A Good-for-Nothing

248. Proof of Innocence

Translator: Dragon Rider

Every member of the Lin family had been born with extremely Yang attribute, which was a fact that did not change through generations. In order to make full use of this unique talent of the Ling family and to equip the Lin family with a presentable exorcism skill, the Lin family’s ancestors created a Circle tailor-made for members of the Lin family. For the Circle to work, an exorcist of extremely Yang attribute needed to be at the center. Any evil creature, once in the Circle, would be eroded by the powerful Yang Qi of it (in Chinese philosophy and medicine, Yin and Yang are the two opposing principles in nature, the former feminine and negative, the latter masculine and positive).

However, so far nobody had ever used this kind of Circle to detect the existence of the Demonic Seed, the power in which was in amount half of that of the Demon King when he had been at his full strength. To be on the safe side, this time around Lin Di and Lin Zhuo were both in the Circle serving as Circle Hearts to enhance its stability.

He Zheng was taken aback when he entered the room and saw that apart from Lin Zhuo and Lin Di, Zhen Daoyuan was also present.

Was it really necessary for so many people to be here to check whether he had demonic Qi inside him?

Zhen Daoyuan, who seemed to have perceived He Zheng’s mood swing, said gently, “Xiao He, I’m here because I have nothing else to do, so take it easy.”

He Zheng was a little skeptical, but Zhen Daoyuan seemed to have no reason to lie about it.

In the Circle, Lin Di and Lin Zhuo both greeted He Zheng with smiling faces. He Zheng was not sure whether it was his illusion or not, but it struck him that the two brothers didn’t look very alike, that Lin Zhuo was more handsome and good-looking than Lin Di.

“What do you want me to do?” He Zheng asked.

“Zheng, all you have to do is step to the middle of this Circle, and then my big brother will activate the Circle.”

He Zheng raised its feet and was just about to step into it when he noticed that Li Zong was standing not far away, looking at him. He Zheng became even more puzzled, feeling that something was not quite right. However, he was positive that Li Zong wouldn’t do him any harm, so he dismissed that thought and then directly walked into the Circle.

“Zheng, just relax and take it as some kind of simple Golden-light Treatment.”

“What the hell is Golden-light Treatment?” asked He Zheng, turning his head aside to look at Lin Zhuo.

In fact, Lin Di and Lin Zhou had agreed on this some time ago. It was best if He Zhen was in a relaxed state when standing in the Circle, lest there be some kind of conflict between the Circle of Extreme Yang and He Zheng’s body.

Lin Zhuo said, “When I activate the Circle of Extreme Yang, it will start glaring, and you’ll be enveloped in golden light. Pure Yang Qi will gather together in an instant and enter your body to purify your every cell.”

After hearing this, He Zheng had a faintly awkward expression on his face. He said, “Why does it sound a little erotic?”

Lin Zhuo smiled, “Ha-ha. Stop that nonsense, or Supt. Li might eat me alive.”

He Zheng looked at Li Zong and nodded with a falsely serious look on his face. “You’ve got a point.”

As he finished speaking, Lin Zhuo activated the Circle and, like Lin Zhuo had said, the three of them were instantly shrouded in golden light. He Zheng was enclosed in a cylinder of light.

The next second, the cylinder of light began to shrink and eventually, the curved inner surface of it came into contact with He Zheng’s skin. And then rays of light went into his skin and his blood vessels like thin long needles. At first He Zheng was leisurely enjoying the Golden-light Treatment, but gradually he felt that something was wrong.

He felt uncomfortable all over as though something was screaming inside him and trying frantically to burst out, as though two giant invisible hands were pulling his body in opposite directions, trying to tear him in half.

“It hurts so badly,” groaned He Zheng in pain through clenched teeth. The feeling of his body being torn made him lifted the hair on his scalp, and cold sweat immediately wet his clothes.

He Zheng was completely isolated from the outside and had no idea what he was going through in the eyes of people out there.

Li Zong and the others saw that He Zheng was wobbling from side to side like a seaweed swaying in strong ocean currents.

