Chapter 17 Chapter Seventeen

"Ghost!" Ma Rong seemed to be restrained by a spell, he couldn't believe his eyes, and stood there for a while like a nightmare.Suddenly he remembered that it was this white ghost that led him to find the ancient well that night and found Shen San's body.Could it be that this benevolent ghost came to help me solve the case secretly again tonight?Thinking of this, he strengthened his courage and started to follow the ghost slowly. The ghost meandered for a while, and after a month passed through the cave, he turned his head and looked at Ma Rong.Suddenly she stood upright and raised her two long sleeves high, forming a semicircle around the top of her head, with her long hair hanging down in all directions.Ma Rong was so frightened that he stopped immediately, unable to guess what the ghost was going to do.Just as he ignored it, there was a loud noise, and the moon cave door collapsed, raising a cloud of dust, the white skirt flashed, and the ghost suddenly disappeared.

Ma Rong repeatedly shouted "lucky". ——Obviously, the specter's gesture just now was to warn him that if he followed recklessly, he would be destroyed in an instant. ——Ma Rong is only three or five steps away from the Moon Cave Gate. He shook the dust off his head, and was about to walk around the pile of rubble, when he suddenly felt someone pulling the hem of his clothes, he was startled, his body felt cold, and his legs felt weak. "Brother Shao, what's the matter?"—Chun Yun climbed into the back wall at some point and followed him all the time. Ma Rong was shocked, and when he saw that it was Chunyun, he felt relieved.Just as he was about to ask questions, he suddenly saw a black shadow flashing into the west side hall behind the pile of rubble, and he immediately ran after him.

The moonlight is dim, the stars are few and far between, and the scenery inside the temple can be discerned.Ma Rong jumped up the steps of the west side hall from the corner of the flower path, and suddenly saw the black shadow penetrate into the apse again.Ma Rong also followed into the back hall, the hall was pitch black, and he couldn't distinguish his fingers.Just as he was hesitating, he suddenly heard a creaking sound, the black shadow had already rushed out of the palace gate, and suddenly sneaked into the Daxiong Hall in front of him. Ma Rong once entered the Daxiong Hall, and just now he memorized the floor plan of Chunyun, so there is no hindrance to his actions in the dark.He groped to the right corner of the altar in the Daxiong Hall, gently lifted the curtain, dodged to hide in the alcove, and watched the shadow reappear by the weak light of the moonlight passing through the circular transom.

Suddenly he heard creaking and rattling sounds in front of the altar, as if someone was moving the altar.Ma Rong crept out of the alcove softly, touched the Buddha statue in the middle, and wanted to take a closer look from behind the lotus seat.Suddenly a white light flew from the left, Ma Rong's eyes were sharp, and he dodged hastily, only to hear a clang, it turned out to be a dagger. Ma Rong cursed angrily in his heart, and looked again, the black shadow had already walked out of the front door of the hall. He shouted: "Where are the thieves going!" He jumped off and chased after him.As soon as he arrived at the gate of the hall, he tripped over a rope and fell to the ground. He felt gold stars flying around in front of his eyes, his lips and nose were cracked, and his hands and legs were numb.When he struggled to stand up and chased again, the black shadow had already rushed out of the mountain gate and disappeared.

Ma Rong kept cursing, and only blamed himself for acting recklessly, which caused the murderer to escape.When he covered his painful face and looked carefully, it turned out that it was a soft rope ladder that tripped him, with an iron hook tied at each end of the rope ladder.He called out "unlucky" a few times, had no choice but to walk out of the apse along the same path, and saw Chunyun sitting cross-legged in a corner waiting for him. "Damn it, that thief was very slippery, turned around three times and then disappeared, which made me fall, and I was almost thrown by his dagger." Ma Rong spat The bloody saliva felt like tearing between lips and kisses.

"Miss Chunyun, let me take you back to Qingfeng Nunnery first." Chunyun nodded, leaned against Ma Rong and slowly turned back to Qingfeng Temple.When I arrived at the nunnery, I saw that Baoyue's cloud room was silent and still without lights, so I walked back to my room in peace. Ma Rong went back outside the mountain gate of Ziguang Temple again, whistled, but Fang Jingxing did not come, thinking that the young servant was also killed.So step by step, he went into the depths of the woods to search.Walking past a huge Podocarpus pine, Ma Rong suddenly stepped on the ground and fell to the ground.I couldn't help but want to curse, I only felt the pain in my lips and tongue, haha ​​I didn't say anything.When he was about to stand up, he opened his eyes wide and looked, but suddenly his hair stood on end in fright.

