Chapter 1349: Encirclement and Search

The words "this man is obviously suspicious" left the deacon conflicted. If someone was obviously suspicious and he did nothing, the consequences would be difficult to explain afterward.

With the two men standing before him and watching expectantly, the deacon finally gritted his teeth. "Listen carefully, both of you. You must exercise absolute caution. If anything goes wrong because this pursuit alerts the snake by striking the grass, your own heads may not stay on your shoulders."

"Yes!" The two cupped their hands and accepted the order.

With the deacon's authorization, they quickly slipped away.

Before long, a flying mount with another two men aboard also set out, traveling far off to one side. They dared not approach the target and risk alerting him. The moment they received a signal, they were to rush over and provide support.

The tall man and the thin man, meanwhile, continued moving through the mountain forest, keeping the peddler under observation from a distance.

Once the peddler emerged from the mountains, he stopped. He set down his carrying pole, sat on it to rest, took off his bamboo hat and used it as a fan, occasionally lifting a sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

The rest was only a pretense. He needed to stop, make a show of catching his breath, and use the opportunity to observe his surroundings.

He knew very well that people nearby were watching the movements around the village. His own entry and departure should have drawn attention too.

As for his identity, he was actually a member of Misty Pavilion himself. Because the missions he frequently carried out were unusual, whenever he adopted a role, he had to play it convincingly.

After resting for a while, the peddler stood again, put the carrying pole back over his shoulder, and continued along the official road, apparently heading toward the next village.

The tall and thin men continued following in secret.

After trailing him for quite some time, the thin man suddenly murmured, "We should be outside the surveillance area now. There probably aren't any more of the Pavilion's people nearby."

The tall man asked, "We move now?"

"About time. I still don't know what the people above are trying to accomplish by making us do this."

"The people above fight back and forth among themselves. If they don't tell us, don't ask. Asking is looking for death. Just follow orders. You going, or me?"

"You go. I'll stay hidden and support you."

The tall man nodded and darted out of the mountain forest onto the official road. After several quick bounds, he closed to within several dozen zhang of the peddler, then began walking briskly behind him.

The peddler faintly sensed movement. His eyes flicked about, checking the forests on both sides of the road, but he did not dare turn around too obviously.

After walking a while longer, the peddler set down his load to rest again. While pretending to rest, he looked back along the road and saw a tall man dressed as a farmer.

Inside, every string in his heart had gone taut. Outwardly, however, he pretended nothing was wrong, continuing to fan himself with his hat and occasionally wiping away sweat, presenting the weary appearance of a man struggling to make a living.

A carriage rattled past on the road without paying much attention to either traveler.

The tall man walked toward the peddler without hurry. As he approached, the peddler even gave him a simple, honest smile and nodded.

The tall man stopped beside the baskets. "Selling goods?"

The peddler immediately stood. "All sorts of little household necessities. Have a look and see whether anything suits you."

"No need. I'm not interested in little things. I'm more interested in you."

As he spoke, he suddenly struck, reaching for the peddler's shoulder.

The peddler's nerves had already been stretched tight. Seeing that the act could no longer be maintained, he naturally could not allow himself to fall into the other man's hands. The instant he was seized, his identity as a cultivator would be exposed. Since the result would be the same either way, there was no reason to hesitate. He flashed aside, evaded the grab, and swept toward the forest beside the road.

The tall man immediately pursued him.

The peddler's load remained abandoned by the roadside.

A chase erupted through the mountain forest.

The thin man supporting from concealment had already risen into the air and sent out a signal. The distant flying mount immediately changed direction and rushed toward them.

The thin man also chased after the fleeing peddler. Two men pursued him across the ground while the flying mount racing in from above kept him locked in sight.

Once the opportunity presented itself, the two men in the air flashed down to intercept him.

A vicious fight erupted deep in the mountains...

Huo Kong had arrived.

He did not barge directly into the mountain village, nor did he descend from the sky over it. Instead, he first reached a designated location, where someone met him and guided him into the mountains near the village. Everything was done to avoid alerting the snake by striking the grass.

Yue Guangming, Right Envoy of Misty Pavilion, had arrived one step earlier and was personally overseeing the overall operation.

The two met in a hollow among the mountains. Yue Guangming cupped his hands. "Presiding Administrator!"

Huo Kong asked, "What's the situation?"

"Everything is normal for now. Nothing has happened."

The words had barely left Yue Guangming's mouth when the deacon responsible for the main road into the village came running over. Four men followed behind him. Some were wounded, and together they were carrying an unconscious man.

Huo Kong's gaze flickered.

Yue Guangming frowned. "What happened?"

The deacon first saluted both men, then nervously reported, "There was something wrong with this peddler who entered the village. After our people followed him, he tried to escape, so we had no choice but to capture him."

Yue Guangming was shocked and immediately looked toward Huo Kong.

Huo Kong's face darkened in an instant. In a heavy voice, he said, "I ordered you to watch. To watch! Who gave you permission to take action on your own?"

He was plainly furious.

If their actions alerted the snake by striking the grass and allowed the target to escape, all their efforts would be wasted. How could he not be angry?

"What happened?" Yuan Se's voice suddenly came.

