The Village's Tragic State

A Fox Demon?

Shen Bai frowned, seeing Zhang Chaofeng crying, snot and tears streaming down his face.

He'd just dealt with one group of Fox Demons, and now another had appeared. The person behind this is quite interesting.

"Old Zhang, calm down first. Sit down and tell me what happened slowly," Shen Bai soothed.

Comforted by Shen Bai, Zhang Chaofeng found a spot to sit and recounted the events.

"I took my wife back to her family's village. We'd only had a few peaceful days when a fox suddenly appeared in the village."

"Every day, this fox would bring good things to the village. The villagers all said it was a Fox Girl repaying a kindness, a propitious beast."

"But then, after a few days, villagers started dying one after another. Every villager who died was withered and emaciated."

"Neither my wife nor my child escaped. Only I, not being from that village, luckily survived."

The more Zhang Chaofeng spoke, the sadder he became, unable to stop himself from crying again, tears continuously flowing.

Shen Bai stroked his chin and asked, "After you returned, did you report it to the authorities?"

Zhang Chaofeng shook his head. "Not yet. You're the only old acquaintance I have in this county town, so I came here first."

Shen Bai thought for a moment and said, "Let's go report it together first."

He knew Zhang Chaofeng's village was far from Ascending Cloud County, taking several hours to travel back and forth.

With a murder case now involved, Shen Bai felt it was best to report it to the yamen first.

"It seems there's more than one Fox Demon," Qin Shuang said.

Zhang Chaofeng seemed to just notice Qin Shuang in the room. After realizing she was there, his crying softened considerably. "This young lady is..."

Shen Bai said, "We can talk about that later. Reporting to the authorities is more important right now."

Just as Qin Shuang said, they had encountered two Fox Demons by the river before, so it was perfectly normal for another to appear now.

In terms of information, the yamen would have far more details than Shen Bai. It was best to report it first and see the situation.

Thinking this, Shen Bai, along with Zhang Chaofeng and Qin Shuang, hurried towards the yamen.

County Yamen.

"What? An entire village dead?"

Chief Constable Zheng's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief.

They had just dealt with the Fox Demon by the river, and now an entire village was dead. The murder cases were escalating.

With the Heavenly Oversight Bureau inspectors currently on tour, Chief Constable Zheng was sweating for the county magistrate.

He felt that the magistrate's chances of promotion were definitely dashed this time; just keeping his current position would be quite good.

Of course, sweating was one thing, but once a problem arose, it had to be solved.

"Zhou Qing, gather the men! We're leaving!"

Beside him, Zhou Qing nodded and immediately went to gather the constables.

Before long, the constables arrived in the front courtyard of the yamen.

Shen Bai had brought Zhang Chaofeng, so he was also waiting in the front courtyard.

At this moment, Shen Bai noticed something was amiss and frowned.

"Such a major incident has occurred, and the county magistrate hasn't even shown himself?"

Logically, for a murder case of this magnitude, the county magistrate should appear. Yet, he was letting Chief Constable Zheng handle everything, which seemed rather inappropriate.

Chief Constable Zheng heard him and explained, "Currently, it's a major event with the Heavenly Oversight Bureau visiting. The magistrate is still preparing various documents for their review, so it's not convenient for him to come out."

"Actually, even if he did come out for this incident, he'd still just arrange for us to go investigate."

Shen Bai nodded. "I heard the county magistrate has a nephew working in the yamen. How come I haven't seen him?"

Chief Constable Zheng's tone carried a hint of disdain when he heard this. "Heh, he's busy trying to improve his strength. How could he have time for such arduous tasks? He's waiting to join the Heavenly Oversight Bureau."

Among those in the yamen, only Chief Constable Zheng dared to speak like that.

The reason was simple: Chief Constable Zheng himself came from the martial arts world, and with his Three Treasures Realm strength, he could speak his mind in the county yamen.

"Let's go. Is Shopkeeper Shen coming along?" Chief Constable Zheng asked.

Shen Bai nodded. "My pawnshop's vaunted official is in trouble, so of course, I must go."

Fox Demons were Bizarre Entities. Although Shen Bai now possessed two wisps of Malevolent Qi, for him, Malevolent Qi was something one could never have enough of.

It was needed for appraisal, and also for qualitative change. The more he could collect, the better.

If the opportunity arose, another wisp of Malevolent Qi wouldn't hurt.

Chief Constable Zheng felt that this made sense upon hearing him, then turned his gaze to Qin Shuang beside them. "This young lady..."

"A distant relative," Qin Shuang stated with certainty. "I'm coming along too."

Chief Constable Zheng didn't doubt her, especially since Shen Bai and Zhou Qing had such a close relationship, so he didn't say anything more.

Once the constables had all arrived, the group headed towards the village where Zhang Chaofeng's wife resided.

Huayun Village was an extremely remote village, even within Ascending Cloud County.

By the time the group arrived, it was already late into the night.

Shen Bai stood at the village entrance, catching a faint scent of blood.

Especially in the dead of night, the smell of blood was even more nauseating.

Chief Constable Zheng, being a seasoned veteran of the jianghu, immediately gestured and said, "Let's go in and take a look."

Without hesitation, everyone stepped into the village.

The village was shrouded in darkness.

In the depths of the night, an unsettling silence hung heavy in the air.

As Shen Bai stepped inside, he witnessed the tragic state of the village.

As far as the eye could see, there were only corpses.

Every single corpse was shriveled like kindling, as if all their Essence, Qi, and Spirit had been drained.

Fox Demons have two methods of harming people in a bizarre way.

One of them is to harm people under the guise of repaying a favor, gradually wearing away their Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

The current situation was clearly an example of this.

Upon seeing this tragic sight, Zhang Chaofeng seemed to recall painful memories, clenching his fists with sorrow in his eyes.

Chief Constable Zheng drew the long saber from his waist and slowly said, "Search the entire village."

Zhou Qing and the other constables nodded, then began to search the entire village in small groups.

Shen Bai pondered for a moment, then followed beside Zhou Qing, the few of them moving together.

Before long, the village had been thoroughly searched by the constables.

Shen Bai and Zhou Qing found nothing, but one constable hurried over to Chief Constable Zheng, holding a letter.

"Subordinate found this letter in the village ancestral hall," the constable reported.

Shen Bai glanced at it from a distance and noticed that the ink on the letter was still fresh, and there were no signs of it having been opened.

Chief Constable Zheng opened the letter and read it carefully for a moment, then clenched his fist, crushing the letter in his hand into a crumpled mess.

His knuckles turned white, as if anger was steadily rising within him.

"Beast! Truly a beast!"

Hearing this, Shen Bai stepped forward and said, "This matter concerns our Master Zhang. Chief Constable Zheng, could you let me see the letter?"

Chief Constable Zheng took a breath and handed the letter to Shen Bai.

Shen Bai took it, unfolded the crumpled letter, and read it from beginning to end, then narrowed his eyes.

"This fellow, he's actually from Ascending Cloud County?"