Chapter 383

Zhao Yi left the heavily injured Chen Jing and the exhausted Xu Ming where they were, stood up, pulled the peeling skin on his body inward, and tied a butterfly knot at several tears with great familiarity.

At a glance, one would think he was tidying up his clothes, but if one walked closer, one could see the tender, wriggling flesh beneath this "clothing."

He glanced at the Liang sisters; the sisters were heavily injured, but they both knowingly supported each other to stand up, indicating they still had the ability to act.

The premise of calling each other "outside team" smoothly is that both sides have truly developed a tacit understanding.

Even if the word "former" has been added now, Zhao Yi understands it as "senior," emphasizing a kind of seniority.

For example, the one surnamed Li can sit on the threshold, so he, Zhao Yi, must consciously stand up and take over handling the subsequent matters.

"Scatter, search this mansion; although I don't think there will be any fish that slipped through the net, it is necessary to sweep this mansion clean in spirit.

When I had tea with Zhou Ruoyao during the day, you should have seen the Zhou family members sitting with her; those are the true core of the Zhou family.

See the corpse, even if it's a remnant; observe the clothing and accessories on them, pick up a remnant corpse, and hand it to me for verification.

As for the Ding family, they are not familiar with the internal environment of the Zhou mansion and don't understand mechanism arts, so the possibility of survivors hiding is almost zero; you only need to find the corpse of the Ding family head, Ding Qinglin.

Now, move!"

"Understood."

"Understood!"

Chen Xiyuan: "Understood!"

In the large courtyard of the ancestral hall, there were many corpses, but there were still quite a few Zhou and Ding family experts, including Zhou Ruoyao and Ding Qinglin, who, upon witnessing a large number of mechanism puppets rushing out to start a massacre, turned and fled.

But they couldn't run out; the Zhou family, in order to lure the enemy into the trap, had specifically turned the mansion's protective formation inward, and now this formation was controlled by their opponent, equivalent to a self-woven cage.

Plus those numerous mechanism puppets, which wore the skin of Zhou ancestors on the surface but were the coldest killing machines at their core, the screams and self-destructions that had occasionally come from outside earlier had now completely ceased.

But even so, the inspection process could not be skipped; Zhao Yi knew the style and habits of the one surnamed Li too well.

"Pfft!"

Chen Xiyuan opened a can of Jianlibao, inserted a straw from the side of her bag, pursed her red lips, and bloomed with a smile.

While drinking, she looked around; this appearance looked like she was on a field trip.

Until a voice appeared behind her.

"Miss Chen is in a good mood~"

It was Zhao Yi.

Chen Xiyuan frowned slightly; even though she had long known that Zhao Yi's reputation in the underworld basically stemmed from taking the blame for her little brother, she still didn't like this guy.

"Didn't Young Master Zhao say to search separately? You and I on the same path is just a waste of manpower."

Zhao Yi raised his hand, making a gesture of calculating with his fingertips: "Miss Chen, you do your inspection, I'll do my calculations; we are just on the same path, not the same way."

Chen Xiyuan glanced at him, shrugged, and continued on her own.

Zhao Yi's calculation with his fingers was fake; he had long ago noticed that this girl from the Long Wang Chen family had a special fortune.

Instead of searching blindly himself, following her might actually lead to unexpected efficiency.

However, Zhao Yi dared to bet that if Chen had faced such a scene in the past, her mood would definitely have been heavy, or at least not beautiful, but looking at her now, she was truly relaxed and at ease.

The one surnamed Li is truly teaching her.

The hardest thing for people to solve is the twisting between mental cognition and objective reality, achieving a state of being at ease with one's heart.

At the Luoyang Ancient Tomb Museum where they first met, Zhao Yi felt she shouldn't have appeared on the river at all; no matter how strong she was, she would eventually die or lose.

Now, even though she still had a childish side, her subsequent maturation speed would be very fast.

Zhao Yi really couldn't figure out if the one surnamed Li felt that walking the river was too unchallenging, so he was deliberately cultivating a competitor?

Yes, yes, yes, you surnamed Li have the confidence to suppress this Miss Chen.

But I'm still waiting for the day Heaven's will exerts its power and lets you, surnamed Li, choke to death while drinking Jianlibao.

And after you die,

I still have to face the big silly girl you've trained to get on the right track?

On the way, besides the corpses on the ground, one could also see the Zhou ancestor mechanism puppets standing there motionless.

They had completed their instructions and stopped after clearing the targets, without any other actions.

