Chapter 340: Chapter 63: Mixing Fake with Real, Reuniting with Ji Jiji
Jiang Li had died.
Died at the hands of someone’s covert attack.
Tianxuan’s gaze fell, watching Zong Zheng, the coldness in his eyes making even this Ji Family Clan Elder shiver.
Then—
Tianxuan suddenly looked sideways, and Cui Xiangzhong and the other three exploded into a mist of blood.
"You wish to murder and silence!" Zong Zheng shouted.
Although unclear about the situation, Zong Zheng still discerned a critical point with the wisdom—or perhaps cunning—brought by his years.
—Cui Xiangzhong and the others.
If framed, these four were key. Moreover...
Zong Zheng continued, "If I had plotted the death of Jiang Li, I would have met Heaven’s Punishment by now. I am currently unharmed, which clearly shows that this matter is unrelated to me."
After the initial shock, Zong Zheng calmed down, making his innocence clear with logic and facts. Even in his heart, he harbored doubts, suspecting that Jiang Li was not dead, and that this was all just an act.
While he thought, he also sought a further breakthrough.
However, Tianxuan disregarded his shouts, sweeping by with a scan of Divine Sense as substantial as matter, causing various storage magic tools within the exploding blood mist to burst one by one.
The space within them shattered, and before the ensuing chaos could occur, Tianxuan’s Divine Sense forcibly flattened it, scattering the contents across the ground.
"Gone, Jiang Li’s protective bracelet is gone."
Tianxuan spoke, "In one of my disciple’s storage magic tools was a ginseng fruit, formed by a Second Grade Daoist Artifact, capable of prolonging life by five centuries. Now, the artifact has vanished, not even a trace left, and the ginseng fruit has also disappeared without a trace."
Zong Zheng suddenly stopped speaking.
A cold stream swept through his heart and mind.
He finally realized where the previous chill had come from.
Jiang Li had been killed, leaving Zong Zheng without his objective for this trip. A dead man, even without a body left behind, he couldn’t even whip a corpse if he wished. Even though he had doubts, without evidence at the moment, it was still difficult to clear his suspicion.
Using Heaven’s Punishment to judge whether it was a covert murder was hard to convince others, after all, Heaven’s Punishment is determined by the heavens, who knows what the cost of killing Jiang Li was.
Even so, Zong Zheng still had ways to struggle, even if he stepped into a trap, he wasn’t entirely powerless.
The key was that Jiang Li’s ginseng fruit had vanished.
Just like that, gone without a trace, no magic artifact, no ginseng fruit. No one knew how the artifact vanished, nor why Jiang Li didn’t consume the ginseng fruit, instead dragging an injured body.
Many reasons could be conjured, but at the moment, the critical point wasn’t how the ginseng fruit disappeared, but the fact that it had disappeared.
Regardless of whether the ginseng fruit was real or fake, once Tianxuan had spoken, naturally there would be people willing to believe and to make conjectures.
After all, there was no one to prove it was false, right?
And then, it wouldn’t take long for people to link the ginseng fruit to the Emperor.
Thinking this, Zong Zheng’s body faintly exuded the wild and boundless aura of the barbaric wilderness, his body showing abnormal colors.
But before he could erupt, that Qi Mechanism suddenly dissipated.
Imperial College Sacrificial Officer stood behind Zong Zheng at some unknown time, and Tianxuan was slowly descending from the sky.
Zong Zheng wanted to break out of the Imperial College, not be taken down by others, and inform the Emperor at the first moment of the events here, but with Tianxuan in front and the Sacrificial Officer behind, especially the latter, once he made a move, Zong Zheng would have no chance of escaping the Imperial College.
"I am willing to surrender," said Zong Zheng, having lost his earlier defiance, now showing a dejected demeanor.
However...
"I do not accept," declared Tianxuan.
She pressed her palm down, and stars plummeted from the sky.
...
...
Twenty li away from the Imperial College, within a forest, Jiang Li stood on a branch of a towering tree, watching the starlight fall in the distance, he casually released his grasp, and the leaves between his fingers rose with the wind.
"The wind is picking up."
He said slowly.
Among those who entered the Cave Heaven Blessed Land, the Fourth Prince’s forces could be said to have been entirely wiped out. Iron Pillar Temple’s temple master Tong Yuanzi was also nowhere to be seen, the survivors from this Cave Heaven were only Jiang Li, Lawless Freedom, Bu Yusheng, and Li Qinglian.
On the surface, none of them seemed to be from the Emperor’s side.
This also meant that the Emperor didn’t have the ginseng fruit.
Seeing it this way, if the Emperor wished to prolong his life with the ginseng fruit, he would only take it from someone else.
Thus, the attack on Jiang Li also made sense, didn’t it?
Tianxuan had established a target for others, and naturally, people would want to know if the Emperor had obtained the ginseng fruit.
And the truth was—although Jiang Li’s ginseng fruit disappearance was a hoax, the fact that the Emperor possessed a ginseng fruit was real, and the Emperor’s side was in the process of refining an Immortality Elixir.
The Emperor had to find a way to cover it up.
However, the more he tried to conceal it, the more it aroused suspicion.
This falsehood could very well become reality in the end.
