Chapter 656: Driving Wolves to Devour Tigers

Pedestrians hurried past. The late autumn night held a chill and a loneliness that the street's neon lights could not dispel.

The food stall grew increasingly crowded. The customers wore all sorts of outfits, but several among them kept unnaturally touching their lower backs.

Generally speaking, that was where police officers kept their sidearms.

'There are a lot of people, but it doesn't feel lively.'

I nonchalantly ate my meal, tossing a couple of pieces of meat to Bai Qi from time to time and occasionally checking my watch.

'Surveillance and plainclothes cops. I just don't know if this is the sects' doing or Chen Jianguo's personal decision.' I ordered a bottle of beer and lit a cigarette. Even though I sat alone in the corner, I felt like the center of everyone's attention.

Drinking and smoking, I watched the curling smoke, still unable to make a decision. 'If I lure the sect cultivators to Jianghu Cancer Research Hospital, we might run into Mr. Paper and the Uncorrupted Bone. It would be great if I could drag the Two-Faced Buddha down with them, but I'm afraid he's already anticipated this and laid a trap in advance to bury me alive alongside them. I only control the life gate and death gate of the Three Yin Sect Grand Formation, and there are still many treasures inside that haven't been retrieved. I don't want to expose it just yet. How should I choose?'

'Forget it.' I picked up the beer bottle cap from the table. 'Heads, I go to Jianghu Cancer Research Hospital. Tails, I head to the Three Yin Sect.'

My thumb flicked the cap into the air. It spun a few times before landing back in my palm, tails up.

With my decision made, I downed the rest of my beer in one gulp, wiped my lips, and stood up abruptly.

The instant I stood up, time seemed to freeze in the food stall for half a second. In that brief moment, no one spoke, and all pretenses dropped. At least two or three people's expressions shifted, and some of the "diners" even rested their hands on their lower backs.

My gaze swept over everyone before I gently placed the bottle cap on the counter, the corners of my mouth turning up. "Boss, another bottle."

Behind me, the food stall bustled with noise once again, as if that brief silence had merely been a hallucination.

'There are still two days and two nights left until the next live stream begins.' I finished the bottle of beer and wove through the crowd with Bai Qi, pulling my collar tight as I headed toward the suburbs.

'First I'll shake off the plainclothes cops, then head to Jianghu Cancer Research Hospital. If the sect members harbor malicious intentions toward me, they will definitely follow.' I had no intention of entrapping them; in truth, everything I did was in self-defense. If they weren't planning to harm me, they naturally wouldn't fall into the trap.

'At worst, the fish dies and the net breaks. I have the missing bone that the Uncorrupted Bone needs, so it should be more than happy to trade the sect cultivators' lives to get its bone back.' I didn't care how much chaos releasing the Uncorrupted Bone would cause, nor did I care how heavy a karmic obstacle heaven would saddle me with. I just wanted to survive and save those who had been hurt because of me.

After taking three different taxis in a row, I finally shook off the plainclothes cops trailing me in an alleyway within the Old Town District.

Being followed by them wasn't actually a big deal. I just didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble—or, in other words, I didn't want them to throw their lives away for nothing.

What I was about to do wasn't something ordinary people could participate in. This was a "game" with life and death on the line, leaving absolutely no way out!

Avoiding the surveillance cameras, I found a motorcycle taxi in the suburbs to take me to the border between Jiangcheng and Xinhu City.

There was no one around. This wasteland was a casualty of urban development. A few residential houses could occasionally be seen nearby, but they had long been abandoned and overrun by trees and weeds.

After paying the fare, I lit a cigarette and walked toward Jianghu Cancer Research Hospital.

'They should be here soon, right?' Slipping into the dense forest, I turned off my phone, extinguished all lights, and used my ghost art to summon Wang Shi.

Having been hiding inside the Ghost Ring, Wang Shi had no idea what was happening outside. After being summoned, he looked around curiously. "Gao Jian, where is this? I can't sense any Yin energy here, and it's giving me a very uncomfortable feeling."

"Didn't you want to return to the living? I've prepared an imperishable, immortal body for you." I grinned, scanning Wang Shi from top to bottom. The Yang Talisman had entered his body and merged with him, hovering right where his heart should be. Even Xu Yan had likely never heard of such a situation.

"Never mind immortality; I'd be perfectly satisfied just living for another dozen years." Completely unaware of the impending danger, Wang Shi stood next to me, continuously rambling. "Only after truly becoming a ghost did I realize how good it is to be alive. I suddenly remembered that there are still so many things I want to do and so many places I haven't been to..."

"Save your sighing. I need you to do me a favor tonight."

As soon as I spoke, Wang Shi became highly vigilant. "What do you want me to do now? My magical power is pitifully weak—a single ray of sunlight could destroy me. Don't make me do anything too dangerous."

"Don't worry, this will be very simple for you." I pointed toward Jianghu Cancer Research Hospital, which was hidden in the deepest parts of the darkness. "I want you to go into that building and help me find a corpse. He'll be wearing a Daoist robe."

I told Wang Shi what Chen Jiuge looked like, as well as the exact location of the corpse. His face turned green after hearing it. "I can go, but you have to tell me—is there any danger inside that building? You know I'm completely powerless. Even the weakest Little Ghost could bully me."

