Chapter 197: Case Closed!

Shi Ren stared at Tang Luo, still wanting to struggle, but Tang Luo exerted a little more force and knocked him unconscious.

"Hey, he actually fainted, interesting." Tang Luo laughed, throwing Shi Ren into the toilet inside the private room.

"How do you feel?" Tang Luo walked over to Xue Nianzhi and asked.

Xue Nianzhi's nostrils were stuffed with two wads of tissue paper, her originally charming face now completely pale, looking quite miserable.

"I'm fine." Xue Nianzhi pulled out the tissues; the nosebleed had already stopped.

"What did you see just now?" Tang Luo asked.

Xue Nianzhi shook her head: "Not seeing, but feeling—I felt immense terror, the breath of death and coldness, I was frightened."

"I see." Tang Luo nodded, "It's fine, let's order food first, eat a meal to calm down. I remember the food here wasn't great before, I wonder how it is now."

"……" Xue Nianzhi opened her mouth, still ordering food to eat at a time like this?

She shook her head.

"Aren't you hungry?" Tang Luo asked.

"I'm not hungry." Xue Nianzhi spoke truthfully; the feeling from before still lingered, being able to eat anything would be a miracle.

"Well, then I'll eat, you don't mind, right?" Tang Luo said, you're not hungry, so you just watch me eat—very simple thinking.

"No." Xue Nianzhi shook her head.

The waiter found it strange that there was one less person in the room, gave two odd glances, but didn't ask further, probably assuming he was in the toilet.

Ordering dishes, serving food, a full meal of wine and rice, Tang Luo said: "The taste is actually better than before."

Xue Nianzhi forced a smile.

Walking into the toilet, he dragged the still-unconscious Shi Ren out again, shook him violently, and forcibly woke him up.

"I ask, you answer?" Tang Luo looked at Shi Ren and asked.

"I will kill you, I definitely will——" He hadn't finished speaking when Tang Luo slapped him to the ground.

"If you keep this up, I will spiritually convert you. I'll give you one more chance to choose—answer obediently, and let us both skip those time-wasting steps."

Shi Ren obviously had the "won't cry until seeing the coffin" type of personality, very strong-willed: "If you have the ability, come on——"

The words of his roar hadn't fully left his mouth before Tang Luo grabbed his forehead.

This brat, trying to shout loudly to attract outside attention, still quite clever.

Unfortunately, he was instantly seen through by the more clever Master Xuanzang, soul liberation!

"Huh?"

After performing soul liberation, Tang Luo was a bit surprised—originally he thought this guy's "soul" would be in some extremely twisted state.

Unexpectedly, it was not much different from an ordinary person's soul, just extremely weak, barely maintaining itself at the edge of soul flying and spirit scattering.

Without Tang Luo doing anything else, just leaving it in place for a while, this soul would dissipate on its own.

Shi Ren, realizing his situation, let out a miserable cry and immediately gave in: "I'll talk, I'll talk, what do you want to know!"

In stark contrast to his earlier toughness, it seems he thought Tang Luo was powerless against him before, hence his boldness, not true fearlessness.

After returning the soul to that special body, Tang Luo asked: "Are you really doing this out of love, acting as a sycophant, or is there another reason?"

Shi Ren glanced at Xue Nianzhi and said: "There is another reason."

After waiting a while with no further response, Tang Luo's eyes widened, he slapped out again, knocking Shi Ren to the ground once more: "What, still need one question before one answer? I'll keep pressing—you'll keep talking only if I continue questioning, do it yourself, monk!"

Fully embodying the style of a monk like Lu Zhishen.

"I happened to discover this girl has some special qualities." Shi Ren said, "So……"

Case closed—Shi Ren is not a sycophant; on the contrary, he harbors even more sinister intentions.

Xue Nianzhi wanted to use him, but didn't expect Shi Ren to hide even deeper—scheme and counter-scheme.

Whether in the countryside or the city, roads are very slippery.

Xue Nianzhi remained silent, why is this happening? She's a fox spirit! A fox spirit!

As a fox spirit, clearly it should be her deceiving others into spinning around, causing national disaster, a beauty bringing calamity—that's what it should be.

In the end, she turned out to be the one deceived—the blow was enormous.

"Special? What do you plan to do to her?" Tang Luo asked.

Shi Ren hesitated, gritted his teeth and said: "Sacrifice."

"Sacrifice? To whom? Are you a cultist?"

"No." Shi Ren said, "Just……after the sacrifice, I can continue living."

"You've lived a long time, right?" Tang Luo asked.

Shi Ren nodded: "Already, almost a hundred years."

"No wonder that stale smell." Tang Luo said, "How much feeling do you have left? Do you feel pain? After eating these dishes, how much can you still feel?"

"No pain." Shi Ren said, raising his hand—the wrist Tang Luo had broken had already returned to its original state.

It just looks a bit odd, as if it wasn't set properly during recovery, slightly bent out of shape.

"Acting not bad." Tang Luo praised.

Shi Ren remained silent; he had originally planned to counterattack, even the unconscious time was much shorter than expected.

But before he could devise a perfect counterplan, Tang Luo's one move of soul liberation made him realize what an insurmountable gap is like.

