Chapter 611: Divine Object

Diagonally opposite was a gray-brick residential house with a black roof and high lintels, the facade was neat, and several clusters of green bamboo poked out from behind the high walls, having the style of a wealthy family, with the words "Run Garden" on the lintel. There were Great Wind Army guards on duty at the door.

He Lingchuan was naturally unimpeded. He carried the clay pot into this four-courtyard mansion, passed through the hall and corridor, and entered the dining hall through the side garden.

The garden originally had rockeries and flowing water, red maples and exotic plants, but now it was winter, everything was withered, and the theme of the garden had changed from vigorous to cold and lonely.

He passed the dining hall without entering, because it was large and empty, with no human atmosphere.

Finally, He Lingchuan walked into the main courtyard, which was brightly lit, with Great Wind Army guards standing at the courtyard gate, expressionless to whoever came.

The wind blew through the courtyard, sending out the smell of wine wrapped in faint laughter.

He walked into the courtyard, stepped on this year's first snow, and entered the house in two or three steps.

"The sobering soup is here."

There were only two people in the house, Zhong Shengguang and Shao Jian; the leftovers on the table were more than half, but the wine was sufficient.

Zhong Shengguang was delayed by business outside and had just returned to Panlongcheng, but Shao Jian had to leave tomorrow morning.

Zhong Shengguang had to give him a farewell.

This pair of old friends had twenty years of friendship, once wandering in Ling Xu as youths, now seeing white hair in Panlong, narrating the past and discussing the present with infinite emotion.

Wine is a broom for sweeping away worries, and they drank too much without knowing it.

It was the first time He Lingchuan saw Zhong Shengguang with a red face and thick neck, completely different from the calm and steady Commander-in-Chief on weekdays.

But Shao Jian's drinking capacity wasn't as good as his; he had already vomited once and couldn't even support his head with one hand.

He Lingchuan had to go out to buy sobering soup.

This thing is diuretic and detoxifying, clearing heat and purging fire; he only poured a small half bowl for Shao Jian, which was two sips. "It's cold, drink a little less first."

Shao Jian was half-drunk, where would he have any objections? He gulped it down in one breath, threw the bowl away, and wiped his face.

Originally, he and Zhong Shengguang chatted about their experiences over the past ten years, which was a collection of sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy, and two jars of wine couldn't smooth it out.

Actually, for Shao Jian, "sweet" was only one thing: his daughter.

"After Xiao Yan was born, I knew that the previous twenty-something years were lived in vain. She was so cute, every time I went home and saw her, my heart would melt!" Shao Jian looked at Zhong Shengguang, and He Lingchuan thought it was bad; sure enough, his next sentence was: "Brother Zhong, how could you... sigh, your heart is truly cruel!"

He wouldn't dare say such things usually, but now the wine gave him courage, and he spoke his heart out without knowing it.

Zhong Shengguang's hand holding the bowl paused, but he didn't make a sound, just tilted his neck and drank half a bowl of wine.

"I even came to Panlongcheng when Zhong Wuhan was a child. How old was she then? Five, six?"

Zhong Shengguang said with a straight face: "Six."

"I remember she casually picked a leaf as a flute and played a little tune for me; it was that 'Willow Dependence' you composed in Ling Xu City." Shao Jian gave a thumbs up. "Only six years old, completely without running out of tune, much more powerful than my Xiao Yan. No matter how I teach her, Xiao Yan still can't play a complete tune even now, not even considering the pitch."

"My wife left early, and Zhong Wuhan also became sensible very early; she never needed me to worry, instead she even..." Zhong Shengguang choked on a mouthful of wine, "... helped me quite a bit."

Shao Jian stared at him: "Do you regret it?"

He Lingchuan secretly admired, is this person so brave after getting drunk?

All three people present knew he was asking if Zhong Shengguang regretted using his own daughter to reward the gods! "Regret?" Zhong Shengguang said with a dark face, "Is regret useful? Can regret save the people from fire and water?"

He raised his tone, then slapped the table with a bang: "If I regret it, do I not do it? If I don't do it, who else will?"

Shao Jian leaned on the table and was startled.

The Great Wind Army soldiers in the garrison were alarmed by this loud sound and rushed in.

Zhong Shengguang waved his hand and drove them all out.

"Good, good, don't mention this matter!" Shao Jian was more effective than eating sobering soup after this scare, and immediately changed the subject. "By the way, do you know about the nouveau riche that has risen in Ling Xu City in recent years?"

Zhong Shengguang sat back slowly and rubbed his face: "There are more nouveau riche in Ling Xu City than rice."

It had been like this for hundreds of years, what's so rare about it?

"No, no, this family was stunning as soon as they arrived, and that old mud loach Wu Sun even rewarded him with a profound crystal vein!" Shao Jian grabbed a piece of dried meat and gnawed it gritting his teeth. "The merman family had a bit of a grudge with them, and wanted to find trouble for them, but instead suffered a bit of a loss themselves."

Strictly speaking, this dried meat was also military rations; He Lingchuan often kept a few jin in his bag, which was filling, but it was too hard and cost teeth.

There were several dishes on the table, but Shao Jian picked this thing; He Lingchuan felt that what he wanted to chew definitely wasn't dried meat.

"Profound crystal vein?" Zhong Shengguang was also a bit surprised. "How much merit did he have?" To get such a reward!

"It's the one surnamed Ke, Ke Zhaolun!" Shao Jian spat out a hard tendon. "Betraying my King without being struck by heaven, but instead rising to prominence; heaven has blind dog eyes!"

He Lingchuan thought, here it comes.

This was the content he wanted to hear.

Zhong Shengguang tapped the table with his knuckles, two sounds: "With Wu Sun's temperament, a profound crystal vein cannot be easily given as a reward; did the Heavenly Gods intervene?"

