The eerie atmosphere seemed to freeze the entire scene. Several detectives felt chills down their spines and shuddered, finally regaining their senses.
They had handled countless cases, but a crime scene so horrifying was a first. Instinctively, they sensed an indescribable danger—an unknown, lurking peril.
“Devil…”
“Demon…”
They inhaled sharply, guns in hand, preparing to enter and investigate. At that moment, a detective with a full beard suddenly shouted, “It’s him!”
“What?” The chief detective halted mid-step.
The bearded detective trembled slightly, his teeth chattering with evident fear. “Don’t… don’t go in!”
He paused and continued, “I recognize this child—no, this demon!”
“A demon?” The chief detective felt bewildered. He couldn’t help but glance at the terrified little boy, at the face illuminated by the lights, tinged with a sickly greenish hue.
Could it really be him who committed the murders?
The other detectives wore similarly confused expressions, unable to comprehend why their colleague would say such a thing.
“I… I previously worked on a case related to him!” The bearded detective recalled, unable to hide his terror. “When he was born, an influenza outbreak occurred, and his entire family died within days. He was sent to an orphanage, and over the next five years, the orphanage suffered a fire, robbery, lightning strike, and internal riots. Every year, exactly thirteen people died there. It became known as the ‘Garden of the Grim Reaper.'”
“The orphanage eventually shut down two years ago because of its grim nickname, ‘Garden of the Reaper.’ He was adopted by various families, but every family that adopted him eventually died completely—some from family disputes where the son killed the parents before committing suicide, others from accidents like a truck crashing into their house.”
“And yet, he always survived!”
This horrifying account sent a chill down the chief detective’s spine. His grip on the gun tightened. The carpet inside the door was just a step away, but he couldn’t bring himself to take it. The other detectives were equally unnerved. Their colleague was a seasoned officer, never one to play pranks or scare others. He wouldn’t lie about something like this.
More importantly, they had all heard at least a little about this boy.
“What do we do?” The chief detective glanced again at the young boy, whose innocent face was tinged with a sickly green, and instinctively turned to his subordinates for advice.
The bearded detective already had an idea. “Please… call a priest with holy water and summon an Eastern exorcist!”
“Wouldn’t that be laughed at?” The chief detective asked instinctively. A veteran detective being so frightened by a murder scene that he sought help from priests and exorcists?
“No one needs to know!” The bearded detective declared firmly.
“Fine!” The chief detective was indeed feeling uneasy. His instincts told him not to rush into the villa recklessly.
After making two calls, he and several subordinates stood by the door, watching the little boy. The more they stared, the more horrified they felt. The boy’s eyes were devoid of any life, like those of a corpse—more terrifying than the blood and scattered entrails around. It seemed to awaken the deepest fears in each of their hearts.
After a while, two cars arrived almost simultaneously. First to step out was a man in a black priest’s robe, holding a crest in one hand and a small glass bottle engraved with sacred symbols in the other. From the other car emerged a Taoist priest, with a sharp face and sparse, yellow beard.
“Oh, there is a strong presence of evil here!” The priest exclaimed as he stepped out, raising his crest dramatically, his voice tinged with theatrical flair.
The chief detective approached, showered him with flattery, and then recounted in detail what his subordinates had told him, asking the priest to purify the scene.
The other detectives escorted the Eastern exorcist to inspect the feng shui around the villa.
The priest opened the bottle, whispered the name of the deity, and strode forward solemnly. “Devil, return to your hell!”
He entered the villa and poured the holy water from the bottle, dousing the little boy completely. The water soaked his hair and face, refracting the light and dispelling the eerie greenish tint.
The boy seemed to awaken from the dousing, letting out a pained groan and slowly crouching down.
A proud smile spread across the priest’s face as he turned around, solemnly declaring, “I have already exorcised the demon.”
The chief detective exhaled in relief, about to offer a prayer and a few words of praise, when suddenly the crystal chandelier above the ceiling detached with a loud crack and smashed onto his head.
Thud!
The priest collapsed backward, a large gash splitting his forehead open, spilling red and white matter across the floor. His eyes were wide with disbelief and extreme terror, not even uttering a groan before returning to the embrace of God.
The chief detective’s mouth hung open, the words he was about to speak vanishing instantly.
Damned! It really was a demon! The priest had been struck dead by the chandelier even after sprinkling holy water!
The detectives panicked, stepping back in alarm. Some wanted to flee, others considered hiding on the spot, while a few rushed to the Eastern exorcist, gazing at him with pleading and fearful eyes.
The exorcist swallowed hard. That scene had been too shocking.
His mind raced as he urgently declared, “He is the reincarnation of Death himself! This place has become hell! Flee! Wait until sunrise tomorrow to deal with it!”
He had to escape—better a fellow Taoist dies than me!
No sooner had he spoken than the moonlit night suddenly turned dark. Dark clouds like evil omens swirled in the sky, as if demons were dancing wildly. The night sky appeared deep and strange, as if opening a portal to hell or some terrifying otherworldly dimension.
A vast, mysterious, and awe-inspiring presence emerged, causing everyone present to tremble and their legs to weaken.
Was it truly the reincarnation of Death?
Had Death fully awakened?
At that moment, the “demon-infested” night sky changed, revealing a dense, galaxy-like expanse of stars, vast and rippling like water. It didn’t resemble a real starry sky but rather a projection from another universe.
The swirling dark clouds gathered into a pitch-black vortex, accompanied by a deep rumble of thunder.
