Beast-controlling fairy clan.

Chapter 77 Investigation and Speculation [Second update, please subscribe]

Jiufengling, Bailan Peak.

Bailan Peak is one of the nine peaks, and Zhou Jiahui's home is here.

Unlike Zhou Jiahe, who has never married or had children, Zhou Jiahui has a partner and children.

Her Taoist partner Shen Xin was also originally a disciple of the Sanjue Sect. After the Sanjue Sect split up, he did not choose to join Lingshou Villa, but instead stayed in the Zhou family with his children and accompanied her to Jiufeng Ridge.

At this time, seven days had passed since Zhou Jiahui left Jiufengling, and his Taoist partner Shen Xin, who had not seen him return, began to get anxious.

"It's been seven days, why hasn't Jiahui come back yet? Wasn't it enough to be away for five days in the past?"

In the room, Shen Xin, whose hair was already turning white, was walking back and forth with a worried look on his face, feeling very uneasy.

After hesitating for a long time, he still couldn't let go of his worries, so he took the initiative to go to Pagoda Peak to meet the clan leader Zhou Daoyi to inquire about the situation.

As Zhou Jiahui's Taoist partner, although he didn't know what Zhou Jiahui was doing after leaving the family, he also knew that it was assigned by the clan leader Zhou Daoyi.

So when he saw that his Taoist partner had been out for many days and had not returned, he could only go to the clan leader Zhou Daoyi to find out the details.

"What? Jiahui has been out for seven days?"

In the "Zhongping Hall", Zhou Daoyi met with Shen Xin and was shocked when he learned from him that Zhou Jiahui had been away from home for seven days.

Then, a look of worry flashed in his eyes, and he nodded to Shen Xin and said, "I know about this matter. I will arrange for someone to investigate it immediately. You go home and wait for news!"

After hearing Shen Xin's words, he immediately bowed deeply to Zhou Daoyi and said, "Then I'll leave it to you, Patriarch!"

After sending Shen Xin away, Zhou Daoyi pondered for a moment, then called over Baozhi Peak's master Zhou Jiahe, and ordered him in a deep voice, "Jiahui went to the underground river to collect poisonous spiny fish mucus, and she hasn't returned for seven days. I'm worried that something might have happened to her. You should quickly go to Hongya Market, take Zhengchun with you, and go to the underground river to investigate and see if she has been there!"

When Zhou Jiahe heard this, he was shocked and a look of worry about his cousin instantly appeared on his face.

She immediately responded in a deep voice: "Yes, I will obey the orders of the clan leader."

Then, without delaying for a moment, he took the two big-horned green sheep and rushed to Hongyafang Market.

"What? Aunt Nineteen hasn't returned for seven days!"

In the Spirit Beast House, when Zhou Chun learned about this from Zhou Jiahe who had rushed over, he was also shocked.

Then he nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, I will go with you, Aunt Thirteen!"

So the aunt and nephew quickly left the market town, and then changed to the big-horned blue sheep brought by Zhou Jiahe somewhere outside the Hongyan Mountains, and headed straight for the underground river together.

Of course, although the two were anxious at this time, they did not let down their guard. They used various means to detect the situation behind them on the way to prevent being followed.

After reaching the outside of the mountains, the two men placed the two big-horned blue sheep in the cave where Luo Guangshun had kept his horses, and then walked to the pool together.

Not long after, the two arrived at the edge of the pond.

"There are no recent traces. Nineteenth Sister definitely hasn't been here in the past seven days!"

By the pond, Zhou Jiahe scanned the gravel beach beside the pond inch by inch with his spiritual sense, and with a very grim expression he told about his findings.

For safety reasons, and with Luo Guangshun's initial demonstration in mind, and at Zhou Chun's suggestion, every time Zhou Jiahui came to the pond alone to catch poisonous spiny fish and collect their mucus, she never went deep into the underground river, only luring them with blood.

So if she had recently caught poisonous sticklebacks near the pond, even if she cleaned up before leaving, there would definitely be some traces left behind.

And the most important point is that every time Zhou Jiahui came, he would leave a scratch on an inconspicuous stone beside the pond to prove that he had been there.

Now Zhou Jiahe did not find any scratches left by Zhou Jiahui on the stone.

"It seems that Aunt Nineteen met with an accident on her way here!"

Zhou Chun whispered his own judgment, his tone very heavy.

Seven days had passed, but Zhou Jiahui had not even reached the pond.

If something unexpected really happened, I'm afraid it would be very dangerous!

"Since Sister Nineteen was assigned by the clan leader to do this task, she was also given the Lianxin Mole. Even if she really encounters an accident, as long as she is not killed instantly, she can secretly leave the Lianxin Mole as a mark."

