After exchanging the banknotes for a chest of gold ingots, Lu Chen rode back to the Manor outside the city.
His main purpose in returning this time was to visit Old Zou.
The Manor looked much as it always had. Old Zou reclined on a couch, with two or three maids attending him. He seemed in excellent spirits. Seeing Lu Chen enter, he chuckled. "Oh, you're back? Just in time for some good news. That Knocking Ghost terrorizing Wen'an County has been destroyed."
"Oh?" Lu Chen's brows drew together. "Who destroyed it?"
"I heard it was a Great Celestial Master of the Red Pill Sect. He claims to be the reincarnation of a boy attendant who served Lord Laojun, blessed with the power to subdue demons and vanquish evil," Old Zou said with a smile. "He slew that ghost himself."
"The Red Pill Sect?"
Lu Chen's eyes darkened.
"Indeed!" Old Zou made no effort to hide his admiration. "Who would have thought they were so capable? Even the Knocking Ghost was no match for them!"
He continued with a smile, "Once I'm back, I'll have to pay my respects to Lord Laojun myself. His blessings truly work!"
Lu Chen did not respond to that.
He had already killed the Knocking Ghost before leaving Wen'an.
When the thing died and slowly transformed into a contorted human corpse, he had realized that the monster had not been born of heaven and earth. It had once been human.
And the "exclusive Secret Medicine" he had obtained from the Red Pill Sect's draw pool could do precisely that—turn people into monsters.
All the clues had quietly fallen into place back then.
Lu Chen had seen through it but said nothing. He had simply left, waiting to see how things developed.
Sure enough, not long