Chapter 37 The Truth Comes to Light
"It's a living person!" Wei Qiang screamed, pulled out a scratcher from the back of his collar and pointed it straight at the old woman.
Wu Lu said lazily: "Don't panic, don't panic, it's just turning a living person into a puppet."
The living old lady Li put her hands in her sleeves, faced these people, and bowed deeply: "My lord's distinguished guests, please tell me what you want to do."
Cang Ming was still thinking about his parents. He gave the old lady a blank look and said, "Why do you treat your subordinates as mere objects? They turn into puppets when you don't need them?"
Wei Ci remained silent for a while before saying, "General, I know you always think that I am of low status and that I do things that are not worthy of being mentioned."
Xisheng had already leaned against the wall, arms folded, eyes closed, resting. She said coldly, "He's not of low status. These spells aren't something a little demon or ghost can do."
Old Lady Li bowed to Wei Ci and said, "My Lord, why did you summon me?"
Wei Ci tossed the pair of pottery figurines in his hands, then threw them deep into the cabinet. Tian Xinshu looked furious, unable to move.
Without even looking at Old Lady Li, Wei Ci said solemnly, "You know this thing. Tell this girl what you know."
Old Mrs. Li's humility, Wu Ci's arrogance, and the memories of his parents, everything made Cang Ming feel uncomfortable.
Wei Ci added indifferently, "Speak out what you can."
Old Lady Li, her hands folded in her sleeves, spoke respectfully to Cang Ming, "I've lived quite a long time. I used to have some knowledge of the I Ching and could open my clairvoyance, so everyone called me Fortune Teller Li. When I was young... in my mid-fifties, I became the shop owner's servant, and have been there ever since."
Cang Ming stared at the two pottery figures. Could it be that these two pottery figures fell from a great height and killed his parents?
Mrs. Li said, "This pair of pottery figures were originally a married couple. Because they did something bad, they were turned into puppets by the shop owner. It was ten years ago."
Cang Ming's heart trembled. Wu Lu shouted, "Ten years ago? Wasn't that the year my uncle and aunt had their accident?"
Xisheng opened his eyes and looked at the pair of absurd dolls with suspicion.
Old Mrs. Li lowered her head and spoke softly, her hands in her sleeves. She said, "Don't be fooled by this couple's usual polite behavior; that's because no one bothers them. If you do anything that doesn't please them, they'll definitely take action against you!"
Wei Qiang nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Old Lady Li went on to tell of a time in a certain place, a woman of exceptional gentleness and integrity, who invented a brilliant decoction. Its complex formula, composed entirely of cheap herbs, could cure plague and save the poor from death. This woman, well-versed in pharmacology, had painstakingly studied the formula for years before developing it.
Wu Lu and Xi Sheng's expressions changed. Only Wei Qiang's eyes lit up. "Oh, could it be the God of Medicine descending upon the world? What herbs were used? How come we in the Old Ginseng Sect have never heard of this miraculous recipe?"
Old Mrs. Li sighed, "This recipe was snatched away before it could be widely circulated!"
Cang Ming's face and lips were completely pale. The pale lipstick floated on her bloodless lips, like a faint sunset glow on ice. Wei Ci looked at her and suddenly said, "Okay, that's it. No more words."
Mrs. Li immediately stopped talking, but it was too late. Cang Ming opened Wei Ci's hand and said to Mrs. Li, "Go on."
Wei Ci looked at his hand that was pushed aside and stood there in a daze for the first time in his life.
"Madam, you shouldn't interfere with other people's karma. A person's luck is limited. If you give your luck to others, won't you lose it yourself? I'm a fortune teller, I know best." Old Lady Li shook her head and smacked her lips. "This madam picked up a sick man and gave him a decoction. The man was a merchant out shopping when he contracted the plague and collapsed on the roadside, dying. After drinking the decoction, he just saved his life, but he turned around and killed this madam and stole the prescription, intending to present it to the imperial city and seek credit! Unfortunately, the prescription has never been made public, and no one knows this madam's name. It's Jiang Caiyun."
