Chapter 11 Zombie

The bell rang non-stop, but there were obviously few residents on the mountain, and not many people appeared. Yun Jisang followed the sound and headed towards the north, Zhuo Anjie followed behind with Ming Huan in her arms. The bell tower of Yuxi Bell is set beside the mountain stream, which is three feet high.A huge bronze bell weighing a thousand catties hangs high on the stage.There is an iron monk ringing the bell standing next to the bell. As long as the mechanism is turned on and driven by water power, the iron monk will push the bell hammer and start ringing the bell. At this moment, everyone is surrounding the clock tower, and everyone has a look of terror on their faces.Even Cao Zhong, who has always been calm, turned pale and his hands and feet trembled.

The body of a man hangs across the bell, taking the place of the hammer.The iron monk was mechanically pushing the corpse, and the head of the deceased kept colliding with the bell body, making a dull buzzing sound. As it was pushed again and again, viscous plasma kept pouring out from the dead body, smearing dark red blood paint on the clock face.Amid the muffled sound of the bell, the thick dark red against the Sanskrit on the bronze clock face is so eye-catching and so strange. "Four... Fourth Junior Brother..." Luo Jiankong said in a daze. It turned out that this was Zhang Chun, but why did his body appear here?When did the murderer replace the bell hammer with the dead body?What does his death have to do with the assassination just now?Yun Jisang's middle finger started to hurt again, and he had to rub it with his thumb constantly.

Cao Zhongfei jumped onto the bell tower and pressed the back of the iron monk. The iron monk gave a "creak" sound and remained still, and the bloody bell also stopped. Cao Zhong was about to untie Zhang Chun's body, when Yun Jisang suddenly stopped him: "Master, wait a minute!" Saying this, he jumped onto the bell tower. The clock tower has a radius of five zhang, and it is all made of bluestone, so naturally there will be no footprints on it.Yun Jisang looked around with his head, and walked around the iron monk again.On Iron Monk's back, he found a light white mark.He rubbed it lightly with his fingertips a few times, and the marks disappeared.

"Young Xia Yun?" Cao Zhong asked in confusion. Yun Jisang raised his hand to stop him from asking, and came to the corpse to examine it carefully. The deceased was wearing a sapphire blue cocoon gown full of dirt, his left foot was bare, and a straw sandal was worn on his right foot, which looked a bit nondescript.The head of the corpse had been smashed to a bloody mess, but the face was barely recognizable.That pale face was full of horror, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying before dying.Two goose-egg-thick ropes passed through the deceased's calves and chest respectively, and were tied with looper knots, so that the knots would become tighter and tighter only by the weight of the corpse itself, preventing the corpse from falling off.It was evident that the murderer was a cautious man.

He checked the skin of the corpse again and found that corpse spots had appeared.Obviously, Zhang Chun had been dead for at least an hour. Soon, his brows frowned, "Strange..." "What's wrong? Is there anything wrong?" At some point, Luo Jiankong also followed. "Look..." Yun Jisang picked up a handful of dirt from the corpse's skirt, "There is red sand in the hair and shoe seams of the deceased, which means that the corpse was buried once." Luo Fankong thought for a while and said, "Could it be that after the murderer buried the fourth junior brother, he made a sudden decision to dig him out and hang him here?"

Yun Jisang shook his head: "There were plaques on the occipital bone, the top of the head and the back of the limbs of the deceased, indicating that the corpse was lying on its back during the formation of plaques. But now the corpse is lying on its stomach with its head down. Potential..." The two stared at each other, and sure enough, Zhang Chun, who was hanging on the hammer rope, was facing down.Luo Jiankong nodded: "That's true." "This shows that after brother Zhang was killed, his body was lying on his back and buried for at least an hour before hanging here."

Cao Zhong's eyes turned cold: "That is to say, the murderer buried the body somewhere after the murder, and then dug up the body before the dinner started, and replaced the bell..." "Exactly. What makes me wonder is why the murderer decided to bury the body first? Wouldn't it be more convenient to simply hide it? Or, he was so worried about the body being discovered that he even took the trouble to bury the body and dig it up repeatedly ..." "It seems that's the case." Luo Yankong wiped the red eye circles, his face was full of sadness, "It must be because of some reason, the murderer decided to use the body of the fourth junior brother to ring the bell during the dinner, and he was afraid The body was discovered in advance, so the body was buried first, just in case. Poor Fourth Junior Brother was not only killed, but even the body cannot be preserved..."

