Holy Bone

Chapter 1997 New Changes at the Eight Views Gate of the Celestial Master's Mansion
The three-headed, six-armed, and six-legged figure exploded, causing considerable damage to the mortal realm.

The courtyard was mostly destroyed, with only a few scattered buildings remaining intact.

The outhouse, however, was well preserved because it was located at the back of the house and some distance from the side rooms.

When Jin'an went to the outhouse again, he easily found the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li.

The two seemed to be lost in a maze, constantly going around in circles in the outhouse. To prevent them from slipping and falling into the latrine, Jin'an quickly led them out of the outhouse and used Taoist energy to exorcise the evil spirits and awaken them.

The first thing the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li did after waking up was to go to the outhouse again without prior arrangement. When they came out with their pants up, they saw that most of the courtyard had been destroyed.

"Young man, what's wrong with this house?"

"You blew this up?"

The old Taoist priest was taken aback, then exclaimed in surprise, "But I didn't hear a single sound!"

Even Fatty Li said, "Indeed, even I didn't hear it. Master Jin'an, your movements were quite discreet. The outhouse is only a short distance away, yet we didn't hear a single sound."

Jin An shook his head speechlessly, put one hand to his forehead and said, "That's because you two were trapped in a maze just now. You two spent half a day circling around the latrine in the outhouse."

Upon hearing this, both the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li were taken aback.

Then, Jin'an recounted in detail his battle with the three-headed, six-armed, and six-legged figure, as well as the illusion of the inner landscape of the Taoist Huangting.

After listening, the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li first ran to the well in the courtyard to draw a bucket of water and frantically washed their hands and feet before talking about the three-headed, six-armed, and six-legged figure.

"Master Jin'an, you said that evil creature is an old demon of the fourth realm? Wow!" Fatty Li couldn't help but gasp.

The old Taoist priest, however, thought of something more. He frowned and said, "How could this three-headed, six-armed, six-legged figure know about the Taoist Yellow Court Inner Landscape? And how could it also know your true identity and origin, young man?"

"Could this person be an enemy from the mortal realm?"

"But I've never heard you mention, young man, that you've ever offended anyone at the fourth level. That's really strange!"

"And what's more! This person also happens to have a grudge against the Celestial Master's Mansion. What a coincidence!"

Jin An shook his head and said that even he didn't know who the other party was. He planned to try to find out the other party's identity based on the existing clues.

Next, Jin An, the old Taoist priest, and Fatty Li began searching for clues in the explosion ruins, looking for anything related to the three-headed, six-armed, six-legged figure.

The self-destruction of the three-headed, six-armed, and six-legged figure was extremely powerful, destroying almost everything except some ruins and bricks.

"what?"

"Young man, come and look at this! Isn't this something left behind after the three-headed, six-armed, six-legged figure self-destructed?"

The old Taoist priest suddenly shouted from a corner of the ruins.

Jin An and Fatty Li rushed over to check. It was a jade pendant with the character "墨" (mo) engraved on it.

This jade pendant is a magical artifact. There is a divine thought on the surface of the pendant that prevents Jin An's consciousness from entering it. However, this is not a problem for Jin An. With the help of his Dao Qi, he quickly dispelled the divine thought on the surface of the pendant.

Then, Jin'an's consciousness entered the jade pendant.

The contents inside the jade pendant were simple, with many secret manuals, mental cultivation methods, and techniques listed inside. This jade pendant was a jade slip used to store a large number of techniques.

The jade slip contained no fewer than several hundred cultivation techniques; it was as numerous as a cartload.

Jin An browsed through a few of these cultivation techniques and then stopped paying much attention to them. These techniques were all rare and superior ones among the common people, but compared to the techniques he practiced, they were insignificant. It was better not to practice them at all.

Jin An, however, was drawn to a row of memorial tablets in the jade slip. He glanced at the tablets a few times, then wrote down the names on them, deciding to investigate their true identities thoroughly once he returned to the Criminal Investigation Department.

It is believed that these memorial tablets can provide clues to his identity as a figure with three heads, six arms, and six legs.

Jin An withdrew the jade slip and then told the old Taoist and Fatty Li about its contents. The old Taoist curiously took the jade slip and examined it carefully.

Only Fatty Li, being a martial artist, lacked the consciousness of a primordial spirit and couldn't access the jade slip to check the situation. This made him so anxious that he scratched his head, rubbed his hands, and stamped his feet, extremely worried.

Apart from this jade slip, the subsequent search of the ruins yielded no other useful clues. So, Jin An led the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li toward the courtyard to report the situation to the elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

"Young brother, when you report the situation later, don't tell anyone about my ghostly encounter with Fatty Li..." Before leaving, the old Taoist priest winked at Jin An.

"Why can't you say?" Jin An asked curiously.

