Stop pretending, the fake heiress is actually a master of metaphysics.

"If it weren't for the master, my family would never have met me."

Gu Qiwen glanced at her but didn't say anything to disturb her.

"What do you want to tell me? Who killed you?"

The female ghost shook her head: "I can't say."

Shen Nian frowned: "...You've been placed under a forbidden spell?"

Shen Nian was no stranger to forbidden spells.

This is a method that the Xuanmen Guild has always used to conceal its existence.

But why does this female ghost have the same kind of restriction as the Xuanmen Guild?

Shen Nian raised her hand and sent another message to Hu Die—

"Don't tell anyone else in the guild that I'm investigating this pattern."

Hu Die replied, "I know, don't worry."

"Then what can you tell me?"

The female ghost slowly said, "My brother said I abandoned them to live a better life, but actually, I was approached by an... organization."

"My husband used to be a member of this organization. For a while, he would always talk to me about the Great Dao and immortality, saying a lot of things that I couldn't understand."

"I thought he had joined some kind of cult, so I called the police to try and get him out. But he disappeared after that."

"I wanted to go find him, but he seemed to have vanished into thin air. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find him."

"Later, that organization approached me and said that I had good talent and spiritual roots, and asked me to go with them to cultivate immortality."

"That organization is very strange. I heard them calling the people inside 'Sect Leader' or 'Elder,' like something out of a fantasy novel."

"That place is also very strange. I thought about escaping many times, but no matter how I ran, I would always end up back where I started. They said it was a protective formation for the mountain. It was there to protect us."

"When I arrived, my husband was already dead. They said he had gone mad and died suddenly. I couldn't believe it. It was too absurd. Before that, I had always been a materialist."

"I stayed inside for three years, but for some reason, I don't remember many things, and I can't explain them."

The female ghost's face was pale.

"...Then how did you get out?"

The female ghost said in a trembling voice, "The 'Sect Master' wanted me to be his 'furnace,' but I didn't want to. By the time I regained consciousness, I was already dead."

"Can't you tell me where they are, what they look like, or what their names are?"

"Sect Leader" is just a vague title and has no use in finding people.

That's why the female ghost could speak.

"I don't know, I can't see their faces."

Shen Nian fell into deep thought.

If the sect that caused the destruction of the Guili Sect back then had not disappeared, but had continued to develop and thrive throughout history.

Even as times changed and the Xuanmen sect declined, they retreated into seclusion and still possessed power that was unimaginable to ordinary people.

For example, formations that can trap people, and forbidden spells that prevent speech.

Shen Nian thought of the Mountain and Sea Prison again.

Whether they are celestial masters, demons, or evil spirits in the Xuanmen Guild, their cultivation levels are generally not very high.

However, even a poorly made Hundred Ghosts Banner or a flying zombie could make them feel like they were facing a formidable enemy.

But why do they use forbidden spells? Why do they possess ancient formations?

What is the relationship between the Xuanmen Guild and this organization that is suspected of being the murderer who wiped out the family back then?

In an instant, Shen Nian's face turned cold, almost like ice in the depths of winter.

Shen Nian asked again, "Who burned those ghost money for you? Did you have any other friends in there? What were their names?"

"I can't say."

The female ghost shook her head.

Shen Nian tried to break the curse on her body, but found that the curse was integrated with her soul.

Once the forbidden spell is lifted, she will be reduced to ashes.

Such a vicious method.

Tens of thousands of people go missing every year throughout China, and perhaps many of these missing people have joined these so-called sects.

With so many people going missing every year, and only a handful being found, who knows where they actually went?

If this sect is located within an ancient secret realm, outsiders cannot enter and insiders cannot leave, making it even less likely to be discovered.

However, Shen Nian didn't understand why they could have disposed of the woman's body within the sect.

Bone-dissolving water is not something difficult for cultivators to refine.

Why... go through all that trouble to dump someone near their home?

Shen Nian suddenly had a premonition—

With modern criminal investigation techniques, it should be impossible to find the real killer.

Why?

Was it a bait they deliberately threw out because they knew about her resurrection?

Shen Nian thought coldly.

She's definitely going to take the bait.

"...I ask for nothing more than that my young daughter, my elderly mother, and my only brother will not suffer the same persecution as I have."

"If the police can't find the murderer, Master, could you please stop my brother and stop him from continuing the investigation?"

Shen Nian nodded, which was taken as an agreement.

The woman's ghost disappeared once again.

-

Shen Nian and Gu Qiwen returned to Jinghai and began investigating the whereabouts of the pattern.

Gu's top technical experts worked around the clock for three days before finding a few scattered pieces of information related to the pattern.

One of them pointed to an ordinary construction company.

In a blurry image, the company's logo uses a quarter of the totem in the upper left corner.

Because the pattern used was not the complete one, it would have been almost impossible to find this company unless it was discovered through overlapping and comparison that it partially overlapped with the pattern in Shen Nian's hand.

However, the company was dissolved due to bankruptcy eighteen years ago.

But Shen Nian still keenly realized something.

The Shen family, who adopted the original owner, also ran a construction company.

Why did the Shen family choose Shen Nian as their adopted daughter to shield them from disaster?

After being sent to the police station by Shen Nian, that half-baked Master Luo disappeared for a long time. Shen Nian had also wondered how he knew the method of exchanging lives with his swindling skills.

Shen Nian and Gu Qiwen followed this lead and discovered that Shen Dahai had actually been an employee of this company eighteen years ago.

However, at the time he was just a junior project manager.

How did he come to Jinghai and gradually build up the Shen family's business?

It's as if there's an invisible hand pushing everything forward, step by step.

However, just as Shen Nian was about to go to the Shen family to see Shen Dahai, she received a message from Gu Yuchuan.

Shen Dahai is dead.

He was initially hospitalized due to a sudden cardiovascular disease caused by excessive emotional fluctuations.

Later, a series of events occurred: Shen Leyao went to jail, the Shen family went bankrupt, and Shen Dahai could not afford a VIP ward in the hospital, so he went home to recuperate.

After that, Shen Nian stopped paying attention to their news.

Shen Dahai was discharged from the hospital after his condition stabilized. Why did he suddenly die while recuperating at home?