When Su Wen returned to the clubhouse, it was already midnight.
But he didn't rest immediately. Instead, he went to Qingli and told him everything that happened tonight.
"I saw."
When Qingli saw Su Wen coming to see him, he smiled happily and said, "I was also invited by an old friend to watch the oiran song and dance. The talent of my junior brother is really unparalleled." After praising Su Wen, Qingli said in a deep voice: "Are you?
Do you suspect that there is another hidden reason behind Lu Chen’s death?”
Su Wen nodded slightly.
From Lu Chen's murderous thoughts towards Jiang Meiren to his final suicide, the logic of the whole process seems very self-consistent.
But precisely because of this, Su Wen felt that things might not be that simple.
Especially when Lu Chen finally died, he only spoke vaguely, which made Su Wen full of doubts.
A man who believed in his own death and had the ability to commit suicide calmly could have told his two close friends more about his feelings, but he did not do so.
Unless he is prepared to die to hide something.
"Such a judgment makes sense... But since you had questions at the time, why didn't you let Ji Fu take action to arrest Lu Chen's soul and look for clues from his soul memory?"
"Well……"
Su Wen was speechless for a moment.
He really hadn't thought about such an idea at the time.
Firstly, Lu Chen's death shocked him a lot, and secondly, Lu Chen was a literary master after all. Since he admitted that he was the mastermind behind the scenes and apologized with death, he should be given dignity no matter what.
It is too much for the secret technique to detain his soul to interrogate secrets. Even if he had this intention, Xu Xuanbao, Yan Jiuan and Yan Liuliu would definitely stop him.
"Why don't you, senior brother, accompany you to ask about Lu Chen's remnant soul?"
Qingli said very relaxedly, as if it was very easy to do such a thing.
"It's better to skip it."
Su Wen hesitated for a moment, but finally shook his head: "The dead are the most important, so let Grandmaster Lu rest in peace..."
"I think..."
Qingli thought for a while and then said: "I think that even if we want to find Lu Chen's soul at this time, we probably won't be able to find it."
"Well?!"
Su Wen suddenly frowned, carefully savoring the meaning of Qingli's words.
"Go and have a rest. We have organized a cultural gathering for the students these days. If you are interested, you can participate and teach them their skills in poetry, lyrics, and composition. If you are not interested, just arrange your own time. Don't worry about anything. I will take care of everything.
"
…
The world in the painting, the lake in the heart.
After the feast, there was only one painting boat left in the empty lake.
In the painting boat, the bodies of Lu Chen and Jiang Meiren were lined up side by side.
Xia Gui and Ye Qiniang looked at the corpse in front of them with sad expressions and remained silent.
"let's start……"
Ye Qiniang's voice was tired: "Although I don't want to disturb their rest...but this matter is full of weirdness. It seems to be directed at me, Wanyun Tower, so I have to do this."
Xia Gui nodded slightly, took a deep breath, and lit a small lamp beside him. The wick glowed with a faint green light, illuminating the interior of the boat in a gloomy and gloomy green color.
"The soul is back!"
Xia Gui stretched out his hand, and there was a soul-calling flag in his hand, which he shook vigorously.
"Lu Chen! Jiang Meiren! The soul is back!"
Xia Gui used extraordinary power to summon the souls of the two people.
The small lights in the painting boat were swaying automatically in the absence of wind and could go out at any time.
But……
After Xiao Deng calmed down, Xia Gui and Ye Qiniang looked at each other in shock.
Because they discovered that the souls of Lu Chen and Ye Qiniang had disappeared.
"What's going on! How come their souls have disappeared?!"
Ye Qiniang cried out: "Xia Gui, have you tampered with something! This is the world in your painting. How could their souls disappear?!"
Xia Gui's hands were trembling slightly. Even though he was promoted to the sixth sequence and could consider himself a strong "sub-sage", his mind was still shaken at this moment.
Ye Qiniang is right, this is the world in his painting, and it is impossible for the two souls to disappear.
unless……
"Someone has tampered with something, maybe quietly annihilating their souls..." Xia Gui thought for a while before calming down: "But this possibility is very low. The entire world in the painting is under my surveillance.
If someone attacks their souls, they will definitely not be able to escape my perception..."
"Then why are their souls missing?"
Ye Qiniang's eyebrows stood upright, like two sharp knives.
"There is only one possibility... someone used a taboo object that can ignore the rules of the world in my painting and quietly took away their souls."
Xia Gui had regained his composure at this time: "But... only those who are close to the corpse... have such a possibility!"
"..."
Hearing this, Ye Qiniang's face changed color several times.
Not many people have the opportunity to touch the bodies of the two.
Moreover, the first people to come into contact with the bodies of Lu Chen and Jiang Meiren were also Xia Gui, Su Wen and others.
Although there were maids and slaves to move it later, most of them were characters in Xia Gui's paintings. They were essentially Xia Gui himself, and it was impossible for them to steal souls.
