A Night of Desperation

Chapter 333: Mutation 331 Part 1

"Li Zhaoran?"

Zheng Ming called out the name of the wealthy businessman’s son.

There was no response. The little leather shoes slowly retreated into the room and disappeared.

He instinctively felt something was wrong. Quickly, he formed a handprint spell, a vague Fear Shadow flickered behind him, then swiftly hid itself.

Zheng Ming stepped closer to the room, one step at a time.

He wanted to release the Fear Shadow to test, but he worried about harming the businessman’s son.

Although the Fear Shadow’s physical impact was weak, it still had some effect on children’s spirits.

Slam.

Finally, he entered the room.

Inside, a boy in a white tracksuit, about eleven or twelve years old, was standing with his back to him, watching the window.

"Li Zhaoran? What are you looking at?" Although Zheng Ming found the boy, an inexplicable discomfort rose in his heart.

"Grandma."

The boy answered.

"Grandma??" Zheng Ming also looked out the window, but there was nothing outside except a dense bamboo forest.

"Taoist Zheng Ming?"

At the stairway entrance, the businessman surnamed Li saw no one come down after a long time, so he walked up slowly while calling out.

But strangely, the entire second floor was empty, not a single person.

The Taoist who had just gone up mysteriously disappeared like his son!

The businessman searched for a long time and even brought the nanny along to look, but they found nothing.

Immediately, they left the villa in panic, reported to the police, and rushed to Qingchen Temple.

*

*

*

Inside the courtyard.

Just a few minutes after Zheng Ming disappeared.

Yu Hong, who was in seclusion, suddenly opened his eyes.

*"The environment... feels off...*"

He looked around, the Quiet Room was silent, with only his own heartbeat and breathing. *He then thought for a moment and took out the enhanced Universal Detector.*

Bleep.

The black box-like multimeter silently displayed the current environment Red Value7.229’

*"The Red Value is higher...."*

Yu Hong frowned.

He clearly understood what this meant.

*"The Black Well’s opening has increased, or the Taoist Sect hasn’t resolved the issue of the Yin Qi Sky Pillar’s Red Value leakage. I must accelerate my progress here."*

He quickly checked his own status, confirmed there was no problem, and began to take out the bizarre talisman paper with a five-colored circle drawn on it.

This was given by the old Taoist Yu Mo, and once the elixir’s power was absorbed and the Daoist Skills elevated to the Seventh Layer, it could be directly activated.

Yu Hong steadied his mind, exhaled a trace of Dao Breath, and integrated it into the talisman paper.

Sizzle!

The talisman paper ignited without flame, and its orange flame split into five at the same time, transforming into five different colored mysterious energy bodies.

The five energy bodies were red, yellow, blue, green, and purple.

Once they appeared, they transformed into five streams of light, spiraling around Yu Hong in continual flight.

*"Let’s begin."* Yu Hong watched the five streams of light and slowly closed his eyes.

Purely based on spiritual power Daoist magic, he was still below the Temple Master Level, and his spiritual power sharpness was not fully complete. The technique was not entirely restored, even if his true power erupted, he should reach the pinnacle level in this world.

But the massive mental gap could lead to a significant fatal weakness when facing top experts.

Therefore, the Heavenly Pillar talent obtained from the Five Spirits Spring was extremely valuable to him.

*"The Black Disaster is about to descend, it seems my time is running out."* A thought flashed through his mind as Yu Hong resumed his secluded cultivation state.

*

*

*

"What? Zheng Ming is missing!?"

At Qingchen Temple, the old Taoist Yu Mo was sipping wellness tea from a thermos when he suddenly heard the news brought by the Taoist child outside.

There were already few Dao Seeds in Qingchen Temple, and Zheng Ming was among the outstanding ones. If something happened to him, then....

His expression became grave, he put down the cup and stood up.

"Explain clearly!"

The Taoist child, Xun Yang, was sweating profusely as he recounted Zheng Ming’s investigation into the businessman’s son disappearance.

"By the time that family sent the message back, Senior Brother Zheng Ming had already been missing for over three hours!" she added.

"Notify Zheng Ying immediately, I’ll go find the Temple Master. Have the police sent any personnel?" Yu Mo asked calmly.

"Yes, they’re already on their way to the villa."

"Good, I’ll prepare to phone the police station and set off immediately!" Yu Mo knew this was serious. Zheng Ming’s ability wasn’t weak, only slightly inferior to his own. If even he couldn’t solve the case, it was unlikely for him to handle it alone.

Therefore, this matter required collective effort.

With this in mind, he immediately walked towards the main hall where the Temple Master was located.

Crossing the threshold, Temple Master Yu Hen was sitting with several old Taoists, looking at a letter. Seeing Yu Mo enter, Yu Hen raised his head.

"I was just about to find you, it’s the Taoist Sect’s notification letter, take a look as well."

He handed over the letter envelope in his hand.

Yu Mo stepped forward to take it, unfolded the letter, and glanced at the densely packed lines of bright red text.

Just reading a few lines, Yu Mo’s expression changed.

"How could there be so many!?"

His hands started to tremble, disbelief in his eyes.

"I’m equally puzzled, why are there so many, the Taoist Sect has been continuously acting, always suppressing the eruption points of the Yin Qi Sky Pillars across the regions. It’s always been this way, so how have four Sky Pillars appeared all at once now!?" Yu Hen spoke solemnly.

