The Science of Cultivation [Xianxia]

Chapter 85: Murder

For a moment, everyone in the room alternated glances between the three strange kids and the expert from the Bloodwave Conclave.

Despite the tension in the room, Li Lang cleared his throat and walked closer to the man in charge.

“Senior Tai, it’s been a while. I hope you’ve been well.”

“...I remember telling you kids to stay out of trouble. And what do I find here?”

“What? Are we in trouble for just staying at an inn?”

Tai Xilun narrowed his eyes at the boys for a moment before letting out a sigh. He then turned to the innkeeper.

“Is this everyone?”

“No, there are still a few more people upstairs.”

Tai Xilun nodded and gazed over at one of his subordinates.

“Tell them to hurry up.”

After several more minutes, more and more people trickled into the lobby. The group of Bloodwave Conclave disciples who had knocked on Li Lang’s door returned, nodding to Tai Xilun, marking the start of their discussions.

“Thank you for your patience, everyone. I’m sure most of you are confused as to what is happening, so I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. A murder has happened within this establishment today. Our examinations showed that it happened within the last two hours, so we have detained you all for our investigation. I hope for your understanding and cooperation in keeping Emberglow City safe.”

Murmurs could be heard around the room as the guests each reacted differently to the news. Some were calm while some panicked, but they quickly settled down when Tai Xilun cleared his throat.

“Now then, we will be interviewing each of you separately. Please follow our disciple’s instructions.”

With that declaration, several Bloodwave Conclave members went ahead and picked out several guests. Tai Xilun did the same, except he went straight to Li Lang.

“You, come with me.”

Letting out a sigh at the misfortune he found himself in, Li Lang begrudgingly followed. They went inside the kitchen and went into a small room where they kept miscellaneous tools.

“So, don’t tell me you’ve been testing out your new pills around here again, are you?”

“No, we’ve put a pause on that for now.”

Tai Xilun silently stared at Li Lang for a moment before continuing.

“Then have you heard of the name Yong Hua?”

Li Lang shook his head.

“How about Hei So?”

Li Lang shook his head.

“Was there anything suspicious you might have noticed during the past few days, then?”

Again, the young boy shook his head.

“...I may not have suspected you that much, but can you be more cooperative with me here? I heard from the innkeeper you’ve lived here for a while now. How can you possibly not have noticed anything?”

“Well…we mostly keep to ourselves and eat in our room. We’re out during the day as well.”

It was only then that Tai Xilun looked down at Li Lang’s hand.

“You have a new ring…You’ve become a Brushweaver as well? And I see you’ve also joined The Orchid Covenant.”

“Apprentice, but yea…”

“Look, can you think a little harder to see if there is anything that may be helpful to us?” Tai Xilun asked in a dreary voice. “Since you’re part of The Orchid Covenant, I won’t beat around the bush. These strings of murder have tired out my patience. I feel like I’m going to drain the blood of everyone suspicious until someone talks if we don’t get to the bottom of this!”

Li Lang visibly gulped at the words of the man before him. He still remembered the first day he arrived in the city, where he witnessed Tai Xilun doing exactly as he had just described. It didn’t help that his powers over blood gave the impression of the typical villains on the demonic path.

I heard demonic cultivation techniques affect the mind. Is he close to deviating?!

“Umm, maybe I can help if you tell me more details?”

“What details…” the man shook his head with a disheartened expression. “It was a messy crime scene with a lot of blood, but our divination didn’t work. We can’t even tell if it’s the victim’s or perpetrator’s blood. There isn’t much for us to go on.”

Blood…In that case, maybe I can help, after all.

“I may be able to help with that…Can you bring me to the crime scene?”

Hearing those words, Tai Xilun furrowed his brows.

“What? You? What can a boy like you do?”

“From my…alchemy techniques, I have a knack for analyzing things. I might be able to find some clues from the blood left behind. I’ll at least be able to tell if it’s the victim’s blood..”

