Everyone ascended, but I didn't get on board

Chapter 106: Collected Clues

The next morning, the training team split up and visited the families of those who had lost their girls. Qiu Ci didn't go with them this time, but waited at the meeting point. After all, her spiritual sense was enough to cover the entire town, so it was not difficult to find out their movements.

Many people have disappeared in Luoyang Town over the past ten years. The mayor's list alone includes hundreds of names, and the actual number of missing people is likely even higher. With only fifteen members in the training team, it's impossible to visit every household, so they only selected a few.

But it took half a day just to find out some information. It was not until after noon that more than a dozen people reunited at the agreed place.

"I went to the house in the west of the town, but didn't find any signs of evil spirits. I guess it's because it's been too long." A female student shared the news she received.

"It was the same at the place I went to. The family just said that the person disappeared suddenly. I also used the Qi-gazing technique to check and there was indeed no trace of demonic energy nearby." Another student nodded.

"What I saw was similar. That family lost their daughter ten days ago. Logically, there should be some evil spirit left, but I searched the area and found nothing." A student who studied talismans also agreed.

The others told their findings one by one. The amazing thing was that among so many families that had lost young girls, not a single one of them had any trace of demonic energy left, as if no demons had ever entered those homes.

"Could it be that the evil monster has some secret technique to hide its aura?" Senior Brother Jiang, who was in the lead, looked puzzled.

"It's very likely." The students nodded. After all, hiding aura is not difficult. "The family I went to, the daughter and daughter-in-law are both missing. Even after they lost two people, there is still no trace of demonic aura."

"Hey! Did the family you went to also lose two wives?" Another person nearby said in surprise, "It was the same with the family I went to. That man's two wives disappeared in a row."

Not only these two households, several other people also spoke up one after another.

"The same thing happened with the family I inquired about. They lost two daughters."

"It's even more exaggerated here. The three sons and their daughters-in-law are all missing."

"It's more than that! The one I went to was even worse. The daughter-in-law, daughter, and even the elderly mother were gone."

"Me too..."

After checking, everyone realized that the monster seemed to particularly like to target families. Almost half of the houses they visited had lost at least two people, not just young girls, but also many married women or mothers. They ranged in age from children as young as seven or eight to elderly women in their sixties and seventies.

"This monster... is really not picky." Everyone was a little confused, and even more confused about the monster's purpose. If it was to absorb Yin to replenish Yang, why did it capture children and the elderly? Could it be that it really practiced some kind of magic that only women would be acceptable?

No one had any clues for a moment, but Zhen Yi suddenly said, "I have heard some different clues."

Hearing this, everyone looked towards him. Senior Brother Jiang couldn't help but ask, "What's the clue?"

"I asked about the missing people's itinerary before they disappeared. It seems that they all went to a temple in the west of the town to worship." Zhen Yi said seriously.

"Is it that Goddess Temple?" Someone said happily, remembering something. "Yes, yes, yes. The place I went to also heard that before the other party disappeared, he would go to the Goddess Temple to worship almost every day."

"Hey! The family I investigated also went to the temple in the west of the town."

"I think I heard them talk about it too." "It seems there's something fishy about this place." Senior Brother Jiang said affirmatively, "There's no evil spirit in these people's homes. Perhaps it's related to this temple. Let's go and take a look without delay."

Everyone nodded and turned to head towards the west of the town. The town was not big to begin with, and within less than a quarter of an hour they could smell the scent of incense on the street, and could even see clouds of clear smoke rising in the distance.

There was indeed a temple in front of us. It was not big, about the size of an ordinary household. The whole temple was just a small room of about ten square meters, but it was surrounded by a high wall. The amazing thing was that this small temple was very popular, with many people coming in and out. There were even two women guarding the temple standing at the door.

The incense here was too strong, and no scent could be detected from the outside. When everyone was about to go in, they were stopped by the woman guarding the temple at the door.

"Wait, you can't go in!" The two middle-aged women on the left and right stepped forward and looked at the leading Senior Brother Jiang with some disapproval.

"We are disciples of Twin Star Academy. We are investigating the demon plague in the town and would like to go in and investigate." Senior Brother Jiang stated his identity directly.

"You are immortal masters..." The woman was stunned for a moment, then shook her head and refused, "Why are you investigating the demon plague in our Goddess Temple? We have the Goddess's blessing, so there is no need to be afraid of demon plagues."

"Miss, we..." Senior Brother Jiang wanted to continue persuading.

"That's enough." The woman interrupted directly and said impatiently, "No matter who you are, this is the temple of the Goddess. We only accept female pilgrims. Men are not allowed to enter."

Senior Brother Jiang frowned, but was ultimately unwilling to get into conflict with ordinary people. He exchanged glances with the female students behind him before stepping back.

Sure enough, when Feng Ting and several female students stepped forward, the temple keeper no longer stopped them and let them in smoothly.

Senior Brother Jiang and the other male students had no choice but to wait outside the temple. In order not to block others' way, they had to squeeze to the corner of the street. Qiu Ci did not go in, but waited at the corner with Zhen Yi and the others.

They waited for nearly three hours. The men suspected that their teammates had met with some accident. When they wanted to force their way in, the female students finally came out.

"How is it? Have you found any clues?" Several people hurriedly stepped forward and asked.

The female students looked at each other and shook their heads.

"How could there be nothing?" Zhen Yi was a little surprised. "We just used a magic talisman to explore, and there are indeed remnants of evil spirits around the temple. Is there really nothing found inside?" Although they were waiting outside, they also checked the surroundings carefully.

"Indeed, there aren't any." The female student nodded. "We didn't find any monsters in the temple. It's just an ordinary temple."

"Could it be that he ran away after hearing the news?" Senior Brother Jiang murmured.

This is indeed possible. After all, they made a lot of noise when they arrived, and they were running around in the town today. It is possible that the monsters noticed something unusual and ran away early.

"Why don't we come back to check it out at night?" someone suggested. "At night, the yin energy is so strong that the signs of the evil spirit will be more obvious."

The others nodded. Indeed, if there really was a monster hiding in this temple and it didn't come out during the day, it would definitely move at night. They could just lie in ambush nearby and wait until nightfall.

The training team finalized the plan before leaving the temple.