Hidden moth

Chapter 164: There Are Many Types of Narrow-mindedness
Ren Zhongqing called himself Zhang San, and everyone knew that this was a temporary pseudonym, so He Kao just went along with it.

Zhang San has lived a happy life since childhood. His father is the head of a large company in the local township. He runs the company very well and takes good care of his family.

His father had studied magic but had never been able to master it, a lifelong regret. So he placed all his hopes on Zhang San. When he was fourteen, his father used his connections to get him an introduction to a senior practitioner.

Zhang San worked very hard, and his master often praised him, which made his father very pleased... However, all this happiness was soon broken by an unexpected change.

My father had a partner named Li Si, who was also a sorcerer. He usually only focused on practicing and left all the company's business to my father.

Li Si has a younger brother, let's call him Li Wu, who is also a guy who has not yet mastered the art of cultivation. He is a civil servant and was already the leader of a bureau in the district at that time.

Li Wu was jealous of his father's company's profitability and wanted to use it as a platform for collusion between officials and businessmen, so he instigated Li Si, and the two conspired to seize his father's shares and drive his father out of the company.

That was the hard work of my father over the years, and it was robbed by these two brothers.

My father started a new company and invested his savings of many years into it. However, he was suppressed by the two brothers and was eventually forced into bankruptcy, leaving him with nothing.

The blow caused his father to fall ill and he passed away soon after. Zhang San was only sixteen years old that year.

Shortly before his father passed away, he secretly gave him a bottle of Chunlin Dan, which can nourish the bones and roots, and told Zhang San to practice well so that he could avenge the family shame in the future.

Zhang San will always remember that his father once sighed that if he had started practicing cultivation instead of Li Si, he would not have ended up like this and been bullied by the Li brothers.

After my father passed away, my mother was unable to raise her two school-age children and had no choice but to seek help from Li Si. In fact, my father and Li Si were fellow disciples, but my father had not yet achieved success in his cultivation.

The mother asked Li Si for his father's shares in the company and dividends, but Li Si refused with various excuses. The mother said that if she was not really in financial difficulty, she would not come to him for help.

After all, my father was Li Si's senior brother. He had worked hard in Li Si's company for so many years and helped the company make so much money. How could Li Si ignore his affairs after his death?

Li Wu was also present at the time. He was quite disrespectful to his deceased father in his words and humiliated his mother, mocking her for having the nerve to do that.

Later, the mother knelt down and begged, but the Li brothers were arrogant and said they had a very hard job and asked their mother if she could do it.

Zhang San will never forget the expressions of the Li brothers at that time. He secretly swore at that time: "One day, I will get back all the humiliation I suffered today, and I will also make Li Si kneel down and apologize!"

My mother was very strong and accepted the job. At that time, Zhang San was still in high school and his brother had just started college. My mother's meager income could barely make ends meet, but fortunately, they managed to get through it.

At the age of eighteen, Zhang San began practicing the art of magic. Ten years later, this year, he finally became a third-level sorcerer. Li Si's cultivation level was only at the third level, so he came to settle an old score.

Who knew that God was so blind that Li Si, who was already a fourth-level warlock, not only humiliated him, but also slandered his father, saying that he was kicked out of the company because of misconduct and betrayal.

Not only that, Li Si also used his connections in the martial arts sect to find Zhang San's master and threatened Zhang San that if he continued to bother him, he would expel him or even banish him.

Zhang San is no match for Li Si, but he also has an enemy, Li Wu.

More than ten years later, Li Wu was promoted three levels, from a leader of a district bureau to the director of the city's Urban Construction Bureau, and was about to join the city's leadership team.

Li Wu has a very bad reputation in the local area. He is in charge of urban construction and has colluded with real estate developers, causing harm to countless people. So Zhang San decides to eliminate this evil for the people...

He was interrupted by He Kao when he reached this point.

He Kao waved his hand and said, "Forget about Zhang San and Li Si. I've heard what happened next. Your name is Ren Zhongqing, and the man you killed is called Jin Lubo. As a result, you are wanted by the clan law hall and the underworld order."

Ren Zhongqing said somewhat awkwardly, "Yes, it's me! The reason I didn't reveal my identity before was because I didn't want to embarrass you."

The clan law hall has issued an order to the underworld. Once Ren Zhongqing reveals his identity, He Kao will either have to help the clan law hall capture him or help him escape from the clan law hall's pursuit. There is no room for maneuver.

That's why Ren Zhongqing deliberately used a pseudonym.

