The search was very large and very detailed, as if they were tearing down houses in some places.
The villagers wanted to cry but had no tears. Some people wanted to reason with them, but were stopped by those who had seen the world.
The villagers were terrified and helpless. Men and women, young and old, huddled together like lambs waiting to be slaughtered …
The commotion in the village was clearly abnormal. After waiting for so long, there was still no movement. Something must have happened.
Yuan Se, who was standing on the mountain peak, took a deep breath and suddenly disappeared, descending into the village from the sky.
Mu Lianze and Zhangsun Mi, who were on the other two mountains, saw Yuan Se's reaction and also appeared in a flash, descending into the village.
The villagers did not know who these three people were, but they could tell that the group of people who had come to cause trouble were like mice who had seen a cat. It was obvious that they were very afraid, and ordinary people could tell that these three people were important figures.
The three saints surveyed the situation in the village. Yuan Se asked, "Where's Huo Kong?"
"He's at the residence of the suspect," someone replied, leading the three saints there.
The roads in the village were not easy to walk on, but the three saints walked like they were on flat ground. They arrived at the school.
As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw a yellow-haired old man crawling on the ground, his nose pressed against the ground, sniffing.
Seeing the three saints arrive, everyone wanted to bow. Even the yellow-haired old man wanted to get up, but Huo Kong raised a hand to stop them. "Do your own things!"
Everyone could only continue with their own things. Huo Kong personally went to greet the three, cupping his hands in greeting. He focused on his master, Yuan Se. "Master!"
Yuan Se looked left and right. "What's the situation?"
Huo Kong's expression was grave. "According to the reports from various sources, the Misty Pavilion's previous target was right. The target is indeed here. The peddler in the village used to run around selling goods and would occasionally return to the village. Not long after the fall of the Zhao dynasty, he returned here, saying that his legs were inconvenient and he could no longer run around to make a living. "
"This peddler should be Zhuge Chi. This must be the place where Zhuge Chi had a guilty conscience and planned to hide."
"And the teacher who has close ties with the peddler should be the former Zhao emperor, Hai Wuji. He hid here under the name of a teacher to hide his identity."
"The teacher has always existed in this village, and all the villagers know him. Hai Wuji had been busy with politics and could not have been here all this time. The teacher from before might have been real. From what the villagers said, the teacher's temperament seemed to have changed. He was not very close to the villagers. According to the time, the teacher's temperament changed after the fall of the Kingdom of Zhao. From this, we can deduce that the previous teacher was the real one, and the later teacher was the fake one, replaced by Hai Wuji. "
Mu Lianze snorted. "These shameless scoundrels really know how to play. They're willing to go to any lengths. They've even prepared a substitute in this ravine."
Yuan Se, on the other hand, stared at Huo Kong with a smile on his face. "Now your analysis is clear and logical. Why didn't you ask these questions earlier?"
Huo Kong hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "I wasn't in charge of the Misty Pavilion before. After I took over, many things happened, and I didn't have the time to sort this matter out."
These words seemed to be pushing the blame onto the previous teacher, but he wasn't wrong. This matter couldn't be blamed on him. There were so many things to do in the world, and he couldn't take care of everything in such a short time.
Seeing that Yuan Se didn't say anything else, Huo Kong added, "Looking at the situation here, Zhuge Chi knew that he had done something illegal, and had already made meticulous preparations for his escape. His arrangements were exquisite, and if he hadn't done this, it would have been difficult for the previous person to notice anything amiss."
Yuan Se said, "What do you mean by telling me all this now? Where is he? Where is he? "
Huo Kong looked around. "We're still searching for him, but looking at the situation now, he most likely escaped before we could make a move. According to some of the villagers, we can't be sure if he escaped yesterday or today. We don't know if it was the peddler we captured who tipped him off. The final result has yet to be confirmed. "
"He escaped!" Zhangsun Mi chuckled coldly, his eyes flashing with a cold light.
Yuan Se's smiling face was no longer smiling, and he looked around coldly.
Mu Lianze suddenly raised his chin at the yellow-haired old man crawling on the ground. "What is he doing?"
Huo Kong said, "This is the Misty Pavilion's tracking expert. According to his judgment, he most likely escaped yesterday. His ability to detect smells is extraordinary, and he doesn't think that the smell left here was left today. Due to time, the target's smell has almost dissipated, and it's difficult to distinguish it from the air. Only the target's feet are in the mud, so the smell is not easily dissipated. Right now, there are still traces of it, and he is searching by sniffing the ground.
"He has already sniffed the entire village, and finally concluded that the place with the heaviest smell is here. He suspects that this is the last place the target appeared, and he is making a final confirmation."
As he spoke, the yellow-haired old man suddenly got up and walked to the ditch beside the peach tree. He squatted down again, staring at the ditch for some reason, and even took a branch and waved it in the water.
As if he had discovered something, the few of them looked at each other and walked over.
Huo Kong asked from nearby, "Old Huang, how is it?"
