A Good-for-Nothing

303. A Scramble

Translator: Dragon Rider

With a muffled groan, “He Zheng” was hit hard, abruptly spat out a mouthful of blood and thudded to the ground, unable to pull himself to his feet.

The Demon King, having lost more than half of his powers, had no advantage over Li Zong whatsoever in the duel.

Li Zong looked down at the Demon King, the look in his eyes so cold they made you feel as though your insides had turned to ice.

“That was quite some punch,” the Demon King chuckled, languidly wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. Then, with a shadow of a smile, he glanced at Li Zong and, lazily pointing at his own heart, said, “Do it. Run me through with your sword. ‘Replace him with a son and destroy him, and there shall be peace again.’ What are you waiting for, Supt. Li?”

Li Zong’s eyelids slightly twitched at the Demon King’s uncharacteristic behavior. Having noticed that Li Zong was dithering, the Demon King cast Li Zong an odd smile and then said in He Zheng’s voice, “It’s not every day you get to fight a worthy opponent, so I think it’d be better if I do you the courtesy of letting you see this clearly.”

The words had hardly left him when his fingers turned into a blade and abruptly sank into his own chest. The blow was not hard, but it was not light either. Li Zong heard a familiar, pained cry, which was by no means from the Demon King.

He Zheng lying on the ground let out a muffled grunt and then started moaning in agony.

The dream fell apart with that groan. Li Zong’s eyes flew open and the scene he saw in the next second threw him into panic – He Zheng’s fingers were stuck in his own chest, his whole body rigid, his mouth a thin line, anguished moans escaping his lips one after another.

“He Zheng!” Li Zong’s pupils contracted drastically. He quickly stopped the bleeding for He Zheng and then promptly called Zhen Ni, seeking help.

He Zheng, after groaning for a few moments, lost consciousness and fell into Li Zong’s embrace. The wait for Zhen Ni to arrive was what Li Zong hated to recall the most. He Zheng’s breathing was getting weaker and weaker and could stop at any moment.

Li Zong was a very good leader and seldom summoned his subordinates over late at night, especially not a female one. Zhen Ni, knowing that the situation must be really serious, got out of bed and headed for Li Zong’s apartment. When she reached her destination and saw He Zheng covered in blood, she was startled.

Without saying anything, Zhen Ni unhesitatingly used the Force of Rejuvenation to treat the wound.

Her fingers were quivering as she watched He Zheng’s countenance growing paler. She did not dare imagine what consequences there might be if anything happened to him.

Fortunately, He Zheng’s wound, though terrible-looking, was actually superficial. His cardiac meridian was unharmed. After Zhen Ni did what she could do, He Zheng looked much better, albeit still comatose.

Zhen Ni wiped the sweat off her forehead. What with the depletion of her internal energy, her face was somewhat pallid. Looking at Li Zong, she ventured, “What happened, Chief?”

Li Zong, who clearly was not inclined to expound, merely said, “I’ll take He Zheng to SMB tomorrow morning. You may go back now. Thank you, Zhen Ni.”

Zhen Ni nodded and, not daring disturb them further, returned home.

Li Zong looked at He Zheng whose face was somewhat pasty, and then his eyes moved to He Zheng’s forehead. The Demonic Eye was still being securely inhibited by the golden containment markings. It was very quiet, and there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary.

But Li Zong better than anyone knew that the situation was not as simple as it seemed.

The Demon King was in He Zheng’s body like a parasite. Judging from the Demon King’s tone, he did not know where the demonic Qi was from, which meant that the Marionette Master was from a third party.

Li Zong lowered his eyes and gently ran his fingers through He Zheng’s loose forelock. He Zheng, eyes tightly shut, suddenly smiled a goofy smile. His mouth curved so malevolently that Li Zong withdrew his hand halfway towards stroking He Zheng’s face. The smug expression was none other than the Demon King’s.

The sky had just begun to brighten in the distance. He Zheng lying on the large bed let out two pained groans and opened his eyes as memories of the weird dream that he had last night came flooding back into his head. He realized that he had been possessed by the Demon King, that his own consciousness had been forced into a narrow corner. He had watched helplessly as the Demon King took control of his body.

He Zheng shook his head, feeling terrible. There was pain still lingering in his chest, but his wound had healed some time ago.

“You’re awake?”

Li Zong’s voice came from the door. Looking at Li Zong standing in the doorway – at Li Zong’s eyes, to be precise – He Zheng had a very strange feeling. He wanted to flee, but he was more inclined to get closer. He had an urge to keep staring at Li Zong, but some kind of force made him look away, as though his body was no longer under his control.

“What’s happening to me?!” He Zheng’s voice was tinged with panic. He subconsciously tried to reach out a hand with the intention to grab something only to find himself unable to raise his arm, as though he was not the owner of this body anymore.

Li Zong hastened up to him and, stroking He Zheng’s hair, said consolingly, “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“The Demon King,” said He Zheng, shaking his head which felt somewhat groggy. “Li Zong, I think I saw the Demon King. He’s right in my head. He’s taken control of my body!”

Li Zong ran his fingers through He Zheng’s hair. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

“Your heart is aching? Tell me. Is your heart aching?” He Zheng suddenly smiled. The smile was so eerie.

