Chapter 440 Disappeared into thin air
Lu Yang pondered over what Xu Shan said.

“So, the mountain ghost used the breakthrough as bait to lure the great wizard Zhongli to attack us in revenge for having his lair destroyed and his body and incense destroyed?”

For those who practice cultivation, a breakthrough in realm is undoubtedly a great temptation.

That can not only improve your strength, but also increase your lifespan.

But at the same time, the higher the level of the cultivator, the more difficult it is to break through the realm.

It is not only restricted by the level of cultivation, but also by the various spiritual treasures and materials needed for a breakthrough.

Even the great wizard Zhongli was ranked behind Jian Cheng and others in terms of breakthrough in Guling County.

He wanted to gather all the materials needed for a breakthrough through normal channels, but it would probably take forever.

Lu Yang put himself in the other person’s shoes and thought, if he were the Great Wizard Zhongli and faced with such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he would probably jump into it even if he knew there was a trap.

Lu Dao thought so too, and he recalled: “Hearing what Lao Xu said, I also remembered one thing. When investigating the mountain ghost case, Zhongli Da Wu carefully interrogated every mountain ghost believer, asking them whether the mountain ghost really “grants every wish”, what method it uses to “grant every wish”, and what kind of wish it can fulfill, etc.

I also asked him why he asked these questions in such detail.

The explanation he gave at the time was that he wanted to build a complete case file so that he could have detailed case references when he encountered similar cases of false gods in the future. Now it seems that he was probably already thinking about the mountain ghost at that time. “

Xu Shan frowned, “In other words, it wasn’t the mountain ghost that bewitched the Great Wizard Zhongli, but the Great Wizard Zhongli had been aiming for the mountain ghost to “grant whatever you ask for” from the very beginning?”

“Most likely!” Lu Dao nodded slowly.

If the great wizard Zhongli was really in seclusion for cultivation and was taken advantage of by the mountain ghost, then he should have struggled and resisted. It would be impossible for him to be bewitched by the mountain ghost all at once.

With the strength of the great wizard Zhongli, as long as he struggles and resists, the aura he generates is bound to be very strong. The wizard formation and masters in the inner mountains should not have failed to notice it.

Moreover, if the mountain ghost was not dead and was hiding in the body of Zhongli the Great Witch, it should not have escaped the detection of Shanjun and Yunjun. These two were able to become the gatekeepers of the Witch Academy, and they were quite powerful, especially their noses, which could sniff out the evil spirits no matter how deep they were hidden.

Unless the great wizard Zhongli had taken the initiative to help cover up the mountain ghost from the very beginning, the mountain ghost would not have been discovered.

Therefore, from the beginning, the Great Wizard Zhongli had no intention to really get rid of the mountain ghost. His goal was to capture the mountain ghost alive and use this false god for his own purposes! In this situation, it is hard to say whether the Great Wizard Zhongli was bewitched by the mountain ghost or the mountain ghost was used by the Great Wizard Zhongli.

Or maybe the two are taking advantage of each other.

The flesh, blood, and souls of Shang Lu and others may not necessarily help the great wizard Zhongli to achieve a breakthrough.

But it was definitely part of the sacrifice.

It is part of the “PLAY” between the great wizard Zhongli and the mountain ghost.

And more sacrifices might be these poor “human beings” here and their shocking resentment!

That’s why the great wizard Zhongli took the risk of taking action despite the presence of the Chief Supervisor, the Guard Wizard, and many other experts from the other two counties.

Because here, there are enough “sacrifices” to allow him to complete the sacrifice and realize his wish of breakthrough.

If you miss it, it will be difficult to collect so many sacrifices again.

Moreover, the place where the He thieves are entrenched is weird enough.

After completing the breakthrough, the great wizard Zhongli was able to attribute the reason to this place, saying that he had obtained some kind of opportunity in this place.

