Volume 1: Wild Beasts, Changes Begin Chapter 4: Midnight in the Forest
Not long after Fang Yunhan followed Zhao Dapeng out of Yueyang City, he discovered that every time Zhao Dapeng walked a certain distance, he would stop to search for something and then determine the next direction.
Sometimes, he would stare at a few scattered stones for a while, and sometimes he would carefully stroke the roots of a big tree.
Although Fang Yunhan could not see any traces of secret codes in those places, he could guess that his action was probably to find and identify the secret codes left by the Beggar Gang disciples.
The elder who teaches skills is Fengma Niu. He often stays at the headquarters of the Beggars' Sect. Therefore, he is quite familiar to the disciples of the Beggars' Sect, especially those in the Yueyang branch. This morning, a disciple of the Beggars' Sect noticed that he was behaving abnormally, as if he was avoiding something, so he wanted to talk to him, but unfortunately the elder left in a hurry and ignored them.
After Deputy Captain Mi learned the news, he sent a few disciples to change into clean and tidy civilian clothes and follow from a distance. The reason why Zhao Dapeng chose to walk out of the city was, firstly, because he was anxious, and secondly, it was also to make it easier to find the secret codes left by those disciples.
It was going smoothly at the beginning. He searched and walked around for about twenty miles out of the city, deep into the woods, and away from the official road. The time Zhao Dapeng spent searching and identifying the secret marks gradually increased, and his speed gradually slowed down.
They had not yet walked out of the jungle until sunset, but just as the last rays of light from the setting sun were swallowed by the horizon, some messy traces appeared in front of them.
The rags hanging on the recently broken branches, the tree trunks that were broken directly by the powerful blow, the bloodstains on the rocks, and the footprints that went one or two inches deep into the ground, all indicated that a battle had taken place here not long ago.
Zhao Dapeng followed the traces of battle and after a few steps he smelled blood.
Three young men, with their eyes open, fell on the open space in front.
They were all wearing coarse cloth clothes that had been starched to a bleached color and were covered with dust. Under their hats were greasy and matted hair that had not been taken care of for a long time.
One was sitting under a tree with blood coming out of all his orifices. Another was lying on his back with a black face. Another was in the weirdest posture, with his hands and feet twisted abnormally, and his back and buttocks almost squeezed together, like a dead snake.
Zhao Dapeng stepped forward to check, his face turned even redder, and he said, "It was the three brothers who followed us. Two of them were killed by heavy weapons, and the other was hit by an extremely vicious palm force. There is not a single healthy bone in his body."
Fang Yunhan moved closer and touched the corpse in a strange posture. It didn't feel like he was touching a human body, but more like poking a horse belt filled with cotton. A dark red bruise quickly appeared where his fingers touched the corpse, causing him to inwardly take a breath and quickly retract his hand.
Although I had often seen this kind of death with bones shattered in various novels, movies and TV shows in my previous life, the feeling was completely different when I saw such a corpse in person.
Fang Yunhan pressed his eyebrow with the hand that had not touched the corpse, and wiped his twitching eyelids to cover up forced himself to calm down, thought, and said, "Since they sent many people to follow, they will definitely not gather together, especially in a place like the forest. The chances of being exposed if three people gather together are too high."
"Looking at the traces along the way , it doesn't look like they were dragged here after being beaten to death. In other words, something happened during the tracking process, forcing these three people to gather together on their own initiative."
Fang Yunhan looked at the messy footprints and asked, "Can you tell how skilled these three Beggars' Sect disciples are?"
Zhao Dapeng also looked at the traces on the ground and said, "The one who killed them was a master. The difference is huge. It is impossible for him to leave so many traces."
The two looked at each other, "Then there is only one possibility."
Only if the elder who taught the skills encountered a strong enemy would the three disciples come out to help. Now there are only three corpses of Beggar Gang disciples here, so the elder should still be alive.
Zhao Dapeng rubbed his fingers together and said, "The body is still warm, so it must be not far away."
He took a breath and opened his mouth, but was suddenly covered by Fang Yunhan.
"You want to shout? What if the murderers hear it first?"
"That's good."
"Tsk." Fang Yunhan slapped his forehead and advised, "The most important thing now is to find the elder who passed on the skills and ask him about the murder case in Junshan. The elder escaped successfully once. What if he escaped and hid again this time? Wouldn't you be exposing yourself in vain if you shouted like that?"
There was still some hesitation on Zhao Dapeng's face, but suddenly his expression changed and he slapped out with his palm.
Fang Yunhan thought Zhao Dapeng was going to turn against him, and in surprise he had already raised his fist to punch him, but he found that Zhao Dapeng's palm was not aimed at him, so he narrowly managed to retract his fist before it hit his chest.
Then a muffled sound was heard from the left rear.
Fang Yunhan quickly stepped to the right and looked back, only to see that Zhao Dapeng was already fighting with a gray-haired old man.
The fight between the two of them was certainly not an ordinary fight between street thugs, nor was it the kind with golden lights and flying special effects. It was more like the moves of kung fu masters in movies and TV dramas.
However, whether it is the faint afterimages of waving hands and feet, or the strong wind that still blows painfully on the face even though they are several meters away, they all show their strength and speed, which are far beyond the reach of ordinary kung fu movies.
Fang Yunhan looked at this scene, a little hesitant. Although he had internal strength, he didn't know any moves. He had fought Zhao Dapeng head-on before, and it seemed that he was not injured, but that was a life-and-death struggle, and it was an accident.
But now, looking at the two men's smooth and strange movements and completely unexpected steps, Fang Yunhan didn't think that he could resist them with his own turtle fist.
Fortunately, before he hesitated for a few seconds, the white-haired old man over there suddenly staggered, fell to the ground, lowered his head, and did not move.
Zhao Dapeng rushed forward, and when Fang Yunhan thought he was going to kill him, he heard him shout.
"Elder, Elder Feng, how are you ?"
What? This is the elder who taught me the skills?
Fang Yunhan hurried forward and saw that the old man's cheeks were abnormally flushed, his brows seemed to be a little black, and he was sweating profusely. He immediately said, "Don't shout here, let's take him away quickly."
Zhao Dapeng carried the old man on his back and left. Fang Yunhan stayed behind, picked up a thick branch, and ran around, leaving some broken branches and leaves in several places that no one had ever set foot on, and the messy ground showed traces of someone running. Then he quickly threw away the branch and followed Zhao Dapeng.
They had already gone deep into the forest. After dark, there was almost no moonlight in the woods, and there were no ready-made roads, so it was easy to encounter danger while walking.
After Zhao Dapeng nearly rolled down the steep slope for the third time, Fang Yunhan recalled carefully and led Zhao Dapeng to a steep slope cave they had seen on the road.
