109: Chapter 109 Smelling the Bee

Meng Changxiu landed in the pavilion, his brow tightly furrowed as he carefully surveyed his surroundings.

Sweeping his spiritual sense, he only detected the lingering scent of spilled spiritual wine on the stone table. He leaned closer to sniff, and a faint medicinal smell was mixed within the wine's aroma.

"Mind Confusion Powder!"

Meng Changxiu's heart grew increasingly uneasy. Sure enough, the wine stains had been tampered with. What was used was Mind Confusion Powder, a relatively common knockout drug in the cultivation world that could confuse spiritual sense and spiritual power.

"Hmph, to dare lay a hand on someone from my Meng Family is simply courting death." The oppressive aura of Meng Changxiu, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, surged outwards uncontrollably, causing the surrounding leaves to rustle loudly.

Meng Changxiu knew that now was not the time to vent his anger. He circulated his spiritual power and once again released his spiritual sense, expanding the search range.

However, he discovered that there was not the slightest trace of either Meng Yunfan or Meng Yunxuan in the vicinity.

Logically, existence leaves traces. For Meng Changxiu, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, it should be easy to collect the residual aura of Meng Yunfan and Meng Yunxuan in the environment using spiritual sense.

But the situation at this moment was contrary to expectations. He actually couldn't detect a single trace of the two people's aura in the surrounding environment, as if they had vanished into thin air after staying here for a moment.

At this moment, Meng Changyi also led the group in pursuit and arrived at this location. Seeing Meng Changxiu's figure, he quickly stepped forward and asked, "Big Brother, why did you stop chasing?"

Meng Changxiu's brow furrowed. He retracted the spiritual sense he had scattered outwards and shook his head, saying, "Fan'er and Xuan'er's aura seems to have vanished into thin air after reaching this point."

"However, the lingering aura here hasn't dissipated yet. The thief surnamed Hu shouldn't have left long ago. Everyone, split up and search the surroundings. If you find any clues, immediately use a transmission talisman to notify everyone."

"Yes." The Meng Family members immediately split into eight small groups, piloting spiritual boats in eight different directions, speeding away in pursuit.

Chen Jiancang and Chen Youyun, originally guests who didn't need to participate, still acted together with the Meng Family members.

Chen Youyun watched as the Meng Family members dispersed. He called out to Meng Changyi, who was preparing to set off, and said, "Brother Changyi, your current search method is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I will immediately send a message to the Chen Family Law Enforcement Hall and ask them to send people to assist the Meng Family in finding the thief's whereabouts. My Chen Family Law Enforcement Hall raises Spirit Beasts specifically for tracking, which should be helpful."

Existence leaves traces. Since even a Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn't find any aura, it means the thief must have used some means of concealment. It's impossible to track them using conventional methods.

Fortunately, the Chen Family Law Enforcement Hall has specific methods to deal with such situations. The Chen and Meng Families are now related by marriage, and Chen Youyun doesn't mind doing the Meng Family a favor.

"Then I shall trouble Brother Nethercloud." Meng Changyi anxiously cupped his hands in greeting. Chen Youyun took out a transmission talisman, stated the request, and when he finished speaking, the transmission talisman turned into a pile of ash, a flash of yellow light instantly disappearing towards the other end of the talisman.

The rest of the Meng Family didn't wait and dispersed to search on their own.

Two hours later, a jade-green spiritual boat sped over. The person who arrived was Chen Jianyue, a member of the Law Enforcement Hall who had been carrying out a task of collecting spiritual herbs deep within the Qingya Mountain Range with Jiancang.

"Brother Jianyue, why did you come?" Chen Jiancang stepped forward to greet him.

"Brother Jiancang, I just received a Law Enforcement Hall mission to come and assist the Meng Family in searching for the thief's tracks." After returning the greeting to Chen Jiancang, Chen Jianyue took out a fist-sized brown bee-like demonic beast from hisIn arms and said, "This is a Scent-Seeking Bee raised by the Chen Family. Its sense of smell is extremely sensitive."

"I need a personal item belonging to the person being searched for," Chen Jianyue said. In a moment, a Meng Family member came over carrying a piece of clothing that Meng Yunfan had worn.

Chen Jianyue gently held the Scent-Seeking Bee in his palm, draped the clothing over it, and chanted something. The Scent-Seeking Bee's wings began to vibrate rapidly. It sniffed the clothing's scent, emitted a buzzing sound, and then suddenly flew off in one direction.

Seeing this, everyone quickly followed closely. A glimmer of hope ignited in Meng Changyi's eyes. He increased his speed, flying alongside Chen Jianyue, and eagerly asked, "Young Master Chen, can this Scent-Seeking Bee truly find the whereabouts of Yunfan and Yunxuan?"

Meng Changyi had just searched for over an hour by flying on his sword, with no results. The one surnamed Hu seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace.

Chen Jianyue kept his eyes on the Scent-Seeking Bee and replied without turning his head, "Don't worry. This Scent-Seeking Bee has undergone special training. Even the faintest aura, once it has smelled it, will absolutely not escape its tracking."

As he spoke, the Scent-Seeking Bee led everyone towards the interior of the Qingya Mountain Range. Soon, they entered a mountain valley filled with mist. The valley was full of strange rocks, and the mist was thick, greatly obstructing everyone's vision and making flight difficult.

At this moment, the Scent-Seeking Bee seemed to have smelled something that terrified it. It stopped moving forward and landed on a branch, trembling as if it had been frightened.

Chen Jianyue's brow furrowed upon seeing this. He took the Scent-Seeking Bee from the branch, put it into hisIn arms, and gently soothed its emotions with spiritual energy.

"There seems to be something in this valley that terrifies the Scent-Seeking Bee, making it hesitate. But the Scent-Seeking Bee has no intention of searching further, so the people you are looking for are likely within this valley."

Hearing this, Meng Changyi took out a transmission talisman from his storage bag and activated it to notify Meng Changxiu to come to this location.

At this moment, Old Woman He Qian and Du Old, who were hiding in the mountain valley, did not know that the Meng Family members had already searched to this point.

Old Woman He Qian restrained Meng Yunfan and Meng Yunxuan's spiritual energy, then said with a smile, "Du Old Man, that brat Hu Changqing is quite considerate of us two. He assigned the easiest part of this plan to us. We just need to wait here at our leisure. Once they finish negotiating with the Meng Family and sign the spiritual contract, our task will be complete."

Old Woman He Qian's tone was full of ease. One must know that this plan was very dangerous, and the most dangerous part was engaging with the Meng Family. If the Meng Family disregarded the lives of their juniors and poured all their anger onto the person responsible for the engagement, that person would surely die.

Their task was, of course, also very dangerous, but with the Quiet Breath Gu bestowed by the Guardian, Old Woman He Qian wasn't worried at all. After all, the Quiet Breath Gu's ability to conceal aura and hide was difficult for even a Foundation Establishment cultivator to detect.

"Old Woman He Qian, I always feel a faint unease in my heart. Are you sure this place is safe?" Du Old's brow furrowed slightly, a sense of discomfort always lingering in his heart.

"Hahaha, Du Old Man, don't worry. This place is one of the Bug Caves arranged by the Guardian. It's absolutely safe and absolutely impossible to be discovered." Old Woman He Qian said with a loud laugh, then comfortably leaned against a green stone.

As the green stone received pressure, several hideous-looking bugs crawled out from underneath with rustling sounds.