A carriage left Luoshui City and moved slowly along the official road.

After passing Xiangshui Canal, a tributary of Luoshui River, there is still an hour's drive left to the destination.

Liu Qingyuan's trusted subordinates were following in front and behind, while Xiaoyi, the personal maid, acted as the coachman, leaning on the shaft of the carriage to rest in silence, picking up a skin bag filled with strong liquor and taking a sip from time to time.

In the rear carriage, Wei Tao and Liu Qingyuan were sitting opposite each other.

Neither of them spoke, and they remained silent for almost the entire journey.

The carriage passed by a forest, and Wei Tao opened the side window and took a look outside.

"I still remember the last time I came to the gold tanning field, I saw a skinned corpse here."

He took a deep breath of the cold air and said with emotion, "Although less than a year has passed, it feels like it happened a long time ago, and even my memory is a bit fuzzy."

"At that time, sir, I think he was still the deacon of Qingfeng Temple."

Liu Qingyuan has completely recovered from the erosion of delusions, and his whole person's energy and spirit have improved a lot.

She looked at the woods outside together, with a look of memories on her face, "I should have been on the road at that time, preparing to go to Gui Shufang's manor to explore possible secrets."

Wei Tao closed the side window to keep out the cold wind and ice chips.

He thought slowly and said, "Gui Shufang was wiped out by the imperial court and the sect, but the manor he built has been preserved, and the old people of the Qinglian sect have been staying nearby to take care of it. No matter how you look at it, it doesn't count.

normal.

If you say that the imperial court and the religious sect were kept a secret and didn't know about the existence of these people from beginning to end, I don't really believe it.

But everyone involved in this matter, or those who knew the inside story, turned a blind eye to it, left it alone, and were even suspected of covering up. It seems that the water is even muddier than we imagined."

Liu Qingyuan carefully savored the hidden meaning of his words, and sighed after a moment, "When Guishu Fang's case was exposed, there were many people in the imperial court and the sect who were interested in what he was studying.

What I know about include Mr. Donghe of Tianji Mansion, Qiong Taichang, the Touring Secretary, who is also the master of Guishou Cangchou, Taishang Fengzhen of Xuanwu Dao, Master Luo of Dingxuan Sect, and many others.

Shaodu once participated in it."

Wei Tao nodded slightly, "The advantage lies in that no matter how high the mountain is, there is nothing it can't reach; no matter how deep it is, there is nothing it can't reach.

For many warriors, they may be able to remain unmoved in the face of power and wealth, but they cannot resist the attraction of benefits brought by the mysterious silk threads."

Speaking of this, he asked curiously, "Qingyuan just mentioned Tianji Mansion, what kind of organization is this?"

"Tianji Mansion has always been secretive and has a low reputation. It's normal that you don't know much about it, sir."

Liu Qingyuan said, "Sir, you have been to the capital before, and you should have heard of the Four Elephant Hall located in Da Nei. There are martial arts masters on duty inside to protect the peace of the palace centered on the palace.

In fact, the Four Symbols Palace is a part of the Tianji Mansion. Because it is more exposed to the public, it will be known more. As for the other institutions of the Tianji Mansion, they are mysterious all day long. Not to mention my husband and I, even Fu Taichang

I don’t know what those people are doing.”

Before you know it, the gold tanning field is right in front of you.

Wei Tao got off the car and looked at the stone gate archway that was still standing. He recalled the scene where the housekeepers greeted him and he couldn't help but feel a little lost for a moment.

The last time he came here, he thought he was just dealing with a certain evil warrior who was wandering around committing crimes. As long as he found the person and captured him, everything would be fine.

The result was that mysterious threads related to Gui Shufang were involved, as well as the remnants of the Green Lotus Sect that had been hiding around the area until the final clues were revealed.

At this moment, when he looked back and thought about what had happened, Wei Tao suddenly had the illusion of being in another world.

"Sir, should we go directly to the manor, or stop here to rest?"

Liu Qingyuan followed behind, staring at the various chaotic buildings in front of them.

The gold tanning field is quiet during the snow season.

It is in sharp contrast to the busy scene when the weather is warm.

There were not many pedestrians on the street, probably all staying at home to avoid the wind, snow and cold.

"Let's go into town, find a restaurant to eat first, and then go to the housekeeper's house."

Wei Tao said and walked forward slowly, "We didn't explore there carefully before. Let's see if we can find anything else this time."

Soon after, the two came to a restaurant.

After sitting down, I casually ordered a few plates of stir-fries and a pot of stew, and ate slowly along with the staple food.