The old Taoist priest continued to wink and say, "It would be so embarrassing if word got out."

"As one of the dignified Taoist masters of the Five Organs Taoist Temple, I am concerned about my reputation when I travel around. It would be too shameful to talk about being trapped in a ghost wall, and it does not fit my elegant and otherworldly temperament."

After listening, Fatty Li nodded repeatedly and said, "What the Taoist priest said is absolutely right. We should risk our lives rather than lose face."

Jin An was speechless.

Just as the three of them were walking outside to meet up with the elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion who were waiting in the courtyard, a violent explosion suddenly shook the Celestial Master's Mansion.

Boom!

Not only did the Celestial Master's Mansion tremble violently, but even the palace maids and imperial guards on the streets outside the mansion clearly felt the ground shaking.

"what happened?"

"Where did the explosion at the Celestial Master's Mansion come from?"

"Could it be that the three-headed, six-armed, six-legged figure still has accomplices and is stirring up a second wave of trouble in the Celestial Master's Mansion?"

The old Taoist priest and Fatty Li exclaimed in surprise.

There were restrictions in place at the Celestial Master's Mansion, preventing people from taking to the air to investigate further. Jin An could only quickly meet up with the elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion and ask what had happened during the explosion.

As a result, the elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion also looked astonished and shook their heads, indicating that they didn't know what was going on either.

Then, an elder from the Celestial Master's Mansion, unaffected by the prohibition, left his body with his primordial spirit, lifted his physical body, and ascended into the air to check the situation.

Just as the elder took off, boom!
Another violent explosion echoed from the Celestial Master's Mansion.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom! Then came three more violent explosions, each one more intense than the last. Eventually, the explosions were louder than thunder, and the ground shook as if the earth itself were trembling.

The scene was so shocking that everyone in the Celestial Master's Mansion was alarmed, and they all rushed outside to check the situation with panicked expressions.

At that very moment, a huge crater, hundreds of feet wide, suddenly exploded in the ground deep within the Celestial Master's Mansion. Two old men, dressed in tattered clothes like beggars and with unkempt hair, flew out from the pit, laughing loudly and carefree. Their laughter was so unrestrained that half of the capital city could hear it.

The moment the two old men took to the sky, Jin An noticed their figures. He immediately recognized that they were both experts in the late stage of the third realm.

"The Celestial Master's Mansion has restrictions that prevent outsiders from taking to the air. Those two old men are very likely from the Celestial Master's Mansion..." Jin An whispered to the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li, so that they could be on guard.

As expected, both of them showed expressions of surprise and astonishment upon hearing this.

After laughing heartily for a while, the two old men finally calmed down from their tumultuous emotions. Then, after surveying the sky for a while, they saw that an elder from the Celestial Master's Mansion was ascending into the air in Jin'an. So, they all slowly strolled over, each step taking a zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) of space.

His unhurried manner made it seem as if he considered the Celestial Master's Mansion his own home, completely unfamiliar with it.

"Hmm? You are Yunlan, Xiaoyun, and Nanshan?"

Before the two old men even got close, they recognized the identities of several elders from the Celestial Master's Mansion and said with a slightly surprised tone.

Upon hearing this, the elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion were all taken aback. For a moment, they were unsure who the two old men were. Then, they asked about their identities in a relatively friendly tone, without immediately accusing them of crimes or fighting them to the death.

Both old men sighed when they heard the question.

"More than a decade has passed, and the world has changed so much. It's normal that you don't recognize us."

"How many decades does one have in a lifetime..."

After speaking, the two old men raised their hands and touched their bodies with their primordial spirits. A spiritual light enveloped them. The next moment, when the spiritual light faded, the two men's appearances were completely renewed. Their disheveled hair and beards were tidied up, and all the dirt on their bodies was removed, revealing clear and clean faces.

"Hidden Dragon Immortal!"

"Master Zifang!"

"Haven't you all already died and vanished?"

After the elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion saw the true faces of the two old men, their expressions were shocked, revealing disbelief and incredulity. They then exclaimed in unison.

The two old men sighed, "It's a relief that even after more than a decade, our disciples still remember us. We were worried that the Celestial Master's Mansion might be in chaos, with the Jiang family patriarch, the Li Huo Elder, and the Po Jun Marquis causing a great commotion and turning it into a dead end!"

"I ask you, where are the Jiang family patriarch, the old man of Li Huo, and the Marquis of Po Jun? I want to find them and settle old scores from more than ten years ago!"

"I will personally recount the suffering I endured during my more than ten years of imprisonment!"

Upon hearing this, the elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion were all shocked, and at the same time, their doubts deepened.

