Star Trace Gate

Brothel.

The simple, crude but effective way of doing things by Little Bat and others made Ren Ye and others admire them, but at the same time they felt empty, as if they had made up something in their minds.

At the side room door, Dalihu looked at the madam and frowned, saying, "I'm kindly reminding you that this matter involves a lot of people. If you want to keep your head, it's best to keep your upper and lower mouths shut."

The madam had seen the methods of these two grandfathers before, and was so frightened that she turned pale: "I... I know."

"Let's go, Second Master." Dalihu called out.

"it is good."

Ren didn't want to stay even a minute longer, so he quickly left the brothel with everyone else.

When they got to the door, Lao Liu reminded the little bat: "Leave the stick to him. What if he gets addicted and can't find it?"

"Oh, I forgot about that." The little bat replied and threw away the bloody stick.

……

The group quickly left the brothel and after walking two or three miles, they discussed the pipeline.

"Second Master, I have found out everything. The groom Zhang Changshou and the madam have known each other for many years and they can talk about almost anything." Little Bat rode on the horse, holding the reins: "The madam said that Zhang Changshou did get rich some time ago for some unknown reason. Two days ago, he rushed back here and had a quick meeting with the madam. During the conversation, Zhang Changshou claimed that he had to go back to his hometown to hide for a while and could not come back for the time being, and he also gave the madam some money."

"Does the madam know where Zhang Changshou's hometown is?" Ren Ye asked.

"Yes, this is the address she just wrote down." The little bat handed a note to Ren Ye: "The madam said that Zhang Changshou's parents are deceased, but he has already married and has a son and a daughter. Therefore, when he was a horse racer a few years ago, he rarely returned home for fear of revenge from his enemies, and few people knew where his hometown was. The madam knew him by accident during a casual chat because she had known him for many years."

When Ren Ye heard this, he felt relieved and felt that he had grasped an important clue.

"Brothers, this matter is extremely urgent to me." He looked at everyone and clasped his fists and said, "I hope you will work hard. We will go to find Zhang Changshou."

Hearing this, Dalihu laughed heartily and said, "Second Master, what are you talking about! Even if it's not your business, we often work in the middle of the night and travel at night, so it's no problem."

To be honest, this group of bandits showed enough respect and execution when facing Ren Ye and others. Regardless of whether it was because of Ren Ye's identity and his relationship with Fatty Wu, this attitude alone was more straightforward and strong than many officials in the government office who pretended to obey but actually disobeyed.

"I've been to Zhang Changshou's village several times before, so I'm familiar with the road." The little bat said, "I'll lead the way, and you just follow closely."

"it is good!"

As soon as he finished speaking, more than ten riders began to gallop wildly on the official road.

……

The end of midnight.

After more than ten riders galloped for dozens of miles, they arrived at a sparsely populated mountain village.

In order not to alert the enemy, everyone dismounted their horses early in the woods outside the village and tied them to tree trunks.

The little bat led the way, and everyone followed closely behind.

Ren Ye was walking on the bumpy crossroads in the village with ups and downs everywhere, and he turned his head to look at the surrounding environment.

This village is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with forests and mountains everywhere. There is almost no arable land, and even if you look towards the center of the village, there are only abandoned and unrepaired houses.

From time to time, the terrifying and harsh roars of animals could be heard from the green hills on three sides.

"There are hundreds of thousands of mountains in southern Xinjiang. There should be a lot of rare and precious animals, right?" Old Liu asked.

"Of course." The little bat responded patiently, "My Nanjiang Wuli Kingdom relied on these 100,000 mountains to unify the southern region and deal with the Daqian Dynasty for many years. Back then, when the 24 witch leaders met and respected the current emperor as king, countless beasts and rare birds emerged from the famous mountains and rivers in Nanjiang, shocking the whole country. I'm afraid that grand scene will never be seen again."

"Twenty-four wizard masters? They have all become princes now, right?" Ren Ye asked tentatively.

"Yes, Southern Xinjiang is vast and sparsely populated. After the founding of the country, some witch masters were rewarded according to their merits and became like princes, obeying the orders of the court." The little bat sighed, "But some people died when they were about to succeed. I heard from my adoptive father that the leader of our Qianli Green Camp... is the descendant of a witch master at that time, but for some reason, he didn't want everyone to mention it, so the people below know very little about this matter."

"The Dragon Head is the descendant of the Witch Master? Then does that mean he is...!"

"Yes, according to the succession order of the southern border tribes, the Dragon Head would be the new Witch Lord, but... he doesn't want the people below him to mention it, and he never calls himself the Witch Lord." The little bat replied.

"Oh, that's it."

Ren still cared about this information because it almost confirmed the previous rumors from the Daqian Dynasty.

The Dragon Head has a very close relationship with the Lich Kingdom. In a sense, the Qianli Green Camp is also a gangster force supported by the imperial court and has political and military functions.

If he is the so-called witch master, then everything fits.

Ren Ye looked at the deserted village, frowned and asked, "Why are so many houses here abandoned?"

"After years of fighting, human lives are worthless. Men are either conscripted or join the bandits in the mountains to live freely. Women survive by selling their bodies or relying on strong men for protection... So naturally, this small village is empty, with only a group of old, weak, women and children left." The little bat said softly, "Alas, I still miss the southern border back then. Although life was hard when each region was led by a witch master, at least people and animals were able to reproduce."

"Alas, in that dynasty, even the common people had a hard time living." Old Liu couldn't help but sigh.

