Chapter 129: The Cause and Effect! Are You Lin Yi?

As for the so-called Stone Pill, it was purely a fabrication; no such thing existed. Within those memories, Lin Yi also uncovered a corrupt secret regarding the Tianhe City Supernatural Investigation Bureau. For instance, the reason Zhang Fang was able to enter the Bureau was entirely the handiwork of Liu He. Beyond Zhang Fang, the Tianhe City Supernatural Investigation Bureau harbored a massive secret: some of its employees were, in fact, demons and monsters.

Devour...

As for the memories of Zhao Qilin, they were simple and quite clichéd. From a young age, Zhao Qilin was doted upon; hailing from the Corpse-Refining Clan, he had never experienced any significant setbacks. Furthermore, Zhao Qilin possessed considerable talent, and even in his youth, he was already formidable.

The head steward of the Zhao family—the one who had been buried after stealing the clan’s secret manual on corpse-refining—had served none other than Zhao Qilin. At that time, as the true young master of the Zhao family, Zhao Qilin had not yet become the clan leader despite being over thirty, as his father still held that position.

Soon, shortly after the head steward was buried, demons and monsters began appearing more frequently across the world, and the ninety-nine mist zones emerged. Seeing himself and his peers growing older, Zhao Qilin’s father and the other pillars of the Zhao family decided to pursue a desperate path: many of the elders sought immortality and greater power. Consequently, the Zhao family employed forbidden arts, refining living people into corpses and allowing the zombies and evil entities they controlled to constantly claim lives.

Corpse-refining relied on the controlled zombies to enhance one's own strength. Yet, as the saying goes, one must give to receive; the more powerful the zombie, the harder it was to control, and the practitioner had to constantly elevate their own power. Many years passed. Eventually, the Zhao family suffered a cataclysmic disaster, being jointly eradicated by the Supernatural Investigation Bureau and numerous sects. Relying on the secret intelligence passed down by his father, Zhao Qilin entered a fragmented, sealed pocket dimension, hoping to break through and seek his revenge.

These were the causes and consequences.

As these memories continuously surfaced in Lin Yi's mind, he suddenly felt an increasing familiarity with the Nightmare Demon and the many lesser nightmare demons. Even the art of corpse-refining felt somewhat familiar, thanks to the fragments of Zhao Qilin’s memories. However, because Zhao Qilin had been a living person, some parts of his memories were blurred or incomplete, preventing Lin Yi from fully grasping them. Otherwise, Lin Yi would have instantly become a master of corpse-refining.

As for the experiences of the Female Corpse of the Desolate Village, Lin Yi could clearly receive them. However, her memories only contained twenty-seven years of life—vague recollections from when she was human. The memories that followed were mostly obscure and unintelligible. As a zombie with a clouded consciousness, her memories offered little of interest and conveyed very little.

Beside Lin Yi, An Yingxiong and Master Mu roared with laughter, their excitement reaching an extreme.

They had not expected that Lin Yi would use three talismans to allow the three of them to kill the Lesser Nightmare Demon and the Female Corpse of the Desolate Village in just a few moves, without expending much effort. Without those three talismans, the outcome of the battle would have been far too uncertain. As they laughed, their eyes fixed on Lin Yi, as if they were dissecting him like a lab rat.

An Yingxiong and Master Mu exchanged a look, both reading the confusion in the other's eyes. Having battled for many years, they understood each other’s thoughts perfectly. What they wanted to know most was who the expert behind Lin Yi was. Lin Yi had never referred to this person as his master, but it was obvious that if not a master, it was at least an elder; otherwise, such top-tier talismans would never have been entrusted to him.

They shook their heads at each other; since Lin Yi did not want to talk, they decided not to press him.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

At that moment, An Yingxiong suddenly darted forward and reached out to seize the banner of the Nine Nether Formation. However, as soon as he touched it, plumes of black smoke swirled in the sky, rapidly coalescing and slamming into him. Although the Nine Nether Formation had lost the control of the Lesser Nightmare Demon Liu He, it was not something An Yingxiong could easily dominate. Panicked, he quickly called for Master Mu to help.

Master Mu rushed over, but even with their combined strength, they could not penetrate the circle of ominous energy surrounding the banner. Touching the formation flag proved incredibly difficult.

It was at this moment that Lin Yi, having just regained his focus, witnessed the scene with a faint smile. An Yingxiong and Master Mu might have failed, but he could do it.

