Coming out of the jail cell, Jin You bypassed the main hall of the Yamen according to the path Mu Qing described, and sure enough discovered a small room where quite a few case files were neatly arranged on the bookshelves, and the confession statement Jin You was looking for was right among them.
Quite a few of the bookshelves in the room had case files with a thick layer of dust accumulated on them, which could be seen at a glance as not being frequently flipped through. According to the words of Mu Qing and others, the times they were forced to sign the confessions varied, and Mu Qing’s time was later than the other ghosts, so it should not be on the bookshelf before his eyes, and Jin You did not plan to search through here.
Jin You walked slowly inside the room, his gaze brushing over the labels beside the book scrolls, discovering that besides some old case files from former years of unknown origin, books like travelogues and county annals were also mixed in on the bookshelves, the covers of the books having only a thin layer of dust, seeming to be more favored by the owner compared to other case files.
Jin You casually picked up a volume, which happened to be that county annal recording the origin and changes of the place named Xing County, which was not very interesting to read, so Jin You merely took a rough look at two pages before putting it back in its original place, continuing to search for the confessions.
On the side of the room stood a writing desk, upon which brush, ink, paper, and inkstone were neatly arranged, as if someone frequently leaned over the desk to write. Jin You lightly brushed the surface of the inkstone with his hand, without a single speck of dust staining his hand, so he began examining around the writing desk, finally finding a stack of confessions in a compartment on the side of the writing desk, stacked in sequence according to time, with the top one written right with Mu Qing’s name.
Jin You roughly counted the number of confessions, which roughly matched the number of people in the jail cells, gathering a few drops of Yellow Spring Water as he prepared to burn all the confessions to ashes, when his gaze swept across a spot, subconsciously reading out the official’s name on the official seal, “Chen Zheng?”
This name, he seemed to have seen somewhere just now?
Jin You hurriedly flipped through all the confessions one by one, finding that the official’s name was Chen Zheng in every case, which should be the official-robed ghost’s true name.
Official robes… Chen Zheng… it was that county annal of Xing County just now! No, not just the county annal, even those case files were cases judged in Xing County, so this Mount Lanfen seemed to have a connection with Xing County that was far from shallow.
Jin You looked anew at the confessions in his hand, as the Yellow Spring Water eroded toward the official seal bit by bit from the edge as if conscious, showing that Mu Qing’s method was indeed useful.
“Taking without asking is called stealing, why doesn’t sir put it down?”
A gentle and pleasant voice sounded out of thin air in the room, and Jin You turned his head sharply, discovering that standing at the door blocking Jin You’s path of retreat was a scholar-like Confucian scholar, looking at the confessions in Jin You’s hand with a smile curving his eyebrows and eyes, “My my, it seems I arrived a step late, so I can only ask sir to head to the Yamen to accept Lord Chen’s judgment.”
Jin You returned a similarly gentle smiling face, allowing the water flow to run and jump in the room like a playful child, showing no mercy whatsoever, “Lord Chen? I see he is a despicable person who enslaves ghosts and monsters. Wanting to judge me with just you people, do you truly think you can judge both ghosts and gods?”
The scholar in green robes was not annoyed either, his throat letting out a brief, low laugh instead, lightly clapping his hands toward Jin You, “Then that depends on how much capability sir possesses.”
Jin You’s water flow was like a flexible snake, attempting to entangle around the scholar ghost’s body so Jin You could take the opportunity to leave this study room. But the scholar ghost was very smart, every stroke falling from the writing brush in his hand being bound to scatter a stream of water, actually blocking Jin You inside the room. Jin You mixed Yellow Spring Water into the water flow, but was seen through by the scholar ghost, “Sir has fine methods, but how could I be without any guard?”
The scholar ghost borrowed the bookshelves as cover, swinging a few strokes through the air to block the narrow gaps between the book scrolls and bookshelves, while he himself flashed to hide behind the bookshelf when the Yellow Spring Water attacked.
The blood jade bead was not by Jin You’s side, so Jin You was temporarily unable to gather the water of Zexian Lake from the pocket dimension, finding himself somewhat stretched for resources at the moment. What was even worse was that footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door at this moment, and judging by the sound, it was actually official boots!
“Who is so bold as to actually trespass into the public hall!”
