Cult Leader of the Wanli Era

Kong Wenju practiced the method of "Antiquity Appraisal," which allowed him to discern the antiquity of objects.

Legend has it that there are some experts in the archaeology industry who have reached the pinnacle of this Dharma Lineage of cultivation.

Not only can you tell at a glance when an antique was made, but you can also vaguely sense some major events that the antique went through in history.

They regard antiques as fragments of stories left behind by the ancients.

Even if someone is alone in a gloomy and terrifying ancient tomb, to people like them, it seems like everything is colorful and vibrant.

On some items, one can hear the cheers of a grand lantern festival; on others, one can feel the roars of war in a chaotic era.

It doesn't feel gloomy or desolate at all.

On the contrary, having students around them would annoy them.

"The sounds from the ancient tomb are so beautiful, didn't you hear them?"

"Shh! Be quiet! Your vulgar chatter is making it hard for me to hear the ancient music!"

Kong Wenju certainly didn't achieve that level of skill, but after making some progress, he developed an intuitive ability to distinguish between ordinary objects and antiques.

For him, living in a bright, clean, and elegantly decorated house might not necessarily bring comfort.

Even a firm yet soft bed that conforms to the curves of the human body, and a fluffy, snuggling blanket, might not make him feel at ease.

But if you have a favorite antique nearby, you'll feel comfortable even sleeping on cement.

Sometimes he wondered if the Dharma Lineage he cultivated had caused him to become alienated, making him rarely able to feel joy or sorrow towards other things.

Only by immersing oneself in the atmosphere of antiques can one gain a truly vivid experience.

But upon closer reflection, it's like how some people prefer living in the south, while others prefer living in the north.

He has this talent, which is why he has developed this type of Mind Power. In turn, the Mind Power highlights his habits, which is just a natural thing.

It's just a hobby, far from being considered a form of alienation.

After all, he wasn't so obsessed as to spend every day in museums just to experience the atmosphere of antiques.

He was quite content with the antiques he had accumulated at home.

Unfortunately, none of his old friends were willing to sell him his favorite antiques, including paintings and calligraphy.

This life, filled with contentment tinged with a touch of regret, changed about a month ago.

That day, he was handling an ancient jade piece when he suddenly heard a sound like a dusty outer shell cracking open, like an egg being cracked open.

The ancient jade suddenly transformed into his right hand and swam into his body, causing him great fear.

But he soon discovered that the ancient jade had brought him no harm, only benefits.

His nose had become unusually sensitive, and his ability to detect the scent of antiques was much Former Qing.

Compared to Kong Wenju at this time, even when he entered a state of Aperture Opening, he seemed like a patient with severe nasal congestion.

This olfactory pleasure made him, almost inexplicably, not seek out anyone to conduct a more thorough examination of his body.

A few days later, he discovered that in addition to his nose being more sensitive to the smell of antiques, he could also smell the toxicity of certain items, which would be introduced into a certain part of his body, deposited there, and combine to form specific toxins.

Some toxins can cause people to see absurd and nonsensical scenes.

Some toxins, similar to truth serums, can make people unknowingly answer any question and tell the whole truth.

Some toxins can amplify a person's aggressive desires, but when the dosage exceeds a certain level, they can suppress those desires and generate a strong sense of intimacy.

Kong Wenju familiarized himself with his newly acquired power and began to carefully investigate the origin of the ancient jade.

First, the ancient jade should be from the Ming Dynasty. Based on the half-true and half-false rumors the seller had told him, Kong Wenju consulted historical records and finally narrowed it down to a specific period.

This ancient jade piece was likely a personal item belonging to the leader of a folk religious sect during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.

That man was named Liu Tianxu. He once gathered a crowd in Jinling to start an uprising, calling himself the Dragon Flower Emperor and the Dragon Flower Cult Leader.

This sect, nominally following the mainstream, worships Maitreya Buddha, who attained enlightenment under the Dragon Flower Tree.

In reality, the Maitreya mentioned in this sect's doctrine is quite insignificant; what they truly worship is the Dragon Flower Tree.

They believe that human ancestors were originally born from trees, without sexual intercourse or bloodshed. However, their ancestors were corrupted by the secular world, so that their descendants must be born through sexual intercourse, coming from filth and suffering endless hardships.

By worshipping the Tree of Dragon Flower, one removes a layer of impurity, thus reducing one's suffering. After death, one can return to the Dragon Flower Tree, be reborn, and enjoy celestial bliss.

At that time, many people recognized his miraculous powers and followed and served him.

However, Liu Tianxu chose to launch his rebellion during the Winter Solstice, when officials were visiting the imperial tombs, and was quickly surrounded and killed.

Kong Wenju felt he understood.

His newly acquired abilities are indeed very suitable for missionary work.

From this perspective, he simply inherited the skills of an ancient sorcerer.

Anyway, he's not going to be reckless and go astray with any evil factions, so he can use this ability with peace of mind.

When Chu Tianshu heard him say this, he was already at this point.

He described the reality and his own feelings in a very organized way.

But after that, things became a bit unclear for Kong Wenju.

When asked to reflect on his actions, he couldn't explain how he could bear to abandon his properties and shops, steal paintings and ancient books from several stores, and leave his hometown.

He didn't think much about why he chose to come to the Macau; it seemed like he just picked it randomly.

However, he vividly remembered the attack on Hong Ying's younger brother.

"Those are Tang Bohu's calligraphy and paintings, Tang Bohu himself."

His "Falling Flowers Poetry Album" is housed in the Princeton University Art Museum in the Americas, and his "Viewing a Waterfall Hanging Scroll is housed in the Taipei National Palace Museum.

