Xu Qingwan, as Xia Ci’s family member, obviously knew more about the situation.
She started from the root of the matter, revealing many inside details.
About half a year ago, the Xia family didn’t live here.
At that time, the head of the family, Xia Ci, held an important position in the capital, closely associating with the Nine Fiends King and several high-ranking officials, often discussing national affairs of the Nine Fiends Hall.
But suddenly, one day, Xia Ci had a falling out with the capital’s regime.
The court meeting, which was supposed to last all day, ended with him returning home before noon.
He was unusually angry that day.
Normally polite and courteous, he came back, took off his official robe, threw it into the fireplace, and shouted, “These beasts! I, Xia Ci, will never collude with them!”
Xu Qingwan was startled and asked him what happened.
However, Xia Ci didn’t tell her.
A few days later, Xia Ci resigned and left the capital.
The Xia family, under his leadership, returned to this small town near the Ethereal Mountain Range to live again.
Xu Qingwan sighed deeply, “The resources in this marginal town aren’t as good as in the capital, and cultivation is slow. Initially, it was very difficult to adapt here, but eventually, we managed. During this time, some officials from the capital came to persuade him, but every time it ended in a big argument and they parted on bad terms. Suddenly, one day, he went out early and returned late at night, severely injured, with all his belongings and storage ring stolen.”
“After that, as you know, we sought out Master Wen of the Treasure Pavilion to find a healer for him, but unexpectedly, that incident happened…”
Xu Qingwan suddenly choked up, tears welling in her sorrowful eyes.
“The Soul Dispersing Pill was not my wish, but he had already turned into a demon, and even the soul artifact couldn’t remove it. It was a last resort.”
Xia Qing also lowered his head heavily, his face full of dejection, but more so of resentment, clenching his fists and glaring angrily, “Those beasts, I will never let them go!”
Wen Fei stepped forward to comfort him, while Wen Mingyu quietly turned to Jiang Yin and asked, “What do you think? Is there anything noteworthy?”
Xu Qingwan’s words she had heard once before, and now for the second time, she still didn’t notice anything.
From her words, the culprit was quite obvious, most likely the people from the capital.
Jiang Yin furrowed his brows, pondering for a while but ultimately not answering her question.
He looked at Xu Qingwan and asked, “Where is the place where the Xia family head is recuperating? Can we take a look ourselves?”
Xu Qingwan nodded, “It’s in the small building near the Heart Lake. Occasionally, Qing’er would bring him to rest in the pavilion at the center of the lake.”
Jiang Yin followed Xu Qingwan to the small building, smelling a strong incense aroma, and couldn’t help but frown, “Does the head of the family like incense?”
Xu Qingwan shook her head, “This place hasn’t been used for a long time, and the smell inside is unpleasant, so he had someone light incense.”
Jiang Yin raised an eyebrow, vaguely sensing the undercurrent of ghostly power beneath the incense, quietly casting a spell, and sure enough, it was identical to the one on the corridor earlier.
The deeper they went, the stronger the incense smell became, even slightly pungent.
Wen Mingyu couldn’t stand the smell and went out for fresh air after a while.
Tang Muxi also disliked it, pinching her nose and complaining, “It’s so strong, was the original smell in the room really that bad…”
Jiang Yin reached out to comfort her, whispering, “There’s something strange about this mansion, bear with it a little.”
Tang Muxi was taken aback, her curiosity piqued, looking at Jiang Yin with burning eyes.
Something strange?!
Did Senior Sister discover something?
Jiang Yin didn’t say more, just patted her head.
After leaving the room, they proceeded to investigate the pavilion in the center of the lake.
Initially, Xia Ci was ambushed here, revealing the true form of an evil spirit.
Therefore, the pavilion was already damaged, now restored using magic.
With the previous experiences of detecting ghostly auras, Jiang Yin instinctively searched upon arrival.
However, unexpectedly, aside from a few traces of residual magic, there was nothing else.
This pavilion, as the place where Xia Ci mutated and fought with the cultivators, should logically have left more clues, but now it was impeccably clean.
Such abnormality seemed as if any traces left were immediately erased by someone.
Jiang Yin squinted his eyes, “Besides the people from the capital, has anyone else visited the Xia residence?”
Xu Qingwan paused, instinctively nodding, but suddenly felt a pain in her forehead, clutching her head, unable to answer for a long time.
“Has there been?”
Jiang Yin pressed.
Xu Qingwan thought for a while, then slowly shook her head, “There shouldn’t have been.”
Shouldn’t?
This time, Tang Muxi also sensed something was off, wanting to press further, but her hand was suddenly held.
She looked at Jiang Yin suspiciously, but Jiang Yin only gave her a look before quickly looking away, turning to Xu Qingwan, “Hmm, I understand.”
After inspecting two places carefully, it was already afternoon when they finished.
The sun was slightly setting in the west, casting golden light on the shimmering water, like dazzling jewels reflecting a brilliant glow.
Jiang Yin stood by the lake, gazing into the distance at this “Heart Lake” against the chill of the winter wind.
“Miss Wen, do you know where the evil spirit is?”
Wen Mingyu apologized, “It escaped too quickly, disappearing in the blink of an eye. The Treasure Pavilion and the Xia family have sent people to search the surrounding areas. Although there’s no news yet, it shouldn’t be long before it’s found.”