When Zhou Jiahe said this, he immediately looked at Zhou Chun and said, "Let's go back to the clan and ask the clan leader to use the Heart Linking Mole Queen to find the whereabouts of the Nineteenth Sister!"

"Okay, let's do it!"

Zhou Chun nodded, and immediately returned to the cave where the big-horned green sheep were kept with Zhou Jiahe. Then, regardless of the fact that the two big-horned green sheep had not yet had a good rest, he directly fed them strong medicine to stimulate their life potential and let them gallop all the way.

After running for most of the distance and exhausting the two big-horned green sheep to death, Zhou Chun and his nephew Zhou Jiahe used their flying magic tools to complete the remaining half of the distance and returned to Jiufeng Ridge at the fastest speed.

"Alright, I understand the situation. You guys should take a good rest first. I will ask the Third Elder to take the Heart-Linking Mole Queen to go there in person!"

Inside the "Zhongping Hall", after Zhou Daoyi heard the reports from Zhou Chun and Zhou Jiahe who had hurried back, his expression became heavy and he responded quickly.

Zhou Chun and Zhou Jiahe were really exhausted at this time. After hearing this, they immediately returned to their residence on Baozhi Peak to rest.

After resting for half a day, Zhou Chun got up with a heavy heart.

The matter of Zhou Jiahui's disappearance is too delicate at this juncture.

Now Lingshouzhai has just been revived thanks to the hot sales of "Touch of Despair". If there is a problem with the production of "Touch of Despair" at this time, it will be a big problem.

What’s more, Zhou Chun was more worried about another thing, that is, if Zhou Jiahui really had an accident, would the location of the underground river be known to outsiders?

With such a heavy heart, he couldn't help but go to Baiyao Peak.

"Although the formula of the Touch of Despair powder is complicated, it is not an elixir after all, and there are no technical difficulties in alchemy. If there is a monk who is proficient in the art of making medicine and knows all the ingredients and analyzes it in detail, I cannot guarantee that he will not reversely deduce and restore the formula!"

“So if we don’t want this poison to be imitated by outsiders, we have to strictly control the leakage of the poisonous stickleback fish’s mucus. Without this mucus, it will be useless even if outsiders restore the powder formula!” On Baiyao Peak, facing Zhou Chun’s question, Zhou Jiawei expressed his own views without hiding anything.

This answer undoubtedly made Zhou Chun feel even more depressed.

And what the third elder Zhou Daoquan said when he returned from outside made the faces of several Zhou family members who knew the situation turn very ugly.

"I took the heart-linking larvae and ran back and forth four times, changing routes, but I didn't receive any signal at all. From this, I know that the heart-linking larvae on Jiahui's body is either dead or taken to a very far place!"

Inside the Zhongping Hall, several members of the Zhou family who knew about the situation gathered together, listening to the third elder Zhou Daoquan explain his experience of going out.

The Lianxin Mole is a special insect domesticated by the Zhou family. Even if the mother and offspring are hundreds of miles apart, the mother can sense and lock onto the offspring's location.

Therefore, every core member of the Zhou family, as well as some elite members who receive special attention, will carry a larva of the heart-linked cricket with them, hiding it in the soles of their shoes or in their trouser pockets.

In this way, if they encounter life-and-death danger outside, they can let the larvae of the heart-link maggots burrow deep underground, allowing the family to find the place where they were killed afterwards, making it easier to track down the murderer and avenge themselves.

At this time, it was heard that Zhou Daoquan took the heart-linking worm out to search several times but could not find the worm on Zhou Jiahui's body. All the Zhou family cultivators present realized the seriousness of the matter.

At the same time, Zhou Chun and others looked at the clan leader Zhou Daoyi, waiting for his speech.

"The Lianxinling is a special spiritual insect that my Zhou family cultivated after taking root in Jiufeng Mountain. Even ordinary members of my Zhou family don't know about its existence. It doesn't have any magic power, so it is unlikely to be discovered by the enemy!"

"Even if Jiahui was captured alive, she should know to leave Lian Xinluo behind to establish the family. She would not be so stupid as to let the enemy take her and Lian Xinluo away together!"

"So we have reason to believe that Jiahui was not only murdered, but it is also possible that even the Lian Xinluo that she was carrying with her was discovered and destroyed!"

Under the gaze of everyone, Zhou Daoyi slowly expressed his opinion.
After hearing what he said, Zhou Daoquan immediately raised his eyebrows and said in a deep voice: "Patriarch, do you think that someone in the family revealed the existence of Lian Xinluo? Someone colluded with outsiders to murder Jiahui?"

