Chapter 374 – We’ve Fallen Into A Trap

Translator: Coca5156

Editor: Drea

Lin Chongyuan was not afraid to spend a huge amount of money and Spiritual Weapons into this cause. He hired a few high-ranking Warriors in the Spirit City to help him. With this new arrangement, the killer acted less; from one victim a day to one victim every three to five days.

Even the citizens from the other four cities had heard of what was happening in the Spirit City. They sat back and waited to watch things unfold. After all, the Spirit City had been occupying the only source of spiritual energy for so many years, they had become unhappy with the Spirit City a long time ago.

Gu Lingzhi no longer had to stay up overnight to forge new Recording Crystals in the Inheritance Space, she only needed to change the Recording Crystals near the crime scenes. Under such a tense atmosphere, Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan also joined into the patrolling efforts, being responsible for one of the areas in the Spirit City.

Two months slowly passed. The area that Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan patrolled had been safe the entire time. On this very night, both of them followed routine and walked around the area after they had finished their supper.

Suddenly, they laid eyes on a pale blue silhouette.

The first time, Gu Lingzhi thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her. However, when the silhouette appeared for the second time, she knew that she had seen correctly the first time.

With such a situation in the Spirit City, who would be going around sneakily at night instead of staying at home to rest? Gu Lingzhi immediately chased after the silhouette. However, it was smart, it disappeared as soon as it appeared. Gu Lingzhi could only follow the traces left behind by the silhouette to determine which direction it had taken.

The killer seemed to be extremely familiar with the surroundings, weaving left and right through the houses. This made Gu Lingzhi frustrated, wanting to split with Rong Yuan to attack the silhouette from both sides. Suddenly, however, she was blocked by a woman. Le Yao’s deep voice sounded out, “Hey, aren’t these the two Elders from the Langya Troop? Why have the both of you come to our area? I remember that the both of you were responsible for the area over there.”

Le Yao then pointed her finger in the direction they came from. It was only then that Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan realized that they had trespassed Le Yao’s patrolling area whilst chasing after the silhouette. Due to Le Yao’s interference, they had long ago lost sight of the silhouette. There would be no way that they could catch up to it now.

Thankfully, Le Yao had only stopped Gu Lingzhi. Hopefully, Rong Yuan would still be following close behind the silhouette.

Gu Lingzhi then forced herself to be polite, “I’m sorry, I saw a strange silhouette just now and I got too caught up chasing it, thus I had come into your area. Did you see anything strange pass by just now?”

“What strange things? The only thing that has passed by our area tonight is you,” Le Yao laughed condescendingly, “Are you getting presbyopia?”

Gu Lingzhi’s brows furrowed, her gut telling her that Le Yao’s words were slightly strange. However, in that moment, she did not notice anything wrong about it, so all she did was nod and chase after Rong Yuan.

Gu Lingzhi had only taken a few steps before she was stopped by Le Yao again, a provocative smile on her face, “Elder Gu, why are you moving around alone today? What about Elder Rong? Have you been eating too many cheap dishes such that he has to go out hunting for meat?”

You’re cheap, your whole family is cheap!

Gu Lingzhi cursed in her heart. Le Yao had come to the Spirit City for a short period and lots of scandalous news related to her had popped up, generating distaste throughout the city. Thus, Gu Lingzhi did not bother to be as polite as she was before, “Get out of my way!”

She weaved around Le Yao and attempted to leave, but Le Yao stopped her once again. The easygoing look on her face instantly disappeared, “I’m in-charge of this area. Even if you’re stronger than I am, you have no right to interfere! What are you doing, loitering around here in the middle of the night? Are you getting lonely from the absence of your husband, so you’re having an affair outside?”

“Do you think everyone else is as shameless as you?” Gu Lingzhi retorted.

Le Yao merely laughed mockingly in response, “Surely, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Who knows what dirty things lie under such a beautiful robe? Maybe...you’re worse than I am.”

A sharp look appeared in Gu Lingzhi’s eyes as she stretched her arms out, wanting to subdue Le Yao. However, before she could do anything, a cry sounded out from the distance, “Someone has been killed! The murderer has appeared once again!”

Gu Lingzhi immediately raced towards where the voice was coming from, no longer bothering with Le Yao.

The place of incident was about a hundred meters away from where Le Yao had stopped her earlier on. It was a rather extravagant residence. There was a crowd that had already gathered, and when Gu Lingzhi made her way to the front, she found the source of the commotion – Rong Yuan.