"Brother Luo is saying, what message does the murderer want to convey with this corpse?" Yun Jisang asked thoughtfully. Luo Yankong nodded and said, "If that wasn't the case, why did the clock ring when Master was assassinated?" Cao Zhong smiled coldly: "The only ones who can grasp the timing so accurately are those who attended the dinner." "It is indeed possible." Yun Jisang said calmly. "But, when the bell rang, everyone was in the hall!" Gu Yinglan mumbled. Yun Jisang smiled slightly, jumped off the stage, looked for something on the ground with his head down, his eyes lit up after a while, bent down to pick up something, jumped back onto the bell tower, and stretched out his palm: "Look, what is this? "In his palm was a small iron pellet.

"Isn't this Iron Bodhi? What does it have to do with ringing the bell?" Cao Zhongqi asked. Yun Jisang threw the iron bodhi up high, and caught it again: "The trace I found on the iron monk's back just now should be left by this iron bodhi. According to my judgment, the murderer should have used some method to time , and shot the Iron Bodhi in the back of the Iron Monk with a mechanism to make him ring the bell on time." "That is to say, the mechanism that sends out the hidden weapon is not far behind the iron monk!" Luo Jiankong clapped his hands suddenly, "I'll look for it right away!" Said, he jumped off the clock tower and went forward to search.

"Shaoxia Yun really knows everything. How lucky Cao is. There is a young hero here as a guest. I believe it won't take long before we can find out the real culprit and avenge my poor apprentice!" Chung's death and sad. "Master, don't worry, Jisang will do his best." After Yun Jisang finished speaking, he continued to inspect the corpse. Congealed blood not only flowed out from the shattered head, but also the clothes around the waist and abdomen were soaked in blood.Strange, the blood of the dead body was too much.Anyway, let's put the body down first.He thought silently, and looked up at Zhuo Anjie.

