Chapter 308

Zhao Yanglin's face showed astonishment, his eyes filled with disbelief:

"Qin... Liu... Long Wang family."

The partners present all knew that once Brother Xiaoyuan announced his family name, it meant that this Second Master of the Zhao family had no possibility of surviving.

The young man pressed the umbrella handle down, covering his face.

"Rumble!"

Accompanied by another peal of thunder in the sky, everyone moved.

Tan Wenbin raised both arms, tilted his neck, and his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose formed a deterrent against Zhao Yanglin.

Runsheng lunged forward, the Yellow River shovel in his hand splitting downward with force; he wasn't afraid of Zhao Yanglin dodging, only afraid he wouldn't.

Zhao Yanglin, whose five senses were severely assaulted, sensed a terrible crisis and subconsciously dodged.

Lin Shu You had anticipated the position where the opponent would dodge and smashed down with his double maces.

The first mace shattered the water mist in front of Zhao Yanglin, and the second mace dented his chest.

As he retreated from the heavy injury, the blood Zhao Yanglin spat out began to spin.

Zhao Yi appeared from the side, raised his hand, catalyzed the Zhao clan's fundamental technique, and slapped down, cutting off his second uncle's last chance to escape.

"Thump..."

The headless corpse fell to the ground.

This father and son could make an appointment to meet in the underworld.

"Sigh..."

Zhao Yi sighed, not for his second uncle who had a blood relationship, but for Liang Yan and Liang Li.

The rhythm of the people on Li's side was so seamless, while Liang Yan and Liang Li were a step late; if not for his own intervention, his second uncle might have been able to struggle a bit more.

But the problem didn't lie with the sisters; this was the gap between the bosses of both sides.

Zhao Yi picked up his second uncle's head, but before he could speak, he discovered a special fragrance emanating from the corpse.

Very faint, faint to the point of being almost imperceptible, yet it truly existed.

This feeling was familiar; Zhao Yi subconsciously sniffed himself, as if he had also had it before.

Zhao Yi: "Did you all smell anything?"

The others all sniffed carefully; Tan Wenbin even used his "ox nose," but in the end, they still shook their heads.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to Zhao Xu's corpse and spread his hands.

In the next moment, a tiny, purple, crystalline flower slowly bloomed on Zhao Xu's corpse.

Of course, this could only be seen in the Yin-walking state, so everyone present, except Runsheng, saw it.

Zhao Yi suddenly realized; it wasn't any smell.

This was the Other Shore Flower, and it had the aura of the Yellow Springs.

They had all soaked in the thick fog of Fengdu, and the seam of Zhao Yi's Life and Death Gate had recorded this trace.

The Other Shore Flower on Zhao Xu's body bloomed and then retracted rapidly, as if it had wrapped something inside, and then dissipated together.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to Zhao Yanglin's corpse again and performed the same action.

The Other Shore Flower bloomed, bound the soul, and finally dissipated, the soul returning to the underworld.

The Great Emperor of Fengdu had once issued a decree to wait for the sealing of the entire Zhao clan of Jiujiang.

This was equivalent to leaving a mark on every Zhao family member; among the countless wandering souls in the world, only a very small proportion could enter the underworld, but the Zhao family members each held a ferry ticket to the underworld.

Zhao Yi held Zhao Yanglin's head in front of him and said:

"Second Uncle, look at how good your nephew is to you; I didn't tell anyone else, just secretly sent you to the underworld to select an official position."

Having witnessed the way the Great Emperor of Fengdu treated his subordinates, it was clear that being a ghost official in the underworld... was actually a form of endless torture.

Tan Wenbin: "When I watched 'Investiture of the Gods' in the past, I wondered why the villains could still be deified after they died; wasn't this rewarding them? Now, I understand."

Lin Shu You: "Understand that this isn't a reward..."

Tan Wenbin: "Understand that this isn't a villain..."

Zhao Yi: "No need to look at mythological stories; just ask the Bai He Tongzi and you'll know, ask him whether it was more fun being a Ghost King in the past or an Yin God Guan Jiang Shou later."

Lin Shu You's eyelids trembled, and he spoke: "Tongzi said, it's most fun being Li the Corpse-Fisher of Nantong now."

