On the second day after Xing Jue broke through to the Battle-Saint realm, they finally arrived at a county called Shacheng. However, the mansion that used to be the most splendid in the past had now become a dead house. The inside of the mansion was filled with a nauseating smell of blood, and the outside of the mansion was sealed off by a large number of county runners.
The runners were the guards of the county government and were responsible for maintaining the peace of the county. However, most of them were made up of commoners. Although their strength was similar to that of soldiers, their actual combat ability was far inferior.
"I am the county magistrate of Shacheng County. Greetings, my lords."
As soon as Xing Jue and the others walked out of the temporary imperial residence, a large number of runners surrounded them. The leader of the runners was an old man with a plump body and big ears. He was dressed in a luxurious robe, and he was the county magistrate.
"Get up. Tell me, when did Lord Li's mansion get massacred?"
General Zhao, who was already used to this kind of scene, waved his hand and looked at the gloomy mansion. The Lord Li he mentioned was the owner of the mansion.
"My lord, it was five days ago in the morning. The runner in charge of patrolling here found it." Seeing this, the county magistrate dared not delay and quickly answered.
Just as General Zhao was asking the county magistrate about the time of the murder, Xing Jue led Lei Xing and the others into the mansion. After entering the mansion, even Xing Jue and the others, who had seen many bloody scenes before, could not help but shudder in their hearts. His heart couldn't help but tremble as a chill slowly spread out.
This was because the mansion was really miserable. There were large patches of blood stains on the walls and the ground. Although the blood had dried up after so many days, the strong smell of blood still made people feel nauseous. It was easy to imagine the tragic scene when the crime happened.
Moreover, Xing Jue also realized that Lord Li's mansion was not just big. At a glance, it was almost half the size of a county. Looking at the surrounding buildings that were still intact, Xing Jue could guess that the people in the Li Mansion were not killed in one strike, but were killed one by one.
With such a method of committing the crime, not a single one of the thousands of people in the Li Residence could escape. It could be seen that there was more than one murderer. It was more like there were many people.
However, apart from the blood stains everywhere, there was no one to be seen, because the corpses had been moved elsewhere by the county magistrate. Even so, Xing Jue and the others still carefully searched around the huge mansion. While searching, General Zhao and the county magistrate of Shacheng also followed them.
"According to what you said, the massacre of the Li Mansion happened at night. Didn't you notice such a big commotion?"
The deeper Xing Jue went, the more damage the Li Residence suffered. Compared to the complete buildings in the outer area, the inner area was extremely dilapidated. Especially the back garden in the deepest part of the Li Residence, it had almost been razed to the ground.
In other words, a fierce battle had taken place here. If such a battle had taken place at night, it would definitely have caused a sensation in the whole city even if it was not earth-shattering. However, the county magistrate said that he found everything the next morning, which was too far-fetched.
"This …" Hearing Xing Jue's question, the county magistrate's face instantly turned pale. Even his body began to tremble uncontrollably. It was obvious that he was guilty.
"Why did you lie? Speak! "Seeing this, Xing Jue shouted while staring at him with a sharp gaze.
"Plop."
Moreover, Xing Jue's shout was filled with the pressure of a high-level Battle-Saint. The county magistrate, who was a mid-level Battle-Saint, trembled and then fell to his knees in front of Xing Jue.
"My lord, it's my fault. It's my fault. I shouldn't have lied."
"But my lord, you should have seen for yourself that we are too weak. Even the Li Mansion, which is filled with experts, was unable to stop the murderer. Even if we went in, we would only be seeking our own deaths."
"Therefore, even though the Li Residence was in flames and screams that night, not a single commoner dared to approach it. On the contrary, many commoners even packed up their belongings and fled the city in the middle of the night, in order to not be implicated."
Xing Qu's roar had clearly frightened the County Lord quite a bit. He cried out with tears and snot running down his face. Looking at his current appearance, Xing Qu could see that he was not lying.
"General Zhao, what do you think of this matter?" After listening to the county magistrate's words, Xing Jue turned his gaze to General Zhao. Xing Jue was indeed not an expert in such matters. Therefore, he could only ask General Zhao, who was an expert in solving cases, for help.
"My lord Xing Jue, Lord Li himself had the strength of a beginner level Wargod. The person who was able to defeat him had to be at least a beginner level Wargod."
"In my Starfall Empire, all the high-level Battle-Saints have been accepted as pillars of the empire, and Battle-Immortals hold important positions. So, when I found out about this case, I had already ordered people to investigate the formation of the empire's officials."
It turned out that General Zhao had already started investigating this case. However, what surprised Xing Jue was that he had directly targeted the officials of the Starfall Dynasty as the targets of his investigation.
