"You said that you prepared a large jar of talisman water for backup before going to the villages around the sea of flowers to treat the villagers?" Chen Hao looked at Xu Qiyu and asked.

Xu Qiyu nodded and said, "That's right!"

"What happened to that jar of talisman water then?" Chen Hao asked.

Xu Qiyu furrowed his brows deeply, shook his head, and said, "I don't know about that; at that time, how could I have the mind to care about it?"

"Could it be that someone from your association scattered the talisman water inside the sea of flowers, which forced the hidden demon out?"

Xu Qiyu stiffened in astonishment and exclaimed, "That must be the reason! Logically, if the demon inside really wanted to kill them, it could have done so in the morning. Why wait until night? It must not have wanted to reveal itself, yet it was forced out by the talisman water I prepared."

Xu Qiyu's tone grew increasingly somber, and his emotion shifted from surprise to regret.

"I shouldn't have prepared that jar of talisman water for them as backup," Xu Qiyu lamented, scratching his head, "It was I who caused their deaths, it was I!"

"Don't blame yourself, you were just acting out of kindness at the time; it's not your fault at all!" Chen Hao consoled him.

After a long while, Xu Qiyu finally struggled free from his regret, his eyes shining brightly, and he abruptly changed the subject, "By the way, Chen Hao, were you just talking about a demon hiding inside the sea of flowers? How did you determine it was a demon?"

Chen Hao then shared his discovery from the previous day—that invisible insects had penetrated into the victims' internal organs, consuming their blood which led to the extensive internal bleeding each victim experienced before death—with Xu Qiyu.

Upon hearing Chen Hao's explanation, Xu Qiyu's furrowed brow slightly relaxed, and the question that had plagued his mind for a full year was finally resolved.

"So it was invisible insects consuming the organs. Our family's talisman water indeed has the extraordinary effect of clearing insects. It was an unintentional right move at the time," Xu Qiyu mused.

"Yes," Chen Hao nodded, "Please help me prepare a jar of talisman water later. I need to use it to force the hidden demon in the sea of flowers to reveal itself."

Hearing that Chen Hao was going to confront the demon in the sea of flowers and avenge his deceased colleague, Xu Qiyu was immediately moved to tears, his voice hoarse as he asked, "Chen Hao, thank you. As long as you take action, I'm sure you can eliminate the demon inside."

Chen Hao quickly waved his hand, afraid to face the sentimental gratitude of anyone other than Ye Yuqiao.

"No need to thank me, no need to thank me, vanquishing demons is our duty as Onmyoji. You should know this; there's no need to thank me!"

Xu Qiyu helplessly shook his head, sighing with sorrow, "If only the world had more Onmyoji like you! Nowadays, the national Yin Yang Master Association has long been controlled by those scoundrels from the Yin Yang Master Discipline Committee. Corrupted by greed, when the upper beam is not straight, the lower beams are crooked, causing the Onmyoji of various cities and counties to only think about making money. They've completely forgotten their duty to vanquish demons. Some of them even deceive the people and collude with monsters!"

Chen Hao gave a bitter smile and said, "We can't control the actions of others; we only need to do our duty properly. By the way, didn't your association get a new president later on? I think I just heard you curse him as a scoundrel. His name is Cheng Lai, right? Where is he now?"

"Enjoying life in the new villa he bought," Xu Qiyu's face immediately soured upon hearing the name Cheng Lai.

After calming his emotions, Cheng Lai began to recount the subsequent events:

Shortly after the death of the Yin Yang Master Association's President Su Fafa and the majority of its members, a new president was sent by the national association, and that was none other than Cheng Lai.

Xu Qiyu had hoped that this new president would have a way to solve the issue with the new orchid sea, but it turned out that Cheng Lai was completely ignorant and unskilled, not only incapable of performing any sophisticated exorcism or ghost-capturing spells but also having extremely weak yang energy power within him, even less than that of one of our association's deputy leaders.

After taking office, the first thing Cheng Lai did was to apply to the national Yin Yang Master Association for condolence money for the families of the deceased Onmyoji and support funds for the association's reconstruction. However, after receiving these two sums, Cheng Lai gave only a small portion of the condolence money to the families of the deceased.

It was because of this that Xu Qiyu had a huge argument with Cheng Lai. Later, having no other recourse, Xu Qiyu went to the headquarters of the Onmyoji Discipline Committee to report Cheng Lai. Unexpectedly, his report was rejected before it could even be submitted. Not long after, he learned from a friend that Cheng Lai was in fact the nephew of the president of the Onmyoji Discipline Committee.

After returning to City C, Cheng Lai had a talk with Xu Qiyu, telling him to stop his futile effort and not to embarrass himself at the Onmyoji Discipline Committee anymore, or else he would revoke Xu Qiyu's Onmyoji registration certificate.

At that time, for the sake of his family's livelihood, Xu Qiyu could only swallow his anger and gave up the idea of solving the problem with the orchid sea and avenging his deceased colleagues.

Several months later.

During this period, a total of eight Onmyoji were recruited by the City C Yin Yang Master Association, three of whom resigned one after another because they could not stand Cheng Lai.

After returning from the national Onmyoji conference, Cheng Lai had applied for another set of support funds, which he used to purchase a luxury villa in City C. From then on, Xu Qiyu seldom saw Cheng Lai, and visits to his home were rejected.

Another half a year passed, including Xu Qiyu, only three people remained in the City C Yin Yang Master Association. In the last six months, Cheng Lai had not once visited the association and also owed Xu Qiyu and the other two half a year's salary. Therefore, out of necessity, Xu Qiyu had to sublet the Association's building to pay the outstanding wages.

"That's roughly what happened!" Xu Qiyu said, his face filled with anger.

"This is outrageous!" Chen Hao said through clenched teeth, angrily, "It's again connected to the Onmyoji Discipline Committee. It seems that we cannot restore order to the Onmyoji community until this organization is removed."

Hearing Chen Hao speak of eliminating the Onmyoji Discipline Committee, Xu Qiyu was dumbfounded; it was something he had never even dared to think about.

Before Xu Qiyu could recover, Chen Hao suddenly slapped the table and rose up, full of indignation, "Come on, take me to that Cheng Lai. I'll make him spit out his teeth and force him to pay the salaries he owes you three as well as the privately embezzled condolence and support funds."

"Ah!" Xu Qiyu exclaimed, astonished, "Chen Hao, have you thought this through? Cheng Lai is the niece of the president of the Onmyoji Discipline Committee."

"I don't care if he's the niece or even the president himself; I can still make them spit out their teeth. Just wait a while longer, the national Onmyoji conference is coming soon, and we Onmyoji will soon see clear skies again, freely doing what we should be doing."

Looking at Chen Hao's resolute eyes, Xu Qiyu felt inspired and said, "Alright, I'll take you to him, and I'm going to punch him a few times too! Worse comes to worst, I'll change careers. At least I can brag to other Onmyoji that I once fought alongside Chen Hao!"

Ye Yuqiao, who was standing by, smiled, thinking that the clear skies Chen Hao spoke of would surely come soon.

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