Whenever Meng Xia, the Shadow person by Dan Li's side, was mentioned, Sheng Lingyuan would start to get a headache.

Dan Li had written multiple times, insisting that the owner of a Shadow person should handle it properly.

He even proposed a whole set of plans to prevent and control Shadow people. Some people were too attached to their Shadow people and couldn't bear to have them buried with them, often leaving a dying wish for the Shadow person to live on alone.

Unfortunately, Shadow people were not meant to be widows or widowers. They were born to depend on their masters and follow their every whim.

Once their master died, the Shadow person lost its life force. This immortal and unchanging race could not adapt to new environments and would gradually become a living puppet, unable to cope with their own paranoia and eventually becoming a danger.

Dan Li had an incredibly accurate eye, and as he had predicted, the ownerless shadow puppets had brought disaster upon them.

In the fourth year of the Qi Dynasty, there was a shocking case in the capital city - Sun Chong, the commander of the Forbidden Army, was killed along with his entire family of over a hundred people. Their bodies were all found hanging on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

This incident shook the court and even alarmed the imperial palace.

Sheng Lingyuan, the head of the Qingping Division, personally supervised the investigation, and the division's top experts were mobilized to catch the culprit.

Half a month later, they succeeded in capturing the murderer, who turned out to be the shadow puppet left behind by Sun Chong's grandfather. After the old man passed away, his dying wish was for his descendants to live in harmony.

It was meant to be a blessing, but it turned into a curse for the Sun family. Because of this Shadow person, they were not allowed to split up and were forced to live together with a large group of relatives.

No matter what happened, everyone in the house had to smile. If their facial expression wasn't good enough, they risked being punished by the family's rules. The whole family walked around with fake smiles, like paper dolls, making the house feel like a haunted mansion.

General Sun couldn't bear it anymore and secretly plotted with a few of his peers to get rid of the Shadow person. Unfortunately, their plan failed and they were killed by the Shadow person.

After that, the government had to investigate the ownership of all the Shadow people in the country.

What made Sheng Lingyuan angry was that this great imperial teacher understood the principles of life, but when it came to his own situation, he was faced with a difficult emotional dilemma.

Before Dan Li was imprisoned, he had a premonition and released the Shadow person, Meng Xia, beforehand.

The Qingping Division used the talismans and tracking techniques left behind by Dan Li to pursue the Shadow person.

Facing Dan Li's Shadow person was like using the enemy's own weapon against them. A team of elite guards chased Meng Xia, the Shadow person for four years, but failed to catch them.

They suffered heavy losses themselves.

In the end, if it weren't for the Meng Xia's reckless intrusion into the Chiyuan and subsequent death by the outer perimeter's great formation, who knows how many years of harm they would have caused.

Xiao Zheng asked, "You had a Shadow person with you when you were fleeing? That's too scandalous to be true, right?"

"Of course, it's just a rural rumor. Didn't Dan Li end up being executed along with his entire family? No one around him, whether human or shadow, escaped... Besides, that tall and sturdy person earlier didn't seem like a woman based on their physique."

Sheng Lingyuan snapped out of his thoughts and didn't bother to dwell on it. He brushed off the topic and lightly tapped Xuan Ji's elbow, "Don't interrupt."

Xuan Ji obediently kept his mouth shut and watched coldly.

Although this old demon could kill without blinking an eye, he always had a friendly attitude towards outsiders. Give him a role and he could easily blend into the environment.

Now, he was chatting with everyone about the film industry, adjusting his language according to others' speech habits, and getting along very well.

Nobody could tell that just a few months ago, he was summoned by the sacrifice of a thousand people to overthrow the Bureau.

Only with him, relying on their mutual trust and considering themselves half "allies," would the old demon reveal his true colors without restraint in private.

Xuan Ji realized that he was being treated differently. Instead of getting angry, he felt a strange sense of satisfaction.

