A Good-for-Nothing

301. Bad Luck

Translator: Dragon Rider

All the others in the conference room shifted their gaze to Li Zong, who, after a few moments’ silence, shook his head and said, “Not really. I’m just curious.”

Zong Xian, naturally, was displeased with this reply, but feeling it inappropriate for him to criticize Li Zong, he changed the topic. “We must make sure the last containment circle holds. We can’t afford to let anything happen to it. In order to deal with the Demon King, we’ve already paid a heavy price.”

All the others nodded, indicating that they understood.

Li Zong originally had wanted to ask them about the Demonic Eye on He Zheng’s forehead, but now he had got a vague answer.

Zhen Daoyuan was slower than the others when walking out of the room. Apart from anything else, he had been working with Li Zong for many years and there was a strong male bonding between them, so he knew Li Zong better than the others did. Having noticed Li Zong’s countenance, Zhen Daoyuan vaguely felt that there was something Li Zong was not telling him, so he asked, “Are you sure there’s nothing you need my help with?”

Li Zong shook his head. “For the moment I’m not sure about this matter.”

Zhen Daoyuan said, “All right. I just want to know you know what you’re doing. I’ll wait until you’re certain about it.”

Li Zong inclined his head and said, “Mr. Zhen, I want to pay Abbot Huiming a visit and borrow the Nietai Mirror.”

For the time being Li Zong did not want to get involved in these matters, because if he intervened, He Zheng might end up being dragged into something else, so he decided that before he could figure out the truth, he had better not risk getting himself into trouble.

Zhen Daoyuan was somewhat amazed to hear this. “What do you need the Nietai Mirror for? You know everything about your every previous incarnation, don’t you?”

Li Zong pressed his lips together, making no reply. In fact he just brought this up to reroute the conversation, not because he really wanted to talk with Zhen Daoyuan about the Nietai Mirror.

Unsurprisingly, Zhen Daoyuan’s attention was deflected from the previous subject.

Li Zong stayed in the conference room for another while before leaving.

There was nothing unusual about He Zheng’s body. The only thing out of the ordinary around him was that Fengren was watching over him. Li Zong drove to the residential district and made a phone call to tell them to come down.

He Zheng had got up, but he looked weary and listless. After meeting Li Zong, he tiredly greeted him and, pointing at Fengren, asked, “Are you sure it’s okay for him to be wearing these clothes?”

Fengren’s clothes were very dramatic, and nobody knew which dynasty they belonged to. A few moments ago, He Zheng and Fengren, on their way out, had chanced upon the woman living downstairs. She had been on her way to take out the garbage and, at the sight of Fengren who was quite handsome, had asked him which TV drama he was shooting, saying that she would join his fan base and support him.

Recalling the embarrassment on Fengren’s face a short while ago, He Zheng smiled. The interlude struck him as pretty interesting.

Li Zong glanced at Fengren’s clothing. Fengren furrowed his brows and said, “I can change my clothes and appearance at will. If you think these clothes might cause us trouble, I’ll do something about it.”

With that Fengren was wreathed in a faint red light. Soon his clothes became the same as He Zheng’s except for a slight difference in the color. At first glance the two of them appeared to be wearing his-and-hers clothes.

Li Zong, naturally, would not confront Fengren over such a trivial matter. He quietly asked He Zheng if he had had breakfast. He Zheng, leaning against the back of the comfortable seat, yawned and said, “I don’t feel like having breakfast.”

Li Zong handed him some snack. Fengren was sitting in the back seat, and the look in his eyes dimmed momentarily as he saw this scene.

Jinguang Temple was located right in Coastal City. It had been there for quite some years and had a long history. Also, the Buddhist monks in it were pretty talented. Zong Xian, Director General of SMB, used to be a monk of Jinguang Temple.

The temple was lofty and imposing. Seen from the distance, it looked as though it were shrouded in a faint golden light. Fengren had not even approached it when he began to feel somewhat uncomfortable. It was not until he entered the temple that he came to find out that his powers had been decreasing bit by bit. He subconsciously looked at Li Zong and snapped, “This is your subterfuge! You’re trying to kill me!”

He Zheng, taken aback, jerked his head around to look at Fengren and found that the latter was indeed rather weak.

Li Zong was trying to kill a rival in love? This was a little ridiculous.

Li Zong said, “You’re casting an almost palpable aura of killing. This is an ancient temple, so you’re naturally being affected.”

Fengren was still mistrustful of him. Staying close to He Zheng and looking watchfully at Li Zong, he demurred, “That’s nonsense! How is it possible I’m casting an aura of killing? What do you take me for? Longyuan?! Taie?! (another two famous swords)”

Shadow had always been kept in a safe place and had never been brought to a battlefield in the past.

Li Zong tossed Fengren an odd glance and said, “If you want to know the truth, keep going; if not, you may leave.”

Teeth clenched, Fengren looked at He Zheng for a moment and eventually nodded. “I’ll do it.”

Rumor had it that Nietai Mirror used to be a magical artifact in the underworld, that it could provide information about anything that had happened over the last three millenniums or would happen in the next three millenniums. It was said that the Nietai Mirror in Jinguang Temple had been left there by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (one of the four Buddhist gods). The mirror could only tell the user about their previous incarnations. It was unable to foretell their future.

Abbot Huiming granted Li Zong’s request out of his respect for Li Zong. The three of them arrived at where the mirror was without any trouble.

The mirror reposed on a boulder in a large room and was carved with some patterns of Buddha.

