Bizarre Cultivation: Starting from Being Beaten Up by Reality

Chapter 42 The Enlightenment

The constables stirred up a commotion, some criticizing Miaozhu for her incompetence, others trying to dissuade her out of fear of ghosts, and it took a while for them to quiet down.

Miao Zhuzi waited quietly for the little incident to pass, seemingly unconcerned about the profanities directed at her earlier. Only when everyone was looking at her did she continue speaking.

"Although there is not much danger inside, everyone must be careful not to take any items out of the house, lest you attract curses. If there are any evidence that needs to be retrieved, you can ask the monks of Tanjie Temple to do it for you later."

As Miao Zhuzi spoke, she pushed open the door bearing the bloody handprint and went inside. Lin Fan immediately followed. Several frightened constables hesitated for a moment, then gritted their teeth and followed at the back of the group.

Lin Fan asked Miao Zhuzi, "What are the chances of being cursed if I take the things inside now?"

Miao Zhuzi chuckled and said, "These words are meant for others to hear. Senior Brother, please do as you please. There are basically only minor spells left here. Senior Brother isn't even afraid of the Red Robe Spell, so why bother with these?"

Lin Fan scratched his head, almost forgetting that he also had the 'daring' attribute: "Not being afraid is one thing, but if I get entangled with that thing, I won't be able to sleep well."

Miao Zhuzi nodded: "Yes, there is almost no risk of being entangled by the curse now. I only said that as a precaution."

Walking through the front porch, you arrive at the spacious front yard. The elegant space, which was originally decorated with plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums, has now become gloomy and oppressive.

Beside the bamboo, on the stone table, there were pools of blood, some large and some small.

Lin Fan frowned slightly: "Where's the body?"

Registrar Jia casually replied, "The eminent monks of Tanjie Temple have all moved them away, and the coroners are now conducting unified autopsies."

"After we finish up here, can we go see the coroner too?"

Registrar Jia replied politely, "Officer Chen is capable of handling any case, and all doors are open to him."

This was the second time Lin Fan had heard them talk about monks. He said, "Oh, so those bald monks are more powerful than our Taoist priests. Why don't you just ask them to kill all the curses here?"

Miao Zhuzi replied, "Senior brother, don't underestimate yourselves. Although the monks of Tanjie Temple are said to be invulnerable to all spells, they can only protect themselves. If you really want to remove the curse, you have to rely on our Xuanmen."

Lin Fan thought of the Red Robe Curse that he hadn't yet resolved, and couldn't help but feel irritated. Lin Fan smiled disdainfully: "I've never seen any of you actually break the curse."

Lin Fan looked around. There were many talismans pasted on the ground and pillars. There were many dark shadows moving around on the ground where Lin Fan was standing. They were like ghosts, passing under everyone's feet, but they could not touch the living people standing on them.

Lin Fan stared at the dark shadow on the ground and asked Miao Zhuzi, "What is that on the ground?"

Miao Zhuzi already knew that Lin Fan didn't understand anything, so she leaned close to his ear and patiently explained, "So that senior brother can know, junior sister's cultivation method has a 'Yin-Yang Separation Talisman'. These talismans on the ground and the four pillars have pressed all the spells into the ground."

Lin Fan nodded. This must be the method Miao Zhuzi used to suppress the curse domain. He naturally wouldn't ask why she hadn't used this method before. He knew without asking that the effectiveness of this talisman must have an upper limit.

Miao Zhuzi continued in Lin Fan's ear, "Senior brother can see these things, but others can't. In order to avoid causing trouble, senior brother should not tell others about these things."

The thought of still having the curse on his feet made Lin Fan even less inclined to stay any longer. He ordered the constables, "Then let's hurry up and search for evidence against the murderer as soon as possible."

Miao Zhuzi added, "Senior brother, just in case, it's best to go in pairs. If one person is controlled by the curse, the other can call for help. I'll be here to meet you all."

Lin Fan nodded.

Mu Qingfeng quickly divided the six people, including himself, into three groups, and then took out a map that still had the warmth of his body from his clothes, assigning each group to search the rooms.

"Boss, who are you in a group with?" Mu Qingfeng looked at Lin Fan, meaning that Lin Fan could choose a group to join. Since their number was already odd, this was the most reasonable arrangement.

Lin Fan shook his head: "I can handle it alone. The curse is no problem for me." Lin Fan wasn't entirely without fear. He planned to act alone so that if he found anything, he could decide for himself whether or not to tell Clerk Jia.

Lin Fan selected a few locations from the assigned sites and took charge of them himself.

Lin Fan first went to the side room where Master Ma was staying, Mu Qingfeng's group went to the accounting office, Xiao Qi's group went to the warehouse, and another group went to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Clerk Jia stayed in the front yard with Miaozhuzi.

Just as Lin Fan was about to leave, Clerk Jia called him back.

"Child, take this. The person who sold it to me said it can ward off evil spirits, but I don't know if it's true or not."

He then handed Lin Fan a sheathed dagger.

