My Scales Can Make Equivalent Exchange
Chapter 606 - 525 Investigation

Chapter 606: Chapter 525 Investigation

Wang Zijia reached out to take it, and Li Lan continued, "Your Highness the Ninth can take a look too, if you feel it’s worthwhile, I won’t have to go."

"If Your Highness suspects it’s another devil cultivator up to mischief, like the previous occasions, then I wouldn’t trouble Your Highness the Ninth. You should rest more these days, and I’m not very busy either, I can personally take a trip there."

Wang Zijia began flipping through the information in his hand.

Incident: The Disappearance of the Ming Family.

Location: Hei Tan Valley City

Time: Forty-one days ago.

Details: Forty-one days ago, the Ming family, a Perfected family in Hei Tan Valley City, began experiencing the mysterious disappearance of their disciples. Initially suspected to be the mischief of devil cultivators, the entire clan investigated but found no traces.

Subsequently, Wine Monks also began disappearing inexplicably, and the ordinary people in the clan disappeared en masse, regardless of day or night.

Unable to figure out the situation, the Ming Family sought help from several parties. Numerous forces investigated one after another, but no clues were found.

Despite several investigations, the culprits were never found. The entire Ming Family, consisting of thousands of cultivators of various levels and hundreds of thousands of ordinary individuals spread across the counties, disappeared without a trace.

Up to now, even the direct descendants who married into the Ming Family this generation have started vanishing.

Nearly half the population of the entire Hei Tan Valley City has disappeared, causing panic amongst the people who fear for their own safety.

······

After a rough overview of the information, Wang Zijia raised an eyebrow and said, "Bloodline Curse?"

Li Lan shook her head and said, "So far, our people haven’t found a trace of any curse, not even a hint of any human activity."

"To pull off such a major act, there would definitely be tremendous resentments, impossible to hide by any ritual. However, we didn’t even detect a bit of resentment, let alone a ritual!"

Wang Zijia finally found some interest and said, "Interesting. I was getting bored anyway, I’ll go take a look!"

"Your Highness the Ninth, be careful! Even if someone really is causing all this, to affect such a large area would require astounding means. It’s not something any ordinary Heterodox Daoist could carry out. I can’t even think of who might be capable of this," Li Lan advised.

"City Master Li, have no worry, this wouldn’t be my first tangle with a God Monarch of the Heterodox Dao. I understand their trickiness and will certainly not rashly throw myself into the enemy’s trap!" Wang Zijia replied with a smile.

"That’s good. After all, battling with the Heterodox Dao is quite different from ordinary battles. The main difference is the hiding and searching. Most Heterodox Dao cultivators focus on cultivating divine powers instead of combat skills."

"Starting from the Wine Monks, they neglect the basics and specialize in a particular art. Once they achieve the rank of God Monarch and enlighten the Dao in this way, they already bear a semblance to divine powers."

"Although doing so does result in subpar overall abilities and glaring weaknesses, when given enough time and space, they can hold rituals and lay schemes with formidable strength in a single direction."

Li Lan seemed somewhat worried, and repeated her advice. Each word she spoke pointed directly to the essence of Heterodox Dao.

Clearly, she suspected that this time, malevolent forces were at work.

Wang Zijia was patient with her advice. He was fully aware of the practices of the Heterodox Dao. Not only had he killed their Big Shots, but he had also raised some himself. A large part of his own background was connected to them.

It’s safe to say that at the Infant God level, few knew the Heterodox Dao better than he did.

The person responsible had best pray they were not an evil Heterodox Daoist!

······

After exchanging some more information, Wang Zijia finally got up and excused himself to leave.

Back at his residence, Wang Zijia gave some instructions to the kids, then set off with Li Shengshi and the little milk turtle.

He had been going out to provide aid in disasters often over the past half year, so those who stayed behind and those who Wang Zijia took with him had grown accustomed to it.

······

Hei Tan Valley City is situated in Hei Tan Valley and is considered a border area of Changbao, even today.

It took Wang Zijia a good half of seven minutes to get there.

Within a range of continuous mountains, a small plain basin lay embedded like a sinkhole. Further out was the endless wilderness. On one half of the basin in the valley, there was a huge lake. The other half housed a not-so-small city built semi-rounded around the lake.

The entire basin was surrounded by steep cliffs on all four sides, with a broad canyon leading to the exterior at the main gate. A river followed the winding canyon towards the outside of the valley.

The outside was a fan-shaped plain, extending towards the inland area of Changbao, studded with large and small towns and villages.

Hei Tan Valley City stood between the wilderness mountain range and the plain, like a formidable fortress guarding the edge of the mountains!

The entire basin was constructed around a spiritual pulse group. When it was built, man manipulated the earth’s pulses, causing the spiritual energy to be exceptionally concentrated in the valley and basin.

Such an environment was considered top-notch in present-day Changbao. Hence, it had a strong cultivation atmosphere and was primarily held by three great Perfected families.

Now, with the disappearance of the Ming Family, not only is Hei Tan Valley City extremely deserted due to the fear among its residents, but abandoned towns and villages have also sprung up on the vast plain behind it.

As Wang Zijia passed these villages, he could clearly see that much of their content remained untouched.

