I Possess a Scroll of Demon-Subduing Records

By the time Chen Huaiyuan discovered the anomaly upon reaching the mountain and smashed the jade talisman given to him by Qu Jing, Lin Yi and the others had already arrived at the northern foot of Hengshan Mountain.

"There's something going on in Xingsha City, I need to go back and check it out."

Qu Jing didn't expect that on the very first day she left, something would happen at Jingye Division, and it was even done using the most urgent emergency contact method.

So, what kind of auspicious place is Xingsha City? How come it's never quiet for even a day?

Lin Yi was also speechless, but he was somewhat used to it. In fact, the request for help came at just the right time.

He decisively stepped forward and said, "You don't need to go back. Let me go in your place."

"But aren't you afraid that woman will ambush you?"

"Don't worry, if she dares to come, I'll make sure she doesn't leave alive."

Seeing Lin Yi's confident demeanor, Qu Jing was somewhat unsure of his abilities, but since Jiang Linglong didn't object, she naturally didn't either.

The others thought the same way. Although they didn't understand where Lin Yi got his confidence from, Jiang Linglong didn't object. Since Lin Yi was so confident, they couldn't hold him back.

So Jiang Linglong led them south, while Lin Yi returned to Xingsha County to provide assistance.

Lin Yi had already planned to leave the team; only by leaving the team would Thousand Illusion Ghost Princess make a move against him.

Now that his cultivation has greatly increased, as long as Qianhuan Guiji doesn't have any hostages and doesn't let her hold his manhood, Lin Yi isn't afraid of her at all.

This departure from the group was intended to lure the enemy out.

Lin Yi found it strange that Qianhuan Guiji hadn't made a move during their journey all the way to Xingsha City. Was she not following him, or was she being overly cautious, worried that Jiang Linglong might be lying in ambush?

Lin Yi searched all the way to Lushan without being attacked. After reuniting with Chen Huaiyuan, he temporarily put aside the matter of Qianhuan Guiji and asked about Chen Huaiyuan's situation.

Chen Huaiyuan was also disappointed that he had summoned Qu Jing, but Lin Yi had come instead. In his opinion, Lin Yi's strength was still far inferior to Qu Jing's.

But since we're already here, we're teammates after all.

"The people on the mountain are all frozen, including the monks of Lushan Temple and Shang Chang'er, as well as some pilgrims who are staying overnight. I don't know what kind of force froze them. I dare not act rashly, lest I harm their lives."

Frozen? Could it really be a snow demon?

The thought flashed through Lin Yi's mind, and he hurried up the mountain. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Shang Chang'er and a woman next to her.

Judging from their positions, the other person seemed to be traveling with Shang Chang'er.

Regardless of who the other person is, they might be fellow pilgrims who just happened to be traveling together.

This was not relevant to the case, so Lin Yi went up first and cracked the ice on their faces twice, but without harming the people inside.

Qianhuan Guiji was overjoyed to see Lin Yi now. With Lin Yi here, her long wait was worthwhile.

The moment the ice broke, she froze and collapsed, like an ordinary woman who had been frozen senseless.

Lin Yi quickly put his arm around her, held her wrist and felt it. He found that her pulse was weak and very dangerous, so he quickly put a talisman on her wrist.

The same procedure was applied to Shang Chang'er, but when he went to break the ice on the monk, he found that the monk had frozen to death. Lin Yi continued to go inside and found that there were a total of 147 monks and pilgrims inside. 112 of the monks were dead, while 35 of the pilgrims still had faint breaths left.

In other words, was this a massacre targeting the entire Lushan Temple?

Chapter 266 Who's Conquering Whom?

The majority of the worshippers remaining at Lushan Temple were women, and the few men were servants of the noblewomen. This made Lin Yi wonder if Lushan Temple had some unspeakable dirty business that had attracted such retaliation.

In short, all the monks were dead, and Lin Yi could only try his best to revive the others.

Aside from the Thousand Illusion Ghost Princess who was pretending to be asleep, the first to wake up was Shang Chang'er. When she saw Lin Yi, she became excited and exclaimed, "I really found the Snow Demon!"

