Translator: Lordbluefire
“Master, sob sob sob, you’ve finally summoned me again!”
As soon as the Holy Pharaoh came out, it dashed in front of Sun Mo like a ferocious tiger charging toward its prey. It then started to rub against his leg.
Its fawning look was no different from a pug.
“Move away a little!”
Sun Mo kicked the Holy Pharaoh.
He couldn’t help it. He was born to be uncomfortable with creatures like bugs, especially those with many legs. Those were even more disgusting.
“Ouch!”
The Holy Pharaoh felt very hurt as if it was abandoned by a heartless man.
“F*ck!”
When the others saw the Holy Pharaoh, all of them jumped in shock, their scalps turning numb.
The Holy Pharaoh was Egypt’s guardian beast, an evil and terrifying undead creature that had lived for more than 10,000 years. The undead aura it emitted had a natural deterrent effect on living creatures.
With the appearance of Holy Pharaoh, white frosted qi of death started to permeate the prison, causing the temperature to drop by more than ten degrees.
“This looks like a dung beetle. Why does it give off such a strong pressure?”
Upon hearing this, the Holy Pharaoh swung his head and stared over. Its huge compound eyes exuded a murderous and vicious aura.
“Teacher… Teacher Sun, I didn’t mean that!”
Yu Lin quickly explained.
“Stop wasting time. Help me check how many days it has been since the person who was staying here has left.”
Sun Mo instructed.
“…”
The Holy Pharaoh wanted to curse. (I’m the deity of the Egyptians, but you’re treating me like a dog?)
“Hurry up!”
Sun Mo urged, “After we’re done with this, I’ll allow you to eat one soul!”
“Woof woof!”
The Holy Pharaoh immediately did as it was told. (If there’s food, you can treat me as anything you want, even a dog.)
As an undead, scarabs were very sensitive to the smell of living creatures. Moreover, it was the guardian of tombs, so it was good at using soul-type magic to create various terrifying nightmares.
Tomb raiders often went crazy from nightmares even before they could see the Holy Pharaoh.
“The person who lived here left this morning.”
The Holy Pharaoh reported, “Do you need me to continue tracking him?”
Sun Mo had a contract with the scarab, so they communicated telepathically. Other people could not hear this reply.
“This morning?”
Sun Mo frowned.
“What’s the matter?”
Ji Han saw that Sun Mo’s expression was not right and became even more worried.
“Kong Yuxin left in the morning.”
Sun Mo examined every inch of the cell carefully, not even missing the toilet bowl.
“Haha, is your bug reliable?”
Zhang Qingmin sneered. “I can confirm that the spirit rune lock was opened two days ago. Tell me, how could the patrolling prison guards not notice it if the door lock was opened two days ago?”
“The prison guards are his accomplices?”
Yu Lin interrupted.
The Prison of Desolation’s patrolling guards didn’t just take one round in their patrolling duties. They also had to talk to the prisoners to confirm that they were not dead, as well as check if the door locks were damaged.
“My men won’t commit any crimes!”
Ji Han trusted the prison guards.
“We’ll see how things are after the interrogation is done!”
Zhang Qingmin smirked.
Soon, everyone in the prison was called to the first floor.
Zhang Qingmin started to interrogate them. He started with the prisoners who knew spirit runes, then he grabbed the prison guards and questioned them one by one. During this time, he used both soft and hard methods and even beat up people.
Sun Mo did not interrupt. Instead, he sat at the side and started reading the information about Kong Yuxin.
An hour later, Ji Han couldn’t wait any longer. “Teacher Zhang, did you find anything?”
“What’s the hurry?”
Zhang Qingmin complained unhappily. He scratched his head and sized up these people again. Judging from their expressions, these people did not lie. Moreover, there were no loopholes in their confessions.
This was bad!
Zhang Qingmin stole a glance at Sun Mo and was a little worried. (Am I going to be defeated again?)
“Teacher Sun, don’t you have anything you want to ask?”
Ji Han looked at Sun Mo.
“No!”
Sun Mo shook his head. Although Zhang Qingmin was arrogant, he did have some capabilities. His interrogation methods and techniques were very tricky.
“Should we talk to the prison warden for further directions?”
Yu Lin suggested.
“We can only do that now!”
Ji Han was displeased.
According to the regulations, the prison door would open once every seven days. If it didn’t open, it meant that something had happened inside. When that happened, Hu Xingjiang would definitely come to check on the situation personally. However, if they were to open the door now, Kong Yuxin might end up running away.
Of course, Ji Han could also send a signal now and inform Hu Xingjiang in advance.
“In my opinion, all of you have been tricked by Kong Yuxin!”
Zhang Qingmin started to make deductions. “He had escaped so many times, so he must be very careful. Why did he leave behind such an obvious loophole in the spirit rune lock? It’s clearly some kind of lure. He might have left the prison long ago.”
“Think about it. There are still three days before the prison door opens again. Wouldn’t he be alerting the enemy if he were to run out now? So he must have left when the door was opened the last time.”
Zhang Qingmin looked at the prison guards. “There must be someone among them who was controlled by Kong Yu with secret arts, helping him in his prison breakaway plan.”
“That’s impossible!”
Ji Han rejected this deduction. “When the prison guards leave the prison, our guards will check on them. Therefore, as long as one was influenced by spiritual control techniques, puppetry, Gu techniques, or things like that, they’d be discovered.”
“What if your standard is not good enough?”
Zhang Qingmin rebutted.
