Book 2: Chapter 104: Everyone Leaves the Ritual Array
Everyone fell silent upon seeing Li Haoran’s corpse.
This group had been searching for the murderer. However, there was an even stronger culprit behind the scenes after they found the murderer.
“Why is my mother’s death so complicated?” Long Wanqing said with an unsightly expression.
Venerable Liu Nian shook his head, appearing sullen.
“Since this person can hide from your maternal grandfather, he is tricky to handle. However, no matter who it is, I will take revenge for Xiaoyue!” the Unborn Man said, his voices sinking.
“What should we do with Li Haoran’s corpse?” Long Wanqing asked with a frown.
“Hall Master Long, Senior, please spare the battalion commander’s corpse. He has already died; all grudges should have ended!” Just at this moment, a group of surviving Divine Strategy Battalion disciples rushed over.
A group of people knelt before Long Wanqing, pleading for mercy for Li Haoran’s corpse.
“Kill them!” the surrounding cultivators shouted while glowering. Clearly, their anger had not abated yet.
However, even though many cultivators shouted, no one stepped forward.
Less than one hundred Divine Strategy Battalion disciples survived. All of them had wounds riddling their bodies as they knelt and begged.
Long Wanqing showed a sullen expression.
Venerable Liu Nian took a deep breath and said, “Never mind. Pack up Li Haoran’s corpse and send it to Li Shenji. At the same time, clearly tell Li Shenji that the culprit behind the scenes was the one who killed Li Haoran.”
“Yes! Many thanks, Venerable Liu Nian. We will definitely pass on the message!” the group of injured Divine Strategy Battalion disciples said as they repeatedly kowtowed.
Li Shenji?
Many people seemed to have heard this name before. Now that Li Haoran was dead, no one wanted to invite trouble upon themselves because of a corpse.
Slowly, the many cultivators stepped aside, allowing the Divine Strategy Battalion disciples to take out a huge piece of wood and chisel out a simple coffin. Then, they carefully placed Li Haoran’s headless corpse in the coffin, as well as the dried bones of Li Haoran’s arms.
After completing all this, the Divine Strategy Battalion disciples bowed to Venerable Liu Nian, then Gu Hai before moving aside.
Long Wanqing showed some dissatisfaction in her eyes. “The trail went cold? How are we to investigate now?”
However, Gu Hai said, “Hall Master, after Ding Rui died, I found a letter in her authority token’s compressed space. I still have not looked at it. Also, Li Haoran’s belongings might contain some clues. Please wait for a while; I’ll look for them.”
As Gu Hai spoke, he put away the defensive barrier. Then, he took out a small box with a flip of his hand. This was the box containing a letter in the compressed space of Ding Rui’s authority token. He had not opened it, leaving it alone until now.
“Oh?” Venerable Liu Nian received the box.
Gu Hai easily refined Li Haoran’s storage bracelet, as Li Haoran had already died. Then, he looked inside.
The first thing his consciousness saw was the Divine Strategy Battalion’s flying ship.
After that, there were hundreds of thousands of superior-grade spirit stones. Finally, there was a pile of miscellaneous items.
There were medicinal pills, secret manuals for cultivation techniques, golden arrows, and golden swords. There was also the Dragon Luring Jade.
Whoosh!
With the flip of his hand, Gu Hai took out the Dragon Luring Jade and ten letters from the storage bracelet.
Gu Hai did not open the letters. Instead, he handed them to Venerable Liu Nian.
“Hall Master, your Dragon Luring Jade!” Gu Hai proffered the Dragon Luring Jade to Long Wanqing.
Long Wanqing shook her hand and said, “Back then, my mother died because of this dragon vein. The Dragon Luring Jade? The dragon vein? Haha! There is no point in me keeping this. Keep it. Only you can subdue the dragon vein!”
Gu Hao nodded and did not stand on ceremony.
As for Li Haoran’s other items, Gu Hai naturally did not take them out, keeping them for himself.
“Hey?” Venerable Liu Nian suddenly raised his eyebrows. “This letter?”
“What’s wrong?” Long Wanqing asked, feeling some misgivings.
“Of these ten letters, nine of them are of no importance. There is only one letter that is not signed off. There are no marks on it. There was only one line, but it is bizarre?” Venerable Liu Nian said.
Gu Hai moved aside as though he did not want to know.
“Division Master Gu, there’s no need for you to step back. Rather, you are already involved and can no longer step back. How about you just openly read it with us?” Venerable Liu Nian smiled.
Gu Hai frowned before sighing and nodding.
Then, Long Wanqing read aloud, “Li Haoran, when Long Wanqing goes on her trip, she will definitely lure out a dragon vein.”
There was only a sentence. However, this strange sentence gave everyone an extremely odd feeling.
“Li Haoran took the initiative to ask my maternal grandfather to escort me because of this letter? Why does the writer know me so well? Is it that culprit behind the scenes? Do I know him?” Long Wanqing frowned.
“What about the handwriting?” Gu Hai asked.
Venerable Liu Nian shook his head and said, “I do not recognize this handwriting. Furthermore, there are no emotions contained in the characters. This should have been done on purpose. He must have found someone else to write the letter for him. These words looked very plain and indifferent!”
[TL Note: Since people wrote with the brush in ancient China, it was possible to see the writer’s characteristics and possibly even their emotions at the time of writing. This is due to the delicate brush control required. If one were just slightly heavy-handed or wrote very fast, it would show; shaky hands would be very obvious. There are many possible signs or clues to the writer’s emotions.]
“This person is very thorough in the way he does things!” Gu Hai showed a somewhat complicated expression.
“What about Ding Rui’s letter?” Long Wanqing looked at Venerable Liu Nian.
