Chapter 368: Chapter 367: That Case Back Then, Not Stopping for a Moment

"According to the separate report provided to our Sima family by the patrol bureau afterward, the perpetrator appeared to have purchased a cultural relic stone tablet with unique inscriptions at an underground auction, and recorded within the text was the inheritance of Miaojiang witchcraft," Sima Yuxuan narrated.

"You can find detailed records of this in the case files from that year."

"Really?"

Li Jing raised an eyebrow.

He had not reviewed the case files from that year.

Because, main case files aren’t always detailed.

No one knows this better than Li Jing.

After all, he was once a patrolman.

Setting aside the cases handled by others.

Many sensitive points in the cases he personally handled were never reported, or were only written in action reports.

Not to say that the case files have no reference value.

It’s just that since Chen Jing, the person who handled the case that year, is available, Li Jing didn’t want to waste time studying case files.

Just when Li Jing was about to ask Sima Yuxuan another question, the latter shrugged and said,

"However, as for the case files, you just read them. To me, the so-called relic stone tablet is just nonsense."

Li Jing paused at his words and asked in confusion.

"How is that?"

"A clear reality lies in plain sight: Miaojiang witchcraft is fundamentally a unique cultivation system that exists independently of Orthodox Immortal Path."

Sima Yuxuan shook his head and said,

"Different cultivation systems can be practiced simultaneously, but they are not interchangeable. The spiritual Qi cultivated from the Orthodox Immortal Path can’t be used to perform witchcraft."

As he said this, he continued with certainty,

"When it comes to the Miaojiang witchcraft, which is allegedly to have vanished completely in the outside world, the system is extremely hard to get started with and is incomparable to other common systems including the Orthodox Immortal Path. The reason why common systems, including the Orthodox Immortal Path, are prevalent and are the first choice for practice in various places is that they are easier for beginners."

"Even if that perpetrator did indeed receive the inheritance of Miaojiang witchcraft from the auctioned stone tablet and tried to cultivate it concurrently. Even if he was extraordinarily talented, he could probably only reach the beginner level after one or two years. Miaojiang witchcraft is indeed known for its viciousness, but it would take at least a decade or two of practice to be able to curse someone to death."

"Besides, you have to know that the people cursed to death by him were not ordinary people, but heads of mid-sized families. Although those people may not have a high level of cultivation, they could still be considered as members of a family. The heads of families, at the very least, must have reached the Four Realm. Otherwise, they wouldn’t stand a chance in this ruthlessly competitive Earth Realm."

After stating these points in a row, Sima Yuxuan picked up his teacup and took a sip before continuing.

"To directly curse a Four Realm is not something you can achieve with just a decade or two of practice. There are many cultivation systems in the world, and also a variety of bizarre skill systems. Among the myriad of skill systems, methods that can directly kill people are not rare, but they all have one thing in common, requiring a high level of power in the corresponding cultivation system and sufficient proficiency."

Li Jing listened to Sima Yuxuan’s words with a frown.

If Sima Yuxuan hadn’t brought it up, he wouldn’t have thought about the fact that Miaojiang witchcraft is inherently a unique cultivation system.

This "knowledge point".

It wasn’t that he wasn’t aware of it, he just overlooked it.

After listening to Sima Yuxuan’s accounts, Li Jing realized something unusual afterwards.

The report given by the Inspection Department to the Sima family afterwards was clearly something made up in haste in order to wrap up the associated matters as soon as possible.

No.

More precisely.

There were some details that they deliberately wanted to hide.

Thinking of this, Li Jing squinted his eyes and looked up at Sima Yuxuan.

Just as he was about to speak, Sima Yuxuan seemed to anticipate what he was thinking and going to say. Holding his teacup, he smirked.

"Brother, you are a clever man. We see through some things but don’t mention them. It’s not appropriate for you, a patrolman, to discuss these sensitive matters with me, a ’retiree’. I’ve only been ’retired’ for a few years, and life has been quite peaceful. I don’t want to get involved in too many complicated issues."

Confronted with Sima Yuxuan’s words, Li Jing sighed and swallowed his words. He changed the subject and asked,

"Where is the head of your Sima family who was in office at that time?"

"I don’t know."

Sima Yuxuan shook his head and said,

"After being forced to abdicate, he left the Sima family and disappeared with his entire family."

As he spoke, he took another sip of tea and remarked in a rather meaningful tone.

"Whether he is enjoying good times in some hermitage or living under someone else’s roof is anyone’s guess."

Li Jing fell silent for a moment, then stood up and said,

"I see, thank you for your cooperation."

"Hey, we’re family, why say such things?"

Sima Yuxuan smiled and then stood up, pulling out a card.

