Chapter 123: Chapter 123 The Final Puzzle
“Brother Yong, good morning.”
“Brother Yong, hello!”
“Brother Yong, are you free at noon? Let’s have lunch together.”
“Brother Yong…”
With a heart full of trepidation, Cui Dayong stepped into the grand entrance of the Punishment Hall
and encountered colleagues who greeted him one after another.
Those familiar faces and warm smiles quickly eased Cui Dayong, allowing him to relax and jocularly socialize with his colleagues.
For outsiders, the Punishment Hall was a place to be revered and even feared.
But having worked there for over a decade, Cui Dayong had long become an adept schemer, thriving in his environment.
Even significant upheavals above had not affected a minor character like him.
After all, a large entrance hall always needed people to do the tough, tiring, and dirty work!
With that thought, Cui Dayong’s courage returned.
After completing the roll call, he was about to look for Vice Hall Master Cao.
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As soon as he walked out, a thin, dark Cultivator approached him with two Battle Cultivators, “Cui Dayong, your affair has blown up!”
Hearing these words, Cui Dayong shuddered, feeling as if he had plunged into an icy cave,
chilled from his forehead to the soles of his feet!
“Wu!”
He instantly understood and roared furiously, “You betrayed me!”
Knowing his own affairs better than anyone, Cui Dayong was very aware that his foundation couldn’t withstand scrutiny.
Once exposed, his fate would inevitably be the Sins Execution Platform.
He had anticipated the day he might be ruined and disgraced.
But he never expected that the very person to arrest him would be his meager brother-in-law!
In Cui Dayong’s view, this man was timid, incompetent, and entirely depended on his own support to maintain a foothold in the Punishment Hall.
It was now this contemptible little brother who had betrayed him.
At that moment, two Battle Cultivators had firmly pinned Cui Dayong on both sides.
Cui Dayong offered no resistance.
He had neither the power nor the courage to resist, knowing that doing so would only bring a more brutal end and possibly harm his family!
“Betrayal?”
The thin, dark Cultivator sneered and swung his hand, slapping Cui Dayong’s face hard: “This is called justice over kin!”
The slap was so powerful that it knocked out three of Cui Dayong’s teeth and caused blood to flow from his mouth and nose.
The thin, dark Cultivator then snatched Cui Dayong’s Storage Bag and took out the Spirit-sealing Lock.
With a click, it locked around his waist.
Then he punched Cui Dayong hard in the face once more.
Blood splattered!
Before losing consciousness, Cui Dayong heard the thin, dark Cultivator whisper in his ear, “This is a gift from my sister to you. No need for thanks.”
“And remember not to eat chicken in your next life!”
Many disciples passing by saw Cui Dayong being caught and severely beaten.
Yet, they looked the other way, as if they heard nothing.
Even those who usually got along with Cui Dayong pretended they saw nothing.
Everyone knew that Cui Dayong was completely finished.
Who would want to stand up for a man who was as good as dead?
Moreover, although Cui Dayong had many fair-weather friends in the Punishment Hall, he didn’t have a single true friend!
His downfall was inevitable.
As Cui Dayong was dragged away to the prison like a dead dog, Wang Chen received a Crane Message at home.
After reading it, he flicked his finger.
The piece of paper burst into flames the moment it took off, turning into ash in the blink of an eye.
Wang Chen had just learned that a certain chicken thief was about to be finished!
Without any need for plotting or risking anything, and even with the informant coming to him voluntarily,
he had solved a trouble for the mere price of a dinner, and he even got a two-for-one deal!
Wang Chen left his home.
Over half a ‘time’ later, he appeared on a road outside the mountain gate.
This road connected to the Chi Path leading to Cloud Mountain City.
Loose Cultivators often passed by.
Wang Chen waited in a concealed spot by the roadside for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, and then he saw a young Cultivator cursing and looking disheveled as he walked by.
Seeing that there was no one around, Wang Chen directly intercepted the young Cultivator.
Upon seeing Wang Chen, the young Cultivator’s face paled, and with a trembling voice, he said, “What, what do you want to do?”
Having just been expelled from the mountain gate and feeling utterly desolate and helpless,
he was both angry and frantic.
He hadn’t expected to encounter Wang Chen here.
And it seemed that Wang Chen was specifically waiting for him!
The young Cultivator instinctively felt something was terribly wrong.
“One question,”
Wang Chen raised his finger and asked, “Last year at this time, when I was conscripted into the Night Patrol Team, was it your doing?”
