No matter if you are a human or an immortal, you can still farm for me after traveling through time!

The atmosphere in the other banquet hall was much more relaxed. Most of the people there were scholars and officials. The one sitting at the chief seat was the governor. Everyone knew their limits and no one dared to act rashly after drinking.

Li Erlang was dressed more formally than usual. He wore a rust-colored round-necked robe, a fu hat, shorts, and black sheepskin boots.

Ever since Li Erlang appeared at the table, everyone's eyes have been following this young man with outstanding figure.

The governor noticed Li Erlang who came in at a glance. Unlike the gentle people from the south of the Yangtze River, the young man's tall and upright posture stood out from the crowd. He was also different from Zhao Liuguang, who was about to become his son-in-law, who also grew up in the northwest. The young man's sharp eyes were like a knife, eyes that had seen blood.

"The little boy Li Changxiang pays homage to the governor!" Li Erlang put aside the corner of his robe and knelt down, his lowered back replacing his sharp eyes.

"Get up."

Sitting with Yuezhou Governor Chu Lian were Zhao Liuguang's father and grandfather. Zhao Liuguang and Chu Hui were also there, as well as some distinguished guests Li Erlang did not recognize. One could tell that they all held official positions just by looking at their official uniforms and black boots.

The governor spoke up: "I heard that you can make those two elks call?"

Sure enough, it was because of this.

Li Erlang stood up and answered, "Yes, when hunting deer in the northwest, old hunters often use different sounds to lure the deer to respond, so as to know the general direction of the deer. After knowing the direction, they can look for footprints and other traces to follow."

Governor Chu Lian laughed and clapped his hands, and the people below followed suit. "Great! We haven't heard the calls of elk yet, hurry up and get them to call, so we can hear the calls of deer too!"

The two elks were pulled to a corner of the banquet hall. They looked frightened and moved around restlessly, roaring from time to time and constantly pulling their necks, trying to break the ropes around their necks.

It was difficult to get the elk to relax in this situation, but the actual situation did not allow Li Erlang to refuse. He made a difficult expression, and then said with determination: "If you want the elk to call, everyone present must be silent and not make any noise. You must also use a curtain to cover it so that the elk cannot see a human figure."

The governor raised his hand and signaled his servants to do as Li Erlang said.

After a while, the sound from the stage stopped, the actors and musicians left one after another, and the servants brought in a huge curtain and hung it up layer by layer to block the line of sight between the elk and the people. In such a scene, the guests in the banquet hall kept silent consciously, and put down their wine glasses slowly and lightly for fear of making any noise.

Just like that, the banquet hall with more than a hundred people suddenly became incredibly quiet, and not a single sound could be heard amidst the clamor. If Ji Qingyue was present, he would definitely describe it as if everyone had pressed the button of time to stop, carefully maintaining one movement.

If there wasn't a reason, anyone who suddenly broke into the banquet hall would definitely be frightened by this scene. Is this haunted?

Everyone was just waiting for Li Erlang to move, but Li Erlang did not move at all, as if he was waiting motionlessly.

They waited like this for a quarter of an hour. When everyone was getting a little impatient but dared not make a sound and could only look at each other, Li Erlang raised his hand, made a gesture, put it to his mouth, and blew suddenly.

The air instantly spurted out along the channel designed in the palm of the hand, forming a high-pitched and melodious whistling sound.

However, the elk behind the curtain did not respond as everyone expected.

Someone was about to question Li Erlang immediately, and he turned his head to look. His murderous eyes frightened the man so much that he stood still. The man then came to his senses as if awakened and looked at the governor's reaction. He saw that the governor was staring at him coldly. He broke out in a cold sweat again, and had to bend his head to avoid the two piercing gazes.

Everyone waited with Li Erlang for another quarter of an hour. Some were anxious, some were impatient, some were watching a show, and some were disdainful. Li Erlang ignored the looks of these people, stared at the curtain without a moment's delay, and listened carefully to identify the emotions of the elk behind the curtain.