Two steps beside him, a blood-stained head is rolling! ——It turned out that when he fell, he bumped into the human head, causing him to roll.The empty space turned out to be a newly dug shallow pit. According to the situation, it seemed that someone had just dug a human head out of the mud. Ma Rong boldly took a closer look at the head. ——Thank God, it wasn't Fang Jingxing's.Then, this head should be Yang Maode! "Yang Maode's head was originally buried here, so we could find it easily. But why did the murderer want to dig it out?" Ma Rong couldn't help being suspicious, so he looked around carefully.Sure enough, not far ahead, about ten steps away, there was a person lying down, still moaning slightly.

Fang Jingxing was still in a coma, his armor was torn, and there were blood stains inside and out.The murderer obviously took advantage of it by surprise and stabbed him with a dagger.Ma Rong had no choice but to rush back to Qingfeng Nunnery to ask Baoyue and Chunyun to rescue him first, while he immediately went down the mountain and went back to the Yamen to report to Duke Di. When Ma Rong finished his hard work at Ziguang Temple in Qingfeng Temple, Di Gong showed joy and praised him. ——The case seems to have turned around, but Ma Rong has suffered a lot. Fang Jingxing finally regained consciousness under the rescue of Baoyue and Chunyun.According to him, when he was inspecting, he occasionally heard the sound of digging in the forest. When he got closer, he saw a human head beside the newly dug pit.He was about to turn around when he was attacked and nearly lost his life.

Di Gong pondered for a while, and said: "Why is this murderer so impatient? He killed Shen San and Yang Maode within two or three days, attacked Fang Jingxing, strangled another yamen servant, and Ma Rong, you are almost plotting against him. ——This impatient behavior is suspicious." Ma Rong shook his head, Hong Canjun's thin old face showed a melancholy look. Di Gong continued: "Since the murderer brought a rope ladder with iron hooks, he thought that the gold ingot was hidden in a high place, and he needed to climb the rope ladder to get it. Now we know that at least three people are secretly searching for this gold ingot. One It is the culprit of the murder. The second is Shen San and Yang Maode, who obviously heard the secret letter and intervened halfway. The third is the 'monk' who has been coveting the property for a long time.——These three people are fighting for each other In between, a mysterious ghost came in. This ghost is even more suspicious. I just made it up as a foolish man and a foolish woman in the head, and it is not true. That day, Ma Rong, you yourself were not sure how to see clearly. No, but tonight you absolutely insist on the existence of this ghost, which is tangible and real, and seems to be involved in the crime of plotting your life.——Now we must first find out the identity of the ghost, In the investigation, we must no longer deceive ourselves and turn a blind eye."

After listening to Di Gong's words in frustration, Ma Rong said slowly: "Master, but I am still a little suspicious about this ghost. I really can't decide whether she is helping me secretly or deliberately harming me. Last night can be said to be a ghost." She guided me to discover the ancient well, and it can be understood as luring me to jump into the ancient well, letting the murderer throw huge stones to kill me. Similarly, what happened tonight can be regarded as instigating me to pass through the moon gate that is about to collapse, It can also be judged that when she suddenly stopped me when she saw that I was in danger, her behavior and posture at that time were really terrible. It was because of her strange behavior that I stopped suddenly-in this way She secretly saved my life."

Di Gongdao: "Now you can be sure that the ghost is a tall woman wearing a white dress and almost completely covered in white. To help you or to harm you, I am surprised that she often appears in the garden of Ziguang Temple. From the judgment of the past few days, she is by no means an outsider who has nothing to do with the robbery of gold. ——Ma Rong, tomorrow morning You go to Qingfeng Nunnery to check on Fang Jingxing's injury and condition. After breakfast, we will meet here to make a decision. ——The murderer is desperately struggling and killing people like crazy. I'm exhausted holding my nose."