Wei Tao ate very slowly, and most of the time he just sat there quietly, observing every move of others with some trance.

From the waiters to the diners, as well as the pedestrians passing by outside from time to time, they all gave him an inexplicable and strange feeling.

Even driven by this strange feeling, Wei Tao used the Guan Shen Wang Qi technique to observe more deeply, but still found nothing unusual.

At least on the surface, everything looks normal.

In his perception, everyone is an ordinary person, there is nothing strange or weird about them, and there is nothing wrong with even the food on the table.

But for some reason, he always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell where the problem was.

After observing and thinking for a moment, Wei Tao suddenly felt something in his heart and discovered a situation that he had ignored.

The words and deeds of these people inside and outside the restaurant seem to be inconsistent with their identities.

In other words, as a restaurant located in a gold tanning farm, most of the people coming in and out are laborers making a living, so the dining atmosphere inside seems too quiet.

There was no passionate bragging or red-faced drinking. Listening carefully to the topics they talked about, there was not much about gambling and women, which was indeed a bit unusual.

Not long after, Liu Qingyuan came closer and said in a low voice, "Sir, this town is a bit strange, and there is a false feeling everywhere."

Wei Tao nodded slightly, agreeing with this.

The fakeness Liu Qingyuan said may not mean that the town and its residents are fake.

Because they are indeed real existences and are definitely not hallucinations brought about by mystical delusions.

To be precise, these people seemed to be performing.

It was as if a stage had been set up, and the daily life of the tanning farm was performed in front of him, allowing him to watch and integrate into it.

And here, he is both an audience and can watch other people's performances, but he is also on the stage and has also become an actor.

"Now that we're full, let's go."

Wei Tao remained calm and waved to the restaurant guy to calculate the accounts.

While waiting for change, he pretended to ask casually, "Has the other family that originally lived here moved away now?"

The waiter raised his head, as if he hadn't woken up, and his eyes were still a little distracted, "What are you doing outside of asking the room attendant?"

Wei Tao said, "We are distant relatives other than the housekeeper. This time we made a special trip from our hometown to visit his old man, but in the end we were in vain. We don't know what happened."

"Oh, the housekeeper's wife's family was wiped out."

The restaurant waiter weighed the broken silver and retrieved a row of coins. He kept saying, "This happened more than half a year ago. The waiter's family somehow got involved with the Qinglian Sect and was arrested by the government."

Send someone over and execute him on the spot."

His expression was calm and indifferent from beginning to end, and his tone did not change much. It was as if Wei Tao had just entered the store and asked the guest what he wanted to eat.

Wei Tao showed surprise at the right time, with a little worry and fear in his eyes.

"Is that so?"

"Thank you, little brother. I suddenly remembered that my family and the housekeeper are actually not very close relatives. They are not in the fifth server at all. I have never had contact with him before, so I am not familiar with him at all."

He immediately stood up, pulled Liu Qingyuan and walked out without even taking the copper coins on the table.

The restaurant waiter stood there motionless, watching the two people go out and go away, his eyes becoming scattered and confused again.

After a long time, he put away the copper coins on the table and began to slowly clean up the untouched food.

"Sir, what should we do next?"

Liu Qingyuan asked after walking straight out of the Shimen Archway of the gold tanning field.

"The situation here doesn't seem that simple."

"Especially the last few conversations with the restaurant waiter reminded me of the servants of the hotel clerk's family, but I didn't feel any trace of the presence of ghosts on him.

Unless I kill him and cut his body open to search for him, I can’t be sure what’s going on.”

Wei Tao looked back at the silent market town and quickly made a decision, "We are going to Gui Shufang's manor now. I suspect that the weirdness of the gold tanning farm is probably related to there."

After a pause, he added, "Others are not at the level of mystical consciousness yet. It is best to let them return directly to the original route to avoid unnecessary losses."

The carriage moved slowly along the road.

Maid Xiaoyi is still a little unhappy.

Because she also wanted to go to that manor with her young lady to see the secluded place where Guishu Fang lived in seclusion, which caused a lot of trouble among the imperial family.

It's just that you can't disobey the lady's orders.

And because this was Wei Daozi's decision, she didn't dare to question it at all.

Xiaoyi thought aimlessly and wrapped his cloak tighter.

Suddenly, a light flashed in her eyes, and she tightened the reins in her hands.

The carriage slowly stopped by the road.

Xiaoyi's face was cold and solemn, staring at the slender figure not far ahead.
To be continued...