Liu Cheng returned in the evening, with his robes and boots dusty. The task he had been asked to come here for were strange occurrences in a herb field a few li outside of the city that was owned by the merchant he was currently staying with.

Both the workers and the merchant believed that some kind of evil creature was behind this and were afraid of what might happen in the future if say didn’t have somebody intervene. Thus, the merchant had finally called upon the Chun Feng Sect.

Liu Cheng had investigated the location for several days but hadn’t been able to find anything at first. Now, it seemed that he had found a lead though: One of the servants working on the field was behaving quite suspiciously, sneaking around at odd times, becoming nervous as soon as he was around, and overall seeming like he was trying to hide something.

Even though Liu Cheng didn’t have any conclusive evidence just yet, he was pretty sure that either the servant was a demon or he knew who the one behind all this was. Anyway, this person definitely knew something. It was just a question of time to find out what exactly was going on. For now, there was something else he wanted to do though.

He hadn’t forgotten about Jing Yi’s story. He didn’t know the details yet since Jing Yi had only told him an abridged version but he still felt like a demon might be involved in this. So he wanted to go and ask some more questions to find out if he was right about this. Maybe it was even the same one and he could use this to find out about the questions in this case that were still bothering him.

Liu Cheng asked one of the servants of the estate where Jing Yi was and then went over without even bothering to change his clothes. If he was able to gain a clue and found out that time was of the essence, then he needed to rush out as soon as possible. After all, demons were deceitful creatures that might use even these few moments to escape. He didn’t want to risk that.

Maybe him being here had already drawn the demon’s attention. If another person that had suffered because of that demon was seen together with him or had even been noticed before when he came to the merchant’s house, then that might be enough for the demon to try to escape. Whether he would be able to find it again at that time would remain to be seen.

At that time, Jing Yi was currently helping out with cleaning the stable. This was also something he had never done before but it hadn’t seemed too hard so he had volunteered to help. After having the servant that normally worked there show him, he had gotten right into his task.

Liu Cheng didn’t think any further about this and just waved for Jing Yi to come over.

The boy turned to the other servant and excused himself for a moment before he rushed over. "Martial brother Liu, what can I do for you?"

"I just came back from investigating something for that task of mine and I couldn’t help but ponder the story you told me the other day about what had happened with your fiance. Can you give me some more information about that? I’m worried that there might be a demon behind this."

Jing Yi blinked his eyes in confusion. "A demon?" He really wondered how the demon would fit into that story.

Liu Cheng gave a wry smile. Actually, he didn’t want to have to explain too much. That would just take time that he could spend hunting the demon already. But unfortunately, the boy didn’t seem to be able to comprehend just how important this was. "You said that there was a huge disaster and your fiance had to go and stop it but was injured while doing so.

"I was thinking that maybe the one who had caused the disaster in the first place was a demon. They might have been out to feed on the energy of a cultivator for example or might’ve just wanted to bring trouble to the humans. Seeing that your fiance thwarted their plan, they might have acted against him as revenge."

Jing Yi looked incredibly embarrassed when he heard that idea. That … That definitely wasn’t what had happened. "I’m afraid you’re wrong about that martial brother Liu. That really was just an accident. There was nobody else but us there."

Liu Cheng nodded. "I’m sure that that is what you believe. But demons are treacherous creatures. It could very well be that one had been in hiding so you didn’t notice. Anyway, you haven’t started cultivating yet, have you? You would have a hard time spotting a demon that is trying to remain in hiding. Your fiance might have had more luck but I can’t say for sure since I don’t know him."

Jing Yi was pretty sure that Qiu Ling would have been able to spot anybody since his level should be pretty high but he didn’t dare to say to that. Anyway, he was sure that there had nobody else been involved since this had definitely been because of what Qiu Ling and he had done at the seaside. He wasn’t quite sure just how to say this though. He didn’t want Liu Cheng to think badly of Qiu Ling in case this ever brought any negative consequences. So if he could keep this to himself, then he would gladly do so.

"Well, I really don’t believe that."

Liu Cheng sighed, feeling slightly frustrated. "Even if you don’t believe it, why don’t you answer my questions first? Maybe there will be a detail that can tell me something more about this. Then I’ll be able to figure it out."

Seeing that Liu Cheng didn’t want to back off, Jing Yi could only oblige. "Well, if martial brother Liu really thinks so, then I guess I should do that." Anyway, even if he didn’t like the thought, he should still do it. After all, Liu Cheng was doing him a huge favor. Requiting that by lying to him or keeping something from him that he felt to be important wouldn’t be the right thing to do.