Star Trace Gate

Chapter 896 The Tomb Raid Plan, the Benefactor's Strategy

In the patrol hall.

The great wizard shook his head slightly upon hearing Zhao Haochen's question: "Before casting the spell, I used witchcraft to isolate this place. In addition, the blood energy of this drop is weak and the revival is not strong, so the owner of this blood will definitely not be able to sense anything unusual."

"That's good, that's good." Zhao Haochen nodded repeatedly, and then urged, "Then please stop your magic quickly, leave a trace of blood, and then you can cast the spell again as evidence in court."

"Hmm." The great wizard nodded upon hearing this, and with a wave of his hand, he extracted the life force and soul from the faceless puppet, restoring it to normal.

Because his spellcasting time was short and he interrupted it in time, there were still some bloodstains on the stone in his left hand after he drew out the blood, enough to use this strange witchcraft again.

Wu Li snapped out of his shock and shook his head in astonishment, saying, "I've suspected many people, even...!"

Even I had my doubts?! Zhao Haochen glared at him, and then Wu Li changed the subject, saying, "But I never doubted him, which is unbelievable."

“Young master, I deduce that after Zhou Taozhi went mad last night, he lost control of his emotions and must have been reckless when using his magic. Therefore, when he attacked your aunt, he also affected this person, which is why he suffered minor injuries and left bloodstains here.” A night patrolman analyzed with a delighted expression, “This matter is probably unknown even to himself, so… the bloodstains on this stone are crucial and also very unexpected.”

"Ah."

Zhao Haochen nodded slightly, looking thoughtful.

Wu Li glanced at his profile, then immediately asked excitedly, "Sir, should we arrest him now?!"

"Arrest people?" Zhao Haochen raised an eyebrow. "Why arrest people now?!"

“This… before Zhou Taozhi went mad, three people disguised themselves and sneaked into the Peach Blossom Courtyard to challenge the Treasure Chess Game. This is an undeniable fact. Why did they disguise themselves? And why didn’t they dare to show their true faces? They must have been up to no good.” Wu Li spread his hands and said, “Now, based on the bloodstains, we have discovered his true appearance. This is irrefutable evidence! We can arrest him directly and report back to the Three Great Halls.”

Zhao Haochen listened to the other party's words and remained silent for more than ten breaths before coldly saying, "The presence of bloodstains only means they went to the Peach Blossom Courtyard, but how can you prove that they provoked Zhou Taozhi and caused her to go mad, thus leading to her massacre? What is the connection between Zhou Taozhi's madness and the previous two cases? The cause and effect are still unclear, and you don't even know who these three people are or what their motives are! To report this vaguely to the Clan Hall will only make us appear incompetent...!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Li immediately realized what was happening and nodded repeatedly, replying, "What you say is true, sir."

"To make this a solid case, we need to understand the complete logic behind these three people's crimes."

After thinking it over, Zhao Haochen turned around and bowed to the Grand Wizard, his voice hoarse as he said, "Master Wei Zhen, before this matter is officially reported to the clan hall, you must keep it a secret and never mention the identity of the bloodstain's owner to anyone."

"No need to remind me, just give good instructions to the people patrolling the hall." The high priest spoke in a very pleasant tone.

Zhao Haochen immediately looked very embarrassed and nodded repeatedly: "This...this is natural."

"If there is nothing else, I will take my leave."

"I'll see you off."

As soon as he finished speaking, the group escorted the great wizard away from the hall.

Afterwards, Zhao Haochen sat in his office and pondered for a full half hour before issuing a series of investigation orders.

He sat in the large chair, his brow furrowed, and said, "The previous direction of the investigation needs to be completely overturned. All clues, doubts, and witnesses must be re-verified. Wu Li, you will lead a group back to the Heavenly Prison, but this time, you will be accompanied by a phantom image of the bloodstain's owner…!"

He spoke in detail and with strong logic, telling Wu Li more than a dozen points to note.

After listening, Wu Li bowed solemnly and said, "Your subordinate obeys."

"Ruan Dehen, Qin Ming, you two go to the Yin Family Pill Academy again, and only take the night patrolmen you can trust, and then quietly...!" After thinking for a moment, Zhao Haochen explained the direction of the investigation to another team.

Upon hearing this, the two immediately nodded and said, "We will go and prepare immediately."

Zhao Haochen slowly rose, and after carefully considering the countermeasures in his mind, he finally instructed, "In short, this investigation must be kept completely secret. Not even the people in the law hall or those patrolling the hall can tell us. We can only take action after we have thoroughly investigated the whole story and gathered all the supporting evidence..."

"As ordered."

Several trusted confidants immediately responded in unison, their emotions running high.

After Wu Li discovered the bloodstains on the stone, the investigation, which had been stalled, made a leap forward and gained a very clear direction. Therefore, continuing to work overtime was inevitable, and the entire patrol team became even busier in the treacherous and unpredictable Illusion Village.

A struggle involving many people has quietly begun.

……

For two days in a row, Little Bad King kept a low profile and endured it. He knew very well that although there was no news about Zhou Taozhi's case on the surface, and many people in the three major halls believed that Zhou Taozhi was just having a normal episode of illness, and then went on a rampage to kill innocent people, and had nothing to do with any conspiracy or crime.

But Little Bad King, relying on his keen intuition as a former anti-fraud officer, felt that this seemingly favorable public opinion was actually a bad omen. The fact that the three of them had gone to the academy in disguise and even challenged the Treasure Chess Game was enough to suggest that Zhou Tao had been in contact with someone before her death…

The fact that the patrol officers could not have missed this, yet not a word of it leaked out, is enough to show that Zhao Haochen did a very good job of keeping things secret this time, and that he may have already secretly grasped something and was secretly pushing it forward.

