A Good-for-Nothing

247. Worst-Case Scenario

Translator: Dragon Rider

The information Qiao Peiyu had disclosed before her death might be of such great significance that Zhen Daoyuan, along with the three group leaders, came to realize that they must see for themselves what had happened before Qiao Peiyu took her own life.

If it were just a common case of suicide, Zhen Daoyuan would never have been so bold as to resort to the Time-reversing Phial, an extraordinary magic tool numbered 0023 which was kept in a treasure cupboard. Since there might be some kind of important connection between the truth of this matter and the Demonic Seed, they must find a clue.

In a meeting room.

With the power of the Time-reversing Phial, what had happened before Qiao Peiyu’s death was replayed in front of them. It was a very short memory, which ended with a bloody death.

After watching the replay, Zhen Daoyuan wrote the keywords on the blackboard.

“Zhu Ning, the Demonic Seed, Qiao Peiyu, yin jade, He Zheng.”

The five words were arranged in a row. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be any connections between them.

Zhang Jingqiu, who had been dealing with officialdom of every description for years, was fairly quick-witted, but he didn’t think of any possible links immediately either. Then he shifted his position and looked at those words again.

Suddenly, his stomach did a back-flip. He found that there might be a clue if Zhu Ning was put at the center of the matter.

“Wait! I think I’m close to something useful. Where’s He Changchun? I need to see him!” Zhang Jingqiu sprung to his feet from the chair.

“He’s still in that suite.”

Zhang Jingqiu left immediately, too anxious to give them any explanations.

“Director Zhen, do you want me to follow him there?” asked Xiang Hailou, glancing from Zhen Daoyuan to the door which was now wide open.

“That won’t be necessary. Let’s just wait for him to come back,” said Zhen Daoyuan, casting a look at Li Zong who had been quiet all along. Such a long time’s thinking and the clues they had found should have helped Li Zong figure out many things.

If the Demonic Seed had been in Zhu Ning’s hands, there would be no problem, but if it was somewhere else – in He Zheng’s body, for example – then He Zheng would inevitably be dragged into this matter.

However, things never took a turn for the better when He Zheng was involved.

Zhang Jingqiu returned very soon. His facial expression was fairly normal, but if anybody looked at him carefully, they would find that Zhang Jingqiu’s square face was covered in fine beads of sweat, his fingers quivering for thrill.

His eyes were bright and gleaming with a crazed enthusiasm. He couldn’t wait to speak, and there was thinly disguised excitement in his voice when he did. “According to He Changchun, Zhu Ning died because Qiao Peiyu used some tricks that caused Zhu Ning’s health to gradually deteriorate. After Zhu Ning’s death, Qiao Peiyu used a pendant made of yin jade to seal He Zheng’s aptitude for cultivation and at the same time nourish herself. He Zheng eventually found out about it, which is why he hates Qiao Peiyu’s guts.

When the pendant was destroyed, the seal was ruined with it, and He Zheng’s talent gradually began to serve its purpose.”

“Lao Zhang, I’m an uneducated man, and I couldn’t quite understand what you’re saying,” said Xiang Hailou.

Zhang Jingqiu’s eyes, quite sparkling, stared fixedly at Li Zong’s face. “I think Li Zong knew about these things.”

“Yes, I did know all that.”

Zhang Jingqiu smiled an inexplicable smile. “Then, let’s put Zhu Ning at the center of this matter. Think about it, before committing suicide, Qiao Peiyu said she was fooled by Zhu Ning. What did she mean by that? Is it possible that Qiao Peiyu was responsible for Zhu Ning’s death, but only partially, not fully?

Let’s assume for a moment that all that has happened so far is actually part of Zhu Ning’s plan.

Twenty years ago, Zhu Ning ventured deep into Mount Wushan to find the Holy Land of Demons, and it’s very likely that she successfully found the Demonic Seed and taken it away, because the results of our investigation in the south-west and the records we’ve been keeping over the years suggest that no information about the Demonic Seed whatsoever has been found ever since Zhu Ning returned from that journey of hers. On top of that, all Demon’s Attendants have been looking for the Demonic Seed while trying to sabotage the demon seals holding the Demon King at bay.

