Cloud of the Qing Dynasty

Mu Liuyun suggested: "Aren't you good at tracking, look for it, so many people evacuate, it's impossible not to leave a trace."

Zhang Chi, who had calmed down a little, also thought of this layer, and he began to carefully distinguish the traces left around the camp.

Judging from the traces, the two sides should have gone through a fierce battle, and then the side with fewer people hurriedly withdrew towards the north, and the side with more people assembled next to the camp, and then left in an organized and leisurely way to the southeast.

Zhang Chi chased after the crowded trace. Judging from the weeds that were trampled and regrown, they should have evacuated at least three days ago. Fortunately, these people did not hide their traces because of the large number of people. Zhang Chi found the place where they rested temporarily, followed the trace for a short distance, and heard Mu Liuyun, who had been following him, suddenly shouted: "Who is that?" !"

Zhang Chi raised his head in astonishment, and saw Mu Liuyun flying up, and grabbed a person from behind a tree in an instant.

Before the man could do anything, he was subdued by Mu Liuyun, and he pulled him out by the collar. He was also terrified, and stammered, "Tao, Tao, Taoist, my own!"

Zhang Chi recognized that it was a scout from the Iron Wolf Army, and quickly said to Mu Liuyun, "Liuyun, put him down quickly."

Mu Liuyun put down the scout, Zhang Chi hurried over and asked, "What happened? Where is General Lu!"

"That night, we were raided by the Red Lotus Sect, and the camp was set on fire by them. General Lu took the rest of the people and retreated to another place." The scout rubbed his strangled neck and looked at them in confusion. , "Where did you go? There are rumors in the battalion that you were bewitched by the Red Lotus Sect and joined the enemy before the battle. Where did these savages come from?"

"Don't talk nonsense, take me to see General Lu quickly." Zhang Chi said anxiously, "There are spies from the Red Lotus Sect hidden in the camp. I don't know what he will do if I go late!"

Seeing his solemn expression, the scout didn't dare to say any more, and led them to the place where the temporary camp was located after crossing numerous checkpoints and secret posts.

The so-called temporary camp is really astonishingly crude. It is just a few straw mats laid in the cracks of some big rocks that can barely shelter from the wind, and a raincloth is pulled on top of it. Feng, only tore a few big plantain leaves to use as a roof, and the injured people rested in such a place with wind and rain leaking from all sides, and more people could only sleep in the wilderness, enduring the watering of an autumn rain sooner or later.

General Lu Zhiqian now also lives in such a hut built with raincloth and branches.

The appearance of Zhang Chi and Mu Liuyun caused some people to watch. The disciples of the Shangqing Palace gathered around and were about to ask why Mu Liuyun had disappeared for so many days suddenly, but Mu Liuyun noticed one of the crowd that made him "Missing" people for many days.

Zhang Chi had already seen Lu Zhiqian, and was about to talk to General Lu when Mu Liuyun beside him rushed out with a strong wind, and the sound of Zhishui sword unsheathing drew Zhang Chi's attention back, waiting for him to realize what happened And when he reached out to stop him, it was already too late.

When Ah Wu saw Mu Liuyun and Zhang Chi appear, he was frightened out of his wits. Before he had time to react, Mu Liuyun's figure had already appeared in front of him like a ghost, and the Zhishui sword pierced into his chest. There was no hesitation.

A Wu couldn't say a word for a while, he opened his mouth in vain, and only made a "uh uh" sound. Mu Liuyun looked at his dying expression coldly, and slowly pulled out the blade.

Ah Wu fell softly, twitched a few times and swallowed his breath.

Only then did the people around them come to their senses. Although they didn't understand why Mu Liuyun killed their guide in public without any explanation as soon as he came back, the hostility emanating from Mu Liuyun made people dare not speak out.

Only Daoist Qinghe was not afraid of him, and said in surprise: "Junior brother, what are you doing?"

Mu Liuyun shook off the blood beads on the blade, sheathed the Zhishui sword, and said coldly, "Ask Zhang Chi."

Zhang Chi didn't expect Mu Liuyun to be so impulsive, and he stabbed A Wu to death with a single sword. Fortunately, he was still thinking about whether he could dig out some useful information from A Wu, but he forgot to talk to Mu Liuyun in advance. say clearly.

Mu Liuyun was in a bad mood and didn't want to talk too much, so the burden of explaining naturally fell on Zhang Chi's shoulders, so he had to let go of what he wanted to say to General Lu, and patiently explained to the people around them that they were almost killed by Ah Wu passed.

However, some people still didn't believe it, Master Miaoyin said: "What you said is too bizarre, you couldn't just make it up just to find an excuse for Daoist Tianxuan to kill innocent people indiscriminately!"

Zhang Chi said helplessly: "If I wanted to make it up, I would definitely make up a more believable story. Why make up such a bizarre one."

Master Miaoyin said: "You all didn't know where you ended up for no reason, and Daoist Tianxuan killed people without explanation when he came back again. This is really suspicious."

"If what I said is all made up, where did these people come from?" Zhang Chi pointed to the few dark and thin hunters. These hunters from the bottom of Longtan didn't know the undercurrent between the sect forces in the Central Plains Surging, just nodded his head in defense of his benefactor: "What he said is the truth."

"Daoist Tianxuan is Lu's savior, and I can trust his character." Lu Zhiqian also came over to speak for them, "Zhang Chi, come here, I still have something to ask you."