Wang Shi was a crafty old fox; he absolutely refused to lift a finger without some benefit. In the end, he only reluctantly agreed after I used a mix of threats and promises.

"Then how do I bring the corpse out after I find it? And where do I meet you once I have it?"

"You don't need to bring the corpse out. Just strip everything off of it. Once you have the items, wait for me in the water room behind the hospital's Rehabilitation Center. That's the only entrance and exit."

I was discussing the plan with Wang Shi, but before we could finish, three high-end sedans drove up the desolate highway.

They had no logos and completely black exteriors. Unlike ordinary private cars, these looked more like specialized vehicles assigned to top leaders—low-profile with exceptional performance. They weren't something you could buy just by having money.

Like black phantoms, the three cars pulled up and stopped exactly where I had gotten out earlier.

"This is the place." The car doors opened, and Chen Jianguo stepped out, pinning down a scrawny middle-aged man.

I used my Judging Eye to take a look, cursing inwardly. 'Crap.' That scrawny middle-aged man was exactly the motorcycle taxi driver who had brought me here.

"Get moving right now. Do exactly as I said, or we'll both die here." I channeled a wisp of Yin energy from my own body into Wang Shi. This would allow me to track his location using the Yin-Yang Ghost Art, and it served as a form of protection for him as well.

Giving a nod, Wang Shi darted into the dense forest and quickly vanished into the dark night.

'The chessboard is set. Now let's see who is playing against me, and who is only fit to be a pawn.'

I concealed all my presence, hiding in the opposite direction while keeping a close eye on the highway.

Under Chen Jianguo's interrogation, the motorcycle taxi driver spilled everything, including the direction I had taken and whatever I had said along the way.

"Stay put. We don't need you for now." Chen Jianguo shoved the driver aside and went to open the car doors himself. Just as I had expected, the sect cultivators had indeed followed.

They still hadn't given up, hoping to use me to locate the Ghost Mother's hiding place.

'Tricking me into eating the Vermilion Fruit so they could hide the Yang Talisman inside my body and deal a fatal blow to the Ghost Mother at a critical moment—what a deep scheme. It's just a pity that they got it wrong from the very beginning. I'm not the Ghost Mother's husband.' I watched the highway in silence as the occupants of the three sedans emerged one after another. Xu Yan, Lu Jingxiu, Lu Chen, and the Golden Mountain Sect cultivators—except for Leng Qingxuan and the junior Qingcheng disciple Xu Wugui, everyone else was present.

"Thank you for the trouble, Captain Chen. Dropping us here is enough." Xu Yan held a special Compass in his hand. The golden needle on it pointed exactly in the direction Wang Shi had taken.

"Celestial Master, that Gao Jian is extremely cunning. I should go in with you." Chen Jianguo patted his sidearm. "With this thing for protection, I definitely won't drag you down."

Wei Jianming happened to be getting out of the car. Hearing Chen Jianguo's words, he shot him a dismissive look. "That hunk of iron of yours is useful against people, but against unclean things, it's not even as effective as a bowl of black dog's blood."

"Jianming, don't be rude." Wei Wenming hastily grabbed his junior brother's Daoist robe. "Watch your mouth!"

"Haha, the little brother makes a good point." Chen Jianguo gave a slightly awkward, dry laugh.

"Captain Chen is upright and unyielding, brimming with righteous energy. It is truly Jiangcheng's fortune to have you. However, matters of the cultivation world are best handled through the methods of the cultivation world." Xu Yan stepped out from the group of cultivators, holding the Compass in one hand. "Jiao, Kang, Kui, Lou, Niu, Gui, Xing; a meeting that brings crying for three years. The ominous stars of the Seven Mansions of the North are blazing, and the place they shine upon is precisely here! This is bad. Very bad."

"This place is shrouded in dark clouds, blocking out the sun. I fear a great terror is hidden beneath the ground." Lu Jingxiu stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Xu Yan. "The aura of blood fiends shoots straight into the heavens. I can already hear the wronged souls crying out."

The several Daoists chattered away, completely confusing Chen Jianguo. He couldn't understand the words of cultivators, but he could tell from the expressions on their faces that this situation was extremely tricky!

"Immortals, do you need me to mobilize the police to assist you?"

"Focus your efforts on tracking down the murderer who killed Chen Jiuge. Leave this place to us, and drive the cars back. Be careful not to let those unclean things possess you and steal your souls." Xu Yan waved his hand. Chen Jianguo nodded in agreement, taking the motorcycle taxi driver with him as he got back into the sedan.

A few minutes later, after the three cars had driven far away, the several Daoists finally took out their respective magical artifacts and talismans. Following the guidance of the golden needle on the Compass, they slowly entered the wasteland.

'Quite a few of them came.' Hiding in the shadows, I took in everything. 'Driving wolves to devour tigers. With the sect cultivators acting as my stepping stones to scout the path this time, I'll definitely be able to give the Two-Faced Buddha a huge surprise!'

Sensing Wang Shi's location, I took the Good and Evil Asura Mask from inside my jacket and put it on my face.