Gou Zai Fei Men made up myths

The incidents mostly occurred around midnight, and the locations were concentrated in the area where the poorest part of the city in the west met the abandoned mine. The victims were mostly livestock, and occasionally it was stray cultivators returning home late who were attacked. The wounds were all the same, that is, torn apart by sharp claws.

However... no obvious traces of large monster activity were ever found at the scene, as if the monster could fly and disappear into the ground.

"There's definitely something fishy going on." Su Xiao frowned.

Just then, the communication jade talisman that Shen Mo had given her in Su Xiao's arms suddenly emitted a very faint warmth.

A thought struck her, and she gave Shi Tie a wink. She immediately returned to her room, set up a simple soundproof barrier, and then carefully immersed her consciousness into the jade talisman.

Shen Mo, who was in the main hall of Qingyun Mountain, a hundred miles away, was at this moment closing his eyes and concentrating. A water mirror was floating in front of him, in which the outline of Black Mountain City and a few faint points of light were vaguely displayed, which were Shi Tie, Su Xiao and others.

He held a broken compass in his hand, which he had obtained from the Flowing Cloud Water Mansion. The compass needle was trembling slightly, pointing towards Black Mountain City.

"System, assist in analyzing the residual aura fluctuations from the Black Mountain City monster incident and link them to the relevant records of the Flowing Cloud Water Mansion," Shen Mo silently recited in his mind.

Unable to arrive in person, he could only conduct remote deductions through the jade talisman carried by his disciple, combined with the system's functions and the compass in his hand that might be related to True Person Liuyun.

[Command received. Parsing... Linking database (Fragment of the Flowing Cloud Water Mansion)... Comparing energy characteristics...]

[Analysis results: The residual demonic energy of the target contains the characteristics of "Crypt Wolf Spider" (mutation), but the energy spectrum is abnormal and there are signs of unnatural amplification.]

A faint residual spiritual energy fluctuation of the "Beast Taming Talisman" was detected. The style of the talisman... has a 7.3% similarity to the low-level beast taming technique of the "Black Fiend Sect" in the database.

Warning: Insufficient data, conclusions may contain errors, but the possibility of human intervention is as high as 71.5%.

"Beast Taming Talisman? Black Fiend Sect?" A cold glint flashed in Shen Mo's eyes. It was indeed not a simple case of demonic beasts causing trouble! Since it involved human intervention, and it was a sect that didn't sound like a righteous sect, this matter was complicated.

He immediately used the jade talisman to transmit this vague but crucial information, along with his warning, to Su Xiao.

Within the jade talisman, Shen Mo's voice came in fits and starts, as if traversing a vast distance, carrying a hint of background noise:

"Junior Sister Xiao... the matter of the demonic beast... is suspicious... it's not purely wild... there seem to be... signs of human manipulation... it's suspected to be related to... 'Beast Taming' techniques... we must be cautious... investigate the background... and do not... alert the enemy... safety first..."

Although the information was vague, it struck Su Xiao like a thunderbolt! His senior brother, the sect leader, was hundreds of miles away, yet he could deduce "human manipulation"? "Beast taming" techniques? This was utterly astonishing!

But considering the unusual spiritual energy fluctuations that Shi Tie had sensed, and the various illogical points in the case file, Su Xiao instantly believed it to be 80% true!

Suppressing her shock, she relayed Shen Mo's warning to Shi Tie.

"Damn it! Someone really did this!" Shi Tie exploded upon hearing this. "Which bastard is so despicable as to release a demonic beast to harm people?"

"Senior Brother Shi, please calm down," Su Xiao calmly analyzed. "Our sect leader told us not to alert them. If someone is indeed secretly controlling the demonic beasts, what is their purpose? To frame someone? To test them? Or do they have some other scheme?"

"We must be even more careful. The overt investigation will continue, but the focus should shift to the covert aspects—finding out who did it and why!"

Over the next two days, the five members of Qingyun Sect changed their strategy. Shi Tie continued to patrol the area near the crime scene in the west of the city in a high-profile manner, even deliberately making some noise to attract possible prying eyes, acting as a "pawn".

