Cloud of the Qing Dynasty

While the others were busy dealing with the aftermath, Mu Liuyun returned to his barracks with a gloomy face, washed his face and changed out of his clothes that were dirty and black from the smoke, and saw Zhang Chi walking in, and asked him with concern: "Well, are you hurt?"

"It's okay." Mu Liuyun was putting on his robe, Zhang Chi stretched out his hand to help him straighten his clothes very naturally: "It's fine, Liuyun, I need your help with something."

"Say."

Zhang Chi approached him and said mysteriously, "I suspect that Ah Wu is actually a spy."

Mu Liuyun was puzzled and said, "Then why don't you tell Zhuangzhu Qin and General Lu about it?"

"I just suspect that there is no real evidence yet." Zhang Chi said, "The only thing I can be sure of is that the Red Lotus Sect must have sent an undercover agent among us this time, so it was able to grasp our movements so quickly. The right time to launch a surprise attack. And Ah Wu is a Miao, and he took the initiative to be a guide, from the perspective of identity, he is the most suspicious."

Mu Liuyun frowned: "This doesn't seem to explain anything, is there nothing else?"

"In addition, there are some specious coincidences - for example, when we were in Wugu Village last time, we knew that there must be more than Bai Ling among the members of the Red Lotus Sect hidden in the village. Who is the person is still an unresolved mystery. There is another detail, I don’t know if you remember, when Bai Ling obtained the soul-destroying thistle and came out to harm people, it was Wu who was guarding the valley where the soul-destroying thistle grew , but what he said at the time was that he had never seen Bai Ling."

Mu Liuyun nodded: "It seems that there is such a thing. Looking at it this way, he is indeed a little suspicious."

"But based on these, I can't conclude that he is a spy. It may be just a coincidence or our speculation. Maybe Bai Ling deliberately avoided Ah Wu's guards, or it may be because Ah Wu had an affair with Bai Ling. Help her hide it?" Zhang Chi said, "People like General Lu tend to focus on the overall situation and the result, but don't care much about the means and process. If I tell him my doubts, he will put Ah Wu in the interests of the overall situation. He was arrested and tortured for interrogation. If Ah Wu is really a spy, that’s fine, but if he’s not, then wouldn’t I have killed him with my groundless speculation?”

"So you want me to help you find evidence?"

"Well, we discussed a plan in the camp of the Chinese army earlier. We planned to use the captured centipede elders as bait to trap members of the Red Lotus Sect and counterattack Hidden Moon Palace. In fact, there are still many difficulties in this plan that we have not overcome. I didn't really discuss any practical results, but I deliberately leaked some rumors, and I believe that the spy will find a way to pass the news on tonight at the earliest, or tomorrow at the latest." Zhang Chi grabbed Mu Liuyun held his hand and said with a bit of coquettishness, "My martial arts are not good. I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up with that spy in the dark forest. Liuyun, you have to help me."

"Okay." Mu Liuyun agreed without hesitation, and he had no reason to refuse Zhang Chi's request, whether public or private.

***

After the third watch, the camp gradually became quiet. Except for the night watchmen, everyone basically fell asleep, but Zhang Chi and Mu Liuyun secretly left their tents and hid in a bush outside the camp. later.

This is the ambush site that Zhang Chi had found in advance. From this angle, anyone who left from any corner of the camp would be found.He even cleaned it up in advance, creating a space just enough for two people to stay.

After Mu Liuyun hid his figure, Zhang Chi took out a bottle of ointment from his arms. He couldn't tell what it was, but he could smell a faint fishy smell: "Liuyun, be patient, put this on onto the face and hands."

Mu Liuyun frowned in disgust: "What is this?"

"It was given to me by Xin Lanshan. It is an insect repellent ointment with an exclusive secret recipe handed down by Miao doctors. There are many mosquitoes, leeches, fleas, ticks and even poisonous snakes in these grasses. If you apply this, you will not be afraid of being bitten. It smells too good, but it works."

"I don't need this." Mu Liuyun said in disgust.

"Don't think it's dirty, just wash it off when you go home. It's better than being bitten by bugs." Zhang Chi said while digging out the ointment, and wiped it on the back of his hands and neck for Mu Liuyun. "This is because I have been in the army for many years. I didn’t understand this when I first became a scout, but I suffered a lot. You can see some scars on my legs, which were left by insect bites at that time. The worst thing was that once, I lurked The place just pressed down on an ant nest, and the whole body was full of ants, but the enemy was already close at hand. I didn't dare to scream or move. I endured until the enemy troops walked away. The feeling was really unforgettable. .”

"It's hard for you." Mu Liuyun frowned patiently, letting Zhang Chi's rough palm touch his face, spreading the ointment evenly.

"It's nothing to bear the pain, but it's really difficult to bear the hardship. The winter wind and snow in Saibei is so great that people are frozen and numb in the wild. Once, in order to know where the enemy camped the next day , I lay down near the enemy camp all night, and my whole body was buried in the snow with only a pair of eyes left. In that situation, I absolutely couldn’t fall asleep. Once I fell asleep, I would definitely freeze to death, but I’m really sleepy , I was so sleepy that the whole person was confused, and I couldn’t feel it when I pinched my thigh hard, and I didn’t know how I survived till dawn in the end.”

