Chapter 69
On the way back to Huaqing Gate, Rong Jing received a call from Chi Bai, and informed Huai Wenmin that Shi Meng and Tao Xian were taken over by Jinfeng's special department, as mentioned in the call.
Huai Wenmin slowly let out a breath, looked down at his wife and child in his arms, his brows becoming more gentle.
He could consider the competition in the business world as his lack of ability to protect the family fortune worth hundreds of millions, but when it came to his children, he didn't have such a good attitude. Tao Xian and Shi Meng had to pay the corresponding price.
After receiving Huai Wenmin's thank-you message, Rong Jing turned his attention back to the call with Chi Bai. Chi Bai rambled on about the situation in Fenping's special department, and couldn't help laughing as he spoke: "A double victory! I guess all the special departments across the country have received the photos of Zhao Ping being beaten up."
But this time, in addition to the photos, Lu Gang also made a PPT about how he had caused trouble to innocent people because of his personal grudge with Chi Bai, threatened the Huai family, and let Tao Xian and Shi Meng go.
Very rigorous.
"In just one hour, the download count exceeded 500. Zhao Ping is now considered a big celebrity in our special department."
The number five hundred may sound ordinary and not a lot at all, but you have to know that there are only a few members of special departments across the country.
Besides, the speed of human-to-human transmission is much faster than PPT.
As soon as he opened his mouth, the entire special department knew. Once the entire special department knew, the entire police station knew.
After laughing for a while, Chi Bai continued, "Lu Gang has already reported this matter to the relevant departments and the Tianshi Alliance. If the heads of these two departments had a bit of common sense, Zhao Ping's position as director would probably be untenable."
Rong Jing asked a soul-searching question: "So, do they have brains?"
Chi Bai: "...That's hard to say."
In fact, Chi Bai had always felt that the people who had assigned Zhao Ping to the Fenping Special Department were mentally ill. It was reasonable to say that when you help someone get promoted, you should at least investigate the person thoroughly, right? But if they really investigated, they would have known that Zhao Ping's work in the Yancheng Special Department was not satisfactory.
Disgusting, even.
Generally speaking, the position of minister or deputy minister becomes vacant because the other party has sacrificed his or her life and needs to be filled.
This was the case with Cheng Shan, the former deputy director of Yancheng’s special department.
It’s just that the situation Cheng Shan encountered was a little more special.
Chi Bai always remembered the experience he heard from his teammates——
The team was hunting down a group of evil spirits that had been lurking in Yancheng for some time. The members of the special department spent a long time figuring out the time and place of their appearance.
The hunt was planned for the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the weather was gloomy, with no moon visible. The hazy air was tinged with dampness. Amidst this unsettling atmosphere, the special forces, with good fortune, successfully located the demons' base and launched their hunt.
But unfortunately, the leader of the evil spirits was seriously injured and the director of the special department ran away.
If the special departments at that time were to be ranked according to their abilities, Minister Tan Zheng would be first and Deputy Minister Cheng Shan would be second.
Therefore, when Tan Zhengdu was defeated, one can imagine the power of the evil ghost leader.
For the safety of the team members, Tan Zheng issued a retreat message. But what no one expected was that Zhao Ping, this idiot, actually disobeyed the order. He was obsessed with making a great contribution and directly ignored Tan Zheng's request and ran away after the evil ghost leader.
Tan Zheng covered his wound with his hands, his forehead veins bulging with anger. He knocked on the communicator countless times to ask Zhao Ping to come back, but Zhao Ping's reply was: The evil ghost has the same ability as you, Minister. It was also injured when you two were fighting. Now is the best time to deal with it.
If you think about it carefully, it does make sense.
But Tan Zheng didn't think that Zhao Ping could capture the injured evil ghost with his ability.
This is indeed the case.
Zhao Ping took great pains to force the evil ghost into a desperate situation, but he did not expect that when the evil ghost was dying, the ghost energy in his body burst out, surging like the deep sea in a storm, which could easily drown Zhao Ping.
Just when Zhao Ping thought he was going to die, Cheng Shan arrived in time and saved him.
But he never came back.
