I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 325 Resurrected and Died Again
Xiao Jingfan looked at her and nodded, indicating that she should speak.

"Then Wu Mian is dead again." Chen Xing's first words shocked everyone.

Chu Liuzheng asked, "How come they died again? Did you do this?"

Chenxing pouted in dissatisfaction: "What are you saying, sister? Of course it wasn't me and Doctor Feng who did it. We were just following him and didn't do anything else."

Surprisingly, those two ruthless individuals didn't cause any trouble.

Chu Liuzheng gave an awkward smile and gestured for her to continue.

"Last night, Dr. Feng and I asked our way to Wu Mian's house. We were just about to climb over the wall to check on things when the door suddenly opened." As he said this, Chen Xing made a creaking sound to vividly illustrate his point.

Everyone: "..."

Are you telling a story here?
Xiao Jingfan sighed and rubbed his forehead: "Get to the point."

"Oh." Chen Xing regretfully swallowed back the various words that were about to come out to create atmosphere. "Wu Mian opened the door. He's not feeling well."

Feng Jing added from the side: "He tripped over the threshold five times, as if he couldn't lift his leg."

“He didn’t even close the door after he left. He was still wearing his burial clothes and stared blankly as he walked out of the city,” Chen Xing continued. “At that time, the city gates were still open, and the guards at the city gates didn’t dare to stop him when they saw him in his burial clothes.”

The mere thought of that scene sent shivers down everyone's spines.

Chu Liuzheng rubbed his arms and moved closer to Siyue.

Siyue looked at her and took the initiative to link arms with her, just like Chenxing, to encourage her.

"Doctor Feng and I followed him out. After walking for about two miles, Wu Mian suddenly turned and walked into the woods next to him. He walked all the way to the river and stopped there, sitting there motionless all night."

Zhou Yuande asked, "Didn't you go up and take a look?"

"I wanted to go up and take a look, but Doctor Feng wouldn't let me," Chen Xing said, glancing resentfully at Feng Jing.

Feng Jing pursed his lips: "I was saving you, that whistle sound was really strange."

Xiao Jingfan asked in confusion, "What whistle?"

Feng Jing replied, "Ever since leaving the city, I've been hearing intermittent whistles, which are giving me a headache, but Chen Xing insists that he hasn't heard them."

"There wasn't one to begin with," Chen Xing muttered, genuinely not hearing a single strange sound.

Feng Jing said, "Last night you only had Wu Mian in your eyes, how could you have heard anything?"

Seeing that the two seemed about to start arguing, Xiao Jingfan quickly interrupted and asked Chen Xing, "What did you mean by 'discover' just now?"

“There’s someone on the other side of the river.” Chen Xing’s expression turned serious. “Although I didn’t see anyone, I’m sure that person was in the woods on the other side, and stayed there all night like us, only leaving at dawn.”

If it weren't for the fact that this person never showed her face, and the fear of revealing their whereabouts, Feng Jingcai wouldn't have been able to stop her.

She continued, "As soon as his breath disappeared, Wu Mian's sitting body collapsed. Doctor Feng and I then went forward to check and found that Wu Mian was not only dead, but also had many rotten parts on his body, emitting a foul stench, just like someone who had been dead for three days."

The group exchanged bewildered glances. Was this final burst of energy going on for too long? They'd never heard of anyone experiencing a final burst of energy after death.

Chu Liuzheng asked Feng Jing, "Could the whistle you heard have been blown by that person in the woods?"

“I don’t know.” Feng Jing shrugged. “The whistle was intermittent, and I couldn’t tell where it came from.”

Chu Liuzheng looked at Chenxing again, but Chenxing hadn't heard anything and was even less clear about it.

Chu Liuzheng had no choice but to navigate to the system himself.

“At least it proves that this was man-made and has nothing to do with gods or ghosts.” Xiao Jingfan tapped the table to draw everyone’s attention back, and asked the two of them, “Have you gone to check the woods across the river?”