This speculation also made Little Bad King want to enter the illusory divine tomb as soon as possible, find his own source of inheritance, and thus complete his mission and leave the gate.

Two days have passed, and the storyteller has learned a lot about the situation of the illusory tomb from Little Fatty, and has also made a specific plan in mind.

Late that night, after saying goodbye to his aunt, Little Bad King hurriedly left home and headed to the dry well next to the dilapidated temple to discuss matters with his two other outstanding teammates.

The moonlight enveloped the tranquil village. Little Bad King walked along the dimly lit alley to the main street, then sensed his surroundings and took many detours before finally confirming that he had no tail behind him. Only then did he walk alone into the wilderness.

However, not long after he left the long street, a white-haired rat happily crossed the shadow of the Li family's high wall and disappeared while sniffing along the way.

The trio of perpetrators reunited at the dilapidated temple and beside the ancient well.

Li Xiaopang squatted on the ground, his face ashen, and sighed wearily, "I need to find a way to end all this quickly... otherwise I'll go crazy sooner or later. I've committed three crimes in the last ten days, and the psychological pressure is just too much. Last night, I was planning to use my skills in bed, and I was thinking of Aunt Zhao Mingdi's beautiful figure, but somehow, in my great pleasure, I suddenly saw Zhou Taozhi's crazy face... It scared me so much that I almost lost my manhood."

Ren Ye listened to his rambling and was immediately shocked. He said, "You son of a bitch, you don't even spare the dead... and this is a bit unethical, isn't it?! Zhao Mingdi is your aunt! You actually... you actually treat her as a rival."

"Heh." The chubby guy sneered, "What does it matter? I have no blood relation with her. Besides... I hate the Zhao family the most. What's wrong with taking advantage of their family? If I become the head of the Li family in the future, none of the women in the Zhao family will be spared."

"Hmm?!" Ren asked curiously, "Why are you so annoyed by the Zhao family?"

"Is that even a question?" Li Xiaopang replied dismissively, "The four major families only jointly governed Xuwang Village out of necessity due to the current situation and their living conditions, but in reality, they are only superficially harmonious. When the Yin family came to Xuwang Village with the Heaven-Mending Formula, how could they have grown to the point of threatening my Li family without Zhao Mi's help?! Isn't this just Zhao Mi's attempt to use their power to suppress my Li family... It's just that my second uncle pretended to be confused out of face."

"Oh, I didn't realize you had such a keen mind for politics at such a young age," Ren Ye said with a smile.

“I’m actually quite smart, just a bit inconsistent,” Li Xiaopang replied very reasonably.

"Shut up." The storyteller interrupted their conversation, then brought up the important matter: "Li Xiaopang, let me ask you... if outsiders want to enter the Illusory God's Tomb, is it necessary to use a guide talisman?"

“That’s right.” Li Xiaopang nodded solemnly: “A guide talisman can allow the entrant to sense the direction of the illusory divine tomb and find the path to enter it. There is no limit to the number of people, but the entrant can only stay in the divine tomb area for three hours. After the time is up, the entrant will be driven out of the divine tomb and will randomly appear in any corner of the village.”

Upon hearing this, Ren Ye, with his keen intuition, asked, "If an entrant encounters an emergency, can they leave early?"

"It is possible, but you must kowtow before the entrance to the tomb. There are two mythical beast sculptures in front of the entrance. According to the ancient records of my Li family, if someone wants to leave early, they must kowtow before the entrance and sense the soul of the mythical beasts in the sculptures," Li Xiaopang answered in detail.

"Hmm...!" Ren Ye nodded slightly: "You stole a guiding talisman that day?"

"Yes." Li Xiaopang nodded and said, "I only have one."

“That means you only have one chance to enter…!” Ren Ye disguised himself as an old man in white, pretending to stroke his pale beard before continuing to ask, “Then what was your plan when you stole the talisman and secretly broke into the Divine Tomb?”

Li Xiaopang blinked: "It's very simple. I will use a guiding talisman to enter the Divine Tomb, then pass through the outer perimeter alone... and arrive at the tomb's entrance. Then, I will use the Ancient Mirror of Void Transmission to shatter the void and teleport into the tomb. In the entire Void Village, only my Li family can do this, because to open the Divine Tomb's entrance, only the four clan leaders can work together. But my Li family cultivates the Dao of Void, so we are not subject to this restriction and can infiltrate through teleportation."

“That doesn’t make sense.” Ren Ye raised an eyebrow and asked, “If only the Li family can infiltrate the Void God’s Tomb, then how could the three tomb guardians, including Zhou Taozhi, have entered so easily? Moreover, Zhao Mi has been secretly investigating the tomb for a long time, and he may have entered it alone many times.”

"To open the tomb door of the Divine Tomb, one must possess the Tomb God's Token. There is only one token, but it is shattered, with four pieces in total. The three tomb guardians were able to enter because the Clan Hall gave them these four Tomb God's Tokens, allowing them to enter. However... after the three tomb guardians encountered an accident, the Tomb God's Tokens were taken back by the Clan Hall and are now jointly controlled by the four clan leaders." Little Fatty explained softly, "Therefore, to reunite the four tokens, all four clan leaders must gather together and jointly unleash their spiritual power in order to open the tomb door."

"As for whether Zhao Mi can enter alone, I have no idea," Li Xiaopang sneered. "You said it yourself, that old guy has been secretly investigating the Divine Tomb for a long time, he may have already found other ways...!"

"Ah."

Ren nodded slightly, then looked at the storyteller: "We only have three hours to enter the Divine Tomb, and we only have one chance, so we can't afford to make the slightest mistake. We must be fully prepared."