Chapter 156: Turning the tables is not an option. I’ll stick to my bed.
After swallowing its enemy, Kunpeng flapped its fins, swung its tail, and swam high into the sky. Its body was enormous, yet it was as agile as a fish swimming in the water.
Perhaps the Monument King had sent a signal for help, as the immortals leaped from the ground and flew towards the enormous Kunpeng. Their claws had become so sharp that it looked like they could rip open Kunpeng's belly without much effort.
But the ferocious beasts will not let them have their way.
Zhe, Zhu Yan, Tian Gou... they pounced on the immortals and pressed them down on the playing field which was missing a piece.
The immortals continued to struggle, but after a while, their struggles weakened, and finally ceased. Their eyes regained clarity, and they tilted their heads to glance at each other, then all at once at Kunpeng soaring in the sky.
Kunpeng opened his mouth, and Yao Hanshuang, who had been swallowed earlier, fell out of it. He closed his eyes, his body relaxed, and the viciousness he had just shown was completely gone.
The big white fox named Huo Jiao broke free from the shackles of the ferocious beast, transformed into a human form, flew into the air, caught the falling Yao Hanshuang, and slowly landed on the ground.
Shi Can observed Yao Hanshuang and said:
"The aura of the 'Monument King' has disappeared..."
"It was swallowed by the Ukiyo-e scroll." Lin Zhuyue raised his hand and pointed at the newly appeared pattern on the Ukiyo-e scroll. "It's here."
A jet-black mist flowed from the ukiyo-e scroll, converging into a humanoid figure. It was an ancient figure with hair tied up in a bun, dressed in intricately patterned black clothing. His face was pale, and his features bore a resemblance to Yao Hanshuang's, though his eyes were lifeless, and he had completely lost his sense of self.
Gong Yongyuan had already reached the edge of the arena. He jumped onto the arena through the hole that Shi Can had opened in the barrier and came to Yao Hanshuang who was being held by the fox fairy.
Yao Hanshuang slowly opened her eyes...
He called out blankly: "Brother? I'm so sleepy..."
"Go to sleep, just sleep if you are tired."
Gong Yongyuan squatted down, held Yao Hanshuang's hand, patted it gently, and said,
"It's all over now. The nightmare won't haunt you anymore."
Yao Hanshuang closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
Gong Yongyuan stood up and looked back at Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can.
Shi Can was checking Lin Zhuyue's injuries. He didn't look up at Gong Yongyuan, but he uttered a lukewarm sarcasm:
"Your brother's nightmare is over, but ours is about to begin. Gong Yongyuan, if you don't think you're an asshole, then do what you just said."
"As long as Lin Zhuyue saves your brother, you will agree to anything we ask for. You can even get the Gong family to stand on our side—"
"Yes, I did."
Gong Yongyuan nodded and promised,
"I will deal with the next trouble together with you."
After getting Gong Yongyuan's promise, Shi Can no longer pay attention to him.
Shi Can carefully touched the intact skin on Lin Zhuyue's neck and said:
"It's a pretty serious injury. I might need a tetanus shot."
Lin Zhuyue was not afraid of injections and said:
"If a tetanus shot is all it takes to resolve this issue, I'll take ten shots."
The medical staff's car arrived quickly.
"Come with us in the car," the doctor from Yunze Clinic said to Lin Zhuyue, "Your wound needs to be taken care of properly. By the way, no one else should follow us."
The so-called "irrelevant person" refers to Shi Can who was standing behind Lin Zhuyue.
"Don't hospitals always expect injured patients to bring their own companions?"
Shi Can raised his eyebrows, smiled, and asked,
"You're not driving this car to Yunze Clinic, right? Where are you driving it to? The Spiritual Master's Mansion?"
The doctor remained silent.
"I'm not irrelevant. I was involved from the beginning to the end in Lin Zhuyue concealing the fact that Lingwu was a floating world painting scroll... Otherwise, do you think that an outsider who has never touched metaphysics and does not know his own life experience would deliberately conceal the existence of the floating world painting scroll?"
Shi Can stretched out his hands and said,
"Come, take me with you. Do you want handcuffs?"
The doctor called and explained the situation.
The person on the other end of the phone said, "Bring him here."
Shi Can got into the car smoothly and accompanied Lin Zhuyue to the Spiritual Master's Mansion.
The doctor's purpose in asking Lin Zhuyue to get in the car was not for medical treatment, but he still simply treated Lin Zhuyue's wound, cleaning and bandaging it, and told Lin Zhuyue to get a tetanus shot later.
If she couldn't go to the clinic for an injection, he, as a doctor, would bring the needle to the spiritual master's house.
Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can were led all the way to the minister's office.
Minister Kang Huazong, the current head of the Lingshi Mansion, a special department of the National Security Bureau, was wearing reading glasses and watching the video footage coming from the stadium. At this moment, the screen was playing the scene where Lin Zhuyue painted the ferocious beasts from the Classic of Mountains and Seas with the Ukiyo-e scroll.
"sit."
Kang Huazong pointed to the two chairs opposite the desk, and after Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can sat down, he said,
"Ling Yan used the Ukiyo-e scroll in the same way back then. He was terrifyingly powerful. Many metaphysical families were quite wary of him."
"Student Lin Zhuyue, if you expose your spiritual weapon, you will definitely bring yourself a lot of trouble, some of which may even be fatal. So I can completely understand why you do this. However, you should also understand that doing so is wrong--"
"The Spiritual Master Mansion is an official department, and the Spiritual Master's mission is also an official mission. You tampered with the mission records in order to conceal the truth about the Spiritual Martial Arts. This is extremely bad."
Shi Can retorted calmly:
"It wasn't that bad. We didn't kill anyone."
Kang Huazong's demeanor was very steady. He said:
"It's best if you didn't kill anyone. Someone related to the mission died while you were carrying out the mission."
"The Spiritual Master's Mansion will review the execution process of the mission and decide on the punishment based on the extent of the tampering. Until this matter is resolved, you will stay at the Spiritual Master's Mansion and not return home."
Lin Zhuyue stood up and refused:
"No, I'm sure I'll get my bed."
Kang Huazong warned sternly:
"Lin Zhuyue, I'm not kidding you."
"I'm not kidding you either."
Lin Zhuyue laughed and said,
"While I stay at the Spiritual Master's Mansion and don't go home, can I save my life?"
Kang Huazong nodded and promised:
"Of course, the Spiritual Master Mansion will do its best to ensure your safety. You yourself have the ability to protect yourself. You are so powerful, there are not many people who can hurt you."
"My father was so powerful, but he still died, didn't he?"
Lin Zhuyue raised his hand and said,
"Do you want me to review the process of his death?"
Kang Hua was stunned for a moment.
Obviously, he didn't expect to have the current conversation with Lin Zhuyue.
"First, a magician who delved into demonic magic caused a shipwreck through a demonic curse, affecting the ship he was on."
Lin Zhuyue raised his head calmly, looked at Kang Huazong, and said in a calm tone,
"He was eager to fight the demons and save people. As you said, he was very powerful. Ordinary people might have died in that shipwreck, but he would definitely have survived. However, he was shot in the head by a sniper rifle."
"To him, a bullet is something that can be caught. But that bullet was special. It was made of a special metal passed down from a certain metaphysical family. It can penetrate anything formed by spiritual energy, including ukiyo-e scrolls. The bullet left the country from Bonan Province in the south, and then traveled from there to where my father was carrying out his mission, and shot through his head."
Kang Huazong showed a hint of surprise on his face and asked:
"...How did you know that?"
"I know more."
Lin Zhuyue pointed to the center of his eyebrows and said,
"Including which family this bullet belongs to... You know that, right? Minister Kang?"
"No, I don't know."
Kang Huazong still tried his best to maintain his composure and said,
"The Spiritual Master's Mansion will collect and investigate the things you mentioned. Please cooperate."
"Of course we have to investigate."
Lin Zhuyue put his left foot on top of his right foot and said,
"But, I'm investigating from you."
Behind Kang Huazong, outside the huge window, a loud noise came.
He looked back.
Helicopters were flying in from a distance, a considerable number of them, seventeen or eighteen visible at a glance. The helicopters landed at the Spiritual Master's Mansion, and men and women in black suits and sunglasses, folders tucked under their arms, disembarked and strode into the Spiritual Master's Mansion like secret agents.
Kang Huazong was so surprised that he was speechless.
There were also helicopters that landed on the helipad on the rooftop.
Soon, the door of the minister's office was pushed open.
The woman with a single ponytail in the lead walked over quickly, stopped beside Lin Zhuyue, took off her sunglasses, slammed the folder in her hand on the table, and pushed it in front of Kang Huazong:
"Minister Kang, you are suspected of participating in and organizing the evil cult Xingyihui, using special forces to harm the people and murder official special agents, among other crimes. The National Security Bureau has established a special case team for this purpose, and I am the team leader, Yin Lu."
Kang Huazong stood up in astonishment.
"You need to cooperate with our investigation. Until the results come out, you can no longer continue to perform your duties as the head of the Spiritual Master Mansion."
