Chapter 247

Chapter 241

Qingcheng Mountain?

That’s Dujiangyan, not Fengdu.

Looking at it this way, if this is the ripple clue, at least for now it doesn’t point to what the Great Emperor had hoped to see.

So, does this mean that in the game between the Way of Heaven and the Great Emperor, as described in Xiao Yuan Ge’s behavior guidelines, the Way of Heaven won?

Tan Wenbin flicked his fingers forward, and the two children immediately left his shoulders, floated behind him, and began to push the wheelchair.

Xiao Yuan Ge has the 'four ghosts carrying a sedan chair', and now Tan Wenbin has the 'two ghosts pushing a cart'.

But this is also a kind of torment, as any special actions by the two children now will exacerbate Tan Wenbin’s cold.

“Hmm?”

The Daoist priest moved his peach wood sword forward, touched the hilt, then touched the blade. Why did this sword feel warmer than usual?

“Daozhang, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, keep walking.”

Just like that, under the moonlight, the Daoist priest and the middle-aged man walked in front, followed by a self-moving wheelchair.

“Daozhang, just this house, look at the other houses in the village, and then look at this house, this house is unbelievably dilapidated.”

“Ah, the two children living in such a home are indeed suffering. So, let the poor Daoist come and save them from the sea of suffering.”

The Daoist priest first stepped forward, chanted an incantation in a very low voice to avoid disturbing the people inside the house. After the preparations were complete, the Daoist priest pasted a talisman on his head and limbs. Finally, he took a piece of yellow paper and held the peach wood sword against it.

With a flick of the sword tip, the yellow paper didn’t move.

The Daoist priest was stunned, immediately flicked it again, still no change.

The Daoist priest simply steeled his heart and continuously struck the yellow paper with the sword tip. Sparks flew out in the process but were quickly extinguished, far from enough to burn the paper.

The middle-aged man didn’t understand these things, but he could see that there seemed to be a problem.

“Daozhang…”

“Give me your lighter.”

“Oh, okay.”

The Daoist priest took the lighter, “kacha” a sound, lit the flame, and ignited the yellow paper.

In the past, this yellow paper would have quickly burned to ashes in the same process, but tonight was different.

After the yellow paper finished burning, the Daoist priest only guessed in his heart that perhaps the air in the coastal area was humid and his yellow paper was damp.

After the last step was finished, the Daoist priest signaled the middle-aged man to wait there, and he went in alone.

The house door was locked. The Daoist priest probed the peach wood sword inside and flicked it, and the door bolt fell. Immediately, he pushed the door open and entered.

Outside, the middle-aged man was anxiously waiting.

Tan Wenbin, sitting in the wheelchair beside him, was also frowning.

He had the ability to stop this matter, but stopping it himself would likely sever this clue.

The most rational and cold-blooded approach would be to sit and watch this Daoist priest 'steal' the children out, let them return to Qingcheng Mountain, and then he and others would use this as a reason to go to Qingcheng Mountain to rescue and search for the child, solidifying the causal line.

Tan Wenbin knew that the house in front was Wang Lian’s grandmother’s house. She was Liu Laotai’s mahjong friend, and there was clearly a line that could be drawn later.

Soon, the Daoist priest came out, followed by two children. Each had a talisman pasted on their forehead. They didn’t cry or make noise, keeping their eyes closed, as if sleepwalking.

Looking at the children being brought out, the entanglement in Tan Wenbin’s heart also disappeared.

The Daoist priest was full of confidence and stopped the middle-aged man from going forward to hug the children and walk. Instead, he pointed his wood sword forward, and the two children naturally followed his pace.

For this, the Daoist priest explained: “There’s no need to do it this way. We didn’t come to ‘steal’ the children, we came to save them.”

When the middle-aged man heard this, his face twitched, but he still agreed: “Daozhang is right. The car is parked at the village road entrance, we should still hurry a bit.”

The Daoist priest gently stroked his goatee and slightly quickened his pace.

His original intention was to accelerate, but as soon as the speed increased, the two children following behind became disordered in their steps, and their bodies also began to sway.

Seeing the situation, the Daoist priest only lightly coughed and slowed down again.

Tan Wenbin’s wheelchair followed behind them the whole time, arriving at the edge of the village road, where a small sedan was parked.

When the middle-aged man went to open the car door, Tan Wenbin’s gaze fell on him. At first, it was extremely gloomy, but soon, he adjusted the intensity and made it slightly softer.

