Chapter 51 - Suspicious

“You think you know everything?” The black mist Sakurako formed let out a growl. “Geniuses like you… You don’t know anything at all!”

Li Xiuzhu said slowly, “Letting your primordial spirit separate from your body has already violated the three main codes of Tao practice. And you tried to possess someone else’s body. That was even more unscrupulous. What do you want to do? Possess someone else’s body to practice with a better gift? This is taboo; you shouldn’t have violated it.”

“Why?” Sakurako questioned. “I’ve been reading Taoist scriptures since I was three, started to breathe Spark since I was ten, and read through the classics by fifteen. Do you have any idea how much I gave to practice Tao?

“I’m more diligent than all of you! I work harder than all of you!

“But why? Why do geniuses like you make the same progress I take months to make with just a little practice? Why?”

“The gift for practicing Tao is destined. No one can change it,” said Li Xiuzhu. “And the higher your level of practice, the more dangerous it is. They die in worse ways than people like you…”

“Stop mocking me!” Sakurako sneered. “You people who are always high above the masses. You don’t know the pain of not a single ounce of progress in weeks—months—no matter how hard you work.

“Cut the crap, just kill me now,” Sakurako said in a low voice. “Kill all the mutants, isn’t that what you like to do most?”

“I still have some questions to ask you,” Li Xiuzhu said with interest. “There are still many points I don’t understand about this case.”

He looked at her and said, “First of all, when you were living next door to Zhou Bai, you purposely showed signs so that he could report you to the teachers or police so you could fake your death and escape.

“During this period, you chose the subject for your primordial spirit possession, and you wanted to continue practicing with Jian Xing’s gift and identity.”

Listening to his words, Sakurako didn’t say anything. She just glanced at Zhou Bai. Her gaze seemed to have some special meaning. She cursed to herself, “This idiot! I tried so many ways to alert him, yet he sleeps so soundly every night. What an idiot, idiot, idiot!”

“But if that’s so, there are suspicious points,” Li Xiuzhu said. “Why did you use Zhou Bai to witness your fake death, but now attack him?”

“Hmph, I just dislike this guy. He has extraordinary talent but wastes it recklessly…”

Li Xiuzhu shook his head, seeming to disagree with her. “And another thing I don’t have an answer to: both the method to separate your primordial spirit and the method to possess with primordial spirit are extremely taboo.

“Even teachers above the fifth realm can’t casually learn of these methods, not to mention students like you. How did you get them?”

Sakurako said casually, “Idiot, did you forget Overturn Heaven Cult? Naturally, they’re the ones who gave it to me.”

Li Xiuzhu said, “Then why didn’t you leave marks at the site of your fake death to link the three cases together? And I looked into your records. You’ve been at school this whole time. How did you get in contact with Overturn Heaven Cult? Or are there people from Overturn Heaven Cult in this school?”

The black smoke formed by Sakurako continuously twisted, and she laughed. “Why should I answer you? After all, I’m already…”

At that moment, rays of light shot over from somewhere in the distance. Clearly, Donghua Tao Academy had discovered the situation.

Li Xiuzhu hastily cried, “Seniors, please take care, this suspect still has…”

“Kill the demons! Kill!”

A giant silver hand grabbed at Sakurako. Li Xiuzhu quickly pointed a finger and drew a rune to block the giant silver palm.

“Hold your horses.”

But the giant silver palm instantly broke through Li Xiuzhu’s rune, pinching Sakurako’s primordial spirit. It crushed the pitch-black primordial spirit with a boom, scattering it in the air.

Xing Jun descended from the sky with a grave expression. He looked at the burst primordial spirit and nodded. Then he looked at Li Xiuzhu and asked, “Who are you? Why did you protect this fiend?”

As he spoke, silver lights glimmered around him, as if endless primordial spirit power were pushing on the space around him. The monumental force nearly crushed the air into a solid.

Li Xiuzhu exclaimed, “The fifth realm of the Human Map? Giant Spirit Map? The Human Map route is known for its strong primordial spirit power. The primordial spirit power of the fifth realm of Giant Spirit Map can nearly compete against some primordial spirit powers in the sixth realm.”

