Solving the case: Combining the police dog's olfactory genes at the beginning

"Yes."

Master Li confirmed this in a heavy tone.

"The person who drew this talisman and constructed the talisman array on such a scale... has no small ambition. He wants to... defy fate and ascend to immortality!"

"Defy fate and ascend to immortality!"

The eight words "Master Li" struck Luo Fei and Chen Xuanran like eight thunderbolts!

Even though they had experienced countless bizarre cases, they were still stunned by this answer that was completely beyond common sense, their faces filled with astonishment and disbelief.

"Master Li... you mean... the person who built this Crane Spring Manor did so in order to... become an immortal?"

Chen Xuanran's voice trembled slightly, as he felt his worldview had been impacted like never before.

Master Li slowly sat back down on the prayer mat, his expression extremely solemn. He gestured for Luo Fei and Chen Xuanran to sit down as well, and then spoke in a deep voice.

“Esteemed benefactors, the talisman you have brought is indeed an extremely ancient and dangerous cultivation talisman recorded in ancient Taoist texts.”

He sighed, his eyes filled with a world-weary look.

"Immortality and ascension to heaven are the ultimate dreams pursued by countless emperors, generals, and hermits over thousands of years."

Although these practices are occasionally mentioned in my Taoist classics, most of them are considered immoral and extremely sinister, and have long been rejected by the orthodox path. They are little known and strictly forbidden to be practiced. I, this old Taoist, have only seen similar records in a few rare and incomplete manuscripts that are considered taboo.

He pointed to the pattern on Luo Fei's phone.

"Using this massive concrete building as a foundation, talismans are drawn, and the earth's energy and the light of heaven are gathered. The purpose is to do something against the heavens here!"

Next, Master Li began to explain in detail the various Taoist cultivation methods he knew.

Ancient books record several methods for cultivating immortality.

One method was to consume elixirs.

Legend has it that Zhongli Quan, the founder of the Quanzhen School, turned stones into gold and bestowed elixirs upon Lü Dongbin.

For example, Chang'e stole the Queen Mother of the West's elixir of immortality and fled to the moon.

This method seems convenient, but the elixir is extremely difficult to refine, and most contain potent poisons. A slight mistake can lead to death by explosion. Countless emperors throughout history have died seeking these elixirs.

"Secondly, it is called corpse liberation. This is mentioned in the Daoist scriptures."

"The lower-ranking officer dies first and then sheds his skin, which is called corpse liberation."

This means that the physical body is in a state of suspended animation, the primordial spirit sheds its shell, and after undergoing tribulations, one becomes an immortal.

This method is so mysterious and profound that it's difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

"Thirdly, one can rely on the guidance of a master to achieve sudden enlightenment and ascend to immortality."

This requires immense divine favor and innate wisdom, one in ten thousand.

"Fourthly, there are the imperial families, who use the resources of the whole country to refine external elixirs. For example, the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was obsessed with alchemy throughout his life, but it was nothing but a mirage."

At this point, Master Li's tone suddenly changed, becoming extremely serious.

"The kind of cultivation that you have encountered, which uses magic spells and talismans, is a heretical sect that appeared hundreds of years ago, but is most despised by the orthodox Taoist school!"

"This method... requires absorbing the extremely yin souls of thirteen human demons, and then, with the blessing of these immortal cultivation incantations, forcibly opening the so-called 'immortal gate' in an attempt to ascend to immortality!"

Master Li's voice carried a hint of coldness.

"Human demon? A soul of utmost yin?"

Luo Fei astutely grasped these two key terms.

"Human demons do not refer to mountain spirits or wild monsters. In this method, they specifically refer to those who have committed heinous crimes and are burdened with karmic obstacles. Taking their souls is seen by the caster as acting on behalf of Heaven, which is not only without fault but also meritorious."

Master Li explained.

"The soul of ultimate yin refers to a person born in a yin year, yin month, yin day, yin hour, and yin hour, whose destiny is purely yin. And it is best if they are unmarried young women, especially... virgins."

He looked at Luo Fei and Chen Xuanran's suddenly changed expressions and said slowly.

"This is because in Taoist beliefs, men are yang and women are yin. Unmarried virgins, who have never experienced sexual relations, have the purest and most abundant innate yin energy in their bodies, making them 'superior materials' for such evil practices."

Luo Fei felt a chill run from his feet to his head. He instantly connected all the clues, his voice as cold as the dead of winter.

"So, this evil cultivation technique is essentially... killing thirteen virgins with extremely yin destinies, extracting their souls, and using them as sacrifices for one's own ascension?!"

"According to ancient records, this is indeed the case."

