After A Max-Level Celestial Master Transmigrated Into The Body Of A Sickly Beauty's Substitute - Chapter 3

“Mr. Lan, I am very sorry. All surveillance footage from the relevant sections you provided has been damaged. Currently, the police have not found evidence to prove that your brother was kidnapped by Mr. Gu.”

The police had assigned officers to negotiate with both parties, as this case involved the heirs of two major companies in Jinchuan, and neither side was easy to offend. However, as it stood, there was no direct evidence to prove Gu Guixi was guilty.

“Do you have any other evidence?” the officer asked.

Although Lan Lin had anticipated this, knowing that Gu Guixi would surely have taken precautions before acting so recklessly, his expression remained grim. He kept his face dark and replied, “No.”

The officers who came to negotiate were an older man and a young man. The older one looked regretful. “Then there is nothing we can do. If there are any developments, we will contact you.”

The young officer suddenly frowned and asked, “Mr. Lan, how did you find your brother at the time?”

Lan Lin lifted his eyes. “Why do you ask?”

The younger officer explained, “If we can prove that your brother was indeed with Mr. Gu during the time he was injured, then even without direct evidence, the police would have reason to continue investigating him.”

Gu Guixi’s lawyers were formidable. With just a few words and some alibis, they had managed to clear Gu Guixi’s name and even frame him as a victim. Combined with the fact that he was currently hospitalized, the police investigation was difficult.

According to the older officer, if they let the case drag on, both sides would likely choose to settle privately. He had seen too many secrets of the wealthy. However, the young officer felt it was not that simple; his sense of justice told him that the truth needed to be brought to light.

After a moment, Lan Lin took out his phone. “I previously synced his phone’s location data.”

“Phone location data should have a travel history. That can be used!” The young officer’s eyes lit up.

After the negotiation, Lan Lin remained uneasy and returned to the area outside the hospital room. Looking through the glass, he saw the youth curled up in the quilt. The young man kept his dark eyes open; even though he knew he could not see anything, he was unwilling to close them. Lan Lin’s heart ached, and his fists tightened.

That evening, the Lan parents, who had been negotiating business abroad, flew back overnight. Upon landing, they rushed directly to the hospital. However, they happened to arrive while Lan Ting was resting. Despite their concern, the couple did not enter to disturb him but stood outside, watching quietly for a while.

Mr. Lan was a man of stern appearance, while his wife had a gentle gaze. Standing together, Mr. Lan did not turn his head but said softly, “A-Lin.”

“Father,” Lan Lin replied.

“Cut off the cooperation with the Gu family.”

Over the years, although the Lan family had strongly opposed the relationship between Lan Ting and Gu Guixi, Mr. Lan had still cooperated with the Gu family multiple times for the sake of his youngest son’s happiness. If the two families had a business relationship, the Lan family could weigh the financial interests to ensure their son would not be easily let down.

Lan Lin smiled, his eyes showing a touch of ruthlessness. “Rest assured, Father. It is not just the Gu family; I have also severed ties with the smaller companies that rely on them.”

Killing the chicken to warn the monkey was nothing; the Lan family could kill both the monkey and the chicken. Once the smaller companies lost the Lan family’s cooperation, they would naturally know how to weigh the pros and cons. The Gu family was no longer a safe place to be.

Outside the room, the father and son settled the fate of their rivals in a few short sentences.

Inside, however, Lan Ting was feeling troubled. He had intended to circulate his spiritual power to probe the spiritual roots of this body, but the result left him speechless. Far from having spiritual roots, the meridians in this body were clogged and messy. He could not even complete a single circulation of spiritual energy before it hit a dead end. No wonder the spiritual power he had struggled to store earlier was like a disposable consumable; it could not recover automatically once depleted.

This was not good.

He frowned slightly, his pale eyebrows knitting together as he unconsciously reached out to hook the spiritual energy in the air. If he relied solely on his soul’s autonomous recovery, the body would remain like waste rock. The two were mismatched. If he used his power, it would accelerate the body’s collapse.

If only.

A thought flickered in Lan Ting’s mind. His soul detached from the body. The translucent joints were full of serrated cracks and looked tattered, clearly unable to withstand much strain.

Tsk, forget it.

It would be better to recover first. He needed to at least ensure that he would not cough up blood every three steps he took. Swallowing the metallic taste of blood rising in his throat, Lan Ting closed his eyes, feeling listless.

Elsewhere, in ward 301, Gu Guixi was still wearing the gauze around his head, though his condition was not as serious as rumors suggested. He sat on the hospital bed, looking relaxed and comfortable.

Standing opposite him was a man dressed in Daoist robes. The man held a horsetail whisk, pacing back and forth while muttering incantations, the white bristles occasionally sweeping over Gu Guixi.

When the chanting stopped, Gu Guixi asked with anticipation, “How is it?”

“It is feasible,” the Daoist nodded.

Hearing the answer he wanted, Gu Guixi’s face brightened. “Then do as the Master says!”

“Mr. Gu, you must be clear. This method is a direct soul-pulling technique, applying the Substitute Life array to the soul itself. Once the array is successful, the other person will never be able to reincarnate.”

