Chapter Thirteen: Substitute Paper Man

  He locked himself in the guest room, spending two days carefully thinking through all the possible situations he might encounter after leaving the inn and how to deal with them. He didn't stop until he felt like he had considered everything thoroughly, then spent some more time adjusting his magical powers and state to their best. He thought about what would happen when he left the inn - it was highly likely that he wouldn't even make it a few steps before being killed on the spot. If that were the case, so be it; at least he wouldn't have said goodbye to Honglian.

  Dai Yun had just made up his mind, but before he could leave the room, Hong Chui suddenly burst in. As soon as she entered the door, she smiled and said: "Dai Yun, I found a good friend who can deal with those who are chasing you."

  Although Da Yi had already made up his mind to fight desperately, he felt a slight relief upon hearing this. Hong Chui smiled and said: "I've already brought him here."

  Following Hong Chui, three branches and another person came in. The man was a middle-aged Taoist priest who called himself Mu Dao Ren.

  Mu Dao Ren simply said: "I'll take care of finding the killer who's after you, as for what happens next, you all can settle it among yourselves."

  As he spoke, Mù Dào Rén took out a dozen or so bottles and jars, opened them one by one, and carefully arranged them on the table. He then took out a brush and paper, and began to draw with the contents of the bottles and jars. Every few strokes, he would switch between the different containers, making it a very tedious process. After a while, he finally managed to sketch out human figures on several sheets of paper.

  Then, Mokdo took the bottle and had Daee draw his finger to take some blood, which he dripped onto several human-shaped figures. Finally, Mokdo chanted a spell in front of several talismans and said "Rise!"

  The talismans on the table moved slightly, and then several small people shook out of the talismans and stood up. Those small people seemed to have life, walking around on the table.

  "Quickly, grab them in your hands, don't let them run away."

  Dai Yun hastily pinched the paper men in his hand one by one. Mu Dao Ren said, "You go to the guest house entrance, infuse your magic power, and you can let them out. From then on, it's up to you to adapt to changing circumstances."

  Jian Da nodded, and Mu Dao Ren urged: "Then go quickly, if the time is too long, the spell will not work."

  She grasped the paper man in her palm, pushed open the door and hastily walked towards the main entrance of the inn. Hong Chui saw this and hurriedly followed behind her, with San Zhi following closely behind Hong Chui.

  Dai Yi stood at the entrance of the inn, taking advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention, he threw out a paper man with his hand. He saw that the paper man shook and swayed from small to large, finally becoming the same size as a real person, exactly like Dai Yi himself. This magic turned out to be a substitute technique.

  The substitute paper man fell to the ground and left the inn on his own, walking into the crowd. Da Bi released two more in a row, watching them leave in different directions. Da Bi secretly measured through the door window of the inn, only to see the substitute paper man walking among the crowd, stopping and walking, no different from ordinary people.

  The first substitute paper man didn't go far before suddenly falling straight down, turning into a puff of green smoke. The next thing he knew, a slender woman was stunned for a moment, then hastily turned around and rushed back into the crowd. Da Ye looked around in two other directions, only to find that the second substitute had also vanished, no one knew what had happened to him. Seeing that the third one had already walked past an intersection, Da Ye took a deep breath, mustered up his courage, turned around and rushed out of the inn, chasing after the direction of the third substitute.

  On the Zhuque Street of Chang'an, people were coming and going, Dabai was staring intently at the substitute in front, also walking and stopping. Just as he had walked out of a street, the substitute in front suddenly disappeared. Dabai hastily concentrated his mind to look, only to see a scholar-like person standing there, with an arm emitting a faint blue glow that was hard to detect. This glow was the dye of the substitute paper man, and that scholar was the killer.

  The young scholar hesitated for a moment before darting into the crowd, cautiously hiding in the corner of a shop wall and looking around. Taking advantage of the assassin being startled by the substitute paper man, he quickly lowered his head and swiftly passed by that person, hurrying along Zhuque Avenue.

  Dai Wu knew that the three killers would soon come to their senses and then think of a way to catch up with him. For killers, there are probably many ways to track down targets. Dai Wu was afraid that there might be other killers, so he walked quickly with his heart pounding, and saw that he was getting closer and closer to the gate of Chang'an City. Just as he arrived at the city gate, he felt someone chasing after him, and when he turned around, he saw Hong Chui riding a dark red horse in pursuit.

