A master of comedy!

Chapter 136 Zi Mu Qin

My master once said that the mysterious city lord's cultivation was unfathomable, and that in Little Fengdu, mentioning his name might allow him to hear it.

In retrospect, that was by no means an exaggeration.

Zhou Sheng was simply looking at the city lord in the mural when he suddenly felt as if he were being watched, as if a pair of ancient eyes were slowly opening in the darkness.

"What a pity, why did that city lord have to take a liking to Xiao Huchen and even bestow upon him a mask of a high-ranking official, capable of suppressing the remnant soul of the Tiger God..."

Jinse didn't notice anything unusual and continued looking at the mural with regret in her eyes.

Zhou Sheng stopped looking at the city lord's portrait, and the feeling of being watched disappeared.

The mural ends here.

But Zhou Sheng already knew what happened next: Xiao Huchen put on the mask of an official general and became a ruthless and domineering general, gradually dominating the Ghost City.

During this process, he and the remnant soul of the Tiger God became entangled and exploited each other, each wanting to completely conquer the other.

And the altar here may be the key to maintaining that fragile balance.

After viewing the murals, the two arrived at a spacious place resembling a tomb, with only a narrow passage and deep pits on both sides.

The pit contained rows of sheep bones.

Zhou Sheng's eyes turned cold. Having been affected by the evil magic of creating animals, he naturally understood that those were not sheep bones, but human bones.

These poor people were not only slaughtered like animals and offered up on the altar to the so-called Tiger God, but they were also unable to regain their human form after death and had no dignity whatsoever.

Among these piles of white bones, how many fathers, how many mothers, and how many women dreaming of their husbands in their secluded chambers?

Zhou Sheng's gaze fell upon the altar at the very front, a circular platform upon which stood a statue of the Tiger God, its fur glossy and lifelike, its teeth stained with blood as if it had swallowed too many offerings.

"The conflict between the Great General and the Tiger God is becoming increasingly intense. Recently, he has started to maintain balance by devouring other souls. If I destroy this altar again, he will definitely not survive this full moon night!"

Jinse retrieved her guqin and was about to destroy the statue.

"and many more."

Zhou Sheng pressed her arm through the sheer sleeves of her dress, gazed deeply at the statue, and said, "Perhaps... this is not a good idea."

He just used the Luoshu (洛书) to divine whether destroying the statue would bring about the downfall of the great general.

The answer he received sent chills down his spine.

If this statue is destroyed, everything will spiral out of control, and the consequences will far exceed his imagination.

"When Kan (water) is below and Li (fire) is above, water and fire clash and blood splatters into the sky."

This is an extremely inauspicious omen, and there is a high possibility of falling into a state of utter ruin.

Zhou Sheng did not waste any more energy on the detailed process of divination. If he only calculated the result, he would consume less energy. This was a "energy-saving" technique that he had gradually developed.

Unfortunately, Jinse's long-planned path of revenge is doomed to fail.

"You are very confident and certain..."

Despite having her long-held belief right before her eyes, Jinse looked at Zhou Sheng beside her and still chose to believe him.

In her mind, Boss Long was a very magical person. The previous Dragon-Slaying Stone had already accomplished something that she could hardly do.

More importantly, she trusted the other person's voice completely.

"I'll listen to you."

Hearing this, Zhou Sheng breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the other party was a master of the guqin (a seven-stringed zither), able to discern good from evil through its music. If it were someone else, he would probably have had to struggle with how to persuade them.

"Let's leave here first, hold our positions, and make further plans after I've made a decision."

Having experienced the events involving the sorcerer, Zhou Sheng had unconsciously become more composed and calm. Although he was angry at the general's indiscriminate killing of innocent people, he had learned to plan before acting.

"Ok!"

Jinse could tell from his voice that Zhou Sheng was not being timid or procrastinating, but was genuinely looking forward to a long-term plan, which made her feel more at ease.

"Boss Long, please feel free to tell me what you need me to do."

She herself didn't realize that in their brief time together, she had already begun to regard Zhou Sheng as her pillar of support and was willing to follow his lead. The two walked out of the secret passage, passing by the murals again.

"Boss Long, do you think these murals were painted by the Great General?"

"possible."

"Then why would he do that? Wouldn't that expose his secret?"

Jinse asked, somewhat puzzled.

As Zhou Sheng gazed at the paintings, his expression gradually grew serious. He closed his eyes, and he seemed to see the general walking slowly through the secret passage, carefully examining each painting.

I viewed the paintings every month, in a continuous cycle.

He didn't like painting, but...

"He wanted to make sure he never forgot the truth of it all: the hatred of his family's destruction, the ruthlessness of his brothers' betrayal, the fear of the tiger demon's covetousness, the resolute determination to perish together, and even..."

Zhou Sheng glanced at the portrait of the city lord, who was dressed in a white robe, standing on lotus flowers, and wearing the mask of the Fengdu Emperor.

"The scheming behind those lofty gifts and handouts."

Zhou Sheng continued walking, but his expression grew even more solemn.

It turns out that the seemingly domineering and arrogant general had always been walking on ice above an abyss.

Yet he walked with such firmness and strength, without the slightest fear or trepidation.

With his sword, he carved a path to heaven, not only wiping out his opponents in the ghost city and gaining the city lord's trust, but also growing from a desperate struggle to a point where he could contend with the remnant soul of the Tiger God.

This is a very formidable enemy.

To deal with such an enemy, you either have to stay still or strike a fatal blow, leaving them no room to breathe!

Upon arriving outside the Dragon-Slaying Stone, Zhou Sheng casually made a move, and the "Dragon-Swallowing Blade" transformed into Geng Metal Qi, surging into his body, while the stone wall slowly sank down.

……

Moonlit night, outside the General's Mansion.

Two figures suddenly burst from the ground, and the cracks in the ground quickly healed as before, leaving no trace.

"Is this the earth-遁法 (earth-遁法, a type of Taoist magic)? What amazing Taoist techniques!"

Jinse looked at Zhou Sheng and exclaimed in surprise, "Boss Long, you've really changed a lot in just a few days! We should look at you with new eyes!"

Zhou Sheng released his grip on her wrist, shook his head and smiled, "It was just something I learned by chance. By the way, how should I contact you in the future?"

Since they share a common enemy, they naturally have to form an alliance, and it's inevitable that they'll need to exchange messages.

For Zhou Sheng, having an inside agent infiltrated into the general's mansion was extremely important. After all, he couldn't rely on Luo Shu to calculate everything; he still needed his own connections and intelligence network.

"I've got it! I'll give you this!"

Jinse pulled out the wooden hairpin from her hair, letting her long black hair cascade down like a waterfall, swaying gently in the night breeze.

That familiar fragrance wafted into Zhou Sheng's nostrils once again.

She gently blew on the wooden hairpin, and its shape changed, turning it into a miniature xylophone.

She then twisted off seven strands of her hair, gently gathered them in her jade-like hands, and with a pull and a pinch, they transformed into the seven strings of a zither.

She presented it to Zhou Sheng with both hands as if offering a treasure.

"This zither contains a trace of my essence, and is like a mother and child to me. When you play the child zither, I can understand what you are saying; when I play the mother zither, you can also understand what I am saying."

Zhou Sheng held the small zither, his expression strange.

Doesn't that mean he essentially... took away Jinse's child?
The world is truly vast and full of wonders.

"But... the sound of the zither is not like the sound of the voice. Don't play it too badly, or I will feel like I'm sitting on pins and needles, and I will feel uncomfortable from head to toe."

……

(End of this chapter)