Chapter 6: Yu Wind

"This son of a bitch did it on purpose!" Feng Zhi said with a dark face, spitting a mouthful of phlegm on the ground.

Everyone clearly realized this point.

The murderer could seriously injure Lin Lin with one palm, so naturally, he could also kill him casually. But he deliberately let the dying father watch his daughter being cruelly devoured in despair, and then left him for this fierce beast.

Seeing Pei Ye squatted down to look carefully. The traces left by this beast were stingy. Even this trail toward Lin Lin, which was the clearest, was very faint. Fortunately, the rain weakened in the early morning, otherwise, it was afraid that even this wouldn't have been left.

The claw prints were slightly larger than his own soles. The palm shape was slightly like a triangle, extending four finger claws, three in front and one in the back. And for some reason, Seeing Pei Ye always felt that the shapes of these claw prints were inconsistent, as if they were changing. Looking along them, it seemed... they were getting bigger and bigger?

Chang Zhiyuan tilted his head and asked: "What about the direction it left?"

"This is the strangest thing. We can't find any traces of it coming or going."

"What do you mean?" Chang Zhiyuan frowned tightly.

"Those criminal footprints extended all the way into the river. They should have run away by boat. The river, to put it simply, has two directions: entering the city and leaving the city. We can fully investigate. But this beast didn't leave any claw prints, as if it disappeared into thin air after committing the crime... or, it didn't leave here at all."

The last half of the sentence made both of them shudder, but looking around, the sky was bright, and the bailiffs were bustling, without anything waiting for an opportunity.

Feng Zhi pointed: "Look, the south is the county town, the west is a large river beach, and the east and north are dirt roads and fields. After the heavy rain, it's all mud. But the claw prints only appeared here. I really can't figure out where this beast went?"

Seeing Pei Ye suddenly said: "What if it flies?"

Feng Zhi was stunned, touched his beard, and said: "That's not right either! It rained heavily yesterday. Fearing that the crops would be soaked, many people went to the fields to drain water early this morning. At that time, the sky was considered bright. If something flew up from the fields, no one would not see it."

Several people thought for a while without a clue, so they put this section aside first. Seeing Pei Ye squatted down and flipped through the only long sleeping garment several times, frowning: "Two adults, something is not quite right."

"What's not right?"

Seeing Pei Ye pointed: "The other three only wore undergarments. Beast claws can easily tear clothes to the ground, so 'people completely disappeared, clothes completely remained' doesn't seem abnormal. But how did this victim, who wore long clothes and pants, look like this?"

Feng Zhi's pupils shrank, understanding Seeing Pei Ye's meaning: A monster eating people wouldn't be like a person eating an orange, peeling the skin clean before eating. Would a monster that swallowed people whole, skin and bones alike, leave the clothes completely intact? And how did this sleeping garment leave only blood stains without a bit of meat or bone fragments?

A hair-raising image appeared in his mind: the victim turned into a pool of paste and was sucked clean by that beast of unknown shape like a bee eating dew.

This imagination was too creepy. Feng Zhi twisted his huge body slightly without opening his mouth.

At this time, the sound of horse hooves stopped outside the forest. Several people looked over. Shen Yanping flipped off his horse and walked over quickly, holding a book in his hand.

"Everyone, I've found that feeling of familiarity." This inspector's face was slightly pale, his voice gentle. Before he walked over, he said first: "That mark is indeed a precursor to being victimized."

Chang Zhiyuan said: "What is the proof?"

Shen Yanping gasped for breath and chanted slowly: "The spirit has its preferences, the text makes me dizzy, the tortoise shell says auspicious, in three days I will ascend to immortality."

Chang Zhiyuan narrowed his eyes: "Yu Wind · The Spirit Has Its Preferences."

Feng Zhi's action of stroking his beard also paused, his eyes staring blankly at the empty space.

Only Seeing Pei Ye looked around blankly: "May I ask you adults, what does this mean?"

Chang Zhiyuan said warmly: "Legend has it that it is a poem handed down from the ancient Yu Dynasty. It says that if a god likes someone, he will draw a mark on his forehead. Divination says this is a good thing, and the chosen person can become an immortal within three days."

Seeing Pei Ye subconsciously reached out to touch his forehead.

A god? A god who has existed from the Yu Dynasty six thousand years ago to the present?

"Hehe..." Feng Zhi gritted his teeth and sneered. "The price of this 'liking' is truly tragic."

Shen Yanping said in a low voice: "To a child, an elder's liking is liking, and to a child, a tiger or wolf's liking is also 'liking'."

Chang Zhiyuan frowned and thought for a while, then turned to the other two: "Speaking of this, I also remembered. I remember that a master of esoteric arts named Du in the Han Dynasty made a small note for this poem. It seems to record a ritual. Later, Hu Ye of the Jin Dynasty suspected it was half-true and half-false, so he classified it as a strange tale when compiling it."

Feng Zhi shook his head, indicating no impression.

Shen Yanping held up the book: "That's right! It's this "Three Dynasties Poem Notes" by Du Wuzhen. He said that the ritual was used to sacrifice to the gods, taking the lives and flesh of one, four, and seven people, a total of twelve people, in three days to feast the gods."

Lowering his eyebrows: "However, there is only this much for now. I have flipped through all of Du Wuzhen's books, and the rest are still being checked."

Feng Zhi suddenly realized: "That's right! One person yesterday. This time, the goal of these criminals was four people, but this kid saved himself, so the other side temporarily went to catch Lin Jue to make up the number, but it alarmed Lin Lin."

"But there is a problem here. At that time, Little Brother Pei had already left the north gate. Why didn't the criminal come to catch him, but went to the Lin family's house further away?"

Seeing Pei Ye raised his head. This was also the question he had been thinking about.

He only killed two "kidnappers." Since they could find him at the beginning, why didn't they continue to send more powerful people to catch him?

"Perhaps, after this kid woke up, he was no longer the target of that 'god'?"

Several people looked at the fire symbol still shining on Seeing Pei Ye's forehead and reached the same guess again.

Shen Yanping pondered: "The target is not chosen by the murderer, but by the 'god.' The perpetrator has no decision-making power. After Little Brother Pei woke up, the 'connection' with the ritual was broken. The criminal requested a re-selection, but the 'god' didn't know why it didn't choose him again, but chose Lin Jue instead."

Didn't choose me again?

Seeing Pei Ye thought blankly, and the dream from last night suddenly flooded back into his mind.

He had no memory at all of how he walked out of the city from home, but the dream of driving the Chi to chase and escape was still vivid in his mind.

"I will dissolve this 'Divine Favor' for you tonight." The Chi's words were as if they were in his ears.

Seeing Pei Ye didn't think about it at all at first, just treating it as a habitual dream, thinking that perhaps he kicked a broken stone, or perhaps the pain in his chest and abdomen woke him up.

Because this was indeed too far from the cognition of the world by the teenagers in the mountain city.

In all Seeing Pei Ye's previous fantasies about the outside world, the most magnificent one was "perhaps there really are sorcerers in the world who can control fire and water."

But now, he was made to believe that a divine Chi really entered his dream. This experience would make the youth fall into deep self-doubt—in front of this kind of power, what is the use of the fists and swords he practiced?

But looking back, the details of the divine beast's appearance were detailed, as if it were right in front of his eyes, and its words were seamless with the real world.

More importantly, if there was anything that could make him disappear from the vision of the so-called god, it clearly wouldn't be the fists and kicks he used to beat those two people to death, but more likely the black Chi that could enter people's dreams. ===== CHAPTER 7 =====