"Here’s my card, brother. Keep it. Next time you need something, just call me. It saves you the trouble coming to this dark street."

It was obvious that Sima Yuxuan gave him the card not just for convenience, but also because he didn’t want Li Jing to disrupt his business by coming to his pawnshop. Li Jing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

He didn’t voice his thoughts and accepted the card. After glancing at it, he nodded and said,

"I have other things to do, I’ll take my leave now."

With that, he activated Silent Shadow and turned to leave.

Sima Yuxuan was going to follow him out of politeness with a line like "Let me see you out, brother", but he suddenly stopped and frowned.

The two had comparable cultivation levels.

As a Seventh Realm cultivator,

Sima Yuxuan’s primordial spirit was relatively strong.

But he didn’t have much talent in the spiritual level magic skills,

thus, his primordial spirit was only at the standard level of the Seventh Realm.

With Li Jing’s primordial spirit strength already far surpassing the ordinary Seventh Realm, once Silent Shadow was activated, it could easily disrupt Sima Yuxuan’s perception.

However, in the inner courtyard where only two people were present, the interference hadn’t been effective.

Silent Shadow was very useful.

But there are many prerequisites for it to take effect.

It presupposes face-to-face interaction.

If the other person’s attention is entirely on oneself, even if there is a significant difference in Primordial Soul Strength, it won’t accurately take effect.

You can understand it this way.

In face-to-face situations, regardless of whether one is alone or not, unless the other person’s attention is diverted from Li Jing as the caster, he won’t be able to activate it effectively.

To make it work, at least a momentary shift of attention is needed.

The Silent Shadow in front of him didn’t affect Sima Yuxuan.

But it doesn’t mean he couldn’t detect the anomaly.

At the very least, the man was a bonafide Seventh Realm.

At this moment, watching Li Jing walk out.

Sima Yuxuan had a clear feeling that something was subtly affecting him.

If it were ordinary, he might not have paid attention.

The key was that he was very familiar with this feeling.

But for a while, he couldn’t remember where he had seen it before.

Seeing Li Jing walk out of the room and suddenly morph into a thunderbolt in the open courtyard and disappear from his field of vision, Sima Yuxuan’s eyes widened.

He remembered.

There was a woman who, with her own power, supported a downtrodden family to secure a seat among The Seven Great Families, also had this ability.

Damn!

How did Li Jing manage to have Liu Shi’s ability?

And that’s not all!

It had even reached a degree that could affect him!

This...!

Is he stronger than Liu Shi?

Are young people these days this terrifying!?

Sima Yuxuan was shocked and puzzled in various ways.

He didn’t know how old Li Jing actually was.

Just when they first met, because Yulian, a Six Realm fox demon, was accompanying him, Sima Yuxuan was able to see that a certain person was extraordinary.

Not knowing the actual age didn’t prevent Sima Yuxuan from seeing that Li Jing was very young.

High-ranked cultivators can keep their youth by just putting in a bit of effort.

But after living longer and eating more food.

The feeling of weathered years cannot deceive people.

Although just looking at the face also can’t judge the age, you can at least tell from the face whether a person is really young or just pretending to be young.

Gazing blankly into the sky, Sima Yuxuan tried to find traces left by Li Jing when he transformed into a thunderbolt and left.

After several fruitless attempts, he had no choice but to withdraw his gaze.

Thinking about Liu Shi’s connection, Sima Yuxuan shivered involuntarily.

He had entered the Seventh Realm just a few years ago.

Before then, he had always been the guardian of the Sima family.

Sixth Realm individuals must assume family protection. This is an unwritten rule among The Seven Great Families.

This is also the case in the Jiang family.

As the guardian of the Sima family, he naturally had dealings with Liu Shi, and was well aware of how terrifying that low-profile yet universally known woman was among the offspring of The Seven Great Families.

Indeed.

For him, who has now entered the Seventh Realm, Liu Shi who hasn’t yet entered the Sixth Realm poses no fear.

But you have to know.

She, as the family guardian could not find a successor due to the Liu family’s decline, and had to suppress her cultivation.

If she wanted to, she could always find a place to ascend to the Seventh Realm at any time.

When that time comes...

Cough!

Well, she needs not to wait for that time.

Sima Yuxuan felt that.

Even with a big realm gap, Liu Shi could effortlessly take care of a newcomer from the Seventh Realm.

After all, Liu Shi is anything but ordinary.

Winning fights against higher realms and taking down opponents is something only seen in rare top-grade monsters. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Unfortunately.

Liu Shi is exactly this kind of monster.

Her being known as the Number One in the Sixth Realm in the capital isn’t without reason.

