Bizarre Cultivation: Starting from Being Beaten Up by Reality

Chapter 56 The Key Ma Qi

"But at least you can eat your fill in the Taoist temple. You probably don't know how unbearable it is to be hungry."

Although Lin Fan didn't like the Taoist nun, after hearing what she said, he still wanted to advise her to think positively.

Lin Fan had seen countless times in the original owner's memories the days when the mother and son were so hungry that they could only drink water to fill their stomachs.

The harvest from the fields is unstable, and various disasters often disrupt plans, making it impossible to store food.

"Senior brother, I understand what you mean. I didn't say that I was more unfortunate than others."

Miao Zhuzi smiled sweetly at Lin Fan.

"Most people in this world are unhappy. I am no more unhappy than anyone else, but I am not a lucky exception either."

Lin Fan nodded, indicating that he agreed with her point of view.

"My senior brother was like the sunshine that shone on me, a brief but warm sunshine, but then he suddenly disappeared."

“At first I thought he didn’t want me anymore. Later I found out that he was tricked by me… by us. Although I was unaware of it, I was one of the reasons that he was drawn into the scheme. Master, Wanshou was using me from the very beginning as a bargaining chip to keep the eldest brother on his toes.”

"Sometimes I think, if it weren't for me, would my senior brother have discovered Wan Shou's plot sooner and perhaps been able to escape?"

Although Miaozhuzi's explanation was fragmented, Lin Fan still understood it, since the matter was actually quite similar to what had happened to him.

"Don't think too highly of yourself. You should know the snake-skinned Taoist's methods better than I do," Lin Fan comforted him.

Miao Zhuzi nodded, a cool smile on her face.

"I cannot choose my birth, I cannot choose my master, I cannot choose to meet my senior brother. But I want to choose where I die."

“I am the fish on the chopping block, and man is the butcher. If there is anything I wish to do, it is not to die as a tool, but to die for my atonement.”

"This is all I have in mind, senior brother."

"Ha..." Lin Fan chuckled lightly, "Not bad, quite convincing. Do you think I'd believe that?"

Lin Fan stared coldly at the beautiful woman in front of him, his gaze seemingly trying to see right through her.

Miao Zhuzi, as always, did not avoid Lin Fan's gaze.

“Senior brother, you are right. In this world, you shouldn’t trust anyone who is still alive. Being alive means things will change. For example, I only trust that senior brother wouldn’t lie to me.”

Miao Zhuzi's eyes only showed a hint of sincerity when she mentioned the words "eldest brother".

Da da da--

With a rapid sound of hooves, Mu Qingfeng dismounted and bowed to Lin Fan.

Looking at the two people facing each other, Mu Qingfeng felt a sense of déjà vu about this scene, and she didn't want to interrupt at such inopportune times. However, this time there really was something very important.

Mu Qingfeng coughed lightly: "Boss, Xiao Wu is dead."

Lin Fan's pupils dilated in shock: "What? Investigating someone can lead to trouble?"

Lin Fan quickly calmed himself down. The fact that something had happened meant that they had found the right place, and this matter was not over yet.

"When I went in, I saw Xiao Wu lying among a pile of books, bleeding from his seven orifices, as if he had seen something terrifying. It was as if he had been scared to death."

Lin Fan pressed further, "What about the case file? Have you found any information about Feng Xufeng?"

Mu Qingfeng replied, "We searched briefly but found nothing. However, judging from the bloodstains, one scroll should indeed be missing. But we also asked the officials of Zhaoxuan Division, and they said they hadn't seen anyone else enter or leave."

Lin Fan looked at Miao Zhuzi.

The latter understood and said, "Even if it's not the time when the Celestial Venerable closes his eyes, as long as a cultivator casts a spell, the curse can still kill someone."

Lin Fan's mind was racing with a thousand thoughts. He seemed to be able to come up with the answer to the question right away, but he was always just a little short.

He felt there was too much noise in his head, like a buzzing sound, which gave him a terrible headache.

The truth should be right before our eyes, but where should we begin?

Lin Fan wasn't a real detective after all; in the end, he was just an ordinary modern person.

Lin Fan decisively took out the dark green Soul-Suppressing Pearl and swallowed it in one bite.

whoosh-

As a cool sensation swept through his mind, he instantly regained his composure.

"Taoist nun, you previously implied that Wan Shou wasn't behind the Ma family case. What evidence do you have?" Lin Fan wanted to clarify this matter first.

"Replying to Senior Brother, that's not what I meant. I just wanted to remind you that the curse on the Ma family will not dissipate on its own because of the death of the caster."

"The Ma family killed so many people and buried the bodies in their own home, so triggering the curse is like lighting a powder keg. Lighting a powder keg is not difficult, but putting it out is not easy."

“Even if it’s your master, if you want to keep the whole process under his control, you have to stay close by and maintain control.”

Lin Fan nodded. "You mean, someone just triggered a curse, and that curse kills people on its own?"

"That's roughly the idea. Moreover, the curse of the Ma family is extremely powerful. My master had to go through a lot of trouble to barely contain the curse within the Ma family mansion. Otherwise, even the surrounding farmers would have been affected."

"I still can't understand what gave the Ma family the confidence to bury all the dead in their own yard," Lin Fan said.

Miao Zhuzi shook her head. "A curse is formed from obsession, and the distance between people cannot prevent it from taking effect. I guess the Ma family must have taken precautions. They probably used the remains of these dead people to set up a magic array to suppress the curse itself. But not only did this magic array fail, the curse inside was also activated."

Although he understood the matter, it didn't help Lin Fan much, because how the curse appeared and how the people were killed were not important.

Now we need to step outside these tedious steps and see the truth of the matter.

There must be something else connected to this. Before and after the curse disappeared, besides the death of the snake-skinned Taoist priest, what else happened?

Lin Fan's mind raced through the events of the past few days.

Ma Qi!

"Let's go check on Ma Qi!"

Mu Qingfeng frowned. Right now, she not only had to help Chen Wu investigate the case, but also keep an eye on these two people. She was the one under the most pressure.

Mu Qingfeng waved his hand, gathered all the men he could bring, and ran towards the prison with Lin Fan.

……

Prison.

Maqi clutched his stomach in pain: "Don't worry, it's not time yet. Baby, wait a little longer, until I find your mother, okay?"

Ma Qi's belly was already swollen, like a pregnant woman eight or nine months along, but the prison was too dark and no one noticed his abnormality.

"Heh heh, you brat from the Ma family, I know everything. You're the one who got my whole family imprisoned! Kid, do you know who you've offended?"

A wrinkled face lay sprawled between two wooden cages, roaring at Ma Qi.

She was, of course, a member of the Feng family who was imprisoned in the cell next to Ma Qi's.

Ma Qi was covered in cold sweat, gently patting his stomach. "Hmph, who do we have here? The ancestor of the Feng family, I didn't expect you to still be alive."

The patriarch of the Feng family revealed a mouthful of gold teeth. "Kid, even your grandfather had to kneel on the ground and kowtow to me to admit his mistakes back then. You think you can bring us down with that?"

"I have lived for over a hundred years and witnessed the rise and fall of the Feng and Ma families over the past century. You are just a greenhorn, a good-for-nothing who was expelled from the Ma family. You have no idea about the heritage of our two families!"