Yan Baichuan learned from Tan Ziruo’s mouth that Chen Zheng had ordered his subordinates to build a manor for himself deep inside Mount Lanfen, which, apart from the Yamen seen just now, was the place where Chen Zheng was most likely hiding and launching the array.
Except for Tan Ziye, all the other ghosts under Chen Zheng’s command with official seals stamped on the back of their heads were killed cleanly by him. Regardless of whether those ghosts were willing or not, they had quite a few human lives on their hands, which in a sense could also be counted as granting them a release.
Yan Baichuan moved at a rapid speed, walking all the way deep into the mountain forest along the route given by Tan Ziruo, and sure enough, he saw a manor, with two majestic stone lions placed beside the main entrance painted in vermillion lacquer. Some green bamboo was planted around the manor, and due to the activation of the array, the entire manor was enveloped in black fog.
Stepping into the manor, Yan Baichuan immediately perceived that this manor was devouring the ghost aura on his body bit by bit, so he ceased delaying, circling around the screen in front of the door and charging straight into the courtyard.
Unlike the refined manor it appeared on the outside, the small house inside the courtyard was simple and elegant instead, just like a magnolia held inside an exquisite makeup box, giving a out-of-place feeling.
“You have finally come.”
Chen Zheng stood before a house with closed doors, flicking his long sleeves to summon that official seal. Yan Baichuan perceived that all the ghost power absorbed by this massive array was gathered completely onto the official seal, which, under the nourishment of ghost power, looked even more exquisite than before, faintly gleaming with flowing light.
“How can I kill you without coming here?” Yan Baichuan tried his best to lock in his own ghost power, swinging a blade at Chen Zheng tentatively, and sure enough, the evil aura and ghost power attached to the blade were completely absorbed upon touching the official seal, leaving not a single trace behind. Chen Zheng let out a cold snort, as if mocking Yan Baichuan for overestimating his own capabilities.
Jin You watched anxiously inside the blood jade bead, as if this continued, Yan Baichuan would be unable to attack Chen Zheng, and there would be no way to break this massive array in a short time. Remembering the county annal he swiped from the Yamen study, in his urgency Jin You could only look for clues inside it.
While Jin You was anxiously flipping through the book inside the blood jade bead, Yan Baichuan suddenly put down Duanming, his gaze looking provocatively at Chen Zheng, “Since I cannot kill you, then why don’t you make a move, just like usually stamping that official seal onto the back of my head, is it that you don’t want to, or that you can’t?”
The mocking expression on Chen Zheng’s face froze, his hands behind his back suddenly clenching tight.
“Or rather, just like I cannot kill you, you cannot kill me either?” Yan Baichuan looked at the shifting, unpredictable expressions on Chen Zheng’s face with calm composure, picking up Duanming to examine it before his eyes, his palm gripping the blade edge of Duanming and pressing down fiercely, his teasing tone instantly turning ruthless, “Although this blade is ordinary, I like its name very much, just like right now!”
Thick black blood flowed out from Yan Baichuan’s palm, smeared across the blade edge by Yan Baichuan, as the originally crimson blade edge was completely covered by black blood, as if desperately absorbing his blood. Yan Baichuan picked up Duanming, blood blades swinging out repeatedly, leaving only black residual shadows in the air.
Chen Zheng looked at the scene before his eyes in surprise, subconsciously blocking the official seal in front of himself, just like that foolish advisor at the time. But this slash of Yan Baichuan’s was clearly going to disappoint him, as Yan Baichuan’s blood blade made a crisp sound of collision upon touching the official seal, instantly knocking the official seal askew by a few inches, while the next slash followed right up, truly leaving not a single breath of time for Chen Zheng.
Being far too confident, Chen Zheng missed the timing to dodge, still getting hit on his left arm by Yan Baichuan’s blade light, and sliced across his right shoulder by the subsequent blade light, leaving two black marks, as Chen Zheng’s ghost power drifted slowly from his wounds toward the official seal uncontrollably, becoming the “nourishment” of the official seal.