While everyone was communicating, they came to a private house.

The little bat waved his hand and said softly, "We're here. This is Zhang Changshou's home."

Everyone fell silent after hearing this. Dalihu added, "Let's go in and test the waters first. Second Master, you can take the others and wait. If a fight breaks out, we can all capture Zhang Changshou together."

"Okay, be careful." Ren Ye replied.

As soon as he finished speaking, Dalihu, Little Bat and others professionally groped forward along the stone wall, and then jumped into the yard from different points with neat movements.

A few people entered, but there was no noise at all. The only sound around them was the chirping of insects in the grass.

Ren also saw this scene and asked Lao Liu: "Were you so professional back then?!"

"......!" Old Liu rolled his eyes at him. "It's hard to say about the rest. But I can stand up and pedal a bike that others are reluctant to ride. I'm a professional at breaking shoes."

Ren was speechless.

After a while, Dalihu's voice suddenly came from the courtyard: "Second Master, Second Master! Come in quickly, something happened."

"what?!"

"Come in quickly." Dalihu urged.

Everyone looked at each other, and their faces became very solemn.

Lao Liu and Ren also took the lead, and the others followed closely behind, and together they climbed into the yard.

At the main room door, Little Bat and the others also came out, gathered around Ren Ye and said, "We have found the person...but...!"

"What's wrong?" Ren Ye asked.

"Come and take a look, Second Master." The little bat replied with a unhappy expression.

"lead the way!"

He walked forward in the dark and soon came to a cellar on the left side of the main house.

The wooden boards sealing the cellar were open, and a burning smell came from inside.

"Boss, Second Master, there's nothing down there." The brothers brought by Little Bat shouted.

"brush!"

Upon hearing that, Ren Ye jumped directly into the cellar, while that brother had already used a tinder to light the lighting device he was carrying.

The bright firelight lit up, Ren Ye glanced around and froze in place.

Inside the cellar, there were some jars and pots, which seemed to contain pickled meat, vegetables and so on. Next to this pile of miscellaneous items, there were four bodies... that had been burned beyond recognition.

The four bodies were tied with black iron chains and hung on the wooden board above the cellar. All the bodies were burned to a bloody mess, and even had unknown liquid flowing out.

There was a pile of burnt ashes on the ground, and the jars and pots around it were all burnt.

After Lao Liu and others entered, they looked up and saw the same scene. They were also shocked and stunned.

What shocked them was that among the four bodies, only two were adults, one male and one female based on their features... and the other two were children around ten years old.

The child was tied up with iron chains and hung up. His tiny body had been burned into a ball of flesh, curled up extremely tightly, and was a horrible sight.

"Fuck!" Old Liu gritted his teeth and said, "This is too beastly."

Little Bat and the others did not have any drastic emotional fluctuations, they just watched coldly, as if in their eyes, this scene was too common.

Ren was stunned for a long moment, then immediately stepped forward, came to the body of the adult man, and carefully observed his legs.

After a long while, he gritted his teeth and said, "We are a step too late! Judging from the basic characteristics of the male corpse, the short stature and the lame leg, it should be Zhang Changshou. If nothing unexpected happens, his whole family has been killed!"

Old Liu frowned as he looked at the hanging male corpse. He didn't know whether he should feel pity or hate him. He could only say helplessly, "Changshou! Changshou! Do you deserve to be named like that? This is retribution!"

Ren Ye looked at the corpse, but he was filled with annoyance.

The only clue was lost just as we started looking for it.

"and many more!"

At this moment, the little bat suddenly waved his hand and said, "Everyone back off!"

"What's wrong?" Ren Ye turned his head and asked.

"There's something wrong with the corpse. There's something in its stomach." The little bat reminded him solemnly, "Second Master, retreat!"

Upon hearing this, everyone retreated to the back, and only Little Bat stepped forward, pulled out a gleaming dagger from his leg, and stabbed it into the belly of the male corpse.

"puff!"

A knife pierced into the body, and the little bat swung the dagger as usual, slashing downwards with the blade!

"Wow!"

The intestines were clumped together and flowed all over the floor.

The male corpse was disemboweled!

"Zhizhi...!"

At this moment, a black flesh worm crawled out from the man's corpse.

The little bat looked at it with cold eyes, and slowly showed his magical powers.

The flesh worm seemed to sense the threat. It squirmed on the ground for a moment before exploding with a bang.

"brush!"

Suddenly, a ray of light appeared, and the flesh worms exploded on the ground. The corpse fragments and flesh and blood turned into a line of small words.

When Ren Ye saw the small words, his pupils contracted sharply.

………………

The story setting of the Southern Xinjiang chapter is very grand, with many foreshadowings and hidden threads, because it concerns Dao Renye's path to promotion, and its importance is equivalent to the battle for the national foundation of Qingliang Prefecture. The story structure is very complicated, and the characters, conspiracies, layouts involved... are all relatively large in scale.

I have been pushing forward this plot for nearly a week. I was a bit stuck today, and it was around 6 o'clock in the evening that I finally sorted out the main framework. I wanted to ask for leave, but I thought I should just post one chapter. After all, everyone is waiting, and I might get scolded if I asked for leave at the last minute.

I'd like to say hello in advance. There will be no update tomorrow morning. I will continue to sort out the details, and then I will write a big chapter of about 10,000 words in the evening.

Trust me, I won't be a slouch!! Any preparation is to make the subsequent plot more intense and lasting. The Southern Xinjiang chapter will not disappoint you.