Presumably, because the "Scripture of Severing" had already absorbed so many of these memories, Lin Yi heard two "bangs." The corpses of the Lesser Nightmare Demon Liu He and the Female Corpse of the Desolate Village completely collapsed, turning into colorful rays of light that were sucked into the "Scripture of Severing." Instantly, the gray-white patterns on the scripture, which had already become more vivid, grew even more vibrant. This led Lin Yi to realize that the body was not the root of consciousness—the soul was. The consciousness and souls of the Lesser Nightmare Demon and the Female Corpse had been thoroughly destroyed within the nightmare, which was why their memories had been transferred. There was no need for their physical bodies to be drawn into the mysterious space of the scripture.

The two loud noises startled An Yingxiong and Master Mu. Assuming the corpses had vanished due to the fading influence of the Nine Nether Formation, they didn't think much more of it.

"Forget it," An Yingxiong said to Master Mu. "Since we can't handle it, let's leave. Don't waste time here. We should get out of this Nine Nether Formation or, as we planned, go after the core of the formation."

Master Mu looked at the flag and said, "But what about this banner? We can't touch it, and we can't take it."

Just then, noisy voices erupted from afar. One voice sounded particularly booming, high-pitched, and rough.

"Damn it, we must be trapped here. There's no doubt about it... I, Liu Datou, leader of the Whale Gang, finally reached the master level and thought I’d be able to get my hands on the Female Corpse of the Desolate Village to boost my strength, and now we’re stuck in this mess. I can't stand it, I really can't stand it..."

"That's right, Liu Datou. Say no more. It's fortunate there's no immediate danger, but if we stay here too long, there's too much ominous energy. We'll be done for sooner or later. Let's hurry and find Er Nuzi’s house. I believe it must be nearby, just hidden by some kind of illusion formation!"

A clamor of voices echoed in agreement with the rough, booming speaker. Soon, two figures appeared. Lin Yi’s eyes darted around. The leader of the Whale Gang, Liu Datou? Was this the same gang he had ordered to deliver roasted wild rabbit to old man An Yingxiong earlier? So this was their leader. Not bad—the leader of the Whale Gang was actually a master-level practitioner, a grade stronger than the middle-aged men had suggested. Truly, there was always someone better.

Soon, a burly man with a large head, a thick mane of hair, and a full beard walked over. Beside him followed a tall, gaunt old man wearing boxing gloves on both hands. As soon as they appeared, their aura surged forth. The old man immediately spotted An Yingxiong and Master Mu, then his gaze dropped to the Nine Nether Formation’s banner, and his eyes lit up instantly.

"It's you lot... I see now. So, it was you, An Yingxiong and Master Mu, who were behind all this!"

As he spoke, the tall, gaunt man quickly reined in his aura, ready to strike at any moment. At the same time, he kept his eyes locked on the banner, taking another small step forward and moving closer to the burly bearded man.

Upon hearing this, Liu Datou’s eyes widened in fury, and he gritted his teeth. "It was obviously them! Very well, how wonderful. So, the people from the Shengjing City Supernatural Investigation Bureau are all treacherous villains!"

An Yingxiong’s expression darkened. "Liu Datou of the Whale Gang, Huang Qiangjian of the Baji Sect, don't you dare make false accusations. What does this have to do with us? Everything is the work of Liu He, and Wang Tiandi—don't you see Wang Tiandi over there?" An Yingxiong felt a wave of relief; thankfully, he hadn't killed Wang Tiandi earlier, or he wouldn't have been able to clear his name.

Clearly, the others didn't quite believe him. Through the video feed earlier, Lin Yi already knew that the Whale Gang and the Shengjing City Supernatural Investigation Bureau were at odds. And one could easily guess that Huang Qiangjian of the Baji Sect was no friend of the Bureau either. Furthermore, the name "Huang Qiangjian" was quite unpleasant; it was practically a criminal name if one altered the characters slightly.

Suddenly, Lin Yi looked at the gaunt man's gloves and wondered if he had any relation to Huang Kuang of the Baji Sect. Huang Kuang had tried to act arrogant at Shengjing Academy only to be dealt with by Lin Yi. He wondered if that news had reached this man yet.

"Lin Yi? Speak, you little brat, are you that Lin Yi?"

Just as he was thinking about it, Huang Qiangjian suddenly fixed his gaze on Lin Yi!