  Hong Chui caught up with Da Yun and hastily said: "Quickly mount your horse."

  She hesitated for a moment, then lightly jumped onto the horse's back. With a swing of her whip and a couple of soft cries, she shouted: "Make way! Make way quickly! My precious horse has been startled!"

  As people scattered in all directions, the two of them rushed out of the city gate and didn't stop. They pushed through the crowd amidst the shouts of the gate guards and disappeared into the distance. Da Bi turned his head to look back and saw a few people rushing towards him from afar. One of them was San Zhi, who seemed to have shouted a few times. The other three had a faint blue glow on their bodies - there was that slender woman and another scholar, while the third one was a monk. The three of them chased after them until they reached the city gate, but saw that they couldn't catch up anymore. They turned around and went back, blending into the crowd once again.

  Just then, Hong Chui said: "Hold on tight, I'm afraid they'll find a mount to chase us down. We have to hurry."

  She wrapped her arms around Hong Niang's waist and said, "Thank you so much, I'm afraid I'll get you into trouble."

  Hong Chai turned her head to look at Da Yun and said: "You're still so distant, aren't we sworn sisters? Why say such things."

  "After a moment of contemplation, he said seriously: 'Yes, a friendship that transcends life and death.'"

  Two people looked at each other and smiled. The red tassel in her hand raised the horse whip, danced out a whip flower, and laughed: "Good horse run fast, good horse run fast."

  They galloped southward, rushing forward without knowing how far they had gone until both the horse and its rider were exhausted. They stopped to rest for a while. The two of them had been traveling in the wind and sleeping under the dew, always on tenterhooks. But Hong Chui seemed to be taking it all in stride, smiling and chatting as if she were out sightseeing. After walking for a while longer, they saw a small hill ahead with farmers on top, cultivating terraced fields and planting crops and vegetables.

  As they climbed the mountain path and reached the middle of the mountain, they saw a single-plank bridge spanning the mountain stream. Next to the bridge, in the fields, three farmers were working in the fields. As they approached, Hong Chui asked for directions, while Da Bi carefully looked at the three people, only to see an old woman, an elderly man, and a middle-aged man wrapped in a headscarf. After looking for a few moments, Da Bi's expression suddenly changed - those three people seemed somewhat familiar, as if they had seen them somewhere before.

  At this time, a blue light flashed on the old woman's body, and it was seen by Daxiong. The three people were actually three killers in disguise, intending to intercept and kill Daxiong ahead of time. Daxiong's face changed color involuntarily, but he quickly regained his composure, stopped in his tracks, and stood still at a distance, waiting quietly.

  Hong Chui and the three men exchanged a few words, then Hong Chui turned back with a smile: "If we go further ahead, it will be Chengdu Prefecture. I think the scenery here is quite good; why don't we take a rest here?"

  Dai Yun saw Hong Chui with his back to the three men, completely off guard, and anxiously replied, "Good, I'm thirsty anyway. Let's use our gourd to ask for some clear water from them."

  Saying that, Dabai pretended to rummage through the bundle, seeing Hong Chui walking over, those three people didn't make a move. Seeing Hong Chui was really going back to get some water to drink, Dabai suddenly said to Hong Chui: "Younger sister, you stand still."

  Dai Yi stood in front of Hong Chui, embracing her shoulders and smiled: "There's something on your hair." As he spoke, Dai Yi wrapped one arm around Hong Chui and gently brushed against her ear with the other hand, then intimately adjusted her collar. Hong Chui's face immediately flushed red, she smiled and lowered her head in silence.

  She glanced at him with a corner of her eye, pulled the red hairpin closer, and whispered in her ear: "Those three people are those three killers."

  Hong Chuan was shocked and whispered to Da Yun: "We must think of a way to get rid of them."

  Hong Chuan nodded and said in a low voice, "Since they've exposed their identities, we can handle them. Let's pretend to be affectionate for now, don't let them suspect anything."

  Hong Chui's face turned red with shame, and she lowered her head in embarrassment. Da Yun was taken aback for a moment, then looked at the woman in front of him seriously, stretched out his hand to stroke her cheek, and gently kissed her pale face. He whispered: "You smell so good."