“Ah…”

The middle-aged man only felt his neck being pinched by an invisible large hand, completely unable to breathe. He had to loosen the hand grabbing the car door handle and kneel on the ground.

“What’s wrong with you?”

The Daoist priest’s eyes showed doubt. After going forward to check, he asked again: “Do you have asthma? Did you bring medicine?”

The middle-aged man wanted to explain that he was not sick, but he could only wave his hand, opening his mouth as wide as possible, but unable to make a sound.

At this point, the Daoist priest finally realized the nature of the problem. He immediately took out a talisman paper and pasted it on the middle-aged man’s forehead.

This talisman paper could change into seven colors, representing seven different intensities of evil spirits.

However, as soon as this talisman paper was pasted on, it actually burned up directly.

The Daoist priest’s eyes widened in fright, and he panicked, looking around, trembling and scolding: “What kind of demon dares in broad daylight… actually dares to cause mischief!”

Responding to him was a heart palpitation from his chest.

“Hiss…”

The Daoist priest clutched his chest and knelt down, as if suffering from sudden angina.

The next moment, Tan Wenbin dispelled the maze in front of his body, revealing his figure.

Tan Wenbin, with white hair, haggard appearance, and dense deathly aura, didn’t need any disguise. He looked like a ghost or evil spirit.

The two children floated towards the Daoist priest and the middle-aged man respectively, making silent murmurs and casting a curse technique into their bodies.

This was a delayed curse technique. If the cursed person didn’t find a way to dispel it in time, their physical condition would become worse and worse. Within a month, their intestines would rot, and they would die from a strange disease.

Furthermore, the two children could still sense the location of the curse they had cast.

After casting the curse, the two children floated back to Tan Wenbin’s side.

At the same time, Tan Wenbin also lifted the suppression on the middle-aged man and the Daoist priest.

The middle-aged man looked at Tan Wenbin with panicked eyes, his chest heaving violently.

The Daoist priest was also very afraid, but he still instinctively took out a handful of small talismans folded into squares from his sleeve and threw them towards Tan Wenbin.

The two children wanted to intercept them but were stopped by Tan Wenbin’s consciousness.

But even without Tan Wenbin blocking, in his panic and fluster, most of the talismans thrown by the Daoist priest scattered to other positions. Only one hit Tan Wenbin’s neck.

Tan Wenbin was now full of ghost energy. This kind of talisman package still had some effect, more or less. Coupled with Tan Wenbin deliberately not suppressing it and deliberately letting the effect of the talisman package maximize,

“Hiss la…”

A small burnt black area appeared on his neck.

Tan Wenbin was very dissatisfied with this killing efficiency.

He could only signal the two children to continue pushing the wheelchair forward, giving the Daoist priest greater oppression.

“Ah, for the righteous path, exterminate evil demons!”

The Daoist priest decided to go all out, holding the peach wood sword in his hand and rushing towards Tan Wenbin.

Tan Wenbin still didn’t block. He just silently signaled the children to remember to adjust the direction slightly when pushing the wheelchair.

“Pu…”

The peach wood sword pierced Tan Wenbin’s right arm. The evil energy on the sword body and the ghost energy in his body began to react.

Then soon, the color of the peach wood sword began to turn black.

It was very obvious that the material and quality of this sword were not up to standard. Instead of purifying the evil, it was being corrupted by it.

This was not good, not even a drop of blood flowed out.

Tan Wenbin signaled the two children to continue pushing the wheelchair forward so that the peach wood sword could stab a bit deeper. Finally, it penetrated and bled.

Originally, Tan Wenbin still wanted to cause more injury, but the Daoist priest saw that the evil he had stabbed not only didn’t retreat but actively charged towards him, which scared him so much that his hand shook, and the peach wood sword dropped to the ground. He turned around and ran.

Seeing the Daoist priest run, the middle-aged man didn’t dare to delay either. He first climbed up on all fours, fell another somersault after running a few steps, and then rolled and crawled to catch up with the Daoist priest’s back.

They not only threw the two children they had ‘stolen’ here, but also left this sedan here.

Tan Wenbin’s gaze fell on his godson, saying:

“Quickly go to Li Dazye’s house and find Xiao Yuan Ge for help. Say that the other side is highly skilled, I am seriously injured and in danger.”

The godson’s ghost eyes blinked. Obviously, he couldn’t understand such deceptive words.

“Go.”

The godson turned into a black shadow and floated towards Li Sanjiang’s house.

