"We could ask Shuiyan about this matter. Perhaps we can find out who told the evil cultivators about the practice of 'sexual cultivation' then." Ling Qi glanced at You You with some hesitation, and seeing that she did not object, he ordered someone to call Shuiyan over.
Shuiyan arrived quickly, and without much thought, as if she had completely emerged from the shadow of that year, she answered directly, "I don't know about this either. I've only heard that this has been going on for many years before we were captured and taken to the Demon Cave. At first, they only captured noblewomen from the mortal world, and later they started targeting female cultivators. Countless women have been victimized."
“Women…” You You was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered something and stood up abruptly. “I know what’s wrong, it’s women! Don’t you think there are too many women among the vengeful spirits that Feng Rong has guided?”
Nie Zheng and Yuan Qi were both stunned. They had been there at the time and had witnessed the dissipation of countless vengeful spirits. They hadn't noticed it before, but now, upon reflection, they realized that more than half of those spirits were indeed female.
Youyou was a time traveler, and at the time she didn't think there was anything wrong with it. But now that she thinks about it, women are precious in this world, and even rarer in remote areas, like the border town back then. Even if there were some natural disasters or man-made calamities, so many women shouldn't have died; the ratio is clearly off.
Unless... someone is deliberately targeting women!
Having realized this, everyone present frowned. Nie Zhenggeng said angrily, "No matter who did this, their intentions are despicable. If this continues, it will surely cause chaos throughout the world."
"Sect Master, should we inform the other sects about this?" Ling Qi suggested. This matter is no longer just a matter for one sect. If someone is really targeting the woman, all sect masters should be aware of it.
"Of course we will notify them, but these are all just our guesses. We don't know if they will believe us or not!" You You's face darkened. The evidence of what happened to Shuiyan and the others is right in front of us. Wasn't it because some immortal sects wanted to protect those who colluded with evil cultivators? With so many immortal sects, it's impossible for them all to be of one mind.
You You thought for a moment before continuing, "Ling Qi, we can spread this news and then investigate where women have gone missing over the years, including those from the Immortal Sect. The other side has set up such a large scheme; they must have done more than just these three bad things. Perhaps there are other things we haven't discovered yet."
"Yes, Sect Master!" Ling Qi's expression also became solemn, and he immediately went out to make arrangements.
Ling Qi, true to his professionalism, completed the investigation in just a few days and came to her with a stack of documents. Indeed, many noble ladies and female cultivators had disappeared in the past century. Within the Fengtian Kingdom alone, several thousand noble ladies had vanished without a trace within the last ten years. This number might not seem like much at first glance, considering that although Fengtian Kingdom wasn't large, it still had a population of tens of millions.
But in Xianze, where the male-to-female ratio is so imbalanced, it's quite frightening. And although all these missing people have been reported to the police, without exception, the final result is that they all disappear without a trace and the matter is eventually dropped.
Compared to the mortal realm, quite a few female cultivators from sects have gone missing, especially before the Demon Cave incident was exposed. But after that, the number has decreased considerably.
"Sect Master, there is another document. I wonder if it is related to this?" Ling Qi said hesitantly.
"What data?" You You was taken aback, and took another document from him. It only contained a few lines of statistics, but the content...
"Celestial Maiden!" She stood up abruptly, examining the documents in her hand closely, somewhat incredulous. "How come there are these?"
"It just occurred to me, so while I was investigating, I also looked into the situation of the Heavenly Maidens of various immortal sects over the past hundred years." After all, Heavenly Maidens are women, Ling Qi continued to explain, "Upon investigation, I discovered that five Heavenly Maidens have actually perished in the past hundred years. Although they were not missing, two of them did not reach their lifespan and perished prematurely. Moreover, these immortal sects were all insignificant, unranked immortal sects."
Logically speaking, even the most dilapidated sect would do everything in its power to protect the Celestial Maiden. After all, the foundation of any immortal sect is the Celestial Maiden, although each Celestial Maiden possesses different aptitudes and varying levels of cultivation. Achieving a high-level cultivation is extremely difficult, but still far better than that of an ordinary person. Therefore, it's unlikely that they would perish easily unless they reached the limit of their lifespan.
A celestial maiden is a rare sight, appearing only once every few centuries, and the fall of even one every few centuries is considered quite swift. Yet, in the last hundred years, there have been five.
Although there was nothing suspicious about the information he investigated, the data alone was already astonishing.
"You suspect that the person behind this isn't just targeting women, but even daring to attack celestial maidens?" Youyou looked at him in surprise.
Ling Qi nodded. "I do have this suspicion, but I can't be sure. The matter of these celestial maidens still needs to be investigated carefully."
If that's the case, then how utterly depraved must the person behind this be? You You nodded, "Then let's continue the investigation!"
"Yes!" Ling Qi clasped his hands in response, then, as if remembering something, continued, "Sect Master, today is the day of graduation from the sect's training program, so the disciples are currently sparring and ranking up in the martial arts arena of the four peaks. Sect Master, would you like to go and take a look?"
"Huh!" Youyou was taken aback. "Is today the final exam?"
“Yes.” Ling Qi nodded. “According to the sect leader’s plan, it’s a five-year cycle. The preliminary rounds have already lasted for three days, and today is the last one. At this time, it’s probably almost over.”
"You should have said so earlier! Let's go, let's go!" She was the one who set the final exams, and it was also to check on her students' learning progress. As the head of the family, of course she had to go and encourage them, but she had been too busy these past few days and almost forgot.
"Where are you going again?" Just as she was about to leave, she bumped into Feng Rong, who was about to come in. He had changed out of his flamboyant red clothes and was now wrapped up like a bun, with only his face showing. He was obviously there to see her.
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