Chapter 21 Datura Flower

For several days, Qinghe County remained calm and peaceful.

After his failure at the Zhang family mansion, the flower thief completely disappeared, and the mastermind behind the disappearance case never committed another crime.

Zhao Shan incorporated all the newly appointed Demon Suppressors into the night patrol team, cooperating with the veteran Demon Suppressors to patrol Qinghe County on a rotating basis, with a particular emphasis on patrolling the southern part of the city and various streets and alleys.

Shen Lian, Li Hu, and Chen Yun were assigned to be led by Zhou Wu, a veteran demon-suppressing envoy.

Zhou Wu is in his early thirties and has been in the Demon Suppression Division for eight years. He has a wealth of experience and possesses terrifying strength at the third level of the Body Tempering Realm.

That night.

Zhou Wu led Shen Lian and the other two on a patrol of the southern part of the city.

The alley was very quiet, with only the sound of the wind whistling through it.

Zhou Wu walked at the front, his steps steady, his gaze deep as he surveyed his surroundings.

"Things haven't been peaceful in Qinghe County lately, so you all need to be on your guard," Zhou Wu whispered a reminder, "especially in those secluded alleys and abandoned houses."

Li Hu gripped the hilt of his knife tightly, somewhat nervously asking, "Senior Sun, do you think the flower thief and the mastermind behind the disappearance might be working together?"

Zhou Wu shook his head and said, "The methods used in the two cases are different. The flower thief only robbed women of their virtue without killing them, while the missing person was drained of her life essence, which seems more like the work of a demon. However, it's hard to say what the real situation is."

Chen Yun said, "Commander Zhao once said that some evil cultivators raise demons or collude with demons. If that's true, there might really be a connection between these two cases."

Shen Lian listened silently, pondering in his heart.

Strange things have been happening frequently in Qinghe County lately.

Corpse-Eating Woman, Flower Thief, Missing Persons Case.

These events all occurred within the last two or three months.

Is it a coincidence, or is there some connection behind it?

Zhou Wu and his group patrolled the streets, not missing a single detail.

Zhou Wu suddenly stopped and raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet.

"There's movement!"

He lowered his voice and looked toward the alley to his right, where a faint sound was coming from.

Zhou Wu frowned, gestured to Shen Lian and the others, and the four of them split into two groups and moved towards the alley to encircle it.

Deep in the alley, a beggar huddled in a corner, trembling uncontrollably.

"No, don't come any closer..."

The beggar was in a daze, muttering to himself, his eyes filled with fear.

[Combat Strength]: 0~1

Shen Lian checked the beggar's combat strength and found he was just an ordinary person.

Zhou Wu stepped forward slowly and said in a deep voice, "The Demon Suppression Division is investigating a case. Tell me, what did you just see?"

"Red, red eyes, it's looking at me, it's looking at me..."

The beggar raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, and waved his hands wildly.

"Speak slowly!" Chen Yun reassured her.

"I was sleeping behind the local temple when I woke up in the middle of the night from the cold. I saw a shadow come out of the temple," the beggar said in a trembling voice. "The shadow was moving very fast, and I followed it out of curiosity. When I got to the moat, it suddenly turned around and looked at me. I saw that its eyes were red. I felt cold all over and ran here as fast as I could. I never dared to go back."

"Which local temple did you see it at?" Shen Lian pressed.

"It's that abandoned earth god temple in the south of the city, behind which there's an old locust tree..." the beggar said, his fingers trembling.

The group exchanged glances.

That was the local temple where Manager Wang of the "Fulai Inn" was murdered.

Zhou Wu said in a deep voice, "The situation has changed. One of you stay here to look after him, and the other two come with me to the Earth God Temple to investigate immediately."

Shen Lian nodded and said, "Tiger, you stay and look after this old man. Seek help from the county yamen's night patrol officers to temporarily settle him in. Junior Sister Chen, you and I will go with Senior Zhou to the local temple to investigate."

Li Hu nodded in agreement: "Please be careful."