If it weren’t for the unusual circumstances, they would probably be singing “Sway with me. Let’s sway together” like backing singers.

However, none of them was in the mood for joking. Li Zong’s and Zhen Daoyuan’s hearts sank. They had never seen anything like this before. Was the Demonic Seed really in He Zheng, by any chance?

“Damn it. There’s something terribly wrong with Lin Di’s and Lin Zhuo’s reaction!” said Li Zong, staring at Lin Zhuo and Lin Di both of whom were standing in the middle of the circle, their faces pale, their brows contracted. Although people outside could only get a vague view of their countenance because of the golden light, it was obvious that the two of them were in pain.

On hearing these words, Zhen Daoyuan also looked at the two of them carefully.

Nobody knew when Zhang Jingqui had arrived, but at this time he suddenly cried out in alarm, “Shit! We need to stop the Circle immediately!”

Deep in the Consciousness Sea of He Zheng, his mother’s face suddenly appeared.

Actually, it was just a vague silhouette of a woman. He Zheng couldn’t see her face clearly, but his intuition was telling him that it was his mother – Zhu Ning.

“Mother?” called He Zheng in an uncertain and tremulous voice. He didn’t know why Zhu Ning had appeared out of thin air, but he found that all his pain was gone at the sudden appearance of Zhu Ning.

“Zheng.” The woman’s gentle voice soothed the carry-over from the agony he had just felt a moment ago.

He Zheng’s eyes instantly reddened at her voice. Secretly mocking himself for being sentimental, he dabbed his eyes and strode towards the woman. “Mother!” he called again.

“Zheng, I’m sorry for what I’ve done to you,” Zhu Ning’s voice was heavy with distress and guilt.

“Mother?”

He Zheng attempted to hug her, but his hands went right through her body as though she was nothing but emptiness.

“Zheng, there’s something bad in your body, and I’m going to get rid of it for you. You don’t have to be afraid. Be brave, my Zheng.”

“Mother, what are you talking about?” He Zheng muttered, watching as the silhouette of Zhu Ning lightened.

Suddenly, Zhu Ning turned into a white blur and shot towards He Zheng. The violent impact sent He Zheng flying backwards in his Consciousness Sea.

Standing in the Circle, He Zheng spat out a mouthful of blood.

He Zheng fell to the ground, the patch of blood enlarging on the front of his coat, making a scary sight. The next second, his eyelids seemed to have been parted by an invisible hand and with that a bright red drop of blood flew out of his eyes, which let out an anguished scream as it came into contact with the golden light. The scream sounded like some kind of electronically synthesized voice, which was very weird.

Then the drop of blood vaporized in the golden light and formed a cloud of black gas which soon dispersed without a trace.

The glaring light enveloping He Zheng faded like the ebb tide, and with that a little gray bird flew out of the middle of He Zheng’s brow, fluttering its wings. Although it didn’t have any beautiful feathers, the way it spread its wings was so proud as though it were the king of all birds. And then a pleasant phoenix cry issued from its mouth.

Everybody in the room, feeling that things were going south, lunged at the Circle, but they all paused at the sight of the little gray bird.

Big Bird shook its wings at Li Zong. After Li Zong gave it a wink, it retreated back into He Zheng’s Consciousness Sea again.

As the last ray of golden light disappeared, Lin Zhuo and Lin Di, both of whom had been drained of energy, slumped to one knee at the same time. Blood surged to their throats but they managed to keep from vomiting blood.

Lin Di flung out an arm to stop Lin Zhuo from falling. Lin Zhuo’s forehead was covered in cold sweat. He wiped it away and said in a weak voice, “I’m okay, brother.”

Only then did Lin Zhuo relax.

Zhen Daoyuan said, “What happened just now? What’s the cause of that sudden accident?”

Lin Di’s facial expression was a little awkward. With a mirthless smile, he said, “It didn’t occur to me Supt. Li put something in He Zheng’s body. It’s too powerful for the two of us to handle. We nearly got severely injured by the golden light.”

