Chapter 555: Chapter 555: Gone
When Lin Shen woke up, he felt refreshed and stretched lazily before sensing that there were some new pieces of information in his mind.
“It really is the Heaven Defying Bone. It’s increased by another ten percent in completeness. Looks like the Heaven Defying Bone isn’t so hard to find after all. A complete Heaven Defying Bone seems just around the corner.” Lin Shen was delighted internally, but his expression drastically changed as he glanced to the side.
“How can it be gone?” Lin Shen leaped up and, lifting the Bright Divine Lamp, quickly scanned the cave, looking back and forth several times.
Such a small area, yet the corpse was nowhere to be seen.
Lin Shen felt a tingling on his scalp, goosebumps all over his body, thinking, “No way, is it playing possum?”
Lin Shen didn’t believe in those supernatural tales, but the corpse had indeed disappeared. It couldn’t be that someone came in the middle of the night to steal it, right? A corpse isn’t money; it’s not edible. What would they want with that thing?
Moreover, this was within the bounds of Luoja Snow Mountain. Ordinary people simply couldn’t get in, and those who could wouldn’t waste their time stealing a corpse.
But aside from that, Lin Shen couldn’t think of any other possibility.
“It couldn’t have come back to life, could it?” Lin Shen thought, but again felt it was impossible.
Although the body belonged to an Immortal, it was from a figure billions of years ago. How could it possibly come back to life?
Turning to look at the large incense stick he had placed in the ground, the incense was still burning nicely, about halfway burned by now.
“The incense is still here. If she truly came back to life and ran off, she would have needed the incense and the lamp, right?” Lin Shen crawled out of the cave and surveyed the surroundings, yet still, there was no sign of the corpse.
Unable to find the corpse, Lin Shen didn’t know how he would report to Emperor Tianshu, so he had no choice but to look for it while carrying the incense.
But after searching all around Luoja Snow Mountain and the nearby areas several times, Lin Shen still saw no trace of the corpse, nor did he spot any other creatures or people in the vicinity.
“This is really bizarre, where on earth could the corpse have gone?” Lin Shen was somewhat frustrated.
Emperor Tianshu had assigned him the task of dealing with the corpse, and now he had lost it. If Emperor Tianshu found out about this, Lin Shen wondered if his life would still be safe.
As the incense was about to burn out, Lin Shen lit another stick and meticulously searched the area around Luoja Snow Mountain again, not sparing a single blade of grass or tree in his carpet-style search.
Every nook and cranny at the base of the mountain, including the caves and even the glacier crevasses, Lin Shen searched repeatedly but still to no avail.
“I’ve only got the mausoleum left to search.” Lin Shen had a bad feeling about this. If anything happened at the mausoleum, he really couldn’t bear the responsibility.
Fortunately, when Lin Shen rushed down the path to the mausoleum, he saw that the mausoleum gates were tightly shut with dust still on them, untouched, which allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Thankfully there was no disaster, but how could that corpse just disappear? Could it really have come back to life and run away?” Lin Shen had to consider this possibility now.
This kind of thing had happened before with Death Powder. Death Powder had come back to life after sleeping with him.
But Death Powder was a Base Variant Creature, different from a human.
After searching over and over, Lin Shen could only helplessly give up and leave Luoja Snow Mountain.
“In a way, this could be considered handling the disappearance of the corpse, right? I probably won’t see her again on Luoja Snow Mountain. Could this count as completing the task?” Lin Shen thought secretly to himself.
After leaving Luoja Snow Mountain, Lin Shen went to report to the Heavenly Emperor immediately.
However, he wasn’t able to see the Heavenly Emperor. Only Tian Congyun came to tell Lin Shen that the Heavenly Emperor had gone on a trip and likely wouldn’t be back anytime soon.
Before leaving, the Heavenly Emperor had left a message for Lin Shen, telling him to hand over all the items to Tian Congyun after completing his task.
Lin Shen could only hand over the Bright Divine Lamp and the remaining large incense sticks, along with the Heavenly Burial Scripture, to Tian Congyun. After hesitating for a while, he still didn’t mention the disappearance of the corpse.
Tian Congyun furthermore told Lin Shen that the Heavenly Emperor had instructed him not to wander around lately because his name was now well-known. The Celestial Race’s enemy forces who weren’t fond of Lin Shen might take a shot at him. He should pay close attention to his safety, even within Sky Pinnacle Star.
Lin Shen was aware that his recent prominence made him a target of envy, and with his position as Dean of the Celestial Master Institute, there probably were quite a few within the Celestial Race who wished him dead.
Lin Shen had originally planned to hide and cultivate on Celestial Star, but considering the time, Ouyang Yudu was likely about to arrive. After sending a message to Ouyang Yudu, he quickly got a reply saying he had already reported to the Celestial Master Institute.
Upon reaching the Celestial Master Institute, Lin Shen saw Ouyang Yudu standing in the courtyard with an umbrella.
“Ouyang, you shouldn’t have come. The waters here are too deep,” Lin Shen said to Ouyang Yudu.
Ouyang Yudu smiled and replied, “Deep waters are good for nurturing fish. Staying on Firce Fire Star forever would never give me the opportunity to grow.”
“That’s also true. What are your plans going forward?” Lin Shen knew that relying on the resources of a single planet was never enough to support an Immortal.
“I’m now the head of the Special Service Department, and you’re the Dean of the Celestial Master Institute. I’ll follow your lead, you point and I’ll strike,” Ouyang Yudu said earnestly.
“Then just rest for now. I don’t really have anything for you to do,” Lin Shen said.
With the Heavenly Emperor away, who knew when he would return? The Celestial Master Institute was there to serve the Heavenly Emperor. Without his orders, they needn’t really do anything.
If this had been in the past when the Heavenly Emperor was traveling, the Celestial Master Institute would definitely be responsible for his safety and various affairs. But the institute today didn’t have such capabilities anymore.
“I heard that the Special Service Department has ten director positions available for recruitment, right?” Ouyang Yudu asked.
“That’s true, but we don’t really have anything to do right now. Recruiting would be pointless. Besides, to be a director, you’d at least have to be a Nirvana Being. Here on Sky Pinnacle Star, I doubt there are any Nirvana Beings willing to join our institute,” Lin Shen said.
“Leave that to me. You’re the head of an institute now; you should have some capable people around you. With your current fame, there are too many who wish to plot against you. You need a few competent people to ensure your protection,” Ouyang Yudu said.
“My reputation also owes a part to your contributions,” Lin Shen said resignedly.
Ouyang Yudu smiled and said, “No need to thank me.”
“Does my expression look like I want to thank you?” Lin Shen was somewhat speechless.
Before he could say more, an old man came running over, urgently saying to Lin Shen, “Dean, you’re finally back. This matter can only be handled by you personally.”