Chapter 1984: Two Detectives

Two days later, the four of them exited the domain gate and landed on an ancient star. Ye Chen was unfazed, as he already knew Cang Lan Jie was hidden here and felt no surprise. Qin Guang Wang was also calm, his expression showing no disturbance. However, Ren Wang, after landing, couldn't help but narrow his old eyes into slits. As he moved around the ancient star, he couldn't find any trace of Cang Lan Jie, which left him sighing in wonder. He realized it wasn't that his vision wasn't sharp enough, but that Cang Lan Jie was too profound, shrouded by a mysterious force. Even his remnant soul as the Human Emperor struggled to unravel the mystery or locate it.

Once they entered Cang Lan Jie, Ren Wang's expression grew even more intrigued. Qin Guang Wang was also scanning their surroundings with shining eyes. Although both had heard of Cang Lan Jie and recognized the Evil Demon, it was their first time truly stepping inside.

"Cang Lan Wu Jie, its reputation is well-deserved," Ren Wang exclaimed. He admitted to himself that without the Evil Demon as a guide, he absolutely couldn't have entered. The prohibitions of Cang Lan Jie had formed an imperial dao dead cycle.

"This is a great place for retirement," Ye Chen said casually.

"The one who kidnapped Mu Liuqing was really ruthless," Qin Guang Wang tsked in amazement. With his sharp eye, he could tell that Cang Lan Jie had been plundered—otherwise, why would the spiritual fruits be reduced to bare branches? At a glance, the entire Cang Lan Jie had no spiritual herbs left, not even an immortal pool.

"Those things you mentioned? I did that," Ye Chen coughed awkwardly. "I cleared it out while Mu Liuqing was still here."

At his words, both Ren Wang and Qin Guang Wang turned to look him up and down, then stroked their beards meaningfully, their eyes seeming to say: Not bad, that sounds just like something you'd do. You're quite bold—stealing from the Evil Demon and still managing to survive. That's a miracle.

The Evil Demon said nothing, glanced at the three of them, and headed to the small bamboo grove. Inside, the stone bed was still there, but Mu Liuqing, who had been lying on it, was gone, having been taken who knows how long ago.

"Come on, let me take a look—see if there's any clue or trace left behind," Ren Wang said, rolling up his sleeves as he approached the stone bed.

Ye Chen followed. Ren Wang walked ahead, and Ye Chen trailed behind, one with his hands tucked in his sleeves and the other stroking his chin, circling the stone bed like detectives.

While pretending to search for clues, Ye Chen secretly transmitted to Ren Wang, "That woman stole my collector's edition and threatened to spread it across the realms, letting everyone in the myriad domains have a good laugh."

"Then you're on your own. You'd better leave your last words first," Ren Wang replied casually. As he spoke, he tapped the stone bed.

"I told her those collector's editions were from you," Ye Chen said.

"You..." Ren Wang cursed, nearly choking on his breath, his old face turning pitch black in an instant.

"If you have time, you should leave your last words too. We can keep each other company," Ye Chen added, squatting down to examine the stone bed.

Upon hearing that, Ren Wang's face darkened like charcoal. Finding such a troublesome teammate was truly aggravating.

Meanwhile, Qin Guang Wang and the Evil Demon stood silently, watching Ye Chen and Ren Wang, waiting quietly for any results.

Ye Chen and Ren Wang were certainly taking their time—ostensibly searching for clues, but privately just chatting nonsense over a collector's edition, bickering through transmissions with tempers flaring.

If the Evil Demon and Qin Guang Wang knew about this, they might just kick them both. What are you two doing here? We called you to find someone, not to mess around, you troublemakers.

"Have you found anything?" Qin Guang Wang asked, finally unable to hold back. He was more anxious than the Evil Demon—after all, as a spirit from the underworld, he had time limits.

"The culprit's methods were highly skilled—no clues at all," Ren Wang said, stroking his beard meaningfully.

"I agree completely," Ye Chen added solemnly.

Those two were quite the actors, performing at emperor-level standards. They played the detectives to perfection, acting dead serious despite not accomplishing a thing.

"If you can't find the culprit, neither of you needs to leave today," the Evil Demon said coldly, breaking her silence. As the Chi Mei Evil God, she could peer into hearts and read thoughts. No matter how well Ye Chen and Ren Wang acted, they couldn't escape her scrutiny. She was barely suppressing the urge to kill them. Can you two get serious? Someone's been taken, and you're still joking around. Do you think I'm a child?

Ren Wang felt awkward and quickly dropped the joking demeanor, instantly getting into character. He said calmly, "Next, I will use the Zhou Tian evolution to restore the scene. We'll see who the culprit is right away."

With that, he stood still, slightly closed his eyes, and formed a seal with one hand. Then, three drops of fresh blood floated from his brow, suspended in the air and merging into the void, generating a mysterious force that made the surrounding space tremble suddenly.

"Push heaven and earth, trace back to the origin," he chanted lightly, suddenly opening his eyes with two beams of divine light shooting out.

Immediately, a fragmented image materialized before the four of them.

Ye Chen and the others narrowed their eyes, staring intently at the broken image. It showed the scene in the bamboo grove that day: Mu Liuqing lying quietly on the stone bed, unchanged.

