Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Another murder had occurred, very similar to the one at Alley 21. The similarity lay in the victim, Miao Sheng, who had been killed by a crystal pendant from his home's chandelier piercing his heart. He was also found kneeling, but unlike the previous case, there were no claw marks carrying demon energy on Miao Sheng's back.

As soon as Lu Mingyu hung up the phone, Bai Zhizhi's phone rang. It was Uncle Gao, calling to say that something had broken into the small courtyard again. Apparently, knowing about the courtyard's formation, this time the guy came ready. They managed to break the formation but fell for the Phantom Pearl's trap.

Uncle Gao: "The person who came reacted quickly and wasn't trapped by the Phantom Pearl for long. By the time we noticed, they had already escaped. Only a trace of blood was left on the ground. They must've hurt themselves to snap out of the illusion and then ran off."

Bai Zhizhi: "I understand. Stay in the courtyard and don't go out. Don't let anyone in either. I'm coming back now."

Bai Zhizhi hung up and pushed at the car door. Finding it locked, he turned to Lu Mingyu: "Open the door."

Lu Mingyu: "I'll take you back to the small courtyard."

The murder had already occurred, and his team had rushed to the scene. They could handle the investigation and evidence collection. Compared to that, the situation at the small courtyard was more urgent. Someone kept trying to break in, and it happened precisely when Jiang Lin and the others were away. A murder had occurred not far from the courtyard, deliberately using demon energy to mislead.

It all seemed like the target was Bai Zhizhi.

Bai Zhizhi: "By the time you drive me back in this turtle car, I could be picking up the pieces of the courtyard. Hurry up and open the door. I need to get out."

Lu Mingyu unlocked the door: "If you're not taking the car, how will you get back?"

Bai Zhizhi: "Fly back, duh."

With that, he transformed into a beam of white light and vanished into thin air.

Lu Mingyu stared at the empty seat where Bai Zhizhi had been, the door still open, then at the direction the light had disappeared. He just then realized to check the surroundings, noting the positions of several surveillance cameras. He quickly contacted the Management Bureau's public relations department for damage control. If anyone saw that, there's no way to explain it.

In less than ten minutes, Bai Zhizhi flew back to the small courtyard. The Phantom Pearl was his, carrying his aura, so it wouldn't create illusions for him. Bai Zhizhi dropped straight down from the sky into the courtyard, skipping the front gate.

Seeing the fox suddenly return, the three people in the courtyard looked up at the sky, then at him: "How did you..."

"Why'd you drop in from the sky instead of using the door?"

Bai Zhizhi: "Where's the bloodstain?"

Uncle Bi hurried over to show him. At the base of a wall, a few blood spots were on some leaves. If he and Gao Man weren't cultivators who could smell the blood, they might've missed the trace.

Uncle Gao: "We were all sitting in the courtyard when we suddenly felt the surroundings become too quiet. Then waves of spiritual energy fluctuations spread out. It all went down in like four or five seconds. Then we caught a whiff of blood and saw something move at the corner of the wall."

But they were old, and their skills were just enough to handle ordinary people. Against other cultivators, they'd probably lose. With Yue Zhihuan inside, they couldn't just run off. So they called Bai Zhizhi to fill him in.

They hadn't expected Bai Zhizhi to return so quickly.

Bai Zhizhi pulled out a palm-sized straw doll from his Storage Item. With spirit energy swirling around his fingers and making hand signs fast, he pulled the blood off the leaves. It formed into a ball and flew into the straw doll's heart.

Then Bai Zhizhi took out a Soul-Trapping Bell. He gently brushed his finger across the bell's body, making spirit marks glow. Sharp, clear chimes rang out above the straw doll.

The straw doll, totally still like a dead thing, began to tremble with the continuous ringing. It went from a tiny twitch to a full-on shake. Finally, the straw doll opened its mouth, screamed, and dropped to the ground. Blood seeped out from its heart area.

Yue Zhihuan peeked from behind Uncle Bi, eyes wide. Seeing the doll stop moving, she tugged Uncle Bi's sleeve with a questioning look.

Uncle Bi shook his head at her. He was lost too.