In the same realm, even disciples from sects with various rare and unique legacies dare not say they can confront Liu Shi.

There were sect descendants who were skeptical and provoked Liu Shi.

As a result, they turned into vegetables lying in the hospital for half a year.

The "victim" is essentially sober.

However, his Primordial Spirit was cruelly separated from his body, making him unable to function like a normal person.

Despite being a Six Realm cultivator who no longer has basic physiological needs, he was forced to lie in bed with a catheter and IV bag of nutrients to barely maintain the vitality of his body.

Sima Yuxuan couldn’t even imagine how someone could endure such a state.

At this moment, he realized the close connection between Li Jing and Liu Shi, Sima Yuxuan couldn’t help but feel relief that his survival instinct was strong enough when he first met a certain person.

Otherwise, not only might he have been beaten, but the matter could have also been brought to Liu Shi’s attention.

That person, she keeps a low profile.

As a figure who guards and seldom appears from the Liu family home, she does not overprotect her family members.

She wouldn’t interfere with the family affairs unless the Liu family faces life-threatening peril.

But she holds grudges, which is very well-known within the capital circle.

When she’s in a bad mood one day, she would just randomly pick someone from her grudge list to visit.

...

Li Jing, who had already left, naturally wouldn’t be aware of how many thoughts his use of the Silent Shadow had caused Sima Yuxuan.

Even if he were aware, he wouldn’t care.

After leaving Black Street, he headed straight for Jianghai City.

News from Jiang Yini had not yet arrived.

For now, he couldn’t review the case files related to Lu Qifei from the Patrol Branch, nor could he check the records of what Jiang Liao was busy with when he was the Director of the Management Bureau.

After seeking help from Black Butterfly and visiting Sima Yuxuan, his next stop was Chen Jing.

Under the support of the rules of Thunder Penalty.

Li Jing’s Thundering Movement now has a speed comparable to top-tier spirit weapons.

So within less than ten minutes, he had crossed half of Longyu to reach Jianghai City and arrived at the North City Patrol Branch.

Before he landed, Li Jing suddenly perceived a subtle force scanning his body like a scanner.

Suddenly aware of this, he was slightly stunned.

Meanwhile.

Chen Jing poked his head out of an open window on the top floor of the large office area in the North City Patrol Branch, looking peculiar.

Eyes locked, Li Jing was surprised.

He had just arrived, and Chen Jing was poking his head out of the window.

It became apparent who the subtle power he perceived belonged to.

Nothing else really mattered.

The key point was he hadn’t deactivated the Silent Shadow yet.

Chen Jing was still a Six Realm cultivator, right?

So the perception interference from Silent Shadow should affect him.

This begs the question.

How did Chen Jing detect his presence and examine him the moment he arrived while being in his office?

Li Jing was puzzled, then his expression gradually stiffened.

Looking at Chen Jing, whose expression was unusually strange, he realized this probably wasn’t an issue with Silent Shadow.

No matter how strong Chen Jing is, he couldn’t have reached the point where he has a Primordial Spirit Strength far superior to the ordinary Seventh Realm while being a Six Realm.

Even if Silent Shadow hadn’t affected him.

He wouldn’t have noticed Li Jing’s presence unless they were face to face.

Something else must have alerted him and made him vigilant.

Li Jing simply arrived flying, it was probably his Thundering Movement that could have affected Chen Jing and made him alert.

It could be that Chen Jing is particularly sensitive to detecting spell strengths or high-speed moving objects, that’s why he was alerted immediately.

Thundering Movement is not an attack method, so it wouldn’t affect the effect of Silent Shadow.

But if the opponent is sharp enough, its essence can be a factor that allows people to detect his existence.

In the end.

The key factor for Silent Shadow to take effect in front of people is that Li Jing doesn’t make any conspicuous actions that could draw attention.

This time, he messed up!

The explosive increase in speed of Thundering Movement under the rules of Thunder Penalty appeared to be extremely fatal at this moment.

His speed was too fast.

The spell strength had also become too high.

Regardless of how Chen Jing had detected him, Li Jing was certain that he couldn’t hide the fact that he had stepped into the Seventh Realm from this uncle anymore.

Right now, Chen Jing’s gaze at him from the window below could reveal a lot.

With a dry smile, Li Jing quietly turned off Silent Shadow and landed in front of the window.

Seeing this, Chen Jing blinked and moved away from the window.

Li Jing followed suit and entered the office through the window.

Before he could settle down, Chen Jing closed the window behind him and said with an odd tone,

"You really do manage to surprise me often."

Li Jing laughed awkwardly at the comment.

Just as he was about to speak, Chen Jing commented lightly.

