I see
The courtyard where Xiao Ze lived was in a relatively secluded corner of the Chen Mansion. Few people came here usually, so no one would notice even if he didn't come back for a night.
When night fell and the Chen Mansion returned to peace, Xiao Ze cast a spell to become invisible and began to look at the servants' residences one by one, hoping to get some clues.
Something unexpected happened.
Suddenly, a voice reappeared in the quiet Chen Mansion. Although it was not loud, it was very clear to Xiao Ze's ears. And it was getting closer and closer.
There was a barrier in the Chen Mansion, and he couldn't just fly away quickly on his sword. He had to find a corner and hide there, secretly hoping that the person who came was an ordinary person.
As the crowd gradually approached, familiar clothing styles came into view.
"Senior brother, I seemed to see a figure just now." A disciple said to Su Qingjun.
Su Qingjun seemed to sense something and looked towards where Xiao Ze was hiding, scaring Xiao Ze so much that he immediately retracted his head.
"There's no one here. You must have seen it wrong." Su Qingjun's tone left no room for doubt.
The disciple also began to doubt whether he had seen it wrong, but Su Qingjun would definitely not be wrong.
Everyone dispelled their doubts.
Watching the crowd gradually walk away, Xiao Ze was filled with doubts: Why did disciples of the Tianxuan Sect appear in the Chen Mansion? And was Su Qingjun leading the group?
However, now that there are other cultivators here, Xiao Ze no longer dares to act as recklessly as before. He is not sure if there are any other people from the Tianxuan Sect who know him, except Su Qingjun.
He quietly returned to the courtyard and regained his shape.
Xiao Ze had a headache, not because of the sudden appearance of the Tianxuan Sect members, but because of this confusing disappearance case.
Anything that can be reported to the Tianxuan Sect must go through the city lord, but I have basically seen all the people who can contact the city lord.
Even though the Chen Mansion had not been fully searched, Xiao Ze had a hunch that he would not be able to find any useful clues.
What went wrong?
There was a knock on the door, and Xiao Ze stood up suddenly. Who else would come to see him at this time?
"It's me." Su Qingjun's voice rang out.
It seems that he really discovered himself at that time.
Xiao Ze opened the door and turned sideways to let Su Qingjun in.
"Brother, you must have discovered me a long time ago."
"Yeah." Su Qingjun remained silent.
"Why did you suddenly come to Taiping City?" Xiao Ze lay on the bed as if he had no bones.
"It wasn't sudden. Every three years the sect sends people to each city to reinforce the protective formations."
"Oh, brother, you're here just in time!" Xiao Ze couldn't help but complain to Su Qingjun, "I've been searching here for such a long time, but I still haven't found the missing person."
"You didn't find the missing person? How did you look for him?"
"Any case that can be submitted to the sect will definitely be brought to the attention of the city lord. I went to the government office first, but there weren't any unsolved missing persons cases. Then I thought, if people haven't been found missing, they must be from wealthy families. So I checked all the prominent families in Taiping City, but still couldn't find any clues."
“Have you asked those beggars who have no family?”
"Beggars? But missing beggar cases can only be reported to the sect through the government office, and they themselves have no way of contacting the city lord. What's even more strange is that the residents of this city don't seem to know that anyone is missing."
"Even though I'm a beggar, I might be able to find a way you haven't thought of to spread this matter to the sect. You haven't confirmed it yet, so how can you rule out this possibility?" Su Qingjun asked back.
Xiao Ze thought about it and realized that it was true: "Brother, what I am teaching you is that I was not thoughtful enough."
If it weren't for Su Qingjun, he might still be stuck in this dilemma.
With an idea in mind, Xiao Ze decided to take action immediately.
"Senior brother, do you want to go with me?" Xiao Ze looked at Su Qingjun who stood up with him.
Looking at the still immature lover in front of him, Su Qingjun felt helpless: "Without me, how do you expect to enter and exit the barrier without alerting Chen Zheng?"
Oh, I forgot, there is a small barrier here in Chen Mansion.
Xiao Ze touched his head embarrassedly. Why did he feel like he always did stupid things in front of Su Qingjun?
Su Qingjun walked out first, and Xiao Ze followed behind.
The two first went to the places where beggars most often gathered, but there were no beggars anywhere. Even the streets at night were clean, without a single person in sight.
There must be something strange.
The two of them were roughly certain that the people missing in Taiping City should be these beggars.
Who would kidnap all the beggars in a city, regardless of gender, age or status? And what was their purpose in kidnapping them?
The two returned to Chen's house first. Chen Zheng would definitely visit Su Qingjun early the next morning.
Sure enough, the next day when Su Qingjun went out, she saw Chen Zheng standing outside her door.
"Master, did you have a good rest last night?" Chen Zheng's face was full of smiles, but he did not seem to be flattering.
