Chapter 67: One Ingot of Gold Buys a Life This piece of gold was dark in color, rough in shape, and had faint traces of blood on it, which had never been wiped clean. In front of the gate of Linjiang Division, Lin Yan, the flag bearer, looked extremely ugly. He glanced left and right, but saw that the streets on both sides were deserted and silent. The night was gloomy and the wind was cold. Some time ago, evil spirits attacked the city, causing many casualties, and the people were already in panic. At this moment, the sound of the cold wind seemed even more creepy in this dead silent and deserted street. "Fifth Master." At this moment, Yang Zhubu's voice came from behind: "Why are you standing at the door?" Lin Yan weighed the gold in his hand, pointed at the plaque above his head, and said in a deep voice: "Someone put gold on the plaque of our Tianjian Division and gave me a gift." "gold?"

Yang Zhubu's expression changed slightly and he stepped forward to take a look. Lin Yan spread out his hands and handed over the gold. But suddenly, there was a hint of fear in Yang Zhubu's eyes. "Does Chief Yang recognize this gold?" "Last night, the night patrol of Linjiangfang was almost wiped out. This is strange. I ordered two clerks to follow the Wai Nan Yamen to investigate the case and copy the case files back." Yang Zhubu couldn't help but take a half step back, his face pale, and said, "Because this case has just started to be investigated, there are no clues, so until just now, I sorted out the files and was about to report it to the Fifth Master." He pointed at the gold with trembling hands and swallowed his saliva: "Master Wu, turn it over and see if there are any words underneath?" "..." Lin Yan turned over the gold and saw an ancient character with many strokes at the bottom, the edges of which were so worn that they were difficult to recognize clearly. He frowned and asked, "What is this word?" Yang Zhubu's mouth was dry, and he shook his head and said, "I don't know, but last night, the group of night patrollers suddenly killed each other, and died miserably!" "When the Japanese inspector of the Outer South Yamen discovered it, there was an extra piece of gold of unknown origin in the field." "So it is speculated that they killed each other in order to compete for the gold." "According to today's scribes, the gold is old, worn, and worn out." "I don't know what the ancient text above means, but..." At this point, Yang Zhubu's expression became more serious, and he said, "This kind of thing also happened more than ten years ago." "Ok?" Lin Yan frowned and asked, "Has this kind of thing ever happened before?" Yang Zhubu nodded and was about to speak, but couldn't help but say: "Fifth Master, why don't you throw this thing away first? This thing looks unlucky and is really creepy..."

Lin Yan held the piece of gold, put his hands behind his back, and said thoughtfully: "Go on." Seeing this, Yang Zhubu felt helpless and told the truth. At that time, he was a clerk in the Wainansi, responsible for copying documents. At that time, a strange case occurred, causing panic among the people. A total of 27 people from seven families died. The death was extremely tragic, with all the internal organs hollowed out and dried overnight, like bacon. But there was a silver ingot on the table of every household. At the bottom of the silver, there is an ancient character with complicated strokes that is difficult to recognize. Later, three priests from Liuzun Temple came together and took seven days to resolve the matter. Since then, such murders have never happened again. "The murderer was not caught?" "It's not mentioned in the file. The case was closed hastily." "..." Lin Yan took his hand back, took the gold ingot, looked at it carefully, and said thoughtfully: "Was it silver back then?" "That's right." Yang Zhubu replied, "The case has been sealed and the Tianshi Department has named it 'buying money for life'." "Money for life?" Lin Yan weighed the gold, sneered, and said, "You want to buy my life with an ingot of gold?" As soon as he finished speaking, doubts suddenly arose in his heart. If the so-called ominous sign is this life-saving money, it is this life-saving money. Then how come Liuzun Temple, which had dealt with such strange things in the past, was helpless in the face of what happened to Mr. Jing? Even the Liuzun Temple believed that Mr. Jing's ominous sign had nothing to do with evil spirits! Isn’t this so-called money for buying life a way for evil spirits to take lives? Just as he was thinking this, he heard Yang Zhubu's trembling voice say: "Otherwise, report it to the Wai Nan Division? This thing is too fierce, even you are targeted?" In the case of that year, the seven families were all ordinary people. This time, first he targeted the Night Watchman last night, and then tonight he targeted the flag-bearer of the Astronomical Monitoring Bureau? And the Fifth Master is not just an ordinary flag bearer. Judging from the fact that he knocked down Liang Hu with one sword strike, he has reached the peak of internal strength. More importantly, the Fifth Master had a bad reputation, had killed many people, and was extremely murderous. Not to mention the entire outer city south area, at least in Linjiangfang, Fifth Master is the most difficult person to mess with! The only explanation for why it dared to target Master Wu is that this thing is too ferocious! "Master Wu, why don't you throw this thing away first?" Yang Zhubu hesitated and said, "I will immediately have all the willow branch night lamps stored in the warehouse light up and hang them all over the inside and outside of the Tianjiansi." "There are still some incense candles and incense ashes from Liuzun Temple in the storehouse." "I told the servant to get a pair of incense sticks, light them, and put them on your door."

