Lin Jiu was anxious and reminded out loud, “Teacher…”
Weng Ping Ran also realized that Nan Deng was angry at this moment. He quickly stood up from his chair and cautiously asked, “You… don’t like this arrangement?”
Nan Deng looked at the cup on the table, trying hard to retract his leaking divine power. The surrounding disturbances quickly disappeared, and the water in the cup returned to calm.
He didn’t know when it started, but his power had been growing quietly and rapidly, without him even noticing.
Nan Deng glanced at Weng Ping Ran, and with a stern face, he followed up on his words, “I don’t like it.”
“Then…”
Weng Ping Ran turned his head to secretly seek help from Lin Jiu. From his gaze, he vaguely understood his meaning, “Then I won’t take Lian Yi away?”
Not taking him away was also fine. After the review was completed, they could let him return, which would save more time for detaining him.
Lin Jiu promptly added, “How about we first reinstate Chief Lian’s position? The review can be temporarily…”
“No,” Weng Ping Ran disagreed, “First, we do the review, then consider reinstating the position.”
That was the normal procedure; the rules of the inner court couldn’t be messed up.
Moreover, in Weng Ping Ran’s view, Lian Yi had never defended himself from the beginning to the end. His matters were unclear and must be thoroughly investigated. Otherwise, they couldn’t let such a dangerous person stay by the mountain god’s side.
No matter how much Lin Jiu hinted, Weng Ping Ran was unmoved.
He was thinking for the mountain god’s sake. Even if it would displease Nan Deng, he had to speak out.
Seeing this, Lin Jiu was secretly troubled.
Although this teacher was straightforward and outspoken, which was a good thing because it showed he had no hidden intentions, he was sometimes too rigid.
He had been in contact with Nan Deng longer and knew that he highly valued Lian Yi; their relationship was anything but ordinary.
At this moment, Lian Yi, who was standing aside, spoke coldly, “Review what?”
He didn’t care about any position; if it weren’t for Nan Deng, he would have long abandoned the title of Celestial Master.
Nan Deng looked up at Lian Yi, then at Weng Ping Ran, indicating for him to continue.
Lin Jiu reacted the quickest. He took out his communicator and found the initial announcement of the task to remove him from his position.
“Charge one: suspected of spreading plagues in various places…”
The first sentence made Nan Deng frown, and he retorted, “He didn’t do this.”
“Indeed,” Lin Jiu agreed, “the current suspect for spreading plagues should be Elder Xie Yun.”
He continued reading: “Charge two: dereliction of duty and arrogance.”
For this one, Lin Jiu proactively explained, “But Chief Lian had more important matters at that time… I think it is understandable.”
The more important matter was, of course, serving the mountain god. Weng Ping Ran remained silent but reluctantly agreed.
“Charge three: suspected collusion with resentful spirits, with eyewitnesses.”
Resentful spirits? No other resentful spirits had ever appeared around Lian Yi.
Nan Deng immediately thought that the resentful spirit might be referring to himself… perhaps someone had accidentally seen him when he was a ghost earlier.
He pretended to be calm and said, “No, this is slander.”
Lin Jiu readily accepted this and crossed out that charge as well.
The next two charges had only been added recently. One claimed that Lian Yi had attacked a Celestial Master apprentice at night, and the other attributed Gu Xu’s death to him.
In reality, the apprentice who was attacked was the doing of Gu Xu, who later attempted to ambush the two but had his soul consumed by the rabbit head, leaving the remaining soul unable to sustain itself, leading to his death.
Hearing Gu Xu’s name, the rabbit head emerged from Lin Jiu’s pocket again.
It had now basically remembered the names of several elders, and recalling that it was the one who caused Gu Xu’s back injury, it vaguely remembered that it had indeed consumed such a person.
Nan Deng was completely unaware of this, looking bewildered, “How could this be… I have always been with him. None of this was his doing.”
With Nan Deng’s “testimony”, the charges were dismissed one by one.
Finally, Lin Jiu paused before reading the last charge: “Suspected of killing Elder Zhuo Qing and imprisoning his soul.”
Nan Deng opened his mouth and unconsciously clenched his fingers.
