245: The confused crowd

Lin Shengnan watched the sword techniques he gestured, basically imagining the scene at the time. She couldn't help but nod and say, "It's indeed impossible. These sword strikes weren't aimed at killing; they were purely meant to block their path... and..."

"And what?" Shi Qing asked hurriedly.

"On my way here, I didn't see a single Blood Wolf Hall Evil Cultist, nor did I see a single corpse. With my eyesight, if they were there, I shouldn't have missed them..."

"How is that possible?! I clearly killed four or five people..." Shi Qing shouted in disbelief.

The two looked at each other, completely unable to understand what had just happened. However, this only piqued their curiosity further, especially Lin Shengnan's. After experiencing the sneak attack and being rescued, a question suddenly occurred to her: could the disappearance of those Blood Wolf Hall assassins be related to that strange young man who had suddenly appeared?

However, she was also very puzzled. That young man had clearly been in the area where she was fighting, even engaging in battle with the short-haired man and Tu Ya. How could he have had the time to intervene here?

The most likely possibility was that another expert had been hiding in the shadows and intervened in Shi Qing's situation. But according to Shi Qing's description, no outsider had appeared at the time; those Blood Wolf Hall Evil Cultists were all killed by Shi Qing with a single sword strike each. Yet, with those sword moves of his, how could he possibly have killed those incredibly fierce Blood Wolf Hall assassins?

She couldn't figure it out; she simply couldn't figure it out!

"You take them toward the city first. I'll go back and search again..." Lin Shengnan said after a moment's thought.

"That's not a good idea, is it? If it's just me, I'm afraid I won't be able to handle it if we run into those Blood Wolf Hall assassins again..." Shi Qing said quickly.

"Hmm, then let's gather the students first and search together. Don't worry, without their leader and Tu Ya, I'll kill as many of the others as they send!!!" Lin Shengnan said proudly.

Stirred by Lin Shengnan's words, Shi Qing also felt a surge of heroic spirit. He nodded and began to gather the students. Hearing that the Blood Wolf Hall members had disappeared and their leader had been slain, the students all let out a long sigh of relief; it seemed their lives were saved for now. Only then did they truly realize the terrors of the wilderness. Here, one had to guard against not only Mutated Beasts but also these Human Traitors from the evil cult... It could be said that today's experience was the best lesson for them. Regardless, those who have experienced a life-and-death crisis will always be more mature than those who haven't!

Those who had always grown up in a greenhouse would sometimes faint from fright the moment they saw a Mutated Beast in the wilderness, let alone kill it.

Sure enough, after the students were regrouped, they all carried a new air of bloody courage, which greatly satisfied both Lin Shengnan and Shi Qing. Under their lead, the students split into two teams, maintaining a certain distance as they began to search back... After a while, a student named Gu Teng suddenly called out, "Teacher, there's something here!"

Hearing this, Shi Qing quickly flashed over. Gu Teng pointed to the ground and said, "Teacher Shi, look. There's a fairly fresh mark here; someone must have fallen here, and a bag was dropped next to it!"

"Indeed, someone did fall here, but the body is gone, though a bag was left behind... Huh, there's a blood wolf mark on this bag; it must belong to a Blood Wolf Hall Evil Cultist!" Shi Qing said in surprise.

Lin Shengnan also arrived upon hearing the news. She opened the bag to inspect it and snorted, "It's theirs. This shows they chased up to this point, but the person was killed!"

"Then where's the corpse? There's no blood. Are you sure he was really killed?" Shi Qing asked curiously.

"This... there are no drag marks nearby either. It's as if the corpse vanished into thin air!" Lin Shengnan scanned the surroundings, speaking in disbelief.

"Exactly, those people really did vanish into thin air! I've felt this whole thing was eerie for a while now!" Shi Qing said loudly.

"Let's keep looking..."

The two teams continued their search and indeed found many more suspicious points. Either weapons were dropped, or fragments were on the ground, and the marks of people falling were very fresh, definitely caused by that group just now. But after these people fell, they almost all vanished into thin air—no blood, not even a single corpse was seen!

Shi Qing asked suspiciously, "Could they have been knocked down and then taken away by someone?"

"What did you say? Taken away?! Where could so many people be taken?" Lin Shengnan's eyes widened.

"This... based on my experience, that's the only explanation! It's likely two groups of people: one responsible for killing and the other for collecting the bodies. Over two hundred people... could it be the people from the legendary Corpse Refinement Sect?" Shi Qing said with a trembling voice.

"How is that possible? The Corpse Refinement Sect is a Sect imagined by some; it doesn't exist in reality. If Evil Cultists from something like a Corpse Refinement Sect really appeared here, would you still be alive? From the current situation, it's clear someone was helping you escape. But for this person to be able to silently kill so many people and take them away, their cultivation level and eerie methods are simply beyond imagination!" Lin Shengnan sighed.

"That is indeed true..." Shi Qing agreed with deep feeling.

Because looking at the scene, there were almost no signs of a struggle. This meant that over two hundred people from the Blood Wolf Hall were killed instantly and taken away. These people probably didn't even know where their opponent was until the moment they died... What if this happened to him? Shi Qing shuddered at the thought!

The students were also incredibly shocked upon hearing their analysis. They hadn't expected someone could silently wipe out over two hundred people without even leaving a corpse as evidence... Gu Teng suddenly interjected, "Teacher Lin, could that person have taken the bodies because they didn't want anyone to know how they killed them?"

"Oh? Why wouldn't they want people to know?" Lin Shengnan asked.

Gu Teng pondered, "These people are all from the Blood Wolf Hall. If the bodies were left behind, the Blood Wolf Hall would definitely find them later. If they found the cause of death, they might be able to trace it back to the person who acted. So, this person did this to protect themselves."

"This... what you say makes some sense! Perhaps this person's way of killing is extremely unique, and one look would reveal who did it!" Lin Shengnan said, enlightened.

"Yes, these people were almost all killed instantly. Including the ones Teacher Shi said he stabbed to death—it's very likely they were already killed before being hit by Teacher Shi's sword!" Gu Teng judged.

Hearing this, Shi Qing couldn't help but tremble all over, saying excitedly, "I understand, I understand!!!"

...