After three to five seconds, they were shocked to see Mu Liuqing on the stone bed open her eyes, sit up on her own, get off the bed, and walk step by step out of Cang Lan Jie.

"This..." The Evil Demon's mouth fell open slightly, her expression full of disbelief.

"This..." Ye Chen was equally stunned, his face hard to describe.

"This..." Qin Guang Wang was baffled, completely confused.

As the three watched, Ren Wang coughed up blood from overexerting himself in tracing back the origin, suffering severe backlash. His body staggered, nearly falling, and with his blood, the fragmented image dissipated.

"There you have it—that's the truth," Ye Chen glanced at the Evil Demon. "Senior, when you have time, you should properly compensate me."

The Evil Demon didn't register a word he said. She stood there in a daze, her mind foggy, unsure whether to feel happy or doubtful about Mu Liuqing's revival, which had caught her off guard.

After a while, she snapped out of it and looked straight at Ren Wang. "Can you calculate where he went?"

"This is strange," Ren Wang murmured, not answering her question directly as he continued to calculate with his fingers, muttering to himself. His old eyes flickered with deep light. "Mu Liuqing's life soul was clearly dead—how could it revive on its own?"

"Can you find out where he is?" the Evil Demon pressed, stepping forward, her watery eyes full of hope for a clear answer.

"If he were alive, I might be able to figure it out," Ren Wang shook his head helplessly. "But your Mu Liuqing is a dead person—this can't be calculated. He's just a blank slate."

"That can't be right!" Qin Guang Wang raised an eyebrow. "We saw it clearly just now—he got up by himself. Did the corpse transform?"

"Impossible," Ren Wang waved his hand firmly. "Corpse transformation can only happen in extremely yin places. Cang Lan Jie is full of pure yang energy—there's no yin at all."

"This is unbelievable," Ye Chen scratched his head in confusion.

"Thank you for the image," the Evil Demon said softly, then turned and left, stepping out of Cang Lan Jie—clearly going to search for Mu Liuqing. A faint voice echoed back afterward, directed at Ye Chen: "This was my oversight—I wrongly accused you. When I return, I'll make it up to you."

"Now that's more like it," Ye Chen chuckled to himself, thinking that when the Evil Demon came back, he should ask for some treasures as compensation. After all, he had nearly been killed, so he deserved some comfort.

"I should be going too," Qin Guang Wang said. "When the Ming Emperor and the Emperor emerge from seclusion, I'll ask them. Next time I cross over, I'll let you know."

With that, Ren Wang and Qin Guang Wang left one after the other, leaving only Ye Chen in the bamboo grove.

Ren Wang wasn't in good shape—his face was pale as paper, and blood kept seeping from his mouth, impossible to stop. The backlash he suffered was extremely severe.

"What do you make of this?" Ren Wang wiped the blood from his mouth and looked at Ye Chen.

"This matter is far from simple," Ye Chen said slowly. "I tried calculating it earlier, but I always felt some mysterious force interfering, making it hard to see the truth."

"Looks like you sensed it too," Ren Wang said, sitting down on the ground and pulling out a wine flask. He continued, "Just as you said, there's an extremely mysterious force covering up the facts. What we saw before might just be an illusion. For it to evade my calculations, the other party must be a great master. One thing's for sure—Mu Liuqing hasn't truly revived. The reason he could get up and walk was likely because some mysterious person was controlling his body."

"Someone who can sneak into Cang Lan Jie so easily and escape your Zhou Tian evolution—probably only a great emperor could do that," Ye Chen frowned. "This is too strange."

"And yet the Ming Emperor and the Emperor are in seclusion at this critical moment," Ren Wang rubbed his brow. "I'm certain that even if those two supreme beings came out, they couldn't track down that mysterious person. After all, separated by the human and underworld realms, even supreme beings are limited."

Ye Chen didn't respond, just sat on the ground, deep in thought. For some reason, he felt this was connected to the Zhu Xian Sword. Whether evading Ren Wang's calculations or slipping into Cang Lan Jie, that strange sword could accomplish it—all worldly prohibitions were mere decorations to it.

Ren Wang thought the same, and the two exchanged knowing looks without saying it aloud, as they weren't entirely sure.

"Since we can't figure it out, let's not dwell on it," Ren Wang said, patting his clothes and standing up. "Whoever took Mu Liuqing must have some scheme. Schemes always come to light eventually, and we'll know who it is then. Worrying won't help."

"Since the Evil Demon is looking for Mu Liuqing, we shouldn't sit idle—let's go find Lin Xing," Ye Chen said, getting up and handing Ren Wang a jade slip. It contained information about Lin Xing.

Ren Wang crushed the jade slip and saw a scene that was utterly outrageous: In the dead of night, while he was deep in sleep, Lin Xing broke the seal, escaped, rummaged through his things, and then kicked and cursed at him. No wonder Ye Chen was such a schemer—he loved stirring up trouble and making things chaotic. He wouldn't say anything unless he had to, but once he did, it caused a stir.

Ren Wang's face darkened like charcoal again. He hadn't expected such nonsense to happen while he was asleep—he was the Human King, after all!