The wind dissipated, but the sky of Kuronuma was still gloomy.
As soon as the ghost tide faded, the white paper fairy city was no longer as glamorous as it was at the beginning, the city walls were mottled, and the pale walls were either full of cracks or potholes.
Tie Guzheng couldn't hide his exhaustion, but he still gritted his teeth, dragged his injured body, and commanded his subordinates to repair the fortifications first and then clean the battlefield.
Not only the city walls were damaged, but also many buildings near the city walls.
The huge offensive brought by the ghost tide has endangered the city. The smell of burnt paper filled the ruins, the blood of the monks spilled on the rust on the spot, and the smell of death permeated the corpses.
There were many wounded barracks arranged in the White Paper Immortal City.
Each one is overcrowded.
But I was lucky to be able to stay here. Because many monks died on the spot, they didn't even have a chance to heal.
The monks in charge of medical care shuttle here.
At normal times, Qingchi was also active here.
Her green flame heals the injuries of the living, she is a good hand, often miraculous, and the results are rapid.
After each round of treatment, Qing Chi could gain a lot of prestige, and his reputation was rising in the entire Immortal City.
But at this moment, she was still at Yang Sanyan's eyes.
The person hosting the scene here is Zheng Shoumo, an old Confucian in the ink pool.
"Master Zheng, come here, someone is dying!" A monk cried out for help.
Zheng Shoumo rushed over and saw that the wounded soldier was dying, and there was almost no complete armor leaf on his body, and his left shoulder was even more miserable. The shoulder blades and collarbones were shattered, and the sharp stubble of the bones pierced the flesh, and they were ferociously exposed to the dim light.
In a hole in the flesh and bones, there were clumps of sticky and black blood clots, as well as gray and white bone residue.
Every time the wounded soldier struggled to breathe, bubbly blood gushed out from the depths of the hole, flowing down the tattered clothes and soaking the stretcher under him.
His breath was as weak as a candle in the wind.
Zheng Shoumo looked at it carefully, and with a flip of his left hand, he turned out a roll of light topaz that was neither silk nor silk, and was shiny and warm.
He held the jade plate in his palm, instilled mana, and urged a pale yellow brilliance.
The brilliance reflected over the wounded soldiers, revealing an article on self-cultivation.
Countless words mixed with warm yellow light disappeared into the wounded soldier's body.
The wounded soldier's body first stiffened suddenly, and then relaxed. His furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and the wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
After a while, his closed eyelids loosened a little, and he slowly opened his eyes, although his eyes were still dissipated, but there was a glimmer of life.
To stabilize the lives of the wounded soldiers, Zheng Shoumo immediately stopped treatment.
It's not that he doesn't want to, but he has to deliberately restrain his strength. There are too many wounded soldiers, and from time to time there are wounded people who are on the verge of death and need emergency treatment.
He and some monks with superb medical skills were mainly responsible for taking action in time to pull the wounded back from the abyss of death.
"Lord Zheng, Master Wen is at the camp gate, please talk to me." A monk came to report.
Zheng Shoumo's eyes shrank slightly, his expression was indifferent, and he nodded: "I'll go back quickly."
He left the group of wounded soldiers, came to the gate of the camp, and saw Wen Nejade carrying his hands on his back.
Wen Nephrite slowly turned around, and with his movement, the other two monks revealed their figures.
It was Ning Zhuo and Yang Sanyan.
The three of them surrounded Zheng Shoumo in the center, and their momentum was overwhelming.
At the same time, the surrounding environment changes rapidly. After a few breaths, Zheng Shoumo was already in a grassland.
Grass head dojo!
Zheng Shoumo's face was slightly strange, staring at the source of the grass head dojo———— Yang Sanyan: "This must be Lord Yang Sanyan of the Vientiane Sect."
"May I ask what you want?"
Yang Sanyan: "Someone has exposed your identity as a traitor, Zheng Shoumo."
Yang Sanyan looked at Ning Zhuo.
Zheng Shoumo glanced at Ning Zhuo, but turned to look at Wen Neptune: "This is slander. Does Master Wen think so too?"
Wen Nephrite had a complicated expression, and sighed and said: "Zheng Lao, I just doubt it, I need to confront it at present."
Zheng Shoumo then turned to Ning Zhuo: "Jiao Ma Xiaoyou, I didn't expect this to be the case when we meet again. Please also tell me, what did I do that caused you to have such a huge misunderstanding?"
Ning Zhuo's expression was flat: "The male concubine of the Aphrodisiac Hospital was poisoned on a large scale, shocking the whole city. I have investigated the scene and have always had a strange feeling."
"When I was alone, I thought about where the weird feeling came from."
"That's Yang Weida."
"When the other male concubines died, they all looked fierce and full of pain. But Yang Weida is not, he looks calm, as if he does not notice the pain of losing any life."