Cang Ming's legs gave way. She felt herself drifting downward. Wei Ci stepped forward and grasped her waist, a cold glint in his eyes. There was a crackling explosion, and in the thick white smoke, Old Lady Li was transformed into a puppet once again.
The puppet, which was about the size of a palm, stood on the ground with its hands still in its sleeves. It then jumped into the cabinet and finally stopped moving.
Cang Ming was trembling all over, and she pushed Wei Ci away with all her strength. Xi Sheng quietly walked behind her and let her lean weakly on his arm.
"General." The cold and fierce look in Wei Ci's eyes disappeared. His face turned pale, and regret and anxiety covered his carved face like a veil.
Cang Ming asked, "Was that the man who killed my father?"
"Yes." Wei Ci hesitated for a long time and whispered, "General Jing learned of his wife's death and hurried back home from the military camp. He was distracted and was assassinated on the way. It was done by that despicable villain and his vicious wife."
Cang Ming took a sudden step forward, staring intently at the two Li family figurines hidden deep within the cabinet. He ripped the longsword from his waist and grasped it in his hand. Then he fell back down, kneeling on the ground, the sword dropping with a clang. Wei Ci hurriedly leaned over, kneeling on one leg, and gripped her shoulders, as if trying to transfer his body warmth to her cold body.
"So, to avoid retaliation, that shameless and despicable couple decided to wipe out the entire clan?" Wei Qiang looked at Cang Ming cautiously, a melancholy look on his face. "Did they kill the Ghost Buster's parents?"
"But how did you find out?" Wu Lu frowned and looked at Wei Ci. "No one knew what happened back then. We only heard that uncle and aunt inexplicably... and then Cang Ming hurriedly traveled through mountains and rivers to return home... Alas!"
Xisheng said sinisterly, "You'd better explain why you intervened in this matter back then. You turned the murderers into pottery figures, didn't you?"
Cang Ming coughed violently due to palpitations, gasping for breath, tears in his eyes. Wei Ci said regretfully: "General."
"Tell me." Cang Ming grabbed his collar in between coughs and looked at him desperately through his tearful eyes, "What's going on? Is it... Could it be..."
"The real murderer is Li Chongshan and his wife, that is," Wei Ci said in an unusually cold voice, "Li Xianzhen's parents."
"Ah." Cang Ming's eyes were blank and his ears were buzzing.
"Why did you turn them into pottery figures?" Xisheng stared at Wei Ci sharply.
Wei Qiang chimed in, "What's your connection to what happened back then? Ghost Buster is dizzy from grief, but we're not. Don't try to evade the question."
Wei Ci looked at Cang Ming and said, "Li Chongshan and his wife offended me, so I turned them into puppets."
"You're saying that those beasts from the Li family offended you, so you punished them, and they just happened to be the ones who murdered Cang Ming's parents?" Wu Lu said, stroking his chin. "If you do that, then call that old lady out and we'll ask her about this."
"Back then, this case remained unsolved, and no one knew the details." Xisheng said, his hands behind his back. "Now that we have the witness from back then, it couldn't be better. Let's call him out and ask him about it."
Wei Ci frowned and ignored everything around him.
While the others were talking and worrying for a while, Cang Ming fell to the ground, coughing for a while, and his whole body began to shake. She wanted to ask something, but didn't know where to start.
Should I ask what weapon killed my parents, or where their dismembered bodies were found?
Should he ask Wei Ci why he didn't kill the murderer, or why Li Xianzhen escaped the disaster and was not turned into a puppet after marrying to another place?
Li Xianzhen's face and Hua Yi's face emerged, two faces of misery. Should they be turned into puppets together? Cang Ming's head was splitting, and his heart was in turmoil. The false peace of the day was painfully shattered. At this moment, she thought of Zhong Wuqi's collapsed car.
Wei Ci leaned over and stared at Cang Ming, saying softly, "General, don't meddle in Li Xianzhen's affairs anymore. No matter what happens to that old ghost, don't interfere anymore."
The others were silent. Wu Lu pondered for a moment, then said, "There are reasons for not saving Li Xianzhen. There's a long history between the two generations, a deep blood feud."
Cang Ming raised his head and looked at Wei Ci, saying sadly: "Thank you very much."
