Punishment Hall!
Zhang Minglin had not slept a single hour all night!
His expression was exceptionally haggard.
If he could, he really wanted to run over to Yin Cheng and teach him hand-in-hand how to beg Gu Chengshu to take him back.
Yet, the last remaining scrap of his reason told him it was useless.
It was not that the former Gu Chengshu had chosen not to argue with them; rather, the person capable of backing her up had been absent, forcing her to endure in silence.
Now, however, everything was different. True Monarch Feng Lan had returned.
That was why she had so boldly thrown down an itemized bill she had kept hidden for years.
She had stripped away the dignity of everyone on Tianxiang Peak from top to bottom, trampled on it, and incidentally dealt a heavy blow to his master.
The mere thought of that master filled Zhang Minglin with even greater agitation.
He...
He paced back and forth across his room.
He had a lingering prehension that something major would happen once day broke.
Yet, what could he do?
The rules of Punishment Hall were rigorous; Punishment Hall disciples without an assignment were forbidden to even step outside its gates.
He glanced at the hourglass, panic gripping his heart as he felt his life was hanging by a thread.
Gu Chengshu had made far too big a commotion, and everyone who had suffered a loss would inevitably vent their anger upon him.
Although Elder Yin was headed to Poison Dragon Beach and might not have the time to deal with him, a lean camel was still bigger than a horse. The Yin Family might lack other skills, but dealing with certain matters would certainly pose no great difficulty for them.
As for his master, he might not necessarily be able to stand up to True Monarch Feng Lan.
His master might simply abandon him.
Left with no alternative, Zhang Minglin finally pulled a small drum out of his storage pouch.
Thud, thud, thud, thud... thud, thud...
Following the instructions given by that senior, he cautiously began to beat the small drum.
However, he received no response to his first attempt, and still no response to his second. Just as Zhang Minglin was about to strike the drum a second time, it suddenly went soft, followed immediately by a loud *bang*. Before Zhang Minglin could even react, a force greater than the self-detonation of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's Dantian tore his flesh and bone to pieces, killing him on the spot.
Aroused by the commotion, a crowd of Punishment Hall personnel rushed over together.
"Is that Zhang Minglin?"
From the lingering aura of the flesh and blood, Geng Shu recognized his newly accepted nominal disciple. While his spiritual awareness frantically swept the surrounding area, he repeatedly demanded, "Zheng Yuan, you were on duty tonight. Who entered or left Zhang Minglin's room tonight?"
"Reporting to the Hall Master!"
Zheng Yuan's face was pale. "No one entered or left Junior Brother Zhang's room. Around the first quarter of the Zi hour, he did want to go out himself, but I refused him."
"Did he act strangely at the time?"
"No! He was just like usual."
"..."
Everything around Punishment Hall was completely normal. Although many disciples had been awakened by the explosion, none of them could have sneaked into Punishment Hall to commit murder and then leisurely escaped.
Geng Shu walked personally into the collapsed room surrounded by the crowd, silently sensing his surroundings for a long time without discovering anything at all.
Even Zhang Minglin's soul had failed to escape.
This was wrong!
Geng Shu's eyes flashed. "Leave this place untouched for now." He cast several successive barriers. "Interrogate the disciples who had contact with Zhang Minglin yesterday. This Hall Master wants to see who is stirring up trouble right here in my Punishment Hall."
"Understood!"
The group of Punishment Hall disciples bowed in unison.
Geng Shu flicked his sleeve and vanished in a flash.
Judging by the direction his father had left in, he was clearly heading for Lingyun Peak.
Also startled by the commotion, Geng Ruoqi furrowed her brows deeply. The events of the past two days felt extremely wrong.
Whom could Zhang Minglin possibly have offended?
And just what sort of person could bypass Punishment Hall's defenses to kill him right inside his own room, preventing even his soul from escaping?
The array of Punishment Hall, the central arrays of each courtyard, the minor arrays of each individual room...
They were linked together step by step.
Unless a Deity Transformation Star Lord made a move.