He Kao: "Why try to hide your true identity? At this point, how could I not know your identity? I'm curious, who directed you to come to me? And what makes you think I can help you?"

In reality, Ren Zhongqing had no idea who was guiding him; he simply received a divine message when he was desperate. Someone, a master, secretly told him that the sorcerer Wu Yanjun had been wrongly accused, and it was likely He Kao who had helped clear his name.

Rumor has it that He Kao is the secret disciple of a certain elder in the clan law hall. This elder holds a great influence in the clan law hall and the entire sect, and he values this secret disciple very much.

This elder most likely wanted to train He Kao into a very important tool, to help him and certain people in the clan law hall do things that the clan law hall was not very convenient to do...

He Kao frowned upon hearing this: "You don't even know who that person is, and you come looking for me?"

At this time, dinner was over. He Kao was packing up while talking. He seemed very casual and relaxed. He did not contact the outside world during this process.

He just glanced at his phone and found that Qian Guran had replied with a message saying that the dinner was over and he had successfully returned home.

Ren Zhongqing: "I am also a third-level sorcerer, so I naturally know that he is a senior master, with a cultivation level of at least sixth level. People like him will never lie, and their divine thoughts will definitely not be false."

He Kao: "Think about it carefully. Has that master's divine sense ever produced a single definitive judgment? Are they all possibilities, purported claims, rumors, and the like?"

Ren Zhongqing: "But I'm at my wit's end. I'd rather give it a try."

He Kao: "Do you think you have been wronged?"

Ren Zhongqing: "I only think this matter is a personal grudge. Jin Luyuan can seek revenge on me, but they can't slander me for violating the public execution order and let the Zongfa Hall mobilize the entire sect to hunt me down... Could it be that the Zongfa Hall was founded by his Jin family?"

He Kao: "You think that Jinluyuan can seek revenge on you, but shouldn't the Zongfa Hall explicitly order all disciples to pursue you?"

Ren Zhongqing: "Yes, if the clan law hall can take care of the Jin family's affairs today, then why didn't it take care of my family's affairs ten years ago?"

He Kao: "What reasons do you have for believing that you have not violated the Communist order?"

Ren Zhongqing: "Of course! I didn't threaten Jin Luyuan with Jin Lubo's safety because of a conflict with Jin Luyuan, but I have a grudge against the Jin brothers!
We sorcerers can't use our magic to oppress ordinary people, but after achieving success in cultivation, should we be oppressed by ordinary people in return? It doesn't make sense no matter how hard I try!

The Jin brothers bullied my father and humiliated my mother back then. I am doing this to avenge my parents!
Does it mean that just because an ordinary person has a sorcerer relative or friend, they can provoke other sorcerers at will, and if they dare to fight back, accuse them of violating the collective punishment order?"

He Kao nodded slowly and said, "Your logic... seems to be quite convincing, but the premise of logic is facts. Can I ask you three questions?"

Ren Zhongqing: “Ask whatever you want.”

He Kao: "You just claimed that when you were fourteen, Jin Lubo and his brother Jin Luyuan seized your father's shares and kicked him out of the company, and you also gave two reasons.

First, he wanted to collude with officials and businessmen and thought your father was an obstacle; second, he was jealous of your father's success in running the company, so he wanted to take it over.

You said Jin Luyuan was the head of a certain bureau in the district at the time. Which bureau was it?"

Ren Zhongqing was stunned. He had never expected such a tricky question. He paused before answering, "I don't know about that. Anyway, it's just a bureau in the district."

He Kao shook his head. "You were only fourteen back then, so it's normal that you didn't know the inside story. But you didn't investigate at all, so how could you have come to such a conclusion?"

Why did He Kao ask such a question? Because Ren Zhongqing mentioned the current situation and introduced Jin Lubo as the director of the Urban Construction Bureau, but when he mentioned the incident fourteen years ago, he only said that he was the leader of a certain bureau in the district.

It can be seen that Ren Zhongqing did not know which bureau Jin Lubo was leading in the district at that time, otherwise he would not have said that.

From this we can see that Ren Zhongqing himself did not conduct a thorough investigation into what happened back then. Otherwise, how could he accuse the other party of collusion between officials and businessmen without even knowing what the other party's position was?
Today he met the meticulous He Kao, and his flaws were exposed in the first sentence he asked.

Ren Zhongqing: "I was still young at that time, but my mother knew everything. She told me everything. How could she lie to me?" He Kao was speechless for a moment. Statements like "parents will not lie" and "children will not lie" were actually used as evidence by some people.

