Chapter 29: Tragedy

  After arriving at Tongfeng Valley, I saw that many people were already waiting there. Among them, a man wearing a red official robe was the most eye-catching. Qin Hu pointed to the man in the red robe and said: "Young master, that is Xiang Fei, the governor of Liangzhou!"

  Fang Yi'ai dismounted his horse and bowed with a smile: "Young nephew Fang Yi'ai has seen Uncle Xiang!"

  "Haha, General, you mustn't do that! You're the precious darling of General Qin. How could I, a rough and unrefined person, dare to have you pay respects to me?" Xiang Fei laughed loudly as he supported Fang Yuai. The chief secretary, Geng Ming, was speechless on the side. This governor was probably the most unreliable in all of Tang Dynasty, actually calling himself a rough and unrefined person.

  Fang Yi Ai rubbed his head and smiled: "Uncle Xiang, you are a brother who fought alongside my master, it is only right that I show you respect."

  "Good, it seems General Qin has taken in a good apprentice. By the way, did you have any gains tonight?" Fang Yiai heard Xiang Fei's question and detailedly told him about what happened tonight. At this time, Xiang Fei also felt that things were getting big, and immediately retracted his smile, glaring at Wang Nianren: "What are you still standing there for? Don't lead the way forward!"

  Wang Nianren nodded and led a group of people to the front of a large poplar tree, standing in the grass and smiling bitterly at Fang Yiai: "Young master, the entrance is right here."

  Fang Yi'ai nodded at Qin Hu, who made a gesture and felt around for a while before finding an iron ring. With a strong pull, the grass skin in front of him was lifted up, revealing a narrow staircase beneath. Qin Hu led the way down, and Fang Yi'ai told Linglong, "Linglong, you don't need to go in, just wait outside." Linglong nodded, and Fang Yi'ai descended the stairs. Standing inside the secret room, Fang Yi'ai said to Wang Nianren, "Lead the way ahead, no tricks!"

  "Gentlemen, I still dare to have any ideas, follow me, this secret room is divided into two layers. The upper layer is where the monkey spirit's subordinates rest, and the lower layer is where the arrow branches are assembled. Those captured people are also locked up there." Wang Nianren said as he led the way to the second floor. As soon as they arrived at the second floor, a strong bloody smell was detected. Fang Yiai felt uneasy when she smelled this bloody smell, and her heart became even more intense. Qin Hu also thought that something might have happened, so he pushed Wang Nianren away and ran forward with his men. Fang Yiai followed closely behind. After running into the secret room on the second floor, they saw a house full of corpses lying horizontally and vertically, with blood still flowing. The temperature of the blood on the ground was still warm, and it was likely that these people had been killed recently. There were over a hundred villagers in the entire secret room, but not a single one was left alive. In addition to the villagers, four masked black-clothed men lay at the entrance of the secret room, clearly having committed suicide. Seeing this situation, Fang Yiai felt deeply guilty and hated the monkey spirit's cruelty even more. He regretted his own lack of consideration and wondered why he hadn't investigated for a longer period before taking action. If they had been prepared, these villagers wouldn't have died.

  Qin Hu seemed to have seen through Fang Yi's thoughts, and frowned in persuasion: "Young master, don't blame yourself, who would have thought that the Monkey Spirit would be so ruthless!"

  "Hu Shu, I should have thought of it earlier. If the Monkey Spirit can be so ruthless in killing Liu Sheng, then they will definitely treat these villagers cruelly too. If I had been more thoughtful at that time, these villagers wouldn't have to die. Haha, what a great way to scare away the snakes! Just now, I was still gloating over this plan, but now I realize how foolish I am. I'm actually forcing the Monkey Spirit to kill these villagers!" Fang Yi'ai suddenly let out a dry laugh, his face pale and looking quite miserable.

