Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 321 Are you teaching me how to do things?
As the sky gradually darkened, Gao Jingming and his men settled down in a town, and Chen Xuan returned to the bandit's lair in Niu Shou Mountain.

During the afternoon, whenever he met poor and suffering people, he would secretly give them some money, the amount varied, not enough to bring disaster to them. After all, it was all the blood-stained money extorted from the wicked, so he would just consider it as a good deed done quietly.

He would not spend that kind of money. He didn't care what others did. He had his own way of doing things. For example, the money he gave to Ergou was his own clean money.

Chen Xuan changed his clothes when he returned to the bandit's lair, but he did not hide in the dark. Instead, he sat on the tiger-skin chair in the gathering hall, lit candles around him, and drank tea and read books.

Chen Xuan came here just in the hope of getting some unexpected gains, he didn't hold too much hope and it wouldn't delay anything.

The entire Niu Shou Mountain was pitch black. Almost no one here died during the day. It was very quiet, and the mountain breeze made it feel inexplicably eerie and depressing.

Only the Juyi Hall where Chen Xuan was still lit.

"My dear friend, you are not good enough. This volume is only 80,000 words, and you finished it in no time. How much money did you lose?"

After closing the fourth volume of Tingfeng Jushi's novel published this month, Chen Xuan had the urge to lock his good friend in a small dark room and make him write day and night. The content of the novel still attracted him, but the most important thing was that the two of them had cooperated tacitly in writing books for many years, and every extra word his good friend wrote meant money.

"Forget it, it's not easy for him to be my good brother. He has given me hundreds of thousands of taels over the years. I won't make it difficult for him. Will I have a chance to meet Ji in Beijing this time?"

After reading until late at night, Chen Xuan felt a little bored after finishing the content, so he simply lay down on his back and fell asleep.

There was no conversation that night. The candle had long since burned out. He stayed here all night, feeling lonely.

In the morning, he spent some time on the mountain facing the rising sun, then left quietly, changed back into his original clothes and met up with Gao Jingming and the others. After having breakfast, he continued on his way to the capital. Whenever he met someone in need, he would secretly give him a lot of money. He estimated that the hundreds of thousands of taels of money he looted from the bandit's lair were not enough to give to the capital. It seemed like a lot, but in fact, it was not enough because there were too many people who needed help.

Niu Shou Mountain had been completely slaughtered by Chen Xuan. Would anyone have gone there while he was gone? It was very likely he would have missed it, but he was just trying his luck. If he missed it, he missed it. He didn't dwell on it too much.

After traveling for a day, at night, Chen Xuan changed his clothes and went to the bandit's lair without any concealment.

So many people have died on the mountain in the past two days, and it's June, so the bodies have begun to stink. The stench is overwhelming, and mosquitoes and flies are flying everywhere.

Fortunately, the weather was good. The weather in June changed suddenly. Dark clouds filled the sky with lightning and thunder, and the strong winds and heavy rain covered up a lot of the stench.

A bonfire was lit in the gathering hall to roast pheasants, with a jar of wine on the side. Chen Xuan looked up at the violent storm outside and thought to himself that the rain was quite heavy and there might be a flood, which would cause many more people to be displaced.

He drank, ate meat and waited silently, originally thinking that he would be lonely again.

But in the early morning of the next day, when there was about an hour or two left before dawn, the wind and rain outside had subsided a lot. Chen Xuan, who had a good sleep, opened his eyes and looked down the mountain, his heart speechless. Could it be that there really was an unexpected gain?
It's also possible that I'm overthinking it.

After waking up, he did not go back to sleep. Instead, he rekindled the bonfire and waited silently in the gathering hall amidst the flickering flames...

At the foot of the mountain, in the dark night, a man dressed like a gangster came here in the wind and rain. He was about thirty years old, wearing a tight-fitting cloak and a hat, and the rain had already soaked his clothes.

This person only has the cultivation level of the acquired realm, and has already opened up the eight extraordinary meridians. The next step is to involve the Ren and Du meridians to stimulate the innate. He stood on the tree with a knife in his hand, looking towards the dark direction of the Niu Shou Mountain bandit's nest, sometimes frowning and sometimes hesitating.

The rain trickled down his body, suggesting he probably didn't have much 'common sense', daring to stand in a tree when there were occasional thunder and lightning in the sky.

After hesitating for a while, he finally headed towards the bandit's lair along the mountain road, being cautious and nervous all the way.

The entire mountain was silent and dark, without any movement. It didn't look like a bandit's den at all. There were no sentries or secret guards. Could they have been all dead?

Soon he felt that everyone in the village was really dead, because he followed the smell and saw many corpses, rotting and smelling bad, and some had been eaten by animals beyond recognition.

Who did it?
When he reached halfway up the mountain, he was hesitating whether to continue climbing, but he couldn't help but continue climbing.

When he arrived at the village area, the stench was even stronger, and neither wind nor rain could cover up the disgusting smell.

He patrolled the stronghold in fear and confusion, and soon he noticed the fire in the gathering hall. His heart sank, and he originally planned to turn around and leave, but no danger occurred. After hesitating again, he headed towards the fire.

Chen Xuan was stirring the fire in the hall to warm the wine, speechless. He thought to himself, couldn't the person who came be more straightforward? He was hesitant and indecisive. Could he be the kind of person I'm waiting for?

