Chapter 117 Conspiracy

I didn't linger in the provincial capital, but went straight back to my funeral shop in Huacheng.

Eighth Miss asked what I'd found out in my investigation and why I hadn't brought Qin Shuguang back for her to judge.

I said, "No need. Qin Shuguang has already confessed. He did send people to kill me. Moreover, Qin Shuguang isn't in a good state himself. He's half-mad, no longer able to control his own actions. He's now a puppet of the Mitian Great God."

Eighth Miss was stunned. "How could that be?"

"Is something wrong?" I asked Eighth Miss.

Eighth Miss said, "Qin Shuguang can't possibly be half-mad. If he really were, he wouldn't have been able to draw those talismans."

"Perhaps he didn't draw them. He's just a person; he shouldn't be able to use fox clan talismans."

"Are you suggesting the Mitian Great God drew those talismans from the start?"

"Judging from the current situation, it's possible.

"I previously thought someone was deliberately imitating fox clan talismans to cause my soul to leave my body when I made paper effigies. Then, the Mitian Great God guided my soul into the Mitian realm through their mysterious power. But now, it seems I overcomplicated things. From the beginning, the Mitian Great God drew my soul out. The fox clan talismans on the paper didn't play any role."

"No, the fox clan talismans did cause your soul to leave your body. Moreover, the one who drew those talismans was indeed an old man, a human old man, not the Mitian Great God, nor a puppet controlled by the Mitian Great God.

"Wan Qian, you must believe me. My judgment is never wrong. Even if this conflicts with the information you've gathered, you must carefully consider and remember what I'm telling you. You'll need it.

"I swear on my former beauty that the information I'm giving you is absolutely true and useful to you. Otherwise, may my face stay like this forever, never able to recover."

Fox Eighth Miss spoke very seriously.

I nodded seriously. "Okay, I'll carefully consider and remember the information you've given me until I can correctly fit it into the blank spaces of my mental puzzle."

"Mm." Eighth Miss said nothing more and returned to her spirit tablet.

I could tell Eighth Miss had something on her mind, but she didn't share her story, and I didn't ask.

Ding Kan asked what my plans were.

I asked him in return what his plans were.

Ding Kan said, "My plan is simple: to take a trip to the Mitian realm. Although there are only ten slots in the whole province, including you, I still believe in my strength. I'm sure I can get a ticket. Although I may not be able to beat those reclusive old monsters, I should be in the top ten among the younger generation, right?

"This ranking competition is only for young people; those old fogeys aren't wanted.

"I was worried someone might try something, but now that you're a referee, what do I have to worry about? You wouldn't deliberately prevent me from going, would you?"

I smiled wryly. "I'm not questioning your strength. I'm saying, aren't you worried this is a trap?"

"So what if it's a trap? Besides a dazzling genius like me, do you think anyone else is better suited to expose their conspiracy?"

I sighed wryly. "It's good to be you. You can directly demonstrate your strength and go directly to the Mitian realm to investigate. But me? Although I have a guaranteed spot, I also have to be a referee. Tell me, who should I let go and who should I not let go?"

Ding Kan curled his lip and said, "Is that something to be conflicted about? A referee is a referee. No matter why you're a referee, fairness comes first. That's the minimum respect for the competition. Just pick the nine most capable people. Why think so much?"

"What if this is a conspiracy by the Mitian Great Gods? What if these most talented experts go and never return? Wouldn't I become a sinner?"

"Then I don't know. You can slowly struggle and study it. Anyway, that's my suggestion. Unless you can enter the Mitian realm beforehand and investigate everything, there's no point in thinking so much.

"You need to know that although the Mitian Great Gods aren't the same as the real Great Gods, they're definitely more awesome than humans. Moreover, they started planning in advance. Now they've invited almost everyone, even from Huacheng, the weakest small city. How much of a chance do you think you have to break the situation from within?

"If you can't break the situation, you can only do what they ask: find the nine strongest young people in the province. Otherwise, they've said they'll turn the selection site into a bloodbath. Not only will the ten strongest people be doomed, but the others won't escape either, and the losses will be even greater."

"It seems I only have one way: to break the situation before the provincial competition." I smiled wryly, looking up at the sky.

Break the situation, break the situation, but how?

"Go, get me some tea." Seeing that Meiying and Molihua weren't around, I decided to order Ding Kan around.

Ding Kan glared at me. "Hey, hey, hey, don't forget who I am."

"Who are you? Are you so high-class that you can't pour me a cup of tea? I'm the owner of this shop. You eat my food and live in my place. Can't I order you to pour me a cup of tea? Do you believe I'll kick you out?"

I was so annoyed by this puzzle that I could only vent on Ding Kan.

Ding Kan wasn't angry. He pulled up a chair and sat down. "I don't think I'm superior, but I'm a patient. Moreover, I'm a patient who has paid according to your abacus's requirements. As the owner of this clinic, can you order patients who have paid to enter your clinic to pour tea and water? What are you thinking with that big, fat head of yours?"

"Pah, your head is fat! So fat you can't even think."

"Alright, stop with the nonsense. Do you have any ideas?"

"No, do you have any good suggestions?"

"You really want my suggestion?" Ding Kan suddenly smiled strangely.

"What do you mean? What are you planning with that expression?"

"Nothing, just want to tell you that if you don't have a way to break the situation yet, then I suggest you go downstairs and take a look. The big guy in the ice might have some hints for you."

I was stunned. "Are you saying they chose me as a referee not because of me, but because of that big guy in the ice?"

"I didn't say anything. As for what hints the one in the basement will give you, you'll know when you go see for yourself. All I can tell you is a legend I heard."

"What legend?" I looked at Ding Kan seriously.

