Demanding an Explanation

That lewd suggestion, reeking of male hormones, would probably have stirred anyone else's heart long ago.

Yet after hearing it, Lin Feng slowly set down his teacup.

There was not the slightest trace of teasing or interest on his face. Instead, he became unusually solemn, and an almost imperceptible cold glint flashed through his deep eyes.

The abrupt change in atmosphere made Huang Fugui, who had been talking a blue streak, snap his mouth shut, his heart skipping a beat.

Oh no, he had patted the horse's leg instead of its backside!

"Master... did this little one... say something wrong?" Huang Fugui asked cautiously.

"You just said that you can now monitor everything within ten miles, and not even a female mosquito can escape your sharp eyes?" Lin Feng did not answer its question, instead asking another.

"Y-yes!"

Though Huang Fugui did not understand why, it still pounded its chest and promised, "This little one's perception of demonic aura is now more than a hundred times sharper! As long as something is tainted by demonic or evil energy, even if it is a speck of dust, it cannot escape this little one's nose!"

"Very good."

Lin Feng nodded, his gaze sharpening.

"Stop entertaining those messy thoughts. I have a proper task for you."

"Go. Keep a close watch on Ling Yue'er."

"Huh?"

Huang Fugui was completely dumbfounded. "Watch... watch her for what? If Master wants to..."

"Shut up."

Lin Feng cut it off coldly.

"I want you to use every bit of your ability to monitor her every move, every word, every action, twelve hours a day. Whomever she meets, whatever she says, wherever she goes, whether anything unusual happens—I want to know it all clearly."

"Remember, everything. Do not alert anyone, especially not her."

Seeing the unquestionable look in Lin Feng's eyes, Huang Fugui finally realized that its master was not joking.

It put away its frivolous grin, its expression turning serious as well.

"Master, do you suspect... there is something wrong with her?"

Lin Feng stood and walked to the window. As he looked toward the City Lord's Mansion, a flicker of icy killing intent flashed in his eyes.

"I only feel that the Skin-Peeling Demon case was closed too hastily."

Recalling the events of that night, the clouds of doubt in his heart grew ever heavier.

The Skin-Peeling Demon was cunning and suspicious by nature, skilled at toying with human hearts.

With its strength and intelligence, it could have continued committing crimes in secret. Why had it appeared so easily, and why had Ling Yue'er just happened to see through it?

Its ultimate purpose had been to seize a perfect skin.

Given Ling Yue'er's status and beauty, she was undoubtedly the best target.

But why had it not directly abducted Ling Yue'er? Why had it instead chosen to clash head-on with the Demon Suppression Division on a bustling street?

And those words it spoke before dying—at first glance, they had seemed intended to shake his resolve, but thinking back on them now, they felt more like...

A deliberate misdirection.

It seemed to have used its own death to bring something to completion.

Or to conceal an even greater secret.

And the center of it all pointed to one person—

Ling Yue'er.

Was this City Lord's daughter, who seemed innocent and lively, willful and spoiled, even a little lovestruck, truly as simple as she appeared?

Lin Feng did not believe it.

In a world where human lives were cheaper than grass and demons ran rampant, anyone who could live so "innocently" was either truly foolish, or hiding it exceptionally well.

"Go."

Lin Feng's voice carried a trace of chill. "I want to see what exactly is hidden beneath this gorgeous flaming rose."

"Yes, Master!"

Sensing the gravity of the matter, Huang Fugui did not dare delay in the slightest. With a flicker of its body, it turned into an almost imperceptible wisp of yellow smoke and vanished silently from the courtyard.

Lin Feng stood before the window with his hands behind his back, his eyes gleaming like those of a hunter.

He had a premonition that prey more interesting—and more dangerous—than the Skin-Peeling Demon or the Old Demon of Black Wind had quietly entered his hunting grounds.

Over the following days, Nan Yan Commandery remained calm and peaceful.

Ever since the Skin-Peeling Demon had been slain, no similar murder cases had occurred in the city, and the lives of the common people gradually returned to normal.

The Mission Hall of the Demon Suppression Division also grew much quieter.

The high-star missions had already been swept clean by Lin Feng, leaving only trivial, chicken-feather-and-garlic-skin matters.