The more Lu Dao and Xu Shan discussed with Shang Lu and the others, the more they felt that there was something wrong with the Great Witch Zhongli.

Lu Dao also told Shang Lu and Lu Yang that their names were not originally on the list of people to be encircled and suppressed.

It was the Great Witch Zhongli who recommended them to the Chief Secretary, saying that they were both very talented and worthy of cultivation.

Although Lu Dao was present at the time, he did not suspect anything and thought that Zhongli the Great Witch really wanted to cultivate Shang Lu and Lu Yang. Now he knew that Zhongli the Great Witch wanted to “cultivate” the two of them as sacrifices.

Also not on the list but taken along by Great Witch Zhongli were the two deceased law enforcers and inspectors of the Discipline Department.

Like Shang Lu and Lu Yang, these two people participated in the actions of hunting and killing mountain ghosts and destroying evil temples, and were listed as enemies and sacrifices by the mountain ghosts.

Lu Yang looked around nervously: “If it is really the plan of the Great Wizard Zhongli, and we are part of the sacrifice, then he will definitely not allow us to live. Once he knows that the two Ghost Eight Immortals failed, he will probably launch a more violent attack, or even do it himself! We must respond as soon as possible!”

Lu Dao pondered for a moment, and had an idea in mind, but he didn’t rush to speak it out. Instead, he looked at Shang Lu and asked in a testing tone, “What do you think we should do?”

Shang Lu crossed his hands and replied, “I think we should report this matter to the Supervisor and the Guard Witch immediately. If there is really something wrong with the Great Witch Zhongli, only they can take him down. If there is nothing wrong with the Great Witch Zhongli, with their abilities, they will definitely be able to find out the truth and catch the real culprit!”

Lu Dao nodded: “Yes, he didn’t become arrogant and presumptuous just because he had just invited Tu Bo to kill two ghosts.” Then he turned to the dark night where no one was, crossed his arms and said: “Sir, did you hear what we said? Please show yourself.”

In the distance, on the ground in the dark night, a whirlwind suddenly blew up.

The wind quickly condensed and transformed into a round man wearing a gray robe.

It was the Wei Wu that Shang Lu and his companions had met in the camp before.

It is said to be the Rat Patrol, one of the twelve Earthly Branches in Wei Wu.

At that time, Lu Yang even complained in a low voice, saying that he was so fat, how could he be a rat? He was obviously a big rat. But he didn’t expect that this big rat patrol… Ah, the rat patrol had excellent hearing and taught Lu Yang a lesson.

Shang Lu asked Bai Lingxu about the Twelve Earthly Branches Patrol, and learned that this person was affiliated with the Four Symbols Department of the Guardian Witch, and his function was similar to that of a patrol inspector, representing the King of Ba and the Witch Chief to patrol the local area. Not only was he extremely powerful, but his cultivation was also not bad. “As expected of Officer Lu, you discovered me as soon as I revealed a little bit of my aura.” After the Rat Patrol appeared, he smiled and said something polite.

Lu Dao did not get complacent, but smiled bitterly: “Your Excellency, the inspector is too kind. If you hadn’t taken the initiative to indicate it, I wouldn’t have noticed it. I really admire your ability to hide your tracks. I wonder how long you have been here and how much you have heard?”

The Rat Patrolman said, “I have been here since you started discussing how the great wizard Zhongli was bewitched by the mountain ghost.”

Lu Dao asked again, “What is the opinion of the inspector?”

The answer given by the Rat Patrol was both simple and domineering.

“We can find out if we can arrest and interrogate Master Zhongli to see if he has any problems.”

“Just arrest the person?”

Lu Yang was stunned: “We don’t have direct evidence yet, how can we arrest someone? Are the Supervisor and the others willing to cooperate?”

