Chapter 89: The Elusive Clue
When the middle-aged man said that he could not find any trace of the child entering the mountain, Zhao Yushu was certain that there was either a secret passage in the temple, or it involved supernatural power, that is, the power of monks. Combined with the villagers' dreams and the words of the witch, this matter was 99% likely to involve monks. He just didn't know whether this monk was a human, a mountain spirit or a wild monster, or even a mirage-like golden body.
After walking around the temple and not finding any secret passage with his eyesight, he became more certain of this. This was also what he feared the most, that his cultivation was too low.
When it comes to fights between cultivators, cultivation is not everything, but it also accounts for the majority. He defeated masters twice by relying on various favorable factors, including timing, location and even human factors. Otherwise, with his abilities, he would not be qualified to fight with the black-clothed or little Taoist priests, not even be considered cannon fodder.
Moreover, I am taking the assassin route, while this mountain god is playing the weird route, which is obviously a magic system. Although assassins are good against mages, the prerequisite is that you two are at similar levels, and you still have to find him first.
Others can play the game of sending dreams, is this something that the Second Heaven can do? And this time, there is no companion like Bujie Gaoxu around him.
Fighting alone, Zhao Yushu put his hands behind his back and fell into deep thought. The most sensible option at this time was to run away and continue to go to Nanyang. As long as he left the territory of Jiufeng Mountain, the mountain god would be so bored that he would chase him. If he insisted on getting involved now, it would be obvious that he was going against him.
As long as I can let go of a few children I don’t know.
"Oh, fuck, I'm not a saintly bitch," Zhao Yushu spat, "I'm just a saintly bitch, I'm going to fuck you, mountain god!"
Zhao Yushu glared at the mountain god statue fiercely, then turned and walked out of the temple. There were two urgent tasks: one was to find the child, and the other was to find the witch. He had no clue about finding the child, but the witch did leave a clue.
"What's wrong?" Zhao Yushu followed the hunter out of the temple gate and came to a place not covered by weeds.
"Look, Immortal, the witch is old and her steps are not big, but look at this footprint and the next one, there is a full foot in between!"
One zhang is more than three meters. This level of long jump is obviously not something an ordinary old lady can do, unless she has some spiritual practice. But according to the villagers, this person is just an ordinary witch.
To confirm, the hunter took Zhao Yushu for another walk to make sure that there were no mistakes or omissions, and that every footprint was the same.
"Can you chase them?"
"Yes, as long as they leave traces, we can chase them!" The hunters were full of confidence.
"Let's go without further ado!" The group went into the mountains without hesitation and followed the trail.
Not long after Zhao Yushu and others went into the mountains, another villager ran back to the mountain.
"Brother Erhu, have you reported it to the police?"
It turned out that this was the Erhu who had split up with Adan.
"Yes, the county master said that a deity appointed by the imperial court is going to Nanyang to take up his post. He is passing by us and is not far away. The master has sent someone to invite him and he will arrive today! By the way, is Ah Dan back? Is the village chief here?"
After hearing Erhu's reply, the few villagers who stayed behind breathed a sigh of relief. With the county magistrate in charge and the immortal invited, even if the mountain god was really unhappy about this matter, he had to give the immortal some face.
"That's good. Ah Dan is back, and he brought an immortal with him. I heard that he was invited by the village chief."
"Immortal? How can our village afford an immortal? Don't be fooled by these swindlers." Erhu had a look of disbelief. In a small mountain village like theirs, they might not see a cultivator once in their lifetime. Even if they did, they would have no interaction with him. These people actually said that the village chief could invite an immortal to help. His first reaction was that he had met a swindler.
"Brother Erhu, don't you dare talk nonsense?" Ah Dan said anxiously, "I brought the immortal here myself. The immortal pulled me here as if flying. If I hadn't vomited several times, the immortal could have flown directly up the mountain!"
"There really is an immortal. Where is that immortal?" Erhu was shocked when he heard what Ah Dan said. He would not dare to say anything bad about the immortal even if he had ten times the courage. What if the immortal heard him saying that the other person was a liar, who knows how he would frame him.
"I went into the mountains with Da Biao and the others. They said they found traces of the witch..."
The witch's whereabouts are not easy to track.
Zhao Yushu drew his knife and cut off a branch that was sticking out from behind, then stepped deep and shallow on the rotten leaves and mud that had accumulated there for who knows how many years.
The hunters' tracking efficiency was getting lower and lower. At the beginning, they could directly follow clear footprints. When there was no road, they would look for crushed grass. When the grass became less and less and the forest became denser, they could only look for broken branches, etc.; and the direction of the witch was not in a straight line. After finding a clue, it often took several hunters a long time to spread out and find the next one.
"Where are the other hunters who are looking for children? Do you have any way to get them to come and help?" Zhao Yushu was a little anxious. The longer he was late, the more danger the child would be in.
"To reply to the Immortal, they have already spread out to look for people. If they find nothing, they usually return to the Mountain God Temple at night. We have walked so far, I am afraid it will be difficult to contact them."
Zhao Yushu gritted his teeth and said, "Well, based on your experience, you can point me to the most likely direction. I will chase first, and you continue to search here. If you find anything, you can inform me using your usual methods."
The hunters looked at each other, obviously unable to think of anything suitable for the time being. After all, they didn't come here to hunt and didn't bring any equipment with them.
After a while, a hunter slapped his thigh and said, "How about a wolf smoke signal?" The other hunters agreed. It was difficult to light firewood as the spring rain had just passed, but as long as a small fire was lit and covered with wet branches and leaves, thick smoke would billow.
After making the agreement, several hunters quickly gathered together and pointed out a general direction according to the witch's previous movement trajectory. Zhao Yushu no longer hesitated, and climbed up the tree in one leap, running across the treetops with the help of fleeting light and shadows.
There were endless mountains and forests before his eyes. If there had not been a glimmer of sunlight in the sky, Zhao Yushu would have lost his way in a moment if he had dared to land. Now he was almost lost.
Zhao Yushu wiped his sweat and stood on a hilltop, the highest point nearby. With his eyes open, he could see the outline of the village where he stayed last night.
"There must be a clue," Zhao Yushu looked into the distance and saw a small mountain temple along the direction he came from. The roof, washed by the spring rain, was as clean as new.
Zhao Yushu felt a strange feeling in his heart again. This feeling had existed since the first time he saw the mountain temple and had nothing to do with spiritual power.
"I heard that it was Emperor Taizu of the Tang Dynasty who conferred the title himself," the old village chief's words came to Zhao Yushu's mind, and he stared at the mountain temple.
The Tang Dynasty has been established for 400 years...