Even after hearing the consequences, Gu Guixi’s resolve did not waver. He gritted his teeth, his eyes full of hatred. “If he had not resisted and run away, the Lan family would not have known about this, and the two families would not have turned against each other. Since he chose this path, do not blame me for being heartless.”

Remembering the strange power Lan Ting had suddenly displayed while in the array, Gu Guixi warned with apprehension, “There is one thing you must pay special attention to, Master. I do not know what Lan Ting had on him, but his power was great. The previous array was broken for no reason; he must have used some unknown magical artifact.”

In Gu Guixi’s understanding, Lan Ting was a useless good-for-nothing with no power to resist such an array. The previous incident must have been caused by some outside interference, just like his own jade Buddha.

Hearing this, the old Daoist’s eyes flashed. “Understood.”

What kind of magical artifact could be so powerful as to break his array? He would definitely have to study it properly later. Stroking the beard on his chin, the old Daoist said, “Let us begin.”

Because of the concealment provided by the drop of heart blood, Gu Guixi’s aura had merged with that of the vengeful ghost. No one noticed that all their plans were being overheard by the blood-soaked female ghost tightly clinging to Gu Guixi’s back.

The female ghost pulled a wisp of Yin energy from her body. It danced at her fingertips, hesitating, before flying toward the door. As it drifted away, a blood-smeared hand reached out to crush the energy, blending it, and returning it to her body. The female ghost’s expression shifted, a silent, mocking smile spreading across her lips before she hid back into Gu Guixi’s aura.

When spiritual power fluctuated in the air, Lan Ting woke up immediately. He had anticipated that Gu Guixi would not let the matter rest, so he had been accumulating spiritual power. The only entity he could summon now was the Wei Yue Yan. Since the star focused on offense, it did not matter what kind of array it was; he would break it by force.

As soon as the ominous aura appeared, Lan Ting raised his hand and formed a seal. The stars in the sky flickered in response.

“Wei Yue Yan, break the array.”

Lan Ting’s seal was simple and fast. With only a few light movements, he gathered his spiritual power. As the seal took form, a flash of spiritual light streaked across the sky. Above the clouds, the Wei Yue Yan descended, transforming into an arrow and firing from the string of a giant bow.

Just as the arrow reached his eyes, it suddenly halted. Lan Ting uncontrollably slumped forward, his waist bending as he began to cough violently. Crimson blood streamed from between his fingers, and the smell of iron flooded his nostrils. A fierce look emerged in Lan Ting’s dark, lightless eyes.

The original owner still had a remnant of a soul left in the body, which had been mindlessly dragged into the array, creating a backlash against him. The source of spiritual energy was suddenly cut off, and the Wei Yue Yan dissolved into fluorescence in the air. At the last moment, the translucent humanoid star reached out as if to touch the youth on the bed, but dissipated into nothingness the next second.

The stars in the sky flickered, silent and regretful.

The remnant soul of the original owner was influencing the body, indirectly affecting Lan Ting. He did not have time to think as his consciousness plunged into chaos.

“Did it succeed?”

Inside ward 301, the array glowed brilliantly. The Daoist performing the ritual was drenched in sweat. With a look of surprise and greed, he muttered cryptically to himself, “What kind of treasure is it to be this powerful?”

Without getting an answer, Gu Guixi asked impatiently again, “Master, did it succeed?”

The Daoist regained his senses and curled his lips in contempt. “It is half-successful. The array has already captured his soul; we only need the final step to pull it over.”

Hearing this, Gu Guixi was overjoyed and urged, “Hurry up and drag him over!”

“Do not panic. Let me continue the ritual.”

After the Wei Yue Yan disappeared, there was no one to stop the array in the ICU. The golden light spread, almost enveloping the entire ward. The surrounding surveillance cameras were blinded, and even passing pedestrians could not see anything unusual. The patterns of the array connected and spread little by little.

As the array became more perfect, Lan Ting’s soul was trapped in the body, muddled and confused, as if returning to its previous state. His vitality was sucked away, and the color he had worked so hard to regain vanished instantly. In the chaos, a feeling of suffocation eroded Lan Ting’s entire soul.

Cough, cough, cough.

Large amounts of blood flowed silently from his pale lips. The startling color appeared on his snow-white skin, making one tremble with fear. Blood dripped onto the floor with a chilling sound.

Then, in the next second, someone stepped in, right onto the final connection point of the array.

The entire formation collapsed with a roar.

A long, delicate hand, covered in strange, purple-black esoteric patterns, reached out and intercepted it. Drip.

Crimson blood fell, striking the hand like a hammer against an ancient bronze artifact, making a dull, soft sound. The hand held the blood and slowly moved upward, the stains seeping into the skin and vanishing without a trace.

The newcomer lowered their gaze, holding the hand before their lips, before finally bowing their head.

They licked the skin where the blood had been.

It was like a sword buried in yellow sand for thousands of years; at this moment, someone brushed aside the sand, gripped the hilt, and awakened it from its slumber.