An inescapable task

The next morning, Qingyi and I had planned to meet with the big shots of the Tiandao Alliance together, but at nine o'clock, Qingyi received a phone call and left first. He only told me to wait in the villa, and seeing his anxious and hesitant demeanor, I knew he must have left because of something related to me—probably some new complication. However, I really didn't have much say in this matter, so I could only wait anxiously in the villa.

Around noon, Qingyi came back with a very grim face. Upon seeing me, he said directly, "They acted too quickly, fearing that we would haggle over the test mission today. So, those who disagreed with you taking over the whole territory of Shanxi discussed it overnight and decided on your mission. What infuriates me is that I can't object to the mission they've chosen for you!"

When he spoke of this, Qingyi's eyes were filled with suppressed rage. This was the first time I saw him so angry, and it startled me. My first thought was that the Tiandao Alliance had set an impossible mission for me, which had enraged Qingyi. This was a matter of life and death for me, so I had to take it seriously and I quickly asked Qingyi what had happened.

"You might have to suffer a bit this time."

Qingyi gritted his teeth and said, "I don't know the specifics of the mission they've assigned to you yet, but what makes me angry is that the client they've chosen for your mission is very special—the client is the daughter of one of your father's former subordinates!!! After your father passed away, since Shanxi has been operated by the Ge family for generations, anyone involved in our circle there recognizes the Ge family's authority. It's too difficult for others to handle affairs there, so it's been hard for outsiders to intervene. Consequently, the organization hasn't sent anyone to Shanxi, but this has led to a lack of handling of supernatural incidents there. With no choice, a few of your father's former assistants had to take on the tasks. Unfortunately, those assistants were not very capable and soon met with trouble—one of the yin-yang masters died unexpectedly while on a mission in northwest Jin! It's said that he didn't even reach his destination before encountering misfortune. His daughter then approached the organization and issued a mission in her personal capacity, demanding a thorough investigation into her father's death! Now, that group has handed this mission to you. They not only require you to clarify the cause of his death but also to resolve the case that he was handling at the time!"

At this point, Qingyi placed his hands on my shoulders and looked at me seriously, "Xiao Tian, after telling you all this, do you understand what I mean? The deceased yin-yang master was one of your father's subordinates. If you want to take over the entire territory of Shanxi, the victim is also your subordinate. Now that he has met with misfortune, you, as the boss, cannot sit idly by both emotionally and rationally because it's your responsibility. No matter how difficult it is, you must take on this mission, otherwise, you'll become a laughingstock!!! This is a deadlock, and those people probably calculated that I would be entangled with them over the mission today, so they chose an easy one for you. Thus, they devised this malicious plan, using sentiment and reason to trap you. You can't ignore the trouble one of your father's people is in, right? If you do, you can't be the boss anymore, and being the guardian of the entire territory of Shanxi is basically a dream. Not to mention that people in the organization won't accept it, even the old brothers your father left behind in Shanxi will have grievances against you!"

After Qingyi explained this, I also had a general understanding of the situation, which was indeed as Qingyi described—complicated. It was just my bad luck to have encountered a problem with one of my father's old subordinates. Dealing with such matters of human relationships was the most troublesome. It was difficult to refuse, and not refusing would put me in a difficult position. After pondering for a moment, I asked, "Qingyi, can you tell me what level that yin-yang master who met with misfortune was?"

"He was one of your father's more capable subordinates."

Qingyi thought for a moment and said, "If we measure by the levels of killing intent in your Faqiu sect, his level should be comparable to the third level of killing intent!"

The third level of killing intent?

With such strength, he still met his demise. What chance would I, a mere novice, have? It was like deliberately seeking discomfort.

Qingyi knew this as well, so he patted my shoulder and said, "We still need to meet that subordinate's daughter of your father's to understand the case better!"

There was no other choice at the moment, so I nodded in agreement. Fortunately, the daughter of my father's subordinate was currently at the Tiandao Alliance, so we didn't need to waste any more time. Zhang Jinya, Qingyi, and I immediately went out to meet her and learn about the case.

After leaving the house, I learned that the daughter of my father's subordinate lived not far from where I was staying, just across from my villa, and like me, she was also on the third floor. Qingyi, familiar with the area, led us to her residence. We knocked on the door, and after a short while, the person inside opened it. It was a tall girl dressed in white mourning clothes, almost as tall as me, around 1.75 meters, which is quite remarkable among women. She was also very beautiful, a long-legged beauty by today's standards.

I knew that this woman must be Li Jiajia, the daughter of Li He, my father's subordinate who had met with misfortune.

Li Jiajia was clearly puzzled to see a group of people at her door and couldn't help asking, "What is this...?"

Since I was the main character in resolving this case, I introduced our identities directly, "Hello, we are the people sent by the organization to resolve your father's situation. We've come specifically to understand the details from you!"

