Late at night, in the Exorcism Division.
"Chief Inspector —"
"Chief Inspector?"
Hongjun and Atay quickly returned to the Exorcism Division, but the Carp Demon and the others were nowhere to be seen.
"Where are they?" Hongjun asked in surprise.
Hongjun frowned silently as he held the blood droplet enveloped in the Five-colored Divine Light in his hand.
The two of them waited in the Exorcism Division. Li Jinglong, Mo Rigen, and Qiu Yongsi had not returned, and the Carp Demon who had been sent to inform them had also disappeared.
"Let's go out and look for them," Atay answered.
By now, the two of them had already realized that something had happened. They returned to their original location, the Nine Zigzag Bridge, and searched along the river. By dawn, they had found nothing. When they returned to the Exorcism Division, Hongjun could not take it anymore and fell asleep. Atay was still waiting, and by the time he woke up, it was already noon.
"None of them have returned," Atay muttered. "There was more than one trap last night."
Hongjun was completely flustered. "The three of them were ambushed by demons?!"
"It's very likely," Atay muttered. "Even we almost could not deal with this demonic art."
Hongjun frowned deeply. He held up the Five-colored Divine Light in his hand, and the blood droplet he had found in the secret passage last night was locked in the Divine Light. The blood droplet was still constantly changing its shape.
"Oh no," Hongjun said. "We have to look for it. What should we do?"
"Don't worry," Atay answered. "Does Chief Inspector have a superior? Should we go and see his superior? "
"Yang Guozhong." Hongjun answered. "We still don't know if he's a demon king. What if he's the demon king who serves the emperor?"
"Let's test him." Atay had an idea. "If he is, he will definitely lure us into the trap. We can save them."
Hongjun and Atay went to the Prime Minister's mansion. However, the answer they received was that the Right Prime Minister had gone to Guanxi and was not in Chang 'an. When the two of them were discussing, Hongjun wanted to ask the Supreme Court for help. However, Atay felt that it was inappropriate to drag mortals into this matter. After all, if they could not solve the problem, it would only harm mortals. It was meaningless.
Leaving the Prime Minister's residence, Atay and Hongjun were at their wits' end.
"What should we do?" Hongjun asked again.
Atay: "…"
The two of them looked at each other for a moment. Atay said, "Let's keep looking. As long as we find one of the traps, we might be able to find a way."
"Split up?" Hongjun said.
The two of them agreed that no matter what they discovered, they would not act rashly. They had to bring the news back to the Exorcism Division to discuss it. Moreover, regardless of whether he obtained anything or not, he had to return to the Exorcism Division before the Drum of Dusk.
Hongjun searched along the river for the third time. Similarly, he found nothing.
Time passed slowly. In the afternoon, Hongjun passed by the West Street of Chang 'an. In the noisy market, pedestrians came and went. However, he felt a faint sense of fear. It was as if in broad daylight, in the noisy market, there were countless pairs of eyes spying on his every move.
And all of his movements were under the control of the enemy. Thinking of this, Hongjun's heart surged with a strong sense of insecurity. He subconsciously walked towards the Exorcism Division. It was as if only in the headquarters where the Immovable Wisdom King was enshrined was the safest.
"Atay? Elder Shi? Are you back? "Hongjun pushed open the door and shouted.
Atay had not returned. Li Jinglong and the other two had disappeared for nearly sixteen hours.
Even Zhao Zilong had disappeared. Hongjun had never been as flustered as he was now. Li Jinglong still did not know magic … Previously, he had burned the monsters to death. If the Monster King took revenge, the consequences would be unimaginable.
What should I do? Ahhh! Hongjun was about to go crazy. He paced back and forth in the courtyard. This was completely beyond his ability. "No, no, no, calm down." Hongjun exhaled deeply.
If Elder Shi was here, what would he do? Aimlessly looking for people is not a solution … Hongjun forced himself to calm down first. As the sun set, he sat cross-legged in front of the desk and began to organize his thoughts.
"First of all, they must have been taken away." Hongjun said to himself, "There is no other reason."
