43: Chapter 43 Suspicion

In many historical records, the image of the Chi Dragon is not consistent.

During the ancient Warring States period, the form of the Chi Dragon was often engraved on bronze ware or jade ware.

At that time, the Chi Dragon was hornless, but in later generations, the forms of the Chi Dragon became more varied, with some having one horn and others having two.

The two-horned Chi Dragon was mostly engraved on jade and porcelain.

Li Xiuyuan had already become a flood dragon by this time, and he had two horns growing on his head.

Moreover, the two horns protruding from his head were slowly retracting.

At this moment, Li Xiuyuan was already at the fifth-level bloodline, and he was only one opportunity away from evolving into a Chi Dragon during his journey as a flood dragon.

...

...

For the past few days, the leader surnamed Sun had been having a rough time.

The Qian Family had been wiped out, and this branch of the Qian Family in Jingchu Province was one of the Twelve Ancient Families.

He had an extremely close relationship with the Qian Family, so the burden on his shoulders was even heavier.

If he couldn't find out who had committed such a heinous act, his position would definitely be at risk.

By now, the high-end villa had already been cordoned off.

For several days, people from the Security Bureau had been coming and going, checking surveillance footage, taking statements, and simulating the crime scene, yet they still hadn't found a single clue.

The leader surnamed Sun stood in front of the main gate, his face full of worry.

"Sun Ling, I think there is a problem with the previous direction of the investigation."

A middle-aged man who was not young approached the leader surnamed Sun.

Sun Ling turned his head to look at the other person. The person who arrived was Fan Ming, from the Mysterious Investigation Bureau. The two had been classmates, but their relationship was only average.

Sun Ling asked, "How is it problematic?"

Fan Ming walked into the house and said, "According to our simulation of the crime scene, the murderer suddenly attacked at the entrance and killed everyone in the Qian Family."

"There are no signs of a struggle inside the house, which indicates that the murderer killed everyone in an instant, and they used cold weapons."

"You must know that the master of the Qian Family possessed Third-stage Martial Artist cultivation. A Third-stage Martial Artist has already reached the stage of Bone Casting; even a handgun using spiritual energy to condense into bullets couldn't kill him, yet he still had no room to struggle."

"This indicates that the perpetrator's strength is at least at the Fourth-stage cultivation level, or even higher. But if that were the case, our Mysterious Investigation Bureau would have already found the results; after all, people with Fourth-stage cultivation or higher must undergo strict approval and reporting when traveling between regions."

"Therefore, the murderer might not be a human, but a Rising Beings."

Sun Ling frowned deeply: "A Rising Beings? A Rising Beings capable of instantly killing the master of the Qian Family—what level could that be? Spirit Rank or Desolate Rank?"

Fan Ming shook his head: "Not necessarily. Some Rising Beingss might be able to do it after awakening their innate talents or bloodline demon arts."

Upon hearing this, Sun Ling's expression became extremely dark: "No matter what, I must find out who did this. To have the audacity to kill so many people, it has no path to survival!"

The Qian Family was the big tree that helped him climb continuously in his official career. Now that this big tree had suddenly fallen, it would be extremely difficult to continue climbing higher.

Fan Ming, inside the house, did not respond and remained deep in thought.

Since the direction had shifted to a Rising Beings, the subsequent investigation was no longer something Sun Ling and the Security Bureau had the capability to conduct.

Fan Ming went outside, found a relatively secluded spot, and called the headquarters of the Mysterious Investigation Bureau, asking them to pull up the information on all recorded Rising Beingss in the vicinity.

Especially those Rising Beingss at the Spirit Rank or above with strong capabilities. Furthermore, Fan Ming added a specific condition: they must have a cold temperament.

Because, deducing from the crime scene, after that Rising Beings killed the people, it quickly left without lingering at all. It killed casually and left calmly.

It was as if it didn't take its own actions to heart at all.

Ten minutes later, Fan Ming received a response.