However, what is funny is that in response to the accusations from other team members, Zhao Ping said: "Actually, even if the deputy minister doesn't come, I can leave on my own."
In other words, he felt that Cheng Shan was meddling in his affairs and had caused him to lose a life.
When the other members of the special department heard this, their hearts sank.
The way Tan Zheng looked at Zhao Ping was as if he wanted to eat him alive.
Therefore, when selecting the next deputy minister, Tan Zheng decisively bypassed Zhao Ping and chose Chi Bai, who had joined them the day before.
Although Tan Zheng knew Chi Bai very well, Chi Bai was a newcomer after all. What he did was somewhat provocative and mocking to Zhao Ping.
Afterwards, he kicked Zhao Ping out of the team without mercy.
But Tan Zheng's initial intention was more ruthless. He not only wanted to kick Zhao Ping out of the special department, but also wanted him to get out of the Tianshi Alliance. However, the Tianshi Alliance rejected Tan Zheng's proposal on the grounds that "the number of personnel in the special department was too small."
However, in order to appease Tan Zheng, the Tianshi Alliance announced that they would keep Zhao Ping away from Yancheng's special departments in the future.
Tan Zheng was not satisfied with the outcome, but he knew that this was the biggest concession made by the Tianshi Alliance, so he could only endure it.
Every Mid-Autumn Festival thereafter, Chi Bai would follow Tan Zheng to visit Cheng Shan.
Because he felt sorry for Cheng Shan and hated Zhao Ping from the bottom of his heart, when Zhao Ping took the initiative to provoke Chi Bai, Chi Bai took the opportunity to beat him up.
After hearing this entire story, Rong Jing was speechless for a moment. After a while, he spoke: "Looking at it this way, it's really hard not to suspect that there are indeed evil people from Taoziguan in the Tianshi Alliance and the special departments."
Chi Bai let out a sigh and said slowly, "Yes, I used to think that the Heavenly Master Alliance was in trouble, but now it seems that I'm not sure whether these difficulties are real or not."
The waters of the Tianshi Alliance are much deeper than he imagined.
"Let's wait and see. If someone from Taoziguan really showed up in Zhao Ping's incident, it wouldn't be a bad thing." Chi Bai murmured a few words, then changed the subject. "By the way, Ah Qiu hurriedly reported that he had to go back to Huaqingmen. What's going on?"
Half an hour ago, Ah Qiu had returned from the dormitory with a request for leave. In response to his doubts, he had simply said, "I'm going to save my uncle-shi," before grabbing his bag and leaving. Seeing his anxious expression and hurried steps, Chi Bai didn't ask any further questions, forcing his curiosity to subdue. He was currently on the phone with Rong Jing, and thinking that Rong Jing was also in Yanhe and might know something, he brought it up now.
Rong Jing actually knew about it and didn't intend to hide it: "Aqiu's uncle was cursed, and no one in the Taoist temple could break it. But Aqiu said he has an ancient book passed down from the Huaqing Sect that might be able to help."
So that's how it is.
"Okay, if you have any news, feel free to contact me. If Huaqing Sect can't help, I can look for help from my own sect. Several of my uncles in the sect are good at talismans and spells."
"no problem."
…
When they arrived at Huaqing Gate, Rong Jing had just finished his communication with Chi Bai.
It was Hengyi who came out to fetch Rongjing. However, compared to the morning, Hengyi's eyes were filled with joy, and even his thin figure seemed to be tinged with happiness. His eyes were bright, and he almost couldn't wait to report the good news to Rongjing: "Master, we received a message from Aqiu. He said he has a way to remove the curse for Senior-Master Changhe!"
This was the first time Rong Jingjing had heard this bombshell, and he blinked in surprise. "You said A-Qiu had a solution? I thought you were contacting the uncles from other Taoist temples."
Upon hearing this, Hengyi glanced around and lowered his voice to tell Rong Jing the truth: "I only found out today that Ah Qiu has ancient books handed down from the Huaqing Sect. They record many long-lost talismans and spells."
Rong Jing shifted the focus: "Don't your sect share resources? How come you don't know that Aqiu is secretly hiding good things?"
