The First Marquis of Daxuan

Under the hill.

The ground was littered with broken limbs and arms, and the blood had dyed the area within a hundred feet red.

At first glance, there were probably thirty or fifty bodies, all of them were in pieces, not even a single intact body.

The expressions of Su Mu and others became somewhat solemn.

They are all well-informed people and have experienced mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

But this is the first time I have seen such a scene.

This is not simply killing, but massacre.

"demon--"

Zhuge Jin Gang said in a deep voice, "Just because we are close to Daxing Mountain, the demons are so rampant?"

Su Mu shook his head.

Monsters usually kill people for food.

The corpses in front of me were just dismembered, with no signs of being eaten.

This seems like something that would be done by a demon who has practiced some kind of magical skill.

The devil does things as he pleases, without any logic.

Only they could do such a meaningless massacre.

"There's not even a village in this desolate mountain area. How come there are so many people?"

Shi Binbin asked, "Is there anyone else lining up to die?"

Su Mu looked around.

This is indeed a problem.

It is impossible for dozens of people to come to this desolate mountain area for no reason. This place is several miles away from the official road, and even a caravan would not come here.

When demons kill people, they will not deliberately bring them to such a remote place before doing the killing.

Demons don't care whether they are seen or not when they kill people. When they are in the mood, they dare to kill and burn people even in the busy city.

"Could it be a gang fight?"

Mo Xuesong thought about it.

"How much hatred and resentment would it take to chop someone into this state?"

Dongfang Liuyun said, "I think there must be another purpose behind this killing."

"I heard that some demons like to perform strange rituals. Do you think this is also some kind of ritual?"

Shi Binbin touched his chin and said.

"Do you know how to investigate a case? In this case, we must first determine the identity of the deceased."

Zhuge Jingang said with disdain.

"Please make sure."

Shi Binbin said unconvincedly, "How can we confirm the identity without even a complete body?"

Su Mu didn't say anything, but walked up to the limbs and observed them carefully.

After a long while, he slowly stood up.

"Perhaps the murderer dismembered the victims in this way in order to hide their identities."

Su Mu said slowly, "Zhuge Jingang is right. If we can determine their identities, then perhaps we can find the murderer."

"The nearest city is thirty miles away."

Luo An Ning said, “It’s Longshan Prefecture which is under Jingzhou.

These people may be from Longshan Prefecture."

"Then let's go to Longshan Prefecture and take a look. The demons are causing chaos, and the Taiping Division has no choice but to take action."

Su Mu said.

…………

Longshan Prefecture is a small city, far smaller than Songjiang Prefecture in Xiangzhou.

It is even slightly inferior to Wuling City.

Its only advantage is that it is located on the edge of Jingzhou and is the only way to enter and exit Jingzhou.

As soon as Su Mu and his party entered Longshan Prefecture, a group of people hurried over to greet them.

The city is small, so information flows quickly.

Su Mu and others did not hide their identities. There was a commander of the Taiping Division, two pacification envoys, a Taiping lieutenant, and a general in golden chain mail.

It's hard for this group of people not to attract other people's attention.

"Hong Zhu, the prefect of Longshan Prefecture, greets all the gentlemen."

"Chang Lingqing, the governor of Longshan Prefecture, greets you all."

Dozens of people appeared in front of them, including officials from Longshan Prefecture, people from Longshan Prefecture's Taiping Division, and of course people from Longshan Prefecture's Supervisory Division.

"Master Hong, there is no need for the Chang Zhenfu Envoy to be so polite."

Su Mu raised his hand and said, "I am Su Mu, and this is Zhuge Jingang, the general of the Great Xuan Shenwu Army."

Hong Zhu and Chang Lingqing both showed surprise on their faces.

The Shenwu Army is one of the Daxuan Forbidden Army, and the general who commands the army is a big man who is second only to the emperor.

How could such a big shot come to a place like Longshan Prefecture?

As for Su Mu——

Naturally, they were already familiar with this name.

The new commander of Jingzhou Taiping Division appeared here. It seemed that he had just come from the capital to take up his post and passed by here.

"Lord Su, General Zhuge."

Hong Zhu said with a look of trepidation, "I didn't know you two were coming. I'm sorry for not welcoming you. Please forgive me, gentlemen."

"It doesn't matter."

Su Mu said, "We are just passing by here. Prefect Hong, has anything happened in Longshan Prefecture today? Is there anyone missing?"

