Investigating the Forest

She opened her eyes just as the sun was peeking out of the horizon. The red pupils had grown somewhat darker and deeper, a sign that her strength had grown. She let out a breath, a black fog containing impurities and whatnot.

Feeling the warmth of the sunlight, Xue Lan stood up and looked at her surroundings.

Seeing the wrecked tents and the shriveled bodies of the Azure Flags. Her eyes lingered on them, but she felt nothing for their sad state. Rather, she turned her attention toward something else.

There was a carriage holding several chests, the cargo that was being guarded.

"Since they're dead, I may as well see what's inside", she thought.

Walking up to the carriage, she gave it a closer inspection.

There wasn't much to it, rather quite simple in fact. Alongside the wooden carriage, the chests were all made of blackened wood and supported with an iron brace. Simple but certainly effective, as they seemed to be quite sturdy and weren't eye-catching.

Considering its simple design, people may think that these chests weren't valuable but the simplicity had its purpose. After all, the contents within might be very valuable and the simple chests could deter people from targeting them.

Looking at each of them, Xue Lan didn't think twice as she grabbed the first chest and tore it open.

"Oh, interesting..."

There was a look of surprise on her face as she proceeded to open the other ones too. All of them seemed to contain the same kind of thing, treasure. They were filled to the brim with silver taels, enough to feed a family of ordinary folk for dozens of years.

"You could probably buy a few mansions with this money", she muttered.

Wasting no time, she stored everything in one of her spatial rings, quickly reorganizing all of her spoils before leaving the area. But before she left, she had to decide on something.

"Should I return to the city?"

That was the big question. She certainly had power now but she didn't know how much power she had.

"I wouldn't want to overestimate myself but... I can't let those pigs live for that much longer."

In the end, nothing but revenge mattered. Even if she died, so long as those that she wanted to kill died as well, she would be content. The woman then looked around, determining the direction she had to go.

"It should be this way, I think. They said that it was East of here."

And she went off, journeying through the forests of Chuan Mountain. It was at this time that a group arrived at where Shen Yuan's body was. All of them were dressed in dark-colored robes. Some were blue, some were green, and quite a number of them wore black.

Standing over the corpse, they glanced at each other.

"He's dead but the woman isn't here. Several of you should return with the body and inform the young lords of Four Noble Clans, the rest of us will continue the investigation."

One of them, the leader it would seem, made their orders clear and everyone nodded in understanding. It was a man, somewhat young but carried an air of calmness and experience. Dressed in black, everything but his eyes was covered and he carried a pair of short swords on his back.

As they moved, he stared at the corpse, showing some concern and a bit of confusion.

"There's only Shen Yuan and he's been killed but... where is the woman? Could she have killed him?" he wondered.

As the corpse was soon brought away by several of the members, the remaining ones continued to scour the area. All of them carefully looked at their surroundings, checking for tracks and traces. While the leader stood at the center, trying to figure out what exactly could have happened while waiting for the others.

"That shouldn't be possible. It's just an ordinary woman and Shen Yuan is a cultivator. Let alone someone at the third stage, even a first stage cultivator can easily kill an ordinary person. So what exactly happened here? Could it be that an expert saved her?"

While pondering, one of them suddenly called out to him.

"We've found tracks!"

Everyone soon gathered around, each of them taking a look.

"They still seem somewhat fresh, only a few days old. Could this be that woman?"

"Doesn't seem right, the steps are even and flat. She had been starving and was imprisoned, not to mention, injured. Not to mention, she had gone out of control. How could she have walked out of this as if nothing had happened to her?"

"Then what does that mean? Could an expert have saved her? But who? Who would be able to put Shen Yuan into such a state?"

Everyone laid out their thoughts, thinking of the possibilities but there were simply not enough clues for them to have any concrete conclusions. It was then that they looked toward their leader,

"What do you think, Yi Jian?" one of them asked.

Yi Jian frowned, looking at the tracks and tracing them with his eyes. Looking up, he stared in their direction, seeing nothing but trees ahead of him.

"Whatever the case, we have no choice but to continue the investigation. We will not return until we find some conclusion to this. But if there is nothing else, then we can only assume that an expert saved the woman", he answered.

Leading the way, he followed the tracks, searching for an answer as to what exactly happened.

Some time later, Shen Yuan's body had been recovered and was now laid out in front of the city lord. Standing beside them were the same four individuals from before, none other than the young geniuses of the Four Noble Clans.

Seated on his throne, Lord Yan looked at the shriveled-up corpse with surprise and disbelief.

"This is what remains of Shen Yuan?" he asked.

He looked at the four figures for reassurance and one of them stepped forward.

"Yes, our investigation has led us to find this, Shen Yuan is dead. It is possible that some expert may have killed them and left this evil being to die. In any case, I'm sure that you are content with this."

Hearing their words, Lord Yan gave the corpse a look, not expecting things to end in such a way.

"If that is the case, then do you know who this expert is? I should meet with them, thank them for helping us", he said.

But the four just shook their heads in a helpless manner.

"Unfortunately, such a thing is not possible. Whoever this expert could be, they left without a trace. Tracking them is harder said than done, even with our clans working together", they responded.

Lord Yan's face dropped a bit, disappointed by this answer.

"If that is the case, then that it all, as long as this evil is dead, nothing else matters. You may all go."

"We will take our leave, City Lord."

The four lowered their heads and cupped their fists before turning to leave until someone said something.

"What abou- what about the woman? Is there any trace of her?"

The voice was rather timid but seated beside Lord Yan was none other than his son. Though compared to his arrogant and drunken appearance before, his current image was quite the opposite. He seemed meek, afraid, and quite tired. His eyes had dark circles and were widened from a few sleepless nights.

It seemed like he had more than one nightmare about what had happened before.

The four looked at him before answering with a smile.

"There doesn't seem to be any trace of her near the body. Either she had been rescued by the expert or had died somewhere unknown to us. We believe that it is the latter rather than the former. It's quite rare for a cultivator to save a half-dying person."

"I see, If it's possible, I'd like to see the body if you happen upon it."

He requested rather than ordered such a thing and they merely nodded and smiled.

"We understand. There will be people guarding the area so if something does turn up, we'll let you know. Now then, we must go, there is much to do."

They then turned to go, leaving the residence and entering their own carriages.

"To think the unruly son of Lord Yan has ended up like this, a failure to the end", one of them said.

"It doesn't matter in the end, Wei Wu, they're just puppets anyways. Our families control the city, after all, let's just get it over with. Don't forget, I'm nearly there to breaking through to the Second Stage."

"Right, Brother Jin, out of the four of us, you're the only one in the Spirit Realm. The rest of us should be preparing some gifts for you soon."

Brother Jin chuckled.

"Gifts aren't needed in the path of cultivation, we just need to reach higher heights. Soon the city won't be enough, we should aim for more, ahahaha!"

All of them shared a laugh as the four carriages went their separate ways, going to a different corner of the city.