The time was almost up, Li Erlang raised his hand again and blew a long, faint whistle.

What was different from the last time was that Li Erlang called out three times in a row across a stick of incense, with each whistle becoming louder and more urgent than the last.

As everyone expected, the elk behind the curtain finally responded before the third long howl ended.

The two elks responded to Li Erlang's call, one in front and one behind, one high and one low.

Everyone had different expressions, but they all dared not speak.

Chu Lian raised his hand to signal the servants to remove the curtains and take the elk back, and then he opened his mouth. He had to admit that he was not only amazed by the deer's cry, but also shocked by the scene of Li Changxiang resonating with the deer. "Not only did you find the elk for the Chu and Zhao families, but you also resonated with the deer. Now, what reward do you want?"

Li Erlang knelt down and said, "I don't want any reward."

"Really?"

Li Erlang thought for a while and said, "I heard that you like painting, and my grandfather also likes painting. Can you give me a painting and let me take it home to my grandfather?"

Chu Lian frowned: "Who told you that I like painting?"

Li Erlang hesitated for a moment: "During the banquet, I heard a wealthy businessman say that you like paintings, and I was thinking of presenting a painting to you. This..." Isn't it right?

Chu Lian nodded, showing an "I see" expression, as if he agreed with Li Erlang's reason. "Where is the person you are talking about? Since you want a painting, and I don't have any paintings, if the painting that person offers is indeed a good one, I will give it to you!"

"Thank you, sir!"

About half an hour ago, Li Erlang had just left the guest room when the wealthy businessman who presented the painting followed him.

He walked dazedly towards the room that was emitting light. He pushed hard, but without the support of the door, he fell to the ground. With a dull thud, he hit the ground heavily. The scroll in his arms flew into the room due to inertia and unfolded into a long strip, revealing the contents on the scroll.

The wind caused by the sudden opening of the door blew out the candles in the room, and the room suddenly fell into darkness.

The loud noise at the door woke up the sleeping Ji Qingyue. Perhaps the hangover tea took effect, his head was no longer so dizzy and swollen. He sat up and rubbed his head: "Erlang?"

No one answered at the door.

The lantern hanging outside the door emitted a faint light into the dim room. Ji Qingyue lifted the bed curtain and went out to check.

Before he passed out, he vaguely remembered someone coming to look for Li Erlang, and then Erlang carried him to this room and settled him down, and before leaving he said he would come right away.

But now... the person outside the door can't be Li Erlang, so who could it be?

Ji Qingyue moved towards the door cautiously, but he stepped on something unexpectedly and felt a familiar feeling of falling!

He had only one thought: Here it comes again!

All this happened suddenly and inexplicably.

When the feeling of falling disappeared and all senses of reality returned, Ji Qingyue suddenly realized: he was in water! Real water!

In panic, he choked on the water and was shocked to find that the water was actually salty! !

The water came from somewhere, but it was icy cold. Ji Qingyue instinctively kicked his legs and calmed himself down to make sure he didn't sink into the water out of panic.

Fortunately, he had learned to swim since he was a child and was very good at it. It was easy for him to paddle in the calm waters. He quickly got himself in the right position and floated on the water on his back.

Ji Qingyue did not swim blindly, but lay on the water and observed his surroundings to determine his direction. Now was the moment when the sunlight was about to disappear completely. The earth fell into endless darkness in the next moment. The moon disappeared, leaving only the sky full of stars to guide him.

He kept changing directions in the water, trying to find the nearest shore.

Suddenly, Ji Qingyue discovered that there was a faint light in the air above the lake. It was neither starlight nor light. The flickering light was motionless, like a shapeless pupil staring straight at him.

Ji Qingyue changed his posture again, arranging his body to hang down on the water surface, and gently kicked his feet. He stared at the faint light intently and found that the faint light, which was the size of a firefly, seemed to be red.

In the fading sunlight, Ji Qingyue struggled to discern that where the dim light was, there seemed to be some dark shadows of varying shades; it was the outline of some kind of tower-like building!

If there are buildings, there must be land!

