"Director Xu, you should go back to the bureau first." After making a plan in mind, Gao Jianfei said to Director Xu, "I think I can't find any clues. Hey, I'll try to find a way to ease the pressure on your boss. I happen to have a few old friends in this county. I'll take this opportunity to go and have a drink with them."
"Alright!" Director Xu nodded. "Comrade Jianfei, you go ahead with your work. But... please be careful, after all, the body was found in this county..."
Gao Jianfei chuckled and said, "Don't worry, I'm neither a monk nor a Taoist priest. Besides, my luck can't be that bad."
Director Xu gave Gao Jianfei a few more instructions, telling him to be careful, before leading his team away.
After Director Xu drove away, Gao Jianfei continued to use his consciousness to transmit his voice to the intelligent program, "Alright, I'm going to walk now, head forward. Keep an eye out for me, and if you spot a Level 2 or Level 3 ghost, find one immediately!"
"Yes, esteemed user!" the intelligent program replied.
Gao Jianfei began to walk briskly. He strolled through the town, recalling his previous visits. A thought lingered in his mind… “If those murderers are in this town, and if they’re after me, I’d be willing to confront them!”
However, things did not develop as Gao Jianfei had imagined. He encountered many people along the way, but they were all ordinary people, and nothing happened that was detrimental to Gao Jianfei.
After traveling several kilometers from the area around the small lake, Gao Jianfei arrived at an area of bungalows. This area was rather dirty and messy, poorly managed, and littered with garbage. Suddenly, the voice of the intelligent program rang in Gao Jianfei's ears... "Dear user, a level 3 ghost soul has been detected, and there is more than one. Do you need it? Is it just one, or all of them together?"
We've finally found it!
Gao Jianfei's heart tightened, and he immediately said, "Just one is enough!"
"As you wish, my esteemed user!" the intelligent program said, and the jumbled electrical waves on the virtual display screen crackled and hissed.
Two minutes later, a message appeared directly on the virtual display screen...
Ghost's name / Ghost level / Age in life / Gender / Occupation in life / Special skills in life / Cause of death /
Yuanzhi / 3 / 31 / Male / Shaolin Monk / Mighty Vajra Finger (Provincial Level) / Kills /
"Huh? A Shaolin monk? That's right! He's a monk!" Gao Jianfei slapped his forehead. "This is definitely the monk who appeared in the police station morgue! There's no mistake!"
"Damn! I never expected it to be Shaolin monks! How... how did they die in my hometown?" Gao Jianfei was dazed and confused. "Could it be that this really has nothing to do with me?"
Indeed, based on the information we have so far, the deaths of these monks, Taoists, and nuns are very likely unrelated to Gao Jianfei!
After all, Gao Jianfei had never had any contact with the monks of Shaolin Temple. He only had some dealings with the Taoist priests of Qingcheng Sect and the nuns of Emei Sect. He had absolutely no connection with the monks of Shaolin Temple!
"It's possible that Shaolin Temple has a grudge against some force, so they chased each other all the way to our hometown, ZG City," Gao Jianfei analyzed.
"Dear user, this level 3 ghost has cost 1500 exorcism points. Do you need to piece together its soul?" the intelligent program's voice prompted.
"Uh... even if it has nothing to do with me, I should still take this monk into the haunted house and find out the truth. It won't cost much to exorcise him anyway," Gao Jianfei thought to himself. Immediately, he said to the AI program, "Piece it together right away!"
A progress bar directly overlaid on the monk "Yuanzhi's" information.
Having achieved his goal, Gao Jianfei quickly hailed a taxi and headed home.
Of course, based on the information he had, the murderer was very likely living in this area of bungalows. However, Gao Jianfei wouldn't be in such a hurry to find the murderer before taking Yuanzhi in.
I returned home around 6 o'clock, just in time for dinner.
The family sat happily at the dinner table, eating and chatting.
They were all very happy.
Enjoying the warmth of family, Gao Jianfei thought to himself... I really like this feeling. Right now, ZG City seems quite unsettled, but I absolutely will not allow anyone, any force, to destroy this warm and sweet feeling! Never!
During the meal, the mother also asked Gao Jianfei what he had been doing that afternoon and why the police car had come back to pick him up.
Gao Jianfei simply said that the Public Security Bureau had asked him for help, which made his mother quite happy, and she praised Gao Jianfei for being promising.