It was a bronze mirror, which at first glance appeared no different from common mirrors. The reflection in it was vague. People couldn’t even see themselves clearly when looking into it.

Standing in the doorway, Li Zong told Fengren to go inside alone.

Fengren threw Li Zong a suspicious glance and asked, “Are you not afraid He Zheng might really prove to be the one I’m looking for and then I’ll try to win him away from you?”

Li Zong’s countenance remained unchanged. “No.”

He Zheng kept silent. As things stood, there was nothing he could say that would make things better.

Fengren turned out to be pretty audacious. Since Li Zong had put it this way, Fengren said no more. After another two glances at He Zheng, he pushed the door open and entered.

A Buddhist acolyte came over and said that the abbot was waiting for the two of them in a meditation chamber.

He Zheng, somewhat curious, asked Li Zong, “Should we wait for Fengren to come out?”

Li Zong shook his head and said, “There’s something else we need to talk with Abbot Huiming about.”

The two of them made towards the meditation chamber, He Zheng following in Li Zong’s wake. Before leaving, He Zheng cast a backward glance at the door of the room which was tightly shut and seemed to glimpse a flash of red light emanating from inside. He wondered what Fengren was seeing in the mirror.

In the meditation chamber.

Abbot Huiming, sitting cross-legged, was meditating and did not seem to be disturbed by their entry. Li Zong and He Zheng waited for a while and then Abbot Huiming slowly opened his eyes, looking in He Zheng’s direction.

“This is the vessel of the Seed, I suppose?”

“Yes.”

“I can see black gas coiling around him. Half of his consciousness has been contaminated by dark powers.” Abbot Huiming, rattling his rosary, said to Li Zong, “I’m afraid I cannot do what you requested me to do. ‘Replace him with a son and destroy him, and there shall be peace again.’ Never has a prophecy made by the Li family proved wrong.”

The unemotional look in Li Zong’s eyes became faintly wintry.

He Zheng felt as though his insides had turned to ice. He was not a fool. He knew very well what the abbot meant. “I’m not possessed. I still has my free will!” he protested.

Abbot Huiming shook his head, clearly having no intention to expound.

“Is there nothing we could do at all, Abbot Huiming?”

“His chance of survival is very slim.”

The abbot waved his hand and, unwilling to disclose any details, said, “His destiny is intertwined with the Divine Law. Though the road ahead of him is fraught with perils, your involvement in the situation has brought about some uncertainties, giving him a fighting chance.

Just set your mind at ease and wait. Someone will come to you. But I don’t know for sure whether it’ll be survival or death that they’ll be bringing with them.”

Li Zong cast a backward glance at He Zheng, who was now in a fairly foul mood as well. Had he been born out of bad luck? Why was he so unlucky? Why couldn’t bad news leave him alone?

When it was time to say goodbye, Abbot Huiming decided that he should not sit there and do nothing. He cast a Lianhua Enchantment on He Zheng’s Demonic Eye. Remarkably, He Zheng, who had been feeling all over uncomfortable, felt much better after that.

Fengren was still in the room, and the two of them were in no hurry to get in. He Zheng stroked the containment markings on his forehead and said, “Why does this feel so familiar? I remember someone doing similar things to me when we were in the Tigers and Dragons Mountain.”

Li Zong smiled. It struck He Zheng that Li Zong was not in a very good mood. He himself also felt hard done by and did not know what to say.

After the two of them waited in the doorway for a while, the door opened and with that Fengren trudged out. Li Zong and He Zheng, having noticed the gloom on Fengren’s face, did not say anything or ask any questions. Fengren himself did not show any inclination to speak either. But from this day on, Fengren locked himself up in Shadow and seldom showed his face.

He Zheng and Li Zong got into a little bit of trouble on their way home.

It was, to be specific, the change of situation that the abbot had mentioned.

Li Zong had parked his car in a parking lot, but when they arrived, they found that Li Zong’s car was gone. They had heard about people stealing car badges but had never heard about anybody being so bold as to steal a car.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Is this some kind of sick joke?” He Zheng was both amusedly annoyed.

Li Zong put his arm around He Zheng’s shoulder and said, “Let’s just take a taxi.”

He Zheng nodded. When getting in a cab, they found that the driver was a little weird, because he did not ask them where they wanted to go. Confused, He Zheng paused and glanced at Li Zong, who said nothing and just gestured for him to get in.

“Century Town.”

The driver nodded and the car slowly started moving. The ride was uneventful. It was not until they had returned to their apartment that they found something was wrong.

Their home had been searched. It had been done with caution, but Li Zong had a good habit of arranging cups in order of size. The cups on the table had clearly been moved.

On entering the room, He Zheng also caught sight of the cups and sensed that something had happened. He exchanged a glance with Li Zong, who impassively shook his head and said nothing.

Before long, someone in SMB gave Li Zong a call and told him to go back to the bureau, that a discovery had been made.

Li Zong and He Zheng had stayed in the apartment for only a minute or two before leaving.

They left in such a hurry that they failed to notice a couple of people rigidly move out of the shadows in the apartment seconds after their departure. They did not look like normal people. When they were standing in a brighter spot, it could be seen that their skin was weird and leather-like.

“It’s not here. Let’s get out of here,” said one of the “men” in a monotonous voice.

A click came from the lock in the burglar-proof door and with that Li Zong and He Zheng showed up in the doorway. He Zheng gave a wicked grin and, holding Shadow and looking at the intruders, smiled, “Now let me find out who’re so daring as to sneak into my house to make trouble for me.”