"who is it……"
Ye Qiniang bit her thin lips, but her voice was much lower.
"Do you want to continue the investigation?"
Xia Gui sighed.
"certainly!"
Ye Qiniang gritted her teeth and said bitterly: "When did I, Wanyunlou, ever suffer such a loss? The person who stole the soul must be the real mastermind behind the scenes. I don't believe it. Lu Chen, an old man who has nothing to do with the world.
, would do such a thing for the promotion ceremony. If he had such ambitions, he would have married my mother long ago! My mother is backed by a magician, and as long as she asks for promotion methods, she can always get it!
Use him to get on this dead end!"
"Ah……"
Xia Gui sneered: "Smart artist..."
He obviously doesn't like magicians, but when it comes to magicians, he has to be careful when speaking. He can only chuckle once, which is the limit.
"Have any opinions?" Ye Qiniang suppressed her anger.
"Yes...but don't mention it." Xia Gui suddenly realized that he was already a Sequence Six Soul Painter. He didn't seem to be too afraid of the artist. He puffed up his chest and said, "You need my help to check and do what you want.
No matter where you are, just ask."
"Of course... this happened on your territory, and you are quite suspicious!" Ye Qiniang said bitterly: "Those who are suspicious... I will investigate them thoroughly! I want to take a look,
If you embarrass me, Wanyun Tower, what will happen?"
…
On the southern outskirts of Yongzhou City, in a manor.
A man shrouded in black robes held a crystal clear bottle in his hand. There were two faint groups of light in the bottle that flickered on and off.
The man in black robe picked up the wine flask and poured some wine gently in front of the bottle.
"I promised you before...if the plan fails, I will help you escape from your golden cicada shell and continue your life with a different identity."
The light group in the bottle flickered, seeming to be responding to the words of the man in black robe.
"Very good, I have prepared your new body a long time ago...and will provide it to you right away."
The man in black robe sneered, stretched out his hand to grab it, and he grasped two balls of light in his palm.
"How is my body...?"
Upon hearing this, the two groups of rays of light seemed to realize that the situation was not good, and they trembled and tried to break free from the hands of the man in black robes.
However, such struggle is doomed to be in vain.
The man in black robe suddenly opened his mouth, stuffed two balls of light into his mouth, and swallowed them whole.
As the two balls of brilliance were swallowed into his belly, his facial features also became distorted, seeming to be in intense pain.
"Hiss... the feeling of swallowing an extraordinary soul is really good!"
After suppressing the soul in the body, the hoarse voice of the man in black robes sounded, but in the hoarse voice, there was also a rough, charming, old, and calm voice, as if this voice was composed of countless people.
"Since you can't be promoted, don't waste it and lay a solid brick for me on the road to promotion!"
The man in black robe looked satisfied, picked up the wine pot, drank heavily, and said happily: "I will prepare your bodies and help you resurrect... What if your identities are exposed? No matter how big the world is, how powerful it will be.
Gao, I must die too! I am the chosen one who wants to rule the world for eternity, how could I make such a mistake!"
But he suddenly felt something was wrong: "Strange, why these two souls seem to be a little incomplete... It should be caused by being injured by the 'black arrow'..."
…
The deeds in the Flag Pavilion Wall Painting Conference inevitably spread.
Su Wen was originally only a little famous in a small circle. After last night, his fame suddenly skyrocketed. The entire literary world knew that a rising star had won the first place in the flag pavilion painting wall.
After being widely reported by various newspapers in the Liang Dynasty, even the common people knew about this matter. Especially when they knew that Su Wen's victory had saved the court a lot of money, they regarded Su Wen as a hero. The reason is simple.
, once the government's finances are tight, new taxes will inevitably be levied, and the burden will eventually fall on everyone.
However, Su Wen's reputation was somewhat diminished by Lu Chen's death. Many literary elders asked Wanyunlou in publications why he allowed thieves to sneak into such a grand event as the Flag Pavilion Painting Wall, and even had a literary figure killed.
Grandmaster, two of them were seriously injured.
For this reason, Wanyunlou had to run out dejectedly and conduct a thorough review to ensure that similar things would not happen again.
Many people found out where Su Wen lived and came to pay their respects early in the morning.
When many people submitted their greetings, they also attached poems they had written, hoping that Su Wen would comment and correct them.
Many people also expressed in their greetings that they had admired Su Wen for a long time and wanted to join his disciples and become a student.
Of course, most of these posts are unlikely to appear in Su Wen's hands. Manager Xu has been a welcoming presence in the Xu family for so long, and he has easily helped Su Wen avoid a lot of trouble.
This also made Su Wen look at Manager Xu with new eyes. Although Manager Xu usually acted like a flatterer to him, his level of handling affairs was still very high.
But if you think about it carefully, it’s not surprising. If Xu Bantang didn’t have any ability, how could he have been a celebrity in front of Xu Bancheng for so long? The Xu family has a great business, so how could an ordinary person secure such a key position?