  Fang Yiai smiled bitterly for a moment, then walked up to the black-clad men and stripped off their clothes, even removing their shoes, but found no identifying marks. After thinking for a moment, Fang Yiai coldly laughed at Wang Nianren, "Wang Nianren, you really live up to your name. These innocent townspeople, you actually dared to lay hands on them."

  "Gentleman, I really didn't know about these things. Originally, the hall master ordered me to kill these villagers, but I couldn't bear it, so I left Tongfeng Valley under the pretext of escorting Wolf Tooth Arrow. But unexpectedly, without me, the hall master still took action. Those four black-clad men lying on the ground just now were all the hall master's guards." Wang Nianren looked at Fang Yiai's cold eyes and felt as if he was in the midst of a harsh winter, he was truly afraid.

  "So you still have a bit of conscience, then where did the place where Liu Sheng was cut off go?" Fang Yiai now wants to kill this Wang Nianren very much, and the anger in his heart must find a place to vent.

  Wang Nianren clearly felt Fang Yiai's murderous intent and immediately knelt down in front of him, stuttering and saying, "I... I... Young Master, the places where Liu Sheng was cut off were cooked by the hall master and then let these townspeople eat. Young Master, you must believe me, this thing really wasn't done by me, at that time I advised the hall master, but he didn't listen to me at all."

  Wang Nianren's words had not finished, Xiang Fei slapped him in the face with a loud slap, "You beast, you bunch of beasts, don't you have any conscience? Forcing these townspeople to work for you, and even forcing them to eat human flesh. If it weren't for your usefulness, I would have killed you now!"

  Fang Yiai felt like vomiting after hearing Wang Nianren's words, he really didn't expect that in this peaceful and prosperous era, such a thing would happen. He now hated the Hu Ling so much that he wanted to wipe them out completely. This group of beasts was too cruel. Thinking of this, Fang Yiai suddenly raised his head and shouted in horror: "Not good! Uncle Hu, Uncle Xiang, let's hurry to Niu Jia Village!"

  Fang Yi ran out in a panic, Qin Hu and Xiang Fei also thought of something and shouted in shock: "Don't just stand there, hurry up, rush to Niu Jia Village at the fastest speed!"

  Fang Yi Ai rushed out of the secret room, mounted his horse and galloped westward. Even when Ling Lu called out to him from behind, he didn't respond. He was only thinking about hurrying to Niu Jia Village, hoping that nothing terrible had happened.

  Twenty li was neither near nor far, but soon Fang Yi Ai arrived at Niu Jia Village. He wasn't afraid of coming to the wrong place because Qin Hu had told him before that within tens of li west of Tongfeng Valley, there was only one Niu Jia Village.

  As he entered the village, he caught a whiff of a strong bloody smell. Fang Yi Ai's head suddenly spun and he fell off his horse, landing on the ground with a thud. After getting up, he seemed to feel no pain and stumbled forward, rushing towards the center of the village.

  The entire Niu Jia Village was ablaze, with corpses littering the streets - men, women, old and young, even infants in their swaddling clothes had lost their lives. Fang Yi Ai saw this scene and fell to his knees, his eyes red and tears streaming down his face as he wailed loudly: "It's me, Fang Yi Ai! I'm sorry! I've wronged you all! I've brought disaster upon you all!"

  Xiang Fei and Qin Hu led the horses to Niu Jia Village, where they saw Fang Yi Ai kneeling at the village entrance, crying loudly as if she had gone mad.

  Qin Hu saw the situation and knew he was late, just as Qin Hu wanted to persuade Fang Yiai, Linglong stopped him. Only then did Linglong, with tears in her eyes, say: "Uncle Tiger, let him cry, it will feel better after crying."

  Qin Hu did not go to persuade Fang Yi'ai after all. This matter was a huge blow to Fang Yi'ai, who was only 14 years old and had to face such a tragic event that could have been completely avoided. However, due to Fang Yi'ai's negligence, he didn't think of this point. Qin Hu sighed, Fang Yi'ai was still too young, although he had done enough good deeds, but he was still negligent, and because of this negligence, the entire Niu Jia Village was slaughtered.

