The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the fog had not yet dispersed. A faint glow of the rising sun could be seen in the east.
Xueling wiped his face with cold water, and he felt much more alert. Yi Han dressed himself neatly and was in a relatively cheerful mood.
After last night's long conversation, his relationship with Guanzhaoxi had advanced rapidly. It had transcended the initial "affection and hardship" stage and reached the level of "close friends".
He passed the magic technique of Shenxi to her, completing the "historical mission" and laying the foundation for his pursuit of the ancient stone tablet.
What he urgently needed to do now was still two things: to enhance his own strength and to quickly gain the favor of Yang Wu.
The former was the foundation, and the latter was the necessary path to obtain information and utilize background.
"Have you forgotten something?"
Yi Reng always got up earlier. He was sitting in the pavilion, warming his hot wine.
Yi Han was stunned and asked in confusion, "Forgot? What?"
Yi Reng said in a low voice, "Have you forgotten that you have a younger sister? She hasn't returned home for four days."
This statement made Yi Han stunned.
Right, what happened to Yi Xia'an? Where did she go these four days...
So he hurriedly said, "I went to Lingxuan Office and immediately asked Uncle Wu to investigate."
One aspect was that he had just crossed over and wasn't very familiar with Yi Xia'an, his sister. He had overlooked her.
The other aspect was that he had been very busy these days, with his mind full of major matters, which had delayed mundane affairs.
Yi Han couldn't afford to delay. He hurriedly went to Lingxuan Office and found that almost everyone was there.
They were all gathered in the hall, with serious expressions.
Wu Yuanshan gave Yi Han a wink and then whispered in a low voice, "Something big has happened. It's still dark outside, the Qingzhou Office reported a case where over a hundred children went missing. The situation is very bad."
Yi Han furrowed his brows, "Is this case under our jurisdiction now?"
Wu Yuanshan roared, "You're stupid! Missing three or five is still normal. But this is over a hundred. The murderer must be a cultivator. Of course, it's our responsibility to handle it."
At this point, he glanced around and said in a low voice, "These days have been sensitive. The imperial official is about to visit Qingzhou, but this case has occurred. The director is very concerned and requires that we must find out the truth before the imperial official arrives and bring the case to a conclusion."
Yi Han's expression was not good, and his heart was slightly uneasy.
He looked at the hurriedly approaching Yang Wu and said, "Yi Xia'an is also missing."
Wu Yuanshan immediately widened his eyes and grabbed Yi Han's hand.
"Everyone!"
Yang Wu's heavy voice rang out, and with a serious face, he looked at everyone and shouted loudly, "Trust your flag officers. They have already explained the situation to you."
"Six days, just six days, our Qingzhou City has lost over a hundred children. The office has no clue about any leads and believes that this case involves cultivators, so they reported it to us."
"The deadline given by the director is half a month. Within half a month, we must find the murderer and bring them to justice."
At this point, he waved his hand and said solemnly, "Now, all the flag officers, with your people, go to your respective areas and carefully search for those children. Live ones must be seen alive, and dead ones must be seen dead."
"Is that so!"
A total of about seventy people, divided into five teams, rushed out of Lingxuan Office.
Only Wu Yuanshan and Yi Han stayed behind, following Yang Wu into the room.
"Keeping you here has its reasons. It has been confirmed that Yi Han, your sister Yi Xia'an, is also among the missing people."
Yang Wu's face was gloomy. He turned his back to Yi Han and looked at the Qingzhou map on the wall, saying in a firm voice, "She is the oldest among them and the most special."
Wu Yuanshan hurriedly said, "General Flag Officer, did the disappearance of my niece leave any clues?"
Yang Wu then turned around slowly and said, "The other missing children are the youngest at only two years old and the oldest at seven years old."
"And Yi Xia'an is fourteen years old." Meanwhile, at the scenes of other children's disappearances, there were no traces at all, but at the scene of Yi Xia'an's disappearance, many strange marks and patterns were left behind.
Yi Han's heart stirred, and he couldn't help asking, "Are those patterns and marks strange?"
Yang Wu said, "This is the reason I kept you here. Those patterns have a certain order, but they are also obscure and complex, and are completely incomprehensible."
"You have read a lot of books. I want to take you to the scene to see if you recognize those patterns."
Wu Yuanshan said, "Where did Yi Xia'an's niece disappear?"
Yang Wu took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Tian Lou." ...
Tian Lou belongs to a large restaurant under Qingzhou Tian Lou. It's undoubtedly the top restaurant in Qingzhou, with a huge scale and a high-end positioning.
As Yi Xia'an, appearing here was already an odd thing, let alone disappearing here.
"Mr. Yang, this is the person in charge of our Tian Lou."
The shopkeeper bent over and smiled, inviting Yi Han, Wu Yuanshan, and Yang Wu into the restaurant.
At the same time, a middle-aged man in splendid clothes came forward.
"General Commander Yang, I've heard of your name for a long time. Finally meeting you today is truly a delightful encounter."
"My name is Qi Yuan, with the surname Qi and the given name Yuan."
The middle-aged man had a beard and his long hair was neatly combed. His entire appearance was very elegant.
Yang Wu waved his hand and said, "Let's not be formal. Take me to the scene of the disappearance to have a look."
"OK, follow me here."
Qi Yuan walked forward while saying, "This girl with the surname Yi, we are all not unfamiliar with her. She often comes here for free meals, and the bill is settled by the Flag Officer Wu from the Ling Xuan Department."
"Over time, we have gotten used to it."
Yi Han and Wu Yuan lowered their heads simultaneously.
Ah... Why does mentioning Yi Xia'an make me feel so uncomfortable...