Zhuo Anjie nodded knowingly, swung her sword to cut off the sling, and gently placed Zhang Chun's body on the ground. Yun Jisang squatted down, carefully unfastened Zhang Chun's belt, and opened the front of his clothes.As far as the eye can see, a large amount of blood oozes from the waist, dyeing Yuebai's tunic scarlet.Zhang Chun didn't have anything in his arms, the murderer obviously searched for all the belongings, but Yun Jisang still found strange things mixed in the blood, which were some extremely small silver beads. mercury?There is also mercury in Zhang Chun's skirt?Did it fall during alchemy?But why not outside the skirt?Or did he put something containing mercury into his arms? Shaking his head, Yun Jisang took a deep breath, and slowly covered his shirt. "Ah one by one" Gu Yinglan and Wang Biyan screamed at the same time. "My God..." Father Peter kept crossing himself on his chest. The sudden trembling pierced Yun Jisang's heart again, his heart trembled, tangled into a small piece, and then exploded suddenly, the thick blood stained the world in front of him.Forcibly restraining the desire to vomit, he looked carefully. Both sides of the corpse were cut open obliquely. From the wound, he could clearly see the white spine and red blood vessels.At this moment, the sides of the lumbar spine are empty. The kidneys of the corpses were removed. Why?Why dig out the kidneys of the corpse? Yun Jisang only felt that his heart was beating more and more violently, as if it would jump out of his throat in the next moment. He coughed, covered his mouth, and continued to examine the wound. Suddenly, he found that there seemed to be something in the blood hole.So Zhuo Anjie broke two saplings for him, slowly inserted into the abdomen of the corpse, and squeezed out the foreign object. "What is that?" Cao Zhong leaned over and asked. He stared and found that the foreign object was actually a piece of crumpled yellow talisman paper. Shaking the blood stains on it, Yun Jisang unfolded the ball of paper.On the yellow talisman paper, the vermilion seal characters are hideous and eye-catching: One by one, "The old root of the rotten tree returns to dryness and becomes a spirit. Eliminate all my sins and make me live forever." The night wind whizzed by, making the yellow paper in Yun Jisang's hand rustle, and the sixteen red seal characters twisted like tadpoles, trying to fly away through the air. "This... this is..." Cao Zhong's face changed drastically, and he was speechless. "It's Wuxin, Wuxin is back." Mei Zhaoxue said plainly, but her beautiful face was completely bloodless, as pale as paper. "Nonsense! Wuxin is dead! Already dead!" Cao Zhong shouted excitedly.Even the assassination just now didn't make him lose his composure. Everyone was silent, and the expressions on everyone's faces were so strange and terrified, as if the name "Wuxin" was some kind of vicious curse. Only Father Peter looked blank, not knowing what happened.His disciple Li Zhongxiu looked calm, with a calm smile on his face, as if he was watching a good show. Wuxin... Who is this Wuxin?What does he have to do with it?Looking at Cao Zhong's appearance, it is clear that he is extremely jealous of this person.Isn't this Wuxin his disciple?Yun Jisang thought to himself. "I found it! I found the organ!" Not far away, Luo Jiankong's excited shout came. With the figure in the middle, Yun Jisang lightly played with the mechanism Luo Jiankong found. It was an ordinary iron crossbow.The iron crossbow is tied to the stone railing beside the mountain stream, and there is a copper pan next to it to hold water. The water drips from the spout in the pan and flows into the time-calculating instrument.An hour later, when the power weapon is full of water, it will trigger the mechanism of the iron crossbow and shoot out the iron bodhi. According to Cao Zhong, the whole device is not complicated, and any disciple of the Puppet Sect can easily make it. "This iron crossbow is a military weapon. I'm afraid it's hard to get it?" Yun Jisang tried to pull the crossbow away, but it was inconvenient because he only had one hand.Zhuo Anjie took the iron crossbow, pulled it away and handed it back to him. Luo Jiankong shook his head and said: "This thing is the most common, as long as there are blueprints, any blacksmith can make it, but this crossbow is too big, it is inconvenient to carry, and if it is not done, it will be discovered by the government, so there are very few people in the world. Friends take it with them." Yun Jisang frowned, and lightly pulled the trigger.There was a light "bang" from the iron crossbow, but he didn't feel much vibration in his hand. "Good crossbow." Yun Jisang gave a soft compliment, and handed the iron crossbow to Zhuo Anjie, "Has the Puppet Sect ever had any mortal enemies?" "They are all people in the Jianghu, no matter how careful they are, they have made some grudges." Luo Jiankong pondered for a moment, then slowly shook his head, "However, there are not many people who can kill people. Besides, even if they want to take revenge, they will not be killed." It is necessary to make these mysteries, not to mention..." "What's more, the murderer has to be proficient in puppet art..." Yun Jisang muttered, and suddenly raised his head, "Doesn't Master Cao plan to report to the officials?" "Report to the official?" Luo Yankong was taken aback for a moment, and then smiled wryly, "Brother Yun, to be honest, the one who can do such a thing must be a disciple of our sect. To tell you the truth, Brother Yun, I have already found out. Then they will send someone to come, Master cannot get away with a fortune. Of course, the premise is that there is no trouble in the house..." I see... Yun Jisang nodded.Cao Zhong is very ambitious, obviously not reconciled to just being the head of a Jianghu sect.His real goal is to make friends with powerful people by ringing bells, and finally gain a foothold in the court. "Which people in the door usually associate with Zhang Chun?" Luo Yankong smiled wryly and said: "Brother Yun knows that Fourth Junior Brother and I have the best relationship, so why bother to ask more questions." "Brother Luo, does he know