eurekapd Chapter 560 Corpse
Chapter 560 Corpse
As she pondered these thoughts, she seemed to fall back into the vortex of despair she felt when she was first reborn, and a suffocating feeling suddenly gripped her heart.
She kept adjusting her breathing, her gaze unconsciously drifting towards the crowd. She found that everyone was silent, just like her, each person seemingly immersed in their own sad past.
Suddenly, Jiang Liqian's heart skipped a beat. Her innate alertness made alarm bells ring in her mind, and she slammed her hand on the table and stood up abruptly.
Everyone was startled and turned to look at her.
Jiang Liqian offered no explanation, only shouting, "Quickly recite the Heart-Cleansing Mantra!"
The voice, imbued with the power of thunder, struck their ears like a thunderclap. Xu You'an and the others did not hesitate at all and immediately began to silently recite the Heart-Cleansing Mantra as she instructed.
A moment later, everyone opened their eyes with clear vision, and the oppressive and suffocating feeling that had been lingering in their hearts vanished completely.
"It was just a fight, and I wasn't injured. How could such demonic energy affect a person's mind?!" Luo Qing'an clenched the handkerchief in her hand with surprise and doubt.
The others present were also either surprised or frightened, and they could vaguely sense the terror of the demon race.
Fu Wennian said, "I don't know what kind of existence the demons we fought at Willow Dark Tower are among the demon race, but... they are already close to the strength of fifth-order demon beasts!"
A fifth-tier demonic beast is equivalent to a Golden Core cultivator!
Good heavens, if the demons in Willow Dark Tower are just the most common and insignificant of the demon race, then... truly, a catastrophe is about to befall us.
The group looked at each other, and all of them felt a chill run down their spines and were extremely cold.
The few monsters they encountered have already killed many people. So, are there many more casualties in other places marked on the Water Moon map?
Is this a grand competition between sects, or the prelude to a catastrophe?
“In short,” Xu Youan said in a clear voice, “since demonic energy has such a great influence on us, if we encounter it again next time, we must recite the Mind-Clearing Mantra after the fight to eliminate distracting thoughts and prevent it from taking advantage of our weaknesses.”
"Be extremely vigilant. If you find that the Mind-Clearing Mantra is ineffective, take the Mind-Tranquilizing Pill immediately without hesitation," Luo Qing'an added, drawing on everyone's reactions to the fight.
"Yeah." Everyone nodded.
Everyone waited solemnly for Jiang Junze to return after making contact with the city lord's mansion. They waited for two hours, until the sky was just beginning to lighten, before he hurriedly came to the inn to look for them.
“Listen to me,” he took a sip of water and a deep breath, “Those who were injured or unfortunately killed have been handed over to the City Lord’s Mansion. The City Lord said that they received the warning from the sect a long time ago and have been checking for demons that might have infiltrated the crowd. However, they are short-handed and there are always oversights. I have accepted the City Lord’s request to stay here for two or three days to cooperate with them in checking the entire city and try to ensure that no more demons will harm people here. What do you think? Are you willing to stay?”
“Okay.” Qing Mu did not object. “The rules of the competition are to kill these demons.”
Fu Wennian and Luo Qing'an agreed, especially when they thought of those who died tragically, their hearts were heavy.
Xu Youan naturally followed Jiang Liqian's lead; as long as her senior sister agreed, she had no objections.
Jiang Liqian was reluctant to be with Jiang Junze, but since it concerned the people of the city, as a disciple of the Tianqian Sect, she had an inescapable responsibility, so she nodded to indicate that she was willing to stay.
Considering everyone's unfamiliarity with and uncertainty about the monsters, they unanimously decided to act together, stay together, and help each other in case of emergencies.
Luo Qing'an then carefully recounted the recap of what the others had just said to Jiang Junze. With each word Jiang Junze heard, his gaze grew more intense. After Luo Qing'an finished speaking, his eyes involuntarily fell on Jiang Liqian.
His lips moved as if he wanted to say something to his younger sister, but after meeting her distant gaze, he silently swallowed his words.
When it was fully light, the group immediately went to the city lord's mansion and acted together with the city lord's guards.
On the first day, they did not encounter any more monsters. Everything was peaceful and tranquil, just like any other ordinary day, except for a few petty thefts that Jiang Liqian caught and gave a small lesson to.
Just as everyone's tension began to ease, the next morning, they discovered three corpses with only half their bodies remaining by the clear stream. Each corpse was extremely emaciated, with an abnormal pale complexion, and looked like skin and bones, resembling three still-warm mummies.
Some of the corpses were only their upper bodies, including their heads, while others were their lower bodies, with their entire necks twisted in an abnormal position.
The scene was gruesome, yet there was little smell of blood in the air. Had Qingmu not been more sensitive to malevolent energy than the average person, she wouldn't have noticed the corpse hidden in the dense grass by the stream.
Luo Qing'an and Dan Xiu, who was skilled in autopsy in the city, approached the corpse and carefully examined it.
“Three corpses, two men and one woman. One man was over three hundred years old, at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, and the other was over four hundred years old, at the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment. The woman was less than two hundred years old, with a cultivation level of the fifth level of Qi Refining.” Luo Qing’an suppressed the shock in her eyes, trying her best to make her words sound calm, clear, and illogical. “They all had remnants of demonic energy on their bodies, and their internal organs had been completely corroded. The spiritual energy circulating in their dantian could no longer be detected.”
Demonic energy?!
Everyone present gasped in shock.
So were these three people brutally murdered by monsters?
"Are they so emaciated because they've been tainted by demonic energy?" Jiang Junze asked in a deep voice, his brows furrowed.
Luo Qing'an nodded, then shook her head: "I'm not sure if it was affected by demonic energy, but all the blood in their bodies has been drained..."
"What?!" a guard couldn't help but shout. "Three people, who can suck blood, and they've drained us all dry? What... what kind of monsters are these?!"
"I've never heard of monsters sucking blood. Aren't they supposed to be similar to demonic beasts?"
"A monster, a monster indeed!"
"Enough!" Seeing that the atmosphere of panic was almost contagious, Qing Mu shouted impatiently, "Shut up, all of you!"
The guard, who had been terrified and turned pale, twisted his face and glared angrily at Qing Mu, but since Qing Mu's cultivation was higher than his, he dared not say anything. The other guards didn't look much better either.
A thin mist hung in the air, the sky was gloomy, and the air still held a dampness. Coupled with the three gruesome corpses, it was hard to feel good.
Jiang Liqian ignored the anxious guards behind her and walked up to the three corpses, asking Luo Qing'an and the alchemist from the city lord's mansion who was examining the bodies: "Since they died from being drained of blood, where did their other half go? Do you know why the three of them were in this secluded place? Do you have any guesses?"