"Snow Demon?"

It seems this really is a witness.

Lin Yi then gave Shang Chang'er a calming talisman to help her calm down before asking, "Don't get excited, tell me slowly what you saw."

Shang Chang'er then described the scene she saw after going up the mountain.

She heard a sigh and saw a beautiful woman. She spoke to the woman, which caused the woman to exhale, and then she was frozen in ice.

That beauty must be the Snow Fairy!

Lin Yi did not doubt Shang Chang'er's judgment, but from her description, he knew that this matter was very likely to become an unsolved mystery.

Most cases of monsters harming people are like this: even if the perpetrator is known, in the end, all that is done is to create a file, learn some information from witnesses, or just record some descriptions of the crime scene, and that's it.

Solving the case is difficult in itself.

Most monsters are characterized by their mobile nature and tendency to commit crimes. In situations where transportation is inconvenient and communication is underdeveloped, it is time-consuming and laborious to capture such criminals, and there is no guarantee of success.

When the Jingye Division was at its peak, it established archives and could cooperate in multiple locations, leaving no place for harmful monsters to hide. Even if they couldn't be caught, they could at least be kept quiet.

When the Jingye Division weakened, all it could do was create archives; whether there would be any follow-up depended on fate.

This had always been the case before Lin Yi joined the Jingye Division.

But if that's always been the case, then is it right?

Lin Yi didn't consider whether Lushan Temple had done anything wrong for the time being. Before the truth came out, the victim-blaming argument didn't apply to the investigators.

After basically identifying the suspect, Lin Yi activated his third eye.

His nose couldn't detect any useful scents in this frozen place, so he had to try using his third eye.

This test actually led Lin Yi to discover something.

Under the Heavenly Eye, Lin Yi saw many blue specks of light scattered in the air, and Shang Chang'er and other survivors had even more of these specks wrapped around them.

These points of light extended into the distance, meaning that the snow demon seen by Shang Chang'er might be at the end of these points of light.

Since that's the case, Lin Yi has no reason to let it go.

However, these points of light did not disappear immediately, and Lin Yi did not chase after them right away. Instead, he carefully took Shang Chang'er's pulse again and said, "Your qi and blood are slightly stagnant. Go home and rest well. I have found a clue and will go investigate it first."

After saying that, he said to Chen Huaiyuan, "I'll leave the follow-up here to you."

Seeing that Lin Yi hadn't noticed anything unusual about her, Qianhuan Guiji couldn't help but smile slightly. Sure enough, her concealment technique was beyond Lin Yi's ability to see through. As long as she didn't reveal her special abilities, Lin Yi wouldn't notice anything amiss.

However, her goal wasn't just to secretly hide by Lin Yi's side; that wouldn't be exciting at all.

"Thank you for saving me, sir."

The Thousand Illusions Ghost Princess's voice drew Lin Yi's attention. Lin Yi looked in the direction of the voice and saw a delicate and frail little girl whose appearance was particularly pitiful.

Those who go up the mountain to burn incense and pray to Buddha are more or less facing some intractable difficulties. Now, they have encountered such bad luck. Lin Yi's heart softened and he replied, "It's my duty. There's no need to worry about it."

Shang Chang'er felt a little embarrassed and interjected, "It's all my fault for dragging you into this. If I hadn't insisted on finding the Snow Demon, you wouldn't have encountered this."

"Oh? You two know each other?"

Lin Yi sensed something amiss from the conversation between Shang Chang'er and Qianhuan Guiji. Shang Chang'er nodded decisively and said, "We met by chance at the city gate..."

Shang Chang'er then began to describe how pitiful and helpless the girl was, and Lin Yi listened and it did seem to make sense, until Shang Chang'er revealed her name.

"Miss Lin Ling has really had a tough time. I was injured on duty this time, so I should be able to rest for a bit. I'd like to take her to see the person she wants to see."

Lin Yi: "..."