Lin Fan pulled out a section of the blade and examined it; it turned out to be a genuine blade that had been sharpened.

This dagger is entirely black, and it feels cool to the touch; holding it brings a sense of peace. While it cannot compare to the Soul-Suppressing Pearl, it does have a calming and tranquilizing effect.

Lin Fan looked at Clerk Jia with some surprise; sometimes he really couldn't figure out what this man was thinking.

However, he quickly suppressed his urge to break through the encirclement and escape. But there were six constables with long swords and a Taoist priest of unclear allegiance in the house, and he only had a short dagger. Even if he had a powerful pill, it would almost certainly be a suicide mission.

"Alright, thank you very much, Registrar." Lin Fan gave a simple bow.

"Child, don't be shy. Just remember to return it to me when you come out," said Clerk Jia with a kind smile.

With the dagger in hand, Lin Fan's tension eased considerably. Without looking around, he quickly walked to Master Ma's room.

Master Ma's side room was very spacious, divided into many small rooms. There were two bedrooms alone. One was well-ventilated with a large window, so it seemed to be where he stayed in spring and summer. The other was very small and covered with thick curtains, with a very small window, so it was where he stayed in autumn and winter.

Lin Fan couldn't help but sigh at how particular the wealthy were, even their bedrooms had to be designed to be warm in winter and cool in summer.

Lin Fan used his unsheathed dagger to lift the curtain of the smaller room and looked inside. The small space was just the right size to fit a large bed.

There were three human-shaped bloodstains on the large bed. The one in the middle was tall and broad, almost taking up half the bed. The bloodstains on the two sides were smaller, and the four bloody footprints were only the size of Lin Fan's palm.

Lin Fan frowned slightly. Two bedrooms were nothing special; the rich really knew how to have fun.

Looking at the bloodstains, Lin Fan's mind involuntarily conjured up images of the three people's gruesome deaths, sending chills down his spine in this eerie environment.

The hand holding the dagger felt slightly cool, which made him feel much more comfortable. Perhaps, as Clerk Jia said, this dagger really did have the effect of warding off evil.

Lin Fan sneered, thinking that perhaps the dagger itself was an evil object.

Although the weather wasn't particularly cold, the room was so cold that it made you shiver. The sound of the wind blowing through the room, like weeping, only added to the chill.

An ordinary person certainly wouldn't have crawled across the floor brick by brick like Lin Fan did. Unfortunately, despite his knocking and prying, every brick seemed to fit perfectly, with no hidden mechanisms.

It must be said that this black dagger is extremely sharp and very easy to use.

After inspecting the floor tiles, Lin Fan turned his attention to the bookshelf next to him and the calligraphy and paintings on the wall.

"Hey, isn't this Master Yang's calligraphy? And this is Dean Duanmu's painting. It seems that Master Ma and Shenmu Academy have a pretty good relationship."

Although Lin Fan wasn't very literate, he had memorized the handwriting and brushstrokes of the several teachers, and could now recognize them at a glance.

After checking the calligraphy and paintings and finding nothing of interest, Lin Fan turned to the books on the bookshelf.

Lin Fan frowned slightly at the half-cut eyebrow. Good heavens, he couldn't recognize most of these book titles. To him, they were just gibberish with characters.

Lin Fan finally found a familiar book and exclaimed in delight, "The Enlightenment Classic!"

"Even if Master Ma is uneducated, he wouldn't leave a book meant for young children here, would he?"

In Lin Fan's understanding, Master Ma was roughly equivalent to a nouveau riche in modern society. He might not necessarily be cultured, but he at least had to put on an act, like displaying books like "No Morals in the Human World" on his bookshelf. Just like those books with incomprehensible titles.

Among these books is a book called "Enlightenment Classic," which is as incongruous as having a first-grade Chinese textbook in the bookshelf of a businessman surnamed Ma.

What was Master Ma's purpose in placing this book here? Was it to prevent others from touching it? But on the other hand, the book seems somewhat deliberate.

Lin Fan tried to pick up the book, but immediately noticed something was different, because it wasn't a book at all.

Lin Fan pulled the half-finished fake book outwards, and with a click, a small crack appeared in the wall behind him, accompanied by the sound of wooden gears.

"This secret room is too obvious. A cursory search might miss it, but a careful and thorough search would make it impossible not to find."

Lin Fan wasn't proud of finding the secret room at all; he was just lucky and found it a little faster.

The sealed room was only slightly ajar, but Lin Fan could smell a strong stench of rotting corpses inside.

"However, it seems the eminent monks never found this place."

Lin Fan pushed the door to the secret room open completely.

Although a faint stench of corpses permeated the entire mansion, it was nothing compared to the enclosed space of the secret chamber.

The pungent stench was enough to make anyone vomit instantly, and Lin Fan almost couldn't hold it in any longer.

He quickly swallowed the Soul-Suppressing Pearl, which helped him suppress the urge.

A 'giant' dressed in a thin veil sat on the chair, the ropes binding her so tightly they had dug into her flesh.