Chapter 213: Attack of Monster
After knowing that the the dark monsters of Nanhai Mountain going to attack Nanhai City, Jia Hao has been trying to look at additional clues regarding this.
For example, from where the monsters are going to invade.
‘ The Nanhai mountain is surrounding the Nanhai City like an arc, from west to south. There aren’t many places where the monsters can invade without great resistance.’
‘ Not to mention, from what I have seen, this monster strike isn’t just some mindless invasion.’
‘ If the monsters going to attack the city and target, especially the Cai Family, they have to pick weak points of the Nanhai City, where attacking would be easy and defending would be hard.’
As the carriage moved, Jia Hao looked at the casefiles of the yamen.
” Hmm, Killing the victims and drinking their blood? Leaving their corpse in a dried state?”
” Indeed, Not to mention, their souls are also sucked dry.” The Third Captain replied.
” How did you know their soul is also devoured?” Jia Hao asked in a curious voice.
” There are various criminal investigation reports which can be used to track the soul of a person.” The Third Captain smiled.
” There is a Soul Tracing Talisman which is supplied by the Imperial Family and other taoists sects which helps us to detect a person’s soul.”
” It’s effective when we are tracking some evil being. It shows us the last location of the culprit.”
” Then, Can’t you just communicate with the soul to guess who is the murderer?” Jia Hao couldn’t help but retort.
” Investigator Jia, It sounds easy to do, but the reality is different.” The Third Captain smiled wryly.
” As I said, the Soul Tracing Talisman can only check if a person has his soul and seven spirits inside him or not. And if not, it can trace the place of its last possible location within a hundred li of area.”
” But directly communicating the spirit would be extremely hard. Unless an Innate Realm Taoist Priest uses his power, it’s impossible to do that.”
” Not to mention, it’s…very disrespectful to detain a person’s soul as it may deviate its path to the netherworld. So, we don’t do that.”
‘ Hmph, What’s so bad about getting lost in the way of the netherworld? Look at me, I suffered so much because of them.’
Jia Hao couldn’t help but mumble inwardly when he heard that. However, he suddenly remembered a word from the Granma Meng.
‘ If you can’t trust the living people, why do you think you can trust ghosts?’
‘ Ghosts aren’t pure souls without seven emotions and six desires. Even after death, there are chances they will lie, or do something which will benefit them.’
‘ So, it’s my job to erase their emotions so they can go under the judgment of the netherworld.’
Jia Hao sighed as he looked outside of the carriage. Soon enough, they arrived at a large village.
” Look! It’s the soldier from the Yamen!”
” Hurry up and get back!”
” Don’t try to do anything before them.”
” Hoho, It looks like the reputation of yamen isn’t that good.” Jia Hao couldn’t help but chuckle.
” It’s not weird. We have to remain strict to serve justice. And to do that, we may have to take some hard steps.” The Third Captain replied.
” Sure, It’s all because of righteousness and not the fear and extortion from the public.” Jia Hao mocked him.
The Third Captain gave a wry smile as he didn’t try to correct Jia Hao. After all, even he knows how much corruption is there inside the yamen.
As they got off from the carriage, the village head came rushing.
” Greetings, Esteemed officers. I have been waiting for you.”
” Alright, Please show us the way. Did you preserve the dead body?”
” Yes, The bodies have been kept isolated.” The village head nodded. ” Please follow me.”
As Jia Hao and the officers followed the village leader, he took them to a small hut at the end of the village.
Entering the house, Jia Hao could smell the faint smell of rot. However, it was pretty much faint.
” The victim died last night, like the previous victim.” The village leader replied.
When Jia Hao looked at the corpse, he realized why the odor was faint.
The body was dried like a mummy, with it’s skins are creased. There was no trace of blood inside the body.
” Any bite mark? Something like puncturing of the canine teeth of a person?”
” Huh? No, Young Lord.” The village lord shook his head.
” There are no such bite marks. But it was clear that the person was attacked by something like a wild beast. You can see the scratch mark across his body.”