  After they finished speaking, the two of them chuckled softly and Hong Chui affectionately patted Da Yun's back twice. The two linked arms, occasionally whispering intimately into each other's ears. Da Yun glanced over through Hong Chui's flowing long hair and saw that those three people were pretending to be busy with their farm tools, but they couldn't help sneaking glances over. They had all turned the seedlings in the field upside down. What was even more laughable was that sturdy man - it was so hot, yet he still wrapped his head in a scarf; he was probably that monk without a doubt. The old woman revealed a patch of snow-white skin on her wrist, clearly a young woman, and not at all like a farmer's wife who was used to doing rough work.

  The two pretended to stroll, slowly walking towards the direction of the wooden bridge. The three killers noticed that the old man stood up and bowed his hands to Da Biao: "That young fellow, my home is not far away, if you don't mind, come to my house to rest your feet, I see that little girl is a bit tired."

  "Thank you, old man," said Dai Yun with a smile. "We don't dare disturb you, we'll just rest over there." As he spoke, Dai Yun pointed to the other side of the single-plank bridge, where there was a dry and empty space under the shade of a tree.

  The two of them chatted as they walked, and soon arrived at the empty lot. When they reached the bridgehead, Dà Yǎn grabbed Hong Chui's arm, and with a smile, they stepped onto the narrow plank bridge. The bridge was extremely narrow, and below it, the creek water flowed rapidly, its depth unknown. The wooden bridge wasn't long, and in just a few steps, they reached the other side.

  Looking from here, the mountains are emerald green, and the streams flow rapidly, making people feel carefree. The two of them leaned against a large tree trunk, whispering and laughing softly, embracing each other tightly, as if they didn't care about anything else.

  The three people in the field looked at each other, and the old man stood up and said loudly on purpose: "I'm also tired now, let's go home and rest for a while."

  The old woman just hummed a low "en", and the old man said: "Erbaba, pack up your things, let's go back."

  "Alright, Dad."

  The three of them put away their farm tools and walked silently towards the single-plank bridge, casting sideways glances at the two men standing at the other end. The two men were leaning against each other, seemingly in a romantic moment, and the three people exchanged a look with each other before calmly crossing the bridge one after another.

  Just as the three of them reached the middle of the wooden bridge, they quickened their pace with some impatience. At this moment, a drumbeat suddenly sounded, and looking up, they saw that Dabao and his wife had stood up, with Honglian holding a hand drum and beating it. Dabao sneered: "Don't you think your faces are too pale? You need to get more sun to pass as farmers."

  A tall, gaunt man with a frosty complexion and a short sword in hand walked swiftly towards them. The three of them hastily retreated along the original path. At this time, the sound of drums began to reverberate, and the three people's spirits were immediately subdued by the soul-calming drum, causing their expressions to become dull and their bodies to sway. The tall man took a few steps onto the bridge, stabbed out with his sword, and the three men crowded together, unable to move. Only the old man managed to gather a thread of consciousness, holding a dagger in his hand and randomly parrying a few times before being stabbed in the chest by the tall man's sword and falling into the mountain stream. The remaining two assassins were even more pitiful, their spirits completely subdued, and the tall man killed them one by one on the wooden bridge.

  The corpse was kicked off the wooden bridge, and Dai suddenly felt much lighter. Dai turned his head to look at Hong Chui, who smiled and said, "It's done, this matter is finally settled."

  "Thanks to you."

  Hong Chui said: "Right, now that all the people who were chasing and killing you are dead, what else do you plan to do?"

  Dai Yun's expression changed, his face clouding over. Hong Chui looked at Dai Yun's face and said: "I've heard that the Mt. Shu Sword Immortal Sect is most skilled in sword techniques, from here going south is Mt. Shu, why don't we go to Mt. Shu to learn sword techniques, it will be of great help in destroying demons and eliminating evil in the future."

  At first, I thought it was pretty good. Every time I completed a mission, it was always a narrow escape, and if there was even the slightest mistake, my life would be in danger. After learning the sword-controlling technique, once I repaired my Qinghong Sword, I could use it to control the sword and kill enemies, which is much safer than using a short sword to stab people like before.

  The two set off immediately, continuing to rush in the direction of Shu Mountain. In fact, there was another reason that both of them knew in their hearts. Although three killers from Sanhuatang had died, if they returned to Chang'an at this time, it was likely that other killers would take up the bounty.