  Xiang Fei and Qin Hu stood quietly at the village entrance, waiting. Before long, a soldier came to report: "Governor, the entire Niu Jia Village with over 700 people has been slaughtered, not a single person was left alive, even infants were stabbed to death!"

  Hearing this, Xiang Fei was so angry that he directly threw the official hat in his hand to the ground. "These bastards, I've been fighting for a lifetime and I've never seen such a thing. It's best if these people don't fall into my hands, if they do, I'll make them wish they were dead!"

  "Second Master, don't cry anymore. After crying, you have to stand up. The villagers of Niujiacun and the townspeople of Malyutown are all relying on you to take revenge." Linglong gently said, hugging Fang Yiai's head, at this moment she was no longer afraid, her eyes only had Fang Yiai in them.

  "But, Linglong, you know, they didn't have to die. It's my fault. If I hadn't been so rash, they could still be alive." Fang Yili sighed and shook his head, unable to forgive himself. He was afraid of sleep, believing that as soon as he closed his eyes, the vengeful spirits would come back for him. More than 800 lives were lost due to his incompetence, and this wasn't even a war.

  Linglong gently held the face of Fang Yiliu's love and said, "Second Master, since you know you've wronged them, then you should stand up and use your future to find those culprits. Only by avenging them can you make amends; otherwise, they will die with unfulfilled wishes."

  "Uh-huh, yes, I'm going to take revenge, I'll kill all those Monkey Spirit bastards, this group of pigs and dogs that are not as good as animals!" Fang Yiai's heart was filled with boundless hatred, he had already made up his mind, no matter how difficult it was, he would pull out the Monkey Spirit, he wanted to see if these beasts still had any conscience left. Fang Yiai bowed his head and knocked three times in front of the deceased villagers of Niu Village, saying: "Respected elders and fellow villagers, rest in peace! I, Fang Yiai, swear that even if it costs me my life, I will help you avenge your deaths!"

  Xiang Fei was angry for a moment, walked to Fang Yi's back and patted his shoulder, saying: "Wise nephew, get up, this kind of thing is unexpected by anyone, who knows these people will be so cruel. Next time when facing the Monkey Spirit, just pay more attention, the dead must not die in vain, these beasts will definitely pay the price."

  "En..." Fang Yiai stood up, wiped away her tears and said: "Uncle Xiang, don't worry, I, Fang Yiai, will definitely catch those beasts. I believe the heroic spirits of Niujiavillage will protect me."

  "It's good that you can think this way, it seems that this matter is not simple. I originally thought it was just a small case." Xiang Fei now also has a headache, the situation has developed to the point where it's no longer something he can handle alone as a detective.

  "Uncle Xiang, please pass on a message to His Majesty that this case is too big and should be investigated by the imperial court. Also, have those wolf-toothed arrows transported to the capital for further examination. This matter is too complicated, it's unbelievable that they were able to obtain so many arrowheads and arrow feathers. Fang Yiai was now filled with worry, having only recovered over 800,000 wolf-toothed arrows, where did the over 1 million arrows that were transported go? Moreover, Fang Yiai believed that Houleng would not have just one secret base, they must have produced many more wolf-toothed arrows elsewhere."

  Xiang Fei furrowed his brow and nodded after hearing Fang Yi's words. The over 1 million wolf-tooth arrows that had been transported out were simply too deadly; if war broke out, these 1 million wolf-tooth arrows could take the lives of 100,000 Tang soldiers. Xiang Fei did not hesitate and immediately rushed back to Liangzhou, writing down what had happened in a memorial, which he sent via express courier to Chang'an. As for the over 800,000 wolf-tooth arrows, Xiang Fei also ordered his soldiers to guard them.

  Fang Yi Ai and a group of people rode their horses out of Ma Liu Town, heading west. The sky was gloomy, with dark clouds gathering, as if a storm was approaching.