Sunlight streamed in through the latticed window, dust particles floating in the air.

In the silent environment, Xu Qi’an stood quietly in the room for a long while before the throbbing veins on his forehead subsided. He began to examine the scene without much expression.

The table and chairs were intact, with no signs of a struggle. The man’s carotid artery had been slashed by a sharp weapon, and his left temple was caved in.

Instant death.

The mother and daughter were killed simultaneously by a sharp weapon. The mother’s heart had been pierced, but the little girl’s right chest was pierced. After touching the back of her head, Xu Qi’an discovered that the real cause of death was a shattered skull.

He then turned over the three bodies, lifted their cotton clothes at the back, and examined the degree of livor mortis.

“Time of death is no more than four hours ago. They were killed in the morning… No, that’s not right. Last night’s temperature was around 2 degrees Celsius. If they were killed at night, the actual time of death would be earlier…”

Low temperatures have a “preserving” effect, which can affect the estimation of the time of death.

“Although there are no signs of a struggle in the house, this doesn’t necessarily mean it was someone they knew. Dealing with ordinary people is too simple; it can be done instantly.”

But who would kill this innocent family for no reason?

Xu Qi’an sat at the table, his fingertips lightly tapping the surface. As the tapping sound continued, the information in his brain seemed to boil…

“Besides me and Chai Xian, who else knew about this place? If no one else did, the killer must be either him or me. If someone else knew about this place, why didn’t they come earlier or later, but chose to kill and silence them right after I sent the message?

“The target wasn’t Chai Xian, but to prevent him from attending the Demon Slaying Conference… But what’s the point? Wouldn’t it be better to ambush and kill Chai Xian directly here?

“So, was it Chai Xian who killed them to silence them? No, that doesn’t make sense either. The motive isn’t reasonable.”

Suddenly, Xu Qi’an’s eyes widened as he thought of a possibility.

The day I followed Chai Xian as a cat, I was also being followed…

“Chai Xian couldn’t detect my tracking because corpses can’t counter-track. But I didn’t have that ability either. I was just a cat then, not in my true form. If someone was quietly following us that night…”

Xu Qi’an stood up abruptly, left the house, turned back to close the door, mounted the small mare, and galloped away.

…

At the Chai manor.

Li Lingsu held a steaming teacup with both hands, taking a sip of the sweet liquid.

The white, delicate cup was full of wolfberries, making the small amount of tea exceptionally sweet.

Ah, day after day… Li Lingsu sighed.

Before reaching the transcendent realm, Daoist cultivation provided limited physical enhancement, far inferior to the monstrous physique of martial artists.

Over the past half year, the East sisters had deliberately drained his energy, leaving him constantly depleted.

He had thought that after leaving the East sisters, he could properly recuperate and accumulate energy. Who knew that for various reasons, he would have to accompany other beauties?

From Wenren Qianrou to Chai Xing’er, they were all like dry tinder and raging fire.

“Perhaps I should try cultivating in the martial artist system. Although martial artists can’t lose their virginity before reaching the Qi Condensation realm, that’s for those without a foundation. Losing virginity early prevents Qi Condensation. If I regain my cultivation, forcibly practicing Qi Condensation with Fourth-Grade Daoist cultivation shouldn’t be difficult.

“Hmm, I still need to start from the Body Refining realm. Otherwise, without the process of tempering the body, I can’t enter the Fifth-Grade Energy Condensation. Wait, I’m not pursuing the martial artist path for combat power, the Qi Condensation realm should be enough…”

As his mind wandered, he suddenly heard a figure emerge from the shadow of the tea table.

It was the plain-looking Xu Qian.

“Senior?”

Li Lingsu was startled, not expecting Xu Qian to come in person. Wasn’t he afraid of being discovered by the Buddhist monks?

He was about to ask this when he suddenly noticed that Xu Qian’s state was unusual.

The Celestial Sect could “investigate things to gain knowledge,” making them particularly sensitive to people and objects they had been in contact with for a long time. They could immediately detect even slight changes.

This was a precursor ability to the “unity of heaven and man.”