He wondered if he had been infected with the "trashy novel syndrome" from reading too many cheap novels.

"I have a different opinion," Wang Ze rubbed his chin and said, "Director Xuan said that this puppetry was invented by Dan Li, but surely he's not the only one who knows it, right? Isn't Sheng Xiao his disciple?"

Xuan Ji: "..."

Do you have something to say, big brother?

Wang Ze even boldly patted Sheng Lingyuan's shoulder and said, "Hey, brother, I'm not talking about you. This 'Sheng Xiao' is not the same as that 'Sheng Xiao' - look at your unlucky sword inscription."

The emperor propped up his head and gave him a flawless smile.

With a humanitarian spirit, Xuan Ji attempted to save the ugliest bald carp in the world.

"Don't talk nonsense, do you have any historical evidence?"

"Yes! I have expert literature!" Wang Ze showed his phone screen to everyone, and the first thing that popped up was a portrait of Emperor Wu in the history book.

He was dressed in armor, with a square face like a diamond, and modeled after the Heavenly Kings in the temple.

"Look at this great Emperor Wu. It is rumored that he was nine feet tall and had a majestic appearance. With a face as big as a house, a wide mouth, a tiger's back, and a bear's waist, how could he not be good in that aspect? But he never married in his entire life, and even his son was adopted. Think about it, isn't that strange?"

Xuan Ji: "..."

Sheng Lingyuan looked at the mighty and majestic man with interest and quipped, "Strange."

Wang Ze continued, "So experts have a theory - let me tell you, this expert is amazing, he was involved in the latest revision of the middle school history textbook - he said that Sheng Xiao may have a spouse who cannot enter the harem, such as being a homosexual. Although this expert is impressive, he is still just an ordinary person with limited imagination. This 'cannot enter the harem' could be due to the wrong gender, but it could also be due to the wrong race! For example, someone who is a hybrid, a complete package, just like the green-eyed one we saw earlier, right?"

The emperor nodded with a smile, "Makes sense."

Xuan Ji shut his mouth completely, feeling that the Mr. Wang he was talking to was beyond saving and could just make an appointment at the crematorium.

Wang Ze counted on his fingers and said, "Look, in the previous few Yin Sacrifice rituals, the first one had a mysterious figure who appeared and disappeared too quickly to identify. Let's not focus on him. As for the other two, the great demon lords of the witch and Mountain tribes, who sealed them? It was Sheng Xiao. And who turned the great demon lord of the Mountain clan into sushi? Still Sheng Xiao. Why is it that only the great demon lord of the shadow clan hasn't been sealed by him among the three major races?"

At first, everyone thought he was talking nonsense, but upon hearing this, they were actually convinced and began to follow his line of thought.

Even Sheng Lingyuan fell into deep thought and asked, "So what do you think?"

"We don't know the historical details," said Wang Ze. "But didn't Emperor Wu die from jumping into the Chiyuan lava pit? And now we're suspecting that the Chiyuan and the so-called 'demon' are related. Let me boldly assume that maybe that Shadow person jumped with them back then, got burned by the Chiyuan fire, had some kind of physical and chemical reaction, and 'poof' turned into a demon!"

The idea of demons having sound effects made Sheng Lingyuan burst out laughing.

Xuan Ji couldn't take it anymore. "Enough with the nonsense, where's the popcorn?"

Xiao Zheng knew that Wang Ze wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut, so he kicked the black carp aside and asked, "Seriously though, what's the Shadow person's fighting power? Any special abilities?"

"There's no difference, the Shadow person inherits all the abilities of their master. If the master can fly and disappear, so can the Shadow person. If the master is weaker, the Shadow person is easier to deal with," said Sheng Lingyuan.

"But once they become a 'demon', everything becomes unpredictable."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zheng immediately turned to contact all levels of the security department, requesting that they handle the situation as a top-level paranormal event, with the leaders of the three special forces on standby.

