Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 418 - 393: Water Encroaches Upon Fire Virtue

Chapter 418: Chapter 393: Water Encroaches Upon Fire Virtue

"A single person!?"

Ximen Jinxing was somewhat curious.

Wang Ziteng, standing beside him, didn’t quite understand either.

Zhang San explained, "I now feel that the core element the formation in the Floating Corpse Case might involve is very likely not the Five Kings of the Yuwen Imperial Clan as initially thought, but one person. He is the last Emperor of Northern Zhou—Yuwen Ming! Perhaps, the purpose of the formation set up in the Floating Corpse Case is to revive him!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Ziteng’s face was filled with disbelief.

Although there were various legends about revival, especially among cultivators, many of whom had been searching for the secrets of immortality and resurrection, in hope of eternal life,

in reality, most of them turned out to be simply turning dead people into the living dead.

As for the very few examples that remained, all were failures, none successful.

The living can die, but the dead cannot be reborn.

So now, hearing that the formation in the Floating Corpse Case might be to revive Yuwen Ming, Wang Ziteng was indeed shocked.

But Ximen Jinxing was more puzzled than ever.

"Why would they want to revive Yuwen Ming? He was just a child when he left. If they really wanted to revive someone, why not revive the Five Kings or another Emperor of the Yuwen Imperial Clan?"

Zhang San began to analyze for Ximen Jinxing and Wang Ziteng.

"Firstly, the seven corpses we initially saw in the Floating Corpse Case by the Ba River were in fact guards with a karmic connection to the Yuwen Imperial Clan."

"Then, among the two people buried under Mass Burial Mound, one was a guard during Kaihuang and the very person who poisoned Yuwen Ming."

"The nine people who died on the north side of the Imperial Palace were either Yuwen Ming’s wet nurses, his maids, or his bodyguards, all closely related to Yuwen Ming."

"The four young people who died in the northwest direction and the young person in the west are probably descendants of the bloodline of the Five Kings. Their bodies carried the bloodline of the Yuwen Imperial Clan, which greatly relates them to Yuwen Ming. After all, if you really want to revive someone, you may need the bloodline of your own clan."

"Eight people from the Yuwen Family died in the southwest direction, and although there was no blood relation, the Yuwen Family was the only one to receive the Yuwen surname, which is a symbol of the family, thus having significant karmic connection with the Yuwen Imperial Clan, not to be overlooked."

"The six floating corpses above Qu Pond Fang actually also belong to the bloodline of the Yuwen Imperial Clan."

"Therefore, although the Floating Corpse Case seems at first to be related to the Five Kings, in reality, it is more closely related to Yuwen Ming!"

"Either there’s a blood relation, or there’s a significant karmic cause between life and death!"

"I even have a suspicion, that is..."

Zhang San’s words were not yet finished when a fast horse came charging from the distance—it was Wang Qi from the Magistrate of Metropolitan prefecture’s government office.

Upon seeing Zhang San, Wang Qi immediately jumped down from the horse.

"Zhang San, Military Chief, I’ve finally found you. My lord Magistrate has something to give you."

Zhang San opened it to find it was Second Master Shen’s leave request from this morning.

Zhang San glanced at Wang Qi and asked, "Under what circumstances did Second Master Shen give this to you?"

"He sent people to search several places in the southern part of the city, saying he felt there were overlooked clues. Then, after searching for a while, he told me to deliver this to you."

Zhang San nodded and handed the item back to Wang Qi, "I understand. Second Master Shen was delayed by me this morning. He probably fears getting scolded for taking leave and wants to seek a favor. Tell him that he has good fortune and there’s nothing to worry about!"

Wang Qi didn’t know the dealings between Zhang San and his own lord Magistrate; he figured that whatever Zhang San said, he just needed to relay the message.

After Wang Qi had left, Zhang San said, "This Second Master Shen is quite cautious, worried that others will know, so he deliberately sent the leave request. What he means is that the formation to the south is false."

"False!?" Ximen Jinxing and Wang Ziteng exclaimed in unison, surprised.

Zhang San scoffed coldly, glanced in the direction of the south part of the city, and said, "In view of this, perhaps the true formation has long been established, and might even be the blood left by the Five Kings more than twenty years ago."

"After all, they are of the Imperial Clan, controlling some special secret techniques or even revival formations—it’s not an impossibility."

"So when they realized the situation was turning dire, they left their blood and started to prepare..."

At this point, Zhang San suddenly remembered the other layer of time-related formation he had seen at Qu Pond Fang.

Life and death, causality, along with time, aren’t these just the things that could link everything together?

"Although I’m not yet certain that this formation is indeed for reviving Yuwen Ming, it is indeed intimately related to him. And..."

Zhang San said this and realized that the southern part of the city has never had many residents.

"If the formation ultimately lacks the lives of five people, then completing the formation would actually be quite difficult. After all, ensuring that five people are gathered together and then dealing with them is not easy."

"But if only one person needs to be killed, then everything becomes much easier."