This charge was indeed something Lian Yi had done. Nan Deng was pondering how to speak up for him when he suddenly heard Lian Yi’s voice: “Yes.”
Lian Yi said coldly, “I killed him.”
The air in the lounge seemed to freeze for a moment. Lian Yi looked up at Weng Ping Ran and said, “He tried to steal my life soul in Xiangnan, so I killed him.”
But with no proof, all the reasons he gave could be seen as excuses.
Hearing Lian Yi’s admission, Weng Ping Ran was not surprised.
Compared to the other “charges”, this one was more of a personal vendetta. He had previously not wanted to get involved. Now, if the mountain god spoke up, it might be something they could overlook…
Weng Ping Ran cleared his throat, “Then where is Elder Zhuo Qing’s soul now?”
Lian Yi lowered his eyes and replied, “I fed it to Hui Shou.”
Fed it to… Hui Shou?
Weng Ping Ran’s gaze shifted downwards and landed on the rabbit head in Nan Deng’s arms.
Nan Deng was stunned for a moment before he realized that Hui Shou was the name of the rabbit head.
He also lowered his head and asked softly, “Xiao Tu, did you really eat it?”
When did this happen… how did he not know?
The rabbit head twitched its ears and licked its lips, indicating that it indeed ate this person.
Weng Ping Ran’s throat choked, and he locked eyes with the rabbit head for a long time before finally squeezing out a sentence: “…Well, he deserved it then.”
Lin Jiu quickly took notes and approached Weng Ping Ran, “Teacher, what about this review…”
He hinted to Weng Ping Ran that they had gone through the formalities and it was about time to wrap it up.
Besides, except for the last charge, the rest were indeed false accusations against Lian Yi. Nan Deng had personally stated that he was always with Lian Yi, which couldn’t be a lie.
Weng Ping Ran thought carefully, and his long-held impression of Lian Yi began to change.
Under Lin Jiu’s urging, Weng Ping Ran rescinded the announcement.
Although it was a fact that Lian Yi had killed Zhuo Qing, it couldn’t be ignored. But his recent meritorious service in protecting the mountain god balanced it out.
His position was reinstated, making him once again the chief Celestial Master of the inner court, officially qualifying him to protect Nan Deng.
With this matter finally resolved, Nan Deng felt a weight lift off his shoulders.
He approached Weng Ping Ran with a faint smile, “Elder Weng, thank you.”
Weng Ping Ran’s heart softened. Initially, he felt it was still inappropriate to let Lian Yi stay by Nan Deng’s side.
But at that moment, he thought that as long as the mountain god was happy, keeping Lian Yi might not be a bad idea.
“It’s just a small matter,” Weng Ping Ran’s eyes crinkled with fine lines, “Would you like to rest a bit more? I can have someone bring over the hospital patient records.”
Nan Deng shook his head, “I’ll go see for myself.”
The main reason he came to Changyang was to address the plague here.
Although the parrot had taken Nan Deng’s hair to soak in water, according to Weng Ping Ran’s observations, the recovery rate of patients sprayed with the water had significantly slowed in the past two days, and the symptoms were not entirely eradicated.
Weng Ping Ran accompanied Nan Deng to the quarantine area, explaining the situation to him along the way.
The parrot in Nan Deng’s pocket woke up, climbed onto his shoulder, and shook its feathers.
“Lord Mountain God,” it said softly, “the aura on the hair has probably faded.”
With the aura fading, the water soaked with the hair lost its effectiveness.
The parrot spoke mysteriously, its voice deliberately low. But Weng Ping Ran still heard it.
So it was the hair… Thinking of the drop of water he had preserved in a temperature-controlled box, he felt a bit conflicted.
Upon arriving in the quarantine area, Nan Deng put on a mask and slowly walked through the corridor.
The situation in Changyang was not severe, but many people were infected, and several nurses were busy helping patients with mobility issues.
Lin Jiu had previously sent the talisman water developed by Xie Yun for testing, but nothing unusual was found.
To be safe, he had still asked people to stay alert. Weng Ping Ran had issued an order this morning prohibiting the use of any talisman water, and all such water sent to pharmacies was to be recalled.
He took out a bottle of talisman water and handed it to Nan Deng.
Nan Deng took it, opened it, and sniffed it, frowning slightly.