"Master Qianlong, Master Ziteng, what exactly is going on? Aren't you both elders of the Eight Scenery Sect? Why did the Jiang family patriarch imprison you and announce to the public that you have been dead for more than ten years?" the elder of the Celestial Master's Mansion asked.

"fart!"

"Did the Jiang family patriarch really say we're dead?"

"Good! Good! Good! Now that I've found the three patriarchs of the Jiang family, I will definitely kill them to avenge my deep-seated hatred! Listen carefully, both I and Master Qianlong are not dead, we were just imprisoned by the three traitors of the Celestial Master's Mansion, the patriarchs of the Jiang family!"

"More than a decade ago, the Jiang family patriarch and his gang plotted to harm Emperor Kangheng. I disagreed with them, and a fierce argument ensued. Little did we know that the three Jiang family patriarchs would launch a sneak attack afterward. Caught off guard, the three of us were ambushed and defeated. As a result, we were imprisoned in the underground of the Celestial Master's Mansion for more than a decade. Every day felt like a year, and we suffered greatly. The three Jiang family patriarchs kept trying to get us to collude with them, abandon Emperor Kangheng, and pursue the new emperor!"

As the two old men revealed the truth, everyone was shocked, never expecting there to be so many secrets and mysteries hidden within.

Even Jin An was greatly surprised after hearing this, never expecting that this matter would involve the previous emperor of Kangding Kingdom, Emperor Kang Heng! That is, the previous martial arts immortal!
"If it weren't for the sudden explosion outside that affected the underground and caused the underground restrictions to become unstable, giving us the opportunity to break free, we would probably have been imprisoned to death by the three ancestors of the Jiang family. This deadly grudge cannot go unavenged!"

"Tell me, where are the Jiang family patriarch, the old man of Li Huo, and the Marquis of Po Jun? I will tear them apart with my own hands and avenge them!" The two old men were eager to find the three patriarchs of the Jiang family and seek revenge, so they pressed for their whereabouts.

When asked about the whereabouts of the three ancestors of the Jiang family, the elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion all looked troubled. After hesitating for a while, they sighed and revealed the truth: "The three ancestors of the Jiang family have not returned since they went to the underworld five days ago. Moreover, there has been no news of them since then, and they have no trace of them."

"and……"

Several elders from the Celestial Master's Mansion glanced at Jin An, then transmitted the rest of their sentences through divine sense.

"what!"

"The candles on the spirit tablets of the three ancestors of the Jiang family have all gone out!" the two old men exclaimed in surprise.

If the candle on the soul tablet goes out, there is only one possibility: the person is dead and has perished in the underworld!
No wonder the two old men couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

This news is truly shocking.

Those were three of the most senior figures in the Eight Scenery Sect. It was truly difficult to find someone in the mortal realm who could kill all three of them. All three were top-tier combatants in the mortal realm, and it was always the case that whoever they wanted to die had to die; no one had ever been able to make things difficult for them.

It's unbelievable that the three elders of the Eight Scenery Sect, who were so powerful and top-notch, died like this. It's truly lamentable and hard to believe.

The elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion all sighed and dared not respond.

After their initial exclamation, the two old men both said they would personally travel to the underworld to track down the three members of the Jiang family and ensure their true whereabouts.

Upon hearing that the two old men wanted to travel to the underworld to find the three ancestors of the Jiang family, all the elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion were delighted and hurriedly led the way, providing directions.

The group then left in a hurry.

In the end, only one elder from the Celestial Master's Mansion remained to receive Jin An.

Only then did Jin'an have the opportunity to ask out of curiosity who the two old men were.

Elder of the Celestial Master's Mansion: "Those are the Second Elder, Qianlong Zhenren, and the Sixth Elder, Ziteng Zhenren, who are among the Eight Scenery Elders of our Celestial Master's Mansion."

"Originally, five elders of the Eight Scenery Sect remained, but more than ten years ago, a sudden bad news came that the second and sixth elders had died and disappeared. Only the three elders, the Jiang family patriarch, the Li Huo Elder, and the Po Jun Marquis, were left to take charge of the affairs of the Celestial Master's Mansion and become the people in charge of the Celestial Master's Mansion."

The elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion didn't elaborate much on the situation of the Eight Scenery Sect elders, stopping abruptly. After all, this matter involved internal strife and life-or-death feuds among the Eight Scenery Sect elders, making it difficult to discuss.

Jin An then asked a few questions about the elders of the Eight Views Sect, but most of the elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion chose to avoid the topic.

After several such conversations, Jin An stopped asking about the elders of the Eight Views Sect of the Celestial Master's Mansion and began discussing the three-headed, six-armed, six-legged figure...

However, his first impression of Master Qianlong and Master Ziteng was not bad. After all, these two old men had a decent relationship with the previous martial arts immortal, Emperor Kangheng, and they even shared some interests...

(End of this chapter)