Murder Case in Backer City

The dawn sky over Backer City was still gray and murky. Chu Liang and Yun Chaoxian set out early, arriving outside a vast manor at the edge of the city before the morning sun had risen.

Iron wire coiled around the high walls like thorns. From outside, only a corner of the upturned eaves could be seen.

The surroundings were silent, and the main gates were tightly shut.

"The echo from the Heavenly Sound Wave is inside. Let's rush in and catch him off guard," Yun Chaoxian said impatiently.

"Wait." Chu Liang grabbed the great halberd on his back, stopping him in his tracks.

"Hm?" Yun Chaoxian froze for a moment. "Brother Chu, why are you grabbing my halberd shaft?"

"..." Chu Liang was speechless for a moment. Drawing a deep breath, he explained, "It's too quiet around here. Something feels wrong."

"Isn't it normal for things to be quiet at this hour?" Yun Chaoxian asked doubtfully.

Chu Liang shook his head. "I just swept the entire front courtyard with my divine sense. It's completely empty—there's nothing there. That's far too abnormal."

The range of his divine sense only allowed him to see the front courtyard, yet not a single person was there. It was not merely devoid of people; there was not even an insect or bird in sight, making it especially eerie.

"What should we do, then?" Though Yun Chaoxian was completely at a loss, he still took Chu Liang's words to heart.

"Let's watch for now."

With that, Chu Liang led Yun Chaoxian in a flash to hide in the street nearby. They lowered themselves and watched the manor.

Only moments later, a burst of hurried footsteps sounded, accompanied by the whistle of wind being cleaved through the air.

Turning to look, they saw a squad of black-clad constables carrying sabers charging in from the end of the street at great speed.

The constables of Backer City were probably all second-realm martial artists, while the head constable leading them was a third-realm martial artist. That already made him an expert within the city.

For an ordinary little border town, this was the usual level of manpower.

As the squad of constables rushed over, two immediately kicked open the gates, while several others leaped onto the courtyard walls and entered the manor from every direction.

The instant someone stepped into the front courtyard, a ripple of demon aura spread outward.

Sshhk—

The plants in the front courtyard abruptly stretched and grew, transforming into long vine-ropes that wrapped around the entering officers and flung them wildly through the air.

Several weaker constables were thrown into a miserable state. Fortunately, constables who entered afterward came to support them, slashing through the vegetation with a few swift strokes.

"There really is something fishy here," Chu Liang, observing from outside with his divine sense, murmured.

Those plants were not demon creatures. They had been subjected to demon arts, much like an array formation. Once someone entered, they would be triggered and cause the intruders some trouble.

Immediately afterward, the officers charged into the rear courtyard.

A wave of blood stench instantly spread through the air!

Corpses carpeted the ground—roughly a dozen or more—each one dead in a gruesome manner, with blood flowing into rivers.

"If we had rashly charged in earlier, been delayed even briefly by the array in the front courtyard, and then entered the rear courtyard, we would have run straight into the constables rushing over."

Only then did Chu Liang understand the purpose of these arrangements.

"Then that demon creature could escape while framing us at the same time."

Though these constables had no chance of holding the two of them, being discovered at a crime scene would still be a great nuisance.

If they stayed, they might not be able to explain themselves clearly and would be detained until the truth was uncovered. If they forced their way out, the sects would sooner or later be found. The pressure from the imperial court would fall upon the Heavenly Gang Sect and the Shushan Sect, and the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands could not possibly indulge disciples who treated the law with such contempt.

No matter what, by the time they sorted everything out, the Demon Race divine envoy would have already left the city at leisure.

"How cunning!" Once Yun Chaoxian understood the situation, he immediately said indignantly, "If not for Brother Chu's quick wits, I might already have fallen into his trap."

"So it is always best to stay calm when something happens," Chu Liang could only say with a smile.

"But..." Yun Chaoxian was puzzled again. "Why does this arrangement seem as though it was made specifically for us?"