The frustration in Wei Ci's eyes grew deeper and deeper: "General."
"No wonder you always tell me not to meddle in these matters." Cang Ming laughed dryly, "My own parents died like this, why should I care about others...or the daughter and grandson of my enemy..."
A line of waiters quietly slipped in. The one leading the group stood before Wei Ci with his hands hanging down and said something silently. Wei Ci just nodded slightly, not caring at all, as if he had already noticed the news.
The row of waiters then quietly retreated.
Wu Lu sighed, tapped Tian Xinshu with his cane, and said, "So what do we do with this big guy? Send him back to Weicheng and be done with him? But what about the clues to the Pearl Crown? Are we just going to ignore him from now on?"
After being hit a few times with the cane, Tian Xinshu suddenly threw back her wide sleeves and soared into the air like a giant bird of ice and snow. Her movements were barely visible before the back door was flung open and her figure leaped dozens of feet outside.
At the same moment, Xisheng and Wulu shouted, "There's a demonic aura!"
Outside the ancient building, ghosts abounded. Countless demonic soldiers and generals, armed with swords, spears, clubs, and clubs of all kinds, gathered together in a dense mass, disappearing into the night.
As Tian Xinshu leaped out, the demonic zombies surrounded her, cheering loudly. Among them, a dark figure on a tall horse shouted especially loudly, "Congratulations, Your Majesty, for breaking free from the encirclement! Congratulations, Your Majesty, for being invincible!"
Tian Xinshu cursed, "Shut up."
The mounted henchman shouted as if announcing good news: "Your Majesty, as soon as I received your secret order, I led the troops to rush over to support you!"
He was dressed in battle robes and armor, but his face was as dark as the night, as if a head was missing above his collar, with his hat hanging dangling from his neck. The horse he was riding was a good one, but unfortunately it had been shot by an arrow.
It was the deputy general who rode on a black undead horse and brought his troops to support and escort the emperor back to Luan.
Wu Lu heaved a long sigh and cursed, "Damn it! I scared my dad to death! I thought I had brought Tian Xinshu back to life with my crutch, but it turns out the spell had lost its effect long ago."
Wei Qiang said, "Yes, I've noticed that too. She probably broke the spell while we were talking, and quietly gave the letter to her subordinates, pretending to be immobilized."
Cang Ming sat there slumped, staring blankly at Tian Xinshu leading his army in retreat. The deputy general yelled, "My Lord, do you want to take this tower?" But Tian Xinshu's scolding stopped him, and he dared not raise the issue again.
Before Tian Xinshu disappeared into the sky, she turned back and glared at Cang Ming and Wei Ci with resentment. From her eyes, Cang Ming could see that she wanted to take back the pottery figurines that Li Chongshan and his wife had, blow up the ancient building, and then trample Cang Ming and his group to death.
But she did not lead her army back, but wisely fled far away. The night of Fengyan City was filled with turbulent and spooky aura, and many people in the city had nightmares that night.
Wei Ci said, "Let her be, General. You don't need to worry about it anymore. The pottery figurines of Li Chongshan and his wife are kept in the cabinet. I can give them to you later. You can do whatever you want to avenge your parents."
Cang Ming fell to the ground again, head bowed. Tears streamed from the corners of his tightly closed eyes. Wu Lu thought of his uncle and aunt, and it seemed like a lifetime ago. He was overcome with grief, his nose red.
Wei Ci carefully picked up Cang Ming and looked down at her silently. She covered her face with her hands, not letting anyone see her tears.
Wu Lu said dejectedly, "Alright, the three of us, let's go back first."
Xisheng looked at him suspiciously again, but before he could leave, Wulu and Wei Qiang pulled him away, one on each side. The uneven footsteps of the three of them soon disappeared between the forest and the river.
The waiter closed the back door silently and left silently, leaving only Cang Ming and Wei Ci in the building.
Wei Ci said with difficulty, "General, I...I shouldn't have told you this so suddenly. I lost my mind. You can scold me however you want."
Cang Ming buried his face in his neck, and was about to say something when a sudden commotion erupted outside the door. Someone was shouting and yelling, as if they were out to take his life.
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