Although Li Lingsu didn’t know Xu Qian well, they had spent a considerable amount of time together.

The usual Xu Qian was like a deep, unfathomable pool of water. The current Xu Qian was like a sea surface with surging undercurrents.

Xu Qi’an nodded and asked, “Where was Chai Xing’er last night?”

In my bed… Li Lingsu said, “She was with me the whole time.”

Xu Qi’an reminded him, “Are you sure?”

She might have gone out to do something unspeakable while you were asleep.

Li Lingsu frowned, “Last night we didn’t finish until two quarters past the hour of Zi (1-3 AM). Besides, a small part of my seal had broken through, so I wasn’t sleeping too deeply. If the person next to me had left, I couldn’t have failed to notice.”

As he said this, Li Lingsu unconsciously rubbed his sore lower back.

Two quarters past the hour of Zi, are you really that kidney deficient? Xu Qi’an nodded slowly, not wasting words: “Meet me outside the north city gate in two-quarters of an hour.”

He transformed into a shadow and disappeared from the room.

“So mysterious…”

Li Lingsu immediately left the room, asked the Chai manor’s steward for a horse, and rode along the main road straight to the north city gate.

It took only a quarter of an hour for the two to meet outside the north city gate. Li Lingsu noticed that Xu Qian had changed his appearance again.

Xu Qi’an nodded slightly, not to explain. He squeezed the small mare’s belly and rode off.

“Hya!”

Li Lingsu cracked his whip and immediately followed.

As they approached the village, Xu Qi’an slowed down and tossed a robe and hood to him, saying:

“Put these on. There’s been a murder in the village. You’ll perform a soul-summoning ritual to find out who the killer is.”

After Li Lingsu finished disguising himself, Xu Qi’an dismounted, and snapped his fingers, and the small mare and Li Lingsu’s horse obediently went into the woods by the roadside and hid.

Tsk, the ability of the Beast Control Heart Worm is really useful… Li Lingsu thought enviously.

The Heart Worm was also known as the “Beast Worm” or “Beast Control Worm” because Heart Worm masters often used it to control poisonous insects and fierce beasts.

The two entered the village side by side. As they approached their destination, Xu Qi’an found that villagers were crowded outside the small courtyard, with mournful cries coming from inside the house.

The villagers stood either in the courtyard or outside, pointing and whispering.

Xu Qi’an vaguely heard a few sentences:

“Did Old Wang’s family offend someone?”

“Who knows? They didn’t even spare the child. The killer is truly heartless.”

“Sigh, could it be that Chai Xian fellow? It must be him. I heard he’s a madman who even killed his foster father.”

“Oh no, aren’t we in danger then?”

He and Li Lingsu pushed through the villagers and entered the courtyard.

Inside the house, a simple wooden platform had been set up. The family of three lay on it, covered with dirty white cloth. A grey-haired old man sat slumped beside the platform, wailing loudly.

A young couple was busy in the house. They wore ordinary cloth clothes, their hands rough, and their faces dark – clearly people used to hard labor.

“Who are you?”

Seeing Xu Qi’an and Li Lingsu enter, the young couple became somewhat wary, especially of Li Lingsu in his robe and hood.

“We’re from the government.”

Xu Qi’an said in a stern voice: “Who told you to move the bodies on your own? What if you’ve destroyed clues left by the killer?”

His barrage of questions left the young man flustered, believing he had made a grave mistake.

Meanwhile, Li Lingsu took the opportunity to enter the inner room, the crime scene, and closed the door.

Not giving the young man a chance to react, Xu Qi’an kept a straight face and asked, “What’s your relationship with this family?”

The young man looked back at the dead man, his dull face showing grief:

“He’s my brother. My father is his uncle. At noon, a neighbor saw a stranger come in and leave quickly. He came to check on them, called for a long time with no response, and when he came in, he found they had all been killed…”

As he spoke, his eyes reddened.

Xu Qi’an maintained his composure and said, “Call the neighboring villagers over.”

The young man stepped out to the doorway, scanned the crowd of onlookers outside, and said in the local dialect:

“The official has some questions. Come over here for a moment.”