He Kao didn't dwell on this question, nor was there any need to, so he continued, "Second question, how much is a bottle of Chunlin Pill worth?"

Ren Zhongqing was startled again, and said with a somewhat embarrassed tone: "This is a spiritual medicine for cultivation, and its value cannot be measured by money."

He Kao: "Your father's cultivation was not successful, so he couldn't have made it himself. Since he obtained it from somewhere else, he must have paid for it. Let me ask it another way. If you have a bottle of Chunlin Pill and want to sell it, how much would you sell it for?"

Ren Zhongqing lowered his head and said, "It must be at least several million."

Chunlin Pill is a very unpopular pill, and it is also almost the most precious pill that ordinary people can get their hands on. If Jiang Daozhen had not handed over the complete inheritance of the seven major schools of magic to He Kao, He Kao would never have heard of it.

The magical effect of Chunlin Dan is to nourish the roots and bones, that is, to improve a person's innate constitution to make it easier to practice, but it requires a combination of internal nourishment and external training, and long-term use to see results.

One bottle can be taken for one year. If it doesn't work after three years of continuous use, then there's no need to take it anymore. Even magic pills aren't a panacea. If you don't have the innate ability, it won't work.

Even He Kao, who had such a strong backing, couldn't get the Chunlin Pill. He also asked Lin Qingshuang if he could get three bottles of Chunlin Pill and how much it would cost.

Of course, his purpose was not to use it for himself.

Lin Qingshuang tactfully told him that three bottles of Chunlin Pills would cost at least tens of millions, and it was not a matter of money. There was no such thing recently because no one could make it.

This thing is not an industrialized product. You can't buy it anywhere if you want. The spiritual medicine required is very rare. Even if someone collects it, most of them are used to refine other spiritual pills.

Occasionally, a master would refine a furnace and use it for the younger generation whom he particularly cared about. If someone was willing to transfer it, there would be people willing to pay a high price to buy it, but it would be gone in a blink of an eye and there was no stock at all.

So, one can only imagine the price Ren Zhongqing's father paid to acquire a bottle of Chunlin Dan. Ren Zhongqing recounted how difficult life was for his family after his father's death, to the point where his mother even had to kneel down and beg for mercy at the Jin family's house.

But he was already sixteen years old at that time, and had been studying in the martial arts school for two years. He was not without channels and knowledge. As long as he was willing to sell the Chunlin Pill, couldn't it solve the family's financial difficulties?
He Kao didn't say anything, just looked at Ren Zhongqing.

Ren Zhongqing also realized the meaning of this question, and raised his head and added, "That bottle of Chunlin Pill is my father's last treasure. He wanted me to practice magic successfully so that he can avenge him in the future!"

He Kao didn't respond and continued, "The third question is, before you were sixteen, what did your mother do for a living?"

Ren Zhongqing: "My mother never worked. She stayed at home to take care of my brother and me. Later, she had no other choice but to go out to work..."

In fact, this answer was also within He Kao's expectations, because according to the known situation, Ren Zhongqing's mother went to ask Jin Luyuan for help, and Jin Luyuan arranged a job for her, but she was not very satisfied.

What does this mean? It means she didn't have a job and it wasn't easy for her to find one. Sometimes, when analyzing a situation, we shouldn't just focus on what someone says; perhaps what's more important is what they don't say.

He Kao sighed: "You have two children, one in college and the other in high school. It's really not easy to introduce a job that can support you two to her, a housewife who has never worked!
What's more, you clearly had a huge amount of money at the time, so does Jinluyuan really have a grudge against you?"

Ren Zhongqing: "You don't believe me?"

He Kao: "You think you have experienced great suffering, but you don't know what true suffering is. You think that comfort, wealth, and peaceful practice are natural. If you can't, you are being oppressed by someone.

So in your eyes, ordinary people are not human beings, and the lives of ordinary people are not lives?

Whether I believe it or not, let's just go by your own statement. If Jin Luyuan had a grudge against you and your family had always lived there, would he have allowed you to live peacefully until now, until you broke through to the third level of cultivation?"

Ren Zhongqing raised his eyebrows and said, "Isn't it enough that he oppressed my father? He also wants to harm me?"

He Kao: "If he is the kind of person you say he is, he would do this; but if he doesn't do this, it means he is not the kind of person you say he is... Don't you understand?
You thought you had a grudge against Jin Luyuan, and when you failed to cause trouble at his house, you killed his brother out of spite. Threatening Jin Luyuan with his brother's safety was already a violation of the public execution order, but you killed him directly, which is even worse!"

