Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 27 Pulling
late at night.

Xu Bingkun was called to Huo's house by Huo Yu.

"How do you manage to be the city lord?" Huo Yu angrily threw a cup as soon as he walked in. "He's right here in Xiazhou, and he's a cripple with limited mobility! You're the city lord, and you can't even find a cripple after a whole day. What are you doing?"

Xu Bingkun had a blank expression on his face.

Although he was able to ascend to the position of city lord because he secretly leaned on the Huo family, he also had his own little thoughts and was not a loyal minister. Secretly raising demons was his own little calculation.

Of course, with a fool like Huo Yu around, he can easily take advantage of the situation to suppress the Demon Suppression Division and even make Sheng Yuanyao a lone leader who can do nothing, let alone investigate his case, so he still has to support this fool.

He took a deep breath and put on a smile. "Sixth Young Master, the yamen runners in our area have very low cultivation. The other party is a powerful person who can easily kill even a sixth-grade martial artist. If he deliberately conceals his whereabouts, the yamen runners really don't have the ability to do so. The local masters are mainly concentrated in the Demon Suppression Division, but we can't use the Demon Suppression Division..."

Huo Yu thought of Sheng Yuanyao's attitude and was afraid that she was colluding with Huo Shang. He was even more annoyed. "What a foolish woman who can't tell good from bad. She really thinks that bastard can gain any power? She doesn't have the final say in the Demon Suppression Division. Go call those deputy commanders. I will take care of it myself!"

Xu Bingkun smiled slightly. "Young Master, you are wise. Sheng Yuanyao is a newcomer and doesn't know much. She thinks she's in charge of a whole town and is quite arrogant. If she knew that no one obeyed her orders, she would be disappointed. Then she would naturally submit to you. Maybe we can..."

Huo Yu was actually looking forward to it, and nodded, "Go call someone."

A group of deputy commanders and even middle-level officials of the Demon Suppression Division were called to the Huo residence for a secret meeting. However, Sheng Yuanyao didn't point fingers at these people at this time. While everyone's attention was on the Huo residence and the search for Lu Xingzhou, she just did her own thing.

Late at night, Sheng Yuanyao quietly went to Xiazhou Prison alone.

Even abandoning his original plan of "finding an excuse", Sheng Yuanyao directly took out a bell and shook it gently.

People in this line of work always have some treasures. This kind of bewitching bell can make people temporarily confused. It was originally used to interrogate people, but it is also very suitable for stealth investigation.

Soon the eyes of the prison guards became confused. Sheng Yuanyao walked over and took the key from the prison boss's waist and walked straight in.

If there really is something fishy going on here, then the guards are most likely all Xu Bingkun's men, and they will be alerted no matter what excuse they make. It's better to be realistic this way.

Sure enough, after walking around in there, Sheng Yuanyao realized something was wrong.

From the files she had read, there should be at least thirty death row prisoners here, but as she walked in, most of the cells were empty. No matter how she counted, there were only a little over ten people, and most of them were gone.

The death row inmates were dealt with privately…

Sheng Yuanyao's face was as gloomy as water. He took out a small mirror and scanned the various cells, searching for the nearest trace of living people. Then he followed the traces and followed them all the way out.

This trick is useless for investigating strong people who are good at concealing their breath, but it is just right for investigating half-dead death row prisoners. The heat reaction of living people will be clearly revealed.

After leaving the death row cell and following for a while, not far ahead was... the City Lord's Mansion.

Sheng Yuanyao took a deep breath, her expression utterly grim. It was indeed true. The condemned prisoner had been secretly brought into the City Lord's residence... There was no other explanation. Lu Xingzhou hadn't lied. The City Lord was actually secretly raising demons and feeding them blood! What was he trying to do?
The situation was very troubling. The fact that the case was directed at the city lord was already a serious problem. The Xiazhou Demon Suppression Division couldn't rely on it alone; they had to secretly report it to the higher-ups, who would lead the charge. But reporting a case like this required more than just the few clues we had; we needed more concrete evidence. How could we investigate this?
When the Huo family came, Sheng Yuanyao found that he had no one to trust and no one to use!
Even if I report it to the county and ask them to investigate, I can't be sure that the person who receives the information will sell me out.

Sheng Yuanyao believed that the Huo family would not dare to raise demons, but directly telling Huo Yu, "Are your people raising demons?" would be a huge scandal for the Huo family, and they might even disappear to cover it up.

The image of Lu Xingzhou flashed through her mind... Sheng Yuanyao herself found it ridiculous that at this moment, the only person she could trust was this criminal...

But he was in the middle of the storm, so how could he bother her now? Besides, he had no idea where he was hiding and couldn't be contacted.

By the way...the clue about investigating the death row inmates was from Dugu Qingli, so she should be credible and we can discuss it.

Sheng Yuanyao did not hesitate and flew towards Shen's Trading Company.

Without waiting to call the guards to inform them, Sheng Yuanyao jumped over the wall and as soon as she landed, she saw Dugu Qingli pushing Shen Tang's wheelchair and standing in front of her looking at her quietly.

Sheng Yuanyao said hello awkwardly: "You two, I have something urgent to talk to you about."

Shen Tang smiled: "I thought you were here to look for Lu Xingzhou, he's not here."

Sheng Yuanyao exploded: "Why would I come to see Lu Xingzhou in the middle of the night!"

"How do we know..."

"I..." Sheng Yuanyao swallowed her anger and said, "Miss Dugu, the investigation you reminded me to do last time has yielded results."

Dugu Qingli was stunned for a moment.

Then I remembered that Lu Xingzhou had always called her Miss Qingli, so I felt very unfamiliar and uncomfortable with the name "Miss Dugu".