Everyone was happy to enjoy the leisure. They drank tea and chatted every day, living quite comfortably.

Lin Feng, too, rarely enjoyed such a leisurely stretch of life, like a retired old official.

He kept a low profile each day, staying in his courtyard to consolidate his Half-step Dan Yuan Realm cultivation while studying the Nine Yang Limitless Art.

He did not have enough Crit Points, and haste could not bring success.

As for Huang Fugui, it was like the most dedicated private detective, throwing all of its energy into the mission of watching Ling Yue'er.

It truly deserved its reputation as a Third-tier Great Demon. Its methods of concealment and tracking had reached perfection.

At times, it turned into a rat and crawled into the City Lord's Mansion's sewers.

At other times, it became a gust of wind and drifted into Ling Yue'er's chamber.

It could be said that it had brought the professional standards of a "perverted peeping tom" to their utmost limit.

Yet after seven consecutive days, the intelligence Huang Fugui brought back only made Lin Feng's brow furrow tighter and tighter.

"Master, something isn't right!"

That night, Huang Fugui squatted on Lin Feng's shoulder with a sorrowful face, reporting the latest developments.

"For these past seven days, this little one has slept with one eye open. I even found out exactly when that girl gets her monthly bleeding, but I still couldn't find the slightest thing wrong!"

It counted off the points one by one on its tiny claws.

"Ever since you rejected her that day, that girl has seemed like a completely different person. She locked herself in the cultivation room and did not step outside for seven whole days! Every day, apart from eating and sleeping, she cultivated like her life depended on it!"

"This little one saw with its own eyes that, just to break through one bottleneck, she forced herself until her meridians were damaged and she coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. Yet the next day, she carried on cultivating as if nothing had happened! That ruthlessness—tsk, tsk, tsk—even this little one admired it!"

"She has not met anyone suspicious or said anything suspicious. The City Lord visited her several times, but she drove him out every time, saying she would not see anyone until she made a breakthrough."

"Even her room was searched inch by inch with this little one's demonic aura. Forget traces of demons—even a male mosquito was nowhere to be found! It was cleaner than one of your murder scenes, Master!"

The more Huang Fugui spoke, the more discouraged it became. "Master, do you think we might be overthinking this? Maybe that girl really is just a... big fool whose head has been dazzled by love?"

After hearing Huang Fugui's report, Lin Feng sank into thought as well.

Could it be that he had truly been overly suspicious?

Was Ling Yue'er really only an ordinary, spoiled young lady with a bit of a love-struck brain?

Had the Skin-Peeling Demon case really ended so simply?

Lin Feng always felt that beneath this calm surface, a massive undercurrent was hidden.

The Skin-Peeling Demon had been suspicious by nature, as crafty as a fox.

It had lurked in Nan Yan Commandery and committed one major crime after another. Its schemes could not possibly have been small.

So why had it been unable to hold back, allowing itself to be lured out so easily by bait?

It did not make sense.

It was as though an invisible chess player was manipulating everything from behind the scenes.

The Skin-Peeling Demon's appearance and death had merely been one move on the board.

And what role did Ling Yue'er play in this game?

"Keep watching."

Lin Feng said in a deep voice, "My instincts tell me this is not over. The calm before the storm is the most terrifying of all."

"Yes, Master!"

Though Huang Fugui did not understand, it accepted the order without hesitation and left.

Yet what Lin Feng had not expected was that the storm would come faster, and more violently, than he had imagined.

Not long after Huang Fugui left.

Boom!

The gates of the Demon Suppression Division were once again blasted open in an extremely overbearing manner!

This time, it was not the willful City Lord's daughter who had come, but a squad of terrifying martial artists radiating killing intent, clad in dark-black heavy armor, their auras as deep as the sea.

At their head stood a stern-faced, sinister-eyed middle-aged man. The terrifying pressure belonging to a Dan Yuan Realm expert swept across the entire Demon Suppression Division like a tidal wave, leaving every Demon Slayer Envoy struggling to breathe.

"They're from the Li Family!"

"Heavens! The leader is the Li Family's head, Li Bantian, the 'Raging Waves Palm'! He is a genuine third-level Dan Yuan Realm expert!"

"They... they've come to demand an explanation!"