Minglong

Chapter 259 Raising a tiger has become a problem...

Not long after, at the small courtyard on the back hill.

Duan Yuechou and the others waited outside the courtyard, while Linghu Qingmo and Zhao Ling listened curiously to what was happening inside, but all they heard were incantations:
"The celestial pivot sways, guiding the soul home; the earth's veins surge, transforming into a veil of mist. The seven spirits depart from the body, following the stars; the three souls chase the fire, returning on the moon..."

The incantation was catchy, but it sounded a bit like a shamanistic ritual to call back a soul, and no unusual energy was emitted, making people doubt whether the method was effective. However, out of respect for Xie Jinhuan's strength, no one dared to make a sound to disturb him.

in the room.

Ye Hongshang, possessed by a little girl with pigtails, sat cross-legged on a chair, holding the Netherworld Bell Lock in her hands. Relying on the powerful soul of the Heavenly Demon, she slowly and meticulously fused the souls together.

Because the project was quite large and the surgery was relatively quiet, Xie Jinhuan, to prevent outsiders from getting anxious, took the Zheng Lun sword and circled the chair, calling back the soul, while also pondering the ins and outs of the matter.

Although this incident seems like a minor incident encountered while searching for medicinal herbs, there are quite a few issues upon closer examination.

First of all, the person who made the move reacted too quickly, to the point of being 'avoiding him like the plague,' stopping as soon as they saw him. He guessed that they might be remnants of the Underworld Cult. Apart from these bastards, no other evil sect had ever suffered a loss at his hands, so they shouldn't be so decisive.

But why did the Underworld Cult harm Duan Yuechou's granddaughter?
This little girl has no special talents; her only notable characteristic is that she is very important to Duan Yuechou.

A crucial person is a weakness, but exploiting Duan Yuechou's weakness doesn't seem to have a significant impact. Using this method on Wei Lu… no, on Wei Yin, to torment Wei Wuyi, wouldn't be as effective as manipulating Duan Yuechou…

Because of the limited information available at present, Xie Jinhuan can only keep a close eye on things and see if he can find other clues to clarify the details of this matter.

While Xie Jinhuan was filled with doubt, the Underworld God Cult was equally bewildered and under immense pressure.

On the outskirts of Fengshan, in a secluded grove of trees.

Under the guise of inspecting the bandits, Wei Jili ventured alone into the depths of the mountains. Even after leaving the scene, his forehead was still covered in cold sweat. He said in a deep voice:
"Is this kid some kind of god? I guessed he was confident he could find the clues, but I really didn't expect him to be able to find the Netherworld Bell Lock in the blink of an eye. When did you put the thing in Monk Mingxin's room?"

He Tianqi, with one hand behind his back, gazed at the afterglow of the lights inside the mountain gate, his expression relatively calm:

“My whole family was wiped out by this kid. How could I not know his abilities? If you harbor any illusions, he will take advantage of you. I just received the news and I threw away the Netherworld Bell Lock.”

The incident happened so suddenly that Wei Jili didn't have time to discuss it with He Tianqi. Afterwards, he found the Netherworld Bell Lock in the monk Mingxin's room and understood He Tianqi's intentions.

Their original plan was to drive Duan Yuechou to the brink of despair, force her to murder children to save her granddaughter, and then use this as leverage to lure her up the mountain.

If Duan Yuechou is stubborn and refuses to violate the righteous path, he will throw away the Underworld Bell. In that case, if Duan Yuechou wants his granddaughter to recover, he will have to go to Ancestor Sikong and owe him such a big favor. It will be easier to persuade him to come up the mountain in the future.

Xie Jinhuan suddenly appeared, directly disrupting the first plan. In haste, He Tianqi could only adopt the backup plan, throwing the bell out and incidentally smearing the Zen Sect.

Even if Xie Jinhuan finds the three lost souls, he will still need to seek help from Ancestor Sikong to restore them.

But Wei Jili never expected that Xie Jinhuan could repair the soul, completely blocking all paths and leaving them no loopholes.

Now that things have come to this, all the efforts of the past few days have been in vain. Wei Jili was truly shocked by the "speed of pleasure," and still felt a chill run down his spine.
"This kid's methods are completely unfathomable. He could find us at any time. Should we retreat? Even if Duan Yuechou didn't join my father's forces, he won't be able to cause too much trouble in the future."

