I Have Infinite Skill Points-Chapter 507: Formidable Enemy Incoming

RING RING RING—The embassy’s phone suddenly rang.

"Hello, this is Liu Yun! Alright, Major General Wang, it’s Master Chenghai on the phone."

Before Wang Lan could even speak, an urgent message came through from the other end, "He’s here. He’s made his move."

"Who?"

"My Dharma Great Master," Master Chenghai hastily said. "My Dharma Great Master has come. I’ve just received news that my Junior Brother Cheng Ming was murdered, his heart gouged out. We nurture the Six-winged Golden Cicada within our hearts. It must be the work of my Dharma Great Master."

"Alright, I’ll be right there," Wang Lan said and hung up the phone.

"Ruoyun, that Dharma World Honored may have acted. Since he dares to show himself, then let’s make sure he stays."

"Okay!"

They drove to the Temple. Before they even got out of the car, Master Chenghai hurried over.

"Special Envoy Wang Lan, Princess Yu, I didn’t expect you to arrive so quickly. The target is in Aiman City, only eighty kilometers away from here. Let’s drive now."

"Drive? I think flying would be faster," said Wang Lan, who had come to understand the traffic conditions in Vine Country. It would probably take at least half an hour just to get out of the city.

"I still can’t fly..." Master Chenghai replied, somewhat sheepishly.

"No problem, I’ll carry you. You just need to point me in the right direction." As his words fell, Star Power flickered, and Wang Lan and Master Chenghai slowly lifted into the air. This scene, witnessed by the local Vine Country civilians, immediately brought them to their knees in worship.

To ordinary people, the ability to fly equates to possessing Divine Power. As for any logical reasoning that Star Martial Warriors flying is not uncommon... does it even matter? Faith, after all, is present when believed, absent when not, right?

The privileged class naturally should have special rights, and in Vine Country, flying freely through the sky was certainly not a problem. In less than half an hour, Wang Lan and his companion landed in Aiman City.

The Vine Country police had already secured the scene. With the State Preceptor’s guidance, they entered the site. This was a shrine in Vine Country; in this country, larger places of worship are called temples, while smaller ones are referred to as shrines.

Shrines did not offer worship services to tourists and did not recruit monks; they were essentially self-run by a single monk. The main income was from offering prayers and conducting rituals for people, as well as selling blessed Buddhist artifacts.

A middle-aged monk lay on a bed, his chest and shirt open, revealing a gruesome wound where his heart should be—a shocking sight. Wang Lan observed the deceased, while Yu Ruoyun and Master Chenghai searched the room.

From his expression, it seemed that Cheng Ming was conscious before his death; the terrible anguish on his face was clear. But according to Master Chenghai, Monk Cheng Ming had at least attained the Star Sea cultivation level.

Being taken as a disciple by the former State Preceptor, his talent was undoubtedly top-notch in Vine Country. To protect the Golden Cicada, he had abandoned all fame and willingly become a common monk, yet he had still been found and killed.

There were no obvious signs of struggle in the room, indicating that Monk Cheng Ming was subdued in an instant and killed while he was fully conscious.

"The killer is definitely Dharma Great Master. I can’t believe we hid it so well, yet he still found us," Master Chenghai said in a low, grim tone.

"If he was found, that means your hiding place was not good enough," Wang Lan shifted his gaze and said. "Now that Mage Cheng Ming has been found, the way Dharma World Honored found Mage Cheng Ming is a clue. You say that the three junior brothers each took a Golden Cicada and lived incognito. Apart from you and the King, who else knew their whereabouts? Was there really nobody else?"

"Indeed not. It was a secret between His Majesty and me. Not even the three junior brothers knew about each other, and they were not allowed to expose their identities as Star Martial Warriors or reveal the Golden Cicada."

"Secrets are meant to be leaked. This isn’t my homeland, so I can’t speculate which channel might have betrayed you, but I hope Vine Country will seriously vet possible channels of leakage."

"I will," replied Master Chenghai.

"There’s a letter here!" Yu Ruoyun suddenly exclaimed.

Master Chenghai quickly took the letter. Upon reading its contents, his face dramatically changed. "Junior Brother, you actually—"

Seeing Master Chenghai’s face turn so pale, Wang Lan looked at Yu Ruoyun curiously. Wang Lan knew that Yu Ruoyun understood Vine Country’s script.

"Half a year ago, Mage Cheng Ming wrote a letter to his Junior Brother Mage Cheng Kong. The content of that letter is unknown. This is Mage Cheng Kong’s reply, stating that he refused Mage Cheng Ming’s proposal. Moreover, Mage Cheng Kong is suffering from a serious illness and does not have much time left. He will pass the Golden Cicada to his son to inherit after his death."

"This means the three monks harboring Golden Cicadas were actually in contact and not unaware of each other’s whereabouts. Just to clarify, can monks in Vine Country marry and have children?"

"Monks in Vine Country, just like those in the host country, belong to a profession, and Buddha demands only their faith, not their entire lives. As long as one truly believes in Buddha, we are allowed to marry. Of course, most monks choose not to marry, because they believe that having a wife and children would detract from the purity of their faith."

"Master Chenghai, go immediately to the residence of Monk Cheng Kong. We must hope it’s not too late."

"Yes!"

Master Chenghai did not dare to hesitate and hurriedly took Wang Lan to another district three hundred miles away. By the time they found the shrine of Mage Cheng Kong, it was already in ruins.