Previously, when Lian Yi had fainted due to his restriction, Nan Deng had gone to the pharmacy for medicine and given Lian Yi a bottle of talisman water.
The liquid in both instances seemed identical, with no difference in smell. But Nan Deng had an instinctive feeling that something was off.
He couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong, so he returned the talisman water to Lin Jiu and rubbed his nose, “This is no good; it can’t be used.”
With that simple sentence, he almost definitively judged the talisman water and its creator.
Weng Ping Ran’s expression changed slightly, and he whispered to Lin Jiu, “Immediately increase the manpower and ensure that Xie Yun is captured.”
The Inner Court had been established for a long time, with tens of thousands of Celestial Masters joining over the years. Those who reached the rank of elder were the best among them.
Until now, the Inner Court had never encountered such an incident, and Weng Ping Ran had never been suspicious of anyone.
Moreover, Xie Yun had been very secretive, and no one had noticed the problem with the talisman water. He had even tried to frame Lian Yi.
If it weren’t for Nan Deng, who knows when they would have discovered the truth.
The talisman water was collected as one of the pieces of evidence against Xie Yun.
Nan Deng walked to the end of the quarantine area and stood before a wall with a small blackboard hanging on it.
Among the patients were some young children who, being hospitalized, could not attend school or go out freely. Apart from watching TV, they had little entertainment each day.
Therefore, the hospital had set up a small blackboard here for drawing or teaching some arithmetic, trying to alleviate the oppressive atmosphere.
The blackboard had some flowers drawn on it, with childish lines and petals of varying sizes, indicating that the artist was very young.
Nan Deng reached out and gently touched the petals with his fingertips.
As he touched the blackboard, the same phenomenon as before occurred.
Divine power flowed from Nan Deng’s body, spreading outward in the gentlest manner.
Simultaneously, some keen-sensed Celestial Masters, including Weng Ping Ran, detected this faint aura.
His lips trembled, extremely excited.
Lin Jiu was somewhat prepared, so he appeared much calmer and supported Weng Ping Ran, “Teacher, you can notify the hospital.”
If his guess was correct, the patients in the hospital would be the first to be cured, while those farther away would take a bit longer.
Nan Deng withdrew his hand, feeling a slight dizziness.
He still felt drained. But this time, the sensation wasn’t as intense, and he didn’t feel dizzy or weak.
Lian Yi, standing beside him, asked, “Are you feeling unwell?”
Nan Deng shook his head and leaned into Lian Yi’s embrace, “I seem to be hungry…”
Lian Yi almost completely shielded Nan Deng’s figure. In his excitement, Weng Ping Ran didn’t notice this scene.
By the time he looked over, Nan Deng had already moved away from Lian Yi’s embrace.
Afterward, Nan Deng didn’t want to leave and decided to wait for the patients’ re-examination results.
During this time, Lin Jiu, following Lian Yi’s instructions, prepared various foods and brought them into the lounge.
Weng Ping Ran busied himself with notifying the hospital and having the remaining Celestial Masters assist.
The drop of water given by the parrot was also kept in the hospital. He took one last look at it, letting it evaporate.
Then, Weng Ping Ran hurried to the lounge to see if Nan Deng needed anything else.
The entire corridor outside the lounge was cordoned off, with no unauthorized entry allowed.
Lin Jiu had just brought the food in, and the door was open. As Weng Ping Ran approached, he saw Nan Deng and Lian Yi inside.
Lian Yi, wearing gloves, was peeling shrimp for Nan Deng.
Nan Deng was very close to him, almost leaning on him, intently watching the shrimp in his hands.
After peeling one, Lian Yi fed it directly to Nan Deng, who opened his mouth and ate it.
Seeing this, Weng Ping Ran inexplicably felt a bit short of breath.
He retreated outside the door and took a few deep breaths.
This… this is too intimate… Can’t Lian Yi just put the shrimp in a bowl? How can he do this to the mountain god!
Unable to contain himself, Weng Ping Ran stepped closer again.
This time, he saw that there was indeed a small bowl on the table. Lian Yi picked up a second shrimp, and without peeling it, placed it directly in the bowl.
Beside the bowl was the rabbit head, which immediately devoured the shrimp whole.