“...Whatever, it doesn’t hurt to give it a try. Prepare yourself and follow me.”

The two exited the room and returned to the lobby. Li Lang found his friends missing, likely being interrogated, and shook his head in condolences.

He then followed Tai Xilin up to the second floor, into a room at the end of the hallway. He waved at the two guards by the door, who respectfully opened it for him.

Immediately, Li Lang could see that Tai Xilun hadn’t been joking when he said it was a gruesome scene. A large pool of blood covered half the room. There was even a lifeless body of a woman lying in the middle of it.

“You guys left the scene untouched?”

“Yes, the divinators are fussy like that. Even though we met their demands, they still couldn’t find anything,” Tai Xilun sighed. “Whoever we are chasing is thorough and knowledgeable in ways to avoid us.”

“...Do you mind if I touch things in here, then?”

“Go ahead, we are cleaning it up after questioning everyone, anyway. Just don’t make more of a mess.”

Li Lang didn’t want to stay at the crime scene any longer than he needed to, so he went straight to it. He kneeled down by the pool of blood. He only hesitated for a brief moment before dipping a finger into the pool of blood while his other hand held pressed on his hat.

“Ruby, take in some of the blood.”

“Consider it done, master!”

Li Lang then stood up and took on the thinking pose, but in reality, his attention was within Ruby’s artifact space.

He swiftly generated a bottle and materialized the blood into it before putting it into the auto-analyzer.

Just from the timer that showed up, Li Lang found out the blood no longer contained any Qi. It was a rare sight, as few people abstained from cultivating entirely. He went over the report and obtained a basic profile of who the blood belonged to.

The report showed the blood was from a male with amber eyes and brown hair. From the telomere length at the ends of the chromosomes, the person was estimated to be between forty-five and fifty-five.

Hmm…but what if the results were from a much older cultivator who was only physically around fifty years old? That Elder Nong from a while back had the appearance of a kid because he broke into the Foundation Establishment realm early, or so he says.

But there aren’t any traces of Qi in the blood…

Having gone through the entire report, Li Lang swiftly exited out of the artifact space. He turned around to face Tai Xilun who had been silently waiting.

“From my techniques, I can tell you that this blood belongs to a man with amber eyes, around his fifties, and no cultivation.”

“What? You actually found something?! You better not be joking around…” the senior from the Bloodwave Conclave frowned. “Are you saying none of this blood belongs to the victim?”

It only took an instant for Li Lang to realize what he was implying. He glanced over at the body and was reminded that the victim had been a woman. It was extremely strange that the blood around her all belonged to someone else.

“...That’s right. But then who does it belong to?”

“The culprit, of course.”

“What? I’m fairly certain the blood belongs to someone with no cultivation. How is it possible for someone like that to give you guys so much trouble?”

“No…Among the techniques I know, there are some that hinder others from tracking them down. They do this by eliminating every trace of Qi, and this is likely the reason why our divinators couldn’t find anything.”

“...If that is true, then maybe this blood does belong to the culprit. How in the world did he manage to get all the blood around here to be his without bleeding out? There are also no traces of this woman’s blood mixed into it, either.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“I can do another test to make sure, but I think so.”

“...In that case, we may be dealing with someone from within the conclave…We have several techniques that can do exactly this; turning the victim’s blood into our own.”

Li Lang couldn’t help but stare over at Tai Xilun’s way. His assistance had led the man to arrive at the conclusion that there was a traitor amongst his own ranks. He could sense things were about to get messy, and he dreaded getting involved.

At the same time, his curiosity was lit. Unknown techniques that could hide their users’ tracks. It could prove useful for him in the future, but more than that, he simply wanted to research novel techniques.

As he struggled between sating his curiosity and taking a cautious approach, he knew he had to make a decision when he sensed Tai Xilun had turned toward him with a scheming glint in his eyes.

“Li Lang, can you help us out one more time?”

…What am I getting myself into?