The official-robed ghost, Chen Zheng, held an official seal in his hand, his frame tall, his gaze sweeping over Jin You as he let out a cold snort through his nose, operating the official seal directly to stamp toward the back of Jin You’s head, actually intending to stamp a mark onto Jin You as well.
Jin You raised his sleeve to block off the official seal, but his arm was scorched with a streak of black smoke by the official seal, the intense pain almost attacking his entire body. Jin You hardened his heart, scattering all the Yellow Spring Water to surround Chen Zheng and the scholar ghost. The scholar ghost was just about to advise Chen Zheng not to be careless, only to see Chen Zheng already disregarding the obstruction of the Yellow Spring Water, raising his hand to grab toward Jin You, when a wave of pain suddenly came from his palm.
“Ah!”
Clutching his palm with both eyes blood red, Chen Zheng thought, damn it, this person before my eyes is just as damnable as that person holding the blade! Since that is the case, I will start by striking you first!
As if turning ruthless, Chen Zheng insisted on killing Jin You even regardless of the pain on his hand. Jin You had only just dealt with two cultivator ghosts earlier, so his strength was exhausted at this moment without receiving supplementation, able only to dodge the attacks of Chen Zheng and the scholar ghost with effort by relying on the cover of bookshelves and scrolls.
“Dog official, pay with your life!”
It was Mu Qing!
Taking advantage of the time when Mu Qing acted, Jin You casually grabbed that county annal and dashed out with all his strength from the study room that had already become battered and torn, just in time to hear Ying Chuang’s wolf howl coming from the sky, using the Thunder-Fire Talisman given by Lingyun on the spot without the slightest hesitation. A stroke of startling thunder struck the trees directly, the lit firelight dispelling the darkness before his eyes for a brief moment.
The situation on Mount Lanfen was complex, and unlike Ying Chuang’s wolf howl, the Thunder-Fire Talisman given by Lingyun was used for assembling when discovering special situations, so right now was an urgent moment.
Mu Qing could not compare to Chen Zheng, who had transformed into a ghost for many years and possessed deep ghost power, so even though his sword techniques were superb, he gradually fell into a disadvantage. Seeing the official seal about to strike toward the back of his head, Chen Zheng’s hand holding the official seal was knocked askew by an icicle—it was Lingyun!
Seeing the situation was bad, the scholar ghost picked up his writing brush preparing to assist Chen Zheng, only to have the writing brush bitten by Ying Chuang who arrived at the sound, flung aside with a shake of his head, as he stared gluttonously at the scholar ghost.
Chen Zheng kicked aside the obstructive Mu Qing with a foot, turning back to slap a palm toward Lingyun. Lingyun, unable to dodge in time, was hit on her right shoulder, spitting out a streak of blood from her mouth, her right arm hanging down powerlessly. Having lost his weapon, the scholar ghost dared not act rashly, and while Ying Chuang restrained the scholar ghost, he discovered the two people beside him were injured, for a time actually failing to notice that the official seal in Chen Zheng’s hand had vanished without a trace.
Jin You supported the injured Lingyun, perceiving something was attacking toward the back of his head, it was that official seal!
Having lost strength in her right arm, Lingyun could only shout at Jin You with eyes about to split open, “Be careful!”
“Clang!”
It was the sound of metal colliding with some heavy object. Jin You did not turn his head, yet knew it was definitely him, his suspended heart suddenly putting down as he allowed himself to collapse onto the ground, “Yan Baichuan.”
Yan Baichuan looked at Chen Zheng with a cold face, the murderous intent in his gaze almost penetrating his soul. The blade tip of Duanming sank deep into the ground, the fierce evil aura all over Yan Baichuan’s body scattering outward uncontrollably, so that even Lingyun took Jin You a few steps away from him.
Chen Zheng withdrew the official seal, his pupils shrinking sharply when his gaze saw that blade, immediately checking his official seal, “You actually dared to kill them!” Those were all the ghosts under his command, among which were cultivators he spent effort to collect!
The palm of Yan Baichuan’s hand pressed against the blade hilt, his fingers tightening over Duanming inch by inch, pointing at Chen Zheng, “Not only do I dare to kill them, I even dare to kill you. Wanting to be the King of Hell? That depends on whether you have that life.”