Su Xiao, with his keen observation and affability, took Sun Xiaolan to various shops under the pretext of purchasing medicinal herbs and inquiring about market prices. He especially visited shops closely related to the three major families, cleverly chatting with the shop assistants and managers to gather bits of information.

Li Tiezhu, with his calm and reliable appearance, mingled in teahouses, wine shops, and other places where independent cultivators gathered, silently listening to all kinds of rumors.

Su Xiao discovered that whenever she mentioned the matter of demonic beasts, most of the employees in the Zhao and Wang families' related businesses would remain tight-lipped or simply claim ignorance.

When the employees of the Li family's "Huichuntang" mentioned the monsters, their eyes flickered, and their words seemed to express a lot of complaints about the city lord's mansion, implying that the city lord's mansion was incompetent, which led to the rampant monsters. They also subtly revealed that the Li family intended to form a guard team to protect the safety of the trade routes.

Sun Xiaolan was also very observant. During a casual chat with a young shop assistant at Huichuntang, she overheard him complaining that he had been frequently sent to deliver medicinal herbs to a remote manor outside the city for the past few nights. The road was not only difficult to travel, but also eerie and frightening.

That direction happened to be near an abandoned mine, which was an area where monsters had been frequently active recently!

This clue stirred something in Su Xiao's heart! But she remained calm and made a few more subtle inquiries, learning that the manor seemed to be managed by a Fang family steward in a remote area of ​​the Li family, and its specific purpose was unknown.

"The Li family... a remote manor... delivering medicine at night... near the mine..." Su Xiao connected these clues, and a bold guess immediately came to mind.

Could it be that the control of the demonic beasts is actually related to the Li family? Are they trying to use this to suppress their rivals? Or... is there some secret hidden in that manor?

Just as Su Xiao's secret investigation was beginning to yield results, the demonic beast, which had been dormant for several days, reappeared!

Moreover, this time it was even more outrageous; instead of attacking livestock, they attacked a royal caravan escorting goods in the dead of night! This resulted in the deaths and injuries of several guards and the complete looting of all the goods!

The news sent shockwaves through Black Mountain City, filling the city with apprehension. The head of the Wang family was furious, publicly accusing the city lord's mansion of incompetence and declaring that he would deal with the monster himself.

The Zhao family remained silent, observing from the sidelines.

The Li family stepped forward to "mediate," but their words subtly targeted some "unruly" groups of independent cultivators outside the city.

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high. Following Su Xiao's instructions, Shi Tie did not stay at the inn, but instead lay in ambush on an abandoned arrow tower on higher ground in the west of the city, closely monitoring the abandoned mine area in the distance.

Su Xiao and Wang Hu stayed in the inn room, ready to provide support at any time.

Just after midnight, a strange change occurred!

A fierce roar suddenly came from the direction of the distant mine, followed by the sounds of fierce fighting and flashes of spiritual light!

"They're here!" Shi Tie's spirits lifted, and he gripped his iron rod tightly. However, the sounds of fighting didn't last long before quickly fading into the distance, disappearing into the depths of the mountains.

A moment later, a disheveled figure staggered towards the city gate, shouting as he ran, "A demonic beast! A powerful demonic beast! It's running towards Black Wind Ridge!"

This figure was none other than a rogue cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining who had previously accepted the bounty! He was covered in blood, clearly having gone through a fierce battle.

Shi Tie frowned, but he didn't rashly give chase. He sensed something was amiss. The direction the rogue cultivator fled back from, and the direction the demonic beast disappeared from, seemed... too deliberate? It was as if... they were trying to lure someone to chase him?

He immediately returned to the inn and informed Su Xiao of the situation.

After listening, Su Xiao's expression turned grave. He analyzed, "A diversionary tactic? Or... a trap? Senior Brother Sect Leader's warning was indeed correct. There must be someone manipulating this behind the scenes! Their target is probably not just the caravan, but... everyone trying to investigate this matter!"