Patrol Officer Zishu said with a smile, “You need solid evidence to arrest people in the Discipline Department. But we, the Wu Guards, never need evidence to arrest people. As long as we have suspicion, we can arrest them. Whether they are innocent or not will be known after interrogation! Moreover, this matter involves the Great Wu Zhongli. If he is really colluding with the fake god Mountain Ghost, then the impact will be huge! Extraordinary things should be handled in an extraordinary way. Your Supervisor will cooperate.”

Shang Lu thought to himself that he was worthy of being a Wei Wu, as he really was “execute first and report later, with special permission from the king.”

But when the Rat Patrolman reached this point, he glanced at everyone present and suddenly changed the subject.

“You will also be investigated and interrogated! Don’t worry, we at the Four Symbols Division have plenty of ways to get to the bottom of the matter. As long as you have no problems and are not deliberately accusing or framing the Great Wizard Zhongli, there will be no problem.”

Bai Lingxu and Senior Sister Gongshu were quite helpless. They were forced to be involved in this matter, but they did not dare to refuse and could only bow and say “yes”.

As for Lu Dao, Xu Shan, Shang Lu and Lu Yang, they had no objection at all.

Only Shang Lu said worriedly: “I’m afraid that the noise just now was too loud and might alert the enemy…”

“Is there a lot of movement?”

Rat Patrolman raised his eyebrows and asked with some curiosity: “I was just about to ask you, what happened here just now? And why were the marks of clairvoyance and superb hearing on your bodies forcibly broken?”

“Ok?”

Shang Lu, Lu Yang and the other three were all stunned when they heard this, and then they checked the marks of the Clairvoyance and Superb Ears on their bodies, and found that they had all disappeared.

It seems that Tubo has come and wiped out the mark of Clairvoyance and Super Ear?

At the same time, Tubo also controlled the impact of His coming to the smallest extent, so as to avoid the news leaking out and alerting the enemy?

Shang Lu speculated and was secretly amazed. He didn’t expect that Tu Bo was still so thoughtful even when he was crazy. It seemed that he had really recovered a lot. Even if he was not in the midnight, he was calmer and more rational than other gods.

This is indeed good news for Shanglu.

Lu Dao looked at Shang Lu with surprise in his eyes, probably having a similar guess.

At the same time, he recounted what happened: “Sir, this is what happened just now…”

After listening to Lu Dao’s story, the Rat Patrol also cast a surprised look at Shang Lu.

“You are really ignorant… Well, you are really a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers.”

You mean to say that the ignorant are fearless? I can hear it all… Shang Lu complained in his heart, but he didn’t dare to question it out loud.

Since what happened here has not leaked out yet, we must act quickly, lest the great wizard Zhongli notices it and escapes in the chaos.

The Rat Patrolman released a few wisps of witchcraft with a snap of his fingers, which transformed into several black rats that burrowed underground in an instant.

These black rats will notify other wizards to come and break the evil formation here and rescue the poor children in the fields.

As for Lu Dao, Shang Lu and others, they were taken by the Rat Patrol and rushed to the most core area in the valley.

One was to prevent them from running away, and the other was to capture the Great Wizard Zhongli, so that they could interrogate him together and let both parties confront each other.

However, when the group arrived at the core area of ​​the valley, they found it quiet.

Not only was there no fighting, but even Jiancheng, Zhongli Dawu and others had disappeared without a trace.

Also missing were the masters from Baiyi and Bizhi counties who had rushed here to encircle and suppress the bandits, as well as the bandit chieftain Shennong the Great and his gang of wheat thieves.

Even the filthy rice fields that should have been here have disappeared without a trace.

It was as if something had sucked away everything that was supposed to be here.

“What happened here? Where are the people? Where are the rice fields? Where did they go?”

Everyone looked at each other in astonishment, and at the same time, they all assumed fighting stances and vigilantly guarded their surroundings.

At the same time, under the leadership of the Rat Patrol, a search was launched to find out what had happened in this place and where the masters had gone.

It’s impossible that they all disappeared out of thin air, right?

(End of this chapter)