He pointed at several of the neighbors.

Soon, two old women came in, both from the neighboring houses.

The old women were somewhat fearful, but couldn’t suppress their nosy nature, their eyes frequently glancing at the three corpses on the wooden platform.

“Has anyone strange come here?”

Xu Qi’an inquired and received the answer that “a strange man came at noon.”

“Did anyone strange come in the morning?”

The two old women looked at each other and shook their heads.

One said she hadn’t noticed, the other said she hadn’t seen anyone.

The small village doesn’t have many people. The advantage is that if a stranger enters the village, it’s very noticeable. The possibility of a nighttime crime is higher… He pondered silently. At this moment, Li Lingsu came out of the room and shook his head at him.

“Their souls have been scattered,” Li Lingsu communicated mentally.

Xu Qi’an’s face darkened, and he nodded slowly.

The two didn’t linger any longer and hurriedly left the village.

On the way back, Li Lingsu said in a low voice, “What happened?”

“The day I followed Chai Xian, I tracked him to this place. Chai Xian was hiding in this family’s house; it was one of his safe houses.”

Xu Qi’an sat on the small mare, gazing into the distance, and said:

“That day we agreed to use this as a contact point to exchange information. I planned to encourage him to confront Chai Xing’er at the Demon Slaying Conference, using the opportunity to pinpoint his location. Well, that day I was controlling a cat with my Heart Worm to track him. When my true body arrived, he had already left.”

He omitted why he wanted to find Chai Xian’s true body.

Although Li Lingsu had doubts, he didn’t ask further. He pondered, “But Chai Xian didn’t appear at the Demon Slaying Conference today.”

“Exactly!”

Xu Qi’an nodded: “So I came here to confirm, only to find that they had been silenced.”

“Hiss…” Li Lingsu drew in a cold breath:

“Was the purpose of silencing them to prevent Chai Xian from participating in the Demon Slaying Conference? There’s one problem here: the person who silenced them knew Chai Xian would come tonight. Otherwise, if Chai Xian hadn’t received your note, he probably wouldn’t have shown up, so there would be no need to kill them to keep them quiet.”

This statement enlightened Xu Qi’an, who said solemnly: “Perhaps it wasn’t to prevent Chai Xian from getting the note, but to scare him away.”

“What do you mean?” Li Lingsu asked.

“I don’t know much about Chai Xian, but I know his personality is somewhat extreme. He stayed in Xiangzhou to prove his innocence and find out who was really behind this. Even without my note, he would likely have used the opportunity of the Demon Slaying Conference to seek justice.”

Xu Qi’an analyzed:

“The note was an extra precaution I added, but it wasn’t crucial. Because I couldn’t be certain that Chai Xian would come last night, but how did the person behind this know for sure that Chai Xian would come?”

The premise of killing to silence them was that Chai Xian would get the note and cause trouble at the Demon Slaying Conference the next day.

But if even Xu Qi’an couldn’t be sure Chai Xian would come to the small village last night, and if he didn’t come, he wouldn’t see the note, then the motive for killing to silence them wouldn’t exist.

Yet this family of three was still killed, indicating that the person behind this knew Chai Xian would come last night.

Li Lingsu understood:

“The note wasn’t the key. The key is that the culprit behind this knew Chai Xian would come here last night. He killed the family of three in advance, scaring Chai Xian and making him think that the mysterious person he met that day, which is you, Senior, had ill intentions.

“Out of caution, he abandoned the idea of causing trouble at the Demon Slaying Conference. But what was the culprit’s purpose?”

Xu Qi’an couldn’t provide an answer, shaking his head:

“We’re missing a crucial piece of information. In this case, besides Chai Xing’er and Chai Xian, there’s another person hidden behind the scenes. It’s this person who’s been killing everywhere. Once we identify this person, the truth will be revealed.”

Li Lingsu thought of a person: “Could it be Chai Lan?”

This character had never appeared. She mysteriously disappeared on the day of Chai Jianyuan’s death and was never heard from again.

Xu Qi’an asked in return: “Does she have that level of cultivation?”

