Chapter 241: A Murder Case
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Let me go!” Yalina anxiously said.
Han Jin pretended not to hear Yalina and blankly stared in the direction from which the bright light had come from without saying a word.
Yalina thought for a while before saying, “Why don’t you sneakily go over there and see what happened?”
Han Jin maintained his silence and didn’t say a single word. It was never a bad thing to be over-cautious about a situation. As his master had told him before, curiosity kills the cat! If a battle amongst superiors is happening, you should never be a busybody.
If it is none of your business, you shouldn’t stick your nose into it! Well, of course, depending what the situation is. For instance, if you saw a child falling from the sky, you should obviously stick your nose into it and save the child. What his master meant were mainly just situations where it may be dangerous.
When two dogs quarrel for a bone and a third runs away with it, no one would want to be a fool. If you were fighting with your enemies and suddenly a group of men appeared out of nowhere, who would go on fighting? Plus, it hadn’t been long after the magic fluctuation had been detected that the curse exploded. Obviously, whoever had been fighting was at least an eleventh-grade superior. Along with that, his opponent who was able to force such a powerful person to release such a curse was definitely not an ordinary person as well. If some of them had taken the risk and had suddenly gone over, the consequences may not have been a bearable one.
The repercussion of the curse had already disappeared for quite some time, but the forest was still dead silent. The insects stopped tweeting, and even the thunderbirds sat quietly in the pit. The curse had swept fear across the surrounding areas.
As Yalina noticed that Han Jin was not saying anything, she tried to move her wrist. Han Jin said in a deep voice, “What are you doing?”
“Let’s go and have a look!” Yalina replied. This was a rare opportunity to witness a fight between two high-grade superiors. Yalina kept feeling as if a kitten were tickling her chest as her curiosity grew. If it wasn’t because Han Jin was grabbing on to her wrist, she would have rushed over.
“Wait till nightfall.”
“What? Why? They already finished ages ago! Listen!” Yalina said while trying to wriggle her wrist out of Han Jin’s hold.
“Sit your ass down!” Han Jin snorted at her.
“How dare you talk to me like this!” Yalina’s eyes were turning red. It was really embarrassing that he was screaming at her in front of everyone.
“Can you release the same curse?”
“Yes!”
“You can??” Han Jin raised his eyebrow.
“I just… need a slightly longer time than him, and it may be slightly weaker than his.”
“Just a little longer?” Han Jin chuckled. When they had formed an alliance to fight against the mercenaries, in order to know his companions better, he and Yalina had already discussed their battle skills in detail. It was true that Yalina could release one forbidden curse of the lightning element, the Thunder Roar. However, it could only be released after about half an hour and with the help of at least five high-grade lightning magic crystals, or else her magic wand would be completely destroyed.
Han Jin clearly remembered all this, but Yalina only had magic on her mind; she had forgotten what she had said before. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be bragging in front of him.
“If I release the space scrolls, I could be faster than him!” Yalina replied angrily.
“Keep the scroll for emergencies,” Han Jin said with a weird tone.
“Raphael, it wouldn’t be a big deal right? Going over to just have a peek?” Saxon laughed. He was also curious about what had happened.
“I expertise only in magic matrices. If we are ambushed, I won’t be any more powerful than the rest of you,” Han Jin bluntly replied. It wouldn’t make sense for him to admit that he was a fake dragon slayer, so he had no other choice but to find another excuse. “Just wait here. Once night falls, we’ll go.”
“If it was a priest who released the curse just now, he wouldn’t indiscriminately attack us, right?” Kale said.
“What if the one who won was his opponent?”
Kale shrugged and didn’t say anything else. The truth was, they didn’t just trust Han Jin; their feelings were already more like admiration. Therefore, they believed that as long as Han Jin was there, they wouldn’t have to be so cautious.
“A priest wouldn’t come to the Forest of Holy Animals alone; there must be followers. But why was there only one blow?” Gibran asked with a face full of suspicion.
“Enough with this.” Han Jin shook his head and said in a firm voice, “We will go over when night falls! All of you should be more cautious! Do not simply release any magic or fighting strength that may attract unnecessary attention!” As soon as he was done, Han Jin took out a few mirrors from the space ring and arranged them around.
Gibran and the rest of them looked at each other. Han Jin was a dragon slayer, and with Yalina on their side, along with the rest of them, there was no need to be afraid of anyone. Therefore, they couldn’t understand why Han Jin was acting so paranoid.
Once the Nine Grid Magic Light Array was finally completed, Han Jin let out a sigh of relief and blankly looked in the direction where the magic fluctuation had come from. He had used this magic several times before this to trap the vampires, and this would be the best way to defend themselves in this situation; at least, they would have time to escape with the space scrolls.
The thing that made Han Jin nervous was not the curse itself, but the bloody scent! A cultivator is particularly sensitive to hostility. From his experience, only celestial demons or legendary heroes are able to give out such heavenly hostility.