Chen Xiyuan finished a can of drink, put the empty can back into her bag, stretched, and incidentally looked up at the high sky.

At this moment, the last trace of darkness in the sky was being packed up and thrown away by the dawn.

Then, she saw a head hanging on a tree branch, hidden by green leaves; the owner was Ding Qinglin.

If that position hadn't been spotted by chance, it would have been hard to find, after all, the dead don't reveal any aura.

Chen Xiyuan kicked with her toe, a stone flew up, scattered the branches, the head fell, and after catching it, she turned and looked at Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi took it and performed an inspection.

Chen Xiyuan: "Is it the real thing?"

Zhao Yi: "Hmm, it's Ding Qinglin."

Chen Xiyuan: "Was the head blown off and up there during the puppet's self-destruction?"

Zhao Yi shook his head: "If it had been caused by the mechanism puppet's self-destruction, this head couldn't have been preserved so perfectly; at the very least, the nose would be collapsed and the eyes slanted. Look at the wound at the bottom of this head again; it was clearly strangled and exploded by a sudden constriction of the neck. This is not the combat style of a mechanism puppet.

Moreover, Ding Qinglin's skills were decent; he could have taken two or three people with him before dying, but there are no obvious signs of a battle around here."

Chen Xiyuan: "I really didn't observe that carefully."

Zhao Yi: "This has to do with your usual combat style."

Chen Xiyuan: "So, he didn't die at the hands of the mechanism puppets? He was ambushed? Ambushed by his own side? What was the purpose of ambushing a teammate while in a state of flight?"

Chen Xiyuan: "The big goal is to save one's life, and all behavioral logic is aimed at that big goal, so, did Ding Qinglin's existence affect that person's possibility of survival?

Or perhaps, that possibility of survival could only accommodate one person, not two, so Ding Qinglin had to be..."

As Chen Xiyuan spoke, her gaze began to re-examine the surroundings.

Zhao Yi: "There should be a secret door here that can avoid the mechanism puppets' sensing and avoid being hunted. And this secret door should have been built later, independent of the original Zhou family protective formation system.

Knowing that there is such a place in the house, and being able to flee with Ding Qinglin, and possessing the ability to successfully ambush him, there is only..."

Chen Xiyuan: "Your old lady."

Zhao Yi: "My reputation is ruined just like this."

Chen Xiyuan: "I actually think you quite enjoy it."

Zhao Yi: "Miss Chen, what you see is just my enduring humiliation."

Chen Xiyuan: "Where is she?"

Zhao Yi walked to that tree, reached out and patted the trunk, and said: "Miss Chen, please exert some effort on this tree, hmm, just smash it open."

Chen Xiyuan walked over, didn't use her flute to smash it directly, but bent down and turned sideways, hugged the roots of the big tree with both hands, and activated her domain.

"Crack, crack, crack!"

This big tree was uprooted by Chen Xiyuan.

Along with the separation of the tree roots from the ground, the big tree and the landscape of the small area around it collapsed like dominoes, and the previous scenery changed, revealing a deep entrance leading downward.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Zhou Ruoyao's sharp voice came from below, and immediately, a black figure rushed out; she was heavily injured, and one of her arms had been replaced by a wooden python body.

When this hiding place was discovered, it meant she had no chance of survival, because in the entire Zhou mansion, only inside here could she shield herself from the perception of the protective formation and prevent those mechanism puppets from locking onto her.

Zhao Yi: "Back off!"

There was no need to fight her here; she was already a pre-destined dead person.

Chen Xiyuan retreated quickly; with the domain acting as an obstruction, Zhou Ruoyao's speed was severely hindered, and her attacks couldn't even touch the other party.

The moment the big tree was pulled out by Chen Xiyuan, whether near or far, all the mechanism puppets standing motionless in the Zhou mansion sensed it and swarmed over.

Zhou Ruoyao looked desperate; she didn't even have time to think about how to overcome the strange obstruction before her, and was hugged by three mechanism puppets; without the slightest pause, the three mechanism puppets self-destructed.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Zhou Ruoyao, whose body was as broken as a sieve, fell to the ground; she tried to lift her head with difficulty, wanting to express her inner unwillingness and hatred one last time.

But immediately, another mechanism puppet rushed in front of her, stifling her final "monologue" before death.

After she completely lost her life, the mechanism puppets around her stood straight again, motionless.

Zhao Yi took out his pipe, bit it in his mouth, flicked his fingertip, lit the pipe, and took a deep breath.

Although most of the Zhou family members had been sent away in advance, Zhou Ruoyao's death meant the tolling of the Zhou family's funeral bell.

