plum blossom monster, the Chen Mansion was destroyed, Baiyutang suffered heavy losses, and Wei Dian, a master of the heavy mountain sword, was forced to ride away in despair.

What's more, the Plum Blossom Monster is just a small figure in the Corpse Refining Hall.

The real corpse refining hall must be very scary.

Although Xie An had never witnessed the strength of the Corpse Refining Hall, he knew from the immortal treasures left by the ancestor Li Changchun, and the deeds of Li Changchun's direct disciple, Old Master Tang, who had once killed many bandits...

In addition, the government and the garrisons had repeatedly failed in their efforts to suppress the bandits, resulting in heavy losses...

All of the above... can only give us a glimpse of the whole picture.

Thinking of this, Xie An immediately became very alert. He looked around with his extraordinary five senses, and after finding nothing unusual, Xie An withdrew his gaze and looked at Chen Yuan's body again.

The tragic death made it difficult for Xie An to associate the body with the usually idle and carefree Chen Yuan.

A good friend is gone just like that.

No matter how steady and open-minded Xie An was... he still felt very uncomfortable at this moment, with a feeling of nausea and a hint of anger.

The murderer is too cruel.

It would have been fine if they didn't let him die quickly, but they also made Chen Yuan's body look so horrible. How are Chen Yuan's children going to bury him?

No one can rest in peace even after death.

After being stunned for a while, Xie An finally prepared himself mentally and asked Chen Lei beside him: "Master Chen, has the body been moved?"

When Chen Lei saw Chen Yuan's body, he couldn't help but feel a little scared, and his voice became a little weaker: "The person who found the body was an apprentice of my martial arts school. I was nearby at the time. When he came to report it to me, I rushed over to see it immediately. I didn't move the body.

By the way, after Li He examined the case, he immediately went to the county town to ask for a coroner and report to the authorities."

Xie An nodded and didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he looked around carefully, trying to confirm whether this was the crime scene.

But Xie An was soon disappointed.

Because Chen Yuan's death was so strange, leaving no clues behind, it was impossible to determine through common methods whether this was the scene of the crime or the place where the murderer dumped the body.

Chen Lei, Li Hongming and others looked at Xie An with anticipation, hoping that Xie An would discover some clues.

In reality, Xie An had only been practicing martial arts for a short time and didn't have much experience in dealing with situations like this. He might not even be as experienced as the veteran warrior Chen Lei. But since Xie An held the title of Incense Master, everyone assumed his experience far surpassed theirs.

Xie An, clueless, wanted to ask Chen Lei for his opinion, but when he looked up and saw Chen Lei's panicked look, he knew it was useless to ask. He simply returned to Chen Yuan's body and re-examined it.

Since we can't determine the crime scene, let's start with the body.

There were no signs of struggle on his body, so he must have been killed in one blow.

Then, Xie An began to carefully look for the wounds on Chen Yuan's body.

Although Xie An wasn't a detective, he had been a detective fan in his past life, and at one point, he was addicted to mystery novels on Qidian.com. His basic logical reasoning skills were still up to par.

There must be wounds to cause such a tragic situation.

Poisoning alone...cannot achieve this effect.

First of all, it is impossible to explain where all the blood in Chen Yuan's body went. In addition... if it was poisoning, no matter how powerful the toxin was, it would be difficult to kill instantly. The deceased would at least struggle before his death, or seek help or save himself.

But the Chen Yuan in front of him was lying on the ground very "peacefully", with no signs of struggle.

If it was an ordinary deceased, finding a wound would not be difficult. However, Chen Yuan's skin had turned black and had large wrinkles, just like a dried corpse that had been dried for several years, so finding a wound was very difficult.

Xie An looked for a long time but couldn't find it, so he waved to everyone, "Come over and help if you're not afraid. Take a close look at Chen Yuan's skin for any injuries. If we can find any, the cause of death will be easier to determine."