He Kao was willing to talk to him until now, which actually showed that he was very patient. Otherwise, he would have taken action when he received the news from Qian Guran.

What he was worried about was the expert who had instructed Ren Zhongqing to come to him. He didn't know whether the other party's intention was to test him or to probe him, so he was very cautious. Every word he said was carefully considered and was not entirely spoken to Ren Zhongqing.

Ren Zhongqing: "Killing a corrupt official like that is also getting rid of harm to the people!"

He Kao said, "If he is truly a corrupt official, have you gathered evidence of his crimes? Don't delay the investigation and report it to the authorities. Once you have gathered evidence, you can report him to the judicial authorities."

If the evidence is conclusive and he has indeed the means to seek death but is able to escape punishment, I will have nothing to say if you do it again, and I might even respect you a little...Have you done this?
Forget about the "first report to the authorities" rule. If you disobey, it's not a capital offense. If you can produce evidence that Jin Lubo deserved death right now, I can help you explain to the clan law hall that you killed him because he deserved to die."

Ren Zhongqing: "Give me some time. I don't believe that we can't collect evidence of his crime."

He Kao: "How can you kill someone first and then collect evidence? What have you been doing for the past ten years?
Let me ask you one last question. After you killed Jin Lubo, you fled. If Jin Luyuan couldn't find you, have you ever thought about what would happen to your mother and brother?"

Ren Zhongqing: "What did you say? Do you think Jinluyuan dares to attack them? That would be a violation of the collective punishment order!"

He Kao: "So you also know what the Communist Punishment Order means!

If there is no order to kill you, and Jinluyuan can't catch you, they will spread the word that if you don't surrender quickly, they will not let your mother and brother go. Do you think this is appropriate?

Therefore, you should be punished by the whole world, which will be considered as an explanation given by the sect to him, and also a kind of protection for all the disciples of the sect."

Ren Zhongqing: "What do you mean? Do you completely disagree with what I just said?"

He Kao: "Why should I agree with you?"

Ren Zhongqing: "How can I make you agree with what I say?"

He Kao: "I haven't investigated your case. I'm just expressing my opinion based on what you said. I don't understand why you're coming to me to make excuses.
The patriarchal hall is responsible for the investigation, not me. If you truly have any grievances, you should surrender to the patriarchal hall and plead your case!"

Ren Zhongqing nodded slowly and said, "It's no wonder. We don't even know each other, and I'm coming to your house without permission. Why do you have to help me?
In fact, my father gave me more than one bottle of Chunlin Dan. The one he gave me before he died was only the last bottle, but I didn't take it and kept them all.

I only ask for your help in conveying my explanation to a certain elder of the clan hall through your channels. If you can deliver the message, I will thank you with three bottles of Chunlin Pills!

He Kao thought to himself, no wonder Ren Zhongqing specifically mentioned Chunlin Dan just now, it turns out he was waiting here!
But this was too much. He Kao didn't even ask whether it was true or not. Instead, he shook his head and said, "I finally understand why someone told you to come to me."

By this time, He Kao had realized that someone had set him up for a big trap! If he helped Ren Zhongqing, it would be tantamount to harboring and being bribed by the other party, and he would be severely punished by the clan law hall.

But if he rejected Ren Zhongqing, given his temper and situation, he would definitely not let him go and would definitely take action. Once he did, many of his secrets might be exposed.

Just expose it, it depends on what can be exposed.

Ren Zhongqing then asked, "Why?"

He Kao said calmly, "Some people might be wondering how you could break through to the third level with your mentality. It's both because of your teacher's failure to supervise you and your inability to reflect on yourself, allowing your inner demons to flourish!"

You've always harbored resentment over your father's affairs, but before you break through to the third level, you won't disregard the facts and consequences and act so madly.

Think about it carefully. After you broke through the third level, whenever you thought about family affairs, you always felt angry and restless, as if your thoughts would not be clear unless you avenged them... This is a sign of being possessed by a demon.

Seeing you possessed by the devil today is enough to alert me. A senior master instructed you to come to me, and I think this might be their intention..."

He Kao said this without any murderous intent. It seemed that he was analyzing spiritual practice, combining theory with practice, summarizing and reflecting. His analysis was quite logical, but suddenly he kicked the small table in front of him and started to attack without any warning!

Coincidentally, Ren Zhongqing also launched an attack at the same time.

**
(End of this chapter)