Uncle Gao waited until Bai Zhizhi had put away the bell, which clearly wasn't an ordinary item, before speaking: "Zhizhi, what just happened?"

Bai Zhizhi: "A counter-curse. Using the straw doll as a vessel, it can severely injure the target from a distance by using the blood energy to pull. Unfortunately, there was only this much blood, so I could only mess up the person who tried to break into the courtyard badly. If I knew their name or had their lifeblood, I could've dropped them dead right there."

Though a bit dissatisfied that he couldn't kill them from a distance, Bai Zhizhi was usually content: "It's okay. Even if I can't kill them, wrecking them is good enough."

Uncle Gao quickly said: "Seriously injuring them is enough, seriously injuring them is enough. Zhizhi, cultivation is not easy. Don't do something violent."

Bai Zhizhi looked at Uncle Gao strangely: "Violence is about killing random innocent people, or cultivators casually harming defenseless ordinary people. The other party is also a cultivator. They attacked me first. Killing them is only fair. That's not considered violence."

If that's called violence, then forget about cultivating. The path of cultivation was always about going against fate and fighting heaven for a life. His parents had become Immortals by cutting their way through. Even his sister, when she went out for training, had to walk such a path of killing to temper her heart and prove her Dao. Why are the cultivators here so wishy-washy, afraid of this and that?

No wonder their cultivation levels were so low. Too many hang-ups and holding back, how could they compete with heaven for life?

Gao Man and the others understood this reasoning. They were just worried that Bai Zhizhi, not having grown up under the laws of the mortal world, didn't have any limits. If he ever drew blood, it'd be hard to stop him.

Bai Zhizhi casually released a ball of spiritual energy, burning the straw doll to ashes. Then he said to Gao Man and Bi Weiqing: "Ask around. See if anyone suddenly suffered a serious injury around this time. Your cultivator circle is small; it should be easy to find out."

The two sighed and nodded, wondering who had it in for their small courtyard, choosing to cause trouble when Jiang Lin was away.

Bi Weiqing went to get a broom to clean up the ashes in the courtyard. Yue Zhihuan gave Bai Zhizhi a thumbs up: "Zhizhi, you're amazing!"

Bai Zhizhi took her hand: "You're the only one in the courtyard without cultivation. I'll put a protection spell in your hand. If you encounter danger, whether from a cultivator or an ordinary person, just raise your hand and strike out at them. That will buy you time to escape. Remember that."

Yue Zhihuan watched as Bai Zhizhi drew a rune on her palm that she couldn't understand. When he finished the last stroke, spiritual light flashed, and the entire rune disappeared.

Yue Zhihuan touched her palm, then took out her phone and typed to Bai Zhizhi: "Zhizhi, why are you so good to me?"

Bai Zhizhi smiled at her: "Because you're very cute."

Because he also had a sister. He hoped that when his sister went out for training, she would meet good people and be treated kindly like this.

On a road opposite the small courtyard, in a black car, a man had half his arm exposed while someone else treated him. The golden-haired Ike, sitting in the passenger seat, was full of dissatisfaction: "Just a small courtyard with a few old and weak people, and you couldn't even get through the gate."

The man being scolded, head down, looked at the healing spiritual light wrapping around his wound, his expression dark: "Go try breaking into their courtyard yourself and see how formidable it is. Jiang Lin is one of China's top cultivators. His territory isn't easy to breach."

The person treating him spoke up: "I think we should stop here. China has opened a new energy field now, and we don't know what's inside. It's not wise to antagonize them."

As for that Fox Demon, if this scheme failed, there would be other opportunities.

Besides, they hadn't really expected to succeed this time.

They didn't understand Chinese demons, but they knew that demons were different, and their auras varied. A little investigation would reveal that. This murder scheme wasn't very clever. Their real goal was simply to create discord.

If they could make Bai Zhizhi the slightest bit suspicious, given the cunning, treacherous, and suspicious nature of foxes, any hint of mistreatment from humans would make him hold a grudge. Even if he didn't retaliate immediately, a rift would form, and a breakup was only a matter of time.