Master Chenghai quickly called the local village officials to inquire and learned that Mage Cheng Kong had died six months ago. After Monk Cheng Kong’s passing, his wife sold the shrine to a local businessman and then took the children back to her parental home.

They used the information network to find the location of Mage Cheng Kong’s wife’s family home and hurried there without pause. They found Mage Cheng Kong’s wife, who told them that her child was practicing at a temple fifty kilometers away. Mage Cheng Kong’s child was a genius who awakened Star Martial Warrior talent at the age of eight and was already renowned as a prodigy in several nearby cities.

Shockingly, Mage Cheng Kong’s wife knew nothing of her husband’s identity, not even the fact that he was a Star Martial Warrior.

The group then hurried to the temple. Master Chenghai, as head of the great Temple, was also the Sect Master for all other temples. What was sacred for common people naturally posed no obstacle to Wang Lan and his two companions.

However, the temple abbot’s expression changed at Master Chenghai’s words. Seeing the change in his face, Wang Lan had a guess. Under Master Chenghai’s pressing questions, the abbot knew he could no longer hide the truth and confessed.

Three days prior, Mage Cheng Kong’s child had met with misfortune. The temple, in an effort to cover up their negligence, concealed the incident. They only had to wait two more days to add the child’s name to the list for the Pioneer Space, and then report him as killed in action to seamlessly conceal the truth.

"Master Chenghai, there’s no need to be so disheartened. Wasn’t this something we had anticipated?"

"Back then, they respected Master so much. I truly believed that they would never dare to defy Master’s words. But... I never would have thought this possible."

Mage Cheng Ming secretly wrote letters to Mage Cheng Kong, violating the last wishes of their former State Preceptor. Even though they knew of each other’s whereabouts, it’s possible they voluntarily initiated some sort of secret communication. Even though Mage Cheng Kong must have known his days were numbered, he did not inform Master Chenghai. The great Temple was completely unaware of the matter. To make matters worse, Cheng Kong had secretly passed the Golden Cicada to his own son, clearly indicating his intention to monopolize the Golden Cicada as a family heirloom.

"Now is not the time for sentimentality. We had better immediately seek out the last Mage, hoping we’re not too late. If he too has been harmed, then Dharma World Honored will have already gathered four Golden Cicadas. With four Golden Cicadas, the three of us combined might not stand a chance against him."

Master Chenghai did not dare delay and quickly took Wang Lan across two hundred kilometers to a secluded forest. The place was picturesque, truly a treasured land for cultivation and nurturing one’s health.

By the lakeside in the densely wooded area stood a wooden cabin, tightly shut and seemingly uninhabited. Master Chenghai approached the cabin. "Junior Brother, Mage Cheng Qiao, are you home?"

Coming up to the cabin door, he discovered the lock was already rusty. Master Chenghai shattered the wooden door with a palm strike, and a strong stench of decay assaulted them.

Through the mottled light, they could faintly see a corpse fallen to the ground. From the state of death, it was clear he was struggling to crawl just before he died.

After the smell had dissipated somewhat, Wang Lan and Master Chenghai entered. Yu Ruoyun, unable to bear the sight, ultimately did not enter the room.

"He has been dead for over two months. Mage Cheng Qiao was the first to be killed. So it seems that when Dharma World Honored acted in the Cloud Sea space, he already had three Golden Cicadas in his possession."

"Now there’s only me left..." Master Chenghai slowly closed his eyes, a deep sorrow emerging on his face. "Only me left... Dharma Great Master now holds five Golden Cicadas. Even excluding the Diamond Golden Cicada that you vanquished, there remain four. Four Golden Cicadas... not even four Titled Realm Strongmen could compete with that..."

"One Golden Cicada equates to the strength of a Titled Strongman?"

"Roughly speaking, yes. Special Envoy Wang Lan, Princess Yu, let’s go outside." Master Chenghai led them to the lakeside. "Now that only I remain, Dharma Great Master will definitely come after me for the last two Golden Cicadas. Nobody can stop him now that he has four. I must prepare for the worst."

"What does Master Chenghai plan to do?"

"I will disclose the abilities of the seven Golden Cicadas to you. Knowing their abilities may slightly improve our chances of success. Among the stolen Golden Cicadas, the one belonging to Junior Brother Cheng Ming was the Strength Golden Cicada. The Strength Golden Cicada can transform into a giant insect dozens of meters tall, with immense power capable of moving mountains and filling oceans. Junior Brother Cheng Kong’s was the Thunderclap Golden Cicada, capable of unleashing lightning attacks. These are the innate divine powers of the Golden Cicada and thus not limited by the user’s Star Power. The full force of the Thunderclap Golden Cicada is no less powerful than a full-strength strike from a super S-class lightning Star Martial Skill. The Golden Cicada belonging to Junior Brother Cheng Qiao was the Seven-talented Golden Cicada, which can transform into any weapon, with the power equal to that of top-tier Star Palace Artifacts. As for the first two Golden Cicadas that Dharma Great Master had, one is the most powerful Diamond Golden Cicada, and the other is the Devour Golden Cicada. The Devour Golden Cicada can instantly consume everything within a fifty-meter radius. Because of this Golden Cicada, we can’t even approach him within fifty meters. Once devoured by the Golden Cicada, death is certain."

"These Golden Cicadas do seem quite curious. Some can even become weapons?"

"That’s not even the most marvelous aspect of the Seven-talented Golden Cicada. I’ve heard the Master say that the founding master was able to control all seven Golden Cicadas at once and form an Array that could instantly cause the Annihilation of everything in a space."