Fantasy: Immortality Begins with Absorbing Demons

Chapter 215 Folding Fan

"However, now is not the time to think about that..."

Han Yi put the idea aside, sorted and packed everything up, and glanced at the boulder blocking the cave entrance.

The most urgent thing is to get out of here!

He drew his Xuan Tie sword, flicked his finger, and a wisp of energy spread throughout the sword, emanating a three-inch-long, crimson, invisible force resembling a sword's edge.

Since we haven't found the trick to opening this giant stone mechanism, we can only resort to this clumsy method!

boom!

A loud explosion echoed throughout the cave, the scattered energy solidifying and instantly shattering a layer of stone into pieces, scattering rubble like raindrops. "It worked!"

Han Yi's eyes lit up. Although the boulder here was hard, it was as fragile as a bamboo pole when struck by the Xuan Tie sword.

'If we keep digging like this, I estimate that after several hours of continuous bombardment, at most a day, we can break through this mechanism!'

Now, Han Yi was no longer in a hurry. He would hold his breath and rest after expending half of his strength, and then prepare to break the stone once his strength was fully restored. He was worried that there might be an ambush outside supported by the Shadow Fiend Pavilion.

Of course, during his breaks, he didn't relax. He either studied the visualization diagram of the "Covering the Moon Heart Method" given to him by Qianxue, or flipped through the "Black Snake Legs," or thought about how to modify the information on the panel.

Boom boom boom!

So Han Yi went back to his old trade, chiseling stones and digging into walls.

----------------------------------------------Peach Blossom Mountain.

The mountains here are steep, the wind howls, and the snow is white, covering the forest like a large white dragon on a chessboard.

"This is Peach Blossom Mountain..."

Huang Shanjun held a map in his hand and checked it again.

The hilltop wasn't large, only about a hundred meters high. The peach trees at its foot had branches and leaves like icicles. Everything was cold, everything was bluish-white.

"Chief Constable, looking at the journey so far, although this place is off the main road, it leads to Nanhu Marsh ahead and Anyan City behind. It happens to be at the intersection and is also a period of laxity. If a caravan of people were to encounter an accident for no apparent reason, this place is the most likely place!"

Di Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, speaking eloquently. Despite being a short old man less than 1.5 meters tall, he possessed a commanding presence that drew even Huang Shanjun's attention and attention.

"In your opinion, where should we start?"

Huang Shanjun frowned slightly and asked. At this time of year, the weather was freezing cold, and as far as the eye could see, there was no sign of human habitation; everything was a pristine white expanse.

"This matter is easy..." Di Yuan smiled slightly and said confidently, "It's deep winter now, and there aren't many caravans coming and going. According to what you said, sir, the Huang family's caravan stopped responding around the New Year. That day, I made a special trip back to the patrol office to check the recent activities of several major merchant houses in the city..."

At this moment, he paused to reveal his secret, his show-off nature showing again. Huang Shanjun couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Did you discover something?"

Di Yuan chuckled and continued, "Around the New Year, large merchants and rice shops like 'Liu's Rice Shop' don't have any caravans busy outside. They're mostly clearing out their profits and preparing for the New Year. So, if we can find traces of one or two caravans, it's highly likely they belong to the Huang family!"

His words were forceful and resounding.

Huang Shanjun nodded repeatedly in agreement. "Peach Blossom Mountain is mostly forested with fruit trees. Apart from the main road, the other paths and forests are practically impassable for horse-drawn carriages and goods... Therefore, as long as we cross this slope and follow the main road, we can search all the way..."

Di Yuan counted on his fingers and continued his analysis, walking very fast, with Huang Shanjun following closely behind.

When they reached the main road, Di Yuan would sometimes climb a tree to look into the distance, and sometimes crawl on the ground to sniff carefully and examine the traces.

He underwent special training for more than ten years from a young age, practicing a unique skill that gave him extraordinary senses of smell, hearing, and touch, making him adept at tracking traces. This also resulted in his short stature and abnormal temperament.

Before long, he exclaimed in surprise.

"Chief Constable, we've got a lead!"

Huang Shanjun's spirits immediately lifted, and he followed immediately: "What do you mean?"