Upon hearing the name Lin Ling, Lin Yi's scalp tightened. When he looked at her in shock, he saw the seemingly weak and innocent girl suddenly smile.

Wow, what a terrifying story!

Although Lin Yi was no longer much afraid of Qianhuan Guiji in terms of strength, he still felt terrible when he saw that smile.

If it's just a coincidence that they share the same name, Lin Yi could consider it a mere coincidence. But this smile seems to be a deliberate hint, as if she's worried that Lin Yi is too naive to recognize her.

At this moment, Lin Yi was truly stunned, completely unable to keep up with the thinking of a mentally ill person. After the initial shock, he forced himself to regain his composure and said, "According to you, she is indeed quite pitiful, but you do need to rest. Leave this matter to me!"

A true hero dares to face the bleakness of life. I don't know why Qianhuan Guiji chose Shang Chang'er, but Lin Yi has no reason to let Shang Chang'er and Qianhuan Guiji continue to be alone.

Shang Chang'er, however, was a little displeased and said jealously, "You're not just being overly attentive to that girl because she's pretty, are you?"

She is also a warm-hearted person, but she doesn't want Lin Yi to be too enthusiastic about other girls.

Lin Yi quickly replied, "Do I look like that kind of person? If I were, wouldn't I be more attentive to you?"

"you!"

Shang Chang'er blushed and said in embarrassment and annoyance, "Don't laugh at me!"

"Alright, if you really don't want to rest, you can stay here and help Chief Constable Chen handle the aftermath. The clues I found are on the way back, so Miss Lin, you can come with me."

"Thank you, sir."

Qianhuan Guiji's performance was excellent, fully demonstrating the proper attitude of a commoner woman when facing officials. Although Shang Chang'er was very dissatisfied with being dismissed so easily, she still stayed to help Chen Huaiyuan.

Too many people died at Lushan Temple, and dozens were injured. Lushan Temple was a huge place in the Xingsha County area. It was suddenly wiped out. Who knows what kind of impact it will have!

In any case, Jingye Division can only do its best to clean up the mess and avoid being affected by the open and covert struggles in the cultivation world.

On the other side, Lin Yi led Qianhuan Guiji down the mountain. Along the way, Lin Yi was not exactly cautious, but he was quite wary of her. However, Qianhuan Guiji did not make a move along the way and just silently watched Lin Yi.

Judging from her appearance, it seems she's enjoying her time with Lin Yi.

Seeing her composure, Lin Yi finally couldn't help but speak first.

"Sometimes I really can't understand you. With your disguise skills, it shouldn't be difficult for you to get close to me without making a sound. Why do you make me recognize you?"

“If you don’t recognize me, then there’s no point in me being with you, so I want you to decide to be with me after you recognize me.”

Thousand Illusion Ghost Princess's gaze never left Lin Yi for a moment. The two stood there, looking at each other.

Unable to determine whether Qianhuan Guiji was joking, Lin Yi countered, "Aren't you afraid that I'll feign submission and then conspire with someone to kill you?"

"If you really want to kill me, then do it. I won't resist."

As if speaking the truth, the Thousand Illusion Ghost Princess slowly advanced towards Lin Yi without offering any resistance, which frightened Lin Yi into retreating continuously.

He was confident that he was not afraid of the Thousand Illusion Demon Princess, but that did not mean he thought he could defeat her.

Even when he and Bai Lianxian joined forces, they still couldn't gain any advantage against Qianhuan Guiji!

The Thousand Illusion Demon Princess is stronger than him, so he's not afraid. He can run away if he's careful and on guard.

If you really aren't afraid, you'd need to reach Jiang Linglong's level of skill to ensure you're always one step ahead of others.

Even though Lin Yi's cultivation level is already quite high, the higher his cultivation level is, the more he feels that his cultivation level is not enough.

Now that the Thousand Illusion Ghost Princess is getting closer, Lin Yi has no choice but to retreat.

The Thousand Illusion Ghost Princess was somewhat saddened. She said helplessly, "In your eyes, am I really that scary?"