Hengyi felt a little embarrassed by his question. He touched his nose and whispered, "Aqiu said that the ancient book wasn't originally given to him. It was just that he coexists with an evil spirit, and the ancient book contains a spell that can suppress the evil spirit's influence on him, so the master gave the ancient book to him. And from what he said, it was the ancestors who asked him to keep the ancient book safe and not tell anyone."
Rong Jing nodded thoughtfully: "I see."
Hengyi obviously didn't mind the fact that his master secretly gave the ancient book to Aqiu. After all, in his opinion, Aqiu was the most talented among all the young disciples in the sect. He came to the sect at the age of three, and the talismans he drew at the age of five were better than most of the disciples in the sect.
Even if Qiu didn't have a symbiotic relationship with the evil spirit, there would be no problem in giving the right 'textbook' to the right 'student'.
In comparison, he was more interested in whether Aqiu could break the curse cast on Uncle Changhe.
He said to Rong Jing, "Brother Yuan Jing said that this matter should not be disclosed to anyone else for the time being. We still haven't figured out the purpose of the person behind this who infiltrated Huaqing Sect. But if Uncle Changhe can wake up, everything will be different."
"Then you probably need to control the happy expression on your face, otherwise everyone can tell that you are in a good mood." Rong Jing pointed at the corners of his mouth that he couldn't help but curl up.
Upon hearing this, Hengyi's expression immediately dropped, and he acted like he was filled with deep resentment. "How about this?"
Rong Jing hesitated for a moment and reminded: "You seem to be going to attend the funeral of Uncle Changhe."
Hengyi: “…”
He adjusted his expression again and asked, "How about this?"
His brows were slightly furrowed, his lips were pursed, and at first glance he looked as if he was troubled by something.
Rong Jing nodded with satisfaction: "I can compete for the Golden Crane Award for Best Actor."
Better acting than Xiao Sheng.
The two men lowered their conversation and walked towards the cafeteria. Rong Jing arrived just in time, catching up with dinner time. Hengyi wanted to take Rong Jing to try the vegetarian food in their Taoist temple.
But what neither of them noticed was that in the bushes not far from them, a piece of talisman paper was half-hidden in the grass and soil. The bright red talisman above the yellow paper faintly flashed a few red lights, and then disappeared.
Afterwards, the entire talisman paper turned into ashes and disappeared without a trace.
…
There were already several tables of young Taoist priests in the dining hall of Huaqing Gate.
They ate, occasionally chatting. In this somewhat silent atmosphere, the presence of Rong Jing and Heng Yi stood out, especially since Rong Jing had brought A Qiu some local specialties from Yan City this morning, which had already been distributed to the other disciples by noon.
The brothers and sisters in Huaqing Sect have a good relationship. Aqiu had already announced that he wanted his friends to bring back local specialties, and he also mentioned Rong Jing's identity.
Therefore, this group of young Taoists have long been interested in Rong Jing.
Now I see that he talks a little more.
"I heard from Senior Brother Hengyi that Master Rong is the best at fortune-telling and peeping into the secrets of the heavens. He's really quite handsome!" Someone sighed, then rubbed their face and muttered, "The Grand Master just thinks I'm not good-looking enough, so every time I try to peepe into the secrets of the heavens, he kicks me away. As a result, my fortune-telling doesn't work, and I'm always beaten by Senior Uncle Changhe."
"Aren't you afraid that the ancestor will hear you saying this? I will kick you harder next time." Someone else laughed.
The man listened and quickly made a zipper-pulling motion to the side of his mouth.
Rong Jing had sharp ears and listened to their conversation, then gave a polite smile.
The Taoist priest who was speaking blushed a little at the sudden smile he showed. He quickly finished the dinner on the plate and urged his companions to leave.
Rong Jing didn't notice his actions. Just then, the food was served and the aroma filled his nose. He squinted his eyes and muttered to himself - it's been a long time since I had a vegetarian meal.
The last time he ate it was when he was at Xuantian Temple.
At that time, Rong Jing ate vegetarian meals every day, which made his face wrinkled. He was disgusted every day and would cling to his uncle Feng Si's legs, wailing for meat. Later, he became Xie Changshi's follower. Although Xie Changshi had little money and the food was not very good, at least he had meat.