"It probably was." Chu Liang said, "The Demon Race divine envoy must have already received word about Hidden Forest Mountain. Since you could track him to Hidden Forest Mountain, it would not be strange for him to guess that you had left some divine ability on him. Against an enemy this cunning, the same trick is unlikely to work twice."

"Ah?" Yun Chaoxian finally realized. "Has my Heavenly Sound Wave been broken? Damn it, now there's no way to catch him again."

"Don't rush. Let's go back first." Chu Liang turned away.

Not long after the two returned to the inn, an official notice was issued.

Last night, an extraordinarily vicious extermination case had occurred in the city. All seventeen members of a household had been murdered, and the killer remained at large.

The victims were medicine merchants in Backer City. Some precious medicinal ingredients had indeed been stolen from their home, the most valuable among them being a Nether Sea Golden Lotus.

The preliminary judgment was that it had been murder for wealth. The authorities had immediately sealed off Backer City and placed a large bounty on both the culprit and the Nether Sea Golden Lotus.

Backer City bordered the Southern Domain Mountains. All year round, many cultivators ventured into the Southern Domain Mountains as herb gatherers, selling the natural treasures they collected in the city. Thus, there were many medicine merchants like the victims in Backer City, and with this case erupting so suddenly, everyone in the city felt endangered.

The authorities also attached great importance to the matter.

"Nether Sea Golden Lotus..."

After reading the notice, Chu Liang repeated the name.

He seemed to recall Baleful Intent in the Soul Domain Space mentioning it before. To cultivate to the third level of the Five Elements Realm, Baleful Intent needed heavenly treasures of yin and water attributes to refine. Among them, demon creatures of the Nether Sea were particularly suitable.

The Nether Sea Golden Lotus was one such treasure.

Since it could help a fifth-realm cultivator break through, it was clearly an extremely valuable treasure.

Furthermore, it grew in the Nether Sea of the far south, beyond the Southern Domain. It was exceedingly rare near the Southern Domain Mountains.

"As expected, I can no longer sense any trace of him." Yun Chaoxian tried several more times, but the Heavenly Sound Wave truly received no response at all.

The echo at that earlier crime scene had been the divine envoy deliberately luring him into a trap.

"It's fine. This time, his cleverness has backfired on him." Chu Liang analyzed, "He most likely reported the crime himself after killing the victims. Originally, he intended to throw you out as a scapegoat, draw the authorities' attention, and then both shake off your tracking and escape amid the chaos. But... we did not fall for his trap. Since the authorities failed to catch a suspect, they chose to seal the city immediately."

"When the crime happened, the city gates had not yet opened, so he had no chance to escape. There is an eighty percent chance that divine envoy is trapped inside the city as well."

"If he tries to force his way out of Backer City, then unless he has some secret route, he will definitely draw the authorities' attention. As a member of the Demon Race, he likely would not dare act so recklessly within Yu Dynasty territory. Before that happens, we still have a chance to catch him in the city."

Yun Chaoxian stared with a pair of ox eyes at Chu Liang's calm explanation. He only felt that after missing one step, he could no longer understand a single sentence.

Yet once Chu Liang finished, he immediately nodded. "Brother Chu is right... that's more or less what I was thinking."

Then he lowered his head and mulled it over for a long while before he could not resist asking, "Then where are we supposed to catch him?"

"Let me think. There will always be a way," Chu Liang said calmly.

After Yun Chaoxian left, Chu Liang did not brood over it by himself. Instead, he took out the Soul-Seizing Token.

Whether the authorities or they themselves, both were forces of the righteous path.

Their perspective would inevitably be limited.

To investigate something like this, perhaps he still had to ask some brothers from the underworld.

Thus, he sent his divine sense into the Soul-Seizing Token and proactively sent out a message.

Fifty-Eight: "Honored Baleful Intent, this subordinate has uncovered some information regarding Nether Sea demon creatures and learned that a Nether Sea Golden Lotus is presently within Backer City. However, this subordinate cannot determine its exact location. May this subordinate seek some assistance from fellow disciples?"