Li Hongming and Chen Lei came forward to help without thinking too much, and were not afraid of the scary corpse.

Chen He pinched his nose to block out the foul smell emanating from the mummy and came closer.

He Chunli, who followed with a crutch, got closer and saw Chen Yuan's miserable death. He showed an obviously frightened expression, his whole body curled up tightly, his face turned extremely pale, and he instinctively took two steps back.

Xie An saw He Chunli's fear and said, "You are young and have seen few dead people. You don't need to come."

He Chunli did not retreat. Instead, he gritted his teeth and trembled as he walked forward with his cane. "Shopkeeper Chen treated me well, especially during the year when my master was away. He took care of me many times. Now that he has suffered such a tragedy, I...I want to see if there is anything I can do."

"Then come over."

Xie An nodded in appreciation, then lowered his head to check Chen Yuan's body.

They say there is strength in numbers, and that’s absolutely true.

Six pairs of eyes are far more efficient than Xie An's one pair.

The sharp-eyed Yuhe immediately noticed the clue, "Look at the left side of the neck."

Xie Anding looked over.

As Yuhe used a piece of dead wood to lift a piece of wrinkled skin on the left side of the corpse's neck, a row of imprints appeared.

Yu He made an analysis, "It must be someone...something that bit Chen Yuan's neck and then sucked all the blood out of him, quickly turning him into a dark, dried corpse."

hiss!
Everyone gasped and felt a chill down their spines.

Chen He was so frightened that he jumped up and down: "There is something...it wasn't done by a human?"

Yu He's face remained calm, showing no emotion. She analyzed, "Although some unorthodox martial arts rely on sucking human blood for nourishment, humans who eat human blood... can't suck it out so cleanly, and they can't do it."

Everyone felt it made sense.

Although there is a large blood supply artery in the human neck, and a bite through the common carotid artery can suck large gulps of blood from others, it is impossible to suck the blood into a mummy. Even the skin will turn black and emit a foul odor.

"So, it's the devil at work? The devil from Dayin Mountain has escaped?" Chen He was so scared that he fell to the ground, his voice hoarse.

Chen Lei and Li Lao did not refute and also showed horrified expressions.

Xie An began to ponder in his heart.

He has lived here for thirty years and knows that there are really demons and evil spirits in this world.

The older generation in Qingwu County passed on the story that demons lived in Dayin Mountain. Therefore, herbalists and hunters from Qingwu County were strictly prohibited from entering the mountain late at night.

No one knows what kind of demons and evil spirits are hidden in the Dayin Mountains, which spans 800 miles and serves as the border of the Daqian Dynasty.

However, during the 30 years that Xie An lived in Wuqiao Town, he had never seen any monsters.

Not only Xie An, in fact, most of the villagers knew about demons only from what they heard from their ancestors, and had never seen them with their own eyes.

Is it really a demon?

But... the aura on Chen Yuan's body is clearly very similar to that of Wei Dian who was poisoned by the corpse poison pill.

Corpse poison pills...corpse poison is the key.

What killed Chen Yuan was not a demon, but the corpse poison from the Corpse Refining Hall.

After all, Xie An always felt that demons were too far away from him.

But why would the Corpse Refining Hall harm Chen Yuan?
Chen Yuan wasn't a martial artist, nor was he a member of the Jianghu, so he didn't have any grudges. It was even more impossible for him to provoke the Corpse Refining Hall...

After ruling out these possibilities, Xie An continued to think.

Perhaps Chen Yuan was killed not because of himself, but because of his coincidence in the ancestral hall?
Thinking of this, Xie An became more certain of his judgment. He withdrew his thoughts, glanced at the people around him, and said, "Master Chen, Mr. Li. I estimate that the murderer should be the bandits from Dayin Mountain."

"Corpse Refining Hall?" Chen Lei blurted out.

Ordinary villagers only knew that there was a very powerful group of bandits lurking in the Dayin Mountains. The government had failed to suppress the bandits many times, and occasionally during the cold winter when food was scarce, the bandits would come down the mountain to plunder. But they had no idea where the bandits came from.