"Missing people?"

Hong Zhu was stunned for a moment, thought for a moment, and said, "A few days ago, a victim came to report that someone in his family was missing. I have already sent people to track him down."

"I'm not talking about one person, I'm talking about a large number of people."

Su Mu looked at Hong Zhu and asked.

Hong Zhu shook his head quickly, "No, no. Although I am a lowly official, there has never been a serious case of large-scale disappearance of people under my jurisdiction."

Su Mu's gaze fell on Chang Lingqing, the pacification envoy of the Taiping Division of Longshan Prefecture.

Chang Lingqing hurriedly bowed and said, "Reporting to the commander, Longshan Prefecture is located inland, dozens of miles away from the Daxing Mountain Range. To the east is the prosperous land of Daxuan. There are few demons causing trouble here, and there is indeed no large-scale disappearance of people."

"In that case, please help us arrange a place to stay. We will rest for one night and set off for the state capital early tomorrow morning."

Su Mu said.

…………

After nightfall.

Su Mu and his group gathered in the room.

Zhuge Jingang leaned against the door with his horse and sword, and did not get close to Su Mu and the others.

Su Mu and the other four ignored him and sat around the table.

"What do you think?"

Su Mu pondered.

"There are two suspicious points in this matter. First, if they want to destroy the body, there are many ways to do it without leaving any traces. Why did they insist on dumping the body in the wilderness? Even burning the body would be more straightforward than this."

Dongfang Liuyun said, "Second, if those people are not from Longshan Prefecture, then where did they come from? Longshan Prefecture is a small city, and the disappearance of thirty or forty people is not a small matter. It is impossible for the people of Longshan Prefecture not to notice it."

"Could those bodies have been left there intentionally?"

Mo Xuesong also spoke.

"Where did you deliberately leave it? Why?"

Shi Binbin asked, "Could it be that someone knew we would pass through there, so they deliberately left the body there to lure us to Longshan Prefecture?

Is there a great injustice in Longshan Prefecture waiting for us to solve? "Speaking of this, Shi Binbin couldn't help but show excitement on his face.

He used to live in Daxuan Capital, near the capital, but rarely encountered such interesting cases.

"You should read less storybooks."

Dongfang Liuyun said unhappily, "We are the Taiping Division, not the governor. You can't bring us to justice."

"Then why do you think it is?"

Shi Binbin said unconvincedly, "Could it be that those corpses were meant to attract monsters? You said it yourself, if it was to destroy the corpses, burning them would be more thorough."

Dongfang Liuyun frowned and said nothing. This was indeed something he couldn't figure out.

"Perhaps this is just a random act of the devil, without any purpose at all."

Zhuge Jingang, who was standing at the door, said, "If this is the case, you won't be able to come up with anything no matter how hard you analyze it."

"Then you should think of another way."

Shi Binbin retorted, "Dozens of lives are at stake, are we just going to ignore them?

You, the Shenwu Army, may be able to do this, but we, the Taiping Division, cannot be so cold-blooded and ruthless."

"Longshan Prefecture said that there were no large numbers of missing people. Hong Zhu and Chang Lingqing should not have lied."

Su Mu said in a deep voice, “But that doesn’t mean those who died were not from Longshan Prefecture.

If thirty or forty people left Longshan Prefecture but no one reported them missing, Hong Zhu and Chang Lingqing would not know they were missing. "

"You mean the caravan that went out from Longshan Prefecture?"

Dongfang Liuyun thought about it.

"But it still cannot explain why the murderer would abandon the body in the wilderness after killing someone."

"I have a guess."

Luo An Ning said, "I saw a book in the library of the General Office, which recorded the experiences of a senior in the department.

That senior once killed a demon who had mastered a method of forging evil weapons.

The book records that in order to forge evil weapons, the devil killed people everywhere. The senior hunted him for many years before finally killing him.

The scene of the demon killing the people was somewhat similar to what we saw this time."

"Evil soldiers?"

Su Mu showed a thoughtful look on his face.

"I know."

Shi Binbin said, “I heard from my grandfather that there are indeed some weapon forgers who have gone astray in order to forge divine weapons and created a theory.

The theory is to seal a person's soul into a weapon, thus giving the weapon incredible power.

Ordinary souls cannot be sealed into weapons. They must be souls that contain resentment. So in order to obtain such resentful souls, they will torture people in various ways and kill them when they are full of resentment. "

Shi Binbin touched his smooth chin and said thoughtfully, "If that's the case, then the crime scene does look a bit like the scene where the evil weapon was forged."