“I went to check, and found this next to a fresh footprint.” Chen Xing rummaged in his sleeve and pulled out a copper coin.

Xiao Jingfan took it and looked at it.

Everyone craned their necks to look. At first glance, the copper coin looked no different from those currently in circulation, but upon comparison, it became clear that it was a coin from the Dayong Dynasty. After nearly three hundred years, it was rarely used anymore.

Lu Fei had a hobby of collecting ancient coins, and he happened to have two on him. He took them out to show everyone, and they were indeed the same as the one Chen Xing had found in the forest.

The only difference is that the copper coin Chenxing found was damaged at the edge, with two inverted triangular notches.

“Such copper coins are rare, but they do exist.” Lü Fei put the copper coin back into his pocket. “Some ordinary people still keep such copper coins in their homes.”

Xiao Jingfan placed the copper coins on the table and asked, "Where is Wu Mian's body now?"

“At his home.” Feng Jing picked up the copper coin and looked at it. “We only left after we took his body back. The yamen officials are coming to question him this morning. News of Wu Mian’s death should spread throughout the city very soon.”

Xiao Jingfan nodded and instructed someone to go to Wu Mian's house again to see how the officials would react.

Just then, a voice from the heart entered my ears.

The person blowing the whistle and the person in the woods are not the same person; there are actually two groups of people.

Xiao Jingfan frowned. Two groups of people? Which two groups?

Unfortunately, this is all I can say.

He glanced at Chu Liuzheng and saw her sitting quietly listening to everyone talk, her eyelashes slightly lowered, looking obedient, showing no sign of being distracted.

Seeing that it was getting late, Zhou Yuande asked, "Young Master, shall we continue our journey today?"

“Yes.” Xiao Jingfan replied without hesitation, “I’ll leave this afternoon.”

Compared to the sudden incident in Longkou Town, the situation in Sishui Town is more pressing.

The news that Wu Mian had come back from the dead and then died again quickly spread throughout the city, attracting people to rush to the government office to see what was going on.

The inn's staff also went there, and after returning, they went into the kitchen and chatted with the cook.

Chu Liuzheng was washing cherries he had bought at the morning market in the kitchen when he overheard something.

Wu Mian's situation was truly bizarre. In order to appease the people, the county magistrate not only ordered the coroner to examine the body in public to confirm that Wu Mian was dead beyond any possibility of resurrection, but also sent someone to Taoran Temple to invite the young abbot to perform a ritual for Wu Mian's soul to be delivered.

Aren't Taoist priests only responsible for catching demons and killing ghosts? Isn't the task of performing rituals for the deceased supposed to be the responsibility of Buddhist monks?

As Chu Liuzheng pondered this, he carried the cherries into the house, curtsied to Xiao Jingfan, and placed the cherries on the table beside him.

Xiao Jingfan thought to himself that both monks and Taoist priests could handle this matter.

Chu Liuzheng said, "Young master, I heard from the innkeeper that the magistrate invited the abbot of Taoran Temple to the county government to perform a ritual for Wu Mian's soul."

Xiao Jingfan looked at her while biting into a cherry, and asked, "So what?"

Just as Chu Liuzheng was about to continue speaking, Lü Fei entered the room with a square-faced guard and reported, "Young Master, Gong San has returned."

Gong San was the guard who went to Taoran Temple for a night visit last night and was left behind by Lü Fei.

Gong San knelt down and bowed, saying, "This humble servant greets young master."

"Get up." Xiao Jingfan wiped his hands clean with a handkerchief and raised his chin slightly at him.

Chu Liuzheng went over and closed the door.

Xiao Jingfan looked at the guard: "Can you see the abbot of Taoran Temple?"

Gong San nodded, his face tense, his body stiff as a log.

"Don't be nervous." Lu Fei patted his shoulder. "Just tell the young master what you saw."

Gong San was still nervous.

This was the first time he had spoken to the emperor so closely, and he didn't know what to do with his hands and feet.