Script of Reincarnation

Chapter 29: Everything Free is Already Marked With a Price in Secret

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder froze briefly at the question, his gaze shifting toward another corpse lying nearby, of a man dressed entirely in black. It had already begun turning pale.

"The murderer was at the Third Stage of Body Tempering Realm."

The old man slowly spoke, "When the patrol guards discovered him, he immediately consumed poison, leaving no chance for questioning."

The family physician nearby nodded solemnly.

"We arrived shortly afterward, unfortunately..."

He shook his head with a helpless sigh.

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder continued speaking, his expression extremely unsightly.

"To dare make a move in the western district..."

The surrounding clan members lowered their heads, nobody daring to interrupt him.

Everyone understood the implications.

The western district was where mortal descendants of great clans, those mortals who had connections with cultivators, retired officials, rich merchants, and even the family members of True Martial Sect disciples lived.

Powerful forces had protected this area for generations, and normally, even bandit cultivators avoided this place, after all, who would dare provoke descendants, relatives, and friends of powerful cultivators?

Such incidents rarely happened even once or twice every decade.

But now, it had happened, and the target had been none other than the parents of Lu Yang, the greatest genius in Lu Family history.

This was directed at Lu Yang, a direct slap to the Lu Family’s face.

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder’s eyes were terrifyingly cold as he spoke.

"Aside from our Lu Family and the people from Shu Marquis Manor, very few know the extent of your talent."

The meaning behind those words was obvious.

The suspects had already narrowed dramatically.

Lu Yang remained silent and slowly turned his gaze toward the murderer’s corpse, his eyes sweeping across the dead man’s face.

Several breaths later, Lu Yang spoke.

"This person, he lives in the eastern district."

The surrounding people blinked at the statement.

"He should be around thirty-five years old, has a mortal wife and a son approximately three years old, with no other relatives."

At these words, everyone in the courtyard stared at him blankly, shock appearing on numerous faces.

Even the Internal Affairs Grand Elder was somewhat stunned.

How could he know so much from a single glance?

The corpse isn’t even someone from the Lu Family, yet he’s speaking as if he personally investigated the man.

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder frowned.

"You know him?"

Lu Yang did not answer, his gaze remaining fixed on the corpse.

Nearly a year ago, after his monthly visit to his parents, he was wandering around the city leisurely and entered a newly opened tavern.

There, he saw this man speaking to some of his friends about how he was going to leave the cultivation world and go back to his village after gathering some more savings, as he did not have much talent for cultivation.

Countless beings entered the cultivation world, and even without achieving much, there were still not many people who would willingly leave it to go back to an ordinary life, at least almost none who looked as young as this man.

From their conversation, he learned that the man got this idea after his wife gave birth, and he had been thinking about it ever since, alongside some other information.

Such a way of thinking left some impression on him, which was why he could remember it all after thinking for a while; had it not been for today, he would have almost forgotten about it.

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder shook his head at Lu Yang’s silence, not asking further, and although confused, he immediately reacted.

"Investigate."

Several middle stage Body Tempering Realm cultivators instantly cupped their fists.

"Yes!"

...

An incense stick of time later, the investigators returned, their expressions ugly.

"Grand Elder, the wife and child are gone."

The entire crowd stirred immediately.

"Gone?"

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder narrowed his eyes.

The cultivator leading the others nodded with a solemn expression.

"The neighbors said they disappeared several weeks ago, nobody knows where they went. Coincidentally..."

He hesitated briefly before continuing.

"It happened shortly after Young Master visited his parents before entering seclusion."

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder’s face immediately darkened as a terrifying pressure erupted from his body.

The gathered clan members instantly felt their breathing become difficult.

Spirit Awakening Realm pressure, even though it was restrained, it still made many people, including cultivators, pale.

"Good, very good."

His voice contained terrifying killing intent.

"Someone planned this carefully, someone who knew about it as soon as Lu Yang entered seclusion."

The old man turned toward everyone present.

"Investigate immediately. I want to know who among the Lu Family wasn’t present on the day the assassin’s family disappeared."

All the cultivators gathered around immediately dispersed this time, not daring to delay.

The Grand Elder was truly furious right now.

Soon enough, the news reached the main family, and the entire Lu Family began moving. freewebnovёl.ƈom

However, Lu Yang did not move at all, just standing before the two bodies.

...

Time continued to pass slowly, hours slipping by.

Dark clouds gradually covered the sky as the sunlight disappeared completely.

Soon afterward, rain began falling from the heavens above, washing across the courtyard.

Each drop struck the ground like tiny hammers, turning the streets of the western district into rivers of mud and water, yet the entire courtyard remained deathly silent, as if frozen in time, with only the sound of rain echoed between the gathered mortal clan members.