Tan Wenbin: "Team leader, two of your Zhao family members have already gone down to report; after this matter ends, won't your Zhao family members become a force in the underworld?"

Lin Shu You: "Maybe in the folk stories a hundred years from now, many of the ghost messengers and ghost generals will be surnamed Zhao."

Zhao Yi: "Sounds a bit imposing."

Tan Wenbin: "Aren't you afraid that a hundred years from now, you'll go down and reunite with your family?"

"Afraid of what." Zhao Yi lifted his chin and pointed at Li Zhuiyuan, "We have people in the underworld."

Liang Yan and Liang Li took on the work of cutting the skin.

Under their skillful hands, the two faces were perfectly peeled off.

With this as raw material for disguise, the effect would be excellent, especially since Zhao Yi was a Zhao family member himself.

Now there were two, a father and a son.

Zhao Yi held the two faces, Zhao Yanglin in his left hand and Zhao Xu in his right, and asked Li Zhuiyuan:

"Brother Xiaoyuan, which one do you choose?"

While asking, he even deliberately shook Zhao Xu's face.

Li Zhuiyuan: "You choose Zhao Xu."

Zhao Yi: "Mm?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Give Zhao Yanglin's face to Brother Binbin."

Zhao Yi: "I'm going in with Zhuangzhuang; Li, you're not going?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Going."

Zhao Yi: "Zhao Yanglin has a large build, Zhao Xu is smaller; Li, you just imitate Zhao Xu, I'll make a puppet frame for you inside, you just control it, with your puppet art level, it's hard to be discovered."

Li Zhuiyuan: "That's too tiring."

Zhao Yi: "Then..."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Let Brother Binbin disguise as Zhao Yanglin, I'll follow Brother Binbin into the Zhao residence; anyway, Zhao Yanglin has kept many mistresses outside, and it's not like he hasn't brought illegitimate children from outside into the house before."

Zhao Yi: "No, you know this?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "I know."

Zhao Yi: "But the younger generation is free and loose, and they only contact the young people in the family, but Zhao Yanglin is considered an older generation figure in the family, and he contacts the old foxes in the family; I'm afraid Zhuangzhuang won't be able to handle it."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Now, I might understand your second uncle better than you do."

Zhao Yi heard this and immediately realized something, turning around to check the two corpses.

The two corpses were already beginning to rot rapidly and would turn into pus before long; this clearly wasn't normal.

"Li, did you use the Black Skin Book secret technique on both of them just now?"

"Mm, read their memories."

"Heh, okay, okay."

Zhao Yi shrugged; he had almost lost half his life when he used it by chance to remove that side effect, yet Li used this secret technique to watch gossip about dead people.

Tan Wenbin: "Now, where are we going?"

Zhao Yi: "Let's go, let's have breakfast first."

Before dawn, this shop had already opened for business.

The plump landlady was cutting braised food, while the bald boss, with a cigarette in his mouth, was shirtless and moving tables and chairs outside.

When Zhao Yi appeared, the boss immediately spat out the cigarette in his mouth, and the landlady dropped the knife in her hand; both faced Zhao Yi and said very respectfully:

"Young Master."

Zhao Yi waved his hand and said: "There's a job to do, and incidentally, bring my friends from out of town to have some morning wine."

The boss immediately bent over, preparing to move the tables and chairs he had just moved out back inside.

Zhao Yi: "Don't bother, no need to specifically entertain only us; without some fireworks, what is there to drink with?"

"Yes, Young Master, you and the distinguished guests sit first, I'll prepare it for you right away."

Liang Yan handed the black bag containing the two human faces to the landlady.

The landlady responded and took the bag into the back kitchen.

Zhao Yi greeted everyone to sit down and said to Li Zhuiyuan: "Soaked in rain, loosened your muscles and bones, drink some small wine, it can also relieve fatigue."

Li Zhuiyuan: "You all drink."

Zhao Yi leaned back and shouted to the boss who was busy alone:

"Do you have milk? Soy milk, cow's milk, yogurt are all fine."

The boss shook his head with some embarrassment, then pointed to the shop over there that hadn't opened yet, meaning he could pick the lock and get some.