The yellow-haired old man looked back and saw the three Saint Venerables, so he quickly stood up and bowed.
Yuan Se smiled and waved his hand. "Don't be nervous, business is more important. One look and I can tell that you are a diligent person. Not bad, not bad. Looking at you, did you discover something? "
The yellow-haired old man was a little nervous, but when it came to what he was good at, he immediately calmed down and pointed at the ditch. "Saint Venerables, please take a look."
The few of them looked into the ditch, but didn't see anything. They only saw a few pairs of footprints in the mud at the bottom of the ditch.
Yuan Se asked again, "What do you mean?"
The yellow-haired old man said, "The target must have entered the water from here, and used the ditch as a cover to reach the small river outside the village, then used the water to escape."
"I just left traces at the bottom of the ditch to test it. Based on the speed at which the water flows to cover the footprints, the water flow here might be fast or slow, but this is a small tributary, and it hasn't rained for the past two days, so the water flow shouldn't be too fast."
"Therefore, based on the footprints left by the target, we can infer that the target didn't leave today, but yesterday."
"If he left yesterday, why did he leave secretly through the ditch?"
"Based on the various signs, we can conclude that the target left after being discovered, and the target used this place to escape after knowing that he was being watched."
Yuan Se nodded again. "Not bad, not bad. As expected of a tracking expert, what a talent. In your opinion, did someone inside leak the information, or did he run because he sensed something was wrong? "
Internal informants? Huo Kong was secretly alarmed when he heard this.
The yellow-haired old man said, "This can't be determined, but we can check if there were any abnormal people in the village yesterday. The target didn't leave until he was watched, and if someone leaked the information, it means that the informant didn't know his whereabouts before. It can also mean that the two parties didn't establish contact before, so the informant must have sent someone to contact him directly. As long as we can rule out this possibility, we can rule out the possibility of an internal leak. "
Mu Lianze and Zhangsun Mi nodded slightly after hearing this.
Yuan Se showed a look of admiration. "Not bad, not bad. As expected of a tracking expert. You single-handedly withstood the search of so many useless people. Everything is clear in your hands. You are a talent, very good! What position do you have in the Misty Pavilion now? "
The yellow-haired old man cupped his hands and said, "My Lord, I am at the Secret Investigation Bureau."
"At the Secret Investigation Bureau?" Yuan Se was startled. That meant he didn't have any position, no wonder he hadn't heard of him. He turned to Huo Kong and said, "I think he is qualified to be a deacon in the Secret Investigation Bureau."
Huo Kong bowed slightly and said, "Yes, I will make the arrangements when I get back."
Mu Lianze and Zhangsun Mi didn't have any objections to this. The ability of the yellow-haired old man had made them look up to him.
The yellow-haired old man was very surprised, but he was overjoyed. Yuan Se's words made him a deacon in charge of the Misty Pavilion in the blink of an eye. How could he not be happy? He cupped his hands and said excitedly, "Thank you for your favor, my Lord!"
"Sigh, people with ability should be put in important positions." Yuan Se waved his hand and patted his shoulder in a friendly manner, signaling him to leave.
After staring at the footprints in the water for a while, Yuan Se turned to Huo Kong and said, "Why are you still standing there? He already said it very clearly, even the way to investigate was clearly stated. Do you still need me to teach you how to investigate? I think you are even worse than Ding Wei. If there is a traitor, find him for me! "
"Yes!" Huo Kong sweated a little and cupped his hands and left.
They finally found him, but he ran away? The three saints weren't in a good mood. They knew they had alerted the enemy. Now that he ran away, it would be difficult to find him again in this big world.
The search outside was still going on. They couldn't give up so easily.
The three saints entered the school and wandered around.
Not long after, Huo Kong came in with an ugly expression. He walked to the three of them and cupped his hands. "Master, according to the investigation, there were indeed people not from the village who entered yesterday. It was a couple doing mending for a living, and they even brought a two or three year old child with them. According to the villagers, when the couple appeared, the peddler was still there, and the teacher was still teaching in the school. One thing we can confirm is that the target only disappeared after the couple arrived. As for the specific time of disappearance, we can't be sure. "
Yuan Se raised his eyebrows and stared at him, an unusually cold light flashing in his eyes.
Huo Kong's heart tightened. He also knew that with this investigation, he could basically deduce from what the yellow-haired man said that there was indeed a traitor in the Misty Pavilion who was informing the target!
Someone in the Misty Pavilion helped a Nascent Soul cultivator escape. What did this mean? What was the purpose of helping a Nascent Soul cultivator escape?
Just thinking about it made him shudder.
Mu Lianze laughed. "This is really interesting. Yesterday, a couple doing mending for a living appeared to inform the target, and today, a peddler appeared. The Misty Pavilion is really like a sieve now, leaking information everywhere. What secrets can there be?!"
PS: Thank you "Yue Family Army _ Xiu Qi Zhiping" for your support.
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