Su Qingjun nodded and said, "I plan to start checking the barrier today. I'll trouble Master Chen for the time being."
"Master, what are you talking about? It's my honor to have you staying in my house."
After saying that, he stood respectfully aside and watched Su Qingjun arrange his disciples.
After the disciples left one after another, Su Qingjun nodded to Chen Zheng and left as well.
————
Xiao Ze left Chen's house early in the morning.
He would go out for a stroll whenever he had no classes. The Chen family's gatekeeper was used to it and didn't think much of it.
He wandered to a deserted place, then went invisible to the outside of the city gate, waiting for Su Qingjun.
After the two met up, they rushed to Wangcheng, the nearest city to Taiping City, hoping that the beggars there would know something.
After entering Wangcheng, Xiao Ze clearly felt the difference between this place and Taiping City.
The people's clothes were generally worse, and the things sold by vendors were generally more affordable. More importantly, among the people coming and going, there were beggars holding bowls and stretching out their arms, hoping that passers-by would give them some money.
But asking beggars questions on the street is a bit too conspicuous.
Xiao Ze and his companion came to dilapidated temples and other places where beggars usually lived, and finally found two beggars who looked older in a dilapidated house in a remote area. There were two or three children who looked younger than them.
Seeing Xiao Ze and Su Qingjun, whose clothes were out of place here, the old beggar suddenly became alert and protected the children tightly behind him.
"Don't be nervous, we two won't hurt you." As he said that, Xiao Ze took out his purse, took out a few taels of silver from it, and slowly handed it over.
The old beggar hesitated again and again, looked at each other, and finally made up his mind and took the silver.
"You two lords are definitely not here just to give us money, right?"
"Yes, we have some questions that we would like you two to help us with." Since the old beggar said so, Xiao Ze did not beat around the bush.
"Do you know where all the beggars in Taiping City go?"
"Taiping City? You are from Taiping City!" The vigilance that had just been let down reappeared, and he was even more alert than before.
Both of them noticed something was wrong, and Su Qingjun spoke to comfort them, "We are disciples of the Tianxuan Sect. We received a mission that many beggars in Taiping City have gone missing. We are here to find them and catch the person who abducted them."
The old beggar looked at Xiao Ze and Su Qingjun carefully again and sighed, not knowing whether he was compromising or really believed what Su Qingjun said.
"I just escaped from Taiping City." The old beggar slowly told his story.
"The people of Taiping City were wealthy and lived a prosperous life. Begging there always earned much more money than before. Gradually, more and more beggars learned about it, and everyone started flocking to Taiping City. The number of beggars in the city increased."
"The government officials chased him away many times, but it was no use."
"Suddenly one day, I noticed that several people who usually went out to beg with me didn't come back at night. I didn't pay much attention to it at first, thinking they had found a better place to stay."
"But gradually, more and more beggars disappeared, so we went to the government office to report the case. But the people in the government office said that we beggars were just wandering around the city, and maybe we had gone to other places, so we had to look for it ourselves."
"There's nothing I can do. What can I do with my old arms and legs? I can only take care of myself first."
"Alas, there were too many beggars in Taiping City, and gradually we couldn't beg for much money, so I took them to try somewhere else. When we got to Cuishan, we were so hungry, and we happened to see some pheasants there, so we thought of catching some and eating them."
"It's very difficult to catch pheasants. I followed them for a long time before I caught one. When I turned around to go back, I looked up and saw several people wearing masks pulling a cart full of corpses."
"I had sharp eyes and saw that the beggar at the top was someone I knew. I was so scared that I squatted down and didn't dare to stand up."
"Those people threw the bodies into a pit before leaving. It was a long time before I dared to stand up and walk to the edge of the pit to take a look."
"There were so many bodies inside, both familiar and unfamiliar, all of them beggars. And, the faces of those I could see all had expressions of deep sorrow and remorse."
"I was so scared that I crawled to find them," the old beggar said, patting his companions. "I didn't even have the chicken to eat. I quickly left Taiping City and never dared to get close again."
Xiao Ze frowned and looked to the side, and saw Su Qingjun also had a serious expression on his face.
"Old man, were there any children among the corpses you saw?" Xiao Ze asked.
If it is true, the murderer should go to the eighteen levels of hell and suffer torture every day.
"No, I thought about it later and it was strange. When they disappeared, the older and younger ones all disappeared together, but there wasn't even a trace."
"Do you remember where you found the body?"
"I remember." The old beggar nodded. "I'll never forget that place. There's a unique tree on the south side of Cuishan Mountain, with lush branches and leaves, right next to it."
"Those who died will thank you." Xiao Ze took out a few pieces of silver from his purse and handed them over: "Remember not to mention our visit to you today to anyone."
"I understand." replied the old beggar.
When leaving, Xiao Ze quietly cast a silencing spell on the old beggar and several others regarding this matter to ensure that nothing could go wrong.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com