I didn’t expect that after twelve years, we would be back to have a vegetarian banquet.
Rong Jing finished his meal in a few bites. When Hengyi offered him more rice, he was ruthlessly rejected.
He can confirm that even after twelve years, when the novelty returns, he still likes to eat meat.
Vegetarian food, not tasty.
But this is really impolite, so I can't say it to Hengyi.
After dinner, Hengyi took Rongjing to the ceremonial room.
Walking around to the path on the other side of the chapel, Rong Jing saw a young Taoist priest sitting on the edge of a small flower bed. He had an ordinary appearance, but he had a pair of eye-catching eyes. It’s not that his eyes were beautiful, but that they were filled with a deep black.
Especially when the other person looked up, there was almost no emotion in his eyes.
The young Taoist's gaze lingered on Rong Jing's face for a moment, then he glanced away, lowered his eyes, and continued to talk in a low voice with the little ghost in front of him.
After walking this distance, Rong Jing still recalled those eyes that were like a stagnant pool of water.
Hengyi saw his thoughtful expression and probably guessed what he was thinking. After thinking for a while, he said a few more words: "Don't mind it. That junior brother just now was just like that. He didn't mean to ignore you."
Rong Jing blinked and explained, "I just think his eyes tell a lot of stories."
Heng opened his mouth and uttered an "ah" and scratched his head. "I misunderstood, but you're really good at judging people. Jiang Yin is indeed a little special among our group of brothers."
He explained to Rong Jing, "Jiang Yin was brought back by our Taoist uncle Liu Yi during one of his travels."
According to Uncle Master Liu Yi, he passed through a small mountain village during his travels.
The small mountain village seems to be isolated from the world. It is located halfway up the mountain. Everyone is self-sufficient. Few outsiders come here, and few people from the village leave.
It was midnight when Uncle Master Liu Yi arrived at the village.
The moon was full, and the entire village was shrouded in darkness, creating a chilling atmosphere. However, Uncle Liu Yi, a ghost hunter, showed no fear of the terrifying scene. Instead, he continued walking deeper into the village. After walking for a while, he discovered an abandoned Taoist temple at the end of the village. Strangely, he could hear the faint cries of a young child within.
To be honest, during the years that Liu Yi was traveling, he had been deceived by the fake crying of evil spirits disguised as babies, but although these evil spirits were cunning, their abilities were far inferior to his.
So when curiosity took over his mind and drove him to the Taoist temple, he did not hesitate at all.
Anyway, if the crying of this young child was really caused by a ghost, he would definitely kill the ghost with his own hands.
However, when he stepped into the Taoist temple, he realized that he was wrong.
What I saw was a real child, who looked only six or seven years old, skinny and small, dressed in tattered clothes. He was lying in front of a lifelike statue, crying heart-wrenchingly, his voice hoarse.
Liu Yi's sudden appearance startled the child. He looked at him with red eyes filled with fear, and his little body was shaking uncontrollably because of crying and fear of strangers.
Liu Yi tried to comfort him, introducing himself and telling him he meant no harm, that he had simply strayed into the village and had nowhere else to go. He then asked the child, "Why are you here alone? It's so late, aren't you going home?"
Liu Yi is tall and has a slightly rough appearance, but at this moment his voice is deliberately lowered, showing a kind of gentleness of a tough guy.
The child stared at him for a long time before suppressing his fear and whispering the reason.
He said, “My mother is here.”
Mom is here?
Liu Yi was confused. He looked around the Taoist temple, which was only lit by flickering candlelight, but he didn't see the mother the child was talking about.
He wondered, could it be another case of parents coaxing their children to someplace and then abandoning them?
Until the other person's finger pointed at the stone statue he was holding.
Liu Yi turned his gaze and stared at the statue for a full thirty seconds. As if a sudden thought struck him, a cold sweat instantly broke out on his back. He quickly stepped forward, his fingers meticulously tracing every inch of the statue. The chill of unease grew stronger in his heart. He pursed his lips and asked the child, "Is your mother in there?"
The child nodded.