Similarly, Ding Qinglin and the Ding family experts dying here also meant that the Ding family would subsequently be reduced to fish for the underworld to tear apart and eat.

This simply couldn't be kept secret; when his Jiujiang Zhao family ancestral home had an incident, the guests who came to offer birthday congratulations yesterday turned into hyenas waiting to divide the meat the next day. This is underworld efficiency.

Moreover, after walking out of this door, Zhao Yi would take the initiative to help spread the word throughout the underworld.

This kind of dirty work must be done by him, Zhao Yi; the little brother Li Li Zhuiyuan must remain kind.

Chen Xiyuan: "You say, if she had personally escorted her son to plead guilty to Old Lady Liu back then, handed her son over to be dealt with, and let Old Lady Liu dispose of the entire Zhou family, would the Zhou family not have ended up with this outcome?"

Zhao Yi: "Isn't that A-You and me?"

Chen Xiyuan: "Ah, I can understand you, but was A-You's family so fierce back then?"

Zhao Yi: "That's right, A-You's grandfather and master were incredibly fierce back then, almost directly attacking the Long Wang's house."

Chen Xiyuan: "Wow~"

Zhao Yi: "It was just that they stopped quickly, and then handed A-You over to be dealt with. For a period of time, A-You would dream that his grandfather and master hadn't stopped that day, smashed the gate of the courtyard where the old lady lived, and then Qin Shu or Liu Yi went to his family's temple."

Chen Xiyuan: "I can understand."

Zhao Yi: "But the Zhou family is different. First, Zhou Ruoyao was like the elder in my family whose brain was flooded with water, thinking that the Qin and Liu families had declined, so she had a sense of contempt; second, if she, Zhou Ruoyao, had taken her crippled son to plead guilty, wouldn't she have offended the forces that were truly calculating against Qin Shu behind the scenes?

Old Lady Liu actually knew which families were playing dirty behind the scenes, but she was holding back that breath and didn't tear off the mask. If Zhou Ruoyao had really gone to tear off that layer of window paper, her Zhou family would have been on a dead end.

Simply put, if you don't have that foundation and strength, don't sit at a card table you aren't qualified for. Since you sat there, it means you are willing to accept the result of a broken family and death.

Let's go, let's go down and see what's going on inside.

Opening an independent area outside the protective formation is a great taboo; I'm really curious what is worth Zhou Ruoyao doing this."

Zhao Yi led Chen Xiyuan down the steps.

It wasn't very deep, and it wasn't pitch black inside; at the very bottom center was an open coffin, the four walls were jade-colored, flowing with luster, bringing barely enough visibility.

Chen Xiyuan looked at the four walls and said: "There are murals on this."

"Hmm." Zhao Yi nodded, then used his thumb to extinguish the pipe in his mouth; his thumb was trembling, not from pain, but from lingering fear, "Damn it, it's a good thing the one surnamed Li came to take revenge quickly!"

Because Zhao Yi had seen these murals.

Back then, under the Mount Yulongxue, on the first floor of that pagoda, there were murals like this, telling the story from the goddess's descent to the construction, gathering, praying, and final ascension.

It's just that the murals here were clearly carved recently and were much simpler and rougher than those on the first floor of the pagoda, and the characters appearing inside were blurry black shadows.

Another thing was that the murals here had two more contents than the first floor of the pagoda.

One depicted the scene of the snow mountain collapsing, with several black shadows being swept away in the avalanche; Zhao Yi knew that one of these black shadows was him.

The second painting was in a mountain cave, with a long hole above the cave; inside the cave, several black shadows were facing an empty stone bed, and at the hole above, a black shadow was lying there, peeking downward.

The ascension under Mount Yulongxue was a scam; the person who built that place attracted people who harbored dreams of ascension for a thousand years, and finally triggered the rock fire to burn them all to ashes; this even included his own descendants.

He used other people's ascension dreams as an opportunity for his own revival.

Zhao Yi remembered that after that wave in Lijiang, the one surnamed Li went straight to that guy's tomb on the way back, but arrived a step late and returned empty-handed.

The one surnamed Li had described that guy's physical body as being hard to an extremely exaggerated degree, capable of traveling through hard mountain rock.

Clearly, the murals here were carved by that guy, and that guy also added two latest contents from the perspective of an observer.

And this coffin...

Zhao Yi jumped into the coffin and checked the pits and bumps inside, finding a dent that was very fresh.

This meant that not long ago, that guy had lain here; it should be that his body state hadn't been adjusted, and he came to the Zhou family to borrow the Zhou family's mechanism arts to help adjust his body.