"Chief Constable, look here!" Di Yuan lay on the ground and used his hands to lift up a thin layer of snow, revealing a tire track.

Then, Di Yuan took out a long-handled black brush made of soft bird feathers from his pocket and gently swept away a layer of floating snow nearby.

On the pristine white snow, a conspicuous ring of tracks caught the eye. Although blurred by the wind and snow, it was still faintly discernible that they were tire tracks left by heavy cart wheels. Nearby, there were also footprints left by pedestrians.

“These tire tracks?!” Huang Shanjun quickly squatted down and carefully examined the tire tracks.

The wheels of the Huang family's carriages were specially made, and they were only made after he gave his approval. He remembered this very well.

"Indeed, this looks like our Huang family's convoy!" Huang Shanjun examined it carefully for a long time before asserting.

"Chief Constable, don't be in such a hurry..." Di Yuan said leisurely, "Chief Constable, please look at the convoy here. The direction of this convoy is clear; it's following the main road. And ahead, I remember there's a small village called Peach Blossom Village..."

"Large groups of people often come to this village to replenish their supplies and rest. Perhaps the Huang family's caravan also stops here, and may have left some clues!"

“That makes sense.” Huang Shanjun nodded.

"Once you cross this hill, you'll reach Peach Blossom Village. I visited last year; the meat pies they make here are absolutely delicious..."

Di Yuan introduced Peach Blossom Village with great interest. The meat pies were indeed delicious, but more importantly, he couldn't forget the pretty widow named Tao Gu.

"Ah, this?!"

Suddenly, Di Yuan's enthusiastic voice came to an abrupt halt.

It is true that there is a small village at the foot of the hill, but...

Looking down, all was pitch black, a stark contrast to the surrounding white snow. Sniff, sniff~

Di Yuan sniffed, and a strong smell of burning embers wafted over, a pungent odor that even the biting north wind couldn't dispel.

Di Yuan and Huang Shanjun exchanged a glance, a bad feeling creeping into their hearts.

The two quickened their pace and flew down.

Soon, they arrived at the village gate. On the plaque that had been half burned by the fire, the words "Peach Blossom" could still be vaguely seen. However, the original red characters had been scorched black by the smoke and fire, and the charred wood around it could barely be identified as a wooden fence.

Passing through the gate, inside was a collapsed building ruin, a mess everywhere, with a thin layer of snow covering it, but unable to conceal the reddish-black color beneath.

The building collapsed, with charred logs sticking out and pointing to the sky. But even more bizarrely, there were no signs of burned bodies inside the house. "How could this be...?"

A hint of confusion flashed in Di Yuan's eyes as he muttered to himself.

"Di Yuan, I have a feeling that the Huang family's caravan might have run into trouble here!"

Huang Shanjun also had a solemn expression, and a strange feeling arose in his heart.

He hasn't been eating or drinking properly these past few days, and he can't even sleep well, all because he's been thinking about the whereabouts of his car fleet and his son.

He had a strange intuition that the truth of all this would be found here.

No, not just seems, it's definitely true!

Huang Shanjun was absolutely certain of this guess. He had a unique ability since childhood: his extraordinary intuition. This intuition had helped him evade several assassination attempts and defeat several powerful enemies, which led to his current status.

"Let's go, let's go in!" Huang Shanjun seemed to have his own radar navigation, taking the lead and leading Di Yuan, walking quickly towards the center of the village.

"My lord, I remember the village chief of Peach Blossom Village was an old man named Tao Wu. We got along very well, and he also had a daughter named Tao Gu, who was extremely beautiful..."

Di Yuan stood to the side, explaining to Huang Shanjun in a long, drawn-out manner.

"I remember this should be Tao Wu's courtyard. It was decorated quite nicely, but unfortunately..."

Before them stood a grand mansion, which, even though it had been completely burned to the ground, was still more imposing and spacious than any other house in Peach Blossom Village.

However, this was also the most severely burned area. The ground was charred black, the outer wall of the courtyard had completely collapsed, and inside the courtyard, there were several large pits in the middle, with rubble and broken stones everywhere. There was even a small house where only half of the beam remained.

"There must have been a fierce battle here!" Di Yuan realized the reason with just a glance. Upon hearing this, Huang Shanjun's expression became even more solemn. He didn't say a word and went in first.