that he has behaved strangely recently?" "This..." Luo Yankong hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, "I didn't notice it. Fourth Junior Brother is shy, not good at words, and has always been a law-abiding person." Yun Jisang nodded.Luo Yankong was clearly covering up something, and it might be impossible to get news about Zhang Huang from him. After pondering for a while, Yun Jisang suddenly said: "Who is Wuxin?" Luo Jiankong hesitated to speak, his eyes showed hesitation. "Such a hesitation..." Zhuo Anjie didn't save face for this old friend at all, "Could it be that you guys did something shameful?" Luo Ankong walked to the door, looked outside, and after confirming that there was no one there, he turned around and said in a low voice, "It's not that Luo doesn't want to talk about it, it's because this matter concerns Master's face, and it's not good to spread it. " "Playing tricks, tell me quickly." Zhuo Anjie knocked on the table with her fingers, looking like a goddess catcher. "I said, I said..." Luo Yankong was obviously afraid of her, and hurriedly said, "Li Wuxin is my third junior brother, who passed away three years ago." He said with regretful eyes, I once told you Guo Linghu Tiangong is a genius in his sect. In fact, his ability is far behind that of Junior Brother Li.As you know, our sect started as a hair puppet after the master became the master of the sect.But you don't know, before Junior Brother Li arrived, everyone had no idea about this hair-shaking puppet, and they couldn't even touch the door.Junior brother Li found out the secret in less than half a year after getting started, and taking this as an opportunity, master successfully developed the Shaker Puppet..." "So, his attainments in the field of puppets are higher than that of Master Cao?" Yun Jisang asked. Luo Yankong nodded and said: "Yes. I am ashamed to say that Junior Brother Li is self-taught. When he went up the mountain, he was already very proficient in the puppet art. The reason why he went up to the mountain to learn the art was not to learn the art, but to fall in love with him. All kinds of materials and facilities inside the door. You know, making puppets is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also requires sufficient financial support, otherwise, even if a person is talented, he will not have the opportunity to display it." It turned out that Li Wuxin was born in poverty.But how did he fall in love with the puppet?Could it be that it is really the talent of the sky?Yun Jisang secretly guessed. "After Junior Brother Li went up the mountain, he devoted himself to cultivation and studied the art of puppet. He read all the ancient books, from a Buddhist scripture to the record of 'The Art of Sutra', and finally created the pivot of 'Sutra' after thinking hard. The technique used on the puppet is to let the force of the machine spring work on the guan wood through the crankshaft gear, and then distribute the force by the "Jingjian" to affect the guan wood and make the puppet's limbs move. In this way, the force transmission mechanism and matching The power mechanism is separated, and the movements of the puppet are more than ten times richer and more flexible than before." Zhuo Anjie frowned and said, "So, it's Li Wuxin who created the hair-shaking puppet with originality?" Luo Yankong showed a bitter face: "It can be said that the wisdom of Junior Brother Li alone surpasses all the people in our puppet sect, including Master. Although the puppets we made today are full of tricks, no matter how they are changed, But the core is still Junior Brother Li's Sutra Sutra." Yun Jisang and Zhuo Anjie couldn't help being moved.His puppet technique has reached a level that cannot be surpassed by future generations, this Li Wuxin can be called a master of a generation. "What about respecting the teacher? I don't know what you think?" Yun Jisang asked lightly. "Master naturally praised Junior Brother Li for his knowledge of heaven and man, and it is a great fortune for us to get it. As for Master's real thoughts, it is beyond our ability to speculate." He is a genius in the way of puppets, but he is not proficient in the world. He only knows how to study puppets in his own room all day long, and his relationship with other fellow disciples is not good. Among them, the second junior brother has the worst relationship with him." "Is it Yuliang's dispute again?" Zhuo Anjie asked with a smile. Luo Yankong nodded: "Linghu's ability is far behind that of Junior Brother Li. Before Junior Brother Li came, he was indeed one of the best geniuses in his sect, and he was unique in using water power. Master valued him. But when Junior Brother Li came, all his brilliance was taken away, so he was naturally a little unhappy. Every time Junior Brother Li made progress in developing puppets, he would be sullen. There is a kung fu in our sect called "Phantom Hand" "Thousand Elephants" was lost because it was too difficult to practice, but Linghu practiced alone relying on the records on the secret sign. After five years of groping, he finally mastered the secret, and practiced this skill abruptly. With the reputation of "Master's Hand". But Junior Brother Li has only been a beginner for a year, but he has also practiced this kind of kung fu, the gap in talent between the two can be imagined." "I think Brother Linghu is a bit taciturn, has he always been like this?" Yun Jisang asked. "Linghu is like this. He is gloomy. No one in the family likes to get along with him. But he is handsome and knowledgeable, and he is very popular with women. It's just that he doesn't talk to those women very much, and he doesn't know if he is arrogant. , I still have a sweetheart." "Where is Li Wuxin? What kind of person is he?" What kind of person?Luo Jiankong narrowed his eyes slightly.what kind of person... "Wooden cow and horse?" The black-clothed boy shook the blueprint on his hand, his eyes filled with sarcasm, "Brother, you mean that this mess is the wooden cow and horse that Zhuge Wuhou worked so hard to create? What a joke!" "Your brother was joking, you were joking. Senior brother, I also obtained the fragments of Zu Chongzhi's secret