CHAPTER 95: HAUNTING! STRANGE FOOTPRINTS! CLUES!

At the Martial Manor, the sound of hooves thundered across the land. Off in the distance, seven or eight riders approached like a gust of wind.

Leading the group was Head Constable Wang, and flanking him were Bai Hongtu and Li Yanchu. Behind them followed several burly officials armed with sabers and clad in official robes.

The group quickly arrived at the three households where the murders had occurred.

Pregnancy was normally a joyful occasion, yet who would’ve thought that such a joyful occasion would turn into a tragic nightmare overnight. Two lives were lost just like that.

For the husbands of the three women, nothing could compare to the horror of waking up and finding their wives, who had been sleeping soundly at their side, brutally cut open and their wombs torn apart.

The grief of losing both wife and child had nearly driven these men, who had been on the brink of fatherhood, mad with anguish.

Over a dozen officials armed with strong bows and heavy crossbows had already been stationed at the Martial Manor to prepare for any sudden danger. These officers had already questioned the locals and collected preliminary information, and Head Constable Wang had come personally to request Li Yanchu’s help.

As for Master Huizhen, it was said he had discovered some kind of lead and had already ventured alone into the mountains, and his current whereabouts were unknown.

Upon hearing this, Head Constable Wang asked, “When did Master Huizhen head into the mountains?”

The saber-wielding constable replied, “Roughly two hours ago. He didn’t allow anyone to follow him.”

Hearing this, Head Constable Wang nodded slightly.

The Martial Manor was about four hours away from Wei City by fast horse, and Li Yanchu used this time to examine the village surroundings. This manor was fortified with high walls on all four sides, even equipped with simple battlements. Clearly, it had been constructed with defense against bandits and raiders in mind.

Upon entering the village, Li Yanchu noticed it differed from typical rural settlements in another way. Most of the young and able-bodied men here practiced martial arts, and were physically robust. It truly lived up to its name, the Martial Manor.

Li Yanchu cast the Qi Sight over the Martial Manor, scanning the area for signs of imbalance. On the surface, there wasn’t anything particularly unusual about the manor.

The qi was mixed and uneven, and there were a few places that carried faint traces of yin qi and killing aura, but nothing too intense. Of course, the presence of yin or killing aura didn’t necessarily mean there were evil entities at work.

However, mountainous regions thick with towering trees and dense canopy, where sunlight couldn’t penetrate, were more prone to nurturing malevolent spirits. That said, the Martial Manor’s feng shui was actually quite decent overall. It backed up against green mountains, and was otherwise surrounded by open, flat terrain stretching in all directions.

This kind of land received plenty of sunlight, and its yang qi was abundant. Thus, it was very suitable for human habitation. And within the Martial Manor, the residents were all physically strong men, accustomed to riding horses and drawing bows and brimming with vigorous blood and qi.

A place like this, under normal circumstances, should not be haunted. Longmen Village from before sat right next to a treacherous mountain range, and yet the entire village had been eerily free of even the slightest trace of yin qi. It was so clean it was unsettling.

By contrast, the Martial Manor felt much more normal.

Upon entering the home of one of the murdered pregnant women, Li Yanchu immediately activated his Qi Sight. This ancient Daoist method allowed one to perceive and distinguish between all kinds of qi.

Admittedly, Li Yanchu often found his observations blocked or obscured... But that wasn’t because the technique itself was weak, it was more that the situations he encountered were all highly unusual. And frankly, his cultivation still had room for improvement.

This time, within the lingering mix of blood and murderous qi at the crime scene, Li Yanchu managed to detect a faint trace of malevolent qi. It was very faint, but it was there.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that Li Yanchu had recently taken Qi-Booster Pills and made progress in his Qi cultivation, he might not have sensed anything at all.

Starting from the footprint left on the windowsill, a soft, clear light surrounded his eyes as he began tracing that faint thread of malevolent qi. He was tracking it in hopes of discovering the whereabouts of the killer behind the murdered pregnant women.

Bai Hongtu’s eyes lit up at the sight, as he realized Li Yanchu had caught the trail of something evil. He quickly gestured for the others not to interrupt and watched Li Yanchu intently.