"Do you have soda?"

"Yes, Young Master."

"Then soda it is."

Zhao Yi flicked his finger, opened the cap himself, inserted a straw, and pushed it in front of Li Zhuiyuan.

"The two are bitter lovers, eloped and were hunted down by their family; I let Old Man Tian negotiate and protected them. Ancestral craft, Clay Figure Zhang; the things they knead are lifelike, but they stopped taking outside jobs long ago, only doing private work for me alone."

Lin Shu You: "What era is it, still beating mandarin ducks with sticks?"

Zhao Yi: "That's right."

Lin Shu You: "Is the landlady Clay Figure Zhang?"

Zhao Yi: "Both are."

Lin Shu You: "Same surname?"

Zhao Yi: "Mm."

Lin Shu You: "Cousins."

Zhao Yi: "Added a character."

Lin Shu You's mouth hung open, and it was a long time before he replied: "A bit understand why the family wanted to hunt them down."

Tan Wenbin got up to distribute chopsticks to everyone and laughed: "It really is Young Master Zhao's life, truly rich and colorful; tonight is all heavy drama."

Soon, dishes were served one after another, basically all with alcohol stoves underneath.

Zhao Yi: "Come, taste it; although the two aren't locals, their craftsmanship is impeccable."

Everyone started picking up food, occasionally sipping wine.

The more they drank, the brighter the sky became.

In ancient times, wherever water transport was developed, the morning wine culture was preserved; canal workers who had worked hard all night would come down from the wharf, eat and drink to reward themselves, and go back for a sound sleep.

The landlady walked out carrying a bag: "Young Master, it's done."

Zhao Yi: "Thank you for your hard work."

The landlady hurriedly waved her hand: "Don't mention it, don't mention it."

After eating, carrying the prepared faces, everyone first returned to their original residence.

Lin Shu You and Runsheng went to sleep, and the Liang sisters also returned to their rooms.

Zhao Yi and Tan Wenbin gathered in Li Zhuiyuan's room.

The two faces were spread out in two basins filled with water.

"Zhuangzhuang, come, take off your clothes and press your face onto it."

Tan Wenbin did as told; when his face pressed against the face, not only did his face squirm, but the water in the basin was also extracted, flowing down along his neck.

After the movement ended, Tan Wenbin lifted his head; not only had his appearance changed to Zhao Yanglin's, but his body shape had also changed, looking almost indistinguishable from Zhao Yanglin, who had just died in the night.

The so-called clay figure wasn't playing with clay dolls, but kneading living people like clay figures.

This kind of craftsmanship was truly exquisite.

Zhao Yi also buried his face in, and when he lifted it again, he had become Zhao Xu.

Young Master Zhao wasn't coy either, immediately revealing the awe and fawning of a son seeing his father:

"Father."

Tan Wenbin also entered his role, nodding slightly, responding indifferently:

"Mm."

Zhao Yi: "Not bad, it has that flavor."

This performance level was enough, and with Li by Tan Wenbin's side, Zhao Yi believed Zhuangzhuang wouldn't have any problems.

Zhao Yi looked at Li Zhuiyuan: "Then next, we go to my house?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Let's go to that place first."

A civilian house, looking no different from other houses in the village from the outside.

When Zhao Yi, Tan Wenbin, and Li Zhuiyuan walked over, the old-fashioned iron gate was opened from the inside, and an old man stood inside:

"Grandpa, Young Master."

The old man's gaze fell on Li Zhuiyuan; although he didn't know where this child came from, he didn't dare to ask.

Another thing he didn't dare to ask was that the four retainers brought out yesterday hadn't followed them back.

Li Zhuiyuan took Tan Wenbin's hand and walked in front; after entering the house, they went through the stairs leading downward to the basement.

Opening the door, the air circulated, and the candles inside ignited automatically.

The space in the basement was much larger than imagined; one could even say the civilian house above was just built as an extra for this basement.

The walls of the basement were full of various paintings, painted very realistically, basically all of Zhao Yanglin and various women; Zhao Yanglin was full of vigor, while the women painted with him were filled with incongruity.