Tan Wenbin saved the two children from Wang Lian’s house.

But if he wanted this causal line not to break, he could only actively add causality to it himself, just like the ‘revenge line’ after his ‘serious injury’.

That Daoist priest had a little ability, but it was just limited to a little. Tan Wenbin had the ability to kill both of them directly.

But he couldn’t kill them, nor could he catch them, because if he caught them, it might lead to subsequent wrangling. What if the Taoist temple came looking for someone, and they had a good attitude of admitting their mistake, or simply acted with great righteousness to exterminate their relatives and clean up their sect?

He just had to scare them away and let them go back. At that time, following this line to Qingcheng Mountain would be simple.

In addition, Tan Wenbin was not worried that his ‘lie’ would harm Xiao Yuan Ge. Xiao Yuan Ge would know that he was definitely fine by looking at the state of the godson he sent.

Just as Tan Wenbin was sitting in the wheelchair and shrinking back further, a figure suddenly darted out from his side and continued to chase after the two people who had escaped earlier at extremely high speed.

At this speed, it was estimated that it wouldn’t take long to catch them back.

“A You…”

White Crane True Monarch couldn’t hear. He just kept running.

Tan Wenbin had no choice but to cast a curse on the figure that was about to run out of his spell range.

As soon as the spell technique was cast, Lin Shuyou stopped in his tracks. His vertical pupils flickered, and divine power flowed within his body, quickly suppressing the curse power.

“Bing Ge?”

Lin Shuyou scratched his head and walked back doubtfully.

“I deliberately let them run, don’t chase.”

“Huh?”

Tan Wenbin first flicked his finger to thoroughly dispel the curse power on A You’s body. Then he looked at the two children with talismans on their foreheads and said:

“Take these two children back to Wang Lian’s grandmother’s house. Tell them that you ran into the two children being stolen by two human traffickers on the village road, and you saved them.

The human traffickers were scared away by you, and their car is still parked there.

Oh, and by the way, call the police.”

“Okay, Bing Ge.”

Lin Shuyou immediately followed the instructions.

Soon, there was gradually movement in the village. Not only were there sounds of fear and crying from Wang Lian’s house, but the nearby neighbors also started to constantly notify other villagers to check on their own children.

This group of human traffickers actually dared to steal children from their homes in the middle of the night. It was really too scary.

The police arrived soon and dragged away the car as evidence.

The license plate was still ‘Chuan’, from Rongcheng. Without accident, the vehicle information should also be registered under the name of that middle-aged man.

The two human traffickers were mainly unprofessional. Moreover, when they came to steal children, they didn’t think there would be an accident, so they left behind many traces.

On the dam at Da Hu Zi’s house.

Li Zhuoyuan: “Bingbing Ge, you did very well.”

Tan Wenbin: “It’s all thanks to the .”

“Currently, it seems that in this game, the Great Emperor lost. The Great Emperor overestimated our position in the heart of the Way of Heaven.”

The Jiang River was led by the Great Emperor towards the direction he was located, but alas… Chuan Yu is too big.

Li Zhuoyuan looked at Yin Meng and continued: “Meng Meng, is there still meat at home?”

Yin Meng: “Yes, but that’s prepared for cooking tomorrow.”

“You can take it out first and practice a bit, then make an offering to your ancestor.”

“Okay, Xiao Yuan Ge.”

Yin Meng took out the ‘practice materials’ and started the process. After the Gu insects entered the meat block, the meat block quickly rotted, and insects crawled out one by one, gradually dividing into two groups.

One group crawled on the ground surrounding Yin Meng, while the other group flapped their wings and flew around Yin Meng.

After a while, the flying insects fell down and turned into crawling insects, while the originally crawling insects flew up and turned into a circling group. Everything seemed well-ordered.

Li Zhuoyuan: “Very good.”

Yin Meng: “Xiao Yuan Ge, I am considering toxins. A single insect cannot bear strong poison. I am thinking of adding non-toxic or weakly toxic substances to them, and then arranging and combining them during an attack to gather them into new strong poisons.”

“Not a bad idea, very feasible. But before that, I think you need to consider how to shorten the early stages so that the actual combat effectiveness can be higher.”

“Hmm, I am working hard. Please give me a little more time.”

“Make an offering.”

“Okay.”

Yin Meng started burning paper for the sacrifice. This time, the yellow paper burned very normally, and no words appeared in the wine bowl.

Li Zhuoyuan: “This confirms it thoroughly.”