Li Zong let go of He Zheng – no, the Demon King, to be precise. He Zheng’s appearance remained the same, but the air about him was now totally different from what it had been seconds ago. He was chuckling. The chuckle was heavy with contempt.

“You think you’ve Sealed me, that everything’s returned to normal, but you forgot that it wouldn’t be easy to save He Zheng and kill me at the same time.”

Li Zong eyed Xiangshan coldly, who appeared very complacent. At this moment there was nothing his enemy could do to him, and Xiangshan seemed to be enjoying this very much.

The smile froze on his face before it could reach his eyes. He Zheng slowly raised his hand and hit himself on the head. With that He Zheng’s tone changed again. “Just now the Demon King possessed me again.”

He Zheng was speaking rather slowly, but he had snatched control of his body and successfully forced the Demon King out.

With a creature – a demon – inside his body, one that he was unable to get rid of, He Zheng felt awful. He was in a foul mood the whole morning, and he did not utter a word during his trip to SMB.

Li Zong and He Zheng wanted to go and talk with the others about this matter, but unexpectedly, something upset their plan.

Ever since the two demon-binding magic circles had been sabotaged, the last one had been put under the heaviest security, and nobody was allowed to approach it without authorization, but even so, the last magic circle was still broken.

Just like Zhou Yize had said, the so-called magic circles had long since become virtually useless. After so many years, Xiangshan’s body parts Sealed in those circles had been reduced to ashes a long time ago. Still, after the magic circles were sabotaged, the demonic Qi inside them had escaped and been making trouble in the Republic of Hua. Staff members of SMB sub-bureaus had been having a tough time dealing with the matter. Those clouds of demonic Qi, having been inhibited for a long time, were very malicious and dangerous. Recently there had been quite some cases involving supernatural forces, which made it much more difficult for SMB to handle them.

In addition, a piece of paper bearing divinatory symbols had been found in the last magic circle, and the handwriting was the same as that of the symbols left by Zhu Ning.

Old Master Zhu and Tan Lubai, having decrypted divinatory symbols several times, handled it with great facility. It took them only half a day to decrypt the new-found symbols, but the information they conveyed was bound to give rise to another tempest.

The atmosphere in the conference room was somewhat grave. Li Zong and He Zheng had just arrived when they caught sight of someone they had not set eyes on for quite some time.

At the sight of him, He Zheng hastened up to him and called him grandfather.

Old Master Zhu, naturally, was very happy to see He Zheng, but his beam was tinged with gloom. At first He Zheng did not sense it, but gradually he had an inkling that something was not quite right. It was only then that he perceived the mood in the room was rather solemn. Zhen Daoyuan and Tan Lubai, in particular, had been staring at him since his arrival.

“What’s going on?” He Zheng asked, looking at them, somewhat confused.

Zhen Daoyuan averted his eyes and did not look at Li Zong or He Zheng. Instead, his eyes traveled to Old Master Zhu. When he spoke, his tone was fairly polite, but his mood in it was inscrutable. “Old Master Zhu, are you sure those divinatory symbols are real?”

“Divinatory symbols?” He Zheng asked, wondering what this had to do with divinatory symbols.

Tan Lubai wanted to say something, but Zhen Daoyuan did not give her the chance to speak.

“Yes, this morning we found another piece of paper with some divinatory symbols written on it. The contents have much to do with He Zheng, the magic circles as well as the Demon King,” said Zhen Daoyuan, glancing at Li Zong. “He Zheng wouldn’t be able to subdue the demonic Qi in him for long, I suppose?”

Li Zong said softly, “The Demon King showed up in my dream last night. And the destruction of the two magic circles a couple of days ago was probably his doing as well.”

Old Master Zhu heavily closed his eyes and with that the old man dejectedly leaned onto the back of his chair, looking so limp as though he were drained of his energy. “I knew it. The prophecy’s come true.”

“Grandfather, what’s going on exactly?” He Zheng and Li Zong were totally in the dark about what was happening, unable to understand what the old man was saying.

Old Master Zhu let out a long sigh. Tan Lubai, who could tell that the old man could not bring himself to tell the truth, said, “The other piece of paper bearing divinatory symbols was found in the last magic circle. The handwriting is the same as Zhu Ning’s.”

After a brief pause, she continued, “According to the contents, the devil has appeared. Originally we thought that it might not be true, but given what you’ve just said, it seems … ”

He Zheng suddenly had a sense of foreboding. “Those symbols were left by my mother as well?”

Old Master Zhu shook his head and put the decrypted version of the symbols down on the table in front of them. Oddly enough, the first half of the contents was, as Tan Lubai had just said, about the demon having appeared, but the latter half was someone’s name.

He Zheng gave an “Eek?” of surprise and, pointing at the name, asked, “Who’s this Zhu Jin guy?”

Tan Lubai said, “Not long ago, after you brought back the complete version of the divinatory symbols from the exorcism championship, we did some investigation and eventually found out that the one who gave the International Exorcism Federation the copy of a complete version of divinatory symbols seemed to be surnamed Zhu as well.”

Zhen Daoyuan said, “We think you know something about it, Old Master Zhu.”

“Grandfather?”

Old Master Zhu appeared rather unwilling to talk about this matter. Zhen Daoyuan said, “Old Master Zhu, there must be a reason why this piece of paper was found at this point in time. Now is not the time for us to keep secrets from each other.”

Old Master Zhu hesitated for a while and then finally spoke.