Since it’s a “Zhan,” it must be bloodthirsty and will cause trouble.
As long as we see where such incidents occur nearby, we can know where the Zhan is.
Although this approach is somewhat irresponsible, it’s the only way.
Jiang Yin noted her use of the word “escape” and mentally recorded it, asking, “How long has it been since it escaped?”
Wen Mingyu frowned, “Five days.”
“In those five days, have there been any murders nearby?”
Wen Mingyu vaguely understood Jiang Yin’s meaning and shook her head reluctantly, “No.”
“If that’s the case, why do you think it would be around here?”
Jiang Yin stared intently at the lake, her gaze burning.
Wen Mingyu followed her line of sight and suddenly widened her eyes, “You mean…”
“Shh.”
Jiang Yin interrupted her before she could finish, “Let’s discuss this later.”
Just then, Xia Qing hurried over, “Master Wen, Miss Jiang, my mother has prepared a meal, and the other two have already gone over. Please don’t refuse.”
Jiang Yin nodded lightly and turned to leave.
Wen Mingyu, not as calm as her, took a deep look at the Heart Lake before leaving.
During the meal, Jiang Yin, who was visiting for the first time, didn’t ask about the Zhan, instead slowly enjoying the carefully prepared dishes.
On the other hand, Wen Mingyu, who had been there once before, asked numerous detailed questions.
She asked so meticulously that even Xu Qingwan, who hadn’t noticed many things, could only give ambiguous answers most of the time.
Wen Mingyu felt it was a pity but didn’t want to ask too much and upset anyone, so she swallowed the rest of her questions.
After the meal, the group intended to leave.
Xu Qingwan, feeling restless, asked Tang Muxi, “About the Soul Dispersing Pill…”
Before Tang Muxi could answer, Jiang Yin stepped in front of her, “Madam, please don’t worry. Let me and my junior sister discuss it when we return. After all, the Soul Dispersing Pill involves a lot and is too significant to promise lightly.”
Xu Qingwan sighed deeply, “I understand.”
At the door, she bowed deeply to everyone, “I hope you all consider the bigger picture.”
Wen Mingyu returned the gesture with a cupped fist salute.
Leaving the Xia residence, they arrived at the Treasure Pavilion’s entrance, where Wen Mingyu immediately led the group to the top floor.
This was the training room, even the wood was high-quality spiritual wood transported from the demon realm, and it was rarely free.
People booking it could even be scheduled for next year.
However, as the pavilion master, Wen Mingyu had a private room here.
Upon entering, she immediately set up a formation to block divine senses and turned to Jiang Yin, “What did you discover?”
Although her tone didn’t reveal anything unusual, those familiar with her knew how anxious she was because she even forgot to add “Miss Jiang” to her address.
Tang Muxi was also curious, having felt something strange back at the Xia residence, but Senior Sister wouldn’t let her ask.
She also wanted to know what Jiang Yin had discovered.
Wen Fei had no clue, only feeling vaguely that something was off.
That mansion, from the moment they entered, had a particularly familiar aura lingering around.
But that aura was so faint, almost imperceptible.
“Look.”
Jiang Yin slowly took out two distinctly different yet subtly similar auras from her storage ring.
Almost instantly, Wen Fei’s eyes widened, staring intently at one of them.
That unprecedented sense of familiarity rose again, and she was sure she had encountered this power before.
“This one is filled with bloodlust and violence, brimming with malevolent energy. I suspect it was left behind after Xia Ci transformed into a demon. Am I wrong?”
Jiang Yin said, handing that trace of aura to Wen Mingyu.
As the only person who had contact with the demon, only she could discern its authenticity.
Wen Mingyu took it, found the soul artifact used that day, and matched it.
Sure enough, she found the exact same aura on the soul artifact.
“That’s right! It is indeed his,” Wen Mingyu frowned.
“Where did you find it? How did I not notice?”
“The spiritual energy in the residence is dense, and there’s also the interference of confusing incense, so it’s normal not to detect it. These two traces were found in the corridor, one belonging to Xia Ci, and the other is even more interesting, filled with pure and unparalleled netherworld power.”
“I was able to identify it because I had a chance encounter with it before.”
Jiang Yin, being a demon lord, had previously come into contact with the ghost domain artifact, the Wraith Seal, in a past life, and had a ghostly spiritual root, making her very sensitive to pure netherworld power.
The dense spiritual energy in the corridor concealed it, but it couldn’t escape her perception.
“Although faint, I can be certain that such pure netherworld power could only come from the ghost domain.”
As soon as she said this, all three were shocked.
“Senior Sister, do you mean someone from the ghost domain has been to the Xia residence?!”
Tang Muxi immediately thought of Gan Sha, who hadn’t been seen for months.
The last time they encountered netherworld power was in the Tianji Secret Realm.
Senior Sister had mentioned the aura of the Wraith Seal artifact in a cave, but they never encountered the ghost domain artifact.
Seeing Tang Muxi’s reaction, Jiang Yin nodded approvingly, “Junior Sister, do you remember when Madam Xu said they tore their relationship with the capital and returned to this remote town?”
“Half a year ago…”
Tang Muxi paused, “Right when the Demon Prison Tower was destroyed, and the great ghost disappeared!”