After a while, the person appeared outside the Juyi Hall, but was hiding in the dark on the roof and watching secretly.

Chen Xuan poured himself a bowl of wine, glanced at the man, then looked away and said calmly, "You're here now. Did you think you could hide it from me?"

The man in the shadows breathed a sigh of relief at these words, but his heart remained filled with a sense of alarm and uncertainty. He emerged hesitantly from the hall, energizing his inner energy. A mist rose from his body, rapidly drying his clothes. He didn't approach Chen Xuan. He stood at the doorway, ready to flee at any moment, and pondered, "What happened? Why are all the people on the mountain dead?"

With a thought, Chen Xuan roughly knew that this was indeed the person he was waiting for. It was really an unexpected surprise. However, it seemed that he was not an important role. At best, he was just a messenger and contact person.

Without even looking up, Chen Xuan took a sip of warm wine and said indifferently, "I did it. Is there a problem?"

The tone and demeanor of his speech were exactly the same as those of the assassin who committed suicide. Even his clothing and appearance were not much different. His aura and the subtle cold innate true energy were difficult to distinguish.

At this time, Chen Xuan used the Thousand Illusions Technique, an extremely sophisticated and superior disguise technique, to disguise himself as the assassin, replacing the other party with a peach instead of a plum zombie, with the sole purpose of attracting the target to take the bait. It seems that the two days of surveillance were not in vain.

Hearing this, the other party looked surprised and asked: "Why did you kill them all?"

Raising his head slightly and glancing at the other person with disdain, Chen Xuan lowered his head and continued drinking, saying, "Are you teaching me how to do things?"

The other party trembled all over, thinking only of the business. In his anxiety, he forgot the gap between the two sides and said uneasyly: "I dare not, I just want to remind you not to forget the important business."

With an expression of disdain for arguing with him, Chen Xuan said calmly, "I don't need anyone to tell me what to do. If you dare to say such things again, do you believe I will send you to be buried with them?"

"You..." The other party's hair stood on end. He clearly understood that the other party would really do such a thing. Except for a very few people, he would not care about anyone's life or death.

Taking a deep breath, he said nervously, "I'm sorry, I offended you. These ants deserve death, so please don't take it to heart."

Chen Xuan said calmly, with an aloof attitude, "So you came here just to say this? If that's all, you can go die."

His heart trembled, and he quickly said, "Wait a minute, I'm here to inform you, do you know that you've already missed the opportunity?"

"Say," Chen Xuan paused and said indifferently, imitating the expression and tone of the assassin. Not to say that they were exactly the same, but at least 90% similar, making it difficult to distinguish them.

Having saved his life for the time being, the other party quickly said, "My superiors sent me to ask... what's going on. The target has already appeared in the county town over 200 miles north of Jingzhou Prefecture and has already passed by here. Why didn't you take action? Did something go wrong? I have to go back and report after I find out."

This man still had a strong desire to survive. Realizing that the other man was moody, he used the excuse of having to go back to report to save his own life.

Hearing this, Chen Xuan paused, giving the other party a false impression of embarrassment, but then said confidently, "This is how I do things. Is there a problem? It seems normal to take action in a place like this, but it's too deliberate. Don't treat everyone as fools and let them go. I just had other plans to let them down and create the illusion of a normal accident."

"I see, but are you sure you didn't miss it because you killed all the minions and no one was watching the road for you?" The other party hesitated but still mustered up the courage to ask, because business was more important, even at the risk of being killed by the other party.

Chen Xuan looked at the other person coldly and said, "If I didn't need you to pass on the message, you would have died. Now tell me where they are. I will definitely get it done today."

"They are at Xiaoyun Inn in Ye County and will set off again at dawn. I will go back and report the situation here first." After saying that, the other party turned and left.

Looking at the other person's departing back, Chen Xuan looked helpless. He simply stopped pretending and said, "Where did I reveal my true identity? Don't even think about committing suicide. In front of me, your life and death are not your own. Think carefully."

After these words were spoken, the man could no longer move his feet in order to leave. Instead, he calmed down, turned around and looked at Chen Xuan and said, "I almost got fooled by you. What a brilliant disguise! It seems like there really was an accident."

"You haven't answered my question yet," Chen Xuan said, stirring the fire.

After a brief pause, the other party looked up and said, "It's very simple. If it really is him, he would definitely not bother to explain, even a little bit."

"So that's how it is. There's nothing I can do. The total time I've spent with him is less than a stick of incense. I don't know enough about him, so this is all I can do," Chen Xuan said with a smile. As he spoke, his body moved like water waves and returned to its original appearance.

Seeing this, the other party cried out in surprise, "It's you! He's so powerful at such a young age, and you have him in your hands. His talent is no less than Gao Jingyu's back then. No wonder Gao Jingming wants to change his servant. God really favors the Gao family."

Chen Xuan remained silent. It was normal for someone with ulterior motives to know his identity. Seeing that the other party seemed to be desperate, he said, "Tell me everything you know. Believe me, you have no choice. I don't think you can withstand my methods like him."

"Well, ask whatever you want, but I'm just an insignificant little character on the edge. I don't know much, so I may disappoint you," the other party said frankly.

Nodding, Chen Xuan said: "It's as expected, it's okay, I just want to confirm one thing, tell me, which Wu family is this?"

……

(End of this chapter)