Chapter 747 - 450: Great Rhino Immortal (Part 2)

Clearly, in Chen Shanmeng’s view, Li Shensi’s death resulted from the political whirlpool between the two parties.

The Minister of the Secretariat is the leader of the civil servants, and all official documents from Qingzhou come from the Minister of the Secretariat!

With such eminence and significance, naturally, neither side would concede!

The previous Minister Zhu Shizhong died unexpectedly, and Li Shensi, only two months into his term, suffered the same fate, dying even more gruesomely.

Wang Maochun secretly admired Chen Shanmeng’s calmness, realizing that he had been a bit hasty in his handling earlier. He was focused on completing the Celestial Altar ceremony, neglecting the whirlpool behind Li Shensi’s death. It was all because of that eerie rhino which instinctively made him associate Li Shensi’s death with it.

While Wang Maochun was contemplating, Chen Shanmeng thought he hesitated and continued, "The Celestial Altar ceremony was disrupted by that bizarre event, and I’m afraid the people have been frightened, causing chaos and likely trampling deaths. It’s best to simplify this year’s ceremony."

Wang Maochun nodded, "Alright! According to your proposal, I’ll return to the Celestial Altar with Jiang Daoyun and continue the ceremony. As for Li Shensi’s death, I’ll leave it to you three gentlemen."

After Wang Maochun finished speaking, he and Jiang Zhuoyun exchanged glances and then, like old apes, climbed along the precipitous cliff walls.

Duan Rong carried the rhino and dashed out seven or eight miles through the dense forest before stopping at a remote spot.

His Divine Sense was fully extended, enveloping the surroundings, assuring that no one was spying or tracking him.

He slammed the massive rhino he was carrying onto the ground, causing the earth to quake.

The rhino’s eyes were already bleeding, appearing as if tears of blood streamed down—but actually, it had died from Duan Rong using medicinal powder, causing its blood to reverse, gathering in its eyes and turning them blood-red.

Suddenly, Duan Rong made a sharp chop with his hand, slicing the massive rhino corpse into two with Primordial Qi flashing at his fingertips, spilling its bloody intestines everywhere.

He flipped his hand to reveal a black porcelain bottle.

Sprinkling some medicinal powder from the black porcelain bottle onto the two bloody rhino halves.

Once the powder touched the flesh, it started bubbling, emitting green smoke with a foul stench.

The two rhino halves were visibly melting into sludge.

Within a few breaths, the giant rhino halves disappeared, leaving a large puddle of foul-smelling sludge.

Duan Rong picked up a rather large rhino horn from the edge of the foul puddle.

With a shake, he flicked off the sludge from the horn base, observing its glossy darkness, a testament to its excellent quality.

"A fine rhino horn! What a pity!" Duan Rong murmured to himself, then activated Primordial Qi in his palm, grinding the rhino horn into powder and scattering it in the forest.

Afterward, Duan Rong left the place, the stench slowly seeping into the plant roots...

Wang Maochun and Jiang Zhuoyun returned to the top of the Celestial Altar.

Standing on the altar, Wang Maochun was astonished!

The crowd that was densely gathered around the altar had dispersed, now gloomily gathered at the mountainside exit.

Soldiers were carrying corpses along the altar’s surroundings, those trampled to death were numerous.

Wang Maochun approached a corpse of a thin man whose chin was dislocated, and chest deeply concaved.

Suddenly, Wang Maochun noticed many figures kneeling at the cliffs’ edge.

Curious, he walked over, finding people kneeling and murmuring. Trying to overhear what they were saying.

A sturdy middle-aged man knelt close by, muttering, "Rhino Deity! I, Liu Xi, meant no offense! Please spare me, rhino deity!"

The middle-aged man spoke in fear and devotion.

"Rhino Deity?!"

Wang Maochun sighed, no wonder these people were terrified, that huge red-eyed rhino was truly eerie.

Even he felt a shudder at the altar, still skeptical now.

It was indeed witnessed firsthand, not hearsay from a storyteller at a teahouse.

The terror and eeriness could only be deeply felt by those present.

Jiang Zhuoyun approached, sharing a bitter look.

"Everyone’s left, should we continue the ceremony?" Jiang Zhuoyun asked.

Wang Maochun sighed, gazing at the altar, "Let’s take the civil and military officials and complete the ceremony."

Jiang Zhuoyun nodded, glancing at soldiers carrying corpses, "How will the people’s corpses be handled?"

Wang Maochun replied, "Finish the ceremony, then transport them for family identification."

Jiang Zhuoyun remarked, "Bringing these corpses back could cause unrest in Divine Cloud Prefecture."

Wang Maochun gave Jiang Zhuoyun a meaningful look, "You’re the Grand Protector, with command over thousands of Iron Cavalry."

Jiang Zhuoyun hesitated, "Using cavalry for suppression now might worsen matters!"

Wang Maochun said, "Not to suppress, but to surround the Prefecture Chief’s Office to prevent people from storming the Government."

Jiang Zhuoyun nodded, knowing the ceremony was organized by the Prefecture Chief’s Office, with the crowd expecting answers for the casualties.

Wang Maochun instructed, "After the ceremony, don’t return with the procession, go ahead to deploy troops!"

It was already twilight, with the ceremony hastily ending amidst desolation.

The horn of completion left the mountain peak in silence, unlike past years’ lively cheers.

Such times were meant for distributing offerings, but the vacant mountain top now held only soldiers and officials, not a person in sight.

At Wuji Mountain’s north cliff bottom, the bloodied remains of Li Shensi lay, causing distress to an elderly forensic doctor.

Looking at the pulp-like remains, the old forensic doctor hesitated, saluting Chen Shanmeng, "Sir, with the corpse in such condition, how can I examine it? Please guide me."

Chen Shanmeng replied, "Examine truthfully."

Despite clear instructions, the old forensic doctor hesitated further until Chen Shanmeng added, "Check for poison, record the rest accordingly."

"Yes." The forensic doctor, finally instructed, set down the forensic box, crouching by the remains.

Despite instructions, he felt at a loss until noticing a low hawthorn with a grape-sized fruit poking from the rocks.

Curious, he reached out and plucked the fruit.

It fell cold and slippery, upon inspection, was indeed a human eyeball.

Chen Shanmeng and Zhu Zhengfu, standing behind him, saw it too yet pretended otherwise.

Chen Shanmeng glanced at Zhu Zhengfu, asking calmly, "Zhu Sir, any insights on Li Shensi’s death?"

Zhu Zhengfu replied, "You’re the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, enforcing law across the region, while Ge Sir, as Adviser, oversees inspection. You’re experts in such matters. As Director of the Imperial Secretariat, dealing with fiscal matters, I’m clueless on cases, merely tagging along."

Chen Shanmeng, hearing this, remained calm and silent.

Meanwhile, Ge Hengtai brought soldiers to search the area systematically.