Ding Kan had a quirk: the more seriously he spoke when he was being frivolous, the more useful his words were likely to be, and the more casually he spoke, the more likely it was to be true.

"Do you know why those Great Gods in the Mitian realm are half-human, half-god? Their ancestors were just Mitian clansmen, no different from ordinary humans. Why did they occupy the Mitian realm alone, while other humans remain the masses on the ground?"

"Because they captured the Zhulong (烛龙) and offered it as tribute to the higher-level Great Gods. So, the Great Gods bestowed upon them a paradise and made them Mitian Great Gods." That's what I read in the books.

"That's right, it's because they offered the Zhulong as tribute that they transformed from the Mitian clan into the so-called Mitian Great Gods and exclusively enjoyed a share of the world's fortune. But do you know how they captured the Zhulong?"

"How did they capture it? The Zhulong, which even the Great Gods above cared about so much, shouldn't have been easy to capture, right?"

"It's indeed not easy for humans to capture, but it doesn't seem that difficult for the Great Gods. It's just that the methods of capturing the Zhulong are a bit unsavory; they have to sacrifice one of their own kind to lure the Zhulong up.

"Simply put, it's a story of using a child to trap a wolf. We've all heard the saying, 'You can't catch a wolf without putting out the bait.' However, in the story of using a child to trap a wolf, the child only acts as bait, and the child is eventually rescued. That is to say, the child only takes a slight risk and won't die. However, the Zhulong is not as easily fooled as a wolf. The child used to trap the Zhulong will be eaten.

"The Great Gods are high above, so noble. Personally descending to capture the Zhulong would be too demeaning. If they sacrificed a divine infant to feed the Zhulong, it would be too embarrassing. Even if the Zhulong could be made into a precious luxury, they couldn't disregard their faces as Great Gods.

"The best outcome, of course, would be for humans to capture the Zhulong and offer it as tribute to the Great Gods.

"However, how could mere humans capture a Zhulong that even the Great Gods had to sacrifice a divine infant to capture?

"In order to please the Great Gods, humans really wanted to capture a Zhulong. They sacrificed many of their own children to lure the Zhulong, but they lost many children, and the Zhulong was never captured.

"Those who could capture the Zhulong couldn't go, and those who went to capture the Zhulong didn't have the ability. This situation should have been very safe for the Zhulong, but the Zhulong was eventually captured, captured by a group of humans called the Mitian clan, and successfully offered as tribute to the Great Gods.

"Tell me, how did the Mitian clan capture the Zhulong?"

"They took away a divine infant and successfully used the divine infant to lure the Zhulong. No," I immediately overturned my guess, "The Mitian clan were ordinary humans at the time. They couldn't possibly capture the Zhulong, so how could they have the ability to take away a divine infant?

"That child wasn't stolen by the Mitian clan from the Great Gods, but was deliberately given to the Mitian clan by the Great Gods in order to obtain the Zhulong.

"The Mitian realm is not so much a reward given to the Mitian clan by the Great Gods as it is hush money for the Mitian clan. After all, they don't want such a scandal to spread throughout the Three Realms."

"These are all your words, your own guesses. It has nothing to do with me. I'm a patient. I'm going back to my room to rest." Saying that, Ding Kan turned and went upstairs.

I didn't call Ding Kan again. I went straight down to the basement.

The cracks on the ice hadn't deepened, but the thing inside the ice had become less.

I didn't know how to specifically describe the change. The humanoid thing inside was still human-shaped, and the size hadn't changed, but I just had a feeling that the thing inside had become less.

He hadn't been reborn, but he was slowly leaving the ice through some means.

Since Ding Kan came to my shop, the thing in the ice had become more and more abnormal. I always felt that Ding Kan was related to the thing in the ice, but I didn't have any evidence, or even any reasonable speculation.

Was Ding Kan related to this ice block? What would the relationship be? Should I call this feeling intuition or illusion?

Where did Ding Kan get the information he gave me? Did the one in the ice ask him to tell me? Then why didn't he tell me directly? Why did he have to go through Ding Kan? Was it that he couldn't communicate with me directly? If he could communicate with Ding Kan, then why did he have to have Ding Kan relay the information to me? Why didn't he let Ding Kan directly complete what he wanted to do?

My mind was thinking chaotically, some of which made sense, but some of which was pure rambling.

I stood in the basement for a long time and was once again frozen numb by the cold air in the basement before reluctantly leaving.

I didn't get any information.

Of course, it was also possible that he gave me a hint, but I didn't receive it.

Leaning on my exclusive rocking chair, I didn't even have the mood to read. I was the chief referee for the entire province in this ranking competition, but I didn't even know when the ranking competition would start. I was even less clear about the competition rules and process. It was really sad.

Just as I was swinging my rocking chair in frustration, the glass door of the shop was pushed open, and a short, fat man walked in.

Boss Xu.

"Shopkeeper Wan, do you still remember me?"

"Customers are always welcome. Is there anything I can help you with, Boss?" I greeted politely.

"I've done as the master said. I haven't been to that office building again, and I do feel much better. For my health and longevity, I've decided to sell that building directly. However, when I contacted the buyer, some abnormal things happened. I can't sell this building anymore."

"Actually, you don't necessarily have to sell it. As long as you stay away from that building, don't go in, and leave the business inside to your subordinates, you can also avoid harm."

Boss Xu sighed. "If things were that simple. Do you know who gave me the feng shui advice for that building?"

"Who?"

"Qin Shuguang. Master Qin and I have been friends for many years. When he was helping me arrange that building, he said a very strange thing. I never understood what that sentence meant. Until I met you that day, I thought you should be able to understand that sentence."