Liu Yi hesitated again and again, but finally broke a corner of the cement and saw human flesh and blood exposed inside.
Rong Jing was stunned and asked, "Why is this happening?"
At this point, Hengyi felt a chill run down his spine, goosebumps covering his body. He whispered, "It was done by the people from that village. Although the Taoist temple in their village is dilapidated, it houses a 'god'. According to them, every month they offer a woman as a sacrifice according to the 'god's' will."
The way to offer sacrifices is to make statues, just like the god in the Taoist temple.
However, the one in the Taoist temple is a real stone statue, while the person enshrined there is a statue of a living person filled with cement.
Very cruel.
"Master Liu Yi said that although he had seen all sorts of strange things during his years of travel, this was the first time he had seen anything as cruel as this. The next morning, he left the mountain and reported it to the police, who arrested everyone in the village involved. The child had lost his mother, and it was difficult for him to stay in the village alone, so Master Liu Yi gave up his travels and brought him back."
The child is Jiang Yin.
"I heard from Uncle Liu Yi that, according to the villagers, Jiang Yin witnessed his mother being poured with cement while still alive, and his mental state has been very poor ever since. After arriving at the Taoist temple, he would always stay in a corner silently, clinging only to Uncle Liu Yi. Later, as Jiang Yin grew up, he followed Uncle Liu Yi to learn the art of talismans, but unfortunately, just like some people are not suited to learning, Jiang Yin just couldn't learn it no matter how hard he tried."
"Although Uncle Master Liu Yi always comforted him, he still refused to give up. He said that one day he wanted to be a Taoist priest like Uncle Master Liu Yi and help ordinary people."
As Hengyi spoke, his brows suddenly drooped, and his tone became lost. "A year ago, Senior-Uncle Liu Yi disappeared while out on a mission, and Jiang Yin became increasingly withdrawn. However, he continued diligently learning the art of talismans. Hard work pays off, and Junior-Uncle Jiang Yin successfully subdued a little ghost over two months ago. It's the one you just saw."
"So that's how it is."
"Well, Junior Brother Jiang Yin is actually a very nice person, but he's a bit of a loner. Last time I saw him feeding a stray cat that came in from outside."
As they were talking, they arrived at the bedroom Hengyi had prepared for Rong Jing. Rong Jing would not be returning to the Huai family's small Western-style house tonight.
"Senior Brother Yuan Jing and I have checked everything, and everything that needs to be prepared should be ready, but Rong Jing, you should still take a look first. If you need anything else, feel free to call us."
Rong Jing glanced around the room. Although it was a bit monotonous overall, as Hengyi said, it had everything it needed.
He smiled at Heng Yi with his eyes curved. "No need for anything else. I like it very much. Thank you for your hard work."
…
Around one in the morning.
The lights at Yanhe Airport are as bright as day, and planes land on the apron from time to time.
The hatch opened, and a strange-looking young man emerged, carrying a backpack. Passersby instinctively turned to look at the mask on his face, but when they caught sight of his dark eyes, they quickly averted their gaze, as if startled.
Aqiu was almost immune to other people's gazes, as he was worried about his uncle Changhe.
On the way from Yancheng to Yanhe, he flipped through ancient books and once again confirmed the curse on Uncle Changhe.
This curse is a life-or-death curse that causes the affected person to fall into a coma for several days before dying silently. According to ancient texts, the duration of this curse's coma is not fixed, but rather affected by the affected person's physical condition. For Master Changhe's condition, five days is the maximum duration.
So Aqiu didn't dare to delay for even a moment.
His steps were hurried, and in the end his quick steps turned into a jog. He passed a few people and rushed to the exit.
However, what he didn't expect was that just as he stepped out of the yellow line of the airport exit outlined on the floor tiles, the road and vehicles in front of him suddenly turned into thick shadows, fell into darkness, and disappeared without a trace.
He looked up suddenly.
Seeing that the moonlight above his head was blocked, a layer of black fog began to slowly rise around him, and a low and hoarse voice in the black fog fell into Aqiu's ears.
The sound was like a machine that had not been used for a long time, full of an old and stuck feeling.
He said, "I finally waited for you."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
