I defeated the saint with a parry.

Xu Ling and Zhang Li followed the people of Lijia Village into the village, but not long after they started walking, Xu Ling noticed that Lijia Village was a bit strange.

Besides the Li family, there were other people in the village. Xu Ling noticed a distinctly separated group of people. They seemed out of place with the Li family, and there was an underlying atmosphere of hostility between them, as if a river separated the two groups.

"Elder, who are those people?"

Li Qing, the elder of Li Family Village, looked in the direction Xu Ling was looking, and the smile on his face vanished instantly, even his tone turned sour: "Hmph, they are not from our Li Family Village."

He pointed to the separated area: "My lords, the eastern part of Li Family Village has been sold to the Song family in the city. Those living there now are all from the collateral branches of the Song family."

"If I remember correctly," Zhang Li asked, "the area to the east is where the incident happened before, right?"

"Exactly!" Li Qing sighed. "Ever since that incident, our Li family has regarded that place as an ominous spot, and we even avoid passing by it. But the Song family treated it like a treasure and went to get it."

Xu Ling also noticed that there were obvious signs of recent renovations in Lijia Village, and the renovations were all directed westward, getting closer and closer to Fancheng. As for Songjia Village, for some reason, it was dilapidated.

Zhang Li transmitted his voice, "We've seen the Song family before, near Fanlou."

Xu Ling replied, "Are they those hooligans who came out after Li You and his group?"

Upon hearing the name "Second-Rogue," Zhang Li almost couldn't suppress the smirk: "It's those leaders among them. The Song family moved to Fancheng a few years ago and has always been at odds with the Li family. I don't know what methods they used to get the Li family to agree to give up half of their land."

This land is private property. If the Li family doesn't agree, the Song family would never come to join in.

Xu Ling laughed and said, "The Song family might be being used as pawns by the Li family."

In my past life, I'd seen people hire others to stay in haunted houses for cleaning, but I never imagined that in this world, someone would actually use another powerful family to do it. The key is that the Song family isn't stupid; they must know about the incident in Li Family Village. For the Li family to come here willingly under these circumstances, the person in charge is definitely a remarkable individual.

Li Qing sighed, "To be honest, gentlemen, ever since that group of Song family members came here, I don't know what got into them. Instead of repairing the houses on that side, they dug up every single one of them, shouting that they were looking for some kind of treasure. Now they've set their sights on the houses on our side, saying they're willing to pay money, as long as they let them dig the ground."

"This is utterly absurd! Although our branch of the Li family has declined, we are not short of money. How can we allow others to disturb our peace and act so presumptuously? This is an insult to our culture; they are clearly humiliating us."

Xu Ling and Zhang Li exchanged a glance, indicating that they understood.

Zhang Li tentatively asked, "So, is there really treasure?"

Upon hearing this, Li Qing's face, wrinkled and creased, looked like he was about to cry. The old man covered his face and cursed, "What treasure is there? We've lived here for decades. If there were any treasure, we would have dug it up ourselves long ago. Why would it be their turn?"

Taking the opportunity, Xu Ling asked, "So, what caused that accident back then?"

"Ah...this..." Li Qing's eyes darted around, and he didn't respond directly. Instead, he looked around and changed the subject: "If you two gentlemen want to investigate what happened back then, I can tell you about it again. You can also call the villagers over to ask them if you want."

"Very well! Please do then!"

Xu Ling swept a stool aside with a flick of his sleeve, sat down in front of him, and gestured for Li Qing to begin. Zhang Li didn't understand what Xu Ling was up to, but since they were brothers, he couldn't undermine him, so he stood there and stared at Li Qing.

Li Qing swallowed hard, his eyes filled with recollection: "Actually, I can't say exactly what happened back then. Everyone who slept that night had a similar nightmare. In the dream, we were lured by familiar people and fell into a trap step by step. If we hadn't realized it early, we might have suffered like everyone else."