Yet, if a Deity Transformation Star Lord wanted to kill someone, would they need to resort to underhanded tactics?
Such a person only needed to utter a single word.
Therefore...
Zhang Minglin had either died by his own hand, or... he had died at the hands of someone he trusted.
Did that person not show their face personally, merely borrowing some formidable magical artifact?
Geng Ruoqi slowly walked back to her room.
For some inexplicable reason, she felt that Zhang Minglin's death was connected to Gu Chengshu and Yin Cheng breaking off their engagement.
As she closed her door, she let out a soft sigh.
She truly had not expected things to turn out like this.
Yin Cheng might be somewhat foolish, but...
Geng Ruoqi had originally wanted to put in a good word for the person who had always stood up for her, but Gu Chengshu's itemized bill had genuinely shocked her.
Thirteen years—what kind of life had she lived?
Though she herself had never liked Gu Chengshu, still...
Geng Ruoqi could not help sighing again.
Fortunately, her father had always been well.
At the thought of her father, Geng Ruoqi quickly opened her door once more.
Sure enough, several figures were approaching in a group.
Not only the Sect Master, but even Uncle Min from the Hall of Artifacts had come over.
She lifted her foot and stepped outside.
"This is none of your business. Go back to whatever you were doing!"
Waving his hand to chase people away, Geng Shu signaled to his daughter not to stay here either.
Helplessly, Geng Ruoqi stepped back.
"It's just like the several deaths over at the Cultivation Alliance."
While collecting Zhang Minglin's flesh and blood, Min Feng, the Hall Master of the Hall of Artifacts, brought it to his nose and sniffed it several times. "The person who made a move has always been extremely decisive. At the slightest hint of trouble, they silence witnesses immediately.
This matter...
I feel we can no longer keep it hidden.
Ghost Cultivators from the Western Transmission Realm who have defected to the Guimo must have already infiltrated our Fuyuan Realm.
If we make this public, although it will cause a certain amount of panic, it won't be so easy for them to exploit ignorant young disciples without anyone being the wiser."
"..."
Dantai Shuo bent down and picked up a fragment of a storage pouch. "The Cultivation Alliance has been suppressing this matter all along. If we make it public..."
"Didn't Senior Sister Feng Lan return? With her here, no one in the Alliance will raise any objections."
This?
That was true enough.
Only...
Would Feng Lan cooperate with them as she had in the past?
He had originally thought some other sect thought he was living too comfortably and wanted to stir up trouble for him, but he never expected it to actually be linked to the Guimo.
If Feng Lan found out that his inaction had allowed a Ghost Cultivator to scheme against Chengshu in passing, the consequences would be...
Dantai Shuo sighed. "Geng Shu, this matter happened in your Punishment Hall, and Zhang Minglin was your disciple. Whether we make it public or not, you decide!"
Geng Shu replied, "I will investigate the cultivators Zhang Minglin had contact with first!"
This business was not easy to handle!
Yet, not handling it was out of the question.
To kill Zhang Minglin right inside Punishment Hall—the person operating behind the scenes was clearly striking him across the face.
"Senior Brother, apart from our Punishment Hall disciples, the person he had the most contact with during this period was Yin Cheng from Tianxiang Peak."
Ever since the news of Gu Chengshu breaking off her engagement with Yin Cheng spread, Zhang Minglin had seemed somewhat abnormal.
"The person behind the scenes probably wants to kill several birds with one stone and scheme against all of us. Therefore, I must question Chengshu as well."
"Go ahead and question her!"
After a brief moment of contemplation, Dantai Shuo agreed. "Have Linglong accompany you. In addition... investigate the Yin Family as well."
Yin Zhenghai was not stupid, but he spent his years in bitter cultivation and paid little attention to administrative affairs.
Yin Cheng was growing increasingly foolish, and it was entirely possible the Yin Family was stirring up trouble behind the scenes.
After all, the interests of that father and son were merely the interests of that father and son alone.
In a large forest, there were all sorts of birds.
Over at the Yin Family, there were bound to be people just like Zhang Minglin who had made contact with Ghost Cultivators.