Not only did this feigned death allow Jiang Li to avoid becoming a target, but it also gradually unveiled the Emperor’s intentions.
’By the way, it also allows me to temporarily disentangle myself from the center of the vortex; from now on, I am beyond the reach of the law.’
A greyish fog began to congeal around him, and the surrounding Five Vile Qi started to pulsate regularly, constantly circulating with the flow of Jiang Li’s True Qi.
Though he couldn’t directly control the Five Vile Qi, with the Demon Cleansing True Qi’s attraction to Evil Qi, Jiang Li could achieve indirect control.
Much like using Wind Control, Jiang Li didn’t need to control the wind; he only needed to pull on it, perceive its patterns, and then guide and command it.
On this basis, Jiang Li now had some insight into drawing upon the Five Vile Qi.
He seemed quite adept at venturing down these unorthodox paths—he had previously discovered the Heart Demon Secret Sword within the Pure Yang Dao Heart, and now from the Demon Suppressing True Technique, which is considered the utmost counter to demons and evil, he had found a Demon-controlling Skill.
From this, it was clear that Jiang Li was actually contemplating breaking free from the confines of the Nine Heavens Demon Clearing True Technique.
At least Zhang Daoyi only used the Five Vile Qi as a barrier to protect himself, unlike Jiang Li, who indirectly manipulated the Five Vile Qi.
The gathered Five Vile Qi formed a faint grey mist that spread through the woods; quietly, it cast the outline of a human figure.
Jiang Li suddenly looked forward.
A hundred steps away, a human silhouette was approaching.
He was like an invisible person; Jiang Li detected not the slightest breath from him, and his Qi Observation Skill also failed to reveal any clues. If it weren’t for the Five Vile Qi pulled in by Jiang Li, forming a domain, he might not even have noticed his approach.
’Formless and intangible... This sensation...’
Jiang Li stared intently at the human silhouette.
Under his gaze, a figure slowly materialized.
It was as if a blank canvas had been colored, and gradually from front to back, a young Daoist dressed in a blue Dao Robe revealed his form.
He stood thirty steps away, slowly raising his head, his eyes lofty and distant as the heavens, meeting Jiang Li’s gaze.
’Ji Jiji?!’
Jiang Li hadn’t expected to see this ominously named ancestor of the Ji Family again at such a time and was even more puzzled about how the other had found him.
Fortunately, with the Five Vile Qi surrounding him, even with Ji Jiji’s powerful eyesight, he would presumably be unable to see through the Five Vile Qi and directly discern Jiang Li’s face.
’No, he’s not Ji Jiji. Ji Jiji is dead and cannot come back to life.’
Jiang Li denied his own thought once more in his mind.
But judging by his state, Ji Jiji seemed to have regained Spiritual Sense. When he saw Ji Jiji’s body beneath the ginseng fruit tree that day, the other wasn’t wearing this blue Dao Robe.
"Cultivation Technique... ’Yin Talisman Scripture.’"
The voice of "Ji Jiji" was somewhat hoarse, as if he had forgotten how to speak, but quickly, his voice became fluent, "Hand over... the ’Yin Talisman Scripture,’ erase your memory, and you shall be unharmed."
As the voice grew increasingly fluent, an indescribable aura began to emanate from "Ji Jiji."
It was like witnessing the towering majesty of the heavens, profound and distant. That face, undoubtedly belonging to Ji Jiji, was clear and distinct, yet in Jiang Li’s eyes, it was also tinged with a sense of blurriness, as if it could disappear at any moment.
And as that otherworldly feeling appeared on his face, a distinct Handprint through the fabric emerged on his chest, shattering the lofty presence of the heavens and revealing a nearly imperceptible flaw in the ungraspable Qi Mechanism of "Ji Jiji."
Seeing this Handprint, Jiang Li was certain it was Ji Jiji’s body beyond doubt; for now, he might as well refer to him as "Ji Jiji."
’Ji Jiji’s physical body still retains the Heavenly Dharma, but his Heavenly Dharma is flawed. That Handprint shattered the Heavenly Dharma, creating this flaw.’
Jiang Li mulled over various thoughts while invisible Sword Light clung to his spine, silently coming into existence.
Hand over the ’Yin Talisman Scripture,’ and erase the memory?
How could Jiang Li possibly agree!
Aside from the fact that the ’Yin Talisman Scripture’ created by Ji Jiji contains the essence of the ’Form Tomb,’ which is enough to supplement Jiang Li’s understanding of it, the idea of erasing his memory was absolutely unacceptable to him.
Other than himself, no one could dispose of his memory.
"You... are unwilling."
In the instant that the Sword Light appeared, Ji Jiji seemed to see through Jiang Li’s thoughts, and with great certainty, he spoke out Jiang Li’s reluctance.
He took a step forward and said, "Then, I shall have to take action and forcibly erase your memory."
His figure flickered between substance and void, and suddenly, Ji Jiji merged into the space and vanished abruptly.
Unable to grasp his figure and his Spiritual Sense unable to detect his presence—but—
Sword Light erupted behind Jiang Li.
The presence of the Five Vile Qi meant his formlessness and intangibility were no longer perfect.