“Chai Lan’s cultivation is decent, but she probably hasn’t reached the Fourth Grade or even the Fifth Grade. However, we can’t be certain if she’s hiding her true strength.” Li Lingsu couldn’t be sure.

Xu Qi’an said, “Don’t come to find me for the next couple of days.”

“Why?”

“I’ll investigate the case secretly, find the true culprit behind the scenes, and then kill them,” Xu Qi’an said expressionlessly.

…

At the Chai manor.

A monk returned to the courtyard, knocked on Jingxin’s door, and after receiving permission, he entered. He saw Jingxin and Jingyuan playing Go.

“Senior Brothers, Lady Chai Xing’er asked me to inform you that in a small village called Xiaobucun, about thirty li west of Xiangzhou City, there’s been a family massacre, suspected to be the work of jianghu members.

“The ‘search team’ organized by the government has inquired about the situation and has ruled out Chai Xian as the perpetrator. However, according to villagers, a man in blue clothes came to the village at noon today. Shortly after, two strangely dressed outsiders entered the village, claiming to be government officials.

“But the yamen has confirmed that these two were not government officials.”

He detailed the condition of the three family members’ deaths.

Jingxin picked up a Go piece, placed it with a “clack,” and said in a gentle voice, “I see.”

The monk bowed and withdrew.

“Probably some jianghu wanderers,” Jingyuan said.

He was referring to the two fake officials who came later.

“They didn’t extract vital essence or seek wealth. Why kill?” Jingxin frowned in contemplation.

“Perhaps it’s revenge, or maybe some heretics taking advantage of the chaos. We shouldn’t worry too much. If we want to resolve this matter quickly, we still need to eliminate the root cause,” Jingyuan said solemnly.

After the Demon Slaying Conference, the government and several major jianghu forces were conducting house-to-house searches in the city, cross-referencing with household registers.

In the towns and villages, “search teams” were also stationed.

To be able to do this much, the Xiangzhou government was already quite effective.

“Go out of the city to patrol tonight, and remember to be conspicuous,” Jingxin said.

“Mm.” Jingyuan nodded.

Jingxin put down the Go piece and took out an ancient book from his cloth bag. As he flipped through the pages, he stopped at a certain page.

“The Southern Frontier’s Corpse Worm Sect has a secret technique of nurturing corpses with corpses. This technique evolved from the art of nurturing venomous insects. The walking corpses devour each other, extracting essences, and the final victor becomes the Corpse King.”

“Above the Iron Corpse is the Flying Corpse. Flying Corpses don’t possess the danger-sensing ability of Spirit Refinement realm martial artists, nor the ultimate control over the power of Energy Condensation martial artists, nor the ‘Intent’ of Fourth-Grade martial artists. However, Flying Corpses can briefly fly in the air, and their combat power is no weaker than Fourth-Grade, perhaps even stronger.”

“Because they have extracted enough vital blood, forming a proto-blood pill within their bodies, they can regenerate flesh and blood.”

Jingxin said slowly: “So many martial artists have been killed, some had their vital blood extracted, and some corpses vanished. The person behind this probably wants to refine a Flying Corpse. He certainly won’t let you, who has cultivated the Vajra Divine Skill, slip away.”

Jingyuan smiled: “Especially since I demonstrated cultivation barely in the Fifth Grade at the Demon Slaying Conference.”

Just as they were talking, another monk came in and handed over a note:

“Senior Brother Jingxin, the Chai manor’s steward delivered a letter. He said someone outside sent it, specifically requesting it be given to you.”

Jingxin opened the envelope with curiosity.

…

Xu Qi’an returned to the inn and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

Mu Nanzhi’s voice, full of wariness, came from behind the door.

“It’s me.”

Xu Qi’an heard that her voice was a bit off and said, “Open the door. What’s wrong?”

Creeak~~

The door opened, and Mu Nanzhi stood behind it with a serious expression.

Two palm-sized white foxes obediently sat at her feet. A childish voice tried to sound serious:

“Someone is monitoring us. If you hadn’t come back, Auntie was about to hide under the bed out of fear.”