Regarding this issue, Wang Chen had always been puzzled.
Given his status and Cultivation Level, he should not have been included in the conscription.
At that time, Wang Chen had wondered hard about whom he might have offended!
He couldn’t figure it out.
Lv Defang was originally the prime suspect, but it had already been proven that he didn’t do it.
Because last year, Wang Chen hadn’t yet turned eighteen.
Once Wang Chen died, the mansion in the city would not fall into his hands.
Then, yesterday, Wang Chen met Lv Defang’s cousin, Lv Tailai.
That is, the man before him.
The strong hostility and malice that the other party had shown toward him led Wang Chen to become suspicious.
“No, it wasn’t me!”
Lv Tailai kept retreating, vehemently denying it.
However, his flickering gaze and the momentary panic that flashed across his face completely exposed his inner turmoil.
It was this man!
Wang Chen sighed, “The road to the Netherworld is long; I won’t see you off.”
A ferocious expression suddenly crossed Lv Tailai’s face, and he raised his hand to launch an attack.
However, just as he was about to channel his mana, a streak of golden light instantly pierced through his head!
“Eh.”
Lv Tailai’s eyes suddenly widened, looking incredulously at Wang Chen in front of him.
He then, as if his spine had been extracted, collapsed powerlessly to the ground.
[Heavenly Merit +5]
The next moment, two fire crows ablaze with flames landed on the corpse.
Wang Chen didn’t even move to take his Storage Bag.
Because of the style of the Punishment Hall.
An Outer Sect disciple who had just been expelled from the sect wouldn’t possibly have anything good left on him.
Just consider it a burial gift for him!
Wang Chen had no intention of pressing Lv Tailai for the reason he had targeted him initially.
It probably had something to do with Lv Defang, or even the mansion in the city.
Let Lv Tailai take his secrets and reunite with his uncle!
Dust to dust, earth to earth, past grudges buried with the dirt.
When Lv Tailai’s body turned to ash, Wang Chen felt his state of mind had improved another layer.
He waved his hand and cast a Rebirth Talisman and an Evil-Repelling Talisman.
Then he turned and left.
But although the karma left to Wang Chen by the original owner had all been resolved, the lingering soul within him still had not merged.
Wang Chen’s Divine Soul attribute was still 3+11.
This puzzled Wang Chen.
Was it that the original owner lingered in the mortal world, or did he still have an unfulfilled wish?
With such doubts.
He once again arrived at the mansion in Cloud Mountain City.
Hoping to find an answer.
Because Wang Chen had an inkling.
Entering the Inner Sect with the state of having dual souls might not be a good thing!
After making a round inside the mansion.
When Wang Chen came to the backyard and saw a row of blessing plaques hanging under the eaves.
He stopped in his tracks.
A segment of memory suddenly surfaced in his mind!
The blessing plaques were not magic artifacts, just ordinary wooden plaques.
The front of each plaque was carved with blessing words, and the back with numbers representing the years.
One, two, three, four, five…
A total of eighteen.
According to folk customs, each year a child grows, a blessing plaque with the age inscribed on it is hung up.
Wishing the child safety every year, and blessings every year!
Actually, the original owner only lived in this family for twelve years.
Yet there were eighteen blessing plaques hanging up.
And it was the last wooden plaque inscribed with the word “eighteen” that awakened Wang Chen’s memory.
The memory of the original owner!
The year before Wang Shaoyuan was about to leave, he had reminded him.
When you turn eighteen, don’t forget to go to the Mysterious Turtle at the guard post to seek a token of good fortune.
At that time, the young Wang Chen didn’t understand, and just nodded blankly, but soon forgot.
Now it suddenly came back to him!
Wang Chen knew that at the entrance to the Inner Mountain Gate of Cloud Sun Sect, there lay a millennia-old Mysterious Turtle.
It was said that when Cloud Sun founded the sect, this giant turtle was already there, and had been enlightened by the Ancestor of Cloud Sun.
Named as an auspicious beast, suppressing the sect’s fate!
As a child, the original owner had also followed Wang Shaoyuan to see the Mysterious Turtle and had a very deep impression of it.
Now it seems that Wang Shaoyuan’s reminder to the original owner must have had a reason.
There must be a trick to it, perhaps that’s where the key lies!
Wang Chen decided to go there first thing tomorrow morning to see if he could uncover this last mystery.
———
The second update is here.