Chapter 89: Abnormal

In the face of incredibly tempting gossip, all would have immense courage, regardless of whether one was human or yao. From this, it could be seen that the phrase ‘curiosity killed the cat’ was very believable. Zhuang Qing was one of the cultivators who held illustrious positions in the cultivation world, and on top of that, he had formidable cultivation, possessed the blood of the dragon race, and maintained order in the cultivation world. Because of this, many yao cultivators feared his cultivation but also held his cultivation in high esteem.

Prying into the secrets of the strong was extremely enticing to the ordinary person. All living creatures possessed this instinct.

Fu Li noticed the curious gazes around them and sighed, “Now is not the time to be joking.” He looked at the spider yao. “But any yao who has committed evil will have baleful qi on them. Everyone may have heard of a mirror called Reflecting Yao Mirror. No yao cultivator will be able to conceal anything as long as they are reflected in this mirror.”

“I-Impossible,” The spider yao’s expression wasn’t as steady as it was previously, but he still refused to believe that Fu Li would be in possession of something like the Reflecting Yao Mirror.

“Why would it be impossible? We’ll know after using it,” Fu Li held up the copper mirror in his hands and swiftly recited a chant. The mirror emitted a beam of light that enveloped the entire spider yao. The next second, a layer of black-red fog appeared on the spider yao. The fog moved threateningly, brimming with evil qi.

The yao cultivators originally standing beside the spider yao fled in all directions one after another. The gazes they directed at the spider yao were tinged with fear. Although they weren’t knowledgeable and experienced enough, even a fool would be able to tell that there was something off about the bloody qi on the spider yao.

The spider yao saw that the situation wasn’t very encouraging and turned in an attempt to flee. However, he had just turned around when he was sent flying by a wave of Zhuang Qing’s sleeve, ramming into the Langgan Tree at the courtyard. With the Langgan Tree’s arrogance, how could it let an average yao cultivator near it? With a swing of its vines, it actually whipped the spider yao back into the crowd of yao.

A few screams of alarm sounded from the crowd. Fortunately, the bureau’s people had exceedingly quick reactions and tied the spider yao up within a few moments. Then, they told everyone that the evil yao slaughtering fellow members of the cultivation world had already been found.

Everyone was happy but also scared. Several yao cultivators on good terms with the Dutchman’s Pipe yao and koi burst into tears on the spot.

At this juncture, no one was in the mood to pay attention to the gossip about Fu Li and Zhuang Qing. Their lives were the most precious.

Zhuang Qing arranged for workers to console the yao cultivators before glancing at Fu Li. With a straight face, he said, “Come here.”

Seeing that his expression didn’t look very good, Fu Li assumed that he minded the yao cultivators’ gossip. As such, after they reached an area with few people, Fu Li said in a low voice, “Sorry, I was a bit impulsive when speaking just now. Don’t take those little yao’s words to heart.”

Zhuang Qing suddenly turned and stared at him. “Am I that narrow-minded? Is there anything about this second-rate rumor that is worthy of my concern?”

Fu Li hurriedly shook his head. “You’re right, there’s nothing worthy about it.”

“Older yao cultivators like you may not understand the degree of open-mindedness now,” Zhuang Qing placed his hands behind his back and raised his chin slightly, appearing somewhat haughty. “Yao cultivators have many interactions with humans nowadays, and they’ve also picked up the bad habit that humans have of carelessly making conjectures. If they put all their energy into expressing their opinions, then we might not need to work every day.”

Fu Li nodded. Halfway through his nodding, he realized that there was something wrong. “There are really rumors of an ambiguous relationship between me and the crested ibis outside?”

Zhuang Qing’s expression turned even colder. “Does your brain only contain that one bird?”

“When has my brain ever contained birds?” Fu Li felt like he had been wronged. Noticing the strange expression on Zhuang Qing’s face, he asked with some disbelief, “Or… are those rumors on the internet about you and me?”

“Humph,” Zhuang Qing didn’t refute it this time.

“What did they say?” Fu Li glanced at Zhuang Qing’s stern, straight-faced appearance and suddenly grew curious. Stretching out his hands, he leaned against Zhuang Qing’s shoulder. “That we’re together?”

Zhuang Qing’s waist stiffened as he allowed Fu Li to continue leaning against him. Feeling that Fu Li’s breath was too close to his face, he pushed at him, “Anyway, these are just some messy small love matters, they’re not important.”

“How can love be a small thing? You’re young and must not look down on anything related to feelings. Haven’t you seen how those leads in novels and television dramas can’t wait to throw their lives away for love?”

Zhuang Qing stared at Fu Li in a daze. What did he mean by that?

“But it isn’t very reasonable for them to say that there’s something going on between me and you,” Fu Li shook his head. “I’m already more than four thousand years old, how can I lay my hands on a minor like you who hasn’t even fully become a dragon? That would be too immoral.”

Zhuang Qing abruptly let out a cold laugh. He pushed Fu Li to the side and went to the interrogation room without a single look back.

Having been pushed away so suddenly, Fu Li couldn’t quite react. What did this mean? Was he angry again?

Zhuang Qing strode into the interrogation room. His motions as he closed the door gave Huang Can and Xu Yuan, who were inside the interrogation room, a huge scare.

“Boss?” Xu Yuan saw that Zhuang Qing had entered and was about to get up and offer her chair to him when Zhuang Qing said, “No need, I’ll just sit at the side.” He crossed his long legs and sat down on a chair at the side. “Continue.”