Chen Zheng leaped into the air, the palm of his right hand slapping toward Yan Baichuan’s heart, while his left hand operated the official seal to circle behind Yan Baichuan, attempting a joint attack from front and back to make Yan Baichuan lose sight of one thing while attending to another and reveal a flaw. If a person as powerful as Yan Baichuan could be used by him, he would not have to nest only inside this Mount Lanfen.
Yan Baichuan drew his blade directly facing Chen Zheng, which played right into Chen Zheng’s hands. Only before he could feel happy about being about to succeed, he saw Yan Baichuan suddenly holding his horizontal blade, executing a spinning slash that broke straight through the yin energy on the ghost official seal, severing the connection between the official seal and Chen Zheng.
Having lost control, the official seal fell straight to the ground from midair. With eyes split open, Chen Zheng hurriedly withdrew his palm wind and reached out his hand to pick it up, yet Yan Baichuan did not give him this chance in the slightest, his next slash going straight toward Chen Zheng.
In desperation, Chen Zheng raised his hand to grab, protecting the scholar ghost in front of him as a shield, who took this slash solidly, failing to say even a single sentence before dying, only the astonishment on his face revealing a few degrees of unwillingness, but ultimately scattering and vanishing completely along with his soul breaking into pieces.
While the scholar ghost blocked this slash, Chen Zheng had already secretly taken the official seal and slipped away. Yan Baichuan discovered it, yet did not chase after him at the very first moment, but walked up to Jin You’s side and squatted down, “Extend your hand.”
Jin You clutched his arm that was still emanating streaks of black smoke, somewhat dazed upon hearing this, “Aren’t you going to chase after him, he took the official seal away!”
Yet Yan Baichuan frowned, without waiting for Jin You to extend his hand, pulling over his wrist himself, rolling up his sleeve, and examining his injuries carefully.
Jin You’s skin was fair, but at this moment his fair arm was covered completely with black marks scorched by the official seal, like a section of burnt dead wood, not to mention Jin You’s pale face and burnt sleeve, all of which made Yan Baichuan feel annoyed for no reason.
Yan Baichuan held Jin You’s slender wrist, as gentle ghost power wrapped around Jin You’s injured arm along Yan Baichuan’s palm, so that even Jin You’s complexion improved by a few degrees.
Jin You looked at his gradually recovering arm with some wonder, exclaiming, “The ghost power you absorbed is actually so obedient.” Only after speaking did he realize something was wrong, “You gave your power to me, how are you going to deal with that Chen Zheng later?”
Without changing his expression, Yan Baichuan took a glance at him, “My ghost power of course has to obey my words, you don’t need to worry about other matters. It seems your gains are not small, even knowing his name is Chen Zheng.”
Anxiously, Jin You was about to push his hand away, pushing a few times yet unable to move it in the slightest, feeling a bit angry in his heart, “Don’t stray from the topic! Anyway my injuries are almost healed, later I will go together with you.”
“Together what together,” Yan Baichuan took a deep breath, suppressing the violent rage in his heart, saying as nicely as possible, “Your head almost glowed with red light, so stop always thinking about going onto the battlefield.”
Jin You also knew that his current state was a bit wretched, and the words spoken by Yan Baichuan were for his own good, but he truly could not rest his mind regarding Yan Baichuan going to find Chen Zheng alone, especially when Chen Zheng still had that ghost official seal in hand.
Jin You fell silent for a moment, bringing up a suggestion, “Take me along, I will stay inside the blood jade bead without coming out, so in case of any situation I can respond to you in time, otherwise I will follow secretly, and it will be useless even if you stop me.”
Sigh, Yan Baichuan let out a sigh in his heart, compromising after all, “It’s a deal then, if you dare to come out at will, in the future the moneybag will be managed by me, buying nothing else but wine to drink.”
What a vicious punishment, but Jin You still agreed, “Of course I keep my word.”
At this moment, the ground beneath everyone’s feet suddenly experienced a violent tremor. Jin You was just about to stand up, when suddenly his whole person swayed into Yan Baichuan’s embrace, subconsciously grabbing Yan Baichuan’s arm tightly, and was just about to open his mouth to express thanks, when looking up he saw his unsightly face.
“The Soul-Locking Spirit-Snatching Array has opened.”