Master Li nodded solemnly.

"As for whether this method can truly succeed... I don't know. Ancient records are vague, often referring to it as 'delusion' or 'heretical path'."

However, those who practice this evil method are often fanatical and insane, and firmly believe in it.

Moreover, to perform such a heaven-defying act, the practitioner must "cultivate a tranquil mind, practice asceticism, cultivate good relationships, and be morally flawless," at least in form, conforming to the "Way of Heaven," otherwise they will find it difficult to withstand the "heavenly tribulation" during ascension.

When he mentioned "morally flawless," his tone was clearly sarcastic.

Luo Fei finally understood! Crane Spring Manor was not a residential community at all; it was a gigantic altar tailor-made for evil cultivation rituals!
Controlling the number of people in the community is to prevent too much yang energy from strangers from interfering with the so-called "cultivation," and also to avoid attracting too much attention from the outside world!

Master Li added.

"In ancient times, gathering thirteen virgins with extremely Yin destinies would have been as difficult as ascending to heaven."

But nowadays... with the help of modern hospital birth records, it is not difficult to find information about a child with a specific birth date and time.

Officer Luo, perhaps you could investigate whether any young girls matching this description have gone missing within the Great Xia territory in recent years…

Upon hearing this, both Luo Fei and Chen Xuanran felt their hearts sink.

Are Guo Mengyun, Gong Xiaorui, and the girl from the college couple who went missing last year the "Souls of Extreme Yin" who fit the criteria? And is Xie Junshan the mad spellcaster who attempted to achieve immortality through slaughter?!

With heavy hearts and shocked by the truth, Luo Fei and Chen Xuanran bid farewell to Master Li and returned to Haizhu City overnight.

When Luo Fei informed the entire special case team of his discovery in Qingcheng Mountain, everyone was stunned, and the meeting room erupted in an uproar.

"Cultivate...cultivate immortality? Kill virgins and take their souls to ascend to heaven?"

Has Xie Junshan gone mad?!

Wang Feifei's mouth dropped open, as if she were listening to a fairy tale.

"A madman isn't scary; what's scary is a madman who has knowledge, money, and the ability to execute!" Chen Fan's face turned ashen.

Wu Peixiong slammed his fist on the table.

"Damn it! To harm so many young girls for such a baseless legend? They're worse than animals!"

Just as everyone was filled with righteous indignation, Zhou Xiaobei brought another shocking discovery.

"Brother Fei! While researching the history of the Hequan Villa site, I discovered some overlooked information!"

Zhou Xiaobei pointed at the computer screen.

"Before development, there was a thousand-year-old Taoist temple on the land where Hequan Villa is now located!"

"A thousand-year-old Taoist temple?"

Luo Fei's eyes narrowed.

"right!

This Taoist temple is called Feixian Temple! It has a very long history, but it gradually fell into disrepair. However, it has always been listed as a local intangible cultural heritage protection unit.

Zhou Xiaobei quickly reported.

"However, Xie Junshan's Reincarnation Group, using some unknown method, actually persuaded the local government to sell the land to them!"
At the time, the Samsara Group promised to "relocate and protect the Feixian Temple in its entirety," but strangely, no one knew where the temple was moved to; it was as if it had vanished into thin air!

A thousand-year-old Taoist temple mysteriously disappeared after Xie Junshan developed Hequan Mountain Villa.

This could absolutely not be just a coincidence!
"Investigate! Xiao Bei, thoroughly investigate the history of this Feixian Temple! Especially any records related to cultivation of immortality and ascension!"

Luo Fei immediately gave the order.

Zhou Xiaobei accepted the order and spent half a day searching through almost all the electronic archives and local chronicles he could find, finally compiling a detailed historical record of Feixian Temple.

When he presented the information to everyone, another chilling coincidence came to light.

Feixian Temple was first built during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, about 500 years ago.

It became famous because there was a very famous female Taoist priest in the temple at that time—Wang Taozhen!

Zhou Xiaobei began to recount this long-forgotten history.

Wang Taozhen was born during the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty. Her father was a high-ranking official in the court.

However, she was frail and sickly from childhood and was not favored by her father, which made her extremely withdrawn. It is said that she accidentally obtained a strange Taoist book, and from then on developed an almost fanatical interest in Taoist doctrines. She began to study various Taoist classics day and night, spending her days in meditation and becoming engrossed in the study of Taoism and the pursuit of immortality.

When she reached marriageable age, her father arranged a marriage for her. However, the groom-to-be died suddenly before the wedding.

Wang Taozhen thus became a widow before her husband's marriage, and declared that she would remain chaste and never remarry. She then resolutely entered the Feixian Temple and became a Daoist nun.

