Chapter 148: Magic Trick

Lin Shuyu was puzzled when he suddenly saw a row of footprints on the ground, stepping closer to him one by one!

Lin Shuyu sneered: "Caught you!"

"Ah!" He let out a howl and lunged forward, thrusting both hands out viciously—

But he missed, crashing heavily onto the green brick floor of the courtyard.

"Hmm?" He scrambled up instantly, pressing his hands to the ground and crouching his body, already in the posture of a wild beast!

The footprints reappeared on his left, stepping one by one toward the main house.

"Not allowed to go!" Lin Shuyu roared, but the words that left his mouth were not human speech; they had become the half-ghost, half-beast snarl!

He kicked off with his hind legs and leaped at the shadow with both claws raised.

Then he missed again, crashing into the steps in front of the door.

He spun around abruptly, panting heavily with rasping breaths, his eyes blazing with ferocity, the whites of his eyeballs covered in purple-red blood vessels.

"What evil spirit are you!" Lin Shuyu drooled, roaring the question.

But suddenly, a woman's voice rang out in the courtyard: "Yu'er."

Lin Shuyu shuddered all over, and a look of joyful surprise bloomed in his eyes: "Mother—"

"Yu'er, Mother misses you so much."

Lin Shuyu burst into tears: "Mother, I miss you too!"

"But my son will never see his mother again." That voice suddenly turned icy cold.

Lin Shuyu panicked: "No, no, no, Mother, don't go, don't go..."

Lin Shuyu searched everywhere, but suddenly saw that not far beside him, a pair of footprints had appeared, and rising from these footprints, a woman materialized.

The woman spoke, her voice still that of Lin Shuyu's mother: "You miss your mother, and your mother misses you..." Then the voice suddenly turned resentful: "I also miss my son Jun'an, but I can never see my son again!"

"Magic trick"—vocal mimicry.

Lin Shuyu stumbled backward: "You, who are you?!"

He Lushi suddenly spread her hands, a piece of red cloth pinched between her fingertips; after showing both sides, she suddenly flicked the red cloth backward, and a small table appeared out of thin air before her.

Three porcelain bowls were overturned on the table.

He Lushi held a small ball between two fingers and placed it into one of the porcelain bowls. Then, with both hands moving swiftly, she shuffled the three bowls around.

"Guess which bowl the ball is in?"

A greenish-black aura of malice rose on Lin Shuyu's face: "You damned woman are teasing me..."

He Lushi said: "If you guess correctly, I will conjure your mother!"

Hope appeared in Lin Shuyu's eyes: "Really?"

"Of course!"

Lin Shuyu immediately pointed at one of the bowls: "This one!"

He had seen it long ago; the small ball was hidden in this bowl.

He Lushi pinched the bottom of the bowl with two fingers and lifted it abruptly: "Wrong guess!"

There was indeed something overturned in the bowl, but it was not the small ball; it was a bloody heart!

The instant the small bowl was opened, the heart beat twice.

Lin Shuyu clutched his chest and let out a wail of agony!

His heart had been conjured away by the "magic trick"!

"Guess again? There are two bowls left; if you guess correctly, I will still fulfill my promise."

Lin Shuyu was still full of hope; after hesitating for a moment, he pointed at one of the bowls.

He Lushi revealed a strange smile and abruptly lifted the porcelain bowl: "Pity, you guessed wrong again."

Inside the porcelain bowl lay a pair of bloody eyeballs!

Lin Shuyu let out another wail of agony, covering his eyes; his eyeballs had also been conjured away.

He Lushi stopped pretending to be mysterious; she raised her hand and lifted the third bowl, inside of which lay a gray-white brain.

"There was never a small ball under the bowls!

So you will never see your mother again, just as I will never see my son again!"

He Lushi's voice was infinitely venomous!

Lin Shuyu fell to the ground with a thud, dead completely.