"Do you want to carry the incense ashes with you, or sprinkle them all over Linjiangsi first?" Yang Zhubu asked cautiously. Lin Yan glanced at him and said calmly, "It's up to you." Upon hearing this, Yang Zhubu nodded quickly and immediately called for someone to open the warehouse. Lin Yan's eyes were fixed quietly on the gold ingot in his hand. I originally wanted to visit the slaughterhouse at night, but it seems I have to put things over there aside for tonight. Holding the gold, he went straight to the hall and sat on the upper seat. He took off his sword and placed it before his eyes. He loaded the small crossbow with arrows and placed it at his side. He closed his eyes slightly, waiting for the one who came to take his life. "Fifth Master, have some tea." Suddenly, there were the sounds of light footsteps, accompanied by a timid voice. Lin Yan had already noticed it, opened his eyes, and tilted his head to look at the little girl. The little girl lost her only relative yesterday. At this moment, her face was full of timidity. She looked nervous and uneasy as she held the tea in both hands. "Have you completed your grandfather's funeral arrangements?" Lin Yan asked, reaching out to take the tea. "Master Yang has finished it." The little girl from the Zhou family raised her head, seeming to want to say something but stopping herself. After finishing her work, she did not go home but stayed in Linjiangsi. The meaning is already quite obvious. The old people in the Zhou family were still alive, but they were almost wiped out. Now there is only a little girl left, and it will be difficult for them to make a living in the future. Without protection, you will surely be bullied. And if she could work in Linjiangsi, even as a servant, most people would not dare to offend her. "Did Chief Yang leave you here?" Lin Yan took a sip of tea and said calmly. In his eyes, it was mostly Yang Zhubu who pitied the little girl, who was lonely and helpless. "Master Wu, please keep me here. I can sweep the floor, wipe the table, do laundry and cook. I don't want any pay." She fell to her knees, kowtowed repeatedly, and cried. It seems that Yang Zhubu still dared not go beyond the banner-bearing envoy and easily take in outsiders in Linjiangsi. The little girl must have known the inside story, so she came with tea and knelt down to beg for shelter. "Tonight..."

Lin Yan was just about to let her go down and rest for a while and discuss the matter tomorrow, but he suddenly remembered something. Then he reached into his bosom, took out something, and said, "Take this, go to the backyard, give it to Yang Zhubu, and ask him to put it somewhere for me." The little girl was a little confused, but she obeyed. She took the thing and walked away. After the little girl left, the hall seemed to become dim in a moment. A gust of cold wind came from outside, passed straight through the gate of Linjiangsi, bypassed the screen wall, came to the hall, and headed towards Lin Yan. "I've been waiting for you for a long time." (End of this chapter)