As they spoke, the data from various energy monitoring points in Jiangzhou Qingping area was finally compiled and submitted.

Xiao Zheng quickly scanned the report, "There have been no abnormal energy reactions in the Qingping area within the past 72 hours. From the data collected at each monitoring point, it appears that the slightly lower winter temperatures may be the cause of the lower energy levels."

Xuan Ji asked, "What about the historical records?"

"We haven't received it yet," Xiao Zheng glanced at their location.

Most of them were elite members of Wind God, with extremely high mobility.

With just a few words, they had already left Pingzhou and were expected to arrive in Jiangzhou in just over half an hour.

Director Xiao's face didn't look too good.

"Did the Jiangzhou branch take a collective vacation? Even compiling historical data, which is readily available, is so slow."

"Well, you know about Jiangzhou. The branch there has always been lazy. The head of the security department even took unauthorized leave last time to participate in some robot competition and was even reprimanded," Wang Ze said. "It's a place where Old Lady Yu is in charge, so they're used to being idle."

Xuan Ji frowned. "Another Dongchuan?"

"To be honest, the Old Lady is different from Master Yue De. He was just a troublemaker who acts like a local emperor in Dongchuan, always trying to evade supervision. Whenever something happens, he orders us around and complains about our slow response and lack of service awareness... He even refuses to install energy monitors, blaming us for being slow.

"But in Jiangzhou, our monitoring system is complete. Since the establishment of the Bureau, the He family has never interfered with our normal duties. Jiangzhou has had no anomaly accidents for 70 years, and even the maintenance of the earth veins is not our bureau's responsibility. For so many years, why is Old Lady Yu sitting in the first seat at the Penglai Conference? It's because they only take responsibility and don't seek privileges, right?"

Wang Ze lit a cigarette.

"But her people killed Zhi Chun," Gu Yuexi, who had been silent all along, interjected coldly.

Without waiting for Wang Ze to speak, she continued, "Fine, even if there isn't enough evidence to prove the creation of the mirage island, the puppet that came to harm President Yan has admitted it, right?"

"I haven't figured this out either," Zhang Zhao said. "Were those puppets sent by Old Lady Yu? What is she after?"

Yan Qiushan, an experienced field agent who had infiltrated the True Nature Sect for three years, had already gathered all the necessary information and preserved the physical evidence.

On the other hand, Silver Shadow had already been caught, and a team of elite spiritual-type ability users were waiting to purify the blind man's brain fluid.

Compared to that, Yan Qiushan's testimony carried some weight, but it was not decisive evidence.

At this point, whether it was Old Lady Yu or the True Nature Sect, it wasn't worth the effort to go through all this trouble to kill Yan Qiushan.

"I just received a message from my colleague. During the two times we switched cars, the disguised convoy arrived safely at the designated location. That means no one leaked Yan's whereabouts from the Yuyang branch to Du Ruo's place. I also don't believe that our Wind God's own brother would be a traitor," Zhang Zhao looked towards Sheng Lingyuan.

"According to the Mr. Sheng's inference, we were being watched from the moment we left Yuyang. Those puppet assassins were likely using puppetry to track Captain Yan. Why does this Shadow person have such a grudge against Captain Yan? Besides being exceptionally outstanding, what other problems does Captain Yan have?"

Sheng Lingyuan's gaze fell on Yan Qiushan beside him - the puppet technique was unpredictable, so just in case, Xiao Zheng didn't dare to send Yan Qiushan away alone before locking in the location of the demon.

Yan Qiushan, who was knocked out by Xuan Ji, lay in a special care cabin, and his complexion was obviously much better than before.

It should be that the gold and iron objects on his body were automatically repairing his meridians.

That's how the forging technique works. As long as he has the will to survive, all the gold, silver, copper, and iron around him can be used for him.

Perhaps stimulated by the wooden doll that looks a lot like Zhi Chun, the abnormal energy indicator lights outside the care cabin have not turned off, and even the metal parts on the care cabin are faintly flowing towards him.