He Lushi, however, was already covered in tears, collapsing weakly onto the ground.

A moment later, a male voice suddenly rang out from her mouth: "Revenge has been taken; I shall depart now."

"Brother, please go ahead first." The voice changed back to He Lushi's.

"Try to accept it..."

"Little sister cannot accept it!"

"Sigh..." Lu Qiuyang let out a long sigh.

Half a ke later, Lang Xiao Ba inserted his sword into the door crack, pressed down forcefully, and severed the door bolt and copper lock; the courtyard was filled with a foul stench, and two corpses lay quietly there: Lin Shuyu and He Lushi.

"This..." Lang Xiao Ba was shocked, not knowing what had happened.

Xu Yuan strode to the door of the main house, kicked it open, and a strange rustling sound came from inside, as if countless long-legged crawling insects were desperately trying to find a place to hide!

Xu Yuan spat a mouthful of fire inside, instantly filling the entire main house, then rushing out through the side doors toward the wing rooms on both sides.

All evil spirits were reduced to ash and scattered!

Fifth Aunt followed in, inspected some of the strange arrangements in the main house, and couldn't help but shake her head, saying: "A mere eighth-rank spirit cultivator dares to venture into the Netherworld to drag souls back!"

"Judging by this situation, I fear they hadn't even finished walking the Yellow Springs Road when they were confused by the yin energy, mistaking some evil spirit or ghost for their own kin and bringing them back to the mortal world!"

Spirit cultivators cultivate a single "true self spirit."

Trees have roots, but the human body has none; life and death are uncertain, entirely dependent on the movement of this true spirit qi—when the true spirit thrives, the body endures and lives; when the true spirit decays, the body perishes and dies.

Lin Shuyu likely had already clouded that single true self spirit the moment he stepped onto the Yellow Springs Path, unable to distinguish right from wrong, truth from falsehood, good from evil.

After returning to the mortal world, he spent every day among these evil entities, further corroded by them, his temperament drastically altered.

He killed people to feed these evil entities, tearing out their internal organs to nourish them.

Lin Zijin was certainly unaware at first; by the time he discovered it, Lin Shuyu had already committed a grave error.

He had always felt he owed his grandson something—the boy had lacked familial affection since childhood, and he himself had spent too little time with him, which led the grandson to fixate entirely on reclaiming his family.

So in the end, he could not bring himself to act with righteous severity, to sacrifice kin for justice; instead, he went to great lengths to conceal Lin Shuyu's deeds within the Purification Office.

Thus, one misstep led to endless errors!

Aside from the matter of Lin Shuyu, Lin Zijin was beyond reproach: fair and upright, leading by example, caring for subordinates, and mentoring juniors.

Lang Xiao Ba looked at Lin Shuyu's corpse in the courtyard and said: "Inspector He once said he had uncovered some clues and intended to continue investigating."

Perhaps that was why he was killed by Lin Shuyu."

Although Lin Shuyu had been tainted by yin qi, he was a spirit cultivator and never fully transformed into a demon, so neither the door gods nor the auspicious objects of the Nancheng Patrol Station blocked him.

Then he speculated: "Lord Lü Qiuyang… perhaps Lin Shuyu feared that Inspector He Jun'an had informed Lord Lü of these clues, so he killed He Jun'an first, then killed Lü Qiuyang to silence him!"

Xu Yuan recalled: "When Lord Lü Qiuyang was describing the case to us, he displayed an extremely strong determination to solve it."

At that time, Lin Zijin had patted him on the back—probably then, he had inserted the Ghost Gauze Canopy into his body."

Lin Zijin likely only intended to control Lü Qiuyang and prevent him from continuing his investigation."

But he never expected that on that very night, Lin Shuyu knocked on the door and killed Lü Qiuyang."

Lü Qiuyang was a seventh-rank method cultivator; without the Ghost Gauze Canopy, Lin Shuyu could not have killed him."

(End of Chapter)