Ji Qingyue swam excitedly towards the direction of the dim light, otherwise he would freeze to death if he delayed any longer.

The closer you are to your destination, the clearer you can see.

Sure enough, hidden in the darkness was a stone tower. The tower was not far from Ji Qingyue. He jumped to the shore in an instant with a few kicks of his legs.

The situation did not improve after landing. The water was cold, and the air was cold. Ji Qingyue took off all his clothes and wrung them out piece by piece.

In order to prepare for the feast, he and Li Erlang had some hidden thoughts when they bought robes. They had the same round-necked robe with the same pattern, but Li Erlang's was rusty and his was dark blue. When he put on the robes, he was secretly happy but also a little regretful.

The ancients did not know that red and blue are a pair.

Back to reality, Ji Qingyue put on his inner clothes and then tied his outer robe around his waist. The water on the inner clothes dried up and turned into tiny particles which stuck to his skin and were very uncomfortable.

I can't think of too much and I have to figure out the current situation quickly.

Fortunately, his eyes had adapted to this level of darkness, and with the moon appearing at some point, Ji Qingyue was able to see the stone tower clearly.

This stone tower looks familiar!!

A square five-story stone tower with decreasing height layer by layer. There are four lamp towers around the tower, but the lamp towers that should be burning with candles are not lit at this time.

Ji Qingyue walked around the stone tower and was surprised to find that this was actually an island in the middle of the lake! An island in the middle of the lake with only a stone tower standing on it!

There are no plants on the island. A man-made stone tower stands on the bare natural stone island.

The moon reflected the bright water surface and the undulating mountains in the distance. There were huge mountain ranges on all sides. It seemed that this body of water was formed between the mountains. The most important thing was that the water here was salty. The salt could be precipitated, which meant that the salt content was very high. Therefore, this body of water was either the end point of an inland river or a lake with no runoff.

Ji Qingyue thought calmly that the reason why he suddenly came here from Zhao's house must be because of the painting again. The purpose of this once and twice was to tell him something important.

This stone tower is a Buddhist-style pagoda in the ink-and-wash lake on the top of a mountain behind the pine forest. Ji Qingyue found the gate of the stone tower. The varnish on the door was shining in the moonlight. The door was not locked and it opened with a slight push. A scent of sandalwood wafted to his face.

Moonlight shone in from the main door and the extremely narrow windows on all four sides. The walls and ceiling of the pagoda were covered with colorful stone bricks, on which was a complete mural of an alchemist holding a banner, a mythical beast with a human head and a dragon body, a flying goddess, the Buddha appearing in the world, the Vermillion Bird, the Black Tortoise, the Azure Dragon, and the White Tiger suppressing the four directions, the Flying Lian flapping its wings, the Thunder God swinging his arms and playing the continuous drum, the Thunder God flashing with an iron drill hitting the stone, and the Rain God spraying spray until it rains...

Ji Qingyue exclaimed again and again, what a magnificent painting!

There were niches carved out on all four sides, with a bowl of oil lamps inside, which were also not lit.

Like the Ink Painting Pagoda, the empty stone tower has only a wooden staircase that goes up continuously.

Ji Qingyue closed the door and carefully climbed up the spiral wooden stairs. With every step he took, his leather boots left half a footprint on the stairs, and the stairs under his feet made a creaking sound that was particularly harsh in the silent night.

He remembered that each floor of the ink-and-wash pagoda was empty, with only a lotus Buddha statue on the top floor. But now, many personal belongings were placed in the stone pagoda, as if someone had lived here for a long time.

After reaching the fourth floor, Ji Qingyue looked away before he could see clearly, because there was a long couch on the fourth floor, and on the hanger next to the couch were several women's underwear.

So, the person living in the stone tower is a woman?

Ji Qingyue did not stay long. He quickly climbed up the wooden stairs to the top floor. As he expected, the magnificent golden Lotus Buddha was sitting there, holding a flower in one hand and the other hand open. However, the open hand in the ink painting once held a relic, but now it contained a shelled dagger.