Xu Yuan noticed that there was something off about Zhuang Qing’s expression, but also knew that she couldn’t meddle, so she continued questioning the bat yao about his motive for committing the crime. However, the bat yao wasn’t at all aware of his status as a prisoner. His attitude was extremely arrogant, and he insisted on violence rather than cooperation.

Zhuang Qing, who was in a bad mood, had very little patience as well. Seeing the bat yao behave in this way, he directly said, “The nature of the case is already settled and he was even captured at the scene. It’s fine if he isn’t willing to divulge the criminal processes. Just sentence him according to the rules and invite a great master from the Fatian Temple to help the souls of the Dutchman’s Pipe yao and koi yao find peace.”

“Boss, you’re here too?” Chao Yun pushed open the door and saw that Zhuang Qing was inside, so she said, “Just nice, you’re here. We discovered from human surveillance data that the spider yao and bat yao had been in touch with each other in private.”

Zhuang Qing raised his good-looking chin and smiled coldly at the bat yao. “Colluding together?”

The bat yao didn’t speak. Zhuang Qing got up and headed to the other interrogation room. The first thing he saw upon entering the room was Zhang Ke seated with Fu Li. His heart stirred. Both legs went against his orders and sat him down beside Fu Li.

Seeing that it was him, Fu Li turned and flashed a grin at Zhuang Qing. The corners of Zhuang Qing’s lips moved. He wanted to return the smile, but the corners of his mouth felt a little stiff.

The spider yao evidently wasn’t as calm as the bat yao. Fu Li thoroughly deceived him just by casually fishing out two magic weapons with unclear authenticity, resulting in the spider yao obediently confessing everything in detail.

It turned out the spider yao had made a small fortune a few years ago in the human world. He then went traveling abroad and happened to bump into the bat yao who knew how to speak Korean. This bat yao was even an earl or whatnot in the western yao world, and he bore a lot of curiousity towards the eastern yao world. Upon hearing that there were all sorts of uncommon yao in the eastern yao world, he started having other intentions.

One party had impure intentions, and the other was enamored with the human world’s splendor. For the sake of money, he willingly agreed to cooperate with a foreign yao to slaughter his comrades. Who would have expected the spider yao to have such bad luck and bump into the crested ibis before he had even done many bad deeds, eventually landing in prison?

“You’re also of an eastern yao race, but just a bit of human money can make you sell out your comrades. What prospects.” Fu Li broke the pen in his hand after listening to the spider yao’s verbal confession. He shot a scathing glance at the spider yao. Throwing away the pen, he pulled out the chair and walked off.

“Fu ge,” Zhang Ke was also terribly disgusted by the spider yao. Seeing that Fu Li no longer wanted to pay any heed to this matter, he could only endure his disgust and continue questioning the spider yao about the related details. Zhuang Qing glanced a few times at the door. After enduring it for a few seconds, he still went out.

Fu Li wasn’t upstairs anymore when he went out in pursuit of him. The hall downstairs was in complete chaos. The yao cultivators were all packing up their bedding and sleeping bags, and were walking out of the management bureau in threes and twos. Zhuang Qing went down the spiral staircase and eventually found Fu Li in front of the Langgan Tree.

There, Fu Li had his hands stretched out to receive the Zhuyu fruit from the three-headed people. He then took out a few different types of human snacks from his pockets and handed them to the three-headed people.

The three-headed people seemed to be very interested in the food from the human world. Hanging upside down on the vines, they swayed back and forth. With the three bodies and nine heads gathered together, they resembled fried bulbs of garlic.

“You still haven’t found the Fenghuang?”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay, we believe in you.”

“Yup, we believe in you.”

There were clearly only four people, yet when they spoke, the outcome was a lively discussion with many people talking at once. Zhuang Qing stood at his spot far away, suddenly not wanting to disturb them.

Fu Li turned back all of a sudden, and saw the tall and lofty Zhuang Qing in the middle of a crowd of noisy yao cultivators. At this instant, he suddenly understood the true meaning of the human phrase ‘wind-facing jade tree’.

What noise? What yao cultivators? What work? In this one smile, all these turned into smoke in Zhuang Qing’s eyes. His mind buzzed and his heart thumped, as if someone was banging on a drum in his heart. Not only that, this someone was using quite a bit of strength, unwilling to stop for even one moment to rest.

He clutched his chest, fearing that his heart would pop out. He even felt ashamed at letting Fu Li realize his peculiarity at this moment.

“Zhuang Qing…” Fu Li was about to give Zhuang Qing the Zhuyu fruits in his hands when he saw him suddenly clutch his chest and take a few steps back. Fu Li hurriedly placed the fruits into the pockets of his jacket and ran over with large strides. “What’s wrong?”

Zhuang Qing didn’t dare to look at Fu Li’s face. He turned his head to the side and inhaled deeply. “Nothing’s wrong, my breathing’s just not very smooth.”

“You ran into a setback while cultivating?” Fu Li placed a hand on Zhuang Qing’s wrist and allowed his spiritual qi to enter his meridians.

The flow of his spiritual qi was smooth and unhindered. There was even a faint indication that Zhuang Qing’s meridians were expanding, a sign that he was on the cusp of making a breakthrough. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong.

Zhuang Qing stared at his wrist. Not only did he feel like there was someone banging on a large drum at his chest, it felt like someone had also set his wrist on fire.

This was very abnormal.