Because this girl loves eating so much. Whenever she sees something good, she can't help but keep going. From childhood to adulthood, she has eaten through all of Qingzhou's savings, and Wu Yuan also spends a large part of his annual salary on this.
Yang Wu was also somewhat surprised and frowned, "A fourteen-year-old girl, eating free meals?"
Qi Yuan smiled, "This girl's appetite is simply larger than that of three adults. She can finish a whole table of dishes."
"Four days ago, she came here and had another table of meals. Then she held her stomach and said she had no money."
"The shopkeeper was accustomed to it, so he gave her a private room and treated her well and comfortably inside, waiting for the Flag Officer Wu to collect the bill."
"Who knew that four days have passed and the Flag Officer Wu hasn't come yet."
Wu Yuan couldn't even say a word because he was too busy these days and had forgotten about this matter.
Besides, there's no need to worry about Yi Xia'an's safety. Now, every restaurant and tavern in Qingzhou City knows her and they also know that her uncle can pay the bills, so they often treat her to good food and drinks, allowing her to take on more debts.
"Here we are."
Qi Yuan stood at the door, his expression becoming solemn: "Last night, when the waiter came to deliver the meal, she was still there. But this morning, she was nowhere to be found."
There were no signs of fighting inside the room, nor any bloodstains, but various strange patterns were drawn on the walls.
"We didn't dare to destroy the scene, so we reported it to the authorities."
Yang Wu remained silent for two or three breaths, then slowly pushed open the door.
The room was clean and tidy, with elegant and stylish decorations. The wooden tables and chairs were neatly arranged, and the bed covers were in an open state.
Everything seemed normal, except... The entire room was covered with black patterns.
Just as Yang Wu had said before, they were extremely complex and grayish, and no patterns could be found that followed any regularity at first glance or upon closer inspection.
Yi Han didn't speak, carefully observing. She saw that these patterns were like fish scales, or like countless neatly arranged snakes, and there were many faces of children painted on the floor.
There were similar patterns on the wooden pillars as well, all black, beautifully drawn, yet strangely so.
Because it was only one night, no one could complete such a large-scale transformation. This meant that these pattern designs were likely not man-made.
And more importantly, these patterns seemed to emit an intangible magical energy. When you stared at a picture for a long time, your mind would start to become confused, and you would feel a bit sleepy.
Qi Yuan said: "Without a doubt, this is not an ordinary case. It involves supernatural phenomena and the realm of cultivators."
Yang Wu slowly nodded: "Mr. Qi, do you recognize these patterns and designs?"
Qi Yuan gave a helpless smile, bitterly saying: "Mr. Qi is of limited knowledge. I really can't understand these patterns, but these... they don't seem to be arrayed rune symbols. Instead, they seem to be some kind of evil ritual."
Yang Wu pondered for a moment, not knowing for sure himself, and looked at Yi Han.
And Yi Han, staring blankly at these demonic patterns, yet her heart was filled with overwhelming waves.
She recalled a historical event - one year after the invasion of extraterrestrial demons, due to the numerous tragedies everywhere, Buddhism revived, and ascetic monks began to appear.
Among them was a monk named Jue Hui. When he was performing the ritual to guide the souls of the deceased, his heart gradually gave birth to karma obstacles, eventually transforming into a mind demon.
He carved similar patterns like these, countless in number, on a cliff wall, eventually transforming into a karma demon, killing three thousand people in one night, causing a shock throughout the world.
These patterns were so familiar, definitely related to Buddhism, but what kind of demonic pattern exactly, there was still no clue.
So, he could only shake his head and say: "I don't recognize them either. These demonic patterns are too rare."
Yang Wu sighed and looked at Qi Yuan, saying solemnly: "Mr. Qi, this incident occurred in Tianlou. The person who went missing is also in your Tianlou. I hope Tianlou will come forward voluntarily and take responsibility, helping us search for clues together."
"These demonic patterns, you'd better report them. See if the top management of Tianlou knows anything."
Qi Yuan was silent for a moment before nodding and saying: "Alright, that's what I should do. I will report this to the Grand Master of Qingzhou's headquarters."
As a highly influential business tycoon in the Luo Tian world, Tianlou's power was extremely vast, spreading throughout the entire continent. They were more capable than Qingzhou's Lingxuan Bureau.
Yang Wu's expression brightened a bit, carefully looking through the room again, and then said: "Seal this room to ensure the scene is not damaged. Once we have a solution, we will come and check it immediately."
"There's no problem. We..."
Qi Yuan's words were not finished when suddenly a strange roar came from below.
The sound was low and wild, yet not very real.
Yang Wu instinctively frowned and looked down, his expression changing, puzzled: "Mr. Qi, do you perhaps have a pet spirit animal?"
Qi Yuan smiled and said, "I have been determined to master the way of control, so I bought several spirit beasts to use for my cultivation."
Yang Wu slowly nodded and led Yi Han and the others to leave quickly.
However, in Yi Han's heart, there was a turmoil.
On one hand, his younger sister was missing, and so many magical patterns were related to Buddhism. It might be difficult to investigate.
On the other hand... The roar just now, he was very familiar with it. It was the voice of the.
In the modern world, this kind of spirit beast, the, is widely used on the battlefield and has formed a terrifying cavalry type.
In that year in history, the Tiandi Tower used the to block the waterway salt road, causing the price of salt in the entire Lingwu Kingdom to skyrocket. With its strong financial resources, it swallowed hundreds of small salt merchants and achieved a monopoly on the salt of the Lingwu Kingdom.
This matter was a huge opportunity for himself.
The things he needed to do recently were increasing.
Yi Han was a little worried. Would he be able to handle it in the end?