Upon hearing that we were there to help her with her problem, Li Jiajia's eyes reddened and she burst into tears, quickly inviting us in, "I've been waiting for you for over a month. If it weren't for the injustice my father suffered, I would have given up long ago."

After hearing her words, I sighed softly. Since my father's passing, his former subordinates must have suffered a lot. As his son, I must uphold his legacy and protect Shanxi. After meeting Li Jiajia, I had already made up my mind to resolve this matter. Once we sat down in the house and Li Jiajia's emotions had stabilized a bit, I spoke directly, "Please accept my condolences. Let's first clarify what exactly harmed your father. Could you please tell me everything from the beginning?"

Li Jiajia nodded, wiped away her tears, and began to tell me the whole story with a choked voice.

It was probably in early June when Li Jiajia's father, Li He, received a case—the incident occurred in a village under a very poor county town in northwest Shanxi called Wuzhai County. This county town, relying on Guan Cen Mountain, is surrounded by mountains on all sides and is not far from Ningwu Pass, one of the four great passes of ancient times. Due to its unique geographical location, it has always been a strategically contested area. In ancient times, it was a place of frequent warfare. Nowadays, there are many historical relics preserved there, but due to poor publicity and underdeveloped transportation, there is hardly any tourism. The local industry is based on the mountains, and the economy has not been developed to this day, with many villagers still living in cave dwellings.

Because transportation is not well developed in the area, Li He drove himself to Wuzhai County after receiving the case. The roads were mostly mountainous, so he couldn't drive fast. By the time he was close to his destination, Wuzhai Village, it was already dark. It's very dangerous to travel on mountain roads at night, especially the treacherous roads of Guan Cen Mountain. For safety reasons, Li He decided to sleep in his car until dawn. He parked beside a forest, reclined the driver's seat, and turned off the car lights to sleep.

Unexpectedly, he hadn't been asleep for long when Li He heard two men talking near his ear—"Daring to sleep on our turf? Should we kill him?"

Another voice said, "Yeah, let's beat him to death."

Li He was a yin-yang master, and he was particularly wary of nightmares, so when he heard these two voices, he thought he was having a nightmare and woke up immediately. However, what was strange was that he didn't feel any yin energy, so he eventually concluded it was just a normal nightmare.

At this time, Li Jiajia had just finished school and called Li He. All the information above was basically what Li He told Li Jiajia over the phone. After that call, Li Jiajia could no longer contact her father. After more than ten days without news, she became anxious and reported it to the police. The police immediately transferred the case to the Wuzhai County Public Security Bureau, and the local police station organized officers to go to Wuzhai Village with two villagers familiar with the terrain to start a search. Eventually, they found Li He's car about sixty miles west of the village. The car was badly damaged, with terrifying scratches all over the body, resembling claw marks left by a beast. The car door was open, and there was a long drag mark on the ground. After seeing this, the local police preliminarily concluded that Li He might have been attacked by a wild animal, which is a common occurrence in the mountain villages around Wuzhai County. After all, Guan Cen Mountain is a completely undeveloped primeval forest, full of large carnivores, and even experienced hunters often have accidents there.

To verify this theory, the police followed the drag marks into the forest, searching for over ten miles before finally finding Li He's body. The sight of Li He's body left the police dumbfounded—his body was intact, but after being left in the mountains for over ten days in June, it had begun to decompose. However, the flesh was still there; it was just that the bones were completely shattered. This didn't look like an attack by a wild animal at all, but rather like he was killed by a blunt weapon!

If he had been dragged away by a wild animal, it would be good enough to find bone fragments. Every hunter in the mountains knows this truth. In fact, wild animals are also afraid of humans. Unless you provoke them, they won't attack people if they are not desperately hungry! If attacked by a hungry wild animal, would any valuables be left on the body?

The police were baffled and investigated for several days without any results. In the end, the case had to be left unresolved, becoming an unsolved mystery.

But Li Jiajia was not satisfied. She remembered the nightmare her father mentioned during their last phone call, so she was convinced that it must have been the work of some malevolent entity. Reporting such matters to the police was useless, and there was even a risk of being considered insane and locked up. In the end, Li Jiajia had no choice but to turn to the Tiandao Alliance...

After listening to Li Jiajia, Zhang Jinya, Qingyi, and I exchanged glances, all seeing the surprise in each other's eyes—this case was indeed shrouded in mystery. After all this time, the only thing we could be sure of was that Li He was most likely harmed by some malevolent entity, both from the manner of his death and the "dream" he had before his death.

But what exactly was this malevolent entity?

Normally, the presence of malevolent entities is accompanied by an increase in yin energy. Li He was a yin-yang master, so it was impossible for him not to notice an increase in yin energy. He told Li Jiajia over the phone that there was no yin energy, so there must have been none at the time!

A malevolent entity without yin energy?

Not only was I baffled, but Qingyi was also completely perplexed. This was unheard of!