The Buddha is actually me

Chapter 168 The missed culprit
Zhang Jiuyang and Yue Ling looked at each other, he made a gesture, and Yue Ling understood instantly.

Catch alive.

This person pretends to be Yama, and although his purpose is still unknown, his intuition tells him that he is most likely related to the Painted Skin Master.

The Painted Skin Master is not a person who will just passively take a beating. The Imperial Observatory has stayed in Yangzhou for so long and has been holding on tightly. The Painted Skin Master's forces will inevitably retaliate.

Maybe pretending to be Yama is just part of it.

Yue Ling nodded. The tacit understanding between the two of them needed no words. She clenched her hand slightly on the hilt of the Dragon Sparrow Sword and glanced at her grandmother out of the corner of her eye.

Zhang Jiuyang also nodded, indicating that he would protect the old lady.

With Yue Ling around and not knowing the enemy's strength, he certainly wouldn't act rashly.

The sound of a sword ringing was heard, and the Dragon Sparrow Sword was already an inch out of its sheath. The bright sword light was like frost in winter, but there were also red patterns like flames lighting up.

However, a figure rushed up faster than Yue Ling.

"Yan Luo! Die!!"

The angry roar exploded like thunder, shaking the surrounding bricks and tiles, and some even cracked.

Shentu Xiong's burly body was like a moving mountain. Every step he took caused the marble beneath his feet to crack into pieces. His black hair danced wildly, and he looked like a lion.

Some cultivators who were only at the second level felt like they had been hit hard and their heads were dizzy.

Zhang Jiuyang had a solid foundation, so it was okay, but he also felt a little dizzy and was shocked. What a powerful magic power! This roar seemed to have the shadow of Buddhist mantras.

In an instant, Shentu Xiong came to the side of the fake Yama and smashed it down with a pestle. It was like a mountain falling down on top of his head, raising a whistling wind, extremely powerful.

A brilliant golden light shone on the demon-subduing pestle, and mysterious ancient scripture characters could be clearly seen.

The five ghosts who had just carried the coffin and eaten people pounced towards Shentu Xiong. Their faces were ferocious and their mouths were full of blood. They looked very creepy, but he didn't even look at them.

The next moment, Zhang Jiuyang's Dharma Eyes vaguely saw a Vajra shadow appear behind Shentu Xiong, holding a precious pestle in his hand, with angry eyes, and instantly suppressed the five ghosts.

The evil spirits that are extremely terrifying to ordinary people, when illuminated by the Vajra image, will be set on fire and let out shrill screams.

From beginning to end, Shentu Xiong never looked at them directly.

The cultivators in the fifth realm are so terrifying.

Facing such a powerful pestle, Yan Luo seemed quite calm. Not only did he not have any intention of dodging, but he looked at Yue Ling quietly.

"If you investigate the Yama case again, your grandmother will definitely need this coffin."

boom!
The demon-subduing pestle smashed down, and to everyone's surprise, Yama's head was directly crushed into meat paste. Not only the head, but the demon-subduing pestle was more than a thousand pounds of force, and the terrifying force spread from the head downwards.

Neck, body, hands and feet...

In an instant, the mysterious Yama turned into a pile of meat paste.

Not only Zhang Jiuyang was stunned, but even Shen Tu Xiong was stunned.

How could Yan Luo be so weak?
"No, look, that's a paper man!"

With a cry of surprise, everyone saw that the Yama who was smashed into a pulp turned into a pile of confetti and drifted away in the wind.

Zhang Jiuyang's eyes narrowed, and he quickly leaped forward, squatted down, grabbed a handful of paper scraps, stared at them carefully, and put them under the nose of the Yin doll in his arms.

"Brother Jiu, there is no mistake, it is the origami technique of walking in the underworld!"

Ali said with certainty.

At the same time, Shen Tuxiong's nose twitched and he said, "There is the smell of a corpse."

His eyes turned to the coffin, and with a gentle push, the heavy coffin lid was opened. Immediately, a foul stench and smell of blood came out, revealing a rotting corpse.