” The victim’s name is Zhang Ba, a local woodcutter. He goes to the forest every day to cut wood. But last evening, his fellow woodcutter didn’t notice him coming back.”
” When he went to search for Zhang Ba, he found this dead body.” The Third Captain replied.
” A large chunk of flesh is missing at the right side of the waist. Other than that, there are only bloody scratch marks on the body.”
‘ Hmm, I thought it might be a vampire since it’s devouring the blood. But I guess it’s some other demon.’ Jia Hao muttered inwardly.
His Sage’s Divine Eyes shone as he looked at the corpse.
[ Dried corpse: Woodcutter Zhang Ba’s dead body, completely dried from blood and vitality. A chunk of flesh and liver is missing, eaten by a Dark Bog Hound]
‘ Dark Bog Hound?’ Jia Hao couldn’t help but ponder.
“Does anyone know something called Dark Bog Hound?”
” What? Dark Bog Hound?” The Third Captain was stunned.
” They are the monster dogs who reside in the Twisted Dark Forest. Their attack power isn’t high. But the thing that makes them strange and scary is that…they are undead!”
” You need to break their undead crystals to kill them. Not to mention, they stay with a pack. So, even an Innate realm Master can be overwhelmed.”
” But they live deep in the Twisted Dark Forest. How can one appear here?” A yamen officer asked.
” Of course…They can…”
Jia Hao thought inwardly as he put the pieces of a puzzle together.
If the monsters are going to invade the Nanhai City, it’s possible that they have already crawled out from the Twisted Dark Forest and appeared at the edge of the Nanhai Mountain.
” If it’s done by a Dark Bog Hound, then the corpse should contain some dark and rotten qi. But how are we going to test it? We don’t have any holy or taoist equipment.” Third Captain sighed.
” Holy energy?” Jia Hao thought for a moment. ” Can buddhist energy can be applied?”
” Huh? Buddhist energy? Of course!” The Third Captain nodded.
” The buddhist monks are the bane of the evil beings. But, Right now, We don’t have any buddhist items…”
Suddenly, Jia Hao knelt before the corpse and started to circulate his Golden Arhat Vajra Body Art. Suddenly, his palm shone with a faint golden radiance.
*SSSSHHHHH*
The corpse suddenly moved, making the yamen officers jump back.
” Ahhh!”
” Ghost! It’s a ghost!”
“No! Wait a minute! Look at that!”
The Third Captain’s eyes turned wide when he saw a cloud of black smoke coming out from the body. Suddenly, the entire room filled with a strange rotting odor, as if they were standing near some rotten swamp.
” Ugh! What’s this smell!”
” Dark and rotten qi?”
” Dispel!”
Jia Hao intensified his buddhist energy as the Yang energy erupted from his palm. The cloud of dark smoke sizzled as it vanished. Everyone took a breath of air as they looked at Jia Hao with amazement.
” Investigator Jia, What was that?”
” Are you a buddhist cultivator?”
Jia Hao rolled his eyes. ” Hmph! I just used a treasure. What kind of buddhist cultivator behaves like me?”
” Eh, That’s true though.”
But then, the Third Captain’s expression turned serious. ” I see, So a Dark Bog Hound is behind this, huh?”
” But It looks like it’s only a single hound. Else the corpse would not have remained intact.”
” Therefore, It looks like we can handle it.”
” But captain, How are we going to know when the monster is going to attack again?” A yamen officer asked.
” Hmm, That’s right. We can’t stay here for longer. We have other works in the Nanhai City too.”
” Since the monster is going to attack people…I think we have a chance to capture him.”
” Village Leader, summon all the villagers. Especially those who are healthy and young, both males and females.”
” Huh? Alright!”
The village leader nodded as he turned around and left hurriedly.
Not long after, Jia Hao stood before the villagers, looking at them with a serious gaze.
‘ If someone among them is going to die…Then their death must be their recent future points. I just need to find that one.’
Panel after panel flashed before Jia Hao’s eyes, making his eyes sting. However, he still persisted, looking at the information of each villager.
Suddenly, his eyes turned wide as he noticed a particular recent future point.
‘ No way!’