Without Jiang Lin backing him, a rootless little fox demon was nothing. They could use some means to take him back to the USA and do whatever they wanted.

Unfortunately, the fox was too cunning and didn't take the bait. He hadn't chased after them last night, and the people in the courtyard immediately sided with the fox, missing the perfect opportunity to sow discord.

They had already planned to give up, but while keeping watch, they noticed that Jiang Lin and his group of cultivators were all absent. Thinking of the newly discovered energy field, they were probably all at Luoxia Village. What a perfect opportunity.

Ike had the idea to leave the fox in the courtyard. If the old people and the woman in the courtyard died, even if the fox didn't kill them, they doubted Jiang Lin and the woman's brother wouldn't harbor resentment or suspicion towards the fox.

They could also use this to severely wound Jiang Lin, killing two birds with one stone.

The plan was good, but they hadn't expected not even to get through the courtyard gate.

Ike looked at Ousen, said to be a descendant of the Shadow Clan, best at concealing his presence, assassinating without leaving a trace, moving extremely fast, and coming and going without a shadow. And he couldn't even get through the gate!

Ike was so angry that the wound on his face, scratched by the fox, seemed to hurt again.

Just as Ike was about to speak, he saw Ousen, who had been fine a moment ago, suddenly change expression. All color drained from his face, turning deathly pale. He clutched at his chest, gasping for breath, his whole body convulsing and twitching in extreme pain.

Everyone in the car was startled. They didn't know why Ousen had suddenly become like this. They quickly pulled over to check on him.

As soon as the car came to a stop, Ousen suddenly bolted upright and spewed great gouts of blood, as if trying to drain every drop from his body.

The man who had just been treating Ousen quickly pressed a hand to his body. His ability was healing, and no matter what was wrong with Ousen, his power should at least keep him alive.

But the ability that had always been effective now seemed utterly useless. The energy probing into Ousen’s body felt like it had fallen into a bottomless pit, unable to fill the void within him.

In his panic, Ousen spat out his last mouthful of blood, twitched a few times, then closed his eyes and passed out.

Looking at the blood-soaked interior of the car and the man lying on the seat, his life hanging in the balance, Ike glanced uneasily at Hanwens. "Wh...what’s wrong with him?"

Hanwens activated his ability again to probe into Ousen’s body, and his face instantly turned pale. "His Ability Core... is broken."

………………………

By the time Lu Mingyu arrived in his snail of a car, Bai Zhizhi was already lying on a lounge chair in the yard, eating watermelon slices that Yue Zhihuan had cut for him. He commented between bites, "The taste is so-so. It’s sweet, but the fruit flavor is weak."

Yue Zhihuan was watering the grapevines with a watering can Bai Zhizhi had given her. The vines that had been blooming just yesterday were now bearing small grapes. Although still tiny, they seemed to be growing fast—another night, and they’d probably be ripe and ready. Just as Bai Zhizhi had said, grapes would be ready within three days.

When Lu Mingyu parked his car and knocked to enter the yard, a wave of rich water spirit energy that hadn’t been fully absorbed by the Spirit Soil hit his face, making him take two deep breaths instinctively. Looking at the watering can in Yue Zhihuan’s hand, he said, wincing, "You’re using this water to water the flowers?"

If he used this kind of water to brew Mist Crystal Tea, he could hardly imagine how heavenly that would taste.

Yue Zhihuan smiled and nodded at him. Zhizhi insisted on using this water, saying that without it the grapes wouldn’t grow. Even Uncle Gao and Uncle Bi, who found it painful to watch, couldn't bear to watch; they had already poured some of it to brew tea inside the house.

Seeing how peaceful the yard looked, Lu Mingyu asked,

"What happened to the people who tried to force their way in? Any idea who they were?"

Yue Zhihuan looked at Bai Zhizhi. Bai Zhizhi put down the finished watermelon rind. "We’ll know soon enough."

Lu Mingyu asked sharply, "What did you do?"

Bai Zhizhi replied, "Nothing much. Just crippled someone."

Lu Mingyu: "..." He was suddenly curious—if this was what the fox did when he claimed he did nothing, what would it look like when he actually did something?