Zhou Wu, Shen Lian, and Chen Yun immediately sped off towards the abandoned Earth God Temple in the south of the city. The three of them were very fast and soon arrived near the Earth God Temple.

The temple gate was long since decayed, with only half of it hanging diagonally on the door frame. Behind the temple stood a very thick old locust tree with gnarled branches, and the only sound was the wind blowing and leaves falling.

"First, observe the surroundings of the Earth God Temple," Zhou Wu advised.

Shen Lian and Chen Yun nodded, and then the three of them cautiously explored the area around the land temple.

Soon, the three of them had thoroughly explored the area around the Earth God Temple.

"Nothing was found around here!" Shen Lian said in a low voice.

Zhou Wu nodded slightly: "The beggar said he followed the shadow to the moat, but he has probably already left. Let's see if we can find any clues in the temple."

The three of them carefully entered the earth god temple.

The temple was very cramped, the statues inside were dilapidated, the altar was covered in dust, the walls were covered in cobwebs, and there was a musty smell in the air.

Zhou Wu took out a tinderbox from his pocket, lit it, and the faint light illuminated the temple. He then began to explore.

"Look here," Chen Yun said, pointing to the ground behind the statue.

There was a small clump of grayish-white powder on the ground, which was very similar to the powder found at the scenes of several previous missing persons cases.

Zhou Wu squatted down, picked up a pinch of powder, and smelled it: "It's the same as the powder we found before; it should be a remnant of some kind of ritual."

Shen Lian found a symbol under the base of the statue. The symbol was a twisted circle with several intersecting lines inside.

"What is this?" Chen Yun leaned closer to examine it.

Zhou Wu frowned: "It looks like some kind of sacrificial symbol. Make a rubbing of this symbol and bring it back to the Demon Suppression Division so that Mr. Zhou can identify it."

Mr. Zhou is an expert in identifying demons and monsters in the Demon Suppression Division, and he also has considerable knowledge of various evil rituals and spells. Perhaps he can make some discoveries.

Zhou Wu handed the tinderbox to Shen Lian, then took out his paper and pen and carefully made a rubbing of the distorted symbol.

The three continued their search and made a new discovery under the locust tree behind the temple.

There were signs that the soil around the base of the locust tree had been disturbed. Although it had been covered again, the soil was still noticeably softer than the surrounding soil.

"Shall we dig it open and take a look?" Chen Yun asked.

Shen Lian and Zhou Wu carefully dug through the soil with their scabbards. After digging half a foot, they encountered a hard object.

After clearing away the surrounding soil, you'll find a ceramic jar, sealed with wax at the opening.

Zhou Wu gestured for the two to step back, carefully touched the pottery jar, and placed it on the ground. He carefully checked the seal, and after confirming that there was no problem, he used a knife to pry open the wax seal.

The jar was filled with grayish-white powder, just like the one found in the local temple. The powder contained withered black petals and emitted a sweet, fishy smell.

"It's a datura flower!" Zhou Wu gasped.

Chen Yun asked in confusion, "What is a datura flower?"

Zhou Wu explained, "Datura flowers are hallucinogenic and are often used in evil rituals. It seems this is not the work of ordinary demons, but rather someone is manipulating things behind the scenes."

Chen Yun was puzzled: "The missing persons were all drained of their life essence; this is clearly the work of demons. Could it be that someone can control demons?"

"I think there are two possibilities," Shen Lian analyzed. "One is that evil cultivators need essence blood for cultivation, so they raise or drive demons to hunt for it for them; the other is that evil cultivators have cultivated some kind of evil technique that absorbs essence blood, and they disguise themselves as demons to commit crimes."

Zhou Wu closed the pottery jar and said in a deep voice, "No matter which possibility it is, it means we're in big trouble. To be able to conceal one's aura so well, even Commander Zhao couldn't track them down, shows that the other party's cultivation is not shallow."

He carefully wrapped the earthenware jar: "Take these things and return to the Demon Suppression Division immediately. The situation has become more serious than expected, and we need Commander Zhao to make a decision."

The three quickly left the Earth God Temple and returned to the Demon Suppression Bureau.