Ji Han snorted and couldn’t be bothered to argue. In the end, he still decided to report this matter to Hu Xingjiang and let him make the decision.
15 minutes later, everyone received a reply.
Hu Xingjiang asked Zhang Qingmin and Sun Mo to continue investigating the case. He would take responsibility for the pursuit outside.
Three days passed by very quickly.
Sun Mo and the others found nothing.
The prison’s door opened.
“I feel that there’s definitely a traitor among these people!”
Zhang Qingmin was indignant.
Ji Han had the same thoughts. However, they could not imprison these people anymore. Otherwise, it would break their hearts and it’d be hard to lead them in the future.
However, Ji Han had arranged for people to secretly monitor these prison guards.
Zhang Qingmin was a prisoner, so he could only return to his cell. However, Sun Mo was free. He could use this opportunity to freshen up and have a feast.
“Teacher Sun, let’s have a meal together!”
Wu You called out.
“So what if someone like Kong Yuxin ran away? It’s not like he would cause any harm.”
Pang Tong thought nothing of it.
To put it bluntly, Kong Yuxin just had some moral issues. He did not have any criminal records.
The prison’s patrolling level had been raised to the highest level, but even after ten months, there was still nothing. Now, even Ji Han had resigned himself to fate.
One day, the moon was dark and the wind was strong.
A couple was hiding by the cliff, admiring the moon while talking about love.
“Oh, my stomach hurts! Just a minute!”
The man looked like he was in agony and held onto his stomach as he ran toward the cliff. He couldn’t hold it in anymore and could only deal with it nearby. He felt better after he was done, but he didn’t notice that a bug the size of a fingernail was crawling away from the feces.
The bug raced down the cliff and landed directly in the sea, bobbing up and down with the waves. After it had left the island for a distance, the bug emitted a strange soundwave, and a school of fish swam over. One of them swallowed the bug.
The sky turned bright and the night passed.
On the surface of the sea, a fish suddenly popped out, flicking out of the surface. When it landed again, its stomach had turned over and it was dead.
A few minutes later, a human arm suddenly pried open the fish mouth and stretched out. Then, there was a head, shoulders, and even half a body…
Finally, a man in his seventies climbed completely out of the fish’s mouth. He lay on his back on the surface of the sea, staring at the blue sky, the white clouds, and the rising sun in the east. He suddenly felt a sense of exhilaration.
At that moment, the man wanted to sing loudly, but he restrained himself in the end.
“I’m not safe yet. I have to find a ship quickly and return to land as soon as possible!”
Kong Yuxin’s face was pale. The activation of the Gu Technique had consumed a large amount of his spirit qi and stamina, causing him to be very weak.
“I’ll go home and then propose to Little Lan!”
Kong Yuxin cheered himself on and started swimming. However, after ten minutes, he stopped and looked toward the west.
A black shadow quickly floated over from the sky.
“Why does it feel like a human?”
Kong Yuxin frowned. For safety’s sake, he dived into the sea to hide.
“Kong Yuxin, stop hiding. I’ve been following you for more than half a month.”
Sun Mo spoke up.
Splash!
Kong Yuxin emerged from the water and looked at Sun Mo in surprise. “It’s you? Great Teacher Sun, let’s make a deal. I’ll give you two saint-tier cultivation arts and you let me off. How about that?”
“You’re so generous?”
Sun Mo pretended to be surprised.
“You should know about me, right? I’m not interested in things like cultivation or career. I just want to marry Little Lan and give her happiness. ”
Kong Yuxin sounded sincere.
“Has Secondary Saint Hu given you his silent consent for you to leave?”
Sun Mo asked.
“No! I ran off by myself! Don’t spout nonsense!”
Kong Yuxin denied this repeatedly.
“Can you tell me why you opened the spirit rune lock but didn’t leave?”
Sun Mo was puzzled. “That shouldn’t have been your original plan, right?”
“When did you set your eyes on me?”
Kong Yuxin did not answer his question.
“You might not believe me, but my understanding of the origins of Gu techniques is more comprehensive than many Gu grandmasters. Moreover, I know some forbidden arts and I have a scarab that is proficient in soul-related secret arts. Therefore, I was able to determine your location on day one.”
Sun Mo shrugged.
It was really amazing how he could turn into a bug and get swallowed by a prison guard.
“Then why didn’t you expose me?”
Kong Yuxin was very surprised. The people from Nanyue were very secretive about Gu Techniques. They wouldn’t even teach these techniques to people from other tribes, let alone people from the Central Plains.
The secret Gu Technique Kong Yuxin used was something he had obtained from an ancient book. He had never used it before, so Ji Han and the others would not be wary of him in this area.
“I want to see what you’re capable of!”
Sun Mo smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. “This is really unbelievable.”
“Didn’t I still end up being caught by you in the end?”
Kong Yuxin said self-mockingly.
“I’m a grandmaster in herbology. That’s why I was able to scatter medicinal powder on those prison guards without anyone noticing. I relied on the scent of the powder to track you down.”
Sun M’s lips twitched. “The many times you tried to escape previously should have been a smokescreen, right? It’s to conceal the fact that you know Gu Techniques. This way, no one will know how you escape no matter how hard they rack their brains over it!”
“That is one reason, but more importantly, I wasn’t done with the training of the gu-bug yet!”
Kong Yuxin sighed. Why did he have to encounter Sun Mo?
Otherwise, he would have succeeded.
“Why did you choose to flee at such an unreasonable time?”
Sun Mo felt curious.
