A Clash of Gods - Chapter 13

Chapter 13 The Niutou Mountain
The assistant constables rushed into the tea shed, and the man’s face suddenly changed dramatically. Soon he heard a crackling sound inside, but the couple did not dare to say anything.

The tea shed was not big. Those assistant constables searched it inside out, then they came back and said to the leading assistant constable, “There’s no one inside.”

The leading assistant constable looked around and then threw that paper to the man. He said coldly, “This is a wanted order. Post it outside your tea shed. As long as you see this guy, send him to the government no matter whether he is dead or alive, and you will be rewarded.” He didn’t say anything else, shook the horse rein and led those assistant constables to rush away.

After the assistant constables left, the man said to the woman angrily, “That beggar is a murderer. Have you heard that? Why did you stop me from reporting it?” The woman said indifferently, “It’s better to get involved in one less thing.” The man was quite annoyed, and also searched the tea shed inside out. He was relieved and said, “Is that boy gone?”

The woman saw that the assistant constables were far away, then she went to the back of the tea shed. There was a circle of bamboos a few steps away. One could easily tell that it was a simple toilet.

The man understood immediately, and as he had expected, Yang Ning sprang out of it.

Although the assistant constables searched the tea shed inside out, they didn’t search this place.

“Uncle, auntie, I’m sorry.” Yang Ning made a polite gesture and said, “I will leave immediately, and I won’t affect you.” Although he knew that Xiao Yishui’s party would find him sooner or later, he never thought that the efficiency of this group of people would be so high. Not only had they identified the murderer, but they also had started to search everywhere.

The man’s face was extremely embarrassed, and there were some doubts in his eyes. He asked, “Did you… Did you really kill a person?”

Yang Ning did not explain. He took the golden leaf and said, “I don’t have broken silver with me. I wonder whether I can use this golden leaf in exchange for some taels of silver.”

The man saw the golden leaf, and was taken aback. He immediately waved his hand, “We don’t have so many silvers for you. You… You should leave right away!” But he still stared at the golden leaf.

Yang Ning hesitated. Still, he put the golden leaf in the woman’s hands, and walked away quickly. The woman called him a few times before Yang Ning finally stopped. The woman stepped forward and asked, “Boy, where are you going? Those officials are searching for you.”

Yang Ning said with a smile, “I want to go to the capital to find an escort team. But the escort team left a few days earlier than me, so I’m not sure whether I can catch up with them.”

The man approached and said, “If the escort team you said walks along this official road, you probably will be able to catch up, even though it left only a few days earlier than you.” He raised his hand and pointed to the southeast, “If you walk in that direction for one day, you will see the Niutou (ox head) Mountain. If you can walk across the Niutou Mountain, it will take you at least two less days to reach the capital than walking along the official road. In that way, you might catch up with them.”

“The Niutou Mountain?” Yang Ning’s eyes lit up.

The woman hurriedly said, “The Niutou Mountain is a remote forest. Boy, it’s very dangerous. You’d better forget it.”

The man said, “I have already showed you the way. It depends on your guts whether you dare to go or not. Leave now. If those officials come back, we will be implicated.”

Yang Ning was slightly excited. He saluted and smiled, “Thank you.” That woman was going to give that golden leaf back to Yang Ning, but he rushed away.

He went along the way pointed by the man. On the way, he only rested for a while. The next day, he saw the outline of the mountains in the evening. The mountains were continuous and the two peaks were slightly higher. At the first glance, they were really like two horns of an ox.

In the evening, as the sun set west, the sunshine shone on the Niutou Mountain, but the entire mountain looked rather gloomy. Although the Niutou Mountain seemed to be right in front of him, after he walked for a long time, he still didn’t reach there until the sun set.

As he approached the Niutou Mountain, he heard the sound of horseshoes behind him. Yang Ning’s heart was at alert. He looked back and saw some horses rushing from behind with the loud noise.

He clenched his fists and thought that it would be that those assistant constables turned around and the man in the tea shed told them his whereabouts.

In the wilderness, there was really no place to hide, and those people apparently found him at the moment, so it was too late to hide.

Five fast horses rushed like wind. Yang Ning looked cold. Although he knew that he was weak alone, he was still ready to try his best to fight.

Unexpectedly, the five fast horses passed by and only the leading one glanced at him.

Yang Ning saw clearly that these five people weren’t the assistant constables searching for him. They were all dressed in purple, and there seemed to be a mark between their eyebrows. But the speed of those people was too fast, so he didn’t see it clearly.

Yang Ning let out a sigh of relief. The few fast horses ran out a short distance and suddenly stopped. A person rode the horse and turned back. He stopped the horse in front of Yang Ning. The man in purple glanced at Yang Ning before he asked coldly, “Have you seen an old man in a gray robe?”