"I didn't expect it to be so difficult to be a scout." Mu Liuyun changed his posture and sat in the grass, his eyes still fixed on the direction of the camp, listening to Zhang Chi's tireless chanting in his ear.

"In fact, such situations are rare after all. Most of the time, the most difficult thing for me is loneliness. I go out for ten days and a half months, and there is not even a person to talk to. I really can't bear the loneliness. Sometimes, I can only talk to horses, and sometimes there are no horses, and it seems that I am the only one left on the entire prairie, and that feeling makes people go crazy." Zhang Chi did not let go after applying the medicine, He grabbed Mu Liuyun's hand and kneaded his bony fingers, "Liuyun, you have been alone in Qingfeng Pavilion all year round, and you never seem to feel lonely, how do you endure loneliness? "

"I don't quite understand how you feel. For me, loneliness has never been something to endure." Mu Liuyun said, "I like to be alone, and I can practice or read without interruption. The surroundings are completely silent, and when there are only mountains, rivers, sun and moon as companions, I can think about things that I would not normally think about."

"That is the so-called 'enlightenment'?"

"What kind of enlightenment is it? It's just some fantasies." Mu Liuyun chuckled and withdrew his hand, "Are you here to investigate or chat?"

"I'm just afraid you'll be bored." Zhang Chi said, "Why be so serious, it's okay to treat this as a tryst."

"How can there be a tryst like you, who insists on applying stinky ointment to my face."

Zhang Chi said shamelessly: "Does it stink? No way, you smell delicious all the time."

Mu Liuyun pressed Zhang Chi's face with one hand, and pushed Zhang Chi away who was getting tired, "Don't make trouble, it seems that someone has come out."

"Who is it, is it Ah Wu?" Zhang Chi tried his best to open his eyes wide to look over, but he could only see a dark outline.

Mu Liuyun's eyesight is much better than his: "It seems to be really him."

"Come on, let's go and have a look." Zhang Chi urged excitedly.

***

The guards on duty at night were mainly focused on guarding against dangers from outside the camp, so Ah Wu easily bypassed the guards. He walked forward in the dark for a while, making sure that the fire here could not be seen from the camp before lighting the fire. Zhezi found the foot of a stalagmite with obvious features, pushed aside the grass and rocks, and hid something in the concave hole at the root of the stalagmite.

Zhang Chi and Mu Liuyun had a panoramic view of all this. It seemed that there was no doubt that Ah Wu was a spy. Mu Liuyun wanted to go up and arrest him, but Zhang Chi grabbed his sleeve and said, "Hide here for a while. , let me go and set him up."

Mu Liuyun nodded, and watched Zhang Chi silently touch it in the scout-like way.

"Yo, isn't this brother Ah Wu?"

Ah Wu was startled by the sudden cry, and when he turned around suddenly, he saw Zhang Chi looking at him with his arms folded not far away: "It's really hard work to come out to report the news in the middle of the night. "

"You followed me!" Ah Wu pulled out the Miao Dao at once, his whole body exuding hostility, "How did you find me!"

"I just guessed that someone should come out to inform the Red Lotus Sect tonight, so I am lying in ambush next to the camp to try my luck. I didn't expect that I actually caught a big fish." Zhang Chi shook his head and sighed, "Your father Then you oppose the Red Lotus Sect, and you actually become a running dog of the Red Lotus Sect, which is really unfilial."

A Wu answered Zhang Chi's words without any thought: "What does that old stubborn know? Sooner or later, the entire southern border, and even the entire Central Plains, will be bathed in the glory of the holy fire god, and those who disrespect the holy religion will fall into hell." Hell will never be reborn!"

Zhang Chi thought, it seems that the owner of Wugu Village didn't deliberately pretend to be against the Red Lotus Sect, but just didn't know that his son was a loyal member of the Red Lotus Sect.

"It seems that you were responsible for Bai Ling's death. I thought you two were old friends!" Zhang Chi continued to entice him to confess.

As if she had received some serious insult, Ah Wu argued sharply: "What kind of lover! That woman, just because she failed to pursue Qin Wuqi, decided to poison the people in Shangqing Palace and set the blame on Jinghong Villa. Getting involved and spoiling the great affairs of the leader, even if she dies a hundred times is not enough to pay off her sins, how can I be friends with this kind of sinner of the holy religion!"

Zhang Chi didn't expect that Ah Wu would cooperate so well, and the misunderstanding between him and Mu Liuyun back then has finally come to light. The murderer who instigated Bai Ling to kill was neither the Red Lotus Sect nor Jinghong Villa, but she herself. Make up your own mind.Bai Ling's death was not due to silencing, but he was executed by the Red Lotus Sect and blamed on Jinghong Villa by the way.

Ah Wu also finally realized that Zhang Chi was trying to trick him, and pointed the Miao Dao in his hand at Zhang Chi: "Stop talking nonsense, since you know these things you shouldn't know, don't even think about going back alive today."