His master had once told him: the so-called Dao is only a kind of perseverance – a type of affirmation to one’s own nature – therefore everyone can enter into it. Whether it is to save or kill, to dance or fight, even one’s happiness and sorrow can lead them into Dao.
Those who possess heavenly hostility, whether human or demon, are tough and extremely difficult characters who are fearless and have great wisdom. As soon as they make a decision, they will give their all to it and never look back!
This isn’t praise to the demon, but sometimes, the demon’s evil is the same as the Buddha’s heart; both require perseverance and belief.
Ever since his rebirth, Han Jin had never been this nervous. Before this when he had almost died at the hands of Caroline and Betty, he had only been filled with rage and had no sense of fear. But now, he was indeed a little afraid, as the aura was similar to Gerald’s, the bloody knight. However, Gerald’s aura was just plain bloody. When compared to the one he was experiencing now, Gerald;s was just like a toddler who was learning how to walk.
Although Gibran and the rest did not understand why Han Jin was so nervous, they still listened to Han Jin’s commands. They lowered their voices as much as possible while chatting, and they only left the circle if necessary; they didn’t even dare start a fire and had only bread for lunch.
After spending an entire afternoon in boredom, the sun finally started setting. Since there were no movements on the other side, Yalina couldn’t help it anymore and stood up. “You said we could go when night falls, right? Let’s go!”
“All of you, wait here. I’ll take a look first,” Han Jin said. Still worried, he turned around while repeating, “All of you stay here and wait.”
Han Jin was able to reach the destination with only one Earthmeld, as it was only a few miles away. Han Jin did not hurriedly appear on the ground. He first used his divine consciousness to inspect the surroundings before rushing to the group while driving the Sword Light straight into the air. Yalina had once ‘complimented’ him, saying that his speed with the sword was extremely fast. Other than giant dragons and fire phoenixes, there weren’t any living creatures that could be faster than him. Although, at that point, Yalina had only said it because she was embarrassed, Han Jin was still very confident in his skills.
There was silence everywhere. There was an enormous pit in the center of the forest, and its surroundings had turned into flat empty lands. Han Jin wasn’t in the mood to be speculating the surroundings as he had his eyes set on a person who was lying quietly in the middle of the pit; they were motionless as if they were already dead.
Han Jin waited a moment before lowering the Sword Light. Then, he slowly shifted his attention to the broken mounds that were on the edges of the pit. They looked peculiar, as the entire pit was very flat; even the bottom of the pit was the same. The power of the curse should have been evenly distributed across its surroundings; it was weird for there to be two mounds at the edge.
Han Jin landed on one of the mounds. He bent over to grab a handful of the soil and observed it. He then did the same thing with the second mound. After comparing the two mounds, he made the assumption that these mounds had been formed after the curse had been released.
He then walked back to the body and slightly tapped it with his toes. After making sure that the body had already become stiff, he leaned his body down and took a closer look at it.
From its appearance, the man had died of an arrow that had pierced through his head. There were also several similar wounds on his chest and legs. However, Han Jin had been a private investigator in his previous life, so he noticed that there was something different about the wounds on the chest. The wounds across the man’s chest were the ones that had bled the most – so much so that even some of the surrounding tissue had already turned white from blood loss; it definitely wasn’t an arrow wound!
Han Jin wanted to take a close look. Suddenly, he heard whispers coming from a distance and immediately held his breath. He reached into the space ring and took off the Soul-Devouring Bead in his hands. Harley’s figure appeared in the air, and with Han Jin’s command, he immediately went toward the direction where the voices were coming from.
Harley was an incorporeal body and could not be harmed unless the enemy was a priest, but since the priest was already lying down next to Han Jin, there was nothing much to be worried about. Plus, Han Jin could command Harley back anytime he wanted.
Harley immediately retreated after reaching the pitch and screamed, “Master, it’s Miss Yalina!”
Han Jin helplessly shook his head. One day, Yalina’s curiosity would definitely bring her trouble.
“Shut up!” Yalina angrily appeared at the edge of the pit, but as soon as she saw Han Jin, she became discouraged and softly said, “Can I… just come down and have a look?”
“Come.” Han Jin didn’t know how to react. She had already sneaked all the way here; what was the point of asking now?
Yalina smiled, released her levitation skills, and landed next to Han Jin. As soon as she saw the body wearing a black robe with a white rim, her face turned solemn. “He’s a priest!”
“I can see that,” Han Jin helplessly said. “I also know that he’s a man.”
“But… but he’s an archbishop! There are only three archbishops in the entire Church!”
“You’re right, but can an archbishop release a forbidden curse?” Han Jin said while slowly removing the arrow from the corpse’s chest and noticing the small words carved on the arrow. “Lola? Who’s Lola?”