At that time, Zhu Ning was pregnant. After returning to the He family, she gave birth to He Zheng. When He Zheng was four or five years old, he was found incapable of cultivating, and it was in the same year that Zhu Ning’s health started to deteriorate. Everybody knew that Zhu Ning’s condition was incurable.

Zhu Ning passed away that very year and her body was incinerated. Before she died, Zhu Ning wrote a letter to the Zhu family, telling them not to come to Coastal City to express their condolences, and she also refused to let He Zheng go back to Shen City. Eventually, Qiao Peiyu used the pendant made of yin jade to achieve her evil ends.

In this matter, Qiao Peiyu could be a mere scapegoat, but if that’s the case, why did Zhu Ning go to all that trouble? Is He Zheng’s aptitude for cultivation the only thing sealed by that pendant?”

Zhang Jingqiu suddenly raised his voice a little and his eyes brightened. “What if the Demonic Seed is sealed right inside He Zheng’s body?!”

Finally.

Li Zong’s heart gave a huge leap. The worst-case scenario that had been weighing on his mind threatened to come true.

Zhen Daoyuan pondered for a while and then asked, “What makes you think that piece of yin jade was part of Zhu Ning’s plan?”

“I’m still a little confused, but a while ago, He Changchun told me something, and then I made these conjectures instinctively.” Zhang Jingqiu put his hands on the table and, his eyes sweeping across the face of everybody present, enunciated, “He Changchun disclosed that before the aptitude test carried out by the elders of the He family, when He Zheng was younger, his constitution was actually suitable for cultivation.

When he had just learned to speak, He Changchun discovered that He Zheng was very talented, so he planned to teach him the cultivation method of the He family, but Zhu Ning objected, saying that He Zheng was too young to cultivate.

Afterward, when the He family carried out an aptitude test, they found that He Zheng had inexplicably lost all his endowments.”

Xiang Hailou said, “That was no doubt Qiao Peiyu’s doing. I mean, as He Zheng’s stepmother, she didn’t want the trueborn son’s position in the family to be unshakable, so she did everything within her power to seal his endowments. That’s the only plausible explanation, isn’t it?”

Zhang Jingqiu had also thought about that possibility. To be honest, his speculations were based totally on his intuition. He didn’t have any concrete proof.

Zhang Jingqiu had been confident about his intuition for many years.

“No matter whether there’s any truth in my conjecture, I suggest we examine He Zheng to see if the Demonic Seed is inside him.”

While saying this, Zhang Jingqiu was staring squarely at Li Zong. Were the look in his eyes not highly purposeful, people who didn’t know the truth might mistakenly believe that he had his eye on Li Zong. “Li Zong, what do you think?” he asked.

“The best way to clear He Zheng of suspicion is to show us evidence that he has nothing to do with it,” he added.

Zhang Jingqiu was more concerned about the Demonic Seed than anybody else was. He and his team had spent almost a month searching in the southwest but had only found one clue. In Zhang Jingqiu’s eyes, it was a big stain on his professional career. The only solution, naturally, was to follow that clue and continue looking into it, but when both the Zhu family and the He family were under investigation, He Zheng’s name alone had been removed from the suspect list, which made Zhang Jingqiu feel faintly bitter and annoyed.

Now, all evidence seemed to indicate that He Zheng might be the very person they had been looking for.

“Members of the Lin family are of extremely Yang attribute, which makes them natural enemies of creatures feeding on evil things like demonic Qi. When at the center of an exorcism circle, Lin Di is capable of finding out whether someone has demonic Qi in them. He Zheng can easily prove himself innocent by stepping into the circle. Li Zong, what do you think about this suggestion?”

Li Zong made no reply.