Even a few steps away, Sheng Lingyuan could feel his eagerness to regain mobility. When the emperor was practicing his metalworking skills, he didn't think too much and infused the technique into a piece of Nanming stone.

This stone was found in the Nanming Valley, also known as the Chiyuan, and was born with a flame-like color that resembled agate.

It was incredibly strong and was said to be impervious to water and fire.

However, it was no longer needed and was difficult to destroy.

Sheng Lingyuan added a curse to the inheritance since he couldn't destroy it completely. The curse stated that whoever obtained this inheritance would have to be crushed into pieces and scattered.

This was to prevent others from touching his belongings.

"Yan..." Sheng Lingyuan asked, "Has your Captain Yan ever been seriously injured?"

Zhang Zhao was stunned for a moment and replied, "Isn't that common?"

"I mean the kind where you're crushed into pieces," Sheng Lingyuan clarified.

Several old Wind God agents looked at each other in suspicion, and Zhang Zhao asked, "Sir, how did you know?"

Sheng Lingyuan was a bit surprised. "Really?" he asked.

"That was many years ago, when I was in junior high," Zhang Zhao said. "There was an earthquake in Xingzhou that disturbed a group of mutant ants, right, Brother Wang?"

"Right," Wang Ze took over the conversation, "the local branch's field operatives didn't handle things properly. They thought it was a remote area with no one around, so they were lazy and didn't close the road in time. As a result, they almost trapped a shortcut-taking truck in the tunnel. Captain Yan and his team were the first reinforcements to arrive.

"When they got there, the mutated ants had almost caused the mountain to collapse, and they only then discovered that there were people inside. Several metal-based abilities risked their lives and used all the resources they had to create a passage for the truck.

"At the time, the situation was urgent, and they couldn't afford to avoid ordinary people. It also happened to be in the middle of the night, so the truck driver thought he had encountered a supernatural event and was so scared that he blindly rushed forward. Captain Yan was hit by the out-of-control truck and was buried under the collapsing mountain.

"A mysterious orange-red stone sword hit him in the back of his neck - experts speculated that the mutated ants may have been after that sword.

"The Stone Sword could cut through iron like mud. It carries an unknown curse that we still can't handle. It's still sealed in the 60th underground level."

The Stone Sword was a legendary weapon that had been sought after for centuries. Its power was unmatched, and its curse was feared by all who knew of it.

Despite numerous attempts to break the seal and harness its power, the Stone Sword remained hidden in the depths of the earth. Its very presence sent shivers down the spines of those who dared to approach it.

The mystery surrounding the Stone Sword only added to its allure, and many brave warriors had lost their lives in pursuit of it. But still, the Stone Sword remained, waiting for the one who would be worthy enough to wield its power.

As Wang Ze spoke, he logged onto the internal network with his phone and found the stone sword in the "Special Grade Dangerous Seal Archive."

He showed it to Sheng Lingyuan, saying, "This is it. The color looks a bit like southern red, but its hardness is amazing. It stays at a constant temperature no matter how much heat is applied, and it can be used as an air conditioner when left in a room."

Sheng Lingyuan only glanced at it and recognized his own masterpiece - the Nanming stone that he had unknowingly lost.

Yan Qiushan belonged to the metal element. According to Wang Ze, at that time, he was using all his strength to drive the power of metal to support the tunnel.

The forging technique in the Nanming stone might have mistaken it as someone trying to open the inheritance, so it was activated and turned into a stone sword.

"How did he survive?"

"Let me tell you, it was a close call. Yanshan could have died." Wang Ze said, "At the time, Zhi Chun was by his side and immediately fused his own blade into Yanshan's body, sealing the wound. Otherwise, Yanshan would have been cut in half."

Metal-based creatures have a strong vitality and can use external metal to temporarily patch up injuries. However, this does not mean that they can simply attach a piece of iron to their severed head.

