The immortal is beside me

Chapter 7 Brand
"Ah--"

Zhou Qing yawned and rubbed his eyes in boredom.

At this time, he and several colleagues were standing in the alley behind the community. There was a mess under their feet: broken beer bottles, cracked bricks, bent steel pipes, and even a few blood-stained blades. Uniformed police officers walked through the mess, taking pictures of each area with their cameras for archiving, and the sound of shutter clicks never stopped.

A few hours ago, the subdistrict office received a call from a resident saying that two gangs of thugs had an argument in this alley. A ghost-fire boy faced a spirited young man, and the fight went from the south gate to the north gate, destroying the main road.

When the fierce battle was in full swing, people from the street office and the police station arrived one after another. Seeing that the avenue was surrounded by clerks and policemen, the two groups of people lost their will and had to be taken to have tea, leaving a mess for the clerks to clean up.

"What era is this? There are still people engaging in street brawls? What could possibly cause such a stir?"

Li Jie, who owns seven apartments, kept grumbling as he cleaned up the mess. A team from the subdistrict office had been brought in early in the morning to clean up the mess, working under the scorching sun all morning, leaving him fuming with frustration.

Fu Chenghao, a top student nearby, was relatively calm. "The police said it all started when two people fell in love with the same motorcycle in the store. Negotiations failed, and an argument ensued, which escalated into a brawl."

"That's all?" Li Jie's resentment grew even stronger upon hearing this. "They've made such a big deal out of such a trivial matter? They've even dragged their buddies over to clean up their mess..."

"A lot of people's malice is unprovoked. If you want to target someone, you'll find endless excuses."

Li Jie looked up at the voice and looked at Zhou Qing who was speaking next to him. He was sweeping the debris on the ground with a broom, his expression as nonchalant as his tone.

If you look closely, you will find that the broom in his hand did not touch the debris at all, and the pile of garbage seemed to have eyes and went into the dustpan - but now everyone is busy with their own things, and his words are more attractive than the movements of his hands.

"Brother Zhou said that, could it be that you have encountered gangsters before?"

With a clatter, the broken beer bottles on the ground were swept into the metal dustpan. Zhou Qing casually tossed the broom aside and continued speaking.

"When I first came to Liangzhou, I was targeted by a group of people. The reason was similar to what happened today - they had their eyes on the same thing, and after negotiations failed, they started a fight. Later I realized that they didn't care about the thing at all, they just wanted to target me."

"Oh my god, Brother Zhou, you've had a fight?" Li Jie's eyes widened. "What happened next?"

He was genuinely a bit surprised. He had been working with Zhou Qing for a while, and his impression of him was that he was a good, easygoing person. He couldn't imagine this nice guy getting into a fight with someone.

"What happened next?" Zhou Qing thought for a moment. "A few days after the incident, someone came looking for me, saying he was seeking revenge for his men. After I sent him away, a new person came and pestered me. After I sent one away, another came and pestered me for several months."

Fu Chenghao, standing next to him, curled his lips inwardly. He had always scoffed at the hooliganism of street fights and naturally had no interest in getting involved in such low-brow topics. However, Li Jie, standing next to him, became more interested and couldn't wait to ask more questions.

"So what did you do in the end?"

"I didn't do anything." Zhou Qing said, "In the end, I took the initiative to find the other party and talked to them face to face. In the end, the problem was solved and they didn't continue to pester me."

"Just talk about it and that's it? What did you say then... Hey! You haven't finished yet!"

Li Jie was listening with great interest and wanted to ask more questions, but the cleaning work on the scene had basically been completed. Seeing Zhou Qing turn around and want to leave, he could only shut up regretfully and follow him.

Dealing with these street fights is incredibly troublesome, and the aftermath is overwhelming. If I keep talking, I might not be able to leave work by five o'clock today.

At the same time, 120 kilometers away from the urban area of ​​Liangzhou City, at the foot of Baiyun Mountain.

On the undeveloped dirt land stood empty temporary buildings, a bulldozer that had been turned off for a long time, and blue metal fences, making it clear that it was once a construction site.