Rong Yuan was covered in blood, and there was a red and white object that laid at his feet. Gu Lingzhi was stunned temporarily at this sight.

Wasn’t he chasing after the killer? Why did he appear here, in this state? Why was everyone calling him a killer?

“Rong Yuan,” Gu Lingzhi took a deep breath and walked towards him, “What’s going on?”

“We’ve fallen into a trap,” Rong Yuan said bitterly.

Whilst Le Yao had stopped Gu Lingzhi in her tracks, Rong Yuan did not stop chasing after the silhouette. The silhouette had disappeared here at this residence all of a sudden. Suddenly, he heard cries of pain. When he rushed into the residence, he saw a few bodies with their organs all over the place. Just when he wanted to leave the place to continue chasing after the silhouette, a passer-by that happened to be there saw Rong Yuan and accused him of being the killer.

With all these people accusing him, Rong Yuan had to suppress his anger in order to not attack all of them at once.

To think that he was the Xia Kingdom’s Third Prince, well-known in the Tianyuan Continent for foiling schemes. Yet, here he was in the remote and desolate Lost Lands, being set up by someone else. In the end, he had underestimated the killer. If he had been more careful, he would not have fallen into such a trap.

In actual fact, when Le Yao had suddenly stopped Gu Lingzhi, he had already felt that something was wrong. However, on the account that Gu Lingzhi had much stronger spiritual powers than Le Yao, he ignored his gut feeling. In the end, it was because of his carelessness that caused them to be set up.

As it turned out, Le Yao turned up only a few moments later and pretended to be shocked at the scene before her, “I was wondering why Elder Gu was sneaking around in my area! So, it was because you wanted to help Elder Rong escape? It turns out that the killers are both of you outsiders!”

“Shut up, stop making false accusations!” Gu Lingzhi was furious when she realized why Le Yao had chosen to arrive at this time.

It seemed that Le Yao had already joined hands with the killer some time ago. Wasn’t she afraid of putting her life at risk as well by collaborating with the murderer?

Gu Lingzhi proceeded to ask her exactly what she had thought in her mind. Yet, all she got was Le Yao’s mocking laughter, “I don’t understand what you are saying. Are you trying to abstain yourself from your crimes, so you’re starting to point fingers at me instead?”

“You!” Gu Lingzhi yelled. She was at her tipping point. However, when she looked around her, she knew that if she attacked Le Yao now, it would only make things worse. She suppressed her anger and went to stand by Rong Yuan’s side.

Under everyone’s suspicious gazes, Rong Yuan took Gu Lingzhi into his embrace. Moments later, Wei Lingshu and the rest had arrived as well.

He froze for a moment when he saw that everyone had gathered around Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi. Not able to comprehend the situation, he asked, “I received news that the killer has been caught. Where is it?”

Le Yao smiled mischievously and pointed towards Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi, “Aren’t the murderers right here? Don’t you see the bodies at their feet and the house stained full of blood?”

“No, how could they be the killers?” Wei Lingshu denied it immediately.

At this moment, one of the girls from the deceased’s family ran out and knelt in front of Wei Lingshu. She cried out, “Master, you have to get justice for me. These two beasts have killed the backbone of our family, how are the rest of us supposed to live?”

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

With this, a few other people from the crowd did the same, surrounding Wei Lingshu, demanding for justice to be served. Wei Lingshu had not even begun to make sense of the situation and here were all these people crying, making him light-headed. He looked at Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi, slightly puzzled, before he reassured the people who were crying, “Alright, alright. I understand the plight you’re all in. Since I work for the Chancellor, I will make sure that the killer is punished duly. Get up, when I find out the truth, I will give all of you an explanation.”

Le Yao scoffed, “What truth is there to find out? It’s right there in front of you! Are you trying to speak up for the both of them? Are you working in cahoots with them?”

“Shut up!” Qiao Yeshu interrupted, “Have you thought about what position the Master holds? How dare you insinuate that he is working in cahoots with the killer? If you spout nonsense again, we’ll throw you in the dungeons for a few days!”

“Whoa, you’re rather fierce,” Le Yao replied, not at all affected by his words. “If all the wardens working at the dungeons are as handsome as you, I wouldn’t mind going in for a few days.”

She then swept her gaze up and down Qiao Yeshu’s body and smacked her lips. Qiao Yeshu was shocked and felt as if he was being violated. He retreated towards Wei Lingshu and hid behind him before he felt safe.

He looked at Le Yao with rage. This bitch already had so many men around her, couldn’t she behave? What if his wife had witnessed that scene?