“How could you know!” Exposed by Yan Baichuan’s single remark, Chen Zheng dared not use ghost power easily, for a time able only to clutch his arm in pain to attempt to stop the ghost power from dispersing, which was somewhat to no avail. He could not be deprived of his ghost power and soul by the official seal just like this, he still had to…
“Yan Baichuan!” Seeing Yan Baichuan slice his own palm open, Jin You felt his heart tighten and wanted to come out, only to be stopped by Yan Baichuan’s voice transmission, “Don’t come out! I can still hold on.”
Yan Baichuan’s blood was different from other people’s blood, being exceptionally effective against severe ghosts and fierce evil, but also taking a massive toll on himself. In the past when Yan Baichuan used this move, it was usually when fighting a crowd of ghosts, using the ghost power of slain ghosts to supplement his own consumption, barely achieving a balance.
However, under the current situation, the blood shed by Yan Baichuan was simply shed without any ghost power being supplemented in the slightest, and operating ghost power was a consumption instead, so he would only grow weaker and weaker during a stalemate. Yet if Jin You dared to go out right now, he would merely serve as a portion to feed the official seal after having his ghost power sucked dry.
Anxious in his heart, Jin You’s actions flipping the book could not be called gentle, flipping past several pages before stopping abruptly at a certain spot.
“Chen Zheng, the Magistrate of Xing County, was honest, upright, and incorruptible, unbiased and selfless, judging three hundred and forty-seven cases during his tenure as magistrate with keen insight, never making a single misjudgment, being well-liked by the common people. His son was exceptionally gifted, and given time might become a rare genius, yet was envied by others, having his right hand ruined in the middle of the night, dying of depression day in and day out. According to statutory regulations, Chen Zheng sent the criminal into jail, sentencing him to three years of hard labor, so that no one in Xing County failed to praise him, calling him a clear sky.”
Jin You suddenly had a bold guess that this Soul-Locking Spirit-Snatching Array was perhaps not set up by Chen Zheng for himself, but might be related to his son whose right hand was ruined.
Using voice transmission, Jin You told this guess to Yan Baichuan. Yan Baichuan immediately swung his blade, taking advantage of the moment Chen Zheng dodged to slash squarely at the room door behind him, holding Chen Zheng back himself, “Now is the time!”
Chen Zheng looked around in violent rage, shouting, “Who is it, who are you talking to! Not good, Xian’er!” A red light flew out from the blood jade bead at Yan Baichuan’s neck, heading straight for the bedroom inside the house.
Just as guessed in everything, the soul of a young man lay on the bed, who was precisely Chen Zheng’s son, Chen Xian.
Chen Xian lay on the bed, without a single trace of resentment on his peaceful face, only serenity. Directly above him hung a county magistrate’s official seal, and unlike that ghost official seal held by Chen Zheng that emanated an ominous aura, this official seal emanated a lustrous white light around its body, gently protecting Chen Xian’s soul.
This official seal was the true array eye of the Soul-Locking Spirit-Snatching Array.
Jin You dared not touch it easily, having no choice but to endure the weakness of ghost power dispersing to summon Yellow Spring Water to shift the official seal from the array eye with all his strength.
As the official seal fell onto the bed, Chen Zheng let out a wave of heart-rending, desperate roars, crawling toward Chen Xian using both hands and feet, his hands trembling as he touched Chen Xian’s face.
Chen Xian opened his eyes calmly, and what was reflected in his eyes was his father’s sorrowful and weathered face, knowing that this day had finally arrived after all.
Chen Xian held Chen Zheng’s hand, yet his opening line was an apology, “Forgive me, father, your child’s character was not firm, making father sad.”
Two lines of blood tears flowed out from Chen Zheng’s eye sockets, and without caring to wipe them away, Chen Zheng held Chen Xian’s hand that was about to dissipate, striving to steady his voice, “Silly child, it is father who failed you, as my style of doing things brought about trap-setting by treacherous people, which harmed you.”