Li Jinglong, Mo Rigen, and Qiu Yongsi had all stepped into the same trap as him. Under the premise that they did not have the Five-colored Holy Light to protect themselves, it was very likely that they would fail to deal with the squirming blood. If Li Jinglong used a sword, Mo Rigen used the Nailhead Seven Arrows, and Qiu Yongsi used the inexplicable painting magic, they would all be defeated. They would be ambushed by monsters like Yazi. They would be injured, taken away, or killed …
Thinking of this, Hongjun shivered and forced himself not to think like this. If Li Jinglong was here, what would he say?
"Does the Monster King have a reason to kill them?" Hongjun gestured with his hands and asked himself. Then, he imitated Li Jinglong's tone and answered himself, "The Monster King will not kill them so easily. It wants revenge and kills all of them in one fell swoop."
This did not seem to be a reason for "not killing", but Hongjun had basically convinced himself that Li Jinglong should not be killed immediately after being caught.
"Because I have not been caught yet." Hongjun said, "I am a variable, yes."
Then, he could barely convince himself and asked himself, "Then where were they taken to? Will the injured Yazi know …? "
Yazi was injured, so it might go to the Monster King! Hongjun immediately jumped up and rushed out like a gust of wind, but he remembered that Atay had not returned.
It was dark.
Hongjun stood at the door for a while. His intuition told him that the drum of dusk had passed. The only possibility for not seeing anyone was that Atay had also been taken away.
Hongjun, "…"
He turned his head and looked around, realizing that he was the only one left.
"It can't be." Hongjun said to himself. It was strange that in this dark night, the feeling of being watched during the day was reduced. It was as if the night made the monsters hide and became their best protection, but it also put Hongjun in the darkness.
He climbed up to the tallest building in Jincheng Lane and looked at the whole city. Every household in Chang 'an City lit up their lights. Two red lanterns were hung high, and the moon was covered by dark clouds. Music and laughter came from far away in the city.
He carefully returned to the nine-zigzag bridge, followed the river, and came to the tunnel yesterday. The underground space was quiet, and the walls were still dripping with water.
Under the illumination of the Five-colored Holy Light, the surroundings were ruined by the battle yesterday. Hongjun dived into the water without taking off his clothes.
Sure enough, a spacious secret passage appeared at the bottom of the water. He swam along the secret passage all the way. When he swam to the bottom of the water, he suddenly saw the light in front of him. He carefully emerged from the water and found that there were bloodstained footprints on the shore.
This was already the moat outside the city. The footprints went all the way out. There were some blood stains on the crushed grass and a few scales under the trees.
Hongjun's heart beat violently. He shook out a flying knife and followed the footprints and bloodstains. However, the others were not here. If there were other monsters, it was hard to say if he could defeat them.
The footprints stopped in front of a mountain wall and disappeared.
Hongjun, "???"
It's gone? He looked around. How could this be?
The moon rose from the clouds and shone on the ground. The mountain wall showed a dark reflection. Hongjun held the handle of the flying knife and went forward to knock on the mountain wall. However, the mountain wall was empty. In the blink of an eye, Hongjun fell into the mountain wall without a sound!
The mountain wall was a camouflage!
The moment he fell in, he almost screamed. However, he was afraid of alerting the ambush, so he quickly held back. Behind the mountain wall was another tunnel that was more than ten feet deep. Hongjun did not have time to open the Five-colored Divine Light. He could only stagger and roll down the small tunnel, bringing up a lot of sand and mud. Finally, he fell into a cave in the belly of the mountain.
"It hurts …" Hongjun whispered.
A red light flashed in the cave. It came from a red magic circle carved on the ground. The footprints and blood of Yazi were dragged here before they really disappeared.
Hongjun turned his head to look at the magic circle on the ground. It was exactly the same as the one he saw in Yazi's hiding place that day.
An empty copper plate was placed in the center of the magic circle.
What kind of magic is this? Where did Yazi go? Hongjun carefully recalled the "trap" that Atay shouted last night. Maybe it was not a trap. When they found the magic circle, Yazi just happened to come back. They just happened to trigger the self-protection of the blood drop in the eye of the magic circle.
The blood drop should be placed in the copper plate. As long as the plate is not let out of the magic circle, it will not be attacked? Hongjun was not afraid of it. After all, his Five-colored Divine Light could block anything.
