A murderer in loose.

There was one word to describe Pheonix city. No. There wasn't a suitable word to describe here. Weiming Zhao visited this city before. Hence he acted indifferently. However, the other four were dumbfounded.

They couldn't say they had imagined the look of this city before entering here. However, they were sure even if they did, it wouldn't be this bizarre.

Every single wall in the city was covered by paintings of the phoenix's life cycle. City painters used the realistic style to draw the phoenix nests, eggs, hatchlings, young adult birds, and full-grown birds living their day-to-day lives freely.

After adjusting to the strange view, Xie Ra started to see how creative these portraits were. Even the interaction between the birds seemed so natural.

He stopped near a portrait of a mother phoenix crying over her dead hatchling. Her eyes showed her pain through blurry, tear-filled eyes.

He didn't know what the others were thinking about this city. However, he was sure that he would stick to roaming here to see all these amazing arts. His aesthetic heart filled with joy.

Meanwhile, Wei Ming, the short-haired senior saw, his junior was lost in watching the arts. So, he decided to call him. "Xie Ra, come. We have to go to the sect soon. They might be expecting us to be here by now."

This brought Xie Ra back to his senses. He ran after the other four.

It took less than ten minutes to reach the "Phoenix sect" from the city entrance. It looked like a different city inside the city. Not a single painting on the walls. It stood proudly among the city buildings like a clear-skinned person among the bunch of tattooed people.

Phoenix sect was the first beast cultivator sect Xie Ra visited after reaching Nascent for the second time. He visited the Barbarian sect before with his jiejie once to participate in the beast taming lesson.

This sect was different from the barbarian sect as they wore very primitive uniforms by attaching white wolfskin as collars. The Phoenix sect uniform was far more gorgeous. Both genders had the same uniform.

The light gold sleeveless tunic reached their knees. The bottom border was embroidered with golden heliographs.

On the front side, a phoenix flying upwards embroidered from right to left direction. Phoenix's tail feathers spread smoothly along with the bottom golden embroidery.

Tunic's sides split up to their waist level. The raven black, loose pair of trousers were tucked under the golden skin-boots.

Golden feathery cape covered their shoulders. It looked fluffy and darker than the tunic. This sect must be the epitome of artistry among all sects.

Sect building themes fluctuated between light gold, white, dark brown, and brownish-red colors. Sect gardens were shining with various shades of greens as different kinds of plants invaded them.

The small fountain in front of the sect had been built using stones. There was a beautiful phoenix statue amidst the pond. Water sprang out from the phoenix's beak. A shoal of koi fish was swimming in the pond.

Xie Ra knew he liked this change wholeheartedly.

Long story short, they went to greet sect leaders and sect elders. Then they were taken into their rooms by a nice lady.

What was her name again? Su Lin? He forgot.

Sigh.

He and his rusty memory. His sword was sharper than his memory.

Xie Ra exploded with happiness when he saw a hot bath was ready for him. What a pleasant surprise. He really needed a hot bath right now. He didn't take much time to get off from his sweat dripping clothes and jumped into the bathe.

****************

On that evening, a phoenix sect disciple escorted them to the Sect leader's residence for dinner. After finishing their dinner, the sect leader wanted to talk with the jade sword sect team about the issue going on in the city.

"There were more than 12 deaths in the past three weeks. Every one of them was murdered. We investigated the crime sites and found some dark energies luring there. Our disciples did their best to find the culprit, however, it seems like either this culprit is too cunning, or our beast cultivation methods aren't enough to detect him."

Xie Ra detected something wrong in the sect leader's speech and asked suddenly, "Pardon me, your honor, why did you say the culprit was a 'He?'"

Weiming Zhao noticed the same issue. However, the junior was faster to ask. He felt proud of this kid. Natural talent.

However, you know the true reason behind it. As I always say, it wasn't the talent but experience.

The sect leader answered, "The truth is, we really don't know. It's just these citizens called the culprit 'Azura.' Nobody knows what's their name or gender.

However, I think it must be a 'him' too. The way the murderer used to kill was too brutal for a women's work. Maybe, there are women like that out there.

Just my hunch. Don't think about it too much." He smiled. Then he started to explain further.

"As we were unable to solve the case, we sent messages to six nearby sects, including yours. However, only your sect arrived for now. I assign the second elder to take you to the crime sites tomorrow. Would you agree, Elder?" The sect leader looked at the elder who sat right next to him.

The other one nodded lazily. The Jade sword team felt a bit disappointed. This man, who was known as the second elder, has a permanent dreamy face. He just sat there the whole time, falling asleep. How did this person going to help their investigation? He would definitely drag them down, not help them.

Maybe the sect leader felt the displeasure of invitees. He spoke again. "To help the second elder, I would like to assign his assistant Zu Bingwen. You should assist these Daozhangs throughout their investigation."

A cheerful-looking short youth bowed at the sect leader, saying, "Yes, Elder, It'd be my honor." Then he turned to the Jade sword team and bowed. "I will accompany Daozhangs tomorrow morning. I will come to escort Daozhangs at the time when the *second bell rings."

After this everyone bid their farewell and returned to their rooms. There wasn't anything unusual that happened today. However, Xie Ra already senses that something was very wrong. He couldn't point out his finger but, his hunter's intuition wasn't at peace. He sighed. He could see what was it in near future.

The main problem was, there was a murderer in loose.