"Why is this happening?"
Zheng Shoumo: "Maybe the murderer was too fast, so Yang Weida did not suffer and died too quickly."
Ning Zhuo shook his head: "There is a key hidden here———— how did the male concubines die? The real cause of death of Yang Weida and others was ultimately blamed on the poisonous spiritual food."
"Therefore, let an innocent old man take the initiative to confess his guilt."
"We all know that he is not the murderer, so who is the murderer and how did he poison so many male concubines?"
Zheng Shoumo was expressionless: "Jiao Ma Xiaoyou, if you don't even figure out this question and come to confront me, you are in a hurry, right?"
Ning Zhuo showed a wry smile: "I am indeed not as good as some people, and I am actually not good at solving cases."
"I guess the murderer has been hiding his schemes."
"Whether it is the recent group killing of male concubines, or the deaths of Shen Bing and Chen Sui before, the causes of their deaths are hidden under the surface."
"At first, I thought that the murderers fabricated the illusion of death in order to frame each other, sow discord, and disrupt the order in the city."
"Maybe it does have this purpose, but it is not the main purpose."
"The main purpose of the murderer is to disguise himself and cover up his true means of assassinating others. And this method will be very distinctive, once discovered, it is likely to implicate the murderer!"
"If the means of assassinating others originate from Confucianism, then it is difficult for us to discern. Confucian cultivators are rare and too rare here. And in the whole city, only Wen Nejade and Lord Zheng are Confucian cultivators."
Zheng Shoumo: "There is some truth, but this is just a conjecture, how can I prove that I am the murderer?"
"And according to what Jiao Ma Xiaoyou said, this confrontation is not only for me, but also for Lord Wen Nephrite?"
Wen Neptune's eyes moved slightly, and she remained silent.
Ning Zhuo stared at Zheng Shoumo, his eyes sharp: "Yang Weida's death is a flaw."
"If he and the other monks are poisoned, their expressions will definitely be painful and distorted."
"But he didn't!"
"The murderer's assassination method was ineffective against him, forcing the murderer to find other methods to kill. Or his assassination method is not so strong on Yang Weida."
"This makes me think, what is the difference between Yang Weida and the rest of the male concubines."
"Obviously, the most obvious difference ———— he is an outsider!"
Zheng Shoumo was always expressionless.
Ning Zhuo continued: "So is there any huge difference between outsiders and locals in the White Paper Immortal City?"
"There is one."
"That's the ink pool!"
When Zheng Shoumo heard this, he finally raised his eyebrows.
Ning Zhuo said again: "I also listened to Senior Wen's advice, and only then did I know the effect of Mo Chi on the education of the entire White Paper Immortal City!"
"The ink pool is a treasure of Confucianism, born from the inkstone in the four treasures of the study. The water of the ink pool can educate the world, wash away the barbaric and hostile spirit, and submit to Wendao."
"Since the construction of the ink pool, it has been the most important drinking water for the entire White Paper Immortal City, and even the surrounding villages and towns."
"And the ink pool is guarded by you, Mr. Zheng, in order to maintain the daily operation of the ink pool, you also observe the people's sentiments everywhere, hold various immortal city positions, visit the alleys, and participate in many market life."
"You are a Confucian scholar, you have to do something in ink, it's too easy."
"The drinking water in the Immortal City is all ink, even if you make spiritual food, you can't escape the water. This is just waiting for the Gu to be conspiratorial, the whole city will be calculated by you."
"You used ink as a guide and used some kind of Confucian cultivation method to accurately assassinate the target......"
Zheng Shoumo snorted coldly: "Enough, Jiao Ma, this is all your speculation. If you have evidence, please throw it out directly. I have a heavy responsibility and no time to listen to your long-winded words. Do you know that if you delay me for so long, it is likely that the wounded will die because of this!"
Yang Sanyan and Wen Nephrite both cast their eyes on Ning Zhuo.
Ning Zhuo spread his hands: "I have no evidence."
Yang Sanyan and Wen Nephrite stared at Ning Zhuo together.
Ning Zhuo held his head high and did not have the slightest stage fright: "I said it earlier, I am not a god catcher."
Yang Sanyan snorted coldly: "Boy, I'm not here to play with you."
Wen Nejab said: "Maybe you can ask the lord of the city to take action and use the "Suwen Heart Scroll".
Ning Zhuo shook his head: "It's useless."
"I think when thoroughly investigating the traitors before, the city lord should have used the "Suwen Heart Scroll" for all the high-ranking officials."
"The mole has never been checked. It can only explain two possibilities, one is that the traitor is not among the high-ranking officials, and the other is that the "Suwen Heart-to-Heart Volume" is invalid."