Yin Lu opened the folder and said,
"All of your work will be temporarily taken over by Ms. Cui Yi and Mr. Wen Xiuqi. They will also cooperate with us. Please sign."
Kang Huazong's expression changed from calm to shocked, his breathing became increasingly heavy, and there was even a hint of pain on his already old face. He clutched the clothes on his chest with his hands.
"Give him medicine and contact a doctor."
Yin Lu put the folder into the hands of the man in a suit who followed her in and said,
"Have him sign the document after he recovers."
"yes."
Shi Can looked at Kang Huazong without any expression while he took medicine and drank water, and said to him calmly and indifferently:
"Surprised, right? It's been quiet for so many years, and it seemed impossible for the case to happen, but it suddenly surfaced."
"I only recently learned that although my family seemed to have stopped caring, my parents never gave up seeking the truth, and that's how we got to where we are today."
Kang Huazong's expression seemed even more painful.
Yin Lu was afraid that Shi Can would provoke her to the point of kicking her legs, so she urged:
"Kids, go home quickly. This is none of your business. Don't get involved."
"Okay, okay, let's go home."
Shi Can took Lin Zhuyue's hand, turned around and walked out.
"How about tomato pasta for lunch? Do I need to go to your house first? Tell the ancestors the good news..."
At this moment, a roar came from behind——
"I've done many evil things, all for myself, but this one thing is for the Spiritual Master! I don't regret it! Even if I had known this would happen, I still wouldn't regret it!"
Lin Zhuyue stopped and turned around.
“No one needs your regrets.”
Lin Zhuyue said to Kang Huazong,
"Even if you regret it, I won't forgive you."
After saying that, Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can left the Spiritual Master's Mansion together.
When Shi Can drove the car to the vicinity of his home, he found several familiar figures squatting outside the courtyard gate. Ye Yangjia was drinking soda water, Feng Yuansi was holding a black cat in his arms, and Wen Miyan was using a mirror to touch up her lipstick...
Ye Yangjia asked, "Are you back?"
"I'm back."
Shi Chan rolled down the window and asked jokingly,
"What's wrong? Are you worried that Lin Zhuyue and I will die in the Spiritual Master's Mansion?"
Seeing him like this, Ye Yangjia got angry and cursed:
"It doesn't matter where you die."
Shi Can parked the car directly at the door of the house, urged Lin Zhuyue to get out of the car, and said:
"Go find some food to offer as sacrifice. I'll wait for you here."
Lin Zhuyue held the seat belt and sat in the car in a daze.
Shi Can asked doubtfully: "...Lin Zhuyue?"
Lin Zhuyue took a deep breath.
She loosened her seatbelt and clasped her hands together.
Then, her two hands slowly opened, and a key floated between her palms, emitting a golden light as bright as the amber fire.
Shi Chan opened his mouth, but no words came out.
When Lin Zhuyue first received the key, it was still a lifeless gray. Only when the key contained enough spiritual energy would it glow and become usable.
Lin Zhuyue thought she would have to wait a long time...
But no one knew whether it was because she swallowed the King of Monuments or because her spiritual power burst out again, the spiritual power finally filled the key.
Ye Yangjia was clinging to the car window, almost sticking his head in:
"Damn, this is... when did you get it?"
Shi Can replied, "After completing the mission, I went to the hot spring resort and ran into Daxian and Meng Dake. I covered up for them and ended up exposing the Ukiyo-e scroll."
Wen Miyan rubbed her forehead:
"You two are quite good at hiding things..."
She wanted to slap Shi Can, but she also felt that there was nothing wrong in keeping it a secret. For many things, the fewer people who knew about it, the lower the risk.
"I'm not ready yet..."
Shi Can sighed, crossed his arms, and said in a deep voice,
"But sometimes, timing comes unexpectedly. We had originally planned to wait until the key's spiritual power was fully replenished before revealing the existence of the Ukiyo-e scroll... and now, both things have happened at the same time."
Lin Zhuyue said: "I haven't got the map of the underworld yet."
The underworld is in the Yin Realm, and as a mirror world of the Yang Realm, due to the distortion of Yin energy over the years, there are many differences between its terrain and that of the Yang Realm. This is why spiritual masters often need to survey and map the Yin Realm.
“Isn’t it easy to get surveying and mapping data now?”
Wen Miyan thought for a moment and then began to pray.
"I hope the Spiritual Master's House has mapped the underworld to a sufficient level to deduce the location of the underworld..."
"That's pretty bad."
Shi Can took out his cell phone and called Cui Yi. While waiting for the call to be connected, he said,
"But with Gong Yongyuan here, there's still hope."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