But just as the qi left the home of the murdered woman, it suddenly vanished. Seeing this, Li Yanchu withdrew his Qi Sight and shook his head at Bai Hongtu.

When they examined the other two homes, the situation was exactly the same. That trace of malevolent qi that was so distinct within the victims’ homes simply disappeared the moment it exited into the village.

At this moment, Li Yanchu's expression turned grim. If this malevolent being's qi could be tracked initially, why would it vanish once it reached the village? Could something be shielding it?

He carefully examined the areas where the trail was lost but found nothing unusual. Likewise, no clues whatsoever had been left in the victims’ homes.

Only the beds were soaked in bright, shocking blood. The pregnant women had been disemboweled in an utterly gruesome manner.

But, apart from the beds, there was no blood anywhere else.

Li Yanchu frowned and said, “If this thing has a physical body and even leaves footprints by the window, then why is there not a single footprint or trace of blood anywhere else after it took or consumed the unborn infants? And why didn’t it leave any blood behind anywhere except the bed?”

Bai Hongtu fell into deep thought. Even Head Constable Wang, who had handled countless murder cases over the years, was stumped.

The doors and windows of the victims’ homes had all been locked and secured, but that wouldn’t stop something spiritual or demonic from entering.

Still... This was a malevolent being with a physical form, capable of leaving clear footprints, and yet it left no blood or tracks beyond that. It was... baffling.

According to the county coroner’s report, the victims were awake when they were killed, and their bellies were forcefully ripped open while they were fully conscious.

Moreover, the wounds on the women’s abdomens had been inflicted in an instant by a sharp instrument. The cuts were clean and precise, with the depth carefully controlled, so as not to harm the fetus inside.

If this was done by a human, it would have to be someone either extremely skilled with sabers, or a highly experienced butcher while the victims were fully conscious.

When everyone heard this, they couldn’t help but feel their scalps go numb, and a chill crept into their hearts. The scene was just too horrifying to imagine.

Imagine waking up in the dead of night, only to realize your belly is being sliced open by some evil spirit.

You scream and struggle, but your husband sleeping right next to you hears nothing, as if you were trapped in another world entirely.

The events unfolding in the Martial Manor sent a wave of dread through everyone present.

Li Yanchu first instructed Head Constable Wang to gather the remaining pregnant women in the village and house them all in a single room, guarded by officials. Then, he and Bai Hongtu kept watch from outside.

Inside the room, Li Yanchu painted Daoist talismans of exorcism on the walls, mixing vermilion cinnabar with rooster blood to draw the symbols directly.

He was a Daoist priest, but also a martial artist. When it came to criminal investigations, he didn’t possess any particular expertise. Especially in a world teeming with demons and ghosts, logic and evidence often failed.

What he did excel at was tracking evil using Daoist arts, and then... killing it with his saber. Basically, physical exorcism.

Since there weren’t many solid leads to go on, they could only resort to the simplest, most direct approach, which was to wait for the evil to come to them. Or perhaps... they could simply wait for Master Huizhen to return from the mountains, and see if he had discovered any leads.

As the saying went, “each field has its own specialization.” Even among Daoist cultivators, the techniques and arts they practiced could differ greatly, producing vastly different results when confronting the same problem.

About an hour later, dusk gradually deepened, and Master Huizhen of Lingxi Temple returned from the mountains.

The middle-aged monk from Lingxi Temple wore a cold, composed expression, and a faint air of melancholy lingered between his brows. After greeting Li Yanchu and Bai Hongtu, he sat down without much small talk.

“The two of you were wise to gather all the pregnant women in one place. It’s a sound plan,” he said. “But that thing is cunning. I fear it won’t show itself again tonight.”

“Did you find anything in the mountains, Master?” Li Yanchu asked.

Master Huizhen shook his head and replied solemnly, “The creature is extremely elusive. I did not manage to catch it... I only tore off a strand of its hair.”

Clearly, this monk had his own means of subduing evil. Yet despite his strength, he had only managed to grab a single hair, without even glimpsing the creature’s true form.

He sighed softly. What good is just a hair...?

But this was where the benefit of cooperation became clear. And at that moment, Li Yanchu’s eyes lit up.