Chen Lei has been in charge of the Chen family martial arts school for many years and is a martial artist himself, so he naturally knows this.

Li Hongming was already over eighty, so he naturally knew about it. "How did Master Xie tell that?"

Xie An did not hide anything and told the truth, "The previous incense master of my Blood Ridge Black Market, Wei Dian, was framed and poisoned by a corpse poison pill when he was suppressing the Plum Blossom Monster from the Corpse Refining Hall. I remember the smell of that corpse poison was about 60% similar to the smell on Chen Yuan's body."

Hearing that it wasn't the work of a demon, Chen He finally calmed down a bit. However, Chen Lei was extremely puzzled. "But Chen Yuan is just an honest pawnshop owner. How could he have provoked those thieves from the Corpse Refining Hall?"

Xie An shook his head. "I'm afraid it wasn't Chen Yuan who provoked the Corpse Refining Hall, but rather that a demon from the Corpse Refining Hall appeared nearby, and Chen Yuan happened to see them while on guard that day."

Chen Lei and Li Hongming turned pale and felt very uncomfortable.

Building a clan temple resulted in a loss of life.

How can we explain this to the villagers?
Will the ancestral hall be repaired next?

This not only concerns the resting place of the ancestors of the entire Wuqiao Town, but also the reputation of their two greatest local sages. If not handled properly, it will cause a disaster.

Xie An obviously saw the dilemma the two men were in, so he said, "To prevent further deaths, this ancestral hall cannot be repaired. Now that the New Year is approaching, I will use this as an excuse to ask for leave and we can discuss it after the New Year."

Eh.

Chen Lei was very disappointed. "I had originally hoped to finish repairing the ancestral hall before the Lunar New Year so as not to delay the villagers' annual sacrifice. Now it's like this... I can only give up. I'll go pay my respects and apologize to everyone later."

Li Hongming sighed deeply, "This Wu Temple is related to the resting place of the ancestors of 20,000 to 30,000 villagers. If the temple is not repaired in time, the villagers will be worried and uneasy. If this continues, there will be a big chaos."

After saying this, Li Hongming suddenly bowed to Xie An and almost pleaded, "Master Xie, you are the most important person in our town. The reconstruction of the Wu Temple is related to the well-being of tens of thousands of villagers. Master Xie, please make a decision for the tens of thousands of villagers in Wuqiao Town."

With Li Hongming taking the lead, Chen Lei also realized this and quickly followed suit, bowing and saying, "Thank you, Xiangzhu. All 30,000 villagers are looking forward to the restoration of the Wu Temple. Please help us all."

Xie An didn't say anything.

If it was an ordinary thing, Xie An would have done it for the sake of this land.

But this matter concerns the Corpse Refining Hall.

That was the power established by Li Changchun, and it was also a branch of the Changsheng Sect, which was once the state religion.

Even Xie An, the Great Master of Incense as he is known by outsiders, is no match for the Corpse Refining Hall.

Xie An had a clear understanding of this point.

Naturally, I am reluctant to wade into this muddy water.

Moreover, as an outsider, it was not convenient for me to say anything when they were renovating the ancestral hall. I would easily be criticized by tens of thousands of villagers, which would be a thankless task.

Li Hongming saw Xie An's embarrassment and exchanged a glance with Chen Lei before continuing, "On the day of the Little New Year, Chen Lei and I witnessed the behavior of Master Xie at the door of Li's pawnshop. He handled the situation appropriately, showing a strong sense of loyalty and righteousness, truly a man of high character and integrity. That day, when I returned, Chen Lei and I discussed adding a family name, Xie, to the Wu Temple. I had the stele and plaque carved. I had originally planned to find an auspicious day to visit Master Xie and inform him of this matter, but the incident with Chen Yuan delayed us."