Even if it's just a fan painting, far less artistically valuable than the previous two, it should still be kept at home and properly displayed.

"That's not an ancient jade, what the hell is he doing holding it and playing with it?!"

Kong Wenju was extremely agitated, completely disregarding his previous fear of Chu Tianshu.

"These nouveau riche gamblers, they may have high social status and lots of money, and even officials have to give them face."

"But they get their hands on good stuff and don't know how to preserve or collect it at all."

"I only regret that they still managed to snatch the fan back. I didn't know the madman was looking for his son back then, otherwise I definitely could have tricked him into helping me get the fan back!"

Chu Tianshu looked at him calmly, his gaze slowly shifting to the large bag over there before returning to it.

The meaning is obvious.

Do you really consider it proper preservation and collection if you just stuff calligraphy, paintings, and ancient books into such a big bag?

Kong Wenju argued, "I had no choice; to carry these good things with me, I had to disguise them."

"Fortunately, there are many people in the world who don't know what treasures these are. Just stuffing them into my bag like this, no one will know what kind of valuables they are."

Chu Tianshu was too lazy to say anything more to him, and just stared at his spleen for a closer look.

The Evil Spirit on Kong Wenju was much weaker than that on Zhu Heng.

It may be due to the different environments during the hundreds of years of preservation.

However, there should be another factor: Zhu Heng's influence on Kong Wenju.

Among the five internal organs, the spleen belongs to earth, and the lungs belong to metal; earth can generate metal.

Zhu Heng's strength Kong Wenju, and he is also a madman with a wild and chaotic will that is even stronger than his strength.

When the two of them were together, Zhu Heng unknowingly caused the Evil Spirit within Kong Wenju to become somewhat disordered, and even drained his power.

But this isn't without its advantages.

For Kong Wenju, it was precisely because the Evil Spirit within him had been weakened that his mind was clearer than when he left his hometown.

"Advisor Chu, where are you?"

Fang Jun's shouts came from downstairs.

Chu Tianshu took a few steps and approached the outer side of the building.

Fang Jun got a roll of green gauze commonly found at construction sites, wrapped Zhu Heng's body in it, and brought it over.

He didn't intend to carry the body up to the third floor; he simply called out from below, "How is it?"

"Gotcha."

Chu Tianshu said, "You should have sensed the Spiritual Qi on Zhu Heng's corpse, right? Kong Wenju also has an Evil Spirit on him."

"It should be something left behind by a leader of a heretical sect Ming Dynasty. Based on the five internal organs, it might have a combined effect."

Fang Jun's expression shifted. He put the body down, found a bamboo pole, and used it to vault up to the second floor.

He cultivates Mind Power, so jumping down from a height is easy for him, and he can use some methods to cushion the fall. Jumping from the third floor is fine, but jumping up is a bit more troublesome.

Chu Tianshu squatted down, reached out, and pulled him up to the third floor.

Fang Jun stared at Kong Wenju for a while, then pulled out a playing card. "Kill him."

Kong Wenju was horrified. "Wait a minute, I... I... I'm not guilty of a crime punishable by death, am I? Aren't you afraid the Special Investigation Bureau will come knocking on your door for doing this?"

Fang Jun gave a cold smile.

"I'm from the Special Investigation Bureau."

Kong Wenju slumped down and said, "So the Special Investigation Bureau is this dark as I thought. I should have known..."

"Very well, defaming the Special Investigation Bureau in front of the investigators, your sentence can be extended a bit more."

Fang Jun smiled and said, "However, given the amount of money involved in your case, you would probably have been locked up in jail until you died of old age."

Kong Wenju was unsure whether to be sad or happy; judging from the tone of the voice, it seemed that he wasn't planning to kill him after all.

Fang Jun had frightened Kong Wenju again, Chu Tianshu was in a good mood and laughed, "You actually meant to kill Evil Spirit, right?"

"Um."

Fang Jun said seriously, "He's not a highly dangerous individual like Zhu Heng. If we can spare his life, we should."

"Following the repeated orders from above, our Special Investigation Bureau Division must remain open and strict in its operations, even after the situation has been brought under control."

Chu Tianshu added, "This batch of Evil Spirit is a combination of the five internal organs. The two known ones have both recently revived. I'm wondering if we should keep them for now and use them to cast spells to track down the others."

Fang Jun shook his head.

"We have a priority principle in handling cases: Evil Spirit, we kill them one by one."

"Especially those Evil Spirit that form a group; if you have the chance, you must cripple their group first, the more crippled the better, otherwise, if they really come together, who knows what will happen."

"Furthermore, regarding tracking, any Evil Spirit relic of any caliber will be encrypted."

"If they're in good condition, tracking their companions will actually be more difficult. It's better to kill them first and then track them down by their remaining scent; that would be much easier."

Chu Tianshu really didn't know any of this.

Hailing is truly peaceful, with no long-standing Evil Spirit traditions.

At most, there will be unorthodox methods like that of the late Qing Dynasty scholar.

The tradition of shamanic medicine focuses on medical skills, Secret Incantations of Vertical and Horizontal Method emphasize the improvement and accumulation of one's own Mind Power.

It wasn't mentioned much that the Evil Spirit's relic could also encrypt itself.

"Then I'll do the killing!"

Chu Tianshu quickly spoke, and as he spoke, he pointed his finger at Kong Wenju's spleen and thrust it through the air.

Since we're going to kill them anyway, we should open the treasure chest ourselves to get the materials.

If Fang Jun beats them to it, they'll be at a disadvantage.