Hong Ning crouched down as if preparing to lift him but secretly gripped a talisman in her hand and began chanting an incantation.
Completely off guard, the rabbit demon suddenly found himself restrained. His expression changed in alarm. “What are you doing?!”
His demonic aura wasn’t strong, suggesting he didn’t have any real intention of harming people. Hong Ning hesitated but remained cautious. Drawing the small sword at her waist, she pointed it at him and sneered, “Are you the one who killed that man? If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll call down celestial lightning and strike you back into your original form!”
At the mention of reverting to his true form, the rabbit demon panicked and quickly pleaded, “I haven’t harmed anyone!”
Hong Ning asked, “Then how did Zheng Ke die?”
The rabbit demon frowned. “Who is Zheng Ke?”
Hong Ning narrowed her eyes. “He’s the one who funded the construction of this temple. How could you not know him?”
The rabbit demon defended himself. “I rarely come out. How would I know anything about them?”
He really didn’t seem to be lying. Hong Ning was disappointed but unwilling to give up. “You live nearby—have you not noticed anything strange happening in the temple? Are there any other demons here?”
The rabbit demon suddenly seemed to recall something. “You mean the dead person? Yes, someone did die.”
Hong Ning’s heart leaped with excitement. “Tell me.”
The rabbit demon said, “Only I know about this. If I tell you, you have to let me go.”
Hong Ning agreed without hesitation.
The rabbit demon said, “Someone drowned in the pond.”
Hong Ning frowned. “You mean Zheng Ke a few days ago? Who killed him?”
The rabbit demon shook his head. “What do you mean a few days ago? I’m talking about ten years ago.”
Hong Ning’s eyes widened in shock. “Ten years ago?”
The rabbit demon returned to his lazy demeanor. “Ten years ago, this was just a small temple with only a few rooms. That night, I came over to cool off and saw a monk sitting and talking with a man dressed in green. The man asked to see a Dragon Palace Crystal Vase, so the monk took it out. The man praised it repeatedly, saying it was priceless. But later, when the monk let his guard down, the man killed him, tied his body with iron chains, and sank him to the bottom of the pond before taking the treasure and leaving.”
Murdered out of greed—no wonder Zheng Ke never allowed the pond to be cleaned!
Hong Ning inhaled sharply. A monk had been killed for no reason, his body never given a proper burial. If his remains had never seen the light of day, his soul must still be trapped, unable to enter reincarnation.
“Who was the monk?” she asked.
The rabbit demon shook his head. “That, I don’t know.”
If someone had gone missing in the temple ten years ago, it wouldn’t be difficult to investigate. Hong Ning gave the rabbit demon a few words of warning before letting him go and turning back toward the temple.
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