Chapter 154: Divine Whip Stone

An hour later, the lake water had almost completely drained, revealing the stone-covered lake bottom. However, Zheng Zhong and the others looked more and more upset, because aside from the bodies of the Autumn Moon Manor guards at the bottom of the lake, there was no trace of Jiang Xincheng.

Among these bodies, the most eye-catching was Wu Ruirui, Zheng Zhong’s favorite young lover and also the strongest one by his side. She was naked, crushed under rocks at the bottom of the lake, and completely dead.

As for where Jiang Xincheng had gone, no one could see.

“What happened? Where did that bastard go?”

Ishita Masao swung his blade, forcefully lifting the lake bottom. Countless scattered rocks flew around, smashing the trees and flowers around the lake into a mess.

“Sir, look over there! There seems to be a stone cave.”

At that moment, one of the guards saw something and shouted in surprise, pointing to a spot at the bottom of the lake.

Ishita Masao’s expression changed. He took swift steps and reached the spot the guard pointed to in just a few strides. He focused his gaze and saw that beneath the stone cave was an underground river, with obvious signs of someone entering.

“Damn it, you bastard!”

The outcome was clear—the little thief had escaped through the underground river. But Ishita Masao did not dare to go down and chase him, let alone the guards around him. Even a Bone Training Realm warrior would be seeking death by going down. The only Primordial Warrior in the Cloud Condensation Realm was also a poor swimmer; going down to chase would likely lead to death as well.

“Go and get Luo Rui. He’s a good swimmer. Have him enter the underground river and chase down that little thief,” Ishita Masao said sharply. Zheng Zhong, also anxious, immediately took out his phone and called Luo Rui, telling him to come as quickly as possible.

A few minutes later, Luo Rui arrived and jumped into the underground river to search for traces of Jiang Xincheng. Unfortunately, after entering, he discovered that the underground river was a maze with dozens of waterways, making it impossible to find any trace of Jiang Xincheng. After searching for several hours with no results, the group had no choice but to return in frustration.

However, Zheng Zhong did not give up. With Ishita Masao stationed at Autumn Moon Manor, Zheng Zhong felt secure enough to send out Luo Rui, Sakuragi Dange, and Yilisha—three Great Yuan Warriors at the late Cloud Condensation Realm—each leading a group of guards to search the mountains for Jiang Xincheng.

What Zheng Zhong and the others never expected was that while they were searching outside Autumn Moon Manor for Jiang Xincheng, he had already used the underground river to sneak back into Autumn Moon Manor to retrieve a large bundle of documents he had left in Zheng Zhong’s office.

When escaping from the office, Jiang Xincheng had planned to hide in the mountain lake. To avoid damaging the criminal evidence in the waterproof bag, he had placed it in a corner of the bookshelf, covering it with a few books.

As for the waterproof bag he carried on his back, it was prepared in advance. To steal the evidence of Zheng Zhong’s treason, Jiang Xincheng had prepared three waterproof bags beforehand.

The waterproof bag on his back had been blown to pieces by artillery shells during his escape and then burned to ashes. Fortunately, Jiang Xincheng had prepared early; that bag contained only unimportant documents, so it didn’t matter if they were destroyed. The real criminal evidence was left in Zheng Zhong’s office.

The most dangerous place is the safest place. Zheng Zhong and the others could never have imagined that Jiang Xincheng, who had just escaped covered in injuries, would sneak back again. They also never expected the real criminal evidence to still be in Zheng Zhong’s office.

A few hours later, Jiang Xincheng returned to Zheng Zhong’s office and retrieved the waterproof bag filled with Zheng Zhong’s criminal evidence. However, what Jiang Xincheng didn’t expect was that just as he was about to sneak away, the office door opened and Zheng Zhong returned with Yang Wen.

With no other choice, Jiang Xincheng hid again in the same corner of the bookshelf. He took out his Handheld Computer and continued recording the secret conversation between Zheng Zhong and Yang Wen.

Entering the office, Zheng Zhong looked around the study suspiciously, but then a bitter smile crossed his face. He sighed and sat down at the desk. “Yang Wen, why are you back again? Did you hear about what just happened in the manor?”

“No, I only just found out about the incident in the manor. I never expected such a big event to happen in such a short time.” Yang Wen’s heart stirred, and he quickly shook his head. “The reason I came back is that I forgot to give something to you, Minister, from my car. So I made another trip back.”

At this point, Yang Wen paused, his face full of concern. “Minister, I heard that when we were talking earlier, that little thief was hiding in this office and even stole some confidential documents. Is that true?”

“Well…” Zheng Zhong’s expression darkened. “It’s not certain whether he was here while we were talking, but it’s highly likely. He probably heard some things, but without solid evidence, it’s not a threat to us. We need to be careful in the coming days. I plan to move everything out of Autumn Moon Manor to avoid any accidents.”

“As for those important documents, hmph, they were blown to dust by the artillery shells. They won’t affect us. Thankfully, I placed a sandalwood alarm in the hidden compartment, or we would have been finished this time.”

Zheng Zhong spoke with lingering fear, a trace of relief crossing his face. “Yang Wen, what is it that you wanted to bring? It could have waited until tomorrow. Why come back tonight?”

“This thing is best used at night.” Yang Wen gave a strange smile, placed the rectangular box he was carrying in front of Zheng Zhong, and opened it.

Inside was a dark red rod-like object, resembling a rolling pin, about half a meter long. Its head was conical and rounded at the top, with small bumps along the middle and lower parts, making it feel rough to the touch.

Yang Wen pointed at the thing in the box and said with a suggestive grin, “Minister, take a look. What is this?”

“Tiger whip!” Zheng Zhong frowned and said coldly, “Although this thing is rare, I’ve eaten quite a few. But this one is quite large, far bigger than usual. However, I’m strong and healthy now and don’t need such tonics. Leave it here; I’ll have it when I have time. By the way, since you don’t seem to have anything else to do, why not lead a team to search for that little thief?”

Zheng Zhong had just been thrown into chaos by that little thief Jiang Xincheng, and his head was aching. His beloved Wu Ruirui was dead, so he was in no mood to think about women. His mood was somewhat displeased.

Yang Wen noticed Zheng Zhong’s impatience. A smile crossed his face as he pointed at the tiger whip and said, “Minister, look again. Aside from being several times larger than usual, what other peculiarities does this tiger whip have? If it were just an ordinary item, why would I specially come back in the middle of the night to give it to you?”

“Peculiarities?” Zheng Zhong was taken aback. He picked up the tiger whip and examined it carefully. After a long while, he exclaimed in shock, “Mutated Yuan Crystal! This thing is actually a Mutated Yuan Crystal!”