Tan Wenbin: “Last time we went to Mountain City, I heard that Rongcheng’s hot pot has a different flavor.”

Yin Meng happily said: “Are we determined to go to Rongcheng?”

Although she wasn’t directly returning to her hometown, Yin Meng was still extremely excited to hear her hometown accent again.

Li Zhuoyuan: “Wait until Shan Dazye comes, I will help Runsheng recover his consciousness.”

Tan Wenbin looked at the still dark night: “Shan Dazye should arrive soon.”

According to Shan Dazye’s past habits, he would arrive early and have breakfast.

Li Zhuoyuan: “Meng Meng, wait until A You is back, also notify him to continue paying attention to the situation on his side. It’s best if he can connect one or two more ripple clues.”

“Understood.”

“Understood.”

Tan Wenbin: “Maybe tomorrow Li Dazye will win a prize again. If he wins a luxury five-day tour of Rongcheng again, um… won’t it be too obvious?”

Li Zhuoyuan: “Who knows, maybe this time the Way of Heaven is deliberately counterattacking the Great Emperor’s provocation in this way? Furthermore, it’s also a kind of comfort to us.”

Yin Meng: “Meaning, the Way of Heaven is actively protecting us.”

Tan Wenbin: “This is the value of our united front.”

Yin Meng: “At least for now, we can be considered to be protected by the heavens.”

Tan Wenbin: “You are the first person I’ve seen whose ancestor’s protection and the heavens’ protection conflict.”

At this moment, Li Sanjiang’s anxious shouting voice vaguely came from outside:

“Xiao Yuan Hou ah~ Xiao Yuan Hou ah~ where are you~”

He was woken up by the commotion in the village at night. Knowing that human traffickers had entered Wang Lian’s home in the middle of the night and two children had been kidnapped to the entrance of the village road, Li Sanjiang was scared and immediately went to check his great-grandson’s bedroom. When he saw that his great-grandson was not in the room, Li Sanjiang was so scared that he thought his Xiao Yuan Hou had also been kidnapped and sold.

When he saw Li Zhuoyuan running towards him, Li Sanjiang finally let out a sigh of relief and hugged the teenager:

“Ai yo, you almost scared great-grandfather to death.”

“Great-grandfather, A You caught the human traffickers who ran away and saved the children. I am accompanying him to explain the process to the police.”

“It’s all because of that person who spread the news, who didn’t make things clear. Really.”

Li Sanjiang was naturally reluctant to blame Xiao Yuan for staying up at night and running out. He just held the teenager’s hand and led him home, not daring to let go the whole way.

After returning home, Li Zhuoyuan had a short nap and then heard movement from downstairs.

It was Wang Lian and her husband who brought the two children to thank Lin Shuyou. Wang Lian asked the two children to kowtow to Lin Shuyou. Lin Shuyou was a bit awkward and wanted to decline, but under Xiao Yuan Ge’s gaze, he could only accept.

The police had already locked onto the suspects through the car license plate information. Their surname was Ding, named Ding Shanquan. This matched the information provided by Wang Lian’s family.

The police were conducting searches and arrests locally. Considering that the other party might escape back to Rongcheng after failing, they also sent a notice to the Rongcheng police, asking them to assist in the investigation and capture.

The dam on this side was still lively. Just then, a hunched figure walked over, it was indeed Shan Dazye.

He did arrive early, before breakfast. However, he looked dejected, with a heavy heart.

Li Sanjiang puffed on his cigarette, stood on the dam, and opened his mouth: “What, Shan Pao, lost all the rice again?”

Shan Dazye looked up at Li Sanjiang: “Runsheng Hou…”

Li Sanjiang: “Didn’t I tell you on the phone? Runsheng Hou and Zhuangzhuang are at the construction site. Follow Runsheng Hou well at home and mix around. Maybe in the future you can also be a foreman. Isn’t that much better than doing our old trade?”

Shan Dazye: “Sanjiang, Runsheng Hou is in trouble.”

Li Sanjiang: “Nonsense, he’s fine at the construction site, what trouble could there be?”

Shan Dazye stamped his foot anxiously: “I’m not lying to you, Sanjiang, Runsheng Hou is really in trouble, he is definitely in trouble ya, my Runsheng Hou ah!”

“What’s wrong with you? What exactly is wrong with you? Lost so much money you’re hysterical?”

Shan Dazye sat down on the ground, took out stacks of crumpled money from his pocket, and scattered them in a mess:

“I won money, I’ve been winning money these days ah!”