Chapter 196 Eavesdropping
He was wearing a nightgown and had a dagger at his waist.

Li Daoxuan galloped in the night rain and leaped towards the old village chief's house in the village.

He was agile and could jump three or four feet away. In just a few breaths, he ran a hundred meters away.

He didn't bring much with him on this night trip, just a few yellow talismans for fighting, a short sword, and an eight-diagram mirror. After all, he was just going to the old village chief's house to find out the truth, and bringing so many magic tools might not be useful, but it would easily cause trouble and become a burden during the secret investigation.

Under the night rain, Lijia Village was deserted, with only the night watchman walking in the streets, wearing a straw raincoat and shouting about fire and theft.

When Li Daoxuan first arrived, he was very curious about why there were night watchmen in ancient times. Later he realized that the night watchmen were like clocks, telling the people what time and day it was.

People in different periods have their own duties and need to get up at different times. For example, a butcher needs to get up at Chou time to slaughter pigs, and a farmer needs to go to the market at Yin time. These people all need to listen to the night watchman to call the time.

If Master Li had urgent matters and needed to go out early, he would often ask his servants to pay attention to the sound of the night watchman, and wake him up when the time came.

Lijia Village is considered a market village nearby, so it also has night watchmen.

The hanging tower standing at the entrance of the village in the distance is where the night watchmen rest and change shifts.

Regardless of all this, Li Daoxuan listened to the night watchman's call, shuttled between the eaves of the houses, and soon arrived near the old village chief's house.

He squatted on the roof and looked at the yard of the old village chief's house where the lights were still on.

The old village chief's house was a double courtyard, with a courtyard in the front and back, with a total of ten rooms. In addition to the old village chief living alone in the inner courtyard, the outer courtyard was where several of his brothers lived.

The front yard was filled with firewood and weeds, and there were pig and cattle sheds in the yard.

With luck in his eyes, even in such a dark night, Li Daoxuan could still see everything in the courtyard clearly.

He jumped from the roof like a flying crane and landed on the roof of the old village chief's house.

Looking at the yellow guard dog in the yard that seemed to have noticed something, he quickly made a hand gesture and used the rain to write the word "Six Gods" on the palm of his hand. He circled it to the left and chanted softly: "Burn incense to announce to the six gods of the house. Each of you should stay in your position and don't make a mess. Eliminate disasters and bring blessings to the gate, hurry up and obey the order!"

After chanting the curse, he drew a circle and made two strokes to the left and right, one horizontal and one vertical, and wrote the word "zhen" under the vertical stroke. He then pointed his palm towards the chickens, dogs, cows and sheep. The poultry, which had been making some noises, suddenly became quiet and lay down in their burrows.

This method is a talisman for warding off disasters and misfortunes, but it can also calm the noise of poultry, so Li Daoxuan used it for other purposes.

After the livestock and poultry in the yard had settled down, Li Daoxuan landed lightly on the ground. The rustling sound of the drizzle covered his whereabouts, and even the most alert people would find it difficult to hear his movements.

Looking at the houses in the outer courtyard, Li Daoxuan stood at the door and listened.

The rooms were full of people, probably where the old village chief's relatives lived.

He patrolled all around and then looked into the yard. He saw that only the old village chief lived in the inner yard, so there should be no one else.

After walking a few steps, I saw several clay dolls placed under the eaves between the inner and outer courtyards.

Li Daoxuan suddenly felt hesitant, thinking that there was something wrong with these clay dolls. They seemed to be looking at him quietly as he came in.

Without thinking too much, he pinched his fingers and whispered: "Yangming's spirit is extremely spiritual. It can restrain evil spirits and hide its original form. With a magic talisman, all troubles will be solved. If anyone dares to disobey, the heavenly soldiers will come. Hurry up and obey the order!"

While chanting the spell, he drew a talisman with the help of rainwater. First, write the word "ghost", make three curves on both sides, write the word "ear" and the word "listen" in the middle, make a circle in the middle, and then make six circles in a row to the left and right, fold it in the middle, circle to the upper left, and make two curves to the lower right. When the talisman is finished, he clenched his fists, made the "Three Mountains" gesture with both hands, and chanted "Huh."

The original feeling of being spied on disappeared, and Li Daoxuan's heart calmed down a little.

"Sure enough, there is something wrong with this clay doll." Thinking secretly in his heart, Li Daoxuan paid even more attention to the inner courtyard of the old village chief.

It is obvious that there must be something hidden here that they don't want people to find, otherwise the old village chief would not have asked anyone to do such a thing.

It is probably not something an ordinary wizard can do to give a clay doll a living being.

"It should be related to that Japanese wizard." Li Daoxuan thought to himself and stepped into the inner courtyard without getting his shoes wet with rain.

He looked carefully at the inner courtyard and found that only one room had the light on. Whispers came from that room, as if the old village chief was talking to someone.

"Who would come to the old village chief's house so late?"

It was dark and rainy at this moment. The villagers who needed to rest had already done so, and those who did not want to rest were busy with other things.

It seems that there are not many people who can come to the old village chief's house at this time.

Who would come here on such a day? And who would allow the old village chief to have a nighttime conversation with him?
"Could it be that Japanese wizard?" Li Daoxuan thought to himself, and couldn't help but tighten his body and quicken his pace a little.

He first performed a magic gesture to calm his body, and then chanted a spell to calm his soul. This not only quieted the noise he might make accidentally, but also prevented him from getting hurt if there were any evil spells or restrictions in the place.

Leaning down to the eaves, he gently pressed against the wall and heard the voice of the old village chief talking to someone else from inside the house.

"I have already told you not to do anything against the will of heaven and earth in the village! Why do you still want to kill people!" The old village chief's voice was low and angry. He knocked on the floor with his cane, obviously suppressing his temper.

"Why do you want to harm the two brothers of Li Changde's family? Is Li Xiucai's wife also related to you? I am willing to let you enter the village, but not to let you do such a disaster!"

"Disaster? What kind of disaster is this? Just a few people died. It's nothing at all." Along with the old village chief's voice, another sharp and charming male voice came.

The voice sounded like that of a colorful snake, with the gloomy voice of a snake and the sharpness of a female, just like the voice of a eunuch that Li Daoxuan had heard in a TV drama, which was really creepy.

"It's nothing?! What kind of person are you talking about?! The kid from Li Tie's family is dead, and I have finally suppressed the matter and told the villagers not to bring it up again. I also told you that if you dare to cause trouble in the village again, I will drive you out of Lijia Village!" The old village chief said breathlessly and gritting his teeth.

As Li Daoxuan listened to their conversation, he became more certain about his previous guesses, but also more disappointed.

Sure enough, all the strange things in the village are related to the old village chief.

Just by listening to what the old village chief said, he understood that the old village chief was unwilling to harm the people in the village, but the person he was talking to did not care about human life at all.

"Drive me away? Hahaha." Another person laughed. "Yun Chengsang, have you forgotten your current situation? I am the one you invited here. Do you think you can live in peace if someone dies in the village? Yun Chengsang, are you daydreaming? There is an old saying in Shenzhou: Birds of a feather. We are both on the same path. Yun Chengsang, do you still want to get away? I can get away, but can you, Yun Chengsang? If I make this public, I will be the only one to leave Shenzhou. And you will be disgraced and become a sinner in Lijia Village. You will be despised and nailed to a stone tablet and cursed for the rest of your life."

"Enough! Stop talking!" The old village chief interrupted the man angrily.

(End of this chapter)