Burial Furnace

After seeing Mu Qingqing off, Zhang Yuan closed the shop door.

I cooked a pot of rice porridge, served it with a dish of pickled vegetables, and ate it simply.

Then he sat cross-legged on the bed, took out a mid-grade spirit stone, and began to cultivate.

Sunlight streamed through the window paper, slowly moving across the floor from east to west.

"Knock knock knock..."

The knocking on the door woke him from his meditative state.

Zhang Yuan opened his eyes, got up, and went to open the door.

A middle-aged monk was standing outside the door.

He was wearing a blue Taoist robe, with a thin face and shrewd eyes.

Zhang Yuan recognized him—he was the manager of Lingfu Pavilion, who ran errands for Boss Li. His name was Chen An, and he was the one who knocked on the door last time.

Chen An's face remained expressionless; he simply said, "Boss Zhang, Lord Zhao wants you to see him."

"Lord Zhao?"

"Lord Zhao Wuji, sent by the Lingfu Pavilion Chamber of Commerce to investigate Manager Li's disappearance, is waiting for you at Manager Li's residence."

Zhang Yuan's heart sank slightly.

The Lingfu Pavilion Chamber of Commerce's investigation was much faster than he had expected.

Yesterday, Boss Li went missing, and today someone came to investigate, and they went straight to him.

This shows that Zhao Wuji has strong investigative abilities and a clear way of thinking.

Zhang Yuan recalled Boss Li's memories and found some information about Zhao Wuji.

Zhao Wuji, with a mid-stage Golden Core cultivation level, is an intermediate-level talisman master whose talisman-drawing skills surpass even those of Boss Li.

He is the inspector of the Lingfu Pavilion Chamber of Commerce headquarters, responsible for handling major events at its branches across various regions.

He is cautious, meticulous, and experienced in solving cases, earning him the nickname "Iron-Faced Judge" within the Lingfu Pavilion.

"This is troublesome," Zhang Yuan muttered to himself.

He had to be on his guard when dealing with such a skilled investigator.

If you're not careful, you might expose a flaw.

He showed no sign of anything amiss, nodded, locked the shop door, and followed Chen An to Boss Li's residence.

The mansion's gates were wide open, and several cultivators from the Spirit Talisman Pavilion were standing in the courtyard, conversing in hushed tones.

Their expressions were somewhat solemn, and when they saw Zhang Yuan enter, they all cast scrutinizing glances at him.

Chen An led Zhang Yuan through the courtyard to the main hall.

Inside the main hall, Zhao Wuji, dressed in a gray robe, sat on a grand chair, holding a cup of tea in his hand, sipping it slowly.

He looked to be in his early forties, with a lean face, three long wisps of beard, and small but exceptionally bright eyes.

Beside him stood a slender woman, none other than Boss Li's wife. She wore an elegant white dress and looked very beautiful.

Zhang Yuan cupped his hands in greeting and said, "Junior Zhang Yuan greets Senior Zhao."

Zhao Wuji put down his teacup and looked him up and down.

His gaze was calm, yet it possessed a penetrating power, as if he wanted to see through Zhang Yuan from head to toe, inside and out.

"You're Zhang Yuan, the one who runs the crematorium?" Zhao Wuji asked, his voice neither loud nor soft, carrying a hint of authority.

"It is indeed I, the junior," Zhang Yuan replied respectfully.

Zhao Wuji remained silent, staring coldly at him.

Silence fell over the main hall.

The only sounds were the rustling of leaves in the wind outside the window and the occasional chirping of birds in the distance.

Zhang Yuan remained motionless.

Respectful yet composed.

He knew that Zhao Wuji was putting psychological pressure on him.

Use silence and scrutiny to create a sense of pressure, make him nervous and flustered, and thus expose his weaknesses.

But having lived two lives and weathered countless storms, this psychological tactic couldn't frighten him.

After a long silence, Zhao Wuji spoke again: "Where were you last night?"

"The senior colleague was at the shop all night last night."

"Can anyone testify for you?"

"No. But I'm just a wretched old man in the Qi Refining stage. Besides running the shop, I just sleep all day. I really don't have the ability to do anything else."

"You bought three Concealing Breath Talismans and one Invisibility Talisman from the Spirit Talisman Pavilion, didn't you?" Zhao Wuji asked casually.

"Yes, senior. I did buy it."

"Let me see it."

Without hesitation, Zhang Yuan took out three Concealment Talismans and one Invisibility Talisman from his pocket and presented them with both hands.

The three concealment talismans were drawn by him beforehand.

He had just drawn this invisibility talisman this morning.

The talisman paper and ink were the same ones he had bought from the Spirit Talisman Pavilion before, and they were exactly the same as the batch he had bought before, with no difference whatsoever.

Zhao Wuji took the talisman and examined it carefully.

His gaze was sharp as he scanned the runes on the talisman paper inch by inch, as if searching for some clue.

Zhang Yuan stood there, outwardly calm, but inwardly he was secretly rejoicing.

Fortunately, he drew another invisibility talisman this morning, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to produce a talisman to prove it now.

If he says "used it," Zhao Wuji will definitely ask where it was used, which would be troublesome.

Zhao Wuji looked at it for a while before returning the talisman to Zhang Yuan.

His brows relaxed slightly, and the doubt in his eyes lessened.

But he did not give up.

He leaned forward slightly, looking directly into Zhang Yuan's eyes, and slowly said, "Boss Li made you buy ten intermediate-level talismans every month, so you held a grudge and wanted revenge. So you found a Golden Core cultivator who came to your shop to dispose of corpses and had him kill Boss Li, right?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an invisible pressure.

That gaze seemed to see right through Zhang Yuan's soul.

Zhang Yuan's face was full of helplessness and grievance. He gave a bitter smile and said, "Senior, you overestimate me. I am just a Qi Refining stage cultivator. How could I possibly order a Golden Core stage senior to kill someone?"

Besides, there's no deep-seated hatred between me and Boss Li.

My crematorium affected his sales of cremation talismans, so he asked me to buy some talismans as compensation. This is a very reasonable approach, and I accept it willingly.

Zhang Yuan paused for a moment, then continued, "Moreover, Boss Li is quite good to me. He saw that I have some talent in talismans, so he encouraged me to learn how to draw talismans, saying that in the future I might be able to supply low-level talismans to the Spirit Talisman Pavilion."

He also sold the younger generation talisman-making tools and taught them how to draw concealing talismans. Although the younger generation hasn't been able to draw one successfully yet, they should be able to with continued practice. The younger generation is very grateful to him.

Zhang Yuan's tone was sincere, and his expression was genuine; there was not a trace of falsehood in his words.

"Oh? How did he teach you?"

Zhao Wuji asked coldly.

He didn't believe that Boss Li would treat this old man so well.

Based on his understanding of Boss Li, that guy was narrow-minded and vindictive. He would be grateful if he didn't kill this old man who stole his business, so how could he possibly teach him to draw talismans?

Zhang Yuan obtained most of Boss Li's memories and immediately fabricated a lie based on Boss Li's habits.

Zhao Wuji couldn't detect any flaws in his statement.

He thought to himself that this old man was at the third level of Qi Refining and still had a lot of vitality; he could live for at least several more decades.

If one can obtain some cultivation resources and break through a few realms, one can barely become a low-level talisman master, specializing in supplying low-level talismans to shops.

In this way, although the business of cremation talismans was taken away, it could be made up for by supplying more talismans.

This is far more sophisticated than simply killing someone.

Has Boss Li improved since then?

Thinking of this, Zhao Wuji's suspicion of Zhang Yuan lessened even further.

But he still hadn't completely let go of his doubts.