Oh?
Xie An was shocked and felt unbelievable, so he turned to look at Chen He.

Chen Hedao said, "Indeed. After Elder Li and my eldest brother left the Li's pawnshop that day, they discussed this matter with other local sages. The merit stele and family tablet have already been prepared."

Only then did Xie An confirm that Li Hongming was not lying, and his heart skipped a beat.

Add a great merit to the surname of Wu Temple.

This is a big deal.

You know, in this world, villagers value ancestral heritage the most, and fights are based on which family has more men. Generally speaking, they exclude outsiders.

For example, during times of war and natural disaster, refugees from other places often arrived and settled here. However, these outsiders often lived cautiously, and if they inadvertently jeopardized the interests of local villagers, they would face collective resistance, and even armed fights would occur. Even if an outsider died here, they could not even have their grave built in a prominent location, let alone be enshrined in the ancestral hall or temple.

Generally speaking, it was difficult for outsiders to integrate into local society. As for something as important as joining the ancestral hall, outsiders wouldn't even dare to think about it.

Xie An has no shortage of money or status, and his future is promising.

But the idea of ​​entering the ancestral hall... really made Xie An a little excited.

Especially when people get older, they take this matter more seriously than young people.

Xie An was no exception.

If you can enter the ancestral hall and do things for it, it will be legitimate and others will not be able to criticize or stop you.

Furthermore, Chen Yuan's body was left exposed in the wilderness... If the ancestral hall couldn't be repaired, Chen Yuan's spirit tablet wouldn't be able to be placed there either. This made Xie An feel uneasy. Although the deceased was gone, the spirit tablet had to be placed in the ancestral hall, which also fulfilled the friendship they had shared for twenty or thirty years.

After weighing the pros and cons, Xie An was very tempted, but on the surface he still declined, "Mr. Li, this is not appropriate, right? After all, I am an outsider, and the villagers are very reluctant to accept me."

Li Hongming was eighty-seven years old. He could tell at a glance that Xie An was moved, and he was immediately overjoyed. "What's inappropriate about this? If the ancestral hall can be rebuilt this time, Xie Xiangzhu should be the first to be credited. This is a great merit that will benefit the ancestors and descendants of tens of thousands of villagers. I will say a few more words on Xie Xiangzhu's behalf, and no one dared to refute anything.

Moreover, Master Xie is now in a high position of power. If he can enter the ancestral hall, he can better protect the people of Wuqiao. Everyone is very happy to see this happen and is very happy.

Xie An declined, "Mr. Li, this matter is too serious to be done."

"Yes, yes."

"..."

After repeatedly declining, Xie An was "forced" to bow and say, "Junior, it's all up to Mr. Li to decide."

Li Hongming breathed a sigh of relief and quickly helped Xie An up, smiling broadly. "I cannot accept such a generous gift from Master Xie. In that case, please see how the matter regarding the ancestral hall should be arranged."

Xie An carefully considered the matter and then said, "I think the renovation of the ancestral hall can be put on hold. On New Year's Day, I will go to Tangjiabao in the county town. I will explain this matter to Masters Tang Qingyun and Tang Qingfeng, and then we will make a decision. What do you think, Master Li?"

hiss!
Li Hongming and Chen Lei gasped at the same time.

They never expected that Xie An would go to Tangjiabao to celebrate the New Year!

Tangjiabao!
Young people may not know what these three words mean.

But Li Hongming, who lived to be 87 years old, knew it.

——As long as Zhengyang lives, the blue sky will exist. How dare the bandits cross the blue sky? ?
That year, Li Hongming was a teenager, only seventeen years old, when he heard the words that spread throughout Qingwu County.

It can be said that since then, Old Master Tang has become the blue sky in Li Hongming's heart, and it has not changed to this day.

brush.

Li Hongming suddenly bowed deeply, "Master Xie, you are highly regarded by Old Master Tang and have a bright future. This matter is entirely up to Master Xie!"

(End of this chapter)