Chapter 106: Who Is the Killer?

There were perhaps hundreds of corpses piled up into a small hill. Most of them had been burned beyond recognition, emitting a nauseating smell that added to the already gloomy atmosphere of the valley.
The ground was covered in bloodstains, staining the entire valley red. Scattered broken weapons and severed limbs further indicated that a brutal massacre had taken place here. Although the victims resisted, their efforts were powerlessly suppressed.
“What exactly happened?” Ye Feng and Long Tian stared in shock at the scene before them. The Ghost Market had truly become a place filled with corpses, devoid of any sign of life.
“The brutality is extreme—hundreds of people were slaughtered like this! Whoever did this must be extremely powerful! I’ll check first if the killer is still here and see if there are any survivors!” Ye Feng said as he activated his energy detector. Within its range, aside from a yellow dot approaching their direction, there were only Long Tian and himself.
“There aren’t any survivors, and the killer has fled. But there’s a Golden Core-level expert coming from the east, heading this way,” Ye Feng frowned.
“I understand. Is Hu Die okay?” Long Tian suddenly asked.
Ye Feng was momentarily stunned before realizing something was wrong. His detector could now cover an entire city’s area. But aside from him and Long Tian, there was only one Golden Core-level expert approaching from another direction—Hu Die’s presence could no longer be detected at all. His pupils constricted sharply. “Hu Die is in trouble!”
“What?” Long Tian, worried he might have heard wrong, stared at Ye Feng and asked again.
“The range scan shows she’s no longer within detection range. There are only two possibilities: either she was killed, or she was taken away from here.”
“Let’s go back!” Long Tian rushed back toward the cave they had just come from without hesitation. At that moment, the Golden Core-level expert had just entered the valley and saw Long Tian fleeing frantically and Ye Feng preparing to leave.
Ye Feng was concerned that the expert might see them as threats and wanted to explain, but it would be difficult to do so quickly. Moreover, given the killer’s cruel methods, he feared Long Tian wouldn’t be able to handle the situation alone. He decided to chase after Long Tian first.

The man at the Golden Core stage glanced at Long Tian and Ye Feng as they fled, as well as the terrifying scene before him, and immediately turned to leave. “I must inform others before those two come to hunt me.”

The two quickly arrived at the small thatched cottage where Hu Die had lived ten minutes earlier. The door was wide open, and the inside was utterly silent. Seeing this, Long Tian paused for a moment, his expression tense as he stared at the open door before rushing inside.

When Ye Feng entered later, he was equally stunned. It was a huge white butterfly with wings spanning nearly two meters. Its abdomen was firmly pinned to the wall with a sharp blade, and its wings were also fully spread, each pinned to the wall with a dagger—resembling a butterfly specimen, except its tail swayed gently in the wind. Red blood dripped continuously down the wall, staining the ground a dark red—a horrifying sight!

Hu Die, pinned to the wall, was already lifeless.

Long Tian pulled out the sword and the two daggers, gently placing Hu Die on the ground. He stared quietly at her face, untouched by time.

“Who could it be???” Long Tian knelt in front of Hu Die, his fists clenched tightly.

“There’s more than one enemy; it must be a gang!” Ye Feng frowned. “As Hu Die said, there’s only one path from the Ghost Market to here—the one we took. We didn’t meet anyone along the way, which means the killer didn’t attack Hu Die after killing the people in the Ghost Market. It was someone else!”

“The killer was so fast; they must be a powerhouse at the Yuan Ying stage. After all, Hu Die was already at the peak of the Golden Core stage. It wasn’t easy to kill her!” Ye Feng continued analyzing.

Long Tian remained silent, kneeling there with his head bowed…

After a long while, he finally spoke, “Her Golden Core was shattered. Aside from the wounds on her abdomen and wings, she had no other injuries. The shattering of her Golden Core was the main cause of her death. In this case, it’s impossible to determine what weapon the killer used; we only know they’re a powerhouse at the Yuan Ying stage.”

Gently touching the wound on Hu Die’s abdomen, Long Tian said softly, “Sis Hu, rest in peace. I’ll avenge you. I’ll definitely find the real culprit!”

“Should we find a place to bury her?” Ye Feng asked Long Tian for his opinion. In his mind, leaving Hu Die’s body there might allow forensic experts to discover something new, which would be more helpful in investigating the killer. But seeing Long Tian’s expression, he could understand why Long Tian wanted Hu Die to be laid to rest in peace.

“Better not disturb the scene! Let other cultivators skilled in investigation take a look later. It would be even better if they can find more clues!” Long Tian slowly stood up and shook his head. “Her Sumeru Ring was also taken away. I wonder what exactly they were after?”

“With that said, I remember that in the valley just now, aside from the broken weapons, no other items remained. It seems all those stalls were emptied…” Ye Feng recalled the scene. Indeed, not a single item from the stalls was left on the ground. If it had been just for slaughter, the items on the stalls would have been scattered everywhere, and no one would have bothered to clean them up. Since all the items disappeared, could it be that they were looking for something?

“You mean this massacre was aimed at stealing a certain item?” Long Tian quickly realized this and was somewhat surprised.

“That could be their motive for the massacre!” Ye Feng sighed softly, clearly feeling sorry for those who died.

“It’s in such a mess here. Let’s go back first! Those killers are in City H. Who knows what else they might do. I’m worried about Long Yue and the others!” Long Tian said, turning around and rushing out the door.

Ye Feng also frowned slightly and followed him out.