"General Zhao, could it not be done by someone from another dynasty?" Xing Jue asked, puzzled.
"This possibility cannot be ruled out, but apart from His Majesty and a few other high-ranking officials, only the generals of my Heavenly Secret Division have interacted with officials from outside the court, and Lord Li just happens to not be one of them."
"Therefore, this greatly reduces the possibility of Lord Li having friction with people from other dynasties. Naturally, the possibility of him being assassinated by people from other dynasties is also very low."
"Therefore, I feel that the possibility of the murderer being from our dynasty is the highest." Hearing Xing Jue's question, General Zhao explained his personal point of view in a reasonable manner.
"I see. Looks like we can only wait for the results of the investigation." After listening to General Zhao's explanation, Xing Jue couldn't help but nod. He felt that what General Zhao said made a lot of sense.
"Lord Xing Jue, you don't have to worry. The dynasty has records of the officials' movements, so it is not difficult to investigate. Logically speaking, we should be able to get the answer today." Seeing this, General Zhao spoke again.
"Yes."
Seeing this, Xing Jue also nodded in response. However, afterwards, Xing Jue still carefully searched through Lord Li's mansion a few times. This was because Xing Jue knew that this case was definitely not that simple. If a simple investigation of the movements and itineraries of the officials from the dynasty was enough to find the murderer who had committed such a heinous crime, then solving the case would be too simple.
However, what made Xing Jue helpless was that after searching for half a day, he still couldn't find a single clue. At this time, General Zhao finally received a piece of news. It was the itinerary of the officials who had recently come to the dynasty.
However, what made Xing Jue and the others helpless was that it just so happened that other than Lord Li who was on vacation at home, none of the War God level officials of the dynasty had left their posts. In other words, the possibility of the officials within the dynasty being the murderer was almost zero.
"Looks like I can only go and see the remains of the Li Residence's clansmen."
After knowing this situation, Xing Jue sighed helplessly. His face was filled with disappointment. Soon after, under the lead of the county magistrate, they headed to the county office of Sand City. This was because the remains of the Li Residence were all stored in the county office.
The reason why they wanted to check the remains was because Xing Jue and the others wanted to find some clues here. Because no matter if it was a spiritual weapon or a martial skill, they all had special effects and would leave special traces on the corpse. This was often the best way to find the murderer.
However, after looking at the corpses, Xing Jue and the others felt their hairs stand on end. This was because they discovered that the thousands of corpses in the Li Residence all had the same characteristic!
That was, the origin of the soul was strangled after the bloodline was exhausted. In other words, before they died, their blood was sucked out while they were still alive. After their blood was sucked out, their origin of the soul was strangled.
"Such a cruel method. This murderer must be caught."
After walking out of the underground tunnel where the corpses of the Li Residence's clansmen were stored, Xing Jue's face was filled with anger. Since their blood was sucked out when they were alive, one could imagine how much pain the Li Residence's clansmen had suffered before they died. There were strong and weak members of the Li Residence, old and young, but all of them died in such a way. It could be seen how cruel the murderer was.
"General Zhao, in your opinion, what should we do now?"
Suddenly, Xing Jue looked to General Zhao beside him for help. Up until now, they had not found any clues. Therefore, at this moment, Xing Jue could only ask for help from this expert who was good at solving cases.
"To be honest with you, such a cruel method of committing a crime without leaving any traces, this is really the most cruel and difficult case I have ever seen in my life. I also have no idea what to do."
However, what made Xing Jue surprised was that at this moment, even General Zhao, who was the best at solving cases in the Starfall Dynasty, was helpless and did not know what to do.
"Damn it, are we really going to let this heartless murderer get away with it?"
Seeing this, Xing Jue could not help but clench his fists tightly. His face was filled with unwillingness. At this moment, putting aside the fact that he could not solve this case, he would be punished by the Marshal and the Emperor would lose all face. Most importantly, when he encountered such a cruel matter, even if it had nothing to do with him, Xing Jue would not ignore it.
"Milord, there are actually clues. It's just that I don't know if they will be of any help to this case." However, at this moment, the Old Master of Shacheng County who had been silent for a long time suddenly spoke.
"What clue? Say it! "After hearing his words, Xing Jue and General Zhao asked almost at the same time.
"When we were moving the corpses in the Li Residence, we found a young girl in the back garden of the Li Residence."
"At that time, the girl was unconscious in the messy back garden, but there were no injuries on her body. Most importantly, the girl was not on the list of names of the Li Residence." Hearing Xing Jue's question, the County Magistrate slowly explained in a low voice.
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