Going from house to house to inspect the remaining farming households, Ruyi discovered several strange traces.

“What could have dragged these wheel marks out?” She squatted down and twisted the soil on the ground between her fingers. A flash of inspiration struck her mind, “A snake?”

There was something peculiar in Shen Qiyuan’s eyes. He squatted down and used his hand as a ruler to measure the width of those traces on the ground: “Nearly one zhang wide. A snake of this width should have cultivation of over a thousand years.”

Because demon clans often killed each other, those who could live for a thousand years were extremely rare. This meant that as long as it was a demon monster with cultivation over a thousand years, Ruyi should have an impression of it.

But she carefully thought through everyone and frowned while shaking her head: “There are only about a dozen demon monsters with thousand-year cultivation in the Ten Thousand Demons’ Cave, and none of them have snakes as their original form. Could these traces be an illusion technique?”

She turned her head to look at the person beside her, but discovered his eyes were profound, like an ink-stained water pool with faint ripples hidden within.

Ruyi raised her eyebrows: “You have a clue?”

“The one that broke into Heng Kingdom back then and devoured my parents and siblings alive was a snake demon.” Shen Qiyuan lowered his eyes, “If it’s still alive now, it should have cultivation of over two thousand years.”

Ruyi’s pupils contracted slightly.

Nine heads, devouring, large body size, snake-like tracks—wasn’t this exactly the nine-headed serpent that destroyed Heng Kingdom back then, the one Shen Qiyuan deeply detested?

Over these years, Shen Qiyuan had frequently used his divine consciousness to search for it, but had never seen any traces. He thought it was already dead, never expecting it to suddenly reappear in the world.

Shen Qiyuan clenched his fists and slowly stood up: “Someone must be raising it. Otherwise, there’s no reason it could hide in Lin’an without me discovering it.”

Ruyi nodded: “Since it came out to hunt for food once, it will come out a second time. Don’t be anxious—this time we definitely won’t let it escape again.”

Back then, Shen Qiyuan’s cultivation was shallow, and he lacked experience dealing with demon monsters, which allowed the nine-headed serpent to exploit a loophole. Today, he would not let it continue surviving in this world.

He raised his hand, wanting to expand his divine consciousness to bring all of Lin’an under his control.

Ruyi quickly pressed down his hand: “Snake clans are naturally suspicious and easily startled. Since we want to catch it, we can’t make it nervous. Just maintain the current state—you and I will return to the first household together.”

The reasoning made sense, but no one could remain calm and rational when facing their kingdom’s destroyer. Shen Qiyuan straightened his spine and stood frozen in place without moving.

Ruyi extended her hand and gently hooked his fingers: “Be obedient.”

His palm softened, and Shen Qiyuan took a long breath. His tall body allowed her to lead him out through the fence, and he lowered his head slightly as he got into the carriage.

“These next few days, you and I must both conceal the aura on our bodies and disguise ourselves as ordinary farmers.” Ruyi took out several sets of coarse cloth clothing for him.

The carriage stopped for a moment in an inconspicuous alley. When it left again, two grimy farmers—a man and a woman—appeared at the alley entrance.

Ruyi looked over the person beside her and shook her head repeatedly: “Don’t keep your back so straight. Bend it down a little.”

Shen Qiyuan felt somewhat unaccustomed: “How is this any way to walk?”

“My lord, farmers are all bent over from being worn down by their work. With your bearing, even wearing hemp cloth, you look like heaven’s favored son. How could you possibly fool anyone?” She slapped his back with her palm, forcing him to bend his waist, then smeared several more streaks of dirt on his face. Only after covering his tear mole did she nod with satisfaction.

“Come on, old man, let’s go home.” Linking arms with him, Ruyi also hunched her back and spoke in a hoarse voice.

The attendants had already led another cow into the cattle shed. When the two returned to the farming household, Ruyi pretended to cook while Shen Qiyuan chopped firewood in the courtyard. Originally thinking they’d only need to persist for a while before the nine-headed serpent would appear, who would have expected that even by nightfall, there was still no movement outside.

Shen Qiyuan looked silently at the burnt black food on the table. Ruyi looked at the wood outside that he had chopped into fragments, and she too fell silent.

“Did it just finish eating and needs some time before it comes out again?” Ruyi asked.

Shen Qiyuan thought for a moment: “With its level of cultivation, it should be able to obtain food easily. Why do you think it still acts so secretively?”

“What else could it be?” Ruyi pointed upward, “Your divine consciousness isn’t there for decoration.”

“That makes it even stranger.” He frowned, “Knowing that Lin’an is filled with my divine consciousness, why would it still stay here? Wouldn’t it be better to go to Great Xia and enjoy incense offerings?”

Ruyi blinked: “That’s true. With its cultivation level, it could even have divine statues in the Great Xia.”

Demon monsters would only linger in one place under two circumstances: first, if the demon wanted to stay beside someone it loved; second, if the demon’s master was there.

Which possibility could it be?

“This is its first time coming out to hunt for food, right?” Ruyi suddenly said, “At the time it hunted for food, did anything different happen in Lin’an?”

Shen Qiyuan looked deeply at her: “There have been two major events recently. First, Great Qian won the battle. Second, Emperor Qian’an moved Puhua’s divine statue out of the ancestral temple and issued a secret decree that important officials’ families were not permitted to offer worship.”

Ruyi listened with puzzlement: “Why issue a secret decree? Wouldn’t it be better to directly issue an open decree and smash all his temples?”

“Great Qian reveres divine beings. Issuing such a decree without reason would go against popular sentiment and cause unnecessary trouble.” Shen Qiyuan said, “First, there must be a legitimate reason.”

Ruyi touched her chin: “Just the incense from the ancestral temple and important officials’ families represents quite a substantial amount. Even Puhua was forced to set traps to devour passing gods and demons to make up for his shortfall. If he’s also raising a nine-headed serpent…”

Both paused, then suddenly looked at each other: “He’s raising the nine-headed serpent?”

Shen Qiyuan flew into a sudden rage: “If even the nine-headed serpent is something he raised, then this person is worse than a beast!”

“Calm down a bit. This is still just speculation—there’s no evidence proving the nine-headed serpent is something he raised.” Ruyi pressed him down and extended her hand to stroke his chest, “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry.”

His chest rose and fell for quite a while before Shen Qiyuan calmed down and rubbed his temples: “How should we find this evidence?”

“Very simple. If the nine-headed serpent truly came out to hunt for food because Puhua had no surplus incense to feed it, then we’ll smash a few more temples and see what happens.”

Shen Qiyuan shook his head: “You’re a demon monster—you can’t even approach temples, let alone attack and smash them. I’m a blue god—I’m even less able to interfere with other immortals’ temple affairs.”

“This isn’t difficult at all.” Ruyi raised her eyebrows, “Do you know who’s been running to temples most frequently in Lin’an City recently?”

“Who?”

“Grand Preceptor Liu.” She snorted with laughter, “According to Tinglan, the Liu family is extremely domineering. When they go to temples to burn incense, they forcibly drive away all other worshippers. Not only that, if they get efficacious results from a temple, they’ll offer extra incense. If they don’t get results, they’ll have people splash filth on it.”

The Liu family originally worshipped Puhua, but due to His Majesty’s command, they could only remove the divine altar and go find temples for worship. Regarding the murder case at Duke An’s manor, Grand Preceptor Liu found all the temples he petitioned useless and splashed filth on several places. In the end, he still secretly went to Puhua’s temple and finally got a good result.