Volume 4: Following the Dragon and Slaying the Dragon Chapter 11: On the way to the funeral
The next day, before dawn, Siming County was already bustling with activity. Because the cemetery was far away, the Xiao family's funeral had to be held in advance.
They planned to have sixteen people carry the coffin out of the city, and then use a four-horse cart to transport it. They would arrive at the designated location at Yin hour, dig the pit at Mao hour, and bury the body at Chen hour, which was exactly the auspicious time for each step.
This is exactly what Shi Dao Ren had calculated for the Xiao family.
When the Xiao family's funeral procession left the gate of Siming County, the Xiao father and son saw Taoist Shi following an old Taoist with white beard and hair.
Seeing Xiao Qingsong looking over, Taoist Shi hurried forward and said, "County Magistrate Xiao, this is my uncle, Taoist Tiger."
Xiao Qingsong took a look at the Taoist Tiger Immortal and found that he was as skinny as a monkey, and there was no tiger aura on his body. However, he would not say that. Nowadays, many Taoists have extraordinary skills. His family has ambitions, and this is the time when they need such an extraordinary person, so Xiao Qingsong nodded to him politely.
Tiger Daoxian nodded and said calmly, "Xiao County Magistrate, I didn't want to go down the mountain at first, but my senior brother observed the stars last night and found that there would be some twists and turns at this time, so he asked me to go down the mountain to take a look. Don't worry, there is nothing in Dongfeng Town that our Tiger Sect can't explain."
Hearing that there would be twists and turns, Xiao Qingsong's face looked somewhat ugly. This was a major matter concerning the life and death of their family, so how could there be any twists and turns?
If Xiao Qingsong hadn't been so cunning, and if Hu Xingzong hadn't had a decent relationship with them, he might have turned against them now.
However, Xiao Qingsong still made some preparations. He turned around and said a few words to his son, who nodded and quickly retreated.
When their team left the city, a 500-man infantry team followed them from a distance with weapons in hand. This was the obvious power of the Xiao family when they had been in charge of Siming County over the years.
As the local boss of Siming County, the Xiao family has three teams that can be displayed in the open. One is the yamen runners' team with about 300 people, who are responsible for managing the public security of Siming County .
One is the family servants, numbering about 200 people, who are responsible for protecting the safety of the Xiao family. The other is the infantry of 500 people, who are responsible for guarding the safety of Siming County. They should all belong to the imperial court, but after more than 50 years, this infantry team has become named Xiao.
In addition to these three teams, the Xiao family has several other tricks up their sleeves, but none of them can be used openly right now.
After hearing what Hu Daoxian of the Huxing Sect said, Xiao Qingsong also felt that things were a bit troublesome, so he called out these 500 infantrymen.
But he was already thinking in his heart that after he returned, he must think carefully about whether the people from the Huxing Sect can be trusted. They said there would be twists and turns just when the burial was about to begin. What twists and turns?
Looking at the troops following behind, there was a hint of anxiety in Shi Daoren's eyes.
He really didn't want to bring Uncle Tiger here, but when he returned to the mountain gate this time, he received bad news. The fate of Dongfeng Town had changed and their mountain gate had been affected.
That's why the Huxing Sect sent out the most powerful Hu Daoxian, in order to ensure that the Xiao family had a safe burial this time.
I didn't expect the Xiao family would make such a decision. It seems that they are really a bunch of ungrateful people who can never be tamed.
Shi Daoren thought to himself, if it weren't for the fact that your Qilinzi was the Hidden Dragon of Dongfeng Town, he would have wiped out their Xiao family with one palm.
Feeling unhappy, Shi Daoren even slowed down his pace.
They left Siming County, bypassed the barren mountains in front of Siming County, and were about to enter another mountain. At this moment, everyone stopped.
"What happened?"
Xiao Qingsong looked at the team and saw that they had stopped. He felt a little unhappy. He walked out from the middle of the team and shouted loudly.
But when he saw the scene in front of him, his voice became softer, because they saw a wine shop that had appeared on the side of the mountain road at some point.
This is a small hut-style wine shop built with cut down trees and thatched roofs. The land outside the wine shop has also been cleared up, and it can accommodate at least three large carts and twenty to thirty people for dinner.
The wine shop is divided into three rooms, which can be seen from the open door. These three rooms are the lobby, kitchen and warehouse.
The entire wine shop was kept in good order. There was a wine sign hanging on the door of the shop with the words: Three bowls (large area painted black) of wine written on it.
If it were just this, it would not cause much reaction from Xiao Qingsong and his group. This time, in addition to the funeral procession, they were also followed by an army of 500 people. Not to mention the wine shop, even if there was suddenly an extra village, they would not take it seriously.
But something was obviously wrong with the wine shop in front of him. Most importantly, the shop was cleaned tidy. There were some tables with wine and food, but there was no human figure to be seen. This couldn't help but make people feel weird.
Before Xiao Qingsong could give the order, Tiger Daoxian stepped forward and stood in front of him: "Xiao County Magistrate, be careful, this is a strange place."
Strange place? Everyone was shocked when they heard this term.
In this world, the strange land is a special term used to scare children who can't sleep in the middle of the night. Everyone knows that once you enter the strange land, you will never come out alive.
However, Tiger Daoxian looked very proud: "Don't worry, Sir Xiao, I am here to ensure that Sir Xiao can leave safely, as long as you don't trigger the rules of the strange world.
Sir, did you see what was written on the wine rack? The part that was crossed out is the key. Judging from the font size, there are three words in the part that was crossed out. This may be the key to our leaving here."
"Three bowls... three bowls of what?" Xiao Qingsong understood, and now he looked at the wine hook again, guessing what the words on the painted part were.
At this time, Xiao Qingsong's son jumped out and said, "Someone, take down that wine hook for me."
"Don't." Tiger Daoxian hurriedly stopped him, "Destroying this in the strange world..."
Before Hu Daoxian could finish his words, he saw someone behind the wine shop looking outside with his head shrinking.
Upon closer inspection, I discovered that it was a fat rabbit half a person's height, walking upright. The fat rabbit was wearing a waiter's clothes and was looking at the people in front of it cautiously.
When Hu Daoxian saw the fat rabbit, his eyes widened, and the fat rabbit quickly ran out and disappeared into the forest behind the wine shop.
"This is how the same thing?"
Because there are mountain gods and river gods in this world, goblins are relatively common. Xiao Qingsong is considered an knowledgeable man. He can tell at a glance that the fat rabbit has an immortal spirit and no evil aura. Instead, it has an upright aura, which shows that it is a spiritual beast with an owner.
This is different from the strange place that Hu Daoxian had mentioned before.
Hu Daoxian was also a little embarrassed. Just when he wanted to say something, a being with a sheep's head and a human body walked out cautiously from nearby.
