Chapter 478 - 477: Future Direction

Chapter 478: Chapter 477: Future Direction

"I have a feeling... Mr. Mai wasn’t very happy back then."

Wan Song said all this in one breath. Exhausted, he paused before continuing, "We usually operated in the countryside to avoid drawing attention. That was the first time we’d ever entered a major city. Mr. Mai summoned the Snail Toad inside a large estate, hid those four people inside it, and spirited them away using Earth Escape."

"He specifically used the Snail Toad to get people out of Baisha Jue?"

Wan Song nodded.

"What was the situation in the city at the time?"

"I don’t know. I left as soon as I had them. I didn’t linger or look around. But while I was in the estate, I heard a lot of footsteps on the street outside."

He paused. "Later, I took the Snail Toad, dropped them off seventy *li* west of Baisha Jue, and returned."

Hee Lingchuan was leading the questioning while General Antelope listened from the side. The general finally couldn’t hold back any longer. "You must remember the location of that estate, right?"

"Of course. It’s in the northwest corner of Baisha Jue. There are two streams there, so the ground is all wet. The Snail Toad had to make a detour to avoid the water." Wan Song recalled, "The small courtyard in the estate where I surfaced with the Snail Toad was codenamed ’Lanting.’"

"The Snail Toad loved to eat the soil in that courtyard, but Mr. Mai told it never to go there again."

Hee Lingchuan asked him, "How do you summon the Snail Toad?"

The Snail Toad used Earth Escape to come and go without a trace. ’This group must have a reliable way of contacting it.’

Wan Song shot him a glance. "After today’s battle, it won’t respond to my summons. Don’t even think about it."

"That’s my problem," Hee Lingchuan said flatly. "Just tell me how."

Wan Song took a breath. "Take one of the Snail Toad’s eggs and crush it hard. As long as the toad is nearby, it will sense it."

"Crush it? Really?"

"Yes, really."

Hee Lingchuan was skeptical. "That sounds more like making an enemy than summoning it."

He crossed his legs and said to Wan Song in a serious tone, "Don’t give me half the story, or your child will only have half a life left."

The dull look on Wan Song’s face faded, replaced by a trace of resignation.

"If I or Mr. Mai summons it, it will come to receive orders. If a stranger does it, that makes them an enemy. It will lurk nearby and wait for an opportunity to attack."

"And how far is ’nearby’?"

"Within thirty or forty *li*."

Hee Lingchuan held out his hand. "The eggs. Give them to me."

"In the pendant." Wan Song no longer had the strength to even lift a hand, so he could only let Hee Lingchuan take the necklace from him.

Hee Lingchuan did indeed find a small jar of damp soil inside. Buried within were seven or eight white orbs, each about the size of a ping-pong ball. They felt soft, smooth, and springy to the touch.

"Where would the Snail Toad go after escaping?"

"To find its master, of course. None of us are its master, only Mr. Mai..."

"Describe Mr. Mai."

"Mr. Mai is quite tall, with a build similar to yours. He doesn’t say much and only seeks us out when necessary. He always wears a blood-red jade rin—"

Wan Song was already on his last legs, and he had struggled to speak for so long that the signs of his fading life force could no longer be concealed. He muttered a few more words, but they were unintelligible.

Hee Lingchuan pressed, "A blood-red Jade Ring?"

’The same Jade Ring that was hidden with the Pulp Pearl in the painted jar?’

"Yes, yes..."

And then, Wan Song’s breaths grew fainter and fainter, until they stopped altogether.

General Antelope said hatefully, "A villain of the highest order, and he gets to die so peacefully!"

The Officials would handle Wan Song’s remains. Hee Lingchuan stood up and walked out.

Outside, General Antelope was still fuming. "A man like that doesn’t deserve to have children! If you hadn’t already sworn that oath, I’d... I’d..."

It pawed violently at the ground.

Hee Lingchuan chuckled. "He didn’t have any children to begin with. You can calm down now."

"Huh?" General Antelope’s anger instantly deflated. "But just now... Wait, was that woman’s pregnancy fake?"

Jiao Yu sneered at the old goat. "You’re only just figuring that out?"

Hee Lingchuan walked to the back of the hall where Qinggu was still unconscious. The gash on her clothes was still visible.

He reached in and peeled, actually pulling Qinggu’s belly right off!

Even General Antelope, who had killed countless enemies, was startled by the sight.

But he quickly saw that the piece of "skin" he had peeled off immediately changed color, its surface covered in dark, scale-like patterns.

The piece of hide was actually quite large; there was no way it could have been Qinggu’s skin. "Is this python or snake skin?"

Hee Lingchuan shrugged and wiped the blood off the hide with a cloth.

It was, of course, Lord Boshan’s camouflage hide. It could blend in with its surroundings, so when tied to Qinggu’s torso, it naturally took on the appearance of her body.

Lord Boshan had been a Great Demon with significant Cultivation in life. How could a common dagger possibly pierce his hide?

Therefore, Qinggu hadn’t been injured at all.

As for the dripping blood, Hee Lingchuan had hidden a small blood pouch in Qinggu’s navel beforehand. When he made his move, he pierced the pouch first, creating a convincingly gruesome visual effect.

In truth, right after "stabbing" her, Hee Lingchuan had someone wheel Qinggu out of the room.

It was just that Wan Song was in such excruciating pain and his mind was so clouded that he failed to notice the deception.

When General Antelope saw the blood pouch, he put two and two together and couldn’t help but grumble, "What would have been the harm in one little stab? Why go to all this trouble?"

Hee Lingchuan just smiled without explaining. He placed a silver ingot next to Qinggu as payment for her assistance in the investigation, then said to the physician, "Alright, you can wake her now and let her go."

