Chapter 104
Because of so many horrific incidents, the entire town was in a state of panic. For unknown reasons, all women were afraid to go out on the streets. Only men walked the streets.
However, when Li Hao and others were walking on the street led by the prefect, everyone looked at them.
With their flowing Taoist robes and handsome appearance, it was easy for mortals to identify a cultivator. So the people of the city immediately knew that these three were immortals who had come to handle the matter.
The news had already spread throughout Baolin City before they even arrived. Therefore, the fourth victim's family was already waiting at the alley entrance to greet them.
"Immortal, thank you for coming." An old man standing at the front said, and he was extremely excited when he saw the three immortals following the prefect.
After a brief greeting, he took them into the room.
The family also made a living in the city. They made a small fortune selling rouge and powder, and bought a two-bedroom house.
"Ever since we discovered that Qing Er Niang started to have a rash on her body, we locked her up in the house. We also went to a nearby Taoist temple to perform an exorcism. But it didn't stop her changes," the old man explained.
Li Hao found the people in this house a bit strange. There were no young people. Looking at the two-room house, it seemed like at least ten people could live there.
But there was only an old man and an old woman here. When I asked them what had happened, they explained that because of this incident, the three previous families hadn't been able to escape. Even calling in a Taoist priest was useless, so they sent all the young people and children to the next county for refuge.
They entered the room and found the woman tied to the bed with thick iron chains.
But judging from her expression, she didn't show any signs of madness or mental disorder. She even took the initiative to greet Li Hao, the other two, and the prefect. However, the chain on her leg couldn't be ignored.
Her face was a little haggard and pale, but she was truly a rare beauty. Her pale skin and long, dark green hair were paired with a very unique aura. It was truly rare to find such a beauty in a town like this.
"Qing Er Niang was not like this originally." The old man explained.
Their family had three generations living under one roof. The old man and old woman were the grandparents, and they had a son. Qing Erniang was the wife of the second son, and she also had a son. The family of eleven had a harmonious relationship, and there was no foul play involved.
This matter was brought up by the prefect. Li Hao and the others didn't know the specific situation.
Li Hao directly opened the chains that bound Qing Erniang and said to the two old people, "Do you want to take her with you to see if there is any problem?"
This was great for the two old people, after all, they were also frightened.
The prefect arranged a manor in the suburbs for the three of them, fearing that trouble would arise in the city.
After settling Qing Erniang down, the three of them sat in the room and discussed how to solve this problem.
"Have these women been subjected to harsh criticism or abuse by their families? That's why they've been bewitched by demonic forces," Liu Suixing said. He had completed two inner sect missions. Often, demonic forces would bewitch mortals, driving them into despair. They usually targeted special individuals.
For example, one of his previous missions required a father to voluntarily sacrifice his own flesh and blood. The demonic cultivators would harvest the sacrificed child's heart for cultivation.
At that time, the man from the evil sect bewitched more than 30 people, and relied on the resentment in his heart to successfully advance to the Qi Gathering stage.
"From what I've seen today, while these women may not hold high status in their families, they wouldn't be so cruel as to attack their loved ones." Li Hao shook her head. She'd thought of this when she first read the case file. However, in this era, women's status wasn't high to begin with. "I'm quite puzzled as to why this mission is considered a mid-level one."
"The demonic energy I found on the woman is quite weak. I feel this mission is not that difficult." Liu Ruxin also analyzed with great interest.
"We can guard Qing Er Niang. Her ritual is halfway through, and it's impossible for the other party not to continue. Once a ritual like the magic path begins, it must be completed. Otherwise, the other party will suffer backlash." Liu Suixing said.
"To find commonalities among these women, I think we can start from three areas," Li Hao thought for a moment and offered his opinion. "Self, environment, and experience. Look for common elements within these three elements. For example, are there similarities in their family, age, and birthdates? Or even in their appearance—those are elements of self. Then there's the environmental element, which could refer to their current location or family situation. And experience refers to whether they've done the same thing, been to the same place, or had the same experiences."
Li Hao's thinking was very logical. He waved his hand across the table, and something like a blackboard appeared. Scribbled on it casually, "Can you tell me what you know?"
"They are all married and are all wives." Liu Ruxin was quite interested in this game of finding similarities and said actively.