Click!

Huang Shanjun stomped on a charred object that was hard to tell whether it was a skeleton or a tree branch, which startled Di Yuan.

"My lord, judging from the remaining traces of the flames, this fire must have happened recently, and Tao Wu's courtyard may be the starting point of the fire!"

Di Yuan squatted down, picked up a long, charred-bone-like strip from the ground, and said solemnly.

He sniffed it carefully a few times.

"Chief Constable, these should be the charred remains of the bodies from the fire! If the convoy has mysteriously disappeared, given the current situation, the most likely clue lies here!"

Di Yuan took a few more steps, took out a small iron shovel, and began to dig carefully.

"Can you still find any clues?" Huang Shanjun said coldly, his face full of anger. He already had a bad feeling about it.

"There must have been a fierce battle here..." Di Yuan walked to the crater, a look of shock on his face. "But to create such a large aftershock, I'm afraid ordinary martial artists simply couldn't do it..."

"And this beam, judging from its cross-section, seems to have been broken by a single punch. If we take that as an estimate, the battle here must have involved at least one, no, at least two martial arts masters, to cause such extensive damage!"

"Moreover, judging from the direction the beam collapsed, it must have been someone who forcibly broke the roof from the outside, thus breaking the beam!"

Di Yuan led Huang Shanjun to a small house, pointed to the damage caused by Da Mao, and analyzed it in great detail.

Huang Shanjun took a look and found that Di Yuan's analysis was indeed correct. Upon closer inspection, he could find the direction and force of the damage, which could only have been caused by the method and force that Di Yuan had described.

"Chief Constable, look here!" At this moment, Di Yuan seemed to have made some important discovery and called Huang Shanjun over.

"Chief Constable, the damage to the doors here suggests that someone wearing boots forced their way in and caused the damage!"

Huang Shanjun nodded repeatedly, looking at the room in front of him.

Perhaps because the house was located in a corner, although it was also damaged by fire, it still retained some traces and did not completely collapse.

Therefore, the two could clearly see that there was a break in the door frame and the door, which was obviously caused by external force.

Next to this house, there is another small house. The two houses are separated only by a section of white wall. But that's not the key point. The key point is that there is a huge hole, bigger than a person, in the white wall!

“This is…” Through the hole in the wall, Huang Shanjun saw something that looked familiar.

He moved with lightning speed, darting away to snatch up an item that had fallen to the ground. Di Yuan leaned closer to examine it; the dark, unremarkable object looked vaguely familiar…

"Chief Constable, could this be a folding fan?" he asked uncertainly.

Huang Shanjun did not reply, his eyes filled with sorrow, as he continued to stroke the texture of the object in his hand.

"It can't be wrong, it shouldn't be wrong..." he said haltingly.

Although the fan surface was burned, the fan ribs were sturdy and undamaged. After wiping away the ash, the fan ribs still shone brightly without a single scratch.

"This is a self-defense weapon I specially prepared for Zi'ang..."

Huang Shanjun arranged for Huang An and the others to take on tasks from the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs. Although he had ulterior motives, sending Huang Zi'ang along for training was a well-thought-out decision, not a rash one to send Huang Zi'ang to his death. Recently, due to the demands of that important figure, Huang Shanjun had directed the Huang family to perform various strange actions, which had already attracted the attention of many powerful forces. Therefore, to ensure the smooth completion of this task, he devised this plan…

Huang An and his group went to the prefectural city under the guise of the Extraordinary Affairs Bureau, and then had Huang Zi'ang accompany them. In this way, others would only think that this was just an ordinary little mission, and that Huang Zi'ang was just there to gain experience and prestige.

It can be said that Huang Zi'ang served as a smokescreen, confusing and disorienting others in the caravan, while also providing himself with valuable experience and training…

It can be said that it kills three birds with one stone!

Of course, Huang Shanjun also made many arrangements to ensure his son's safety. For example, the Iron-Breaking Formation formed by Huang An and others could contend with a Master of the Meridian Opening Realm. He also kept a close eye on the forces in the city that were at odds with the Huang family. In addition, he also prepared a lot of powerful items for Huang Zi'ang!

Just like this folding fan in front of me...