The old man spoke, tremblingly rolling up his sleeve.
On his arm, there were large and small black spots.
So of them had even ulcerated.
Tiny bugs were burrowing in and out...
Li Yan sniffed and his eyes filled with suspicion as he shook his head, "Would a demon that dares to cause trouble in Chang’an City covet such a small business as yours?"
"There might be more to this."
"Co, let take you to et soone..."
...
Lanling Square, Renxin Hall.
Uncle Hei Dan sat on a stool, his lips pursed, motionless, intensely staring at Li Shiqing’s expression.
anwhile, Li Shiqing took an egg and rolled it over Hei Dan’s wounds, occasionally pricking the bugs with a silver needle.
Half an incense stick later, Li Shiqing lifted the egg, cracked it into a bowl beside him, and it was seen that both the yolk and the white had turned into a black viscous liquid.
Countless rice-grain-sized white worms squird within the liquid.
Li Shiqing, already having a plan in mind, did not rush to conclusions but instead asked, "Does it sll fishy?"
Uncle Hei Dan shook his head.
"Alright, spit it out."
At those words, the old man imdiately spat out the thing in his mouth.
It was a handful of soaked raw soybeans, which slled foul to ordinary people, but he could not taste anything.
Moreover, the soybeans he spat out had all turned black.
"This is Gu Poison."
Li Shiqing shook his head, "Gu curse, Gu curse, although often spoken together, are indeed two different things and are not evil curses."
"Oh?"
Li Yan, intrigued, asked, "Would the gentleman care to enlighten ?"
Li Shiqing nodded, "’Curse’ originally ant ’blessing’, and in the I Ching, it is stated: ’Dui signifies mouth and witchcraft’. Its aning from oracle bones is to pray to gods, thus it utilizes the power of spirits, spoken out loud..."
"The Gu is even more special, a vessel’s bug, also derived from pictographic oracle bones, originating from Ancient Tis, prevalent during the Shang and Zhou dynasties..."
"You scoundrels!"
Hearing the conversation between the two, Uncle Hei Dan realized he had fallen into a trap, his face turning red with anger, teeth clenched.
Li Yan could not help but smile wryly, "Why the rush? This is a trick of con artists in the pugilistic world, your shop has probably already been transferred, and even if you report it to the governnt, all the paperwork will be in order, can only depend on pugilistic thods to resolve."
"First, let’s resolve the Gu."
"Senior Li, what kind of Gu is this, and is it solvable?"
Li Shiqing stroked his beard and smiled, "Naturally, it’s easy to resolve."
"This is just the ordinary Maggot Gu, obtained from maggots on a woman’s corpse, sealed in an altar, buried deep underground, nourished daily with the blood of pigs, sheep, and cattle, and can be refined in ten days. It’s just an entry-level Gu."
"The other party seems to have held back, not pushing matters to the extre. If I am not wrong, as long as we can find them, the problem can be resolved on the spot."
Li Yan imdiately understood, "It’s the work of the Bee Sect!"
Uncle Hei Dan, confused, grew sowhat anxious, "Young Brother Li, Doctor Li, what exactly is going on?"
He was, as said before, half a Jianghu person.
After being kicked out of the Shadow Puppetry troupe, he hadn’t mingled long in the pugilistic world but ca to Chang’an, quietly worked, and saved up his savings.
Although he knew so people from the Mystical Sect who were honestly doing business, he really didn’t know much about these pugilistic sches.
Seeing Uncle Hei Dan also looking puzzled, Li Yan slightly shook his head, smiling as he explained, "The line of con artists, is nothing but bees, hemp, swallows, and sparrows."
"Hemp represents solitary con artists who often disguise themselves as monks or Taoists, wandering the world, disappearing without a trace once successful."
"Swallows deceive people using feminine charm, naturally self-explanatory."
"The remaining are bees and sparrows."
"Both operate in gangs with division of labor, the only difference being that one only wants money, the other wants lives as well."
"In the case of old uncle, it was done by the Bee Sect, they usually leave a way out, if you can see through and find them, they will spit out the goods, if not, you can only accept your fate."
"Well, there’s also one more thing."
Beside him, Li Shiqing stroked his beard and smiled, "The matter of Gu has led to many major incidents from ancient tis to the present, thus throughout dynasties, the court has imposed legal punishnts on it, generally resulting in execution after autumn."
"They used Gu, and if we could find them, not only could the goods be recovered, but also a significant amount of hush money could be demanded."
"I don’t want hush money!"
Uncle Hei Dan grew more aggrieved as he thought about it, "This old man just wants to file a report and get these people all locked up."
Li Yan pondered for a mont and nodded, "That’s also feasible, but in doing so, it complicates matters more, and uncle must be prepared to face their retaliation."
Uncle Hei Dan was montarily taken aback, "They also dare to retaliate?"
"Why not..."
Li Yan gave a wry smile, "This group of people has swindled wealthy families and even officials, accustod as they are to the rules of the pugilistic world, the law is but shackles to them."
"If we follow pugilistic rules, the issue is easy to resolve, just find them and you can get everything back in full, if these people do not follow the rules, slaughtering them would garner no extra glance from others in the Bee Sect."
"If we follow court laws, then once we find them, we’d quietly report to the officials, catch them all, using sorcery to harm people, which is sufficient for a death sentence."
"By doing so, we’ll have openly declared conflict, others from the Bee Sect will target you, it will take several fights to subdue them all."
"As for recovering your assets, it’s virtually impossible."
"How... how could it be like this?"
Uncle Hei Dan found it difficult to accept.