He Tianqi shook his head and took out a slip of paper from his sleeve:
“I also want to leave this place of trouble, but I have been given instructions from above, so I can’t leave.”

Wei Jili frowned slightly, took the note and examined it. It was a message from the capital, roughly meaning:

The eldest princess requested the emperor to examine Empress Xu's body, possibly because Xie Jinhuan had discovered some important clues, and mishandling them could expose all the high-ranking officials in the capital.

To be on the safe side, He Tianqi should immediately go to Northern Zhou to assist the Immortal Transformation Sect in eliminating future troubles. Do everything possible to expedite the process and prevent Xie Jinhuan from returning to the capital...

? ?
After reading the note, Wei Jili looked again at the brightly lit villa:
"Don't they know Xie Jinhuan is back?"

He Tianqi sighed: "This kid has always been elusive. I was wondering why he suddenly came to Fengshan. Now I understand. He may have some intelligence. He came back to 'purge the court of corrupt officials' and completely eliminate us for the new emperor."

"..."

Wei Jili, recalling Xie Jinhuan's past deeds of putting out fires everywhere, thought it was quite possible and frowned, saying:
"So, this boy may have already seen through our plan, but he's not yet sure of my identity. What should we do?"

He Tianqi paused for a moment: "The higher-ups have given instructions. Whether he's in Northern Zhou or Great Qian, we must eliminate him as soon as possible. However, I don't know when this kid has reached the Super Grade. I'm no match for him. If you jump out, you'll be exposed regardless of victory or defeat. We can only target someone who can be seen in the light."

He Tianqi faked his death twenty years ago and was reborn in another body, but his cultivation level was almost zero. In recent years, he has been lying low and tried to obtain Blood Demon Pills twice, but Xie Jinhuan intercepted them both. As a result, he is now stuck at the peak of the first rank and cannot survive more than three moves if he encounters Xie Jinhuan.

Although Wei Jili had reached the Super Rank and received the true teachings of his father Wei Wuyi, given Xie Jinhuan's explosive power at Sanjiangkou, it was highly likely that his trip there would be to deliver merits.

Therefore, we must eliminate the problem as soon as possible. Currently, we can only look for top-grade items elsewhere. However, finding one is not enough; we need to find two, or even two may not be enough. They tried it in Phoenix Mausoleum. At that time, Xie Jinhuan was only a first-grade, but he was killed twice by Lü Yan. He couldn't even touch the hem of Xie Jinhuan's clothes.

Super-quality personnel aren't like cabbages; at most, there are only two or three in a whole state. No matter how extensive their network is, where can they possibly draw so many key personnel who aren't afraid to be exposed...?

"Sigh...we've raised a tiger that will only cause more trouble. What ideas do you have?"

He Tianqi pondered for a long time before turning his gaze to the northwest: "There's still a second-in-command lurking in the northwest branch. We can make the most of him. We can also ask Shen Jinyu of the Blood Rain Pavilion to secretly make a move. If we still can't kill him, we'll have no choice but to call it quits."

Shen Jinyu was originally an assassin who fought his way up from the bottom to become one of the Seven Heroes of Martial Arts, making him one of the strongest fighters in the underworld. He had never lost a fight in his life, but he had long since retired from the underworld and was now a businessman in the Jianghu.

Wei Jili felt that with Shen Jinyu's involvement, things shouldn't go wrong, but he still frowned.
"To hire Shen Jinyu for this, the price can only be five divine gifts, which Snow Eagle Ridge cannot afford."

“Xie Jinhuan already has the Five Divine Gifts, we can just give him something else. I'll handle this. You must keep a low profile these days, and if you accidentally expose yourself, don't involve your father.”

"understand……"

After watching He Tianqi leave, Wei Jili turned his gaze back to the villa, sighed softly, and his eyes were filled with sorrow...
-
The small courtyard behind the mountain.

After a long wait, a childish voice suddenly broke the silence:
"Grandpa~!"

Duan Yuechou was pacing anxiously, but the moment she heard the voice, she radiated a glow, looking as if she had instantly become ten years younger.

He quickly turned to look at the courtyard, only to see the door open and the little girl with pigtails running out. Although she didn't look well, she had regained her former liveliness and ran up to him, throwing herself into his arms.
"Grandpa, there's something evil in the back hill! Go catch it quickly! I was catching squirrels when suddenly I was locked in a dark room. It was terrifying..."