Yang Ning shook his head and said, “No, I haven’t!” He understood that these people were looking for an old man, but he didn’t know who the old man was.

At this moment, Yang Ning suddenly heard a harsh voice coming from the direction of the Niutou Mountain. He looked up and saw a flash of starlight soaring from deep of the Niutou Mountain. It was already dark at this moment, so the rushing light into the sky was very clear and it was with a sharp sound.

The man in purple also saw the light. His face slightly changed, and he immediately turned around and said to other men in purple, “He is in the mountains. Let’s go quickly!”

The five men in purple rode their horses and rushed towards the Niutou Mountain. Yang Ning watched as the five horses went farther and farther, and was more puzzled in his heart.

Those men in purple were menacing. He could tell that they were not good at first glance, but he didn’t know where they came from. The starlight rushing into the sky was obviously a signal, which meant that there were other people in the mountains at this time.

Yang Ning wondered whether he should avoid these people and find another way. But there was only this shortcut for him to catch up with the team. After he thought about it for a while, he continued to head to the Niutou Mountain.

After an hour’s walk, at the foot of the mountain, he saw a few horses but he didn’t see those men in purple.

Yang Ning knew that it was inconvenient to ride horses on the mountain, so those men must have left the horses here and climbed the mountain on foot.

At this time, if he took a horse and left quietly, it shouldn’t be discovered. If he rode the horse and chased along the official road all day and all night, he would also catch up with the escort team.

But if he rode the horse on the official road, he might run into Xiao Yishui’s party members. He didn’t forget that Xiao Yishui’s partisans had formed a large net in Huize County, and they were searching for him. In addition, they had countless resources of information on both the good and the evil sides. Therefore, he should be cautious.

Moreover, the words and deeds of the men in purple made him curious.

After going up the mountain, the road became more and more rugged, and the mountains were covered with dense woods. Yang Ning knew that the men in purple must have followed the direction where the starlight soared. He knew the general location. He shuttled through the mountain in that direction, as he paid attention to what was happening around.

The Niutou Mountain, as the name implied, fluctuated up and down. It was sometimes high and sometimes low, so he was not always climbing up.

The moon rose and the moonlight was cold. In September, it started to cool down. And in this forest, it was extremely gloom, and Yang Ning felt quite cold.

Wolves howled and birds croaked in the mountain from time to time. Before he realized, Yang Ning had walked into the deep of the mountain. There was no one around him and he couldn’t even see clearly the road. It was all dark in front of him. It was so gloom that it became somewhat horrible. Although Yang Ning was bold, he felt a bit cold at the moment.

He was regretting breaking into the mountain, and suddenly heard a cry from the left in front of him. Yang Ning was immediately alert, but the voice uttered a few times, and then it became silent again.

Yang Ning waited for a while and heard nothing else. He carefully moved in the direction of the previous yelling. It was dim in the forest, and he couldn’t see the scene in front of him clearly. He walked for a moment and suddenly stumbled and stepped on top of a soft thing. He sprained his ankle and almost fell down. Fortunately, Yang Ning’s reaction was extremely fast. He grabbed a small tree beside him with one hand and stabilized himself.

The moonlight was faint and spattered through the gaps between the branches. Yang Ning looked down and his face changed suddenly. He almost screamed out.

A person lay under his feet, motionless. One of his feet was stepping on his lower abdomen. In the cold moonlight, Yang Ning saw that his neck was bare without his head.

A strong bloody smell came to him. Yang Ning didn’t care about the bloody smell, but when he saw the headless corpse, he was horrified.

It could be seen from the clothes of this person that he seemed to be one of the men in purple he met before.

He raised his hand to cover his nose, and at this time, he heard a scream not far away. The cry was terrible, and it instantly disappeared. Yang Ning’s heart beat fast suddenly. He groped and took tens of steps forward, and saw a figure standing in front of him. He hurried to hide behind a large tree.

But nothing happened there. Yang Ning looked out and saw the figure stood upright and his head and arms were hanging down, motionless.

Yang Ning felt it strange. He walked out from behind the tree, but the man was still silent. Yang Ning approached him and gently called him. Suddenly he found that the man’s chest was bulging, as if there were something inside. This man didn’t make a move at all, but Yang Ning didn’t get close to him immediately. He went beside the corpse, and then he saw it clearly. There was a trunk as thick as the arm behind that person. The trunk pierced in the man’s body from the spine. The reason why his chest bulged was certainly that the trunk had pierced in his body.

Yang Ning was more shocked as he looked at it. The two dead bodies he saw were deadly shocking and extremely tragic, but he still didn’t know who actually did it.

He went closer to the dead body, lowered his body slightly to look at the face of that man, and recognized it at a glance. The man was exactly the man in purple who had asked him at the foot of the mountain. There was a tattoo between his eyebrows, and it looked like a spider.