"I guess so." Shao Jian ground his teeth in hatred. "If it weren't for this grandson informing Ling Xu City back then, disrupting my Uncle King's plan, the Yuan Nation wouldn't have had to act hastily. If they could have prepared for a few more years, maybe everything would have been different."

"What a good opportunity." Zhong Shengguang also sighed. "What a pity."

If the Yuan King could have succeeded in his uprising, Zhong Shengguang's own life encounter would definitely have been rewritten.

Would he still need to be trapped in a lonely city? "My Uncle King treated him very well, and he was even the Prime Minister!" Shao Jian said hatefully. "This was truly unexpected."

Oh, so Ke Zhaolun was once the Prime Minister of the Yuan Nation? He Lingchuan recorded it in his heart.

Prime Minister was the deputy to the Chancellor, and the position was indeed not low.

Zhong Shengguang frowned: "Just by informing, Ke Zhaolun could enjoy such wealth?"

Informing was not a good thing to say, and the monarch didn't like two-faced, two-surname slaves. Ling Xu City had plenty of talent, and throwing the one surnamed Ke into a corner would be enough.

It was like Nian Zanli who brought troops to surrender, and he didn't get much favor from Ling Xu City, sitting on the cold bench in He Lingchuan's era.

How could the Ke family get such generous treatment from the Demon Emperor?

The people of Ling Xu City were unconvinced, and even a hundred years later, there were still noble families who looked down on the Ke family.

Shao Jian was silent for a while before saying: "I have repeatedly inquired about this over the years, used many connections, and spent a lot of money. Before the New Year, I finally got a piece of intelligence: before my home country, my home country had an accident, Ke Zhaolun searched for a divine object and sent it to the Heavenly Gods. Heh, the gods were very pleased."

"And—" he said word by word, "for the Heavenly Gods, that thing is also evidence that my Uncle King intended to rise up!"

"Evidence?"

"This thing can echo with the Great Fang Hu!" Shao Jian said solemnly. "With it, the Heavenly Gods knew the Great Fang Hu was in the Yuan Nation, in my Uncle King's hands!"

He Lingchuan's breathing stopped, his heart shocked.

He happened to be leaning against the osmanthus tree, and his hand behind his back subconsciously clenched into a fist, snapping two osmanthus branches with a crack.

What? A divine object could detect the Great Fang Hu, then wasn't he finished?

He was in Ling Xu City, under the soles of the Heavenly Gods' feet!

Wouldn't they catch him one by one if they wanted to? Thinking of this, the cold sweat on his back broke out.

No, uh, no! He Lingchuan subconsciously gripped the hilt of the Floating Life Blade, trying hard to calm down. He had been in Ling Xu City for over half a month, and the Heavenly Gods had even taken a trip to his sea of consciousness without discovering him.

Fortunately, Zhong Shengguang was even more shocked than him and didn't notice this strange sound:

"Tell me clearly, what's going on!"

"The treasure the Ke family offered to the Heavenly Gods might be able to detect the whereabouts of the Great Fang Hu. I heard this news and rushed to Panlongcheng." Shao Jian said seriously. "I don't know if my Uncle King noticed, but he got the divine bone for you. Sigh, you also know the effect of the divine bone; with it covering, it would be difficult for that divine object to take effect again."

"Why didn't you say it a few days ago?" This guy wasn't in Panlongcheng for the first day! "I only met you when I arrived in Panlongcheng, and you ran away; who could I tell these days?" Shao Jian spat. "Commander Zhong, you are a busy person; it's not easy for me to catch you alone privately. Besides—"

He paused: "I think Lady Mitian probably knows too, because last time she gave the Punishment Dragon Pillar, she said several of them were stained with the aura of the Great Fang Hu, which could distract Ling Xu City's attention."

He Lingchuan also heard that sentence and was deeply impressed.

So the deep meaning was here.

Zhong Shengguang nodded slowly while pondering: "Hmm, you're right, she probably knows."

After all, she is a Heavenly God.

"Actually, I have long been suspicious."

Listening from the side, He Lingchuan felt that Zhong Shengguang and Mitian hadn't thrown their hearts out completely, and both had some reservations.

Although they were cooperating, they weren't without precautions.

Considering Zhong Shengguang's personality and Mitian's Heavenly God status, this was in line with reason.

"What exactly is this divine object?"

"The lid of the Great Fang Hu."

He Lingchuan's ears pricked up.

The Great Fang Hu also had a lid? Oh, a pot comes with a lid; why should the Great Fang Hu be an exception? "In the catastrophe of heaven and earth, it is rumored that the Black Dragon crashed into the Heavenly Net Star and sacrificed itself for the Dao." Shao Jian said slowly. "The fragments that were crashed down were refined by several immortals working together for over a hundred years to make the Great Fang Hu, and they carefully matched it with a pot lid. But later the pot lid was lost, its whereabouts unknown, and I don't know where the one surnamed Ke picked it up and offered it to the Heavenly Gods, causing my entire nation's people to die!"

The words he said carried a thick smell of wine, but every word was very important; He Lingchuan recorded it carefully, not daring to omit anything.

There was a big harvest tonight.

The news was heavy, and even Zhong Shengguang couldn't hold back, standing up and walking around twice:

"You mean, the Heavenly Gods found the Great Fang Hu lid and used the connection between the divine artifacts to determine that the Great Fang Hu was in the Yuan Nation, so they..."

Shao Jian nodded: "Yes, that's what I mean!"

"But they still can't find Panlongcheng now." Zhong Shengguang pondered. "Clearly Mitian also knows about this; isn't the divine bone made from her tail finger bone?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 612 =====