What's special about Zhi Chun is that as Yanshan's spirit weapon, his blade is "alive" in a sense, and he used it to save Yanshan's life.

Sheng Lingyuan curled his fingers around the object beside him and said, "Fusing one's own blade into someone else's body is a risky move. If Yanshan had died, there would be no more Zhi Chun's blade in the world."

"Yes, the special doctors who participated in the rescue said that Captain Yan might have been fighting for Zhi Chun. He kept holding on, and the doctors had given up hope, but he miraculously survived... That's why they say Captain Yan is the toughest man in the world." Wang Ze sighed, "Because of this incident, Zhi Chun slept for a whole year and never fully recovered. He rarely appeared in human form until the Sea Mirage incident."

No wonder Yan Qiushan's bloodline was so thin that he was almost like an ordinary person, yet he had such cultivation at his age.

It turned out that there was such a reason behind it.

So, does that young man count as...half a disciple?

Sheng Lingyuan was lost in thought.

It was unlikely that His Majesty would be moved by such a thin thread of fate that spanned three thousand years - after all, he had casually discarded the Gold Forging Technique and had no good intentions at the time.

But for some reason, something seemed to lightly touch his heart, stirring up some distant memories that he had long forgotten.

It was as if he had lived through it all before.

It was like a fleeting moment of déjà vu.

"Mr. Zheng," Zhang Zhao observed his expression and asked, "Why did you suddenly bring this up? Do you think it has something to do with the pursuit of Captain Yan?"

"It may not necessarily have anything to do with your Captain Yan," Sheng Lingyuan chuckled at the young man who was clearly confused.

Even if that "green-eyed" person was not a demon, but rather a Shadow person who had lived for three thousand years and killed a severely injured Yan Qiushan, there was no need for such a roundabout way.

Moreover, he had clearly used puppetry to track Yan Qiushan all the way, but only sent those puppet killers when he was almost at Yong'an, fearing that the headquarters of the Bureau would receive the news too slowly.

And then there was that puppetry. By the time the reinforcements from the Bureau arrived, everything had already been settled, and there was no suspense.

Yet the sparrow with the puppetry did not hurry to leave, as if afraid that others would not notice it...

Of course, others really couldn't notice it, after all, "puppetry" was an ancient evil art that had been lost for three thousand years and not everyone could recognize it.

That sparrow was waiting there specifically for him.

It seemed that someone had better eyesight than him, a forgetful old man.

They had already noticed the inheritance on Yan Qiushan's body and mistakenly believed that he saved Yan Qiushan's life for this reason. The pursuer was after him, hoping to use the "ironclad Yan" to deliver an invitation from Jiangzhou.

Sheng Lingyuan had just found Wang Ze's rambling amusing, but now it seemed that this black-faced big carp might have guessed right.

The Shadow person in Jiangzhou might really have a deep connection with him.

"Director Xiao," at this moment, an agent on the helicopter opened their soundproof talisman and shouted in the deafening noise, "We're about to enter Jiangzhou territory."

Xiao Zheng was irritable, "I know! Jiangzhou is such a big province, with a string of county-level cities even below Qingping area. Where are we landing? Did the useless people in the sub-bureau get any results from their investigation...?"

Director Xiao hadn't even finished shouting when Wang Ze interrupted, "Boss, what are you doing?"

Xiao Zheng turned around and saw Sheng Lingyuan walking straight past him without a word of greeting.

He turned into a black mist and disappeared from the helicopter.

The field agents were stunned and looked at each other for two seconds before turning to Xuan Ji, who was just as shocked as they were.

"Director Xuan, what does this mean?" Wang Ze pointed to where the emperor had disappeared. "Can you explain it to us after class?"

Xuan Ji opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"I don't know the answer to this one, sorry."

Before his colleagues could react, he quickly opened the cabin door and jumped out.