Chapter 836
Erasure
Li Wenying spun around angrily: "It wasn't me, it wasn't me, it just wasn't me! Ask Junior Sister Pan, since you left, the two of us have never been apart, nor have we ever come near this Huang residence!"
"Fine, it wasn't you. Then let me ask you, you didn't see the strange phenomenon of the magic array being deactivated, so didn't you also notice the fluctuations in spiritual energy after it was deactivated?" Zhang Ziwang pressed closer, his eyes fixed on Li Wenying.
Li Wenying's face darkened: "Why do you suspect me instead of Pan Yun?"
Pan Yun hugged her compass, looking weak and helpless as she watched the two arguing.
Zhang Ziwang glanced at her and then looked away, sneering, "You have a precedent to follow, do you want me to be more explicit?"
Li Wenying: ...
He took a deep breath and emphasized again, "It wasn't me!"
Pan Yun raised her hand tremblingly and said weakly, "Senior Brother Zhang, I can testify that we have always been together. When I had a stomachache, Senior Brother Li even gave me acupuncture. Even when I went to the toilet, Senior Brother Li was waiting for me outside. He really never left."
Zhang Ziwang remained silent.
Li Wenying took a deep breath and started thinking. She frowned and said, "Could it be that we alerted them this morning, and the Huang family broke the magic array on their own?"
Before she could finish speaking, Li Wenying slapped herself across the face, startling the county constable and the yamen runners nearby.
Even Mr. Huang, who was accompanying him, took two steps back and looked at him as if he were a madman.
Li Wenying: "This formation drains the energy from the Huang residence, so that although it is a place with auspicious feng shui, it does not enjoy the feng shui of the place. If the Huang family knew about this formation, how could they allow it to exist? It must have been set up by someone else."
Master Huang was stunned for a long time, repeating his words to himself three times before he finally understood.
He was struck by lightning.
"It must have been a senior with a higher cultivation level than us who sneaked in and did this while I was treating my junior sister..."
While Li Wenying was still analyzing, Master Huang let out a loud "Aow—!", "What did you say! This magic array is drawing away the dragon's energy..."
"I've been scammed, oh dear, I've been scammed—"
I knew that person was suspicious. She even told me to reduce my rent, which sounded like a scheme to harm myself and benefit others. How could she be helping me? Oh dear, oh dear, my rent, my money—"
Pan Yun, clutching the compass, hid behind Li Wenying to avoid the suddenly deranged Master Huang.
When Master Huang mentioned the dragon vein, the county constable perked up and stared intently at him. When Zhang Ziwang ran to the county office and said that a dragon vein had been discovered here, they didn't believe him. If he hadn't produced the token from Longhu Mountain, the county magistrate wouldn't have let him go with him.
I never expected this place to actually have dragon energy!
Looking at the deranged Master Huang, the county constable's eyes flashed with mockery. "With this kind of mentality, he still dares to dream of becoming a dragon?"
Just as he was about to step forward, Li Wenying stopped him. He and Zhang Ziwang flanked Master Huang, asking him a few questions skillfully, and quickly got all the information out of him.
"What did you call that white-haired, youthful-looking female Taoist priest?"
Mr. Huang opened his mouth to speak, but then suddenly became confused and said in distress, "What was her name again? Strange, I just remembered it, how come I don't remember it now?"
He clutched his head, writhing in anguish: "What was her name again? What was her name...?"
Zhang Ziwang and Li Wenying exchanged a glance, stepped forward, grabbed his chin, turned his face to face, stared into his eyes for a moment, and then said in a deep voice, "It's an illusion. Someone used an illusion to erase his memory."
Zhang Ziwang and Li Wenying immediately ordered the county magistrate to summon everyone from the Huang residence for questioning.
Just as the constables were shouting and summoning all the servants of the Huang family, Pan Xiaohei jumped down from the stove in the Huang family's house. The little girl who was adding water to the pot suddenly came back to her senses and saw that the water in the pot had overflowed. She couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh dear, how could she have been distracted?"
"Chan, hurry! They're calling for people up ahead. Everyone needs to get to the front." Chan responded and rushed out in a flurry. Pan Xiaohei jumped onto the roof, glanced back, and then dashed off.
It has checked everyone in this house one by one. If it still finds someone, then Pan Yun is just unlucky.
Pan Xiaohei jumped off the roof quickly, found a corner next to the wonton stall, and lay down, burying his head in his front paws.
It was so tired. In all its years as a cat, it had never been this tired, except for the time when it was almost killed by Pan Yun when it first met her.
Pan Yun owes it to her.
Of the twenty-eight members of the Huang family, not a single one remembered the name of the white-haired, youthful-looking female Taoist.
I didn't even remember what he looked like.
Zhang Ziwang chuckled and asked Master Huang, "Then what do you remember?"
Old Master Huang wept bitterly: "I remember the money, the carriage, and the horse they swindled me out of, and the five-year rent I signed with the tenant farmers. Oh, my rent, my money..."
Zhang Ziwang took a deep breath and asked, "After we left this morning, who else came?"
Master Huang shook his head blankly: "Only you two came to visit today, no one else came."
The other people in the Huang family said the same thing.
Li Wenying had relaxed and leaned against the railing watching Zhang Ziwang interrogate them. She said listlessly, "Stop asking. I understand everything. This man surnamed Huang is rich but heartless. Most likely, some senior passed by, couldn't stand it, so he leaked the dragon vein energy of his family, swindled him out of money, and even helped the tenant farmers sign a plausible contract. Isn't this just robbing the rich to help the poor?"
"Discovering a dragon vein and not reporting it—do you know how serious that crime is?"
Li Wenying scoffed and said, "This only threatens people with families and homes. If a person has no attachments, who would care about this law? I think this senior is just a carefree cultivator who stands up for justice."
"Since you're so carefree, why did you destroy the formation and use illusion magic to erase people's memories?" Zhang Ziwang said, "Don't you think this memory-erasing technique is very similar to the techniques of our Celestial Master's Mansion?"
Li Wenying paused, then remained silent.
The courtyard fell silent for a moment, and Zhang Ziwang felt something was off; it was too quiet.
He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then suddenly looked up, glanced around, and squinted at Pan Jun: "Pan Jun, why have you been so silent?"
Pan Yun, holding a compass, stood to one side, leaning casually against a wooden pillar like Li Wenying. Upon hearing this, she said, "I'm studying."
She said, "This is the first time I've seen a case like this. It's so rare. Senior Brother Zhang, Senior Brother Li, please continue."
The two ignored her, but their suspicions gradually disappeared.
Li Wenying didn't understand why Zhang Ziwang cared so much. In his opinion, the only thing missing was that senior. His guess was perfectly correct: "They say that if you see injustice on the road, you should just report the dragon vein and cover up the rest. Our Celestial Master's Mansion has done this kind of thing many times. Why are you being so serious about this one?"
Zhang Ziwang stopped and looked back at the Huang residence hidden behind the trees.
By this time, they had already left the Huang residence and walked some distance away. Inside, they heard deafening cries. It was because the county magistrate had sent yamen runners to guard the Huang family. The matter was of great importance, and they had to report it for further action.
Half of his face was hidden in shadow as he said in a deep voice, "I went to the county government office and learned that Deng Maoqi, who caused trouble in Fujian, is from here, and that he was forced to leave this place by the Huang family and went to Fujian." (End of this chapter)