The blade gleamed silver in the moonlight, its edge exposed and its chilling aura intimidating.

The scent of sandalwood was the strongest on the top floor. Ji Qingyue looked around and then raised his head. He saw a coil of incense hanging on the top of the tower. The burning incense emitted a faint red light, which kept winding upwards, attracting the most attention in the darkness.

The bright light he saw in the water was the same light emitted by the burning incense!

In front of the Buddha statue is a long low table with a cushion on it. There are many papers scattered on the table, books and Buddhist scriptures mixed together with letters, making it a mess.

Ji Qingyue carefully flipped through the books on the table, trying to find the identity of the person living in the stone tower.

Not sure if the owner of the stone tower deliberately hid it or for some other reason, Ji Qingyue looked through it but still couldn't find any information about the owner of the stone tower.

How could a woman live in an isolated stone tower in a remote area?

While searching for the second time, Ji Qingyue suddenly caught a glimpse of a flickering light.

He quickly hid behind the narrow window and looked carefully. He saw a small boat appear on the water in the distance. A wind lantern was hung on the boat, swaying from side to side as it moved.

There were four other people on the boat, one was the boatman rowing the boat, one was standing at the bow holding a knife, and two were sitting in the middle of the boat, obviously dressed as women.

One of the two must be the owner of this stone tower! Is this person good or evil, enemy or friend? What should he do? !

Ji Qingyue hurriedly returned to the coffee table and put the things on it back to their original state. In the chaos, a small piece of paper floated out from somewhere, and the few words on it, as small as rice grains, shocked him all over.

Second kill of Yang Huang!

Yang Huang was a famous nobleman in Chang'an City. He inherited the title of Pingyao Hou and was also the general who killed 88 brave Uighurs in Guiku Gorge. After this battle, he became famous and regained the emperor's appreciation to escort tribute to Beijing.

How could he be targeted? Or maybe he had been in the bureau for a long time and had always been a thorn in the eyes of others.

Now things gradually did not go beyond Ji Qingyue's expectations. He originally thought that going to Chang'an to save the emperor could indirectly change the tragic fate of Li Erlang's family. He did not expect that it would involve so many other people.

Now is not the time to sort out my thoughts, as the owner of the stone tower is about to come back. If I were to catch him and discover this secret, I might not be able to leave tonight.

While he was thinking, the boat had already reached the shore. The man with the knife jumped ashore first and secured the boat. The two women then stood up and supported each other and walked down. Then the boatman rowed the boat and swayed away.

Only three people were left on the island in the middle of the lake.

Ji Qingyue looked down along the wooden ladder. No one had come in yet, so he quickly put the note into his inner clothes, bowed to the Buddha statue, and gritted his teeth as if making a bet to take the dagger from the Buddha statue's hand.

With a "dong" sound, the sound of the bell exploded in his head, and a dizzy feeling came over him, and Ji Qingyue fell towards the wooden ladder behind him.

"Who is here?!"

The man who pushed the door open immediately drew his knife and rushed upstairs. The two women following behind him stopped and one of them said, "Go light the lamp."

As the oil lamp in the niche was lit, a series of water-soaked footprints appeared clearly in front of the two people, from the gate to the wooden stairs, and winding up along the wooden stairs.

"It's a man."

After waiting for a while, the man came down empty-handed. He knelt in front of the woman and said, "Miss, there is no one upstairs."

The woman frowned and quickly climbed the stairs: "Check."

There was only one set of footprints, and the person was on the top floor before he disappeared. It was impossible for him to jump off the building silently.

The woman went to the top floor and saw that the things on the table had been tampered with, and the dagger in the Buddha's hand was missing.

The dagger is just an ordinary dagger. What does this person want to do with it?

Puzzled, the woman immediately checked the letters on the table and soon found that a note was missing, and it was the key one.

"Miss, there are no traces around." The man knelt on the ground, "But are we going to proceed according to the plan?"

The woman smiled lightly and did not answer. Instead, she turned around and continued to sort the messy books on the table.