Chapter 459: Treats and Invitations

Such excellent mobility seems like something only a flyer could achieve. The Goshawk immediately denied it: "There are, but they wouldn't do such a thing."

"Oh?" He He Lingchuan became interested. "Are you referring to a certain Demon King?"

"The monarch of the Mountain Feather Kingdom is a giant red-crowned eagle. It once had a record of eating an entire elephant, but it didn't swallow it whole. Furthermore, the Sleeping Ice State Preceptor who presides over the Winter Palace is a Snow Red Luan; I hear it can manifest a massive form," the Goshawk said. "Other than those, I can't think of a third."

Although these two have the ability, their status and position are what they are; it is unlikely they would run to the Chiyan Kingdom to commit crimes.

The Goshawk then added: "With spiritual energy so thin, it is difficult for the Feather Clan to produce giants anymore."

The larger a demon beast's body, the more concentrated the spiritual energy required to sustain it. Current conditions are insufficient; this is no longer the era of giant demons like in the ancient and early medieval periods.

Even the Mountain Feather monarch and the Sleeping Ice State Preceptor rely on the nourishment of powerful primordial energy to maintain such body sizes.

"Then it is a land-dwelling demon."

Jiao Yu helped deliberate: "It may not be just one."

"That is true." He He Lingchuan pondered. "They commit crimes at Ox Head Mountain; why go out of their way to come here to unload the cargo?"

"Corpses in deep mountains and old forests are not easily detected," Jiao Yu replied. "Besides, this is already the territory of Bai Shi County. Even if the remains are discovered, since there are no missing persons in the county, they likely won't bother to investigate."

Outsiders and passing demons—if they die in the wilderness, no one cares.

This is not unique to Between Beijia; looking at any country, it is the same.

Aside from local officials not wanting to get involved, it is objectively difficult to investigate. Information between prefectures and counties is blocked; how could it be easy to coordinate and investigate cases together? The culprit knows this clearly, which is why they exploit the loophole of dumping bodies across county lines.

"Is that all?" He He Lingchuan agreed with his logic, but there were still doubts. "But this is already far from the county border, and it is all deep mountains and old forests. Why specifically go deep in here to dump the bodies?"

"In your opinion?"

He He Lingchuan stood up and looked around: "This place never sees the sun, the ground is damp, and even the rocks drip water. It is likely the environment the culprit prefers. Don't forget, its previous appearances were also on rainy nights."

"Although this thing commits crimes everywhere, it must have a habitat, right?"

"You mean its lair is nearby?"

"Otherwise, why would it excrete here?" He He Lingchuan said. "If you lived in the east of the county, would you run to the west to squat?"

"... I don't have that hobby." Jiao Yu looked up and around. "There is a faint fishy stench mixed in with the corpse odor."

"It's a pity you weren't here the day the sheep thief came to steal the rock sheep." He He Lingchuan jumped onto the ground and took a water skin to wash his hands, specifically scrubbing several times with scented soap, otherwise the stench of the corpse would linger. "By the way, whose sense of smell is sharper, yours or Fu Fu Shanyue's?"

Jiao Yu was startled, thought for a moment, and said: "That would still be the Young Master."

He He Lingchuan then took the branch covered in mucus from his storage ring: "You smell it, is this the scent?"

The fierce tiger leaned in and sniffed carefully, its nose almost touching the branch.

He He Lingchuan believed his words; from this posture, one could see that the Ba's sense of smell was more sensitive.

Finally, the fierce tiger made the call: "Yes, that's it!"

He He Lingchuan took a deep breath.

Well, it turns out this culprit is the real sheep thief. Sure enough, public business and private grudges can be settled together; Fu Fu Shanyue didn't entrust the wrong person.

After a moment of thought, he said: "Since we're already here, I want to go see the porcupine den."

"Mount Yulun Mountain?" Jiao Yu was present when he interrogated Wang Wang Mazi and knew what he was referring to. "It's on the other side of Zhitian Township. It's getting dark; do you want to stay in the township for the night?"

"Yes." So far, the information collected was already substantial, but He He Lingchuan knew clearly that the investigation lacked the most important thing: a breakthrough.

The other party acted covertly; although they left traces, it was not enough to track them.

Why is this demon eating people and demons everywhere within the Chiyan borders?

Simply to fill its stomach?

The income of Zhitian Township alone accounts for two-thirds of the entire Bai Shi County.

Therefore, the Bai Shi County government office is directly located in Youtian Town of Zhitian Township, making it convenient to handle various affairs.

It was already dusk when He He Lingchuan entered the town.

The streets and alleys of Youtian Town were clearly more orderly than those of Shuangyi Town, and street lamps hung under the street trees to facilitate night travel for pedestrians.

Every household had lights on; He He Lingchuan could always smell the aroma of food and hear the voices of people in the alleys on the street.

There were many large mansions here, some with considerable footprints, smooth outer walls, and exquisite roof tiles, clearly indicating that wealthy families lived inside.

Jiao Hu also introduced to him: "The townspeople basically all grow medicinal herbs. Among them, several large households that do herb business bought land and built mansions after getting rich."

The ecology of a town is very simple: some grow, some collect, and some transport out; that is how wealth and goods circulate.

He He Lingchuan, however, asked one question:

"Where do the demons live?"

"Most reside in the mountain forests on the edge of the town," Jiao Yu replied. "If they are demons that cooperate with humans to grow herbs, they will also move into these mansions."

There were several inns in the town. Now that He He Lingchuan's travel expenses could be reimbursed, he naturally chose the largest and most expensive one to stay in.

The decoration of the guest room was also quite unique; it was a small courtyard with a single door, and an old tree stump in the patio was covered with purple ganoderma and white spirit mushrooms.

