"There were no traces of confusing smoke found in the victims’ bodies or in the private rooms. Do we still consider the possibility of an illusion array or restriction?"

"There are obvious signs of ransacking in the auction house’s storeroom, suspected to be the murderer’s doing after the killings. But after cross-checking the storage logs, nothing was missing from the storeroom."

"According to the auction house attendants, after each auction the three Masters would always gather in the storeroom and forbid anyone from entering."

"No one noticed any suspicious individuals interacting with the three deceased."

"The three victims had complicated backgrounds as traveling merchants for years, with quite a few enemies. The possibility of a premeditated revenge killing cannot be ruled out."

...

Shen Hao went over the report line by line—the basic procedures had all been followed, and most of the firsthand case details were comprehensive. In Shen Hao’s view, there were no outstanding insights, but no major errors either—standard and by the book.

There were many suspicious points.

"Turning everything over, they’re looking for something. But nothing was stolen—so what the killer wanted wasn’t in the storeroom." Shen Hao habitually began rehearsing the case in his head, partly to pass the time.

"The auction house sees a huge volume of items come and go every day, but everything is meticulously logged. If it wasn’t in the storeroom, then either it was never stored, or it had already been sold during the day."

"Tsk..." At this, Shen Hao suddenly realized that the time of the murder seemed to be connected to him. Because on the day of the incident, he and Chen Tianwen had gone to Hongyun Auction together, and each of them bought something there. Chen Tianwen had bought a short-blade type low-grade magical artifact; what Shen Hao got was that piece of Yin Jade.

If he recalled carefully, the highest-priced item at yesterday’s auction was that rare middle-grade soft armor, followed by an ordinary top-grade magical artifact. Other than that, there was nothing special.

Except... Shen Hao had no choice but to think of the Yin Jade he had acquired. If anything was ’special,’ he was sure that the Yin Jade he bought was the most unique item at yesterday’s auction—except that piece was odd, and ordinary people wouldn’t even have noticed the faint fragment of a design on it.

This line of thought made Shen Hao suddenly feel that things really might be closing in on him.

For that piece of Yin Jade?

Thinking of this possibility, Shen Hao couldn’t sit still anymore. With a wave of his hand, he led ten Hundred Households Guards and Zhang Liao’s Team B back to camp in a hurry.

He rushed into his tent—thank goodness, the item was still there.

He was incredibly grateful that, when attending the auction yesterday, he had changed into ordinary clothes. He also hadn’t revealed his identity, and after winning the bid, left immediately without exchanging a single word with anyone else.

If—Shen Hao wondered—if he hadn’t changed out of his uniform, would things look different now?

Looking at the Yin Jade in his hand, Shen Hao felt a wave of annoyance. He knew he’d got himself into serious trouble this time.

Should he toss it away? He could just trace the pattern and be done with it, couldn’t he?

But as soon as this thought occurred, a stabbing pain surged in his chest. Clearly, he couldn’t discard it.

Thankfully, the thing wasn’t large—palm-sized, so although it dug into him a bit kept in his shirt, he could still carry it. For now, this seemed the safest way.

"Sigh..."

He’d spent the whole day depressed. In a blink, a new day had arrived. Tomorrow was the grand opening of Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute’s gates, and Pingjiang City had reached a fever pitch. Not only was the city itself overflowing with people, but a ring of makeshift tents now stood outside the city walls, sheltering the crowds who’d rushed here.

Yet amidst the bustle, the Xuanqing Guards felt an oppressive atmosphere.

Last night, there had been another killing in Pingjiang City.

Three dead—two adults and a child. At an inn. The bodies were discovered by the guests in the adjacent room. Again, killed silently and swiftly—throats slit, bled to death; not a single sign of struggle. If the neighbors hadn’t been overwhelmed by the smell of blood, the corpses probably wouldn’t have been found until morning.

Murders two days in a row, and the victims were all cultivators, all with considerable cultivation. The first three were Gathering Spirit Realm, this time one Gathering Spirit Realm, one Qi Refinement Realm, and a seven-year-old child.

The room, too, showed clear signs of having been searched, but it was unclear if anything was missing.

What made Shen Hao frown most was that he’d seen the younger of the two dead adults before. If he remembered correctly, the man had been sitting behind him and Chen Tianwen at the auction.

The first case could still be suppressed, but now a second one had happened, and this time it was at an inn. News spread immediately. Maybe there was no panic, but everyone who heard was now secretly on guard.

To be able to kill a Gathering Spirit cultivator—the culprit was not someone easily dealt with.

The second case was handled by Ji Flag. The General Flag was Ma He—he knew this was big trouble and didn’t dare take responsibility alone, so he immediately requested Liu Chuan’s permission to combine the investigation with yesterday’s first case.

As expected, the paperwork for merging the two cases was completed swiftly, and reports were filed with Li City simultaneously.

Liu Chuan was decisive too. Since the cases couldn’t be contained, might as well go public. So far, the killer’s targets were all cultivators here for the Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute opening. Making the dangers known might at least put people on guard and limit the killer’s scope of action.

However, the investigation’s intensity did not increase with the merger. Neither Liu Chuan, nor the case’s assigned investigators Han Yuan and Ma He, devoted their main energy to the matter–the grand event at Gui Mountain Institute was imminent, and they were simply too busy to spare the effort.

Shen Hao was increasingly convinced—the murderer was after him.

First day, the killer broke into the auction house to look for something. Coming up empty, he ran into the three Masters meeting in the storeroom—probably interrogated them, extracting only a rough description of the buyers: their age, build, approximate seating position. Then came the second day’s murders. Although the victim matched Shen Hao in age and build, unfortunately, the person’s seat was off by a row—a fatal, unlucky mistake.

Shen Hao sorted through the logic in his mind and couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat. Close call.

"This can’t go on. If I keep waiting, I’ll be found—it’s only a matter of time. I need to figure something out."

The simplest solution, really, was to run—get as far away as possible, and let the killer search in vain. With only vague clues, tracking down the real target was hard. The trouble was, Shen Hao couldn’t leave now.

Worse yet, judging from the killer’s techniques in both cases, their cultivation was terrifying. Shen Hao was certain—if the murderer found him, he was as good as dead.

What to do?

...

November 12th, clear sky, light breeze.

Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute throws open its gates, three trials set, recruits disciples far and wide.