After dinner and watching TV for a while, around 10 PM, the intelligent program reminded me... "Dear user, the soul of Level 3 Oni Yuanzhi has been pieced together. You can see him immediately..."
Chapter 389 We all died because of you!
Chapter 389 We all died because of you!
The soul of Yuanzhi, the Shaolin monk, has been pieced together and is now a Level 3 ghost!
Gao Jianfei will be able to see him immediately. Then, the recent spate of sudden deaths of out-of-town monks and Taoist priests in ZG City will finally be resolved!
Immediately, Gao Jianfei, along with Chen Xian and his family, made up a lie and went to the study, locking the door behind them. With a single thought, they entered the den of iniquity!
In the den of ghosts.
"Dear user, welcome to your ghost's lair. You will soon meet a level 3 ghost, Shaolin monk Yuanzhi," the AI program's voice greeted you solicitously.
"K." Gao Jianfei snapped his fingers and rushed directly to the third floor of the Ghost Den.
Rooms 3-10.
The door was ajar.
Gao Jianfei pushed open the door and entered. The room was laid out like a Buddhist shrine. There were prayer cushions, statues of Vajra Arhats, and a statue of Bodhidharma. A male monk dressed in a dark blue robe sat on a prayer cushion, striking a wooden fish. Hearing Gao Jianfei enter the room, he stopped striking the wooden fish, turned around, and smiled at Gao Jianfei, "Young benefactor Gao, hello. Thank you for bringing this humble monk here. My Dharma name is 'Yuanzhi'."
"Oh, Master Yuanzhi," Gao Jianfei chuckled casually and entered the room. He didn't think much of Yuanzhi. Statistically, Yuanzhi was a rather weak Level 3 ghost, possessing only a provincial-level Vajra Finger technique—a level of martial arts Gao Jianfei wouldn't bother learning. In fact, if it weren't for investigating his bizarre death, Gao Jianfei would never have pieced together his story!
Therefore, as soon as he entered the room, Gao Jianfei went straight to the point, "Um, Master Yuanzhi, the main reason I came here this time is to investigate the cause of your death. You should have died from a powerful martial art like the 'Frosty Palm.' So, tell me, who killed you? Was it a revenge killing or something else? Did your Shaolin Temple offend some powerful figure?"
Faced with Gao Jianfei's series of questions, Yuanzhi smiled and shook his head, "Young benefactor Gao, to be honest, the reason this humble monk lost his life was mainly because of you, young benefactor Gao."
These words shocked Gao Jianfei greatly!
"No way? You died because of me?" Gao Jianfei could hardly believe his ears. "How is that possible? I've never known any Shaolin monks. How could your deaths have anything to do with me?"
"You've gone too far with this joke! So, according to you, dozens of monks, nuns, Taoist priests, and laypeople all died because of me?" Gao Jianfei's eyes bulged. "Master Yuanzhi, this joke of yours is a bit too much!"
“Ha,” Yuanzhi said, pressing his palms together, “Amitabha, benefactor Gao, do you think that now that I have arrived here, there is still any need for me to utter a single falsehood?”
Gao Jianfei sat weakly on a wooden chair in the Buddhist hall. "That's right. The ghosts in the haunted house won't harbor any hatred towards me, nor will they lie to me. So... tell me now, so many of you died tragically because of me, so what exactly is the reason?"
…… …… ……
The area of bungalows that Gao Jianfei just visited. That's the area where the soul of Shaolin monk Yuanzhi was located.
Inside one of them, a plain-style house with blue tiles.
Inside the bungalow, a 30-watt light bulb cast a dim, yellowish glow.
There were four young men sitting in the living room of the bungalow... One was smoking, one was eating instant noodles, and the other two each held a white pill that looked like a pearl in their hands, staring at it with burning eyes.
At first glance, the four young men didn't appear particularly special. However, their demeanor was clearly different from ordinary people. Simply put, they all exuded pride! Even though they were in a simple bungalow, they gave the impression of sitting in a magnificent palace!
At this moment, the man who was eating instant noodles put down the noodle cup in his hand, smacked his lips, and said, "Brothers, this time, we're doing this for that brat Feng Haoyu. Damn it, what makes him so great? His martial arts are terrible, but he always acts all high and mighty. I've disliked him for a long time. If it weren't for the rules of the Holy Land that disciples of the Holy Land cannot fight amongst themselves, otherwise they would be executed, I would have beaten him up long ago!"
