novelraw Chapter 236 - 104: Canghui City [Second Update]
Chapter 236 - 104: Canghui City [Second Update]
Nan Hua initially planned to reveal their identities, but was stopped by Yue Zhao. After receiving Yue Zhao’s gaze, Nan Hua closed his mouth, quietly thanked the guard, and then entered the city.The city was extremely desolate. It was morning, yet there were hardly any people on the streets, and even the shops on both sides were closed. The fallen leaves on the street were blown by the wind, giving a bleak feeling.
"No way? Has this matter affected Canghui City that much? There aren’t even any people on the streets." Nan Hua looked at the shop beside them and noticed that when someone inside met his gaze, they quickly shut the window, thinking that the people’s reaction was a bit exaggerated.
"Canghui City becoming like this can only mean that the situation is more serious than what the City Lord of Canghui City said, otherwise Canghui City wouldn’t end up like this." Yue Zhao observed the surroundings thoughtfully and said.
"There’s not even a shadow here, and those people hide when they see us. How are we supposed to investigate?" Mu Chen, also noticing people peeking at them through windows, said somewhat distressed.
"We should keep going in, find an inn to stay for the time being, and then learn more about what’s happening in Canghui City." Yue Zhao contemplated for a moment before suggesting.
"That’s all we can do." Nan Hua nodded and sighed.
The group walked along the street for a long time, finishing one street without finding a single open shop. Instead, lots of paper money were blown onto the street by the wind. They switched to another street and heard faint crying. Exchanging glances, they headed toward the direction of the crying.
They arrived at the entrance of a large residence. Based on the scale of the house, the residents here must be well off, likely influential in Canghui City, as the estate took up a substantial area.
The crying came from inside the residence, and there were white banners and white lanterns at the gate, indicating a death in the family.
They exchanged glances, and Nan Hua and Mu Chen stepped forward to knock on the door.
This street was just as quiet as the previous one, making their knocks sound particularly loud. While waiting, they heard the sound of chaotic footsteps inside, but no one opened the door for them.
"Keep knocking." Yue Zhao’s smile deepened slightly as he said.
Nan Hua and Mu Chen turned around and knocked again, this time with more force, making the knocking sound even louder.
After a while, a voice came from inside the door.
"Who’s outside?" The speaker was clearly very nervous, and their voice trembled slightly.
"We were passing by, heard that Canghui City has been unstable recently, and heard crying on the street. We wanted to come and see what’s happening. Would it be possible to let us in?" Nan Hua raised his voice to speak to the person inside.
"My masters are unable to receive guests. Please leave." Another voice came from inside, deeper than before but still noticeably nervous.
Nan Hua turned to look at Yue Zhao.
Yue Zhao thought for a while and shook his head at Nan Hua.
"Since that’s the case, we apologize for disturbing you. We’ll leave now." he shouted inside, as Nan Hua and Mu Chen returned to Yue Zhao’s side.
Glancing at that black door, Yue Zhao led Gu Qingqing and the others away.
After searching several streets, they couldn’t find an open inn. Losing patience, they finally found a seemingly decent inn on the last street they walked and knocked on the door.
Like the previous household, there were people inside the inn, but no one opened the door.
"Second senior brother, what should we do?" Gu Qingqing turned to look at Yue Zhao and asked.
Yue Zhao thought for a moment and cleared his throat, "I know there are people inside. If you don’t open the door, we’ll break in. If anything happens then, we won’t be responsible!"
As soon as Yue Zhao said this, there was the sound of a chair falling and hurried footsteps inside.
Nan Hua raised an eyebrow and gave Yue Zhao a thumbs-up. It was the first time he saw Yue Zhao threaten someone like that!
Yue Zhao glanced at Nan Hua, not taking his teasing seriously, and waited for someone from the inn to open the door.
After a long while, the door was carefully opened from inside, and a head peeked out.
It was an elderly man who appeared to be around fifty or sixty years old. His hair was half white and half gray, but it was neatly arranged. The elder’s cultivation seemed to be around the third tier, and the wrinkles on his face were quite pronounced. He looked at Gu Qingqing and the others with great fear in his eyes.
"Honored guests, our shop has already closed and we are not receiving guests." The old man trembled as he spoke, very cautious in his tone, and ready to retreat into the door at any moment, as if he feared Gu Qingqing and the others might attack him.
Nan Hua raised an eyebrow at the elder, "We’ve walked through several streets. This is the last inn we’ve found. Whether you’re accepting guests or not, you’ll have to take us in today. I’m not good-tempered; if you make me unhappy, I might do something."