How would a crow dare to fight a Goshawk for a tree stump? It had to land on a tree in the courtyard.

After completing the check-in procedures, He He Lingchuan said to Jiao Yu: "I'll have to trouble Lord Jiao to make a trip to the county government office and report the case we handled to the officials."

Jiao Yu nodded: "You are right. These cases are tricky, and the cooperation of local officials is indispensable."

It left for half an hour.

When Jiao Yu reappeared, it brought back an invitation: The Bai Shi County Magistrate invited the Special Envoy and General Ling to a banquet, requesting they please grace them with their presence.

He He Lingchuan immediately rubbed his stomach, stood up, and agreed instantly: "Good, I just happened not to have eaten dinner."

It had been dark for a long time, and he hadn't ordered food; Jiao Yu suspected he was just waiting for this meal.

The banquet was held at the best restaurant in town, Xihong Tower.

The Bai Shi County Magistrate stood at the entrance of the restaurant with seven or eight people waiting. Seeing He He Lingchuan and the others arrive, he immediately stepped forward to welcome them: "This must be the Crown Prince's Special Envoy. Greetings, General Ling, Lord Jiao, and Lord Wu!"

Lord Wu referred to the Goshawk.

He He Lingchuan was also quite adept at social niceties. The two sides met like old friends of many years, exchanged pleasantries, and then went upstairs to take their seats.

The Bai Shi County Magistrate toasted He He Lingchuan before introducing the few people beside him: "These are the local gentry of Zhitian Township. Hearing that the Special Envoy and General Ling have arrived, they all wanted to come and meet you."

When he mentioned the Special Envoy, he also had to include General Ling, showing respect for this old sheep.

General Ling grunted, lowered its head to drink, and didn't pay much attention to others.

The cups used by humans were too small; it insisted on using a large bowl, and with one dip of its head, it could sip half a bowl of wine.

The Magistrate seemed unfazed by its attitude, only introducing the people to He He Lingchuan one by one, and these people also raised their glasses one by one.

The so-called local gentry were actually the wealthy, influential families of Zhitian Township. Needless to say, this banquet must have been paid for out of their own pockets.

They represented the highest level of financial power in Zhitian Township.

He He Lingchuan took a look; they were all humans.

After much clinking of glasses, the dishes were served in a steady stream.

The restaurant here also had the characteristics of Zhitian Township, famous for medicinal cuisine. Things like blood vine stewed with old crab, eucommia fried with sheep kidneys, polygonum multiflorum stir-fried with liver slices, and fragrant fried ground ginseng...

He He Lingchuan even suspected that if a normal person ate this table of medicinal cuisine, they would have a nosebleed.

Fortunately, the wine served at the banquet was sweet rice wine rather than medicinal wine, warm and mellow, smooth on the throat and suppressing dryness.

Jiao Yu had already recounted the case process to the Bai Shi County Magistrate earlier, and the latter said to He He Lingchuan: "Reporting to the Special Envoy, this official has already ordered people to register the Wind-Drilling Beast case and compare it with past files to see if there are any new clues."

The local gentry all said: "I didn't expect such a thing to happen in Zhitian Township."

"That demon is truly bold and arrogant!"

He He Lingchuan asked the crowd: "Has Zhitian Township never reported any missing persons cases?"

The crowd shook their heads: "Not in recent years."

"And there were no abnormalities usually?"

The crowd looked at each other and shook their heads again: "The farming in the fields and countryside is all normal; there are no problems at all."

He He Lingchuan then said to the Bai Shi County Magistrate: "Tomorrow I want to go to the porcupine den under Mount Yulun Mountain to take a look."

"Porcupine den?" The Bai Shi County Magistrate was very surprised. "No one has been there for a long time. Could it be that this matter has some connection to the missing messenger case?"

"If there were no connection, I wouldn't be here." He He Lingchuan's words made the Magistrate feel uneasy.

"I heard that the whole den of porcupines died in the cave last year; it was quite bizarre," General Ling said bluntly. "Was this matter not investigated in detail?"

"At that time, heavy snow blocked the mountains, and it wasn't until the following spring that the villagers discovered them. The demon nest was crushed by a giant rock from above; that should be the cause of death," the Bai Shi County Magistrate said. "These are all on record; the Special Envoy can check."

"What do you mean by 'should be'?" General Ling was displeased. "If it is, it is; if it isn't, it isn't. Didn't you send a coroner there at the time?"

"I sent one, I sent one. I sent the best coroner in the county," the Bai Shi County Magistrate didn't want to take the blame. "But after all, a winter and spring had passed, and the bones had already rotted; it was truly impossible to verify anything else."

He sighed after saying this: "A den of porcupines, how could it be related to Spirit Void City?"

He He Lingchuan asked instead of answering: "I heard these porcupines were very unpopular in the township?"

"Yes, it's not very good," a local gentry member spoke up. "Both water sources in Zhitian Township pass through their territory before flowing into our fields. These porcupines often find excuses to cut off our water."

"Have you ever taken action?"

The crowd looked at each other again, and then a local gentry member said slowly: "They are local bullies. They have injured many people and been sued, and in the end, they paid money, but none of us could do anything about them. The County Assistant has mediated for us many times, but in the end, we still had to make some concessions."

General Ling sneered: "Concessions? I see that the ones eating the bitter loss must be that group of porcupines. You people are much craftier than monkeys."

This wealthy man opened his mouth to argue but was interrupted by someone pulling his sleeve.

Why argue with a great demon? He He Lingchuan asked again: "What is the root of the conflict?"

This time the local gentry kept quiet, and the Bai Shi County Magistrate coughed: "It's still the water source."

(End of chapter)