"If there really is such a demon, hiding outside Longshan Prefecture and forging evil weapons, did he succeed or not?"

Dongfang Liuyun pondered.

"It probably didn't work."

Su Mu said, "I didn't notice any signs of using magic weapons at the scene."

"Are the evil soldiers you are talking about similar to the Ten Thousand Souls Banner?"

Zhuge Jingang suddenly spoke.

"Oh, I didn't realize you've even heard of the Ten Thousand Souls Banner? Aren't all of you in the Shenwu Army ignorant?"

Shi Binbin never forgot to retort to Zhuge Jingang, "Yes, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner is this sect's evil weapon, and it is the most comprehensive one.

My grandfather commented that the Ten Thousand Souls Banner has the potential to become a true divine weapon."

"General Zhuge, have you seen the Ten Thousand Souls Banner?"

Su Mu looked at Zhuge Jingang with some curiosity.

Zhuge Jingang was about to answer, but suddenly shut his mouth.

Just then, there was a knock on the door outside the yard.

"Chang Lingqing wants to see Commander Su. I have something to report."

The voice of Chang Lingqing, the pacification commissioner of the Taiping Division of Longshan Prefecture, was heard along with the knock on the door.

"come in."

Su Mu raised his voice.

Chang Lingqing walked in from outside the courtyard and saluted Su Mu and others one by one.

He was a little reserved.

There was no way. Everyone here, even Luo Anning, whose official position was lower than his, had cultivation levels not inferior to his.

The rest of them were far higher in status and cultivation than him.

Especially Su Mu, he is a legend of the Taiping Division.

"What's the matter, Chang Zhenfu?"

Su Mu spoke.

"Commander, I will check it carefully after I return.

There are indeed no large-scale cases of missing persons in Long Son Province.

But a few days ago, a escort agency in Longshan Prefecture, with about 40 to 50 people, was hired by a foreigner to escort a batch of goods out of Longshan Prefecture."

Chang Lingqing said straight to the point, "These people fit the situation you described, Commander."

Su Mu and the others looked at each other.

They had just discussed the possibility of a caravan, and now the news brought by Chang Lingqing just happened to prove that Su Mu's guess was possible.

"I understand!"

Mo Xuesong said excitedly, "The murderer tricked the escort agency's warriors out of the city by hiring someone to escort them, and then killed them cruelly, hoping to extract their spirits to forge evil weapons!
It must be like this!"

Mo Xuesong's eyes were flashing with excitement. After spending a long time with Su Mu and Dongfang Liuyun, two cunning guys, he had indeed become smarter.

"Commander Chang, is the foreigner who hired the escort agency still in Longshan Prefecture?"

Shi Binbin spoke.

"I've sent someone to find him."

Chang Lingqing said, "I was afraid that this news was very important, so I hurried to report it to the commander."

"not good."

Dongfang Liuyun frowned, "If our speculation is true, and the murderer is really a demon who is forging evil weapons, then his strength may be extraordinary.

The brothers from Longshan Prefecture's Taiping Division may not be his opponents!"

"Chang Zhenfu, where did your people go to find someone? Take us there!"

Su Mu stood up without hesitation and said in a deep voice.

Chang Lingqing was also a little panicked, because those present were all world-famous geniuses.

Doesn't their reaction mean that the enemy is very scary?
The demon Commander Su and his men are looking for is at the Jindan stage?

When he thought of this, Chang Lingqing's back was already covered in cold sweat.

The demon leader in the Jindan realm, let alone his brothers, even he is definitely not his match.

Fortunately, Commander Su was there.

"The stranger rented a yard in the south city. If he hadn't left, he might still be living there."

Chang Lingqing said hurriedly, and walked out as he spoke.

"Commander, please follow me. I will lead the way."

A group of people followed Chang Lingqing out.

When passing by the door, Shi Binbin called Zhuge Jingang and said, "You don't want to go? Are you afraid that the other side's evil soldiers are too powerful and will hurt you?"

"Which eye of yours saw me not going away?"

Zhuge Jin Gang said angrily, "An evil weapon like the Ten Thousand Souls Banner should not appear in the world. I will tear it to pieces with my own hands, including its owner!"

Zhuge Jin Gang was filled with murderous intent. (End of this chapter)