Venerable Liu Nian extremely carefully opened that letter and read.
“Like before, no one signed off, the handwriting is the same, there is only one sentence, and it is written in plain, indifferent characters,” Venerable Liu Nian said with a sullen expression.
“Ding Rui, work with Li Haoran and make the situation more chaotic!” Long Wanqing read.
Everyone fell silent upon hearing these words.
“Ding Rui should know. Where is her corpse? Bring me there!” the Unborn Man said sullenly.
“Gu Qin, send two people to accompany the Unborn Man to Ding Rui’s grave!” Gu Hai said while holding the golden Go stones.
“Yes!” Gu Qin, who was outside, answered.
Although Gu Hai could not see Gu Qin, the people outside could see Gu Hai, the player.
The Unborn Man did not say anything more. He pushed off the ground and strangely exited the death puzzle.
“Why can he leave?” Many people revealed shocked expressions.
“Why didn’t the Unborn Man form a Go stone clone when he entered?” Gu Hai asked out of curiosity as he looked at Venerable Liu Nian.
Venerable Liu Nian showed a bitter smile and replied, “Because he is the Unborn Man, a person who is not born yet, someone who does not exist. How would the ritual array have a record of him?”
“The Unborn Man? A person who is not born yet? A person who does not exist?” Gu Hai revealed a confused expression.
“You will understand in the future. His line enjoys exceptional advantages but suffers endless pain. Hah!” Venerable Liu Nian said while shaking his head.
“What should we do now? This hidden culprit is so thorough. How are we going to investigate?” Long Wanqing asked worriedly.
Venerable Liu Nian also frowned.
“Perhaps…” Gu Hai said while frowning.
“Perhaps what?” Venerable Liu Nian prompted out of curiosity.
“You can investigate the paper of these two letters, see what material they are made from and where was it produced. Then, you can get a rough location based on the paper. Also, while the handwriting is difficult to trace, you can investigate this ink. I don’t know if it will work or not, but we can give it a try,” Gu Hai sighed softly.
“Oh? Not bad! Many thanks, Division Master Gu!” Venerable Liu Nian’s eyes lit up.
After all, while paper was produced everywhere, there were slight differences due to the different materials. Perhaps they would find something. This was the same for ink.
“Mister Gu, can you solve this death puzzle and let us out?”
“Indeed! Mister Gu, I do not want to remain in this place a moment longer!”
The surrounding people looked at Gu Hai in anticipation. Although Gu Hai defeated Li Haoran, some of them were afraid that Gu Hai would go crazy like Meng Tai and Li Haoran.
“Everyone wants to go out?”
“Yes!” Everyone nodded.
“In that case, everyone, take care. I’ll send you out of the ritual array!”
“Ah? Many thanks, Mister Gu!” Everyone immediately rejoiced.
“There’s no need to stand on ceremony. Right now, I am the player for all three Go stones. I can solve the death puzzle at any time!” Gu Hai said seriously.
As Gu Hai spoke, he waved his hand.
Rumble…!
A strong wind immediately appeared out of nowhere and swept everyone into the sky, including Long Wanqing and Venerable Liu Nian.
“Ah!”
Many people let out surprised cries as they soared into the air. A strong force quickly raised everyone and sent them across a foggy region in the blink of an eye.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Everyone suddenly flew out of the death puzzle, tossed out of the gigantic peony flower, like petals being scattered in the air.
“Ah! I’m going to fall! I’m falling!”
“Hahahaha! I’m out! I’m finally out!”
“Many thanks, Mister Gu! Many thanks, Mister Gu!”
As tens of thousands of people fell from the sky, they gratefully thanked Gu Hai as they breathed the outside air.
Rumble…!
Everyone fell. Although some got injured when they landed, it was better than dying in the death puzzle.
After exiting the death puzzle’s world, everyone immediately backed off, quickly distancing themself from the gigantic peony flower.
Long Wanqing and her three servants supported Venerable Liu Nian as they flew to the summit of a mountain.
“Everyone came out, so all the Go stones in the death puzzle scattered. Huh? That’s not right. There are still two there?” Long Wanqing said in shock.
“That golden Go stone is Gu Hai, right? However, that black Go stone…” one of Long Wanqing’s servants trailed off in puzzlement.
——
Gu Hai had tossed out almost everyone in the death puzzle’s world, including the Divine Strategy Battalion disciples. He left only one person behind.
Gu Hai slowly made his way to the final man who lay collapsed on the ground.
“Cough! Cough! Cough! Hahahaha! Gu Hai, you are here to kill me, right?” the weakened man smiled miserably as he wiped the blood off his lips.
“Meng Tai!” Gu Hai narrowed his eyes as he stared at Meng Tai.
“You kept just me here? I know that you won’t spare me. Bring it on. Haha!” Meng Tai smiled miserably.
“Do you know, when I saw everything you did, I personally found you dislikable. You are an extremely dislikable, vile person. You resort to unscrupulous means to achieve your goals, even abandoning your family, able to be cold-blooded and sinister. Ha, truly a detestable person!” Gu Hai smiled coldly.
“That is how I am! That can’t be changed!” Meng Tai revealed a faint sneer as he spoke.
Bang!
Gu Hai slammed his hand down on Meng Tai’s head.
Buzz!
Meng Tai’s eyes rolled, and he passed out.
Gu Hai took out a coffin with a flip of his hand and placed Meng Tai within it. Then, he closed the coffin lid and waved.
Whoosh!
The coffin immediately flew out of the death puzzle and towards the life puzzle.
“Gu Qin, look after this coffin!” Gu Hai instructed while holding the golden Go stones.
“Yes!” Gu Qin answered outside.