When he saw the appearance of the corpse clearly, Yue Ling was shocked.

"It's Lao Zhao!"

"How could that be? Wasn't he fine yesterday?"

"It's Master Zhao!"

Many people present recognized the old man lying in the coffin. He was none other than Mr. Zhao, the devoted and devoted man who had followed the old lady for many years from the Shen family.

A cultivator at the fourth level died so miserably just after one night, as if he had been eaten by evil spirits.

The old lady walked forward with a dragon-headed cane, refused the help of others, and looked at this old friend who had been with her for decades, her eyes gradually turning red.

Yesterday, she found out Ling'er's feelings through the portrait, and immediately sent Lao Zhao to Qingzhou to find out about Zhang Jiuyang's background. However, she didn't expect that it would be the last time they saw each other.

Decades of ups and downs flashed through my mind, and finally converged into two words.

"Yama!"

Madam Shen's hand holding the cane was trembling slightly, and there seemed to be thunder and lightning brewing in her eyes. The atmosphere suddenly dropped to freezing point, making everyone afraid to breathe loudly.

They didn't expect that Yan Luo would be so ferocious.

The old lady had just offered a reward of Renyuan Golden Pill for his life, but the other party sent a coffin to her door and brutally killed Mr. Zhao of the Shen family as a warning.

Her birthday party turned into her lover's death anniversary.

What a lawless and extremely arrogant evil spirit!
Shen Tu Xiong sighed softly, closed the coffin lid again, and said, "Old Madam, please accept my condolences. This Yama is really cunning. He used the paper figurine technique to deliver the coffin, but he didn't dare to show his real body. Otherwise, we would have helped you to avenge this blood feud!"

Yue Ling used her magic eyes to look around and indeed found no traces.

Madam Shen was a veteran after all. She quickly controlled her emotions and said to the guests, "Today's birthday banquet ends here. When you go back, please help my Shen family save some face and don't spread this matter any more."

"That's natural!"

"sure!"

Everyone agreed quickly and couldn't wait to leave.

But at this moment, a voice sounded.

"No one can leave!"

Shen Tuxiong was startled, then looked at Zhang Jiuyang who was squatting on the ground stroking the paper scraps, and asked, "What does this mean?"

Yue Ling also looked puzzled, but she knew that since Zhang Jiuyang said so, he must have his reasons. Without any hesitation, she drew out the Dragon Sparrow Sword with a clang.

In an instant, a deep knife mark appeared on the ground, and the sharp knife intent made everyone stop immediately.

"No one can leave." She emphasized Zhang Jiuyang's words again, her voice calm but unquestionable.

Immediately afterwards, Si Chen and Lingtai Lang who came from the Imperial Observatory to attend the banquet stood guard on all four sides, their eyes sharp and firm, surrounding all the guests.

"What is this for?"

"We are not prisoners. You, the Imperial Observatory, are too overbearing!"

"How dare you! I am the young master of Wanfu Tower. Who dares to trap me?"

Everyone was instantly filled with indignation.

The old lady had high prestige, so she signaled everyone to calm down first, and then asked, "Xiao Jiu, what did you find?"

Zhang Jiuyang threw away the scraps of paper in his hand, stood up and said, "Old Madam, these scraps of paper have the aura of the Zou Yin technique. It is the Zou Yin sect's secret paper folding technique. I can be sure of this, and I am absolutely right!"

Shen Tuxiong didn't expect that Zhang Jiuyang actually knew the mysterious art of walking under the sun, and asked quickly: "Even if it's origami, what can it mean?"

Zhang Jiuyang turned around with a sharp look.

"Origami has two disadvantages. The first is that it cannot be exposed to water. The second is that the practitioner cannot be too far away from the paper figure, otherwise the paper figure will lose its spirituality and become incapable of communication."

Yue Ling's eyes lit up and she said, "Yan Luo was able to talk freely just now, which means the caster is nearby!"

