276: Catching thieves

Tong Fenglai pointed to the explosion site not far away and said, "Dragon Elder was just giving a demonstration; there’s nothing else unusual."

"Oh? So it was Dragon Elder giving a demonstration... Xin'er thought..." Tong Jing Xin, Valley Master looked as if he were hesitating to speak.

Tong Fenglai frowned and asked, "What did you think?"

"The Family head might not be aware, but we are currently searching for an outsider Qiezei who sneaked into the valley. We haven't found the Qiezei yet, but now Jing'er has also gone missing!!!"

"Xuejing is missing?!" Xueqin cried out in alarm.

Tong Jing Xin, Valley Master nodded and sighed, "Yes, almost everyone from our branch is out searching, but we haven't found her after half a day. Instead, we keep receiving reports of other Family members going missing..."

Qi Huaiyi became interested upon hearing this. As the Captain Qi of the Southern Division's Xuanwu Guard, he had a natural inclination for solving cases. He interjected, "When did you first discover the Qiezei?"

"In the morning, someone reported that a patch of medicinal fields had been stealthily harvested. I knew at a glance it was a thief; after all, such things have happened a few times before. Since the cuts were fresh, I estimated the Qiezei hadn't left yet and ordered everyone to search, determined to catch him. I am guarding the valley entrance, so it's impossible for the Qiezei to escape. However, none of the other search parties have found him, and people keep disappearing. I suspect this Qiezei might be quite strong. If he's hiding in the shadows and launching sneak attacks, I fear we will suffer heavy losses..." said Tong Jing Xin, Valley Master.

Tong Fenglai was fuming with rage and barked, "A bunch of useless trash! You can't even catch a petty Qiezei? Don't tell me you wouldn't even know if the whole house was stolen from under you?!"

"Family head, please forgive us! We are doing our best to search..." Jing Xin said with some trepidation.

Qi Huaiyi waved his hand and said, "Senior, do not worry. This Qiezei is cunning and insidious. Once we catch him, we'll make him spit everything back out with interest. Since we're here now, let's search together. I believe we'll catch him soon!"

"I wouldn't dare trouble Captain Qi! Xueqin, take Dragon Elder and Captain Qi inside first. I will catch the Qiezei before joining you!" Tong Fenglai said to Xueqin.

"Yes! Old Ancestor!" Tong Xueqin quickly replied.

Qi Huaiyi waved it off and said, "It's no trouble. I also want to see what this Qiezei looks like, daring to covet your Profound Herbs..."

The group dismounted. After a brief discussion, Tong Jing Xin, Valley Master remained to guard the valley entrance, while Tong Xuejian led the others into the valley to catch the thief.

Long Yuan hadn't said much, but once he spread his Divine Sense, it could cover the entire Falling Flower Valley within a three-hundred-mile radius. As his Divine Sense expanded, he saw more of the valley's scenery. Soon, he had a clear understanding of the situation in the entire Falling Flower Valley, and he keenly discovered an anomaly!

"No wonder the Wood Spiritual Qi in the Falling Flower Valley is so dense; it’s all because of that!!! As for that thief and the missing people..." Long Yuan thought to himself. His Divine Sense locked onto the anomaly, and he inspected the surroundings carefully, quickly finding the Qiezei's location. However, the current situation surprised him... In fact, the results of this scan had already partially achieved his purpose for coming to the Falling Flower Valley! His main goal was to see if there really was a Spiritual Vein or something related to Spiritual Qi here, as these things were likely related to Tong Xuejian becoming a Spiritual Power Seed.

The group moved quickly and covered a large area in a short time, but they still found nothing. Tong Fenglai's expression turned sour. He felt he had lost a lot of face in front of Long Yuan and Qi Huaiyi. After all, the Tong Family was a second-grade Family; it was embarrassing that they couldn't even catch a petty Qiezei.

Tong Xuejian pointed to a medicinal field and said, "Old Ancestor, this is where the Profound Herb theft was discovered this morning!"

Everyone approached and found the place in disarray. Broken stems of Profound Herbs were strewn everywhere, and there were many footprints around, indicating that quite a few people had been there.

Qi Huaiyi looked around and asked, "How did you conduct the search after discovering this?"

Tong Xuejian replied, "There's actually only one path in and out of Falling Flower Valley. It's almost impossible to enter or leave from other directions because of the high cliffs, with forest belts and seas of flowers in between. One could easily get lost if not careful. So, our first step was to guard the valley entrance and then have the clansmen search outward from this medicinal field in expanding circles..."

Qi Huaiyi nodded and pondered, "The inner area of Falling Flower Valley is about twenty miles across. Searching from this center, no matter how many people you have, there will be many gaps. Missing even one spot makes it hard to find the person. This search method is extremely inefficient!"

Tong Xuejian quickly nodded and said, "Yes! Falling Flower Valley is too big, with too many trees and flowers, providing many places to hide. We don't have many search dogs—only about twenty in total. The area each one covers is huge, and the scents of the flowers here are too chaotic, which affects the dogs' tracking ability. But we didn't have any better way..."

Tong Fenglai sighed, "Searching like this will take forever! Since the other party dared to come in and steal herbs, they must have a way to prevent scent tracking. He could even just dig a hole to hide in and wait for the heat to die down before escaping!"

"This..." Tong Xuejian was stunned, his face showing a look of helplessness. If the Qiezei really did that, there truly was no way... Long Yuan then spoke, "Brother Xuejian, I want to ask, you said many clansmen reported disappearances. Have you seen those scenes?"

"No! They were all reported by clansmen. We were mainly focused on catching the Qiezei and didn't pay much attention to the clansmen's side. Oh, they did say those people vanished suddenly without leaving any traces. Since we're searching in a scattered manner, we can't see each other when we're far apart. They probably only realized someone was gone when they tried to call out to them!" Tong Xuejian replied.

"In which direction did most people go missing?" Long Yuan pressed.

"Which direction... it's around the lake. The center of our Falling Flower Valley has a Five-Mile Lotus Pond, and the medicinal fields are distributed around it. So our search was actually being conducted around the lake..."

Long Yuan nodded and said, "If the Qiezei knows the way out of the valley is blocked, he might indeed choose to hide first. In my view, even if he has a way to mask his scent, he would choose a more secure hiding method. Currently, hiding in the water of the lotus pond should be the best option, as the pond water can help him mask his scent..."

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