Zhang Jingqiu asked nervously, “Is that thing in He Zheng’s body or not?”

Lin Di shook his head. “Although a minor accident happened in the Circle, I think He Zheng has nothing to do with that thing. Otherwise the Circle of Extreme Yang would have warned us the moment he stepped in, given the huge amount of energy contained in that thing.”

Everybody was experiencing a carry-over of fear. Though there had been an accident, they had come out of the Circle safely.

He Zheng had indeed had some demonic Qi in him, which had been left by the Human Devil. It had now been completely destroyed by the Circle of Extreme Yang. As for the Demonic Seed, considering they had failed to detect its existence inside He Zheng with this method, there was nothing else they could do.

“Now, you’ve got the answer you want.”

Li Zong’s inscrutable countenance gave little away, but his steps were very steady and heavy. Zhang Jingqiu felt an inexplicable aura of hostility radiating from Li Zong, as though Li Zong were stepping on his heart.

However, it lasted for only a moment and then quickly disappeared.

Li Zong walked into the Circle, stooped down, scooped up He Zheng lying unconscious at the centre and carried him out.

When Li Zong entered, the Circle of Extreme Yang hadn’t completely stopped functioning, but all of the lingering golden light retreated to the ground, circling Li Zong as though they were sentient. Wherever Li Zong went, the golden light flinched, as if it revered Li Zong.

Zhen Daoyuan kneaded the middle of his forehead. “Xiao Li, get He Zheng out of here and let him have some rest.”

Zhang Jingqiu and Xiang Hailou looked apprehensively at each other but neither of them raised any objections.

Zhen Daoyuan waved his hand. “Lin Di and Lin Zhuo may go back to rest as well. It’s been a tough day for them.”

“Wait.”

The others looked at Li Zong as though asking him if he had anything else to say.

Li Zong said, “I’d like to borrow two of Zhang Jingqiu’s group members.”

“Which ones?”

“Lin Di and Lin Zhuo. I’m afraid I have to put you two to the trouble of deploying another Circle of Extreme Yang as soon as possible. All the staff members and trainees who have participated in the hunt for the Human Devil in Hang City are to be gathered here to receive the same test.”

The others immediately caught on to what Li Zong meant and nodded repeatedly.

Zhang Jingqiu’s face blushed slightly. He had thought that Li Zong was going to do something vindictive, but now it seemed that he was being a knave who used his own yardstick to measure the motive of an upright man.

“That’s part of their duty.”

Li Zong inclined his head, carrying the little fool who had fallen victim to the Human Devil unawares. However, he himself had been rather careless as well.

In order to prevent this kind of thing from happening again, Li Zong summoned the Phoenix Plume in He Zheng’s Consciousness Sea after he carried He Zheng to his dorm room and put him on the bed.

As Li Zong summoned it, Big Bird flew out, chirping.

Li Zong held his hand to it. Big Bird was confused, looking at Li Zong with its beady pitch-black eyes.

Li Zong nimbly cut open the pulp of his finger with his fingernail. This time around the blood flowed from the cut was golden. “Drink,” he said.

Big Bird cautiously flicked its tongue out and took a lick of the blood and with that all its feathers started giving off a faint golden light as though it were gilded.

Li Zong withdrew his hand.

Curiously enough, Li Zong looked more mature after Big Bird took a lick of his blood. Previously Li Zong had appeared to be 27 or 28 years old, but now he looked as if he had aged two years.

“I hereby name you Dan Zhu. You are to take good care of He Zheng from now on. Do not let any of those bad guys get the better of him again.”

Dan Zhu, after drinking Li Zong’s blood, became more intelligent. The color of its feathers gradually turned from gray to fiery red, and the three erect plumes on top of its head had turned goldenish blood red. The appearance of the bird seemed to have moved up a notch.

Dan Zhu chirped and bobbed its head gingerly.

“You may go back now.”

On hearing Li Zong’s words, it flew back to the middle of He Zheng’s forehead and disappeared into thin air.