The vortex tore through the void, slowly splitting open, revealing a chaotic and shadowy interior, as though it were sucking in the minds and souls of everyone present.
“Death…” “No, it’s the descent of a great devil from hell!” Despair echoed in the hearts of the detectives.
Amidst the chaos, a palace stood tall and majestic, seemingly eternal. An inscription on its plaque read:
“Biyou Palace!”
“Biyou Palace…” The Eastern exorcist’s mouth slowly opened in shock, his mind in turmoil.
Could the Biyou Palace really exist?
Could it really appear here!
Boom! Continuous thunder rumbled, making everyone’s hearts pound with fear and temporarily deafening their ears. Then they saw countless tiny black and white lightning bolts burst forth from the ancient palace, converging into a single bolt that was both black and white, and striking down with a deafening roar!
The lightning bolt pierced through the rift, illuminating the heavens and earth, making the area around the villa as bright as day.
Boom!
The lightning struck the ground, not leaving a scorch mark, but instead revealing a Taoist priest in green robes. He exuded a profound and ancient aura.
“A Taoist from Biyou Palace… an ancient Taoist… Could it be one of the Heavenly Venerables?” The exorcist seemed to fall into a dreamlike trance, his legs giving way as he collapsed to the ground. The detectives were similarly overwhelmed, though without such thoughts racing through their minds.
Upon seeing the green-robed Taoist, the little boy suddenly jumped up, his eyes turning blood-yellow. Tears streamed from the corners of his mouth as he turned to flee upstairs, as if encountering a terrifying predator!
This green-robed Taoist was none other than Meng Qi’s manifestation of his Primordial Spirit and Dharma Form, seeking the reincarnation of the Evil God Huangquan to awaken his memories and uncover the final whereabouts of the Great Emperor Zhenwu. Meng Qi hoped to find any remaining treasures, such as the general principles of the Seven Heaven-Severing Swords, to bolster his strength and prepare for his escape from the Six Paths.
Thus, he chose to act at Biyou Palace, both to conceal his mastery of the Dao Yi Seal and to prevent the Six Dao from discovering that he had found Huangquan’s reincarnation, buying himself more preparation time.
Seeing the little boy trying to escape, Meng Qi’s figure flickered and suddenly appeared before him. He extended his right hand—pale as jade, long and powerful—and slowly pressed it downward.
No matter how the boy tried to evade, the hand landed on his forehead, invoking the power of changing heaven and earth, summoning past lives and reincarnations!
Within the dark sea of his mind, countless memory fragments surged forth, flashing images of ancient, vast scenes. Meng Qi’s head suddenly throbbed with pain, and he stepped back, gazing into the boy’s eyes.
Within those eyes, countless images flashed too quickly to discern. The boy opened his mouth, emitting a cold yet sacred voice: “You actually found one of my reincarnated forms…”
Tens of thousands of years later, the consciousness of the evil deity Huangquan reemerged in the world!
He paused, then his voice suddenly turned sharp:
“The Cause of All Results!”
“You bear the mark of the Cause of All Results!”
“Your bones have fallen into my hands, but for me, it was merely a temporary use.” Meng Qi ignored Huangquan’s surprise and spoke calmly, “I only wish to know where the Great Emperor Zhenwu went. Did he leave anything behind?”
“Zhenwu?” Huangquan, faced with the “Cause of All Results,” seemed to feel fear, even though Meng Qi had only just begun to grasp its mysteries. “After capturing me, he studied my divine body and comprehended the Dao of life and death, creating a method to revive the dead. But later, he suddenly recalled something, and took me back to the banks of the Yellow Spring.”
“It was only there that I understood—Zhenwu had remembered a saying from the Dao Venerable, discovering a faint but hopeful path. Using me as a guide, he reversed the Yellow Spring, found the ‘Origin of Life and Death,’ entered it, and vanished forever.”
“The Origin of Life and Death?” Meng Qi furrowed his brows.
What was that?
He continued to sense the boy’s mind using the Yuanxin Seal, a divine skill in which he had recently improved. The boy, merely awakening memories, had little power, so Meng Qi was not worried about being deceived.
Huangquan’s eyes turned blood-yellow, as if waves surged within them: “I was born from the Yellow Spring itself, united with it. Yet even I never knew its origin or destination—it symbolized the Dao of life and death. I never imagined the Yellow Spring originated from and flowed toward the Origin of Life and Death…”
“Other than that, Zhenwu left behind nothing.”
“Nothing at all…” A wave of deep disappointment surged through Meng Qi. The Great Emperor Zhenwu had left behind no further treasures!
“Why did you tell me the truth?” Meng Qi asked, as if seeking confirmation.
Huangquan sneered coldly. “Why should I keep his secrets? Wasn’t I tortured enough by him?”
Before his words had even faded, a familiar yet indifferent voice echoed in Meng Qi’s ears: “The Zhenwu Chain Task is complete. Reward: the general principles of the Seven Heaven-Cutting Swords, which can be studied together with companions who shared the task!”
The Master of the Six Dao? Meng Qi felt no joy—only shock.
Had everything he did failed to escape the notice of the Six Dao?
Had Biyou Palace failed to shield him, or had the Six Dao already known where Huangquan’s reincarnation was, merely waiting for Meng Qi to expose himself?
A sense of frustration welled up inside him, filled with deep suspicion about the “general principles of the Seven Heaven-Cutting Swords.”
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