General Lu called Zhang Chi away, and Mu Liuyun followed the disciples to take a bath and change clothes. Of course, the others didn't have the same interest. They went to trouble the Shangqing Palace because of a suspicious Miao, so they dispersed in whispers. As for Ah Wu's body, someone will restrain himself and deal with it.

***

It was rumored in the camp that Zhang Chi was bewitched to join the enemy, but Lu Zhiqian didn't believe it at all. He originally thought that Zhang Chi was probably killed when he went out to investigate the situation in private. Climbing back to the camp, Lu Zhiqian and Xue Baisong were also heartbroken and regretful when they thought of this talented young man dying so young.

Fortunately, their worries did not come true in the end, but even the well-informed Lu Zhiqian found the adventure that Zhang Chi said was too bizarre, and he muttered in disbelief: "Is there really such a coincidence in the world?"

"Of course it's true. When did I hide it from the general?" Zhang Chi assured, patting his chest.

"Oh, is that so?" Lu Zhiqian gave him a sideways glance. It was rare to encounter a happy event in the past few days, so he deliberately teased him with a smile, "Then tell me, are you and Daoist Tianxuan really the same?" It doesn't matter, he can let him even take his life to save you."

"This, uh, hehe..." Zhang Chi gave a tacit understanding, why bother to talk nonsense, and took out the skin given to him by the person at the bottom of Longtan from his arms to change the subject, "By the way, General, This is the map of the hidden moon palace I am talking about."

Lu Zhiqian took the leather spread on his lap and looked carefully, Zhang Chi took the opportunity to ask: "General, after I left, what happened in the camp?"

"They are members of the Red Lotus Sect. They have sent blood slaves, and... the blood slaves they sent this time are those who were captured from the camp during the last raid. These people don't recognize their own people at all. Burning oil canisters rushed towards the camp. Facing their former relatives and friends, after all, some people could not kill them decisively, and foolishly tried to wake them up, so they couldn't stop them. I robbed and went back." Lu Zhiqian sighed, "Later, the fire was out of control, so I had to order the evacuation of the camp. Only a small part of the barracks, food and supplies were robbed, and most of them were burned."

Although it was only a few short sentences, Zhang Chi was enough to imagine the tragedy at that time: "Then... is there a big loss of personnel?"

Lu Zhiqian shook his head: "Perhaps because we were afraid of our large number of people and arranged defenses in advance, the Red Lotus Sect did not take advantage of this opportunity to attack aggressively. Although there were some fights, their casualties were no less than ours. If you I saw unrestrained charred corpses in the camp, and they were basically their people."

"It doesn't seem like a wise move to injure the enemy eight hundred and self-injure one thousand," Zhang Chi said.

"Indeed." Lu Zhiqian nodded to Zhang Chi's keen approval, "I also don't believe that the members of the Red Lotus Sect have prepared so well this time, just for the simple purpose of burning down our barracks. Although the burning of the barracks is indeed a little bit for us Strikes, wind, meals and sleeping in the open are also harmful to everyone's physical condition and morale, but they can't hurt our foundation. It will take at most ten days and a half months before we can re-mobilize supplies and send them into the valley. The Miao guide who was killed by Taoist Tianxuan came to us when the camp had just been burnt down and everyone was still in shock. It is dry and clean, it is very suitable for us to stay for a few days, but in fact there is a hidden murderous intention, can you guess the reason?"

He wanted to test this proud disciple of Military Master Xue, so Zhang Chi guessed based on his experience in living in the wild: "Could it be because of the lack of ventilation?"

"Exactly." Lu Zhiqian nodded, "I saw that there were no traces of wild animals living in that cave, and I felt something was wrong. After a closer look, the cave has only one exit, and miasma is easy to gather in this unventilated place. In the cave, if we couldn’t stand the wind and rain and live in it because the camp was burned, we might be poisoned to death unconsciously in our sleep, and even if the miasma inside wouldn’t kill us, as long as the red The Lotus Sect blocked the exit, lit poisonous firewood, and let the smoke pour into the cave. None of us survived. At that time, we just gave up the idea of ​​living in the cave, and we did not suspect the head of the Miao guide. on, because even our own scouts would have easily dismissed the cave as a perfect safe haven. Luckily White Pine had warned me before that the Red Lotus had gone to such lengths to burn down our camp that there must be It's a scam, nine times out of ten it's trying to force us to move to another place, so I'll be careful."

Speaking of Xue Baisong, Zhang Chi glanced at the military adviser who had been sleeping wrapped in a quilt in the corner of the thatched shed. After they came in and talked for so long, the military adviser still slept well. Obviously, this is no longer a normal daytime nap: " General, what's wrong with him?"

Lu Zhigan stretched out his hand to tuck him in the quilt, sighed and said, "Bai Song has been in poor health since he was poisoned by the poisonous wolfberry plant last time. This time, before we evacuated the camp, he inhaled a lot Smoke, now forced to sleep in the wilderness, exposed to wind and rain, his body is getting worse day by day, I want him to have a good rest, but he refuses, thinking about how to attack Yinyue Palace all day long, and let him work so hard If I go down, I'm afraid something will happen. So I asked the doctor to prescribe a tranquilizing medicine for him, tricked him into taking it, and he shouldn't wake up within today."

Zhang Chi said in shock: "According to the temper of the military division, I will definitely have no end with you after waking up. A general is a general. Your courage is really beyond comparison with ordinary people. Please allow the villain to pay 12 points of admiration for your courage."