"The "Suwen Heart-Opening Volume" is a Confucian method, and Zheng Lao may have relied on this to survive every review safely."
Zheng Shoumo sneered: "I understand, come to think of it, this is all your conjecture. Do you know that you are wrongfully accusing the innocent!"
Just as Ning Zhuo was about to speak, Wen Nephrine suggested: "If Zheng Lao has tampered with the ink pool, maybe I can go and investigate and use my Confucian cultivation methods to check for any suspicious clues."
Ning Zhuo waved his hand: "How could Zheng Lao not be wary of this?"
"I still remember, Master Wen, you once told me. The ink pool has been repeatedly destroyed for a long time."
"Tell me, the nature of the ghost race is ghostly and does not want to be changed by external forces of Confucianism, so it is trying to destroy it."
"I understand this, but what I don't understand is, why can their destruction succeed so many times?"
"The ink pool is so important to the White Paper Immortal City, according to common sense, shouldn't it be protected heavily?"
Wen Nejab smiled bitterly: "It has already been heavily protected, but every time the ghost clan destroys it, it is very tricky, sometimes there are internal members who are instigated, and some are whimsical......"
Speaking of this, Wen Nephrite's face turned pale, and she paused first.
His eyes shrank slightly, staring at Zheng Shoumo.
In the past, I didn't feel it. But now reflecting on it, he suddenly realized that it is really a strange thing that such an important facility as an ink pool can be repeatedly destroyed.
And Zheng Shoumo, who is defending the ink pool, is either incompetent or unable to get out of the relationship.
So, is Zheng Shoumo incompetent?
Wen Nephrite didn't even think about this question, so she shook her head and denied it.
Zheng Shoumo surpassed him as a Jindan monk in many ways. For example, the understanding of the "Recruitment Contract Outline". So much so that when it came to recruiting ghost generals, Wen Neptune took the initiative to give way to Xian, and Zheng Shoumo was better than him.
This is the prosperous era of cultivation!
In such a prosperous era, all kinds of cultivation techniques are like a hundred flowers blooming and a hundred schools of thought contending.
Just like Wen Nephrite introduced to Ning Zhuo before, Confucianism is a school that is the most latecomer. The reason why he can occupy a wall of the country is that he has mixed a lot of cultivation skills into his cultivation method.
For example, the four traditional arts of scholars are piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and the six arts of gentlemen are etiquette, music, archery, charioteer, calligraphy, and mathematics.
Cultivation is only one aspect of measuring the strength of a monk.
Mastering advanced skills can often make a monk with a low cultivation level better than an opponent with a higher cultivation level.
Confucian cultivators have a deep knowledge of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and various works, and can also do things that highly cultivated Confucian scholars cannot do.
Zheng Shoumo can surpass Wen Nephrite in the "Recruitment Contract Outline", why can't he surpass the latter in other aspects?
This is a very likely thing.
Thinking of this, Wen Nephrite looked at Zheng Shoumo's gaze and changed drastically.
Zheng Shoumo snorted coldly and asked Ning Zhuo again: "Jiao Ma, do you have any evidence? From beginning to end, you are guessing out of thin air. If you have evidence, take it out, and if you don't, get out!" Don't delay me in getting down to business."
Ning Zhuo was expressionless: "I told you a long time ago, I have no evidence."
Zheng Shoumo raised his eyebrows and was about to shout, but Ning Zhuo continued to himself: "I am not a god catcher."
"But I am the deputy city lord!"
"I don't pay attention to evidence when I do things."
Zheng Shoumo's expression suddenly froze.
Wen Nephrite frowned, looking hesitant.
On the contrary, Yang Sanyan raised his head, laughed, clapped his hands and said: "This statement is very much in line with my heart! Zheng Shoumo, you will be captured, anyway, the city lacks you, but a few more monks will die. The huge white paper immortal city can still bear such a loss. You take yourself too seriously, it doesn't matter without you!"
Zheng Shoumo's lips moved, staring at Ning Zhuo, as if he wanted to swear, but due to his demeanor, he did not curse out loud.
Ning Zhuo's gaze seemed to be able to penetrate people's hearts, and he said slowly: "Zheng Lao, if you are innocent, you will bind your hands and let us seal you and detain you for a period of time. But I think, hehehe, you may not be very willing."
At the end, Ning Zhuo laughed meaningfully.
"What do you mean by that?" Wen Nephrite frowned, expressing confusion.
Zheng Shoumo's face suddenly disappeared and he became expressionless: "Yes, I don't want to."
Wen Nephrite and Yang Sanyan looked sideways for a while, staring at Zheng Shoumo closely.
Zheng Shoumo's words are very problematic, if he indirectly admits Ning Zhuo's accusations against him.
However, the next moment, Zheng Shoumo said bluntly: "Yes, I am the traitor you have been looking for."