"So, the final piece of the puzzle for the entire formation is not the central five, but the southern one."

Ximen Jinxing was beginning to understand, but Wang Ziteng was still somewhat confused.

"If it is indeed the southern one that is missing, then what about the person who died in the well earlier?"

"Just a Blinding Method," Zhang San explained to Wang Ziteng. "That person was probably the first to die, with the aim of testing the timing and feasibility of the formation’s deployment. Once tested, they left the body there, so that when we eventually found it, we would mistakenly believe that the formation had completely lost efficacy due to the passage of time."

"Since there were originally not many people living in the south of the city, some deaths and minor problems in certain areas would go unnoticed by others."

"When we discovered it, we would think the formation’s southern part was already in place. This way, eventually, all our attention would be focused on the central five."

"Yet, the position of this five is most likely within the Imperial Palace, so we would all inevitably keep a close watch on the palace."

"Little do we know, while all of us are focusing on the palace, the culprit might have already identified the last victim, and is very likely to complete the final step of the formation on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival in August."

"And moreover..."

Zhang San suddenly thought of something and added, "Considering the attributes of the Bagua in the previous analysis of the Floating Corpse Case formation, the south corresponds to Kan, which signifies water! And the Great Sui represents the element of fire! With water encroaching on fire, it constitutes a perfect restraint! That’s right, the final step must involve killing the last person with significant karmic ties or relevant bloodlines between the Yuwen Imperial Clan and the Yang Clan’s Imperial Family, at a well in the south or at some body of water!"

At this moment, Zhang San was somewhat worried about his sworn elder sister and said, "Wang Ziteng, you should also go to the Yu Family right away to protect my sister. I’m afraid she might be the most at risk. After all, the bloodline of the Yuwen Imperial Clan has been established, but that of the Yang Clan’s Imperial Family has not. Hence, she is most likely to be the last person!"

Wang Ziteng grimaced and said, "But with this strength of mine... don’t glare at me, I didn’t say I wouldn’t go!"

Zhang San glanced at Ximen Jinxing and said, "In the face of real danger, none of us might actually be of much use. Jinxing, you should find Principal Officer Ximen to ask for his help in guarding the place. With him there, we have an additional layer of security."

After arranging everything, Zhang San suddenly thought, if the entire Floating Corpse Case was indeed set up by himself as the Saint Heir of the Heavenly Punishment Sect, and now he had foiled it, would there be any consequences?

Forget it, let’s leave it at that for now!

After all, on the surface, the Heavenly Punishment Sect is no match for the Great Sui.

And his double identity was originally meant to play both sides.

Hopefully, this wouldn’t implicate him and might even let him reap some additional benefits.

At this time, within the Imperial Palace, Emperor Kaihuang and Empress Dugu were having a meal with the Crown Prince’s family and King Jin’s family.

The Crown Prince had never liked the current Crown Princess Consort, and unfortunately, his mother had only allowed him to bring the Crown Princess Consort with him, not allowing Concubine Yun to come, which had already put him in a bad mood.

Seeing the tight security within the palace, and being followed by a large group of people wherever he went, made him even more displeased.

"Father Emperor, you’re the Kaihuang, the master of the Imperial Path, the Red Dust Immortal of our time. Is it really necessary to be so fearful over a formation from some Floating Corpse Case?" he said.

Kaihuang slapped the table and angrily said, "Now, when there’s no danger, you speak carelessly. When you truly face danger, you won’t find today’s caution unnecessary!"

Kaihuang had seen too many people and events since the later period of the tumultuous and tyrannical Northern Zhou, who flaunted their importance and ignored everything and everyone, only to regret it too late when disaster struck.

The reason he had managed to get to where he was from back then relied not only on his ability and strength and the aid of some people but even more so on his constant caution and prudence.

After all, in the times when Kaihuang was young, one could easily be beaten to death right in the grand hall by the emperor of the time, and even the blood of the innocent would splatter onto the bodies of the nearby ministers.

Kaihuang turned his head to look and found that King Jin and his wife, although the queen consort was somewhat frightened, King Jin was continuously comforting her and even served her food.

He was, after all, the Prince who had spearheaded the War of Extinguishing Chen, not only loyal to one woman just like himself but also calm and composed in the face of critical matters.

At this moment, compared to the Crown Prince, who had long disappointed him, Kaihuang felt that King Jin was more like himself.

Especially since King Jin favored Buddhism and would sometimes visit Wisdom Immortal Zen Master, this was even more similar to himself.

Thinking of Wisdom Immortal Zen Master, Kaihuang couldn’t help but recall how not long ago, Zhang Datui and Vermilion Bird had come to argue with him, claiming that Zhang San was hiding in the Stone Buddha Temple.

Zhang San had just entered the capital; how could he possibly have ties with the Stone Buddha Temple unless King Jin Yang Quan had secretly helped him?

This King Jin not only inherited his own fidelity and composure but also had a breadth of mind similar to his.

It was a pity, though, that he was not the firstborn son, otherwise...