"You should cherish your time now, and be careful when moving in and out in the future. Don’t think you can ignore everything just because you have Liu Shi’s ability. There is no lack of talented and extraordinary people in this world that you don’t know about, be careful or someone might use this against you and report to the higher-ups. If that really happens, no one will be able to help you."

Chen Jing saying this clearly indicates that he has made certain of the fact that Li Jing has already reached the Seventh Realm.

Seeing that he didn’t ask more and showed understanding of his reason to keep low-profile and warned him, Li Jing smiled awkwardly and silently nodded to show that he understood.

He should certainly remember this lesson.

Fortunately, it was Chen Jing he ran into, otherwise who knows what the situation might have been.

Li Jing must also admit.

Lately, he had indeed become a bit arrogant.

In the past.

Except in emergencies, he rarely used his full speed when using Sky Control.

Seeing Li Jing’s face showing he was attentively listening to the lesson, Chen Jing stared at him for a moment, growing increasingly satisfied, yet he couldn’t help but feel curious.

Chen Jing was one of the few who watched Li Jing grow step by step.

This young man’s growth speed was not ordinarily outrageous.

How long had it been since this guy entered the Six Realm?

In the blink of an eye, he even surpassed him at the major realm.

If you said it was a good fortune, it would be understandable.

Everyone has their own encounters.

It’s not uncommon for people to step on dog shit on the path of cultivation.

The problem was that Li Jing’s good fortune seemed to be a bit too much...

Although he was curious, Chen Jing refrained from asking further.

As long as Li Jing didn’t stray from the right path, his personal cultivation was his own business.

No one else could intervene.

"After the last case was over, you should have gone back to Sisi’s family home for Liu Shi’s birthday. It hasn’t been long since you came back, so I assume it’s not for a return-to-work report?"

Having said that casually, Chen Jing went to sit on the sofa.

"You suddenly came to see me, do you need something?"

Talking to a clear-headed person never required much effort.

Answering Chen Jing, Li Jing nodded and sat down on the opposite sofa.

"I assisted the Patrol Bureau with a case in the national capital, uncle Chen, you should know about this. There was a bit of disturbance I caused in God Church Country due to some factors."

?

Chen Jing slowly typed out a question mark.

Of course, he knew about Li Jing helping Patrol Bureau with a case in the national capital.

If anything, Chen Jing had, it was dignity.

If they wanted to borrow someone from their Jianghai City North City Branch, they would have to notify him first.

But about the matter in God Church Country...

Quietly staring at Li Jing for a moment, Chen Jing sat upright.

"The Forbidden Skill that erupted in God Church Country, was it you who did it?"

"Yes."

Li Jing nodded.

Upon hearing this, Chen Jing was silent for a moment, silently giving a thumbs up, and then asked.

"So, you came to me to clean up your mess?"

"Not really, I have organized the aftermath properly. The Management Bureau did investigate me, but they didn’t make it hard for me."

Li Jing responded, continuing.

"Then... because of this, I met Jiang Yini’s father, and Director Jiang took the opportunity to entrust me with investigating an old matter."

Hearing such words, Chen Jing frowned.

He knew Jiang Liao.

They had interacted on more than one occasion.

He easily grasped what the old matter Li Jing was talking about was.

Everyone close knew what Jiang Liao was bothered by.

The incident with Lu Qifei back then caused quite a stir.

"Boy, you’re becoming more and more capable."

Letting out a bitter smile, Chen Jing stated.

"How dare you take on such a troublesome task without hesitation?"

"I had no choice."

Li Jing shrugged, explaining.

"The incident I caused in God Church Country was significant. Director Jiang helped me keep it under wraps; fundamentally, he did me a huge favor. Plus, I am good friends with Jiang Yini, he is like an uncle to me, and he has something he hopes I can help with..."

Before he could finish, Chen Jing waved his hand.

"Alright, alright, don’t ramble about these useless things."

Interrupting Li Jing’s explanation, he gave him a stern look.

"You suddenly came to me, you’re not expecting me to help you with this, are you? I haven’t developed much in the national capital; when Jiang Liao’s wife had an accident, I was not there, I only heard some information."

"Uncle Chen, you can really help me with this."

Li Jing smiled, responding.

"Director Jiang used a special method to preserve his wife’s body in the state it was found after her death. At his request, I went with his family to Lu Qifei’s tomb and used the Sky Eye Technique. During this, I discovered a power suspected of being Evil Energy inside his wife’s body. According to Director Jiang’s judgement, it is a kind of Miao Region Witchcraft called Etching Skill."

"Etching Skill?"

Caught off guard, Chen Jing was filled with disbelief.