Lu Yang stood motionless before the bodies of his parents as rainwater soaked his robes, his long black hair hanging loosely behind him, but he remained standing, having no intention if moving any time soon.

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder quietly sighed, his eyes carrying pity.

Having spent years watching over him, he understood Lu Yang better than most people.

The boy had always appeared mature beyond his years, rational, calm, and unusually detached.

Sometimes, he even had an illusion that he was not looking at a young genius not even thirty years of age, but one of those Essence Gathering Realm old monsters.

Yet beneath that exterior, Lu Yang cared deeply about those he acknowledged, perhaps even more deeply than ordinary people did.

His parents did not possess great talent or high status, but they loved Lu Yang unconditionally, and Lu Yang always repaid that affection in the form of filial piety.

Now... everything was gone.

The old man looked at the rain covered corpses, his heart feeling exceptionally heavy.

On the other hand, Lu Yang stared down quietly, his thoughts drifting further and further away.

The memories surfaced one after another, of ountless small, ordinary, and insignificant moments.

In his first life on earth, he had never seen his parents from birth, and in his second life, he was separated from them at a young age after joining the Azure Spirit Sect, only able to visit once or twice in years, which made their relationship extremely distant.

In this life, for the first time, he had experienced something resembling a true family.

And now...

He lost them again.

Once again, everything was gone.

Why?

The question surfaced involuntarily.

Why?

He possessed memories from three lifetimes, knowledge beyond countless people, and strength beyond ordinary geniuses.

Talent, experience, opportunity, he had everything, yet he still couldn’t protect them.

The rain continued falling, the sky getting more gloomy with each passing minute.

Lu Yang slowly lowered his head silently.

For the first time in many years, he felt powerless.

The same powerlessness he felt when he bled to death in his first life after trying to save a child from a runaway criminal.

The same powerlessness he felt when he realized he was not the protagonist or any sort of child of destiny in his second life, just an ordinary person, like a pebble on the roadside.

The same powerlessness he felt when he was killed due to a conspiracy he was involuntarily drawn into, dying with regret in his second life.

The same powerlessness he felt when hearing Guard Zhou’s final words in this life.

Indeed, where in this world is there ever a free lunch?

Everything free has already been marked with a price in secret.

Perhaps this is the price he must pay for possessing a heaven defying supreme treasure such as the Script of Reincarnation.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded outside as several figures rushed into the courtyard.

An older cultivator quickly approached.

"Grand Elder!"

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder immediately turned and asked, "What did you find?"

The cultivator spoke rapidly.

"There were only a handful of people who visited the eastern district that day, however... someone secretly left the estate that same night."

The old man’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Secretly?" freeωebnovēl.c૦m

The cultivator nodded, "Several drunk cultivators passing by from our Lu Family’s liquor shop saw it, and one happened to be sober enough to remember. He initially thought he was hallucinating and didn’t report it at the time."

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder frowned.

"What did he see?"

The cultivator replied, "A cloaked figure, the only thing he could distinguish was that the figure was short because of the distance between them."

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder’s eyes immediately sharpened.

To leave the estate undetected, one needed either considerable skill or sufficient cultivation.

Soon afterward, every suspect was gathered, all of whom had left the estate on that day, recorded under the gazes of the guards.

The rain continued pouring, growing even more heavy.

Several individuals stood trembling beneath countless gazes.

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder’s Divine Sense swept across them one by one.

Suddenly, his sharp eyes locked onto a servant.

The servant’s gaze flickered, only briefly, but that was enough.

"Hmph!"

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder snorted coldly.

The next moment, he disappeared from his original spot, and before anyone could react, he had already appeared before the servant.

*Wham!*

The servant crashed into the ground, several of his acupoints blocked under precise strikes, his cultivation sealed in an instant.

The crowd gasped as the servant immediately turned pale.

"G-Grand Elder, I-I..."

"Speak."

The old man’s voice was extremely cold as he continued, "Who ordered you?"

The servant immediately broke down, his psychological defenses shattered completely.

Clearly, he had underestimated the abilities of a Spirit Awakening Realm cultivator.

"I’ll talk, I’ll talk!"

The servant cried out desperately, "I was p...paid a huge amount of s-silver... a black cloaked person approached me and, and ordered me to capture a woman and child!"

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder’s expression became uglier, "Continue."

"I held them o-outside the city, I don’t know anything else, p...please spare this lowly one’s life, Grand Elder!"

The servant trembled violently, slamming his forehead against the ground in a kneeling posture.

"The cloaked person was s-short, probably less than one hundred sixty centimeters, and, and he had excellent movement techniques, b...but his cultivation definitely wasn’t higher than the Third Stage of Body Tempering Realm!"

From the explanation, the suspects narrowed instantly.

Almost every cultivator of the main family thought of the same person.

It was a certain steward, a long time family servant, at the Third Stage of Body Tempering Realm.