Tang Dynasty Demon Suppression Division

Considering the suspicious person who claimed to be transported to the Northwest, this can no longer be considered a coincidence.

Chen Shuo flipped his wrist and put the black shard into his storage bag: "Keep this for now, it might come in handy later."

The group dispersed and searched for a while longer, but found no other clues, so they had to give up.

After sending the old coroner and the guards back, Chen Shuo interrogated Wang Laizi again and finally deduced the facts of the case based on the case file.

"The Blackwater Serpent suddenly darted out of the lake from this direction," Xu Sheng said, pointing to a body of water at the edge of the reeds. "Its first attack broke through the perimeter of the camp and then rushed straight towards the prisoners in the center of the camp... which is where Li Chongwen was back then."

As he described it, everyone's gaze shifted, and the tragic scene from back then seemed to flash before their eyes.

A gigantic snake-like shadow burst forth from the water, its venom arriving first, followed by a massive sweep of its body. The escorting soldiers and exiled prisoners scattered in terror, only to be easily caught and torn to shreds.

"According to Wang Laizi," Chen Shuo squatted in front of a rock wall where several deep marks remained, "all the other victims, except for Li Chongwen, were either torn to pieces on the spot, slapped to death by the snake's tail, or corroded to death by venom. Only Li Chongwen was carried away by that black snake."

"Yes, it carried him away, it didn't bite him to death," Xu Sheng affirmed. "Although Wang Laizi was scared half to death, he repeatedly emphasized that he saw the snake's head carrying Li Chongwen and sinking into the water without looking back. Li Chongwen was clearly still moving and was not dead."

Li Yuan's brows furrowed deeper and deeper. He knew Li Chongwen's character all too well: greedy, cowardly, selfish, ruthless, and extremely afraid of death. Faced with such a terrifying attack from a monster, given Li Chongwen's personality, his first reaction would undoubtedly be to scream in terror, cry for his parents, and desperately call for help.

"Lord Xu!" Li Yuan suddenly spoke up, "Did Wang Laizi mention that when my father was carried away, did he shout for help or scream?"

Xu Sheng was taken aback. He hadn't noticed the details the man mentioned during the trial, so he could only shake his head and say, "I don't know that. Wang Laizi has already been brought here. You should ask him yourself."

Li Yuan nodded and walked into the interrogation room. Wang Laizi was a middle-aged man with a sleazy appearance, his head and face covered with scars, probably from that time.

"Tell me, when Li Chongwen was carried away by that snake, did he shout for help or scream?"

Wang Laizi tilted his head, thought carefully for a moment, and then shook his head firmly: "No, I'm very sure."

Firstly, he had a vivid memory of the situation at the time, and secondly, he had been repeatedly asked about it over the past year, which reinforced his impression. Therefore, he remembered all the details very clearly.

Li Yuan nodded, and Chen Shuo looked at him and asked, "Did you discover something? He didn't scream at the time; he might have been too scared to react."

"Perhaps so, but based on my understanding of my father, he tends to panic easily and has a particular fondness for screaming, which is somewhat out of character for him."

As a son, although Li Yuan strongly suspected that Li Chongwen had colluded with the monster beforehand, he could not say it out loud, leaving the other party to draw their own conclusion.

"Could it be that your father knew beforehand that this would be difficult, so he wasn't flustered at the time?" Xu Sheng asked thoughtfully from the side.

Upon hearing this, Chen Shuo and he exchanged a glance, both seeing the seriousness in each other's eyes.

They hadn't noticed this detail before, but after Li Yuan pointed it out, they found it increasingly suspicious. Could Li Chongwen be related to the attack itself?

"By the way, the rat demon who was in charge of the transfer is still locked in the dungeon. Why don't we have Li Yuan interrogate him again to see if there are any details we've overlooked?"

Chen Shuo immediately suggested that, after all, Li Yuan was the person who knew Li Chongwen best, and only Li Yuan could confirm his identity.

In the Raozhou City dungeon, Chen Shuo interrogated the rat demon again. The rat demon had been tortured multiple times and was mentally broken. He trembled whenever he saw Chen Shuo.

"Speak! Who exactly were the people you were transporting goods in Jiangnan West Road back then?" Chen Shuo demanded sternly.

The rat demon knelt down with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly: "My lord, spare my life! I really don't know who that person is! The person's head was covered, and we couldn't even see his face clearly."

"Didn't you say he swore at someone halfway through? What did he say?"

The rat demon tried hard to recall: "He seemed very angry, he kept struggling, and he was muttering something like cursing. Once he actually cursed me out, saying something about being deceived and wishing me a terrible death. His accent sounded like the official language from the capital, but it was also a bit strange and not very pure."

"No distinguishing features at all? Do you have any moles or scars on your body, or any habitual movements?" Li Yuan couldn't help but ask.

"A habitual action?" The rat demon suddenly remembered something. "His nose seems to have some problem; he sniffs all the time. I wonder if that counts?"

Sniffing?

Li Yuan's heart skipped a beat. Li Chongwen did indeed have rhinitis, or in modern terms, allergic rhinitis, which was why he liked to sniffle frequently.

"As for the rest, I haven't seen any scars or anything on my hands or arms... I really don't know!" the rat demon cried, fearing that he would be beaten again.

Seeing that they couldn't get any more information, the group had no choice but to leave the dungeon. However, with this new clue, the possibility that it was Li Chongwen had increased even more.

That evening, everyone gathered together to discuss their next move.

Among the team members, there was one skilled in divination named Fang Yan. At Chen Shuo's instruction, he took out an ancient tortoise shell and asked Li Yuan for a few drops of his fingertip blood, which he then dripped onto the tortoise shell.

He then closed his eyes, concentrated, and began to use the Bloodline Tracking Technique.

This was the first time Li Yuan had ever seen such a miraculous tracking technique. He saw the blood on the tortoise shell slowly writhing, emitting a faint red light.

Fang Yan's face gradually turned pale, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. After a long while, he suddenly opened his eyes, exhaled a breath of stale air, and looked exhausted.

"Lord Chen, Young Master Li," Fang Yan said weakly, "the clues about your father are extremely obscure and confusing. It seems someone interfered. I can only barely sense that he is still alive."

Li Yuan was shocked. His previous worries had become a reality. He gritted his teeth in hatred, but still had to pretend to be surprised.

"Thank goodness! Thank God, Father is still alive!"

He clasped his hands together, looking extremely grateful, and said, "Thank you so much, Brother Fang, for letting me know."

Seeing him so happy, everyone couldn't help but sigh.

"It seems we have to make a trip to the Northwest," Chen Shuo said in a deep voice. "The clues at Poyang Lake have run dry. Now, only by going deep into the Northwest can we perhaps find the answer."

Without further delay, the group immediately set off northwest, passing through central Henan, and then turning west.

The journey was long, so in order to speed things up, they dealt with the goods and hurried on their way.

After passing through the Central Plains, we gradually entered the Northwest. The scenery along the way changed, with more yellow sand and drier air.

Along the way, Li Yuan often took the opportunity to ask Chen Shuo for advice on swordsmanship. Seeing that he had a high level of comprehension, Chen Shuo did not hesitate to give him pointers. Li Yuan also taught him all the ancient swordsmanship techniques he had learned.