This mother and son, Zhou Ruoyao, really had guts; the son went to calculate against the Long Wang family, and the mother dared to cooperate with such a terrifying existence of unknown origin.

Zhao Yi jumped into the coffin and checked the pits and bumps inside, finding a dent that was very fresh.

This meant that not long ago, that guy had lain here.

"Hoo..."

Zhao Yi felt a chill down his spine.

The Zhou family itself wasn't scary, and could be said to be not difficult to deal with, but if this guy had suddenly appeared while they were acting, he and the one surnamed Li would have definitely capsized.

You know, this is a peerless ruthless person who laid out a thousand-year plan just to open his eyes again.

Fortunately, he hadn't adjusted his state yet, or perhaps it was inconvenient for him to be noticed by Heaven's will, so he deliberately avoided the sight of those walking the river.

Li Li Zhuiyuan's curse on the Zhou family made that guy sense something, and he left directly.

If it hadn't been for this move, they would have gone straight to take revenge, and would have met him directly.

"Surnamed Li, your move of beating the grass to scare the snake really made a fortune."

When Zhao Yi brought Chen Xiyuan back to the ancestral hall courtyard, he happened to see Zhou Tingfeng trembling as he pressed his thumb onto a piece of paper.

Beside him were a pen and a box of ink paste.

Li Li Zhuiyuan folded the paper carefully and put it in his pocket.

Zhou Tingfeng leaned his head against the threshold, a sinister smile on his face; he knew the Zhou family was finished, so if more forces could follow the Zhou family to the grave... that was the greatest comfort at the moment.

Li Li Zhuiyuan took a bottle of water from his bag, unscrewed the cap, and washed his hands carefully.

Zhao Yi walked over and informed him of the previous discovery.

Li Li Zhuiyuan nodded, signaling Chen Xiyuan to take him to see it, while Zhao Yi remained here to distinguish the corpse parts that Lu Runsheng and the others would bring back later.

Chen Xiyuan, who returned to this underground space again, put her face close to Li Li Zhuiyuan and asked:

"Little brother, is he very scary?"

"Hmm."

"Then if he adjusts his state, will he come to find you actively?"

"Hmm."

"If you perceive that he is coming, notify me in advance, and I will come to help you."

"Hmm."

"Why are you so calm?"

"He avoided me, proving that at the current stage, he won't come to find me."

"But that's only the current stage."

"In future stages, there will be more than just him coming to find trouble for me."

Li Li Zhuiyuan walked around the wall and re-examined the murals.

The youth agreed with Zhao Yi's judgment; rather than saying that person was avoiding him, it was better to say he was avoiding the gaze of Heaven's will that had fallen on him.

In this world, there is indeed a small group of special existences that Heaven's will gives merit to on one hand, while wishing they would disappear completely on the other.

That person sent away a large group of "heretics" who harbored dreams of becoming immortals, essentially to build a ladder for his own immortality, which is also a way of drilling loopholes in the rules of Heaven's will.

So, was his beating the grass to scare the snake this time, almost meeting him, really just a coincidence?

In the past, when he was on the river, he was playing a game with the question-setter from the perspective of a candidate, so when he started "walking the river on the shore," could Heaven's will not add a "candidate" image inside?

You cannot avoid its existence; it is everywhere.

Li Li Zhuiyuan decided that after going back this time, he must find time to overhaul the underlying logic of the "Li Zhuiyuan Secret Scroll"; the shore is not absolutely safe, and he cannot take it lightly.

When they reunited at the ancestral hall courtyard, Zhao Yi had also just finished confirming the deaths of the Zhou family's core figures.

Next, there was only one thing left.

Chen Xiyuan said excitedly: "Treasury, treasury, treasury!"

Zhao Yi: "Why is Miss Chen so excited?"

Chen Xiyuan: "Before meeting little brother, I didn't know that people who 'walk the river' could be so poor."

Zhao Yi: "That's true."

Chen Xiyuan: "So I am very grateful to little brother for letting me experience the joy of accumulation and harvest."

Zhao Yi didn't understand; he himself had to sacrifice his looks to deceive the opposite sex, and the one surnamed Li is only so young, how on earth did he do it?

This Chen family girl, it's as if if the one surnamed Li asked her to admit defeat and light the lamp a second time, she would nod and do it without hesitation.

Zhao Yi: "Let's go, move the goods!"

Chen Xiyuan: "This is called returning the property to its original owner."

Zhao Yi: "Right, right, right!"