"So there really are demons?"

"Yes, in the City Lord's Mansion."

"What does it mean that Commander Sheng came to see me?"

Sheng Yuanyao briefly explained the current situation and added, "This kind of thing can't be delayed. Every day it's delayed, the demon may grow stronger. No one knows what it will become. But right now, I don't dare to trust anyone, and Lu Xingzhou is in the vortex..."

Shen Tang suddenly interrupted: "Are you sure it's in the City Lord's Mansion?" "Yeah, almost."

Shen Tang smiled faintly. "Lu Xingzhou is short-handed. He'll need chaos in the city to draw in the official forces. I was originally thinking about how to find a way to help him. Isn't this a ready-made opportunity? Kill two birds with one stone."

Sheng Yuanyao was stunned for a long moment before realizing what she meant: "You...you don't want to rush directly to the City Lord's Mansion, do you?"

"Why not?" Shen Tang pushed his wheelchair straight out the door. "Xu Bingkun and his trusted followers are all at the Huo residence now. Isn't this the perfect time? Looking ahead and behind, what can be accomplished?"

Dugu Qingli pushed her there without saying a word. Sheng Yuanyao was stunned for a while, then she paused and quickly followed.

As soon as I arrived outside the City Lord's Mansion, I heard a weak voice coming from the corner: "Why are you here?"

The three of them turned around and saw Anuo huddled in the shadow of the corner, holding a flame-burning talisman in his hand, staring at them blankly.

Shen Tang's eyes fell on the talisman paper in her hand, and his expression was just as strange: "You are not here to set fire to the City Lord's Mansion, are you?"

Ah Nuo nodded blankly: "I started the fire and caused trouble, so I have to go back to help Master."

"Go ahead, I'm here." Shen Tang took the talisman from her hand and smiled. "It seems that we are on the same page as your master. Go back and tell him that there is nothing to cut."

Even Dugu Qingli said, "If you had joined forces with us earlier, we wouldn't be able to kill Huo Yu with his current strength. You're just putting on an act."

Anuo was silent for a moment and sighed: "He doesn't want to implicate you, not just in this battle. Huo Yu is nothing, not even as good as a sweet potato. Sister underestimated us, master and disciple."

Shen Tang asked, "What is that?"

"Master doesn't want you to be recorded in the Huo family's notebook in the future. We can leave after completing this job. No one can find us. But you still need to establish a foothold in Xiazhou and develop your sect. You can't run away. That's why Master wants to leave you the recipe..."

At this point, An Nuo paused, raised her head, and a cute smile appeared on her round face: "Since the sisters have already set foot in this, then we can only... prevent Huo Yu's people from returning."

…………

Over there, Huo Yu was calling a secret meeting with the people from the Demon Suppression Division to arrange how to search for Lu Xingzhou the next day. Lu Xingzhou then gave Huo Yu another big gift.

"Young Master, Young Master!" The guard of the Huo residence stumbled into the hall. "Old Butler Huo was sent back and left outside the door."

Soon, two people followed behind him, carrying the unconscious butler Huo into the house.

There were words written in blood on the butler's clothes, and the handwriting was very clear: "Sixth Young Master, is this it?"

All the officials in the room looked at each other with their eyes and their noses, and they didn't dare to laugh even though they wanted to.

Huo Yu's face flushed purple, and he slammed the table and stood up: "Where is the person who sent him here?"

"There was only a dark figure in a wheelchair heading towards Danxia Mountain..."

"Then what are you still standing there for! Chase him! How far can he go in his wheelchair?" Huo Yu jumped up and down in anger. "It just so happens that so many of you are here. Seal off the mountain and search!"

"Young Master, please be patient." The guard behind him finally said, "The two of us brothers can go out and chase them... Before, we didn't dare to leave without permission, fearing that the tiger would leave the mountain. Now that so many people are here, it's just right to protect you. We will be back soon."

These two fifth-rank guards are called Huo Lei and Huo Ting. They are the Huo family's guards trained since childhood. They even met Huo Shang in the past.

Of course, I have bullied them too.

Huo Yu took a few deep breaths and nodded, "Alright... I only sent Uncle Fu out before. I underestimated that bastard and ended up hurting Uncle Fu. This time, all of you attack together. I don't believe that cripple can still fly!"

Huo Lei Huo Ting bowed and suddenly disappeared.

Following the direction of Danxia Mountain, one can indeed feel the traces of spiritual energy bursting out along the way, and the strength is quite strong.

But after chasing for a long time and reaching the foot of Danxia Mountain, we still couldn't catch any trace of the person.

Huo Lei whispered to his brother, "I'm thinking, either Lu Xingzhou has accomplices, or his so-called wheelchair is fake and he's not disabled at all. He's just pretending to be weak to lower others' guard."

Huo Ting agreed with his brother's judgment: "Yes, these two times he kidnapped the housekeeper and sent him back without a trace. It is impossible for the cripple to do it. And this style feels a little familiar to me..."

Huo Lei's heart trembled. "Doesn't it feel a bit like Yama Palace? At least the stealth skills are very similar."

"And it's the meticulously planned Yama Palace style of previous years. They'd pull and maneuver, allowing the opponent to reveal their weaknesses before the strongest would strike a single, decisive blow. A handful of individuals could cause a tightly defended force to crumble. It seems Yama Palace hasn't pulled off a game like this in recent years..."

Suddenly, a laugh echoed from mid-air: "It seems that our Yama Palace has quite a reputation. The Huo family has even conducted targeted research on it..."

The two brothers were horrified.

(End of this chapter)