Related to Chongyang Palace

The plane landed in the evening.

As soon as the two exited the airport, they saw several people waiting at the gate.

Their expressions were very serious, tinged with a hint of respect.

Dongfang Shuye glanced at them, then turned to Lin Mo, "These are comrades from the Chang'an Yanhuang Awakening branch."

Lin Mo swept his spiritual sense around. These people were all ability users, but he didn't sense any malice or dissatisfaction from them.

"They seem quite welcoming toward us," Lin Mo said in a low voice.

Dongfang Shuye could feel it too.

"Probably because our arrival can help solve their troubles."

Dongfang Shuye's own team was still stationed in Pengcheng, so he had come alone with Lin Mo.

As the two groups met, the leader stepped forward to introduce himself.

"Consultant Lin, Team Leader Dongfang, it's an honor to meet you. I'm Liu Dingjian, deputy director of the Chang'an Yanhuang Awakening branch."

The name almost made Lin Mo burst out laughing.

In Cantonese, "Liu Dingjian" sounds like "is it real or fake?"—there was even a Cantonese TV drama character with that exact name.

"Director Liu, nice to meet you. You’re probably well aware of why we’ve come from Tianjing. We don’t want to waste any time."

Liu Dingjian nodded immediately.

"No problem. Our director is busy with another case, so please don’t mind the lack of a proper welcome."

"That’s fine. Lead the way." It was clear that when dealing with local branch personnel like these, Dongfang Shuye maintained a certain coldness.

Especially after the incidents with the Yangcheng and Pengcheng branches, he was even more reluctant to establish close ties with local branches.

The Chang'an branch staff didn’t seem bothered by Dongfang Shuye’s aloofness.

The reason they were so enthusiastic was simply that this mess was too troublesome.

The case had been ongoing for three days. On the first day, the police handled the investigation; then it was transferred to Yanhuang Awakening.

Yet they had found nothing useful, forcing them to report upward. But reporting didn’t mean they could stop investigating.

No matter how they probed, they couldn’t find any useful leads.

Then higher-ups suddenly sent people, saying the case was connected to the central bureau. Someone would take over and help solve it—why not welcome that?

Mostly because they themselves were completely clueless.

The group first returned to the Chang'an branch office.

The Chang'an branch had quite a few people, but as ability users, their strength was somewhat lacking.

Lin Mo looked around. Everyone was busy with their own tasks, mostly administrative work.

Sweeping his spiritual sense over case files, most were minor cases.

Major cases were rare.

Soon, they arrived at the morgue.

A family of four—father, mother, and two sons—all had their throats slit, with corrosive wounds left on the larynxes.

Dongfang Shuye leaned in and examined them carefully.

Then he shook his head, "No, this isn’t Qin Suishou’s ability. But these corrosive wounds suggest it’s some kind of corrosion-type ability."

Lin Mo, meanwhile, was reviewing the case file.

"This man was the director of the Education Bureau—a high-ranking official in Chang'an. Who holds such a grudge that they’d kill an entire family of four in an instant?"

Dongfang Shuye looked at Lin Mo.

"Aren’t you able to summon souls? Just call them out and ask."

"I thought you’d say this has nothing to with Qin Suishou and just leave," Lin Mo remarked.

Despite saying that, he raised his hand to perform a soul-summoning.

But after three minutes, nothing happened.

Not a single soul appeared from the four bodies.

This was very unusual. The last time something like this occurred was when Lin Mo had summoned his parents.

There was no way that people who had only been dead a few days couldn’t have their lingering souls summoned.

This meant someone had taken the souls of the four bodies.

Someone had collected the souls early! Who?

Just as Lin Mo was puzzling over this, Liu Dingjian appeared again, followed by several Taoist priests in robes.

"Consultant Lin, Team Leader Dongfang, these are three masters from the Chongyang Temple. They’ve come because of this case as well."

One of the Taoists stepped forward and clasped his hands.

"I am Hegui. Regarding this case, it was committed by a renegade disciple of our temple named Wang Chen. We hope that the comrades of Yanhuang Awakening can entrust this case to us, at least allowing us to capture him ourselves."

That explained things.

Chongyang Temple meant they were of the Quanzhen sect.

The reason Lin Mo couldn't summon the four people's souls was that they had likely already been sent to rebirth.

Lin Mo said nothing, just looked at Dongfang Shuye.

Dongfang Shuye pondered for a moment, then looked back at Lin Mo.

"Why are you looking at me? This case has nothing to do with Qin Suishou. Whether you want to keep investigating or leave is entirely up to you."

Dongfang Shuye had originally come to investigate the case involving Qin Suishou.

Now, encountering a case like this—if they didn’t look into it, it didn’t feel right...

While Dongfang Shuye was conflicted, Lin Mo looked at Hegui.

"You say your renegade disciple committed these crimes. Then why would he murder people only to perform funeral rites for them? As far as I know, the Quanzhen sect doesn’t practice soul-gathering arts."

Hegui frowned but finally said, "Wang Chen’s family was killed by those people, and he never forgot that hatred. That’s why he took action. Perhaps after the killings, his conscience troubled him, so..."

Before Hegui could finish, Lin Mo interrupted.

"So, does he have an awakened ability? You should be able to tell if he changed."

Hearing this, Hegui shook his head.

"No. Wang Chen cultivates our inner alchemy method. And since our temple has some strength, we would definitely know if he were an ability user."

After hearing this, Lin Mo shook his head.

"Then that doesn’t add up. The wounds were clearly made by an ability user. But if the funeral rites you mentioned were performed by Wang Chen, then either you missed the fact that he’s awakened, or he’s not working alone."

"Impossible. Wang Chen has always trained in our temple. If he committed the crimes, it could only have been by himself," Hegui said earnestly.

Lin Mo stepped aside and revealed the wounds on the victims’ necks.

"It’s possible your Wang Chen was involved, but I think there’s definitely more to it than just him."

Lin Mo looked at Dongfang Shuye and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don’t overthink it. It’s just a small detour. If we don’t settle this case, you won’t have the heart to take me out for a meat sandwich."

Dongfang Shuye had made up his mind by then. Although the case had nothing to do with Qin Suishou, he felt it was better to handle it first.

"Three masters, even though this was done by a disciple of your Chongyang Temple and you have an obligation to bring him back, this case involves a government official. So we must investigate everything thoroughly. You may participate in the investigation with us, but the final decision rests with us."

My plan is to finish writing the high school section before taking a break to rest, and then redesign the college portion— not to stop updating right now.

The high school segment has been dragging on for a long time now; many readers have already grown impatient and left, and even I’m starting to feel a bit frustrated. After all, the college section would be far more exciting and intense.