usatvline Chapter 78 Causal Connection
Chapter 78 Causal Connection
Having discerned the source of the demonic energy ahead, Juan Shoutian and Yuan Wuxiang decisively retreated a few steps, completely concealing themselves behind the tangled branches and leaves, leaving the stage to the other.
This scene is clearly not suitable for them; let Duanmie Chanti do it himself.
"Juan Shoutian and Yuan Wuxiang, what are you doing here?"
Ling Ziling led her people out, wanting to see how Ren Yunzong changed his appearance to scare people, and then they saw two figures who, although they tried to hide, were still dazzling.
It wasn't that she intentionally chose them; these two, one in gold and the other in silver, stood out starkly against the surrounding green leaves and branches, yet they stood side by side, making the area around them seem several shades brighter.
Look, even the two ghost children are too scared to go any further.
Ling Ziling glanced at the two children hiding behind her. Although their faces were blurry, she could still sense their fear.
"We'd like to ask that too."
The original Wuxiang pointed to the annihilation of the icchantika ahead.
"If I remember correctly, after settling the past grievances, didn't he return to being Ren Yunzong and go back to the path of enlightenment? How did he become like this again?"
When they saw the annihilation of the icchantika, the two of them almost thought they had gone to the wrong place.
"Because the White Lotus Sect is a nuisance, and the Asura King is involved in it too. Ah Zhen is just using this appearance to scare them."
As Ling Ziling answered the questions, she put down the still unconscious blind monk she was holding. She ignored the two followers who had been knocked unconscious and left them lying unconscious in the room.
Those were just two errand boys; taking them away together would be pointless. The group of believers that Lan Ying led were just followers and had little to do with the local people. Arresting them wouldn't uncover any cases.
Besides, the allies in the house at that time were a group of house demons smaller than the palm of your hand, two blurry little ghosts whose physical forms were unclear, plus a wild cat with some intelligence. There was only one normal living person. It was too much for her to carry three adult men.
What? You mean those four or five big men who were robbers before? That's different. Back then, there was only Ling Ziling. She could just pick her up and leave with a wave of her whisk. Now she's "dragging her family along." They're completely incomparable.
"The White Lotus Sect used to send demons to scare Azhen. Now he is just giving them a taste of their own medicine. Moreover, by scaring them like this, he can divert their attention and keep them fighting amongst themselves, preventing them from uniting to rebel."
Society is relatively stable now, and people's lives are not so hard. The number of fanatical believers who can be incited by the White Lotus Sect is still a minority, and they cannot gather enough power to rebel.
However, if these factions that were fighting amongst themselves were to reunite, the situation would be quite different. With a dozen or so small cults all together, who knows what kind of tricks they would pull?
The name of the Asura King who has endured countless eons is recognized by many followers of the White Lotus Sect and is even used for propaganda. The reasons are only two: his appearance is clearly different from that of a human, and his martial prowess is so strong that it can rival that of a god.
Both of these things exist in the realm of annihilation and icchantika. In fact, many innate beings of non-human origin can meet these requirements. You use the Asura King to promote your doctrines, fine, we'll play out a card of the Demon City Young Master. You can decide which one to believe and fight it out yourselves.
"Are you sure it's okay? Can you just remove the Dao body directly...?"
Ren Yunzong's Dao body is a form that is directly covered by his original appearance through the cultivation of Daoist techniques. The last time he reverted to the state of Duanmie Chanti was when his Daoist techniques could no longer sustain him.
"No problem. When Ah Zhen was re-cultivating the Profound Extreme Heart Method, he gained other insights. He is only using the Demon Form temporarily, which will not harm his body."
"flag……"
The brother spoke quietly, his gaze falling on Juan Shoutian.
"what?"
Hearing her brother speak, Ling Ziling immediately turned around. The two ghost children were somewhat inexplicably afraid of Shuangxiu, and they had been hiding behind Ling Ziling. Now, the house demons seemed to be bolder than them.
"The flag, you mean this?"
Juan Shoutian raised his hand, revealing the exquisite little flag he was holding. Because this thing was constantly emitting evil energy, he had a gut feeling that it would be useful, so he didn't put it away.
"Eh?!"
Upon seeing the flag, Ling Ziling's eyes widened. She took out the four small flags she had found on the blind monk. The five flags had similar shapes and patterns, and all of them were inlaid with gold at the top, exuding a trace of ominous evil.