"The information on Rising Beingss within a hundred kilometers that meet your requirements has been sent to you. There are three in total: one is the White Deer in Hibernation in Nanzhang Mountain, a Spirit Rank Rising Beings with a cold temperament, which has been in Hibernation for eight years and hasn't awakened."

"The other is the Red-clothed Bird of Shouyue Mountain; it also rarely appears."

"The last one is that White Flood Dragon of Yunfeng Mountain, which also has a cold temperament, and this White Flood Dragon has quite a few stories."

Fan Ming received the information on the three suspected Rising Beingss, but it was very obvious that the first one, the White Deer of Nanzhang Mountain, had no motive or reason to commit the crime. Furthermore, that White Deer had always been under monitoring and observation and had never left Nanzhang Mountain.

The Red-clothed Bird of Shouyue Mountain had a cold temperament and was not easy to get along with, but where that Red-clothed Bird appeared, there would be very obvious spiritual energy fluctuations, and flames would also appear. There were no traces of burning at the scene, so it couldn't be that Red-clothed Bird.

With two excluded, only the flood dragon of Yunfeng Mountain remained.

"Could it be related to it again?" Fan Ming looked at Li Xiuyuan's information and just felt a headache.

Unlike other Rising Beingss, Li Xiuyuan's existence was very ambiguous. He had many human lives on his hands, but they were all people who deserved to die.

This White Flood Dragon definitely had the ability to wipe out everyone in the Qian Family in an instant.

But the key question was, why?

And there was no news of the Qian Family provoking this White Flood Dragon.

Fan Ming was completely baffled, but he didn't directly conclude that it was Li Xiuyuan who killed the people; he still needed to continue the investigation.

Another problem was, what if it really was Li Xiuyuan who did it? What should he do?

He was just a small fry in the Mysterious Investigation Bureau; how could he dare to go and question him directly? He still had to report to his superior.

Just as he was about to leave, he was blocked by Sun Ling, who had been eavesdropping on the side.

"Fan Ming, wait a moment. Have you found any clues?" Sun Ling blocked Fan Ming and asked.

Fan Ming hesitated for a moment: "There are no definite clues for the time being."

Sun Ling stared at him and said, "Don't try to fool me. I just heard something about the three most suspicious Rising Beingss. For the sake of us being classmates, just give me the clues."

Seeing Sun Ling's posture of not letting him leave without the clues, a trace of displeasure arose in Fan Ming's heart.

"The matter here is too big; it's not something you can handle."

How could Fan Ming not know the reason for Sun Ling's persistence? Isn't it just that the big tree of the Qian Family had fallen, and he was desperate to perform a meritorious deed to seek the protection of another big tree?

That so-called big tree was the main branch of the Qian Family, one of the Twelve Ancient Families.

The branch family being wiped out by a Rising Beings was definitely a grudge. If Sun Ling could perform a meritorious deed with this, the Qian Family would definitely accept him.

Although the Xia Kingdom very deliberately did not give the Twelve Ancient Families any power and used various means to constrain them, they still possessed quite a lot of connections and resources.

"How can I not handle it? Such a big incident happened on the territory under my jurisdiction; can I not handle it? Fan Ming, we were classmates; what's wrong with you helping me?"

"I can't help you."

Fan Ming bypassed him and walked straight away.

Sun Ling stood where he was, his face completely darkening.

At the same time, Fan Ming's actions also made the greedy Sun Ling believe that the other party wanted to snatch the credit.

"If you won't help, I can find others to help. Don't think that apart from you, I don't have other connections."

Sun Ling thought to himself.

He walked to the side and made a phone call. Not long after, a report identical to the one in Fan Ming's hands was sent to Sun Ling's phone.

Looking through them one by one, just like Fan Ming, the White Deer of Nanzhang Mountain and the Red-clothed Bird of Shouyue Mountain were both cleared of suspicion, leaving only the flood dragon of Yunfeng Mountain.