The Xuan Turtle Queen and the Lushu chieftain stood on the shore of the Guai River. The rest of the Xuan Turtles floated in the water, only their heads visible. The solemn, murderous aura was so thick that even the mist over the river stopped swirling, as if frozen solid.
The moment they saw that Ye Yang and Shen Ming—the prime suspects—dared to return, every Xuan Turtle glared at them with fury, and the atmosphere grew even more tense.
Fortunately, Yu Bei arrived just in time and spoke first: “Everyone, calm down. Allow us to investigate first.”
For some reason, the lord of Siyang City was absent. The Xuan Turtle Queen’s plea for help had ultimately been redirected to Yu Bei.
As a senior great demon of the YCG and the master of the Dreamless Sea, Yu Bei held an exalted status in the demon realm, enough to command respect. As soon as he spoke, the Xuan Turtle Queen straightened up solemnly and stepped aside.
The Lushu chieftain also moved out of the way.
Yu Bei raised his hand and released his spiritual energy, parting the Guai River itself and revealing the path along the riverbed. Several YCG demon field agents immediately followed up, laying down wooden planks to form a temporary crossing.
The young Xuan Turtles stared in awe. The defensive line of the Guai River, which they had always taken pride in as impregnable, had been breached so easily by the Kunpeng?!
Ye Yang was equally stunned. He had known that Teacher Yu was strong, but he hadn’t known he was this strong!
The young Xuan Turtles, who had been indignant moments ago, all lowered their heads. The Lushu chieftain shrank back even further, hiding himself completely behind the Xuan Turtle Queen.
The Xuan Turtle Queen closed her eyes, her face expressionless, but the tail that lashed twice against the ground betrayed her agitation. After today, Mount Nüyang would likely never again know the peace it once had.
Yu Bei and the field agents proceeded one after another across the makeshift path toward Mount Nüyang. Shen Ming started to follow with Ye Yang, but a crowd of young Xuan Turtles rushed forward and blocked them. “What do you two think you’re doing?!”
Yu Bei looked back at Shen Ming and Ye Yang with an apologetic glance and said, “You two are still under suspicion. You need to avoid involvement for now. Wait outside for a while. Don’t worry—we will get to the bottom of this.”
Ye Yang was pushed back several steps by the young Xuan Turtles. Shen Ming, one foot still planted firmly on the wooden planks, stood unmoved. He pulled Ye Yang behind him for protection and looked up at Yu Bei. “I leave it in your hands.”
Yu Bei nodded and turned to head into the mountain.
Shen Ming led Ye Yang back to the edge of the forest, away from the riverbank, under the watchful, hostile eyes all around them.
Once they were alone, Ye Yang finally had a chance to speak. “Teacher Shen, I didn’t do it. I didn’t even see a single Lushu deer.”
“Of course I know it wasn’t you.” Shen Ming ruffled Ye Yang’s hair.
He had been angry that afternoon, so neither of them had said much. Many things had been left unclear. Only now did Shen Ming explain: “This afternoon, I suddenly sensed a familiar power—a power that could stir my divine energy. I followed that power here.”
“What? Could the master of that power be the killer?”
“Very likely. The place where the power disappeared was right on Mount Nüyang.”
Ye Yang compared the timing and realized that at that moment, he had also been on the mountain—but he hadn’t sensed anything at all.
“Then the killer must be incredibly powerful. Otherwise, how could they have entered Mount Nüyang silently and killed thousands of Lushu deer without anyone noticing?”
Just thinking that he might have crossed paths with such a terrifying figure sent chills down Ye Yang’s spine.
Shen Ming patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry. Yu Bei will clear your name.”
—
At the crime scene, apart from Yu Bei himself, the expressions of the other field agents were extremely grim.
Having worked at the YCG for many years, this was the first time they had witnessed a massacre on such a scale. The blood aura of thousands of Lushu deer soared straight to the heavens. One of the agents, a clairvoyant, could even see the lingering, restless souls of the violently slain.
Freshly dead souls like these normally couldn’t be seen—not even by clairvoyants—unless the resentment was exceptionally strong, which was exactly the case here.
The field team tried several retrospection talismans, but none worked. Yu Bei personally performed a retrospection spell, and that also failed.
“It seems the perpetrator has some understanding of the YCG and took precautions in advance.”
“Could it be someone from the inside?” one field agent asked, looking alarmed.
“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Yu Bei said.
Another agent analyzed the situation. “The only use for Lushu deer hides is to aid in bearing offspring. Humans don’t even want to have children anymore these days, so there’s certainly no market in the human world. Some cultivators might care about continuing their bloodlines, but they wouldn’t need this method.”
“Demons, even more so—most of them have litters. The few demon species that struggle to reproduce barely have any members left. Even if they needed Lushu hides, they wouldn’t need this many.”
“Many ancient demon families already have Lushu hides to begin with. Lushu deer aren’t hard to hunt—before the Xuan Turtle Queen appeared, people hunted them freely.”
“I’ve also heard that hunting Lushu deer was fashionable for a while, until it was discovered that while Lushu hides are helpful, they’re useless for those who are fundamentally unable to conceive. Not as effective as human IVF technology.”
“Then what could the motive be? If they don’t need the hides, why strip them off?”
“Maybe to cover up the real purpose?”
“I honestly can’t think of any other reason to kill thousands of Lushu deer…” After much discussion, they only ended up with more tangled leads and greater confusion.