The evil aura was also sensed by Ling Ziling. After all, Juan Shoutian held one, and she had four in her hands, so it was impossible for her not to notice it.
But first of all, they were in a place where a group of White Lotus sect members were stationed, plus an illegal traveler. The number of people practicing evil magic was a bit too high, so it was perfectly normal to feel evil energy in such a place.
Then, there were two ghosts who had been killed and enslaved by evil magic, a wooden figure that could imprison ghosts and a small coffin that could cast curses on people, all of which interfered with the evil aura on the few small flags.
If it weren't for Gezi's keen senses and his status as one of the victims of this flag, they would have had no idea when they would have found the other five flags and so on.
I guess we'll have to wait until they arrest the blind monk, interrogate him, and compile all the evidence against him.
"Didn't you say it was lost? How come it's in your hands?"
Ling Ziling didn't really care where this thing went, but by sheer coincidence, the flag was brought back by Shuang Xiu, who was also a Xiantian person.
"A set of five flags..."
Looking at the five identical flags, Yuan Wuxiang recalled what the wandering Taoist priest had said. He looked past Ling Ziling and towards the two strangely shaped ghost children behind her.
These two children are probably ghosts bound and driven by evil magic.
"So why is it in your hands?"
"Regarding this matter, I've heard the details..."
Everything was connected. The blind monk, carrying his tools for practicing evil arts, traveled around swindling people. Because of his status as a monk, he could easily stay at temples without needing any further explanation.
What the blind monk didn't expect was that although there was only one monk in the desolate temple where he stayed, this monk was greedy. He happened to see the small gold-inlaid flag in the blind monk's hand, and since the blind monk was blind, he used some tricks to steal one.
This monk may not be a good person, but the temple is a legitimate one. The two little ghosts are suppressed in the temple. The blind monk also knows that his true identity cannot be exposed, so he keeps the two ghost children in the wooden figure, allowing an ordinary monk with a mortal body to succeed.
Perhaps because he had done something wrong before coming, the blind monk left in a hurry the next day without having time to check carefully. The monk who stole the things also felt guilty. He discovered that the small flag was no ordinary object and sealed it together with his silver and other valuables into the Buddha statue in the center of the main hall.
When the blind monk realized something was wrong and retraced his steps, the flag was already embedded in the Buddha statue. In any case, the main hall and Buddha statue, which were being worshipped, had a substantial ability to suppress evil spirits, so the blind monk returned empty-handed and had to leave again.
Five flags form a formation, but now that one is missing, the formation binding the two ghosts is less powerful, giving them some freedom to move around and provide clues for the house demons who have suffered unexpected disasters.
Meanwhile, robbers came to the temple, and the monks were killed with their eyes wide open in anger. Every night, their spirits would return, clutching their belongings and laughing wildly. A wandering Taoist priest happened to see them and then encountered the two beauties.
Finally, Shuangxiu discovered this unusual little flag. Ling Ziling and Ren Yunzong unexpectedly heard the crying of the house demon girl and learned of the blind monk's evil deeds. They met here.
"Although the missing flag was not found and it could not be proven that the monk in the temple was a suspect, he still harbored resentment towards the place and cursed the monk after leaving."
This was the brother's final addition to the whole story, so the monk who was killed did not encounter an entirely accidental event.
The temple was located in a remote area. It was strange that the bandits would target a desolate place with only one monk living in the mountains instead of robbing caravans on the main road or villages around the town.
On the surface, their routes did not intersect at all. Shuangxiu wanted to board the ship to go somewhere else, while Ren Yunzong took Ling Ziling off the ship to walk back. Their meeting was purely coincidental.
But in reality, all the grudges eventually come back to the blind monk; what a wonderful cycle of cause and effect.
"So, now all you need to do is destroy the flag and the wooden figure, and you'll be free?"
"Yes."
"That's great, now you can go and cast your ballots without worry... Ah Zhen? When did you get back?"
Everything was ready. Hearing that it would free the two children, Ling Ziling wanted to clap and celebrate, but suddenly realized something was wrong. The demonic energy around them had already dissipated, and Ren Yunzong, who had returned to his Dao form, was standing behind them at some point, discussing the matter with them.
"I've been back for a long time."
He was just there to scare the other side, not to actually defeat them. He just needed to make a few gestures to intimidate them.