"In the Taoist temple, she read more books about cultivating immortality, established her ultimate goal of ascending to heaven, and became madly obsessed with alchemy, often trying to refine various so-called 'elixirs' based on ancient books."

Later, she claimed that she received guidance from a celestial being in a dream and adopted the Taoist name "Tanyangzi."

"Several years later, Wang Taozhen became famous, and many literati, scholars and even court officials came to visit her to discuss Taoist practices."

Even more surprisingly, her father, who had previously disliked her, later became her student!

Zhou Xiaobei paused for a moment, then read out the most crucial section of the document.

"In the year she turned twenty-three, Wang Taozhen announced that her cultivation had reached the critical point for entering the immortal realm, and she decided to ascend to immortality in broad daylight on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month of that year!"

"The news caused a sensation. On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, it is said that nearly 100,000 people gathered outside Feixian Temple, wanting to witness this ancient spectacle. Records describe that on that day, Wang Taozhen was dressed in a Taoist robe, with a solemn expression, and clouds gathered above her head that lingered for a long time."

Then, she sat cross-legged on a rock, and before everyone's eyes, they saw her lips gradually turn purplish-black, and the clouds above her head dissipated... Everyone present believed that she had ascended to immortality!

Zhou Xiaobei raised his head, looked at his dumbfounded colleagues, and said, word by word.

"Wang Taozhen is one of the very few real cases of 'attaining immortality' that are clearly recorded in the history of the Great Xia Dynasty."

And the place where she cultivated and ultimately "ascended" was the Feixian Temple, originally built on the site of the current Hequan Manor!

There was deathly silence in the conference room.

Xie Junshan is a modern-day tycoon with an obsession with Taoism and exceptional intelligence.

He went to great lengths to build Crane Spring Manor, a place containing evil cultivation spells, on the site of the original Flying Immortal Temple.

He collects young virgins with specific birth dates and times... Everything he does seems to be imitating, or rather, trying to replicate the "success" of Wang Taozhen, the female Taoist priest who "ascended to heaven" in this place more than 500 years ago!
The trajectories of history have intersected at this moment in a chilling way.

Luo Fei's gaze swept across Wang Taozhen's records on the screen, then looked at the strange rune layout of Hequan Manor, and finally settled on the youthful photos of Guo Mengyun and Gong Xiaorui.

His fist clenched slowly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

Whether Xie Junshan pursues the ethereal path of immortality or a meticulously planned earth-shattering conspiracy, he will never allow this mad demon to harm any innocent life again!

He must be stopped!
As the investigation deepened, Xie Junshan, the figure hidden behind the fog, and his crazy and massive plan gradually became clear to the special case team.

Zhou Xiaobei compiled all the publicly available and semi-public information about Xie Junshan that he could find and reported it to Luo Fei.

"Brother Fei, Xie Junshan's life trajectory is indeed legendary."

He came from an ordinary family, but he was exceptionally intelligent and a true academic star.

Before he turned thirty, he founded a company in Silicon Valley focused on cutting-edge biotechnology, growing it to a market capitalization of over ten billion US dollars in just a few years. He then decisively sold it to the world's richest man for a staggering 38 billion US dollars, completing his initial capital accumulation.

"After returning to China with this huge sum of money, he founded the Reincarnation Group."

Strangely, instead of continuing to delve into the high-tech field he was familiar with, he began to extensively study and research Taoist doctrines.

We speculate that it was during this process that he developed an extremely strong interest in "cultivating immortality," and somehow found out about that insidious method of using magic and talisman arrays to absorb human souls for cultivation.

Chen Fan continued his analysis.

"Compared to other methods of cultivating immortality that require a stroke of luck or the refining of ethereal elixirs, this kind of magical cultivation seems more 'operable' for someone like Xie Junshan, who has high intelligence, enormous financial and material resources, and pursues 'controllable results'—even though this 'operation' is based on trampling on life and the law."

"He found his target and then started looking for a suitable location."

Zhou Xiaobei switched screens to display information about Feixian Temple.

"He somehow learned of the record of the Ming Dynasty female Taoist priest Wang Taozhen's 'ascension' at Feixian Temple, and concluded that the land was a treasure land with special 'divine affinity'. So, he used a huge amount of money and connections to bribe some officials at the time, and through illegal operations, he managed to get his hands on this protected cultural heritage land."

The Feixian Temple, which stood on its original site, was demolished by him under the guise of "overall relocation and preservation," but its actual whereabouts are unknown; it is very likely that he disposed of it secretly. (End of Chapter)