He untied the binding of the blood drop that he obtained last night and let it fall back into the copper plate.
"It looks like a medium." Hongjun scratched his head and frowned. What did it mean that the injured Yazi fled here? There was no other way. In other words, it was teleported away by magic.
"Then this magic circle …" Hongjun looked down for a moment. He knelt on one knee and stood next to the last footprint of Yazi. It happened to be a mysterious symbol. He pressed his hand on the symbol and tried to inject magic.
The magic circle's brightness increased. Then, the blood drop in the center of the copper plate spurted out even smaller droplets. They crackled like fireworks and exploded in all directions.
Hong Jun increased his transcendence energy, and the area in which the blood droplets sprayed out became even larger. Not long after, it became like a fountain, spraying out of the copper plate with crackling sounds. It fell into the spell formation, and the spell formation was instantly activated, shining brightly!
Hongjun, "!!!"
Hongjun did not have time to react. The magic circle burst into a strong light. With a buzzing sound, it swallowed him in the light!
Then, with another buzzing sound, Hongjun felt that he was suddenly suspended in the air. His body fell uncontrollably. He was used to not shouting in the face of shock. He turned around in the air and threw out a flying knife in his hand, ready to deal with the unexpected situation.
However, the moment he turned around, he was stunned.
He saw himself!
A young man who looked exactly like him flew towards him with a sinister smile on his face. He was also holding three throwing knives in his hands!
Hongjun, "…"
What's going on?!
Hongjun and his mirror image collided fiercely in the air. He immediately raised his knife to block the attack. However, the young man turned into red blood droplets and scattered in all directions. The next moment, the blood droplets gathered again and turned into a hand. The hand grabbed Hongjun's peacock feather —
Hongjun roared, "Who are you?!"
"Hongjun!" Li Jinglong's voice roared.
Then, Hongjun threw out his flying knives. However, they collided with his Five-colored Godly Light. All the flying knives in the air were entangled by the liquid and were taken away.
In front of him was a sea of red. The sea of blood was getting closer and closer. With a bang, Hong Jun fell into a sea of red!
"Hongjun —!"
"The fourth one," Madam Guo said with a smile.
Hongjun panted heavily and struggled in the sea of blood. He looked up at the top of the cave and saw a flashing magic circle. Instantly, he understood that this was the final trap!
He wanted to summon the raging fire with spells, but the sea of blood rushed toward him quickly and wrapped him tightly. Then, with a roar, Yazi rushed down from the shore.
Li Jinglong roared, "Stop —!"
Hong Jun had just released a flame spell, yet his shoulder was bitten by Yazi. Instantly, he was dripping with blood, and he cried out in pain. Then, he was thrown into the air and flew towards the shore. When he still wanted to struggle, the strength in his entire body was suddenly sucked out, and the magic power in his meridians disappeared without a trace.
Madam Guo stood in front of Hongjun and murmured a spell. Her pale lips opened slightly, and the light on Hongjun's body was sucked into her mouth.
"Stop … Stop!" Li Jinglong was tied in an iron cage in the cave. He kept hitting the cage with his shoulder and yelled at Madam Guo, "You're here to suck my power! Don't touch him! "
Hongjun kept rolling on the ground. Covered by the sticky blood, he couldn't move at all. His spiritual power was sucked into Madam Guo's mouth continuously. Madam Guo felt extremely good. It was the first time in her life that she had absorbed such pure spiritual power. Her body trembled under the nourishment of the spiritual power, and even her face changed shape, showing the ferocious face of a fox demon.
When Hongjun looked up and saw Madam Guo's fox demon face, Madam Guo's eyes were hollow in the extreme pleasure, and a horrible sound came out of her throat.
"Go … to hell, monster!" Hongjun gritted his teeth and used all his strength to release the Samadhi True Fire.
The fire suddenly exploded and hit Madam Guo's chest. She screamed and fell back. The three monsters behind her immediately rushed over and pressed Hongjun to the ground. They grabbed his head and hammered it with their claws. Hongjun's head hit the ground, and with a muffled sound, he passed out.