Chapter 16: The Bizarre Disappearance (Part 2)

  Zhang Shu is an old hand, so he wouldn't have missed such an unusual thing. The places assigned to everyone for searching were not far away, and at first, they didn't plan to search far away, it's impossible to get lost. Moreover, the mountain top near the inn was the highest place around, and the lanterns lit up all night yesterday, if nothing happened to the person, it's impossible that he couldn't be seen.

  Did I encounter some kind of ferocious beast? It's very likely that martial arts can't be used casually here. Once a ferocious beast is encountered, and one involuntarily uses their skills, they'll immediately get hurt, then injured by the beast or worse.

  Or is someone secretly manipulating things? Zhang Shu looked at the people in the inn and analyzed it with the young master. Could it be that one of the other few people who left was involved? Several people acted freely, but no one knew where they went. Zhang Shu also sent someone to ask, and several people seemed to be very cooperative, revealing their own whereabouts.

  Qin Yifan is unlikely, he was fishing by the lake all along, and later the young master and that woman were also playing there, they came back together, whatever he did would be seen clearly. Lin Qiulü said she was picking some wild mushrooms by the official road, this also has people to prove it, and when she came back she brought those things with her. Huang Banshan said he was exploring the feng shui, wandering around randomly, someone saw him. Zhang Chong Li Song claimed to be looking for herbs, someone saw him too, Zhou Qing didn't go out at all.

  This way, except for Qin Yifan, it seems that everyone is suspicious. There are also those local mountain people, who go out in groups in the morning and return in the evening, but they bring back a lot of wild game. The mountains they went to are deeper than the patrol area arranged by Zhang Shu, but it's also impossible to rule out suspicion.

  With Qin Yifan, the shopkeeper with a "backer", Zhang Shu and the young master didn't want to take action directly here. Moreover, the conditions of this inn are not bad, and there is someone who serves food and drink specially. If they really took action, they would have to hold back themselves.

  Someone was sent out to look for him, but he wasn't found until noon. From early morning, Uncle Zhang had used the excuse of his own person going missing to gather all the villagers in the inn's main hall, and no one was allowed to go out. In Uncle Zhang's words, they were going to discuss with Qin Yifan whether or not to report to the authorities, as everyone here was a suspect, and whoever wanted to leave would be revealing their guilt. As a result, everyone cooperated without any resistance.

  Qin Yifan didn't lift a hand, and no one else dared to move. Qin Yifan had said it before, he was the one who called the shots here, and since he wasn't saying anything, everyone knew they still didn't have the strength to challenge him, so they all listened obediently. As for those mountain people, Qin Yifan was the master of the house, so whatever he said went.

  To be honest, Qin Yifan was also quite perplexed. Without hearing any commotion, how could a person just mysteriously disappear like that?

  Should I say that a few people took action? Qin Yifan was even more incredulous. Cultivators have their own rules, and the rule of not taking action against ordinary people is still very strict. Moreover, they had no reason to take action. Was it just for their arrogance and disrespect towards themselves? If so, this world would have been filled with blood long ago, and these cultivators' experience in the mortal world would have turned into slaughter.

  Are there fierce beasts here? How is that possible, Qin Yifan has been stuck here for so many years and hasn't encountered any, those mountain people are all fine, right? Did they encounter some sudden situation where they used martial arts and got severely injured and can't move? This is a very likely possibility.

  However, since the search area is not that large, even if there are injured people, a group of people should have found them in the morning. It's impossible for someone to disappear without a trace, especially when they can be considered a second-rate expert.

  What's even more bizarre is that everyone was waiting in the guest house, and when those people returned at dusk, one of them was missing again. It was inexplicable, without a sound, they had mysteriously disappeared. Everyone was here, it was impossible for these people to go out and hurt someone. Thinking back to Qin Yifan's initial speculation that there were ghosts here, several of the subordinates of the few young masters couldn't help but shiver with fear.

  Are there really ghosts? Zhang Shu was also somewhat uncertain, and only asked Qin Yifan about the details. The purpose of Qin Yifan fabricating this lie was to cover up for Zhang Chong and others the animal corpses that accidentally entered their warning range during their cultivation, not that these things really existed, how could Qin Yifan have said it clearly?

  Qin Yifan, a local, said that there have only been animal carcasses found, and never any missing mountain villagers. Qin Yifan also mentioned that martial artists who come here will get injured or fall ill, but could it be something even more sinister? Will martial artists be mysteriously kidnapped or killed? What exactly is going on?

  The entire night, the inn was shrouded in a terrifying atmosphere. Of course, all the terror was focused on the last group of people to arrive. Lin Qiulü and Zhang Chong were just low-ranking disciples of their sect, but they weren't particularly afraid of ghosts and monsters, especially ones they had never seen before. If there really were any ghosts, it's possible that they would be the ones using them as ingredients for medicine or talismans.

  Moreover, apart from those who cultivate yin evil or Qin Yifan who can move freely here, how could there be any other possibility? Or maybe it's those powerful figures, but they would never come here to pass the time and bully a few housekeeping dogs.

  Either this group of people has some kind of vendetta, or their ostentatious behavior along the way has alerted other Jianghu people to follow them secretly and take action. However, in this place, it's possible that monitoring these people without being discovered by Qin Yifan is less likely than a rooster laying eggs, so we can temporarily set it aside.

  Lin Qiulü originally didn't pay much attention, but since everyone was here, she couldn't help but start analyzing. The conclusion she came up with was roughly the same as before. She also looked down on these people, if they went missing or died, it had nothing to do with her. Anyway, she despised these people from the bottom of her heart, even if they all suddenly died, she wouldn't have any special feelings.

  The only person who can take action here is Qin Yifan, and after being in contact with him for so long, she also understands that he will not be bored to this extent. Then there won't be any other possibility.

  No, there's another possibility, that of practicing yin evil. Vaguely, a blurry shadow emerged in Lin Qiulü's mind, but Lin Qiulü only suspected it and didn't dare to admit it. That possibility was really too small, impossible, how could such a thing happen?

  I continued to shout, continued to shout, until I shouted onto the new book list, and then began to refine and update my golden body.