Although he really wanted to capture Lan Ying, who was an illegal transmigrator, Duanmie Chanti's purpose in showing his face this time was to make the other party misunderstand that he was related to the Asura King who had conquered all tribulations. If he captured Lan Ying, not only would no one be able to pass on the message, but he would also expose his secret.
If a person covered in demonic energy, looking like a demon king, captures an illegal transmigrator, it means that this "demon king" is also part of the legitimate system. As a result, Shou Wanjie will also be suspected.
We've finally managed to get the enemy to believe that "the official system only recruits sword immortals with an ethereal aura and a Xianxia style," and we can't let Duanmie Chanti's appearance shatter that impression.
And to be honest, even though there are several layers of leaves and weeds blocking the view, making it impossible to see anyone from the outside, that's no reason for them to chat here as if no one else is around.
If it weren't for the fact that Duanmie Chanti was conspicuous enough in front of them, it would have been only a matter of time before they were discovered while chatting so happily.
"Where has that woman gone too?"
Ling Ziling pushed aside the obstruction in front of her and saw not only Lan Ying, but also the other followers who were with her. Only a mess remained on the ground.
"I gave her the final blow, which must have triggered some kind of life-saving item, causing her to turn into a wisp of black smoke and disappear."
Based on the energy form, it should be another group of illegal travelers. With the leader gone, the other cultists, who were already afraid, naturally fled in panic. In addition, this place was just a temporary stop outside the city. With this chaos, not a single person was left.
That's not right either; the two who were unconscious inside might still be there.
This time, the target wasn't the White Lotus Sect, and we also had to cover for the undercover agents. Once they were all gone, everyone left them alone, sent the house demon home, and handed the blind monk over to the authorities.
So when the blind monk woke up, he was met with a joint trial. All the physical evidence was found. With Taoist masters like Ren Yunzong there, it wasn't difficult for the two child ghosts to appear before mortals. And the physical evidence was there.
With witnesses and physical evidence, and the common people in the city who had been extorted for money, even if the blind monk stubbornly denied the crime, no one would care about his explanation.
There is one regrettable thing: the two children were enslaved by the blind monk for many years and were taken around to wander. Although they look only seven or eight years old, if they had grown up safely, they might have reached adulthood and become independent.
So much time has passed that they no longer remember the exact appearance of their hometown. "Gezi" is just a nickname, and the other only remembers that his surname is Zhan, not even his given name.
Every year, many children die or go missing in various places. The families of the two children could not be found. Although they were exonerated, they could not let their families know. After the things that imprisoned and enslaved them were destroyed, they had to go to the underworld to start over.
……
A wisp of black smoke drifted across the wilderness, finally settling on an open space. Then the smoke grew thicker and thicker, and a woman covered in blood tumbled out of the smoke.
This was Lan Ying. Although the slash that Duanmie Chanti delivered was merely a scare tactic and intentionally avoided vital organs, the other injuries were still real. Moreover, from Lan Ying's perspective, she felt that the other party genuinely wanted to kill her, which was why she used this escape tool.
Since that incident in the capital, Yi Yang and Lan Ying have truly been traumatized. When they were running on the ground, two people dressed in white would chase them from the sky with swords, like cats catching mice.
From then on, they tried every means to get something to escape with. After following Shou Wanjie's orders to call back the other two companions, they worked together to make a bunch of life-saving items.
The reason the other two were able to hide in the underworld for so long was because they could materialize into other forms. Lan Ying's method of escaping by turning into black smoke was created based on their abilities.
After finally managing to stand up, she first spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the ground before starting to send signals.
"Monsters, they're all a bunch of fucking monsters..."
The image of the person from before reappeared in her mind. Because of the golden markings on the person's body, she couldn't even clearly make out their appearance. Their wild attire was very deceptive, and she would subconsciously ignore their actual appearance when she looked at them.
"Since you are cooperating with King Asura, then pass on this message."
That's what that inhuman guy said.
"If the evil god wants to make a comeback, the Demon City will oblige."
Then comes the inescapable blade. Lan Ying only knows one Asura King, but what is a Demon God? And what Demon City is this?
After listening to a bunch of incoherent words and getting stabbed, Lan Ying really wanted to curse, but she couldn't beat the two guys she really wanted to curse, so she could only bombard them in her mind.
She felt as if she had come to some unknown street novel about gods and demons, rather than a tale from a strange house.
"Didn't the Asura King say he came from Japan? Where are there evil gods in Japan, and what connection do they have with this place?"
Lan Ying: What nonsense is this? I want to curse, I really want to curse!