Li Yan shook his head, "These are the rules of the pugilistic world, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith are just facades, in reality, they lack any morality, it’s all about power struggles and compromises."
"There are definitely people from their side within the governnt, who will tip them off as soon as you report, so we also need to plan, summon more people to block the door..."
Uncle Hei Dan hesitated for a mont upon hearing this, "Then... let’s forget it then, I just want to get my stuff back, I really can’t handle this hassle."
Li Yan nodded slightly, unsurprised.
It was a rule of the tricksters of the Mystical Sect, to exploit this very point.
Ordinary people lived their stable lives; who would want to go through such trouble? And, they always left a loophole, promising to return everything once the person was found.
That way, even fewer people would try to resolve it officially.
Swindlers, thieves, assassins...
These kinds have existed since ancient tis, never ceasing.
In this world, so live off their own efforts, while many others live by sucking the blood from others, and they can never be completely eradicated.
He rely clarified the situation, and since the victim preferred peace, he wasn’t inclined to ddle further.
The process of removing the Gu was very smooth.
This type of maggot Gu wouldn’t take a person’s life, but it was troubleso and disgusting; if the thod was incorrect, the maggots would regrow even if you dug out all the flesh.
Like athlete’s foot, it made you miserable.
The tricksters of the Mystical Sect used this Gu with a warning intention.
The maggot Gu originated from corpse maggots: Li Shiqing first used glutinous rice mixed with common bile stone powder for application, then extracted the Gu using chicken eggs, repeatedly using over twenty eggs to completely clear the Gu Poison.
Uncle Hei Dan’s wound was still festering, but there was no more decaying flesh or small insects. Wrapping it up in Golden Sore dicine, it would completely heal after the wound improved.
He expressed his imnse gratitude then accompanied Li Yan as they left the dical hall.
Hei Dan shared the surna Li, officially nad Li Heiga, whose ancestors were from the military families of Longyou, while his uncle was called Old Li Gan.
Originally, Old Li Gan’s leather shop was located in Yongle Square, situated in the central part of the city, a bit better than the common residential areas, though not as affluent as the northern wealthy districts.
Having property here was quite comndable.
They went to check on Yongle Square.
Indeed, the shop had long since changed hands, and even changed several tis, now turned into a hat and clothes store, the owner knowing nothing of its past.
Li Yan wasn’t in a hurry; he went to a nearby teahouse, spoke a few words to the brokers there, and then quietly waited with Hei Dan.
"Young Hero Li, you were looking for ."
Not long after, Zhao Jiu from the brokers ran into the inn, his face all smiles and flattery, feeling unsettled inside.
He had once led Li Yan and the others to Guodu Town; realizing sothing was amiss, he had fled quickly, only to later find out the magnitude of the incident that had occurred.
Although he was secretly relieved, he also feared that Li Yan and the others might trouble him.
"There’s sothing I’d like your help with," Li Yan invited him to sit, poured him a cup of tea, and explained the situation.
"Oh, so it’s like that..."
Zhao Jiu sighed in relief and then shook his head, "Young Hero Li, trying to find soone through the brokers probably won’t work."
"Firstly, those people from the Mystical Sect are cautious; during the handover, they definitely used multiple false identities to cover their tracks, even managing seamless transfer records with the governnt."
"Secondly, intervention from the brokers would also breach the rules of the pugilistic world."
"What... what should be done then?"
Uncle Hei Dan, aka Old Li Gan, suddenly beca anxious.
Zhao Jiu glanced at him thoughtfully and said, "Since the other party could clarify the old incident, there must be soone who leaked the information; perhaps it was even one of your old acquaintances from back then."
"Back then, how many people knew about this?"
Old Li Gan was stunned for a mont and then nodded, "When Master drove out, almost all my fellow apprentices knew."
"That settles it," Zhao Jiu clapped his hands with a smile, "Go inquire about the Liu family’s place. One of your forr fellow apprentices must have co to Chang’an."
Old Li Gan found it hard to believe, "Impossible! I had good relationships with those fellow apprentices..."
"Ha ha ha."
Zhao Jiu’s expression was complex as he scoffed, "There’s no laughing without resenting, Old Uncle, at your age, do you still not understand the evil of human hearts?"
Old Li Gan stood frozen for a while, then sighed deeply, "Back then’s shadow puppetry troupe ca here, it’s in Pingkang Square."
"The Master has already passed away, my fellow apprentices live rather poorly, I’ve even helped them out before..."
"Pingkang Square?"
Li Yan was amused, "That’s where I live."
...
Pingkang Square, Qingyuan Building.
Although this brothel couldn’t compare with Huawei Building, in Pingkang Square it was quite reputable, large in size with a pond and gazebo built in the back, and various performances like opera and liuhai banging constantly ongoing.
The guests only needed to open their windows to throw out tips.
Whatever they wanted to hear or see, various troupes were always ready to perform, truly a gold dig.
"Young Hero Li has arrived!"
Before even approaching, the burly teapot spotted him, calling out loudly.
"Yo, Master Li please co upstairs!"
"It’s been a while since you last visited!"
The burly teapot was very enthusiastic, followed by an old madam.
Li Yan darkened his face, "Nonsense, when have I ever been here?"
"This talk of yours."
The old madam’s face split into a broad smile, "It’s unfamiliar the first ti, familiar the next, Miss Wanfang has been waiting for you for a long ti."
Li Yan fell silent, "Who the hell is Wanfang?"
The old madam looked aggrieved, "To speak such words, Miss Wanfang would be heartbroken if she heard this..."
Li Yan quickly shook his head, "I don’t know her."
Beside him, Hei Dan gaped in awe.
"Yan brother, this place really is your domain, huh..."
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