It was as if the people living there had suddenly disappeared at some point.

This left these villages desolate, lonely, and incredibly eerie.

Wang Zijia walked here with a frown all the way, checking many deserted villages along the way, yet he found absolutely no traces.

It was as if the people there, whether cultivators or ordinary people, had just vanished out of the blue.

But when he arrived above the Hei Tan Valley, he sensed a unique ripple of an unusual kind.

The entire Hei Tan Valley City seemed to have become some sort of incubator, nurturing something.

"This ripple is... space-time? Is it a unique Time Ghost, the Illusion Master who is nurturing some Mysterious Domain, or it is an Evil Insect?"

Feeling this strange aura, Wang Zijia became excited rather than shocked.

He halted his plans to head directly to the City Lord’s Mansion and sealed the child and turtle by his side. After hiding his presence, he quietly melted into the lower city.

······

Originally, Hei Tan Valley City, a bustling border city at the height of cultivation, should have been lively.

However, with the entire Ming family having disappeared and people living in fear, the entire city seemed extremely desolate. Most people chose to stay indoors.

Even during the daytime, hardly anyone could be seen on the streets.

A breeze stirred up some fallen leaves and dust, scattering them around.

The flags of the shops along the road fluttered in the wind.

"Clang, clang!"

"Creak, creak!"

Strange sounds echoed, giving off an air of desolation that bore no trace of its former prosperity.

Like an invisible ghost, Wang Zijia first arrived at the building complex owned by the Ming family.

Since it had been unoccupied for over a month, it had lost its former bustle and appeared somewhat dilapidated.

Many areas were in disarray, not only because of the people who had come to loot later, but more so due to the panic caused by the disappearance of the Ming family, which resulted in chaos within the clan.

However, after searching for a while, Wang Zijia didn’t find anything he was looking for.

He sent his mind into his Sea of ​​Consciousness and approached a blood crystal skull.

"Wisdom Brain, detect the survivors of the demon seeders in the Ming family within Hei Tan Valley City."

For half a year, Wang Zijia had been planting demonic seeds almost crazily. In the cities he had saved, nearly half of the population had been seeded by him.

Especially cultivators!

Hei Tan Valley City was one of the cities struck by disaster back then, so naturally, the residents were demon-seeded by Wang Zijia as it was one of the earliest cities he had relieved.

He had developed preliminary databases for everyone he had demon-seeded.

If it were in the future, he could even use the Chaotic Sea of Knowledge to monitor and anchor various places!

Now, he could only perceive their survival status.

Upon Wang Zijia’s command, the skull shone with spiritual light.

[No one of the Ming bloodline has been found. All the demon seeders of the Ming bloodline in Hei Tan Valley City have disappeared. Preliminary judgment: death.]

Receiving an unsurprising answer, Wang Zijia furrowed his brows slightly.

"Check the status of those who intermarried with the Ming family."

[All direct descendants have disappeared. Some of the blood relatives two generations removed have disappeared, while others remain.]

As the skeleton flickered, it displayed some basic personal information. These were individuals related to the Ming bloodline who hadn’t disappeared yet.

Wang Zijia selected a few targets and quietly approached them. After a thorough examination revealed nothing abnormal, he planted a divine thought avatar on them.

Still concealing his form, he moved on to explore the next location.

After wandering and investigating various places for most of the day, Wang Zijia hadn’t discovered any usable information by the time night fell.

He couldn’t even find a single thread of karma, which made Wang Zijia slightly uneasy.

No matter what had caused this, such tactics and the ability to cover their tracks so cleanly couldn’t possibly be simple.

It obviously wasn’t their first time. Without some experience, they wouldn’t be able to pull off such a flawless crime!

······

Late at night, at the City Lord’s Mansion.

The person in charge of managing this place wasn’t a disciple of Wanyu, but someone from Daqian, a Confucian cultivator trained by Daqian Academy.

His surname was Tang, and his first name was Keli.

He was at the Perfected Realm of cultivation. Because he came from a humble background and only had average talent, his abilities were unremarkable. His performance in all aspects was mediocre, so he ended up being relegated to this place, to guard the frontier.

Furthermore, with the constant presence of the three major families, he didn’t really have much power.

Fortunately, his personal cultivation level and strength were strong enough to prevent the three major families from completely marginalizing him and reducing him to a mere figurehead.

Late at night, after handling official affairs, Tang Keli let out a troubled sigh.

He didn’t go back to his room to sleep, but entered a state of meditation in the cultivation room, intending to cultivate for the night.

As soon as he entered trance, he fell into a daze.

"Who’s there!"

The very next moment, he woke up with a start.

What startled him was that an extraordinarily handsome young man was standing before him, looking at him calmly. He didn’t know when the man had arrived.

Upon recognizing the man’s face, he let out a quiet sigh of relief and greeted him respectfully, "Tang Keli, the guard of Hei Tan Valley City, greets the Ninth Highness."

Wang Zijia didn’t answer right away, but carefully scrutinized the man.

The two weren’t meeting for the first time. They had had preliminary contact during the disaster relief, but Wang Zijia hadn’t paid much attention to him back then. Most of the negotiation had actually been handled by Li Shengshi.