A little under an hour later, in the rear courtyard of the Market Yamen, Yan Fan sat in conference with several capable subordinates, pooling the intelligence gathered from various sources.
"Cases of this kind were nothing unusual to begin with," Yan Fan said. "I consulted the files and suspected that a female cultivator from the Evil Sects, or one of the Mountain Spirits and Monsters, had wandered into our area to commit these crimes."
"Although this is a new era, many things passed down through the ages still remain in the cultivation world. Evil spirits emerging to wreak havoc are hardly rare. Unfortunately, we've never caught sight of the killer's true form. Otherwise, whatever she might be, we'd make her taste the might of our firelances, guns, and cannons!"
At this point, Yan Fan could not help rapping his knuckles on the table. His expression grave, he said, "Our opponent is extremely cunning and seems to know a few tricks for evading puppet dao methods. We've already deployed the Heavenly Eye System and numerous Mechanism Devices throughout the streets and alleys, including the neighborhood where the latest victim, Ma Yi, lived."
"We found more than a dozen suspicious individuals at inns and residences that might house outsiders, but obtained no useful leads."
"This will make our superiors question our competence."
One subordinate murmured, "So far, the killer has committed every crime without a flaw. They really are difficult to deal with."
"The killer either possesses extraordinary intelligence or has an extremely high cultivation realm and uses methods beyond our ability to detect."
"Exactly. What a headache!"
Someone else said, "Ma Yi's mother probably died during the demon siege ten years ago. That was a natural calamity, and nothing could be done about it. His father drank and gambled, so he