"Don't rule out this possibility!"

Zhou Daoyi nodded with a gloomy expression.

"Sister Nineteen was killed while she was out collecting the slime from the poisonous stickleback fish. The outsiders murdered her in order to obtain the slime from the poisonous stickleback fish. In this case, wouldn't Spiritual Beast Villa be the biggest suspect?"

Zhou Jiahe gritted his teeth as he said this: "That makes sense. They are the only ones who can easily learn about Lian Xinluo's existence from the traitors in the family!"

Her speculation is reasonable.

But as the patriarch, Zhou Daoyi cannot make such a characterization based on such a speculation.

He immediately waved his hands and said, "We can't make such a hasty decision. Maybe there is no traitor. Jiahui was just attacked by a powerful opponent and was killed and captured alive without any preparation!"

After that, he said in a deep voice: "The most urgent task now is to find the place where Jiahui really had the accident and investigate the place where the incident occurred to determine the truth of the matter!"

However, just as he finished speaking and was about to arrange for people to search for the place where Zhou Jiahui had the accident, Zhou Chun, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke.

"If, I mean if, if Thirteenth Aunt's speculation is correct, and the enemy who murdered Nineteenth Aunt came for the poisonous stickleback slime, then shouldn't he wait for Nineteenth Aunt to go to the pond and lure out the poisonous stickleback before taking action?"

"If it wasn't because of the slime of the poisonous stickleback fish that he harmed Nineteenth Aunt, then with Nineteenth Aunt's cultivation strength, what kind of strong man could make her unable to even leave behind the heart bug? Why would such a strong man harm Nineteenth Aunt?"

When Zhou Chun said this, he saw that everyone's eyes were drawn to him, so he continued:

"If it's the former, since there's no trace of Nineteenth Aunt being there, that means she was killed along the way. It also means she discovered the enemy following her in advance, so she had plenty of time to keep Lian Xinluo."

"And the enemy knew that she was responsible for collecting the poisonous stickleback slime, and they were able to track her accurately, and she discovered her, and then they were able to kill Lian Xinluo. This must be someone in the family who leaked the secret!"

"If it's the latter, we have to think about why that strong man would want to harm Nineteenth Aunt? What good would it do him?"

Compared with Zhou Jiahe's speculation which was mixed with personal resentment, Zhou Chun's analysis was undoubtedly much more reasonable and did not involve any personal bias.

Therefore, it also attracted the attention of the clan leader Zhou Daoyi and the elder Zhou Daoquan.

Zhou Daoyi hesitated for a moment, then raised his head and said, "Let's first talk about the latter that Zhengchun mentioned. If it is the latter, then the person who murdered Jiahui can only have one purpose, to confuse people and induce us to turn our hatred towards Spirit Beast Villa."

"But we have no evidence to support this. The Zhou family will definitely not cause trouble for the Spiritual Beast Villa. If they want to cause a big fight between the Zhou family and the Spiritual Beast Villa, they will definitely continue to use other means to fan the flames!"

At this point, his face turned slightly cold, and he immediately said in a cold voice: "If that's the case, we just need to remain unchanged in the face of all changes and wait for the murderer who murdered Jiahui to jump out again!"

But he also knew in his heart that this possibility was not very high.

Therefore, his expression changed again and he said with a sad face: "If it is the former, it is really a misfortune for the family!"

After listening to his analysis, everyone felt that the truth was probably one of these two situations.

So the third elder Zhou Daoquan also quickly said: "Then we should do both. First, conceal the news of Jiahui's disappearance and don't make any big noise. Let's see if there is really a mastermind behind this!"

"On the other hand, closely monitor and investigate those members of the family who know Lian Xinluo, and see if we can find out who the traitor is!"

These words should have been said by the clan leader Zhou Daoyi, but as Zhou Daoquan was a family elder, it was not an overstep for him to say so, at most it was a little inappropriate.

But Zhou Daoyi obviously doesn't care about this.

He nodded and said, "Yes, let's do it this way. I will tell Jiahui's Taoist companions and children about it!"

After saying this, he swept his eyes across everyone in the hall, finally stopping at Zhou Chun.

He said, "Zhengchun, you don't have to go back to the market for the time being. I will arrange someone else to replace you. You will stay in the clan and assist me in investigating the traitor in the clan!"

Hearing his words, Zhou Daoquan's eyes narrowed slightly, as if he was thinking about something.

Zhou Jiahe didn't react much and was still sad.

Zhou Chun was stunned for a moment, then quickly responded, "Yes, I obey your command."

(End of this chapter)