At this time, the nearly 10,000-square-meter construction site was surrounded by yellow warning tape, and armed personnel with live ammunition patrolled and guarded the area. The deployment of security forces was comparable to those at key military locations. In the center of the site, a brand new fence formed a circle, enclosing a massive excavated pit. The arrangement mirrored that of an archaeological site. Dozens of talismans, intricately painted with symbols, were placed in a circle around the pit, faintly glowing as if to suppress the demons beneath.

This was where Cultivator No. 5821 accidentally discovered his extraordinary inheritance. After he was taken into custody by the authorities, the Environmental Sanitation Bureau took over the area, sealing off the site within a few days and then beginning the archaeological excavation process.

Most of the places where monks live are in desolate mountains and wilderness far away from the mortal world. It is extremely difficult to discover the relics and antiques they left behind. There are even fewer extraordinary relics that can still remain after thousands of years. Every spiritual site has extraordinary archaeological value.

Not to mention that the site discovered today also contains the spiritual imprint left by the monks. It's like discovering the shell of an endangered species, and after prying open the shell, there is a pearl inside. Even if it is a poisonous treasure, it still attracts people.

Footsteps echoed across the construction site, and a team of specialists stopped 30 meters in front of the pit. They were all wearing uniform, specially made, spirit-blocking protective suits, embedded with specialized defensive spells. They looked like bulletproof vests covered in symbols.

"Just now, the bureau received news that a man named 'Zhou Fan' is suspected to be related to the sect that left behind this legacy."

The leading specialist turned and said to the only man in the team wearing red epaulettes, "Our mission this time is to find information about this 'Zhou Fan' from the spiritual imprints here. We'll have to trouble Mr. Tan Yong for help."

"Why are you being so polite?" The man called Tan Yong chuckled. "Compared to the investigations I've done before, this level of trouble is far from being a problem."

Tan Yong's title is a second-class special task force officer at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology's Institute of Extraordinary Studies, a cooperative scientific research unit of the Environmental Sanitation Bureau, which also includes archaeological research in its business.

Among them, the word "special dispatch" means that he has been approved by the state to practice and is a direct official monk; and "second category" means that he does not participate in combat operations under non-emergency conditions, and is only responsible for obtaining information related to the extraordinary through means such as soul searching or resonance.

After all the preparations were confirmed to be correct, he walked forward under the escort of the crowd, passed through the broken walls and ruins around him, and stopped in front of a huge pillar half buried in the loess.

The giant pillar is red gold in color, and the material looks like a mixture of gold and copper. After thousands of years, it still has not oxidized or faded.

A massive crimson wolf head was carved directly in front of the pillar, seemingly a totem for sacrifice. Although time had coated it with a thick layer of dust, the hideous carvings could still be discerned through the grime, enough to send a shiver down the spine of any ordinary person simply staring at it.

As an experienced executor, Tan Yong immediately recognized the bronze pillar as a spiritual object, and most likely the core of the sect before him. Using it as a medium would be the easiest way to attract the remaining souls in this place.

He placed one hand on the pillar, closed his eyes, and chanted a spell silently.

The complicated spell lit up, and the spirit-suppressing totem placed on the ground began to vibrate, causing the surrounding air to vibrate and become stagnant like liquid within a few seconds, with bursts of teeth-grinding buzzing sounds.

The buzzing sound turned into countless chaotic whispers in Tan Yong's ears, as if hundreds of people were whispering in his ears. He knew that this was a reflection of the resonance between his soul and the spiritual imprint left here.

The soul is a vital yet fragile entity. Generally, after the death of a mortal or a weak cultivator, the soul will quickly dissipate. However, condensing the soul into a brand and passing it down as a legacy is the preserve of powerful cultivators with profound cultivation.

But there are always exceptions.

When multiple cultivators die in the same place, their souls that leave their bodies overlap and connect with each other, and there is a certain probability that a relatively stable imprint will be formed that will last for a thousand years. In his previous work, Tan Yong has come across dozens of such imprints. Compared with the great powers, this kind of inheritance born in the place of death is more common.

Including this one.

Tan Yong frowned. His consciousness seemed to sink into a sea of ​​clamor, countless noises swirling around him like bubbles, memories left behind by the brand.

He had to concentrate wholeheartedly to ensure that he did not melt in this spiritual ocean, and then look for the bubble he wanted.

"Zhou Fan. Zhou Fan is pregnant!"

(End of this chapter)