The young man swore and cursed, looking completely unconvinced.
The young man who was smoking chuckled. "Alright, Shao Cong, stop complaining. Who told Feng Haoyu to be the first disciple in our Holy Land's history to master a genius divine skill? It's understandable that the Venerables and deacons favor him. Haha, Shao Cong, if you mastered that genius divine skill, you would also gain certain privileges. Haha, stop complaining."
The young man was still unconvinced. "What kind of genius skill is this? What's so great about mastering such a useless martial art? Can it even beat the Ice Palm of the four of us brothers?"
Upon hearing this, the other three all looked up and said, "That's definitely not possible!"
"That's right! He's so arrogant just because he's mastered a useless martial art, damn it! What did he say to us back then... 'Four senior brothers, Gao Jianfei's hometown is ZG City in the province. Now, his secret of being skilled in animal taming is known to all the internal martial arts schools in the world. I think a lot of internal martial arts masters will go to Gao Jianfei's hometown to wait for an opportunity to act. Therefore, I would like to trouble you four senior brothers to go to ZG City and kill all the internal martial arts masters who covet Gao Jianfei's secret!' Bah! Back then, he was completely ordering us around! Damn it, if it weren't for the Venerable One standing behind him, I would have knocked out his front teeth on the spot!" The 'Young Master' was extremely angry.
"Alright, Shao Cong, stop talking. In fact, we didn't go to any great lengths; we just killed some low-level monks, Taoists, and nuns." The young man smoking was quite composed.
'Shao Cong' was very emotionally unstable. "I'm just baffled. Since Gao Jianfei possesses a secret that our Holy Land is interested in, why don't we just capture him, take him back to the Holy Land, and let the Venerable and the deacons dissect and study him? That would be enough. Why do we have to do something so unnecessary, protecting Gao Jianfei here to keep him safe from other sects... It's like taking off your pants to fart!"
The young man smoking blew a smoke ring and said, "Young Master, you don't understand. In two months, Feng Haoyu and Gao Jianfei will have a genius challenge match. Feng Haoyu and the Venerable One mean that we must do everything in our power to protect Gao Jianfei's life for at least these two months. Not only the four of us, but all the other fellow disciples have also been mobilized and are infiltrating all over the country to protect Gao Jianfei's safety. If our Holy Land wants to make a move, we have to wait until two months later, after Gao Jianfei loses to Feng Haoyu, before we can make our move to arrest him!"
"A genius challenge? That's awesome! Damn!" Shao Cong sneered.
At this moment, a young man holding a white pill lifted his eyelids and said, "Alright, Shao Cong, stop talking. This Genius Challenge is a competition for Feng Haoyu to gain fame. The Venerable One's support for Feng Haoyu is not only to help him succeed, but it is also very beneficial to our Holy Land. Think about it, although our Holy Land is aloof and a mysterious and ethereal force in this world, since we live in this world, we are more or less affected by its worldly influences. Feng Haoyu becoming a world-class celebrity is extremely beneficial to the entire Holy Land. At least, after he gains power and status, he will help and take care of our Holy Land disciples in all aspects."
Another young man, holding a white pill, laughed and said, "Alright, everyone, stop talking. We've basically wiped out all the disciples from Shaolin, Wudang, Wuyishan, Yandangshan, and other sects who infiltrated this city. We're happy to have some peace and quiet now. We can just cultivate and kill time. Besides, didn't the Venerable One reward us with a 'Frost Pill' each for completing this mission? Haha, just for that 'Frost Pill,' it's all worth it!"
After saying that, the young man who was smoking and the young servant each took out a white pill from their pockets.
Each of the four young people now has a white pill in their hand.
Upon closer inspection, these white pills, about the size of pearls, are crystal clear and exude a cool, medicinal fragrance. The surface of the pills floats in a misty haze, making them quite beautiful.
What is this?
In fact, the reason why the Holy Land surpasses other ancient martial arts sects in the world today, and why it can cultivate outstanding disciples with martial arts prowess approaching that of ancient masters, is not because the Holy Land possesses a vast collection of martial arts manuals. Rather, it's because… it refines 'medicine'!
The venerable ones and deacons of the holy land all possess the ancient and mysterious art of alchemy!