book. After much thought and meditation, I finally got this picture. It's just because I'm stupid, I can't understand its true meaning. Junior brother is extremely talented, and I will be able to see the key point. If you think this picture is wrong, you might as well just say it..." As a senior brother, he pouted, bent over, and put on a smile, which looked very much like a pug dog begging for food. The young man in black picked up the teacup and found that it was empty. Just as he frowned, he was already holding the teapot and filled the teacup respectfully. The boy in black slowly took a sip of his tea: "There are many mountains in the middle of Shu, so it's fine to walk through the corridors of our gate for the things made according to this picture. Within ten miles, it becomes a pile of rubbish. Garbage, big brother..." That cold and sharp ridicule pierced his heart like an ice pick. Rubbish?Who is trash?Me? "Junior brother is right, you are right..." I was still smiling, the muscles on my face were almost stiff, "I also know that the things I made are rubbish and cannot be put on the stage. I have also asked other people for this picture , but they couldn’t say what Ziwu Yinmao came, but I think, even if other people in this sect can’t do it, my junior brother Li always understands. So, didn’t I come to ask you for advice?” "Brother, is this underestimating yourself, or...don't be ashamed to ask?" the black-clothed boy squinted his eyes and asked with a smile. "Where, where... Senior brother, I am ashamed of myself, I am ashamed of myself..." I nodded and bowed. "What a shame!" The black-clothed boy raised his brows, "Since my brother has already talked about this, then I can't refuse. It's better to be a human being than yourself. , Brother said, is this the truth?" "Yes, yes, not for your own sake, not for your own sake..." The black-clothed boy smiled slightly, picked up a pen and sketched a few times on the picture, and handed it over: "Okay." I grabbed it, but couldn't move. The black-clothed boy pinched the edge of the blueprint tightly with his fingers, and the coldness in his eyes seemed to penetrate his soul: "Brother, remember what I said, to be a human being, you should do nothing for yourself..." After finishing speaking, he loosened his fingers and leaned back, almost falling. Looking at that arrogant back, I felt bitterness and resentment in my heart, and the blueprint in my hand seemed to be a piece of white lead, falling heavily into my hand. For nothing?Could it be that... Luo Jiankong shook his head.Hey, everyone else is dead, what else do you want to do? "Brother Luo?" Seeing that he didn't speak, but kept shaking his head, Yun Jisang couldn't help asking again. "Uh, Junior Brother Li..." Luo Jiankong pondered for a moment, then said carefully, "He is indeed talented, but he is a bit lonely, and there is no one else in his eyes except puppets." "Then is there anything wrong with his actions?" "What's wrong? That's not true." Luo Jiankong thought for a while and then said, "If I have to say something, it's that for some reason, he has always kept Junior Brother Hong at arm's length and has never been willing to associate with him. In my opinion, he It seems to be wary of Junior Brother Hong." "Hong Kuoji? Didn't he and Zhang Huang both come in later? And what enmity can there be with Li Wuxin?" "I also find it strange that although Junior Brother Li is not easy to talk to, he is not a person who rejects people for thousands of miles. Even the idiots in the family can talk to him, but they just look down on Junior Brother Hong." "Stupid?" "It's Xiaoquan, the boy who took care of Master Ouyang's uncle." Luo Jiankong sighed, "This kid wasn't stupid at all. After Junior Brother Li died, he had a high fever and his brain became confused. He was quite smart at first. Child, oh..." "Except for Xiaoquan, is there really no one in your faction who is close to him?" Yun Jisang asked in a deep voice. "This..." Luo Jiankong hesitated again and again, and finally gritted his teeth, "If there is anyone who can occupy a place in Li Shidi's heart, it is my wife." "Mrs. Cao?" Yun Jisang was taken aback for a moment, then remembered Mei Zhaoxue's strange behavior on the bell tower just now, "What's the relationship between her and Li Wuxin?" "I hope to have one heart and one mind, and never leave each other." After a long sigh, Luo Yankong shook his head, and said slowly, "Before Master married Master, she and Junior Brother Li were originally lovers." "What?" Yun Jisang and Zhuo Anjie looked at each other in surprise. It's just that no matter how much Yun Jisang insinuated, Luo Jiankong refused to say more about Mei Zhaoxue and Li Wuxin, and finally left in a hurry with the excuse that it was getting late. "Unexpectedly, Mrs. Cao is the key to this case..." Zhuo Anjie sighed. "Not necessarily..." Yun Jisang shook his head and said, "From Brother Luo's words, at least we can know that both Cao Zhong and Linghu Tiangong have a grudge against Li Wuxin. If the murderer really came to avenge Li Wuxin, then the two Just have to pay more attention.” "How much can you believe what he said?" Zhuo Anjie's lips raised a touch of sarcasm, "Don't forget the words of Linghu Tiangong at the banquet!" Yun Jisang's eyes lit up: "Senior sister, you are saying that brother Luo's wooden cow and horse are not made by himself?" Zhuo Anjie nodded and said: "Others don't know how capable he is, but Linghu Tiangong naturally knows." "In this way, there are as many as four people who have ties to Li Wuxin..." Yun Jisang curled his fingers into the palm of his hand one by one, "Cao Zhong, Luo Jiankong, Linghu Tiangong, Mei Zhaoxue..." "Don't forget about Zhang Chun. If he has nothing to do with him, why would the murderer choose him?" Yun Jisang smiled: "If this continues, Senior Sister will become Daming's number one goddess..." Zhuo Anjie smiled complacently, took out the gourd, and drank the fine wine. "Since Brother Luo's words are not trustworthy, let's visit Master Cao tomorrow." Yun Jisang looked out the window and said softly. Outside the window, the mountains are deep and foggy, and the moonlight is dim and difficult to see.