"As for these dishes, I can still feel something." Shi Ren said.

Loss of pain sensation, other sensations weakened—for someone like Shi Ren with superstrong recovery ability, this isn't really a bad thing.

If all remaining positive sensations also disappeared, then being alive would actually be quite painful.

"Will the sacrifice let you live on? Is it true that the more special the sacrificial object, the greater your 'return'?" Tang Luo asked.

Shi Ren nodded.

"So everything is just a coincidence, huh?" Tang Luo said, "You were bored and came here to play, happened to discover this foolish fox spirit is somewhat special, thought you could trick her a hundred times, immediately turned into a sycophant. After marriage, you'd find a chance to quietly sacrifice her—even the mother-in-law wouldn't be spared."

Xue Nianzhi turned her head away, as a foolish fox, it's truly embarrassing to be involved in such a conversation.

Shi Ren fell silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said: "I came to this city, initially, actually to retrieve something."

"Something?"

"Yes, something I set up a few years ago, but I never expected it to be destroyed, I'm very angry, so I came to clear my mind——"

"The thing you're talking about is a mirror, right? The location is……" Tang Luo interrupted Shi Ren, stating an address.

This address is none other than the place where Tang Luo first encountered the mirror demon.

Well, that is to say, a group of idle people planned to film a real-life supernatural documentary, and ultimately encountered a real ghost at that villa.

Shi Ren was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

Solving the case again, back then Tang Luo even mentioned it to the Near Science group, asking them to check what was going on, but they never found any clues.

I never expected it to be Shi Ren, this guy, who did it.

"Oh dear, truly sorry, your mirror was exactly broken by this poor monk, and the mirror demon was also exterminated by this poor monk." Tang Luo said with a smile, laughing heartily.

Effort indeed brings reward, not the original matter, Shi Ren should have just taken the mirror and left.

Then he wouldn't have encountered Xue Nianzhi, and without encountering Xue Nianzhi, there would be no current events, nor would there be any merit power.

The world is vast, the world is also small.

Tang Luo felt the effort was well rewarded, while Shi Ren's inner resentment was indescribable.

"Alright." Tang Luo stood up, "Go settle the bill, then take this poor monk along."

"Where to?" Shi Ren was stunned for a moment.

"Naturally, to your place of sacrifice, to find the thing you sacrificed, this poor monk will act on heaven's behalf, eliminate demons!" Tang Luo said.

The muscles on Shi Ren's face kept twitching, he couldn't even utter words of refusal.

One is to die immediately, the other……

"I understand." His face was ashen and death-like, he struggled to rise, opened the door and left.

Xue Nianzhi asked: "Master, aren't you afraid he'll run away?"

"He's not a fool." Tang Luo said, simply and clearly.

As expected, after a while, Shi Ren walked back and said: "Master, we can leave now."

"Let's go." Tang Luo stood up, and said to Xue Nianzhi: "Do you want to come along and see?"

This matter also counts as arising from Xue Nianzhi, so Tang Luo naturally doesn't mind her wanting to follow and watch the whole process.

Most importantly, to display a compassionate Master Xuanzang, Elder Tang, Holy Monk Tang, how powerful they are.

To let this foolish little fox family realize that some petty tricks are utterly useless, not fit for the table.

To steadfastly follow by Elder Tang's side, tread in Elder Tang's footsteps……this is unnecessary, just tell Tang Luo about any demon, monster, ghost, or spirit-related news.

To be a demon tribe fifth columnist.

What Tang Luo wants is to punish evil and promote good, to gain merit power, not to bully some little demons, little sprites.

"Good." Xue Nianzhi said, she was also curious, what deeper secrets Shi Ren still hides behind him.

What is the sacrificial offering, then?

More importantly, she needs to properly organize how to tell her mother the whole story from beginning to end.

Going downstairs, arriving at the parking lot, Shi Ren said: "The location is Yue Fu, my home. Master, you see——"

"You want to delay time?" Tang Luo slightly raised his eyebrows.

"No no!" Shi Ren immediately shook his head, pointing to heaven and earth, almost swearing: "Really at my home, the place of sacrifice cannot be moved randomly? I've been staying in hotels all this time."

"Then let's rush overnight, drive now." Tang Luo commanded.

Shi Ren could do nothing but nod and sit in the driver's seat, serving as driver for Tang Luo and Xue Nianzhi.

As for Xue Nianzhi's car, just leave it parked there.

According to Tang Luo's confident and assured words, as long as he goes there, he can slap that unknown demon to death with one palm.

He can return by tomorrow at the latest.

Preparation? What preparation? Doesn't exist, just rush in and it's done.

Demeanor must be composed, only then can prestige be high.

Tang Luo's side is composed, but Shi Ren, who is driving, cannot be like that; all along the way, this luxury car has various minor issues constantly.

Bumping and sputtering, after getting on the highway, still stopped at a rest area once, to check the problems.

Originally a drive that should take three to five hours at most, was stubbornly delayed until dawn before arriving at Yue Fu.

The closer they got to the destination, the more Shi Ren's expression resembled a corpse's, if not for Tang Luo standing behind him staring, this guy might have run faster than a rabbit.

At least, on the surface it appears so.