"This is indeed a point that all four of us have in common." Li Hao nodded and wrote the word "wife" on the blackboard.
"I think there's another thing they all have in common: they all live relatively comfortably," Liu Suixing said after a moment's reflection. All four families were considered to have some assets; even the butcher and his wife were doing quite well.
It's much better than the situation of most people today.
Li Hao nodded after hearing this and wrote the word "good family background".
Then they thought a lot and found no common ground.
"The demonic energy on Qing Er Niang is relatively weak, and we can't see anything for the time being. Tomorrow we will split into three groups. Each of them will investigate the circumstances of the deceased, and you can ask their neighbors. Remember to ask carefully where they went before the accident." Li Hao arranged the tasks. These were also taught to her by the people at the base.
Now that the demonic cultivators were in hiding, their methods became even more covert, making it even more difficult to deal with them. Fortunately, they had a hostage in hand, otherwise Li Hao and his team wouldn't even be able to conduct an open and honest investigation.
The demonic cultivators would not leave until Qing Erniang's sacrifice was complete. Otherwise, they would be attacked back, with the consequences ranging from the loss of all their cultivation to the annihilation of their souls.
Despite the grave consequences of a failed sacrifice, demonic cultivators still flock to it. Ordinary righteous cultivators face rigid qualifications to enter the Dao, and each promotion is incredibly difficult. Conversely, deceiving a few dozen mortals is easy and convenient, leaving them like lambs to be slaughtered by demonic cultivators. The only dangers come from fellow righteous cultivators and other demonic cultivators.
The next day, the three of them went around the city investigating. Li Hao took the time to set up a formation in the manor. They naturally wouldn't lock Qing Erniang up. The manor had all the daily necessities. They told her not to leave the manor and left.
When asked by immortals, ordinary people naturally answered everything they knew. However, they couldn't be trusted completely, as most people tended to embellish their opinions based on their own perspectives. This was especially true for those who were known to gossip.
It is even more important to carefully distinguish the authenticity of the information.
Li Hao also took the opportunity to walk around the city and get a general understanding of this town of nearly 200,000 people. It is a town with a large population, so there are often outsiders, and it is not easy to distinguish them. However, he also learned where some outsiders would stay after they arrived.
There is a high possibility that the demonic monks are mixed in with these outsiders.
As night fell, the three of them re-checked their information. Liu Ruxin was the first to discuss her investigation into the recent case, the butcher's family.
"I investigated the third family. They said that the couple had a good relationship. However, the husband would have a bad temper after drinking, but this should not be a big deal here. The couple usually had some friction with the pork vendor. I haven't heard of any other enemies." Liu Ruxin said hesitantly, feeling that she had not found any useful clues.
Li Hao waved her hand, and a suggested town map appeared on the blackboard. During the day, her mental power covered the entire town, on the one hand to see if she could directly catch the demonic monk. Unfortunately, apart from the faint demonic energy on Qing Er Niang's body, she did not find any other demonic energy in the town.
"The third family's address is here. Their living space is roughly from here to there," Li Hao asked Liu Ruxin. She hesitated, recalling what she had asked that day, and pointed out the location to Li Hao several times. "This is their stall. The butcher goes out to the city gate to collect pigs every morning... The wife is usually at home, and around lunchtime..."
As Liu Ruxin described, Li Hao drew out movement routes on the subway.
After Liu Ruxin finished speaking, Liu Suixing continued, clearly having uncovered a wealth of information. "The relationship in this family wasn't good. The couple often quarreled, and the wife often had bruises on her body..."
Then Li Hao also drew several lines using lines of another color.
Finally, Li Hao briefly described her first case. "The couple didn't mention any relationship problems; the man was a married woman. But I heard their relationship wasn't good. Apparently, it was because the woman hadn't had children in the three or four years of marriage. That's why a lot of people were gossiping about them behind their backs."
Then Li Hao added the first family's route. Three colors appeared on the map. But strangely, they didn't see any overlapping points.
"There is one last one." Li Hao said.
Since the person in question was right next door, Li Hao called Qing Er Niang over. Just one day had passed, and Qing Er Niang had become much younger, now more like a young woman. She couldn't be told she was a 30-year-old middle-aged woman who was already pregnant with a child.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