Duan Yuechou held the maid and gently patted her back:

"It's alright, it's alright. Master Xie has already caught the evil spirit, everything's fine now..."

"Oh...wow~ what a fat bird! Cluck cluck cluck~..."

"Guji?!"

The coal ball, which had been swaying its head to attract the child's attention, turned to Xie Jinhuan with shocked eyes, its meaning likely:

"Ah Huan, are you sure you're okay? There's clearly something wrong with your brain and eyes. Just let him out, don't let him harm others..."

Xie Jinhuan came out of the room and saw the scene of the grandfather and grandson reunited. He smiled and ignored the coal ball that was telling him to hurry up and go back to the furnace. He stepped forward and said:
"His spirit is mostly fine, but he was frightened and will need to rest for a while before he can fully recover."

Upon seeing this, Duan Yuechou quickly put his granddaughter down, clasped his hands in a fist and bowed deeply.
"I am deeply grateful and will not thank you enough. If you ever need anything in the future, please do not hesitate to ask. I will do my best to help you. Girl, quickly kowtow to Master Xie."

"Goodbye..."

"Oh, no need, no need, it was nothing. I'm only about twelve years older than her, we're practically of the same generation in the martial arts world, it wouldn't be right for me to kowtow, it's good that she's alright..."

Seeing Xie Jinhuan's superior demeanor, Wei Lu and the others were filled with awe and began to chime in with their own opinions:
"Brother Xie's skill and integrity are probably no match for even Ye Sheng back in the day..."

"Ye Sheng is only eighteen or nineteen years old, he shouldn't have such great abilities yet..."

"With such skill, Bao Xiaolin was able to withstand dozens of moves at the Three Rivers Estuary. It seems that the foundation of Jinghua Manor is even deeper than we imagined..."

……

Zhao Ling and Linghu Qingmo, seeing Xie Jinhuan's public display of power, were naturally proud as well. Especially Qingmo, whose eyes were sparkling, probably wouldn't be angry if someone reached into her clothes to touch her.

However, in public, Xie Jinhuan couldn't easily find an opportunity to touch Momo, so he said:

"Sect Leader Duan should prioritize finding the evil Taoist priest who did the dirty work. I have some personal matters to attend to and need to go to the west. I estimate I will be back in the next day or two. If there are any clues then, I hope Sect Leader Duan can let me know."

To the west of the Fengshan Mountains lies the vast, continuous mountain range of the Western Rong.

Upon hearing this, Duan Yuechou first instructed her disciples to escort the many guests who had come to offer their condolences to rest. Then, carrying her daughter, she accompanied Xie Jinhuan along the mountain path and inquired:
"Young Master Xie is going to the Western Rong? Could it be that there are demonic activities there?"

Xie Jinhuan walked beside him, shaking his head and smiling:
"No, we're going to try our luck and see if we can find the Mingjin Sand. Does Senior Duan have any clues about it?"

As the overlord of Fengzhou, Duan Yuechou couldn't possibly be completely ignorant of the Western Rong people right on his doorstep. He thought back carefully:

"The Golden Sand... This substance originates from the land bestowed by the God of War. Once the opportunity to obtain it is seized, it will gradually sink into the ground. Therefore, to obtain this substance, one must first find the location where the opportunity was seized last time."

"Based on my investigations over the years, Wei Wuyi took one share when it appeared last time, another was taken by the northerners, and the remaining share should be in Yanbo City. If Young Master Xie wants this item, he can only try his luck with Old Master Wei."

Xie Jinhuan knew Wei Wuyi possessed these items, but asking for them wouldn't be possible without paying a price. Since his purpose in coming was to get them for free through the ghosts, he replied:
"I'll go take a look first, and if I can't find it, I can visit Elder Wei later."

Duan Yuechou felt the chances were slim, but she didn't discourage him:
"Young Master Xie, why don't you rest on the mountain for the night? I, Duan, also wanted to find these rare and precious materials in the past and gathered a lot of information. I will organize it later and give it to Young Master Xie for reference, so that Young Master Xie won't have to run all over the mountains."

Xie Jinhuan naturally bowed in thanks, and then led the two girls towards the guest courtyard...

……

(End of this chapter)