Zhang Jingqiu said, “I know you’ve been preparing for the exorcism championship. This is the quickest way and it won’t take you much time. Is it because you have some other misgivings that you’re keeping silent?”

Zhen Daoyuan mulled over it for a while before he looked at Li Zong and said, “Zhang Jingqiu is suggesting this only to rule out that possibility.”

Now they were actually trying to pressure Li Zong into making a choice.

Li Zong rose from his chair and said, “Let’s do it your way.”

Then he walked out of the meeting room alone.

There was a certain distance between the training ground and the meeting room. On his way, many thoughts suddenly popped into Li Zong’s mind. The moment he had heard Qiao Peiyu say those words, he had come to realize that He Zheng had been dragged into this matter, despite the fact that he had done his best to help He Zheng stay out of it.

And, the possibility that the Demonic Seed was inside He Zheng’s body did exist.

If that proved to be true, the whole situation would change.

The information contained in the divinatory symbols drawn by Zhu Ning before her death was still vivid in his memory: “Hidden Yōkai emerge from the shadows. The Demon King throws the world into chaos. Evil force brings disaster upon humankind.” Was “evil force” the Demon King or the Demonic Seed?

Li Zong had once stood on snowy mountaintop and also been to the ocean floor. He had lived for too long, and he had retained the memories of his last life every time he had been reincarnated. Though his body was still young, his thoughts and mentality was far beyond the grasp of mankind.

What creatures like them spent thousands of years to seek was normally either Tao or love. Therefore, Li Zong could have become so strong as to be nearly omnipotent. He could have chosen to live a trouble-free life, enjoying his long life span in peace and quiet, but in order to find his destiny, Li Zong had entered human society. He had trod the bustling, noisy, earthly world alone for so many years, waiting for He Zheng to show up.

Gradually, Li Zong had discovered that the greater the extent to which he integrated into human society, the greater the similarity he bore to humankind. Human would make concessions to achieve their ends in certain circumstances, and they would also worry about others.

However, no matter what, he had to protect He Zheng.

This was Li Zong’s only thought.

At this moment, He Zheng was totally unaware that the sword of Damocles was poised right above his head and could be swung at him at any moment.

He Zheng had indeed taken He Yu’s accusation to heart, but Li Zong had done a good job placating him, so after He Zheng thought it through, he had decided to let it go.

Thanks to Li Zong, He Zheng, apart from anything else, had developed a good habit, which was to train and practice to improve himself when he had nothing else to do. Therefore, the reason why He Zheng had been making progress at a tremendous pace as Zhang Jingqiu had said was not purely because of his talent.

Usually, improvement was made by dint of hard work.

He Zheng was practicing the Swordplay that Xiang Hailou had previously taught them. When he had had a kung fu competition with Chen Qianlin, He Zheng had strongly felt unworthy of the Shadow Sword.

He was so intent on practice that he failed to notice Li Zong’s arrival at the training ground.

It was half an hour before he finished practicing all his moves.

He Zheng wiped his sweat off with his sleeves. At the sight of Li Zong, he asked with a smile, “How long have you been standing there?”

“Just a few minutes,” said Li Zong, handing him a tissue. With a flip of He Zheng’s wrist, the blade of the Shadow Sword disappeared, leaving only its hilt in his hand.

“Later you’ll have to receive a test.”

“Huh?”

When he looked at He Zheng’s eyes, Li Zong concealed the truth from him for the first time. “You and the others have fought the Human Devil twice in a row recently. In order to prevent a repeat performance of what happened to Wu Fangshuo, the department decided to run a test on you and the others.”

“Oh, all right.” He Zheng subconsciously kneaded his eyes.

“What’s the matter?”

He Zheng massaged his eyes for a moment and then mumbled, “My eyes felt a little uncomfortable just now.”

Li Zong and even He Zheng himself failed to notice that when He Zheng put down his hand, an eerie flash of red, which was of the same color as the drop of blood of the Human Devil that had entered his eyes on that day, flitted across He Zheng’s eyes.