If they were ordinary spring palace paintings, or self-portraits for commemoration, that would be fine, but the female characters here were not living people.

Some were wrapped in iron chains, some had talismans pasted on their foreheads, and even more had peach wood swords stuck in their chests.

In several paintings, father and son were even in the same frame.

These on the walls were just for exhibition; in the basement, there were coffins of various styles piled up, and in the central area was a huge bed.

The coffins were not empty; inside were female corpses of various shapes, clearly having died once, yet after death, they had to be "woken up" again to endure torture once more.

"Brother Binbin."

"Mm."

Tan Wenbin stepped forward and pasted talisman papers on every corpse in the coffins; accompanied by the burning of the talisman papers, these corpses also gradually began to crack and finally turned into powder.

Their resentment still lingered here, suffering through the final scene, and now, he was giving them release.

Zhao Yi licked his lips; he knew that Li coming here specifically wasn't just to do this.

"Brother Xiaoyuan, you also know what I was like before I lit the lamp and walked the river; I wasn't familiar with my parents, let alone other people in the Zhao family.

The reason I knew my cousin's hobby was because after I gradually returned to normal, I had ears and eyes in the Zhao family, and they told me.

Moreover, initially, the information I got was that Zhao Xu only molested corpses. But I didn't expect that my second uncle and cousin could go to such lengths.

That they would deliberately turn living people into dead people was also news I only learned when I went to listen to the latest reports a while ago."

"Snap."

Zhao Yi lit a cigarette, took a fierce drag, and continued:

"Let's put it this way: if I had known so clearly earlier, even if the river-walking hadn't ended, I would have set a trap to send this father and son away.

When walking the river, not getting help from the family and drawing a line with the family was because I was afraid the karma of my river-walking would backfire on the family.

But going home to kill people doesn't fall into that category.

Brother Xiaoyuan, you have to believe me; I, Zhao Yi, can't be called a good person, but I'm not so base that I can endure anything and watch anything happen."

Li Zhuiyuan: "I didn't come to listen to your explanation for this."

Zhao Yi: "Are you trying to warn me? No, are you trying to remind me?"

Li Zhuiyuan nodded: "On your genealogy, you've made many circles and marks; I know your intention is to scrape the bone to remove the poison for the Zhao family; you want to wait until later to revitalize the Zhao family.

But you've seen the nature of this time; we aren't here to travel to your house in our spare time; this is already a wave.

Admittedly, I know your Zhao family definitely has many innocent and clean people, and I also believe this proportion should be the majority.

But when an avalanche begins, it might be impossible to distinguish."

"Alright, Li, I understand what you mean."

"Whether you understand or not, I have to make it clear beforehand: if this is a catastrophe for your Zhao family, when it collapses as a whole, I will only watch from the side.

I'm not interested in who is innocent, who is upright, and who is kind; don't expect me to save your Zhao family members."

"That goes without saying."

Tan Wenbin: "Brother Xiaoyuan, everything is handled."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Let's go, let's go to the Zhao house."

The three left the basement and walked up.

The old man saw them come out and diligently took out an envelope, handed it to Zhao Yi, and flattered:

"Young Master, these are all newly selected ones; you pick."

Zhao Yi laughed.

The old man also laughed.

But soon, his smile stiffened on his face.

The old man's neck was snapped by Zhao Yi and thrown to the ground.

After doing this, just as Zhao Yi was about to leave, he sniffed, and that smell of Other Shore Flowers was smelled again.

This meant that this old man was surnamed Zhao, but he should be a very distant relative.

After sitting in the car, Zhao Yi spoke: "I've discovered that the underworld is truly a good place; some Zhao family members can only be killed once, which is truly too cheap for them."

Li Zhuiyuan didn't respond; he had already said everything that needed to be said, and Zhao Yi had also understood.

The explicit meaning was that Li Zhuiyuan would not extend a helping hand to the Zhao family, and the other hidden meaning was:

You, Zhao Yi, should also cut ties with this Zhao family sooner.

The Zhao family has two old residences, one old one in the mountains and a new one in the city.

The vast majority of core Zhao family members live in this old residence in the city.

The vast majority of the core members of the Zhao family live in this old mansion in the city.

"The Zhao Mansion."