General Antelope was used to ruling the roost locally; why would he care about the life of a commoner? Their backgrounds and perspectives were different, so there was no point in discussing certain topics.

「By the time they left the infirmary, the sky was already bright.」

Hee Lingchuan said to General Antelope, "The murderer of the Wind-Drilling Beast is dead. Are you satisfied with this outcome, General?"

General Antelope nodded. "I’m in your debt!"

"Are you planning to head east, General? Your deadline is approaching."

General Antelope was taken aback. He glanced at Hee Lingchuan, then thought for a moment. "You rascal, just say what’s on your mind. You don’t want to investigate any further, do you?"

His form of address for Hee Lingchuan had changed. Just two days ago, he had been respectfully calling him "Special Envoy."

This wasn’t a sign of disrespect, but of growing closer.

"You two have heard of the Fountain of Youth, I take it?" Hee Lingchuan had been observing Jiao Yu and General Antelope. Although the demons’ facial expressions weren’t as flexible as a human’s, when Wan Song uttered the words "Fountain of Youth," the tip of the tiger’s tail had twitched, and the old goat had shaken its head twice.

The two demons fell silent for a moment before nodding. "We have."

General Antelope added, "There are people in the Chiyan Kingdom who take it."

"This is where the case gets complicated," Hee Lingchuan said, asking the general, "Do you still want to pursue this... no, I should say, pursue this *up* the chain?"

For once, General Antelope hesitated before answering. "I should be heading east, but the mastermind behind the murder of my kin is still at large. Baisha Jue is within Chiyan’s borders. We must at least capture Mr. Mai and his superiors!"

Hee Lingchuan looked to Jiao Yu. The tiger licked its paws. "Within the Chiyan Kingdom’s borders, we have the authority to make arrests."

This meant they intended to see the investigation through, which suited the temperament of the Chiyan Kingdom’s future master. Hee Lingchuan sighed. ’Fushan Yue’s reward is certainly hard-earned.’

General Antelope sighed, looking to the sky.

"To think we let that Snail Toad get away! If we’d found it, we would have found Mr. Mai."

Just then, Official Xu Dayou came running toward them, a broad smile on his face. "Lord Special Envoy, Wan Xianneng and Lai Wen have both been taken into custody at the county jail. The Lord County Magistrate wishes to know if you have any further instructions."

Hee Lingchuan waved his hand. "Nothing for now. The two suspects are important witnesses. Have the county dispatch an escort to take them to the Capital City."

Xu Dayou acknowledged the order and departed.

Hee Lingchuan reassured the old goat, "Perhaps Mr. Mai is in Baisha Jue as well."

His own desire to find Mr. Mai was no weaker than the general’s.

General Antelope said regretfully, "Unfortunately, I must leave. I can no longer join you in hunting the culprit."

Hee Lingchuan smiled. "Just wait for good news, General."

General Antelope turned and, from who knows where, produced a bell in his mouth, offering it to Hee Lingchuan. "This is a Drilling Wind Bell. Have your Rock Sheep wear it. I’ve noticed it’s very fast, but its attacks are too weak. This bell will allow it to transform into a Wind-Drilling Beast for twelve breaths, granting it the power of my clan and the Triple Strike ability. Of course, the bell requires a full day of wind to recharge its energy, and it can only be used by Sheep Demons."

Hee Lingchuan hadn’t expected such a pleasant surprise. He accepted it graciously and immediately turned to fasten it onto his Rock Sheep.

"I can’t make it to Baisha Jue, but I have an old friend there. He served as an official in both the Chiyan Kingdom and Lingxu City. He retired last winter and is now a well-respected and well-connected figure in Baisha Jue. He may be of some help to you." General Antelope paused, then added, "He can seem a bit... unctuous—pah, I mean slick—on the surface, but he’s got some backbone. You can trust him when it counts. Otherwise, why would I have been friends with him for so long?"

He then produced a palm-sized pink gemstone and handed it to Hee Lingchuan.

"The fellow loves unusual stones, and I promised I’d give him a Powder Stone. Take this as my token and a greeting gift."

Hee Lingchuan took it and made a mental note.

"We’ll meet again. I’ll find you for a drink then." With that, General Antelope took his leave, leading his Guards eastward.

The past day had been exceptionally long. Even the tiger let out a sigh and asked Hee Lingchuan, "Where to now?"

But Hee Lingchuan was staring into the distance at General Antelope’s retreating figure, lost in thought. He didn’t answer until the tiger asked a second time, at which point he finally looked away.

The question he had just posed to General Antelope was one he was also asking himself.

The case of the missing Messenger had been complicated from the start, and as the investigation progressed, he could vaguely sense the resistance ahead growing stronger.

The strange Snail Toad, the elusive Mai Xuewen, the mastermind who dared to conduct Demon Hunting within a Demon Kingdom, and the King of Chiyan, who was unusually insistent on a thorough investigation...

’Is this just the tip of the iceberg?’

It wasn’t too late for Hee Lingchuan to back out now. Capturing Wan Song was enough to report back to Fushan Yue.

Even the old goat had left.

But if he quit now, he would never see what lay beneath the surface.

’What happened to striking the rapids mid-stream? If I take this one small step and then shrink back in fear, then one day, when the Beiga Demon Kingdom discovers the secret of the Grand Square Pot, will I be able to withstand the tempest that follows?’

The Sword Technique he practiced was the Wave Slash.

It was a Sword Technique, but it was also a Heart Method.

’If I lack the courage to press deep into enemy territory and ride the surging tides, how can I ever grow stronger by facing greater foes and rise to the challenge in the future?’