Yet Chen Xian shook his head, letting out a slight laugh as he looked at the ceiling, his tone filled with pride, “Upright and noble in conduct, daring to take the lead, this was the origin of your child’s name. Your child never resented anything in his life, only blaming his own character for not being firm. Father, you have always been my pride, do not continue on the wrong path anymore.”
Chen Xian had no obsessions or hatred when he died, yet stayed in this narrow piece of world all along because of Chen Zheng’s obsession. At this moment, the official seal sustaining his soul lost its effect, and Chen Xian’s soul scattered completely as well.
Yet Chen Zheng acted as if mad, laughing loudly while even more blood tears flowed out from his eye sockets, his gaze sweeping over Jin You and Yan Baichuan, his tone carrying a desolation that was hard to conceal, “What do you know, and what do you understand! Being disliked by others and having no hope of promotion, what does that count for, nothing more than clean sleeves. But Xian’er was my only child, the child entrusted to me by my wife before her passing! What did he do wrong! Merely because of an unpresentable poetry contest among playboy sons, they had to find someone to ruin Xian’er’s right hand used for reading and writing! Do you know how much I wanted to kill him!”
Yet Chen Zheng did not expect answers from Yan Baichuan and Jin You, saying to himself, “But not only could I not avenge my own child, I even had to let that villain live, all because I was the honest, upright, and universally beloved Magistrate of Xing County! Three years of hard labor exchanged away Xian’er’s path for the next thirty years and his life! What was the use of being beloved by the common people, and what was the use of never making a misjudgment! When I lost Xian’er, how could they experience my pain!”
Jin You lowered his eyes, his eyelashes trembling slightly, taking out a piece of paper from the county annal and handing it to Chen Zheng, “This was tucked inside the county annal, which should be hidden by that scholar ghost. I don’t know why he did so, but at least it can prove that everything you did was not in vain.”
Chen Zheng took a couple of casual looks, his mind shaking, “This is sent to me by the Prefectural Governor?”
Jin You nodded, “Correct, originally it should have been to consult your opinion, to see if you were willing to bring your family to the prefectural city to serve as an official, but looking at it now, it should have been intercepted privately by him.”
“No wonder, no wonder the other county officials were all so cold toward me, so that was why, so that was why!” A thin sheet of paper felt as if weighing a thousand catties in Chen Zheng’s hand, resolving his doubts of many years.
Chen Zheng crumpled the letter into a ball, letting out a self-deprecating laugh, “Forget it, it is already too late. One wrong step leads to wrong steps all the way, Xian’er, your father can no longer turn back!”
Having finished speaking, Chen Zheng dashed outward, disregarding the attacks of Yan Baichuan and Jin You, taking the ghost official seal into his own hand, “In the past Xian’er was harmed by others and I could not take revenge, so today I must kill you two who harmed Xian’er!”
Having spoken, Chen Zheng operated the official seal, stamping the official seal onto the back of his own head.
At the instant the official seal was stamped on, Chen Zheng’s eyes turned blood red, his frame expanding sharply, as all the ghost power inside the official seal was absorbed completely into his body, Chen Zheng losing all reason along with it, his large palm slapping straight toward the two men.
Yan Baichuan laughed loudly and wantonly, “Ha ha ha, delightful! It should be like this to be satisfying!”
Yan Baichuan sliced another cut on his palm, and along with the flowing out of blood, black patterns gradually surfaced on his body, floating on the surface of Yan Baichuan’s skin as if slowly flowing.
Composed and relaxed, Yan Baichuan picked the timing when Chen Zheng attacked, swinging out a fully charged blood blade in one slash, detonating all the ghost power inside Chen Zheng’s body.
Jin You subconsciously protected his head, yet felt his body lighten, taken to a high place by Yan Baichuan in the blink of an eye. Jin You turned his head to look at Yan Baichuan, his gaze filled with Yan Baichuan’s wanton smile, hearing him say in a daze, “Black fireworks, you haven’t seen them before, right? Being wretched himself so running off to harm others, to think he was even a county magistrate. How about it, I took revenge for you.”