"The key is that one of them is very close to us!" Yu Zhong interjected.

"No wonder recently the situation in Taizhou has worsened, resentful marks are increasing, and the talismans we’re making barely suffice, the consumption every day is significant, and the visitors are demanding many as well...." Yu Mo said with a grim expression.

"A troublesome autumn.... By the way, Yu Mo, did you come over for a specific reason?" Yu Hen asked.

"Zheng Ming, it’s about Zheng Ming, he disappeared while investigating a case!" Yu Mo quickly said.

"Disappeared??!"

The few old Taoists were all shocked.

"Even Zheng Ming.... Should we notify Zheng Rou?" someone couldn’t help but ask.

"No! Zheng Rou is at a crucial moment now, the mental transformation sharpness cannot be interrupted, or it would be a wasted effort. We must first handle these matters ourselves, we’ll join forces!" Yu Hen raised his hand to stop the others’ words, making a decisive decision.

Before long, at Qingchen Temple, a white SUV quickly drove off, speeding towards the villa where Zheng Ming went missing.

More than half an hour later, the car stopped outside Yanxia Bay neighborhood, no longer going inside.

The entire neighborhood was empty now.

Even the gatekeepers and cleaners had left early, especially after Zheng Ming’s disappearance. Not only had people disappeared from the Li family’s villa, but several villas around had also experienced varying levels of people missing.

Panic had quickly spread.

By the time Qingchen Temple’s vehicle arrived, the official police vehicles had already reached the scene, accompanied by two official magicians.

But when Yu Mo and others got out of the car, they saw the two with very grim expressions.

"Taoist Yu Mo, there’s no time for pleasantries, there’s a resentful mark in this neighborhood, and it’s not ordinary, extremely dangerous!" the official magician, a scholarly man wearing glasses, stepped forward and said.

"How’s the talisman response?" Yu Mo asked.

"It ignites upon entry, very weak in effect," the magician replied.

"Let’s go in and take a look."

Without further ado, Yu Mo waved to Zheng Ying and others behind him, and was the first to lead them into the neighborhood.

At the same time, a long-tailed creature resembling a lizard-man suddenly appeared behind him.

The rest from Qingchen Temple also followed, forming the Handprint of Service Damage, summoning Fear Shadows to protect themselves.

An hour later.

Boom!!

A sudden explosion occurred inside the villa.

There were no flames or red light, just an invisible shockwave blasting out from inside.

Glass and wooden doors shattered in an instant.

On the spiritual level, a massive creature with an upper body of a grandmother’s image and a lower body of a blood-colored spider charged out of the villa.

As soon as it burst out, it was decapitated by a huge cleaver from behind.

With a pounding sound, the monster vanished in the blink of an eye, transforming into countless black smoke.

Yu Hen, Yu Mo, and others also exited the villa, all looking exhausted.

A disciple was carrying the unconscious figure of Zheng Ming on his back.

"Mission accomplished!" Yu Mo said solemnly to the two official magicians.

"Thank you for your hard work!" The two, feeling the dense Yin Energy emanating from them, couldn’t help but step back two paces, almost suffocating.

Zheng Ming was taken back to recuperate for two days before a new case came to Qingchen Temple.

Zheng Ying led the team to handle it, but unexpectedly got entangled in a tough battle.

In an emergency request for assistance, Yu Mo and others brought the stockpile to aid them, barely managing to rescue the people from the resentful marks.

But the cost was that two members of the Yu Generation sustained minor injuries.

They were elderly, and their Daoist Magic Techniques had significantly regressed, not adept in combat.

Suddenly starting to work beyond their limits, they quickly became overwhelmed.

Despite everyone at Qingchen Temple’s best efforts, cases continued to pour in from various parts of Taizhou for them to solve.

The Zheng Generation disciples were solving cases everywhere, and the Yu Generation members also had to join in. Except for Yu Hen, the Temple Master, everyone at Qingchen Temple became busy.

Fortunately, most subsequent cases were relatively low-risk, handled by ordinary disciples armed with talismans, although the number spiked dramatically.

Meanwhile, Yu Hong was in a critical phase of soaking in the Five Spirits Spring.

In the Qingchen Temple’s other courtyard.

He sat cross-legged in the Quiet Room, surrounded by five streams of spiritual power in different colors.

This was the Five Spirits Spring.

It was not tangible but a special spiritual power crafted through complex processes.

These five streams of spiritual power needed periodic nourishment from the offerings of numerous visitors for maintenance.

Moreover, accumulating enough for one Five Spirits Spring requires ten years of continuous scripture chanting and sincere praying, infusing pure spiritual power into its vessel.

Essentially, the primary accumulators of this Five Spirits Spring were still the old Taoists of the Yu Generation.

Despite their playful demeanor, they never neglected their duties.

One by one, the streams of five-colored spiritual power continuously passed through Yu Hong’s body like phantoms.

Every passage caused a subtle yet determined change in some of his nerves.

As he received the Five Spirits Spring enhancements, the Spirit Light he possessed naturally also grew stronger slowly but surely.

This indicated that the Magic Skill of cultivating the Spirit Light was spreading, and the more people practiced it, the faster the Spirit Light grew stronger.

Unknown how much time passed.

Suddenly, Yu Hong opened his eyes.

He stood up, turned his head to look behind him, and in the dim Quiet Room, a faint dark mist appeared without him knowing.

In the black mist, a simple brown wooden bridge appeared before him.