He twirled the fan in his hand, his attitude casual, with a slight smile at the corner of his lips. He seemed to be a noble gentleman, but his words turned him into a demon in the old man’s eyes.
The elder flinched slightly, and stammered, "Please wait a moment, I will go ask my master."
After speaking, he retracted his head and closed the door.
"Third senior brother, you looked really cool just now, like you have the potential of a tyrant." Gu Qingqing moved closer to Nan Hua, giving him a thumbs-up.
"Thank you, but that was not a compliment." Nan Hua sighed, his forehead marked by three black lines, unwillingly pulling at the corners of his mouth.
Gu Qingqing covered her mouth and laughed, then was pulled to his side by Jun Wu.
Thanks to Nan Hua’s threat, before long, hurried footsteps could be heard from the inn. Immediately after, the inn’s doors opened, and a middle-aged man first glanced down both sides of the street to find that except for Gu Qingqing and the others, there was no one else. He let out a slight sigh of relief before looking at Gu Qingqing and them.
He was taken aback by Gu Qingqing and the others’ appearance. From the servant’s description, he had thought it was a group of thugs, but instead, it was a group of noble sons and daughters, though he was still cautious, his attitude eased somewhat.
"Honored guests, my apologies. Recently, some things have been happening in Canghui City, and everyone is on edge. For safety, we have closed our shop. I hope you won’t mind!" He offered a flattering smile to Gu Qingqing and the others.
"No harm done. May we come in now?" Yue Zhao, taking the lead, walked up to the proprietor and asked.
"Of course, of course you can." The proprietor nodded and bowed to invite Yue Zhao and the others inside.
From the outside, this inn appeared decently furnished. Upon entering, they found it also quite new inside and not messy due to being closed. Yue Zhao and the others let out a sigh of relief, as they didn’t want to stay in a dirty and unkempt place.
"Prepare seven rooms, and we’ve been traveling all night. Prepare some hot water and food for us. We’ll need them after we freshen up." Yue Zhao tossed a high-grade Spirit Stone to the proprietor while walking.
The proprietor caught the Spirit Stone thrown by Yue Zhao, and upon discovering it was high-grade, a gleam of delight flashed in his eyes. He quickly nodded, instructing the staff to guide Gu Qingqing and the others to the guest rooms while ordering others to prepare the things Yue Zhao asked for.
After Gu Qingqing and the others had freshened up, the food was ready. They did not dine in the main hall but decided to have their meal in Yue Zhao’s room.
Mu Chen first inspected all the dishes, then everyone began dining while discussing the situation in Canghui City.
"The current situation in Canghui City is far from what the City Lord of Canghui City described. If only twenty-odd people were dead, the city wouldn’t be this desolate. It’s already noon, and yet no one is active on the streets, indicating that this situation has scared everyone. The house we passed earlier, the one holding a funeral, might be one of the victims. We’ll investigate tonight," Yue Zhao said, thinking and communicating with the others.
"I just asked the innkeeper. He said that forty to fifty people have died in Canghui City, and the highest cultivation level among them was the eighth tier. That man was a resident of Canghui City; his home is here. According to his family, he was killed at home, quite unexpectedly, as they didn’t hear any noise. By the time they discovered him, he was already dead, and his heart was missing." Nan Hua, skilled in interacting with people, managed to extract quite a bit of information from the innkeeper in a short amount of time.
"If that’s the case, our previous judgment was wrong. To silently kill an eighth-tier expert, the person is either skilled in poison or has cultivation above the ninth tier, making this quite tricky," Gu Qingqing analyzed, frowning as she accepted the cup Jun Wu handed her.
"Was it only that eighth-tier cultivator who had his heart removed?" Jun Wu turned to ask Nan Hua, watching Gu Qingqing drink the Spiritual Dew from the cup.
"Every person killed had an organ removed, some their heart, others their liver, and some their lungs," Nan Hua clearly did thorough inquiry, though somewhat suppressing the fact that Jun Wu initiated the conversation, answered his question.
"What does the murderer need these organs for?" Yun Ran asked, biting a piece of meat, puzzled.
"Not sure. Some Evil Cultivators’ cultivation techniques require human organs, and some rituals call for organs, though usually animal ones. It’s definitely not for anything good," Yue Zhao put down his teacup and said.
"The City Lord of Canghui City must know more about the situation here. So many people have died, yet why did she report only twenty people to the White Tiger Sacred Land?" Mu Chen swallowed the food in his mouth, raising his question.
At these words, Yue Zhao and the others all frowned.