"To put it more bluntly..."

Zhang Jiuyang's eyes swept over the guests one by one, but the words he said made them feel cold in their hearts.

"The caster is most likely hiding among you."

……

The Shen family's birthday party was full of twists and turns.

No one expected that the birthday banquet that started at 9:00 in the morning would last until the evening. Not to mention the guests, even the maids and servants did not come out.

Zhang Jiuyang opened his Dharma eyes and searched the guests and servants in the Shen Mansion one by one.

Whenever a goose passes by, it leaves traces behind. Even if the Painted Skin Master's men are very good at disguise, if they use origami techniques, they will definitely leave traces behind, such as the smell of covering paper and ghost saliva glue.

Even if they don't have all of these, people who use the art of walking on the side of the body will have a unique scent on their bodies. Ordinary people, even monks, cannot smell it, but it cannot be hidden from Ali.

As the only true disciple of Erye, the leader of the Yin-walking sect, Ali is very familiar with this kind of aura, not to mention that what she is best at is the art of origami.

However, by the time sunset came, Ali had found that everyone had been smelled, even those in the Imperial Observatory were no exception.

Even Mrs. Shen took the initiative to accept Ali's examination.

Up to this point, every person who appeared in the Shen Mansion at that time, whether they were guests or servants, had been checked.

There is no problem!

Zhang Jiuyang frowned, wondering if he had guessed wrong.

No, something doesn't seem right.

Is something missing?

He was thinking hard here, and the guests who had been holding back for a long time were no longer happy and were very resentful.

"Didn't they say that Yama was hiding among us? Where is he?"

"That's right, I think it's slander!"

"Haha, you haven't even become the grandson-in-law of the Shen family yet, but you're already showing off. Look, now you've been slapped in the face, right?"

"Let us out. I have other things to do. Why are you locking us up?"

Some people gloat over other people's misfortune, some are angry, and some make sarcastic remarks.

Apart from Lao Gao and Li Yan, even the people in the Imperial Observatory began to waver. They had only heard of Zhang Jiuyang's name but had never actually worked with him, so they inevitably had doubts about his abilities.

Shen Tuxiong frowned and said, "These people have some backgrounds. It's not a good idea to keep dragging it out. Yue Jianhou, how about——"

"No."

Yue Ling's voice was very crisp. She glanced at Zhang Jiuyang who was in deep thought and said lightly: "I am the organizer of the Yan Luo case. I will be responsible if anything goes wrong."

"What do you mean you are responsible?"

Shen Tu Xiong's eyes were like copper bells, and he said dissatisfiedly: "I am also the deputy chief investigator of this case. If something goes wrong, at most we will all be scolded together. Damn it, aren't they just a bunch of little bastards?"

"I, Shen Tu Xiong, am not a coward who would let my comrades take the blame alone!"

Yue Ling smiled slightly.

Although she and Shentu Xiong often have disagreements on official business, when it comes to matters of the heart, they are very similar in charging into battle and sharing weal and woe with their subordinates.

Therefore, although they would sometimes argue until they were red in the face, they would never let down their guard at the critical moment.

"When a person dies, the bird flies up to the sky. What's the use of fearing eggs?"

"I'm going to teach those little bastards a lesson right now. They are rebelling. The Imperial Observatory is handling a case, and they have the right to make a scene?"

"If you piss me off, you're colluding with evil spirits!"

Suddenly, Zhang Jiuyang, who was in deep thought, opened his eyes abruptly, and the words that Shen Tu Xiong had just said flashed through his mind like lightning.

"I see!"

He stood up suddenly and ran outside immediately, looking a little excited.

"We've missed one person!!"

"It's him, it must be him!"

Shen Tuxiong and Yue Ling quickly followed. He said in surprise: "That's impossible. We have checked everyone. We definitely didn't miss anyone!"

Zhang Jiuyang's figure finally stopped on the coffin sent by Yama, and his voice was chilling.

"No, I missed one person."

"A dead man."

……

(End of this chapter)