Three figures flashed into view beside the group: Yuan Se, Mu Lianze, and Zhangsun Mi.

Although the three had set out later, they had arrived almost at the same time as Huo Kong.

"Master!" Huo Kong hurriedly turned and saluted.

"Greetings, Sacred Venerables!" Everyone else bowed in alarm as well.

Yuan Se swept a large hand through the air, having no patience for ceremony. "What's with the wounds and blood? Were you discovered? Did you exchange blows?"

"This disciple also only just arrived. I don't yet know the details." Huo Kong first separated himself from the matter, then pointed at the deacon and said sternly, "What happened? Explain everything from beginning to end!"

"Yes..." The terrified deacon immediately recounted the course of events.

After the three Sacred Venerables understood what had happened, all their eyes settled on the unconscious peddler.

Zhangsun Mi asked coldly, "He's not dead, is he?"

The tall man hurriedly answered, "No. We captured him and tried to question him about what was going on, but he refused to say anything and even tried to kill himself. We had no choice but to knock him unconscious."

Mu Lianze asked, "Did the capture disturb anyone?"

"No. We only acted after he was already far from the target location."

Yuan Se smiled faintly. "Who told you to act?"

The tall man answered fearfully, "We didn't want to. But after he left the surveillance area, he threw down his load and ran. We immediately realized something was wrong. If he had nothing to hide, why run? Then we remembered that he had entered the mountain village and suspected he might already have gone inside to warn someone. We couldn't simply watch him escape, so we moved to capture him."

Mu Lianze said, "Don't delay any longer. Move immediately."

Yuan Se gave a grunt of agreement and turned to Huo Kong. "Order every group into action at once. Surround the place quickly!"

"Yes!" Huo Kong cupped his hands.

At his command, several messenger Goldenwings were released.

They did not fly very far, only to force concentrations waiting several dozen li away. Most of the cultivators secretly assembled there had not even been told what they were being gathered to do, and from the moment they were brought together, all contact with the outside world had been cut off.

In an instant, more than ten thousand cultivators hidden dozens of li away surged into action.

Large numbers of flying mounts advanced through the air in coordination with them.

From every direction, they rapidly closed around the target village.

Once they reached its surroundings, the sky, the ground, the mountain forests, and even the waterways were openly brought under control. No one trying to escape in any direction could possibly avoid detection.

Zhangsun Mi, Mu Lianze, and Yuan Se separately occupied three mountaintops around the village, forming a triangle from which they watched the settlement below.

The approach of so many people alarmed everyone living in the mountains, including the hunter responsible for passing messages. He was immediately thrown to the ground and restrained.

Open farmland surrounded the village on every side. The sudden appearance of more than ten thousand people closing in from all directions drew the villagers out of their homes to stare, bewildered by what was happening.

Numerous flying mounts patrolled overhead. On the ground, advancing cultivators used magic to search as they pressed toward the village.

Apart from the large force conducting the search, fixed observation posts had also been established throughout the surrounding mountain country.

Including the elderly, women, and children, the entire village held only around two hundred people. None of them had ever seen a spectacle on this scale. They were terrified.

Large numbers of Misty Pavilion personnel surrounded the village. At a shouted order, everyone in the settlement was quickly gathered together.

Men and women, old and young, huddled trembling in an open space.

"You should all know the people from your own village. See who's missing." Huo Kong summoned the village headman and told him to identify the villagers.

Beside him, someone produced the village register and began checking names one by one.

Zhangsun Mi, Mu Lianze, and Yuan Se remained on the three mountaintops outside the village. Their Dharma Eyes watched coldly. The instant anything changed, the three could strike from different directions.

After the villagers were checked, they discovered two people missing: a peddler and the schoolteacher.

"Are those two from your village?" Huo Kong asked.

"Yes, yes. They were born and raised here..." The village headman bowed repeatedly as he explained their backgrounds.

Huo Kong asked for the records from previous investigations and personally looked through them.

In the hunt for Zhuge Chi, inhabited places throughout the realm had already been searched. This village was no exception, and records had been left behind.

The records matched the headman's account.

Huo Kong asked, "When did the two of them disappear?"

"This..." The headman did not know. He turned to ask the others, but they shook their heads as well. Most said they had not seen either man today. Some said they had not seen a lamp burning in their homes the night before either, so perhaps they had disappeared yesterday.

Huo Kong's face grew darker. "Where did they live? Take me there."

The headman immediately led the way, first bringing them to the schoolteacher's residence beside the schoolhouse.

Huo Kong walked through the schoolhouse while people skilled at searching spread out around him.

When he entered the teacher's room, he noticed writing on a sheet of paper atop the desk. He picked it up and murmured, "The mountains and rivers remain; where now are the hearts of men... Hmph!"

He turned and barked, "Pass down the order! Search everything. Above ground and below, leave no place unchecked. If they're still inside this village, they will not escape!"

At the command, part of the force continued sealing off the village while the rest launched a comprehensive search of every corner.

They even brought out objects previously used by the peddler and the schoolteacher. Demon cultivators with extraordinarily keen senses of smell sniffed the objects and began tracking their scent.

[End of Chapter 1349]