"Oh, by the way, the people who kept watch in the village back then were awake. I'll call them over; you'll know more if you ask them."

Li Qing summoned two burly men, both cultivators at the Concentration Realm, whose blood and energy were very vigorous.

The Li family branches are all quite evenly matched in terms of strength.

"Li Si greets Your Excellency."

"Li Shiliu greets Your Excellency."

The two not only had similar cultivation levels, but also similar height, weight, and even appearances.

"Are you two brothers?"

Li Qing chimed in, "Yes, they have several brothers."

After saying that, he turned to the two men and said, "The lord wants to ask about that incident ten years ago. You were on night watch at the time. Tell the lord about the strange things you saw."

"Yes, elder!"

The two bowed and said, "That night, a strange monster attacked the village. We fought it off and returned to the village, only to find it unusually quiet. Later, we discovered that everyone in the east was dead. Their life force and essence had been devoured by something, and they had all turned into dried-up human bodies."

"We were terrified, so we rang the village's alarm bell. Everyone who was still alive in the village woke up, but they all found that they had a nightmare in which they almost died."

"What kind of monster is it?" Zhang Li asked. He had actually seen the answer in the file, but he wanted to confirm it again.

"White!" the two exclaimed in unison, then added, "It's a silver-white snake demon!!"

"The triangular-headed venomous snake was three zhang long, its entire body covered in white scales that gleamed coldly in the night, looking just like the silver armor worn by a general. It was also impervious to swords and spears; we only managed to drive it away thanks to our magical weapons and powerful talismans."

"Did this snake come from outside the village, or did it escape from within the village?" Xu Ling suddenly interjected, and the others were taken aback.

Li Si and Li Shiliu both looked at Li Qing, who frowned and said, "What are you looking at? Just answer the questions the master asks."

"Uh..." Li Si murmured, "They came from outside."

Li Shiliu, however, said, "He ran away from the village."

The two spoke at the same time, but their statements were completely nonsensical, each saying their own thing.

Before Xu Ling could press further, the two exchanged a glance and immediately changed their story, saying in unison, "It escaped from the village, sir. This snake demon is the one that devoured the villagers' lifeblood and essence!!"

Xu Ling smiled at the two of them, quite satisfied with the answer. He got up to say goodbye to Li Qing, saying that he was going to visit the Song family and that Li Qing would not need to accompany him.

Watching Xu Ling and Zhang Li leave, Li Qing's face darkened, while Li Si and Li Shiliu knelt on the ground, not daring to utter a word.

"A good-for-nothing who can do more harm than good, unable to distinguish between inside and outside, how can he not even distinguish between meat and vegetables?"

Li Qing cursed a couple of times and kicked the two out. He had to tell his master that the people from the Demon Suppression Division had somehow gone mad and were reopening the case.

The Song family side.

After avoiding the Li family's gaze, Zhang Li finally spoke up to complain: "These Li family members are really interesting. They answered the same questions asked in the case file as they did ten years ago, and for questions that weren't asked, they gave completely irrelevant answers."

"Who was in charge of this case ten years ago?" Xu Ling asked. "Was it also someone from our Demon Suppression Division?"

"Of course." Zhang Li nodded: "No government office below us has the ability to handle such supernatural matters; only we can do it."

"Do you know anyone from back then?"

Zhang Li took out the jade slip and examined it again. He found that it recorded the name of a top-notch demon slayer named "Li Bin". He then sent a message to the old man in charge of intelligence and learned that Li Bin had died in a mission five years ago.

Upon hearing the result, Xu Ling and Zhang Li glanced back at the direction of the new Lijia Village, revealing meaningful expressions.

Xu Ling: "I suddenly understand now why the garrison commander used this case to test me."

Zhang Li understood, but he was somewhat annoyed: "Damn it, Fancheng will be destroyed by these aristocratic families sooner or later. By the way, the current garrison commander, Lord Xu, only took office five years ago. This matter was most likely brought up by the garrison commander on purpose."