Even though the retrospection spell couldn’t be used, they still had many other methods.
Twenty minutes later, they left Mount Nüyang and returned to the edge of the Guai River.
“All the corpses have traces of fire-attribute spiritual energy. Based on our investigation, we can confirm that all the hides were stripped simultaneously, and then the victims were killed by fire-based spells.”
The timid Lushu chieftain trembled as he stepped out from behind the Xuan Turtle Queen. “You mean… they were skinned alive?” His four legs shook as he spoke.
Receiving an affirmative answer, he nearly went weak in the knees and collapsed on the spot. It took him a long while to speak again: “May I go in and retrieve the bodies now?”
Yu Bei stepped aside and made a gesture of invitation.
As the old chieftain left, the Xuan Turtle Queen asked with a displeased look, “So? Who is the killer?”
“We haven’t identified them yet, but we are certain it is absolutely not the two you put out a wanted notice for.”
Seeing that the Xuan Turtle Queen looked about to lose her temper, Yu Bei continued, “However, the killer is likely from the fox clan. We found this at the scene.”
He pulled out a long, fiery red hair.
“Such a pure aura. To pull something like this off right under my nose, it must be a formidable one.” The Xuan Turtle Queen pondered for a moment. “But there are only a few powerful foxes—two white-furred foxes and one multi-colored fox. Where did this red-furred one come from?”
The white-furred foxes referred to Elder Su Huaiyu and Elder Bai Jun. The multi-colored fox was Fu Ye. This wasn’t a secret in the demon realm, but saying it so bluntly and dismissively was highly disrespectful to those demons.
As an acquaintance of these foxes, Ye Yang couldn’t help retorting, “What do you know about the fox clan just because you’re not one of them? Do they have to report to you every time they produce another powerful figure?”
The Xuan Turtle Queen narrowed her eyes, and a cold glint appeared on her claws. “Why are you so worked up? Do you know this red-furred fox?”
With Teacher Shen and Teacher Yu backing him up, Ye Yang was completely unafraid. “I don’t know them. I just don’t like how disrespectful you’re being.”
The Xuan Turtle Queen shot him a sharp glare but ultimately said nothing more. She couldn’t be bothered to argue with this little creature—it would be beneath her status as a queen.
The matter of the fire-attribute spiritual energy and the fox hair still needed further investigation. Yu Bei had also found some other leads—fragments of formation arrays that needed to be identified back at the lab. Later, they might need to bring in more specialized cultivators to try other methods of reconstructing the scene. But at the very least, Ye Yang and Shen Ming were no longer suspects.
Back at home, Ye Yang was still thinking about the power Shen Ming had mentioned—the one that had stirred his divine energy.
For some reason, he felt deeply unsettled. But when he asked about it, Shen Ming said, “Don’t worry about this. I’ll investigate it myself. Just focus on what you need to do.”
Shen Ming didn’t want to drag the little sea hare into the matter between himself and the Vermilion Bird. It was too dangerous.
—
“Something like that actually happened?” Boss Long looked grave.
The day after returning from Mount Nüyang happened to be the company’s morning meeting. Brother Ge mentioned the massacre on Mount Nüyang, and Ye Yang added a few words about it.
Sister Wu looked guilty. “How could this happen? What a coincidence.” So coincidental that she almost thought an enemy had set her up—but she was sure she didn’t have any enemies that powerful!
Boss Long looked at Ye Yang. “Good work. Don’t take on any high-intensity missions for a while. Get some rest.”
Ye Yang said, “No trouble at all. It’s my job.” He had earned so much from Sister Wu’s mission that he had already paid off half his debt!
Even so, Ye Yang received a short, specially approved vacation from Boss Long.
As it happened, Dongzhou University’s anniversary celebration was in a few days, and Li Chanyi had asked him to come back to campus with her.
When he asked in the group chat, the eldest and third brothers were also returning. The second brother didn’t respond. Ye Yang immediately busied himself preparing gifts, using the spiritual plants Shen Ming had given him to make some snacks to share with them.
Dongzhou University had been founded a hundred years ago. This year, it turned 105, and the school had decided to hold a grand anniversary ceremony.
Shen Xiuyun, true to form as an outstanding graduate, had returned early to help with preparations. Zhuang Li, after graduating, had become a full-time esports player and had just won a world championship. He was going to give a speech at the ceremony as a graduate representative. Li Chanyi was busy with work and was putting in extra hours to free up the day to return to campus. Only Ye Yang was relatively free.
Shen Xiuyun said, “Then leave contacting the second brother to you. He hasn’t been replying much to messages lately, and these past two days, he’s completely unresponsive. What’s going on… honestly.”
Ye Yang readily agreed, but then found that no matter what he tried, he couldn’t reach Qin Zhi.
He even went to the mountain where Qin Zhi used to live. It looked abandoned—no one was living there anymore.
“What do I do now? Am I going to have to go to the Sword Sect…” Even though he considered himself a morally upstanding little demon, he was still a demon. Showing up at the stronghold of sword cultivators was a bit much.
With no other choice, Ye Yang had to tell the eldest brother that he couldn’t get in touch with Qin Zhi.
When Shen Xiuyun heard this, he was shocked. “How is that possible? Just a few days ago, Qin Zhi sent me a message saying the fruit in his yard had ripened and he would bring me some soon.”
Ye Yang’s expression shifted, and his face grew serious. This was wrong—very wrong. Could something have happened to Qin Zhi?!
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