Moreover, over thousands of years, the sacred land has cultivated a vast number of rare medicinal herbs. These herbs themselves possess a certain amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth, and can also absorb this energy. The higher-ups of the sacred land use these herbs to refine pills suitable for cultivating various martial arts techniques!
This 'Frost Pill' is a necessary medicine for cultivating icy martial arts such as Frost Palm, Bone-Melting Palm, and Profound Nether Palm. It is carefully refined from materials such as Ghost Yin Grass, Heartbreak Flower, and Desert Frost Grass.
In the secular world, some other ancient martial arts sects outside the sacred lands also possess the manuals and secret techniques for the Frost Palm, but they simply cannot master the true Frost Palm! The reason is simple: they don't have a rare and precious treasure like the 'Frost Pill'! Even if they practiced diligently according to the manuals for a lifetime, it would be of no use!
"Hmm, that makes sense. My Frost Palm technique has already reached the fifth level. Taking this Frost Pill might just break through the fifth level and reach the sixth! Haha, consider it earning a Frost Pill! Haha!" The young man finally understood, sat cross-legged, and put the white Frost Pill in his hand into his mouth. Then, he focused his mind, like an old monk in meditation, and began to practice breathing exercises.
The other three also followed suit, seizing the time to cultivate.
Before long, a layer of white mist and frost appeared above the heads of the four of them, which was very strange!
…… …… ……
In the den of ghosts.
The Shaolin monk Yuanzhi recounted the whole story in its entirety.
Gao Jianfei was speechless, scratching his head repeatedly!
It turns out that a few days ago, the Qingcheng Sect had spread a bombshell message to all the internal martial arts sects under heaven: "This young man, Gao Jianfei, comes from a mysterious family that possesses the ability to tame and enhance wild beasts!"
This news is incredibly attractive to internal martial arts schools!
The techniques of taming and strengthening wild animals are generally only recorded in ancient notes or even unofficial histories. In ancient times, this secret was already called "witchcraft," and was considered very mysterious and magical.
In today's world, various internal martial arts styles have reached a point where they all face bottlenecks and barriers in their practice, leaving martial arts practitioners perplexed... "Why is it that no matter how we practice with the same secret manuals, we can't reach the level of the ancient sages and predecessors?"
As a result, those who practiced martial arts became dejected and sighed in despair.
Upon hearing about the beast taming incident, the entire martial arts community in China sprang into action! It's important to understand that within the martial arts world, there's constant competition and intrigue among the various sects, just as the popular saying goes… "Wherever there are people, there is a martial arts world."
Since everyone's martial arts skills are not very good, why not think of other ways to improve our strength and then try to suppress other sects?
Fortunately, this animal taming secret is a good way to do it!
Therefore, within a very short period of time, all the major internal martial arts schools in China dispatched their disciples. Some went to G province, where Gao Jianfei had once stayed, to find him; some went to D city, the provincial capital; and some even went to intercept Gao Jianfei in his hometown, ZG city!
Several sects, including Shaolin, Wudang, Wuyishan, Yandangshan, and Wutaishan, sent disciples to secretly infiltrate Gao Jianfei's hometown, ZG City!
However, they were killed one by one by four mysterious men just a few days after arriving in ZG City!
“Young Master Gao, I never imagined that the experts in your family were so formidable. I remember that when my fellow disciples and I faced four experts from your family, we were all defeated and killed in a single exchange… Amitabha, how powerful, how powerful.” Although Yuanzhi had become a ghost, he still had a look of lingering fear on his face.
"Wait... Master Yuanzhi." Gao Jianfei was now confused... "Now, I admit, your deaths are related to me. Of course, this is also due to your greed. If you hadn't coveted my 'Beast Taming Secrets,' you wouldn't have died in a foreign land. However, what I want to say is that the people who killed you were not from my family at all! Shame on you! What family do I have? I come from a poor family, what family could I have? You just said that four people killed you, and I can assure you that those four people have nothing to do with me. Tell me, what kind of people were they?"
After learning what had happened, Gao Jianfei was completely baffled!
"Who exactly is protecting me in secret? This... no! Damn it, this isn't protection anymore! These guys are ruthless, killing people at the drop of a hat. They kill people and then live a carefree life. In the future, the ancient martial arts sects of Shaolin Temple and Wudang Mountain will definitely think that I killed them. Then, everyone will blame me, and I'll become the target of everyone's hatred."