Chapter 21 Murder, Demon!

The next day.

"Swoosh!"

Chen Yuan swung the long knife in his hand expressionlessly.

Once,

Twice,

Three times...

After swinging the knife a hundred times, Chen Yuan's forehead was covered with sweat beads, and the qi and blood in his body surged. If one listened carefully, some sounds could be heard.

While practicing with the sword, Chen Yuan was also cultivating.

After a long while, Chen Yuan sheathed his sword and stood still. The sun in the void had already risen, bringing a touch of warmth.

After having breakfast at Zhou's Baozi Shop, Chen Yuan leisurely made his way towards the County Government.

Today was yet another idle day!

At the County Government.

Chen Yuan greeted each of the veteran Government Officials, and after having slain Tie Shou and killed a member of the No-Life Sect, his status in the County Government had clearly become much stronger.

Among the Government Officials who had joined with him, most had no presence to speak of.

Even within the County Government, it was still strength that did the talking.

In the two incidents, although Chen Yuan had used some clever tactics, his strength had also been recognized.

No one knew yet that Chen Yuan had stepped into Blood Refining; the shock would be even greater if they did.

However, Chen Yuan did not want to be the focus of everyone's attention at the moment. Developing quietly and making a fortune silently were the best strategies. He would wait until he had stepped into Bone Refining before he played his cards.

After greeting everyone, Chen Yuan was just about to sit down.

Suddenly, a Government Official rushed in frantically and headed towards the room where arrest officer Huang Xing was located, his expression grave.

A moment later, arrest officer Huang Xing and the Government Official walked out of the room and scanned the crowd.

"Zhao Ning, Chen Yuan, Wang..."

"The rest continue with the routine patrol, you come with me!"

Huang Xing spoke with finality as if facing a major crisis, and the few people he named were mostly strong.

Chen Yuan, of course, dared not object and followed Huang Xing obediently.

On the way, Chen Yuan finally learned what had happened.

It was related to the demon folk of the No-Life Sect again.

The incident occurred in City East, at a wealthy household in City East—seventeen members of the family, including maids and servants, all died unnatural deaths.

Their essence blood was drained, almost identical to the death of Chen Ping'an's parents.

It's no wonder Huang Xing looked so solemn faced with such a major case.

The previous murder cases had occurred in remote hostels, which many did not want to provoke, but happening within the city, the County Government had no choice but to take it seriously.

City East was relatively the wealthiest area in Ping'an County, the Huang Family resided there as well.

Quickly, the Government Officials did not dare delay and arrived in front of the household. Over a dozen White Servants guarded the manor, while Huang Xing led the others inside.

In the courtyard.

Seventeen corpses were laid out, each covered with a white cloth.

Chen Yuan lifted the cloth with the scabbard, carefully examining each one, and indeed, the state of death was exactly like that of Chen Ping'an's parents.

Chen Yuan tensed up, uncertain whether these acts by the demon folk of the No-Life Sect were accidental or a warning to the County Government, and whether they might target him?

"What does the Forensic Doctor say?" Huang Xing asked, looking down.

A middle-aged Forensic Doctor bowed and said,

"It should have happened last night."

"Any traces found?"

Huang Xing nodded and then turned his gaze to the group of Government Officials. Just now, they had thoroughly searched the entire manor.

Some shook their heads, while others presented some clues.

But in the end, there wasn't any clear lead.

Chen Yuan searched every corner and finally discovered several not very conspicuous footprints. He slowly crouched down, Chen Yuan stared at the footprints, his gaze pondering something unknown.

Seeing Chen Yuan's unusual behavior, Huang Xing approached:

"What have you thought of?"

Chen Yuan pointed at the footprints on the ground:

"Sir, from these footprints, I infer that there were two culprits from the No-Life Sect, one with a rather slim build, the other somewhat fat."

"The fat one seems to have a limp."

Huang Xing narrowed his eyes and sized up Chen Yuan:

"How can you tell?"

"Please look, sir, this footprint is obviously deeper than the others. The left leg is putting forth more effort. And I have already observed all seventeen bodies on the ground earlier; none has a limp!" Chen Yuan said in a heavy voice.

Having nothing else to do earlier, Chen Yuan had already examined all the corpses on the ground once to confirm that nobody had a leg issue, which is why he was so certain when later investigating the footprints.

Huang Xing's gaze lingered for a while before he said:

"That's correct."

Quickly, Huang Xing ordered a search based on Chen Yuan's judgement.

The target was a limping fat man...

They couldn't overlook a homicide that occurred within the county town.

The imperial court had already placed the No-Life Sect on a Death Warrant list.

"Did you discover the morning's homicide first?"

Chen Yuan found the first person who reported the crime, a carpenter who delivered coffins to that family.

"Yes... Lord, this morning..."

According to the middle-aged man, he was supposed to deliver a message that the coffin was ready, but the main gate remained tightly shut and wouldn't open.

After waiting a while, he intended to leave, but then he smelled a scent of blood and realized something was wrong. That's when he and a few carpentry colleagues pushed open the gate.

Afterward, they saw the horrific scene inside the residence, and, panic-stricken, he ran to report to the authorities.

Chen Yuan squinted his eyes and, after a moment of thought, focused on another matter.

"Why were coffins being made?"

From his observations, the master and Lady of that family were not on their deathbeds; they were only in their forties and shouldn't have been preparing for their passing so prematurely.

The carpenter was taken aback and replied truthfully:

"Lord Liu had us make the coffins, saying it was for relocating his ancestors' tombs, and he used only the finest wood..."

"Relocating tombs..." Chen Yuan seemed to realize something.

"Why relocate the tombs out of nowhere, do you know why?"

"I heard Lord Liu say something about the old tomb having bad Feng Shui, but I don't know if it's true."

Could there be a connection between relocating tombs and homicide?

Chen Yuan squinted his eyes.

"Do you know where Lord Liu's family tomb is located?"

"I do, I do. I have been there once; Lord Liu believes in it and specifically took us to pay homage."

"Take me to see it..."

The carpenter dared not retort. To him, a Lord from the County Government was already a significant figure, not someone a commoner like him could afford to provoke.

After speaking a few words, Chen Yuan went to ask for instructions from arrest officer Huang Xing, but Huang Xing expressed his opposition.

"What's there to see at a grave? You might as well spend the time searching the county town," Huang Xing reprimanded, seemingly displeased.

Chen Yuan squinted his eyes, didn't contend, and quickly agreed, his mind speculating whether he had somehow offended Huang Xing.

Or had Huang Xing sensed some enmity from him?

Chen Yuan didn't know, but since Huang Xing had spoken, Chen Yuan wouldn't go against him directly. After softly inquiring about the location of the Liu family's ancestral tomb, he led a few White Servants and began searching within the county town.