Zhou Bai said on the side, “Look at that. Human Map looks so much more awesome. Why did you make me choose Sword Map?”

Christina said, “It’s just brute force. What’s the point in practicing that? Strong people all need to learn sword!”

On the other side, Li Xiuzhu said against the pressure, “I was just at a critical point of my inquiries. Did you kill her so she couldn’t provide any evidence?”

Xing Jun raised his eyebrows. He glanced at Li Xiuzhu with his piercing eyes and said, “Impudence.”

Seeing the two going against each other, Zhou Bai quickly walked over and said, “Teacher Xing Jun, this is Officer Li Xiuzhu. He’s the one who just saved me.”

Xing Jun looked at Zhou Bai. His gaze suddenly became softer. “Zhou Bai, are you all right?”

“I’m all right.” He was a little unused to Xing Jun’s tender gaze. Zhou Bai waved his hand and said, “I didn’t even get injured when Li Xiuzhu rushed over.”

More academy staff and police arrived at the scene.

Zhou Bai assisted in the police investigation again. The entire time, Li Xiuzhu and Xing Jun were head to head. The atmosphere blazed.

After a series of questions, they asked Zhou Bai to keep what happened today secret.

When Zhou Bai finally made it out of the police station, it was nearly dawn.

He stretched his back, planning to take Elsa home. Then he saw Xing Jun walking toward him.

“Teacher Xing Jun.”

Xing Jun said with a kind expression, “Zhou Bai, this was too dangerous. You must watch out in the future. Even in Donghua Tao Academy, there are all kinds of people. Some students can’t resist the temptation and end up mutating.”

He left a few more words with Zhou Bai, then Xing Jun shot into the sky and flew in the direction of the school.

Zhou Bai let out a sigh. Speaking with Teacher Xing Jun always made him feel very stressed. And besides…

“It’s so strange. Xing Jun and I shouldn’t have anything to do with each other. And these teachers should know I cut class every day. As my lecturer, Lu Chongyang can’t even speak to me benignly, so why is Xing Jun so kind to me? Theoretically, he should hate me and despise me.”

Zhou Bai cocked his head, thinking to himself, Something feels very strange.

Christina said, “You think it’s strange that he talks to you politely? You want him to despise you?”

“What do you know?” Zhou Bai said. “That’s what’s logical.”

“Then why don’t you go talk to Li Xiuzhu?” Christina said. “If not for him, you probably couldn’t have caught that lunatic.”

“Li Xiuzhu…” Zhou Bai said.

“Zhou Bai.” At that moment, Li Xiuzhu walked out from behind Zhou Bai. “You brat! You’re great at getting yourself into trouble. Stay alert in the future; be more cautious. You won’t have such good luck next time.”

Zhou Bai nodded. Li Xiuzhu added quietly, “According to my deductions, the person behind Sakurako was clearly aiming to possess your body at first. But Sakurako played a trick to break away from their control. She purposely warned you and wanted to use you to fake her death and escape. She chose Jian Xing as her true target for possession.

“But the person behind the scenes realized her tricks, and made her attack you in the end.”

Li Xiuzhu said solemnly, “This one giving her instructions is probably the one who taught her how to separate her primordial spirit. This person is clearly interested in you. You must be more alert.”

Zhou Bai nodded. After Li Xiuzhu warned him some more, he asked, “Oh right, how is Jian Xing?”

“He’s heavily injured, but he’s still alive. Fortunately, Sakurako sealed his primordial spirit. It wasn’t annihilated.”

After Li Xiuzhu had a few more words with Zhou Bai, he patted Zhou Bai’s shoulder and left.

Christina said, “Officer Li is so cool, and he cares so much about you. Why didn’t you tell him about what you found peculiar about Xing Jun? That Xing Jun was clearly killing the witness! He seems super suspicious!”

Zhou Bai shook his head. He said to Christina slowly in his mind, “How did Li Xiuzhu come at just the right moment?”

“He probably expected you’d get attacked again.”

“If he’s not the mastermind behind this, how did he know Sakurako would attack me again?” A chill rose in Zhou Bai’s heart. “If he’s really not the mastermind, then…

“Is he watching me?”