Chapter 57: Investigation
Pine Town was a small settlement, barely qualified to be labeled as a town. Everybody knew everybody and their ancestors. So the few frequent disappearances had raised quite a storm.
Some people even wanted to leave the town and come back after the problem was solved. The town chief was definitely not in his best mood, which was apparent from the conversation Han Xuhan had with him.
Mu Ran didn’t seem to think that he needed the help of mortals to catch the demonic cultivators. So he had sent Han Xuhan on behalf of the sect to meet with the authority figures of the town while he went to visit the places where the recent disappearances had taken place.
From the town chief’s account, Han Xuhan learned that most of the disappearances had happened on a route near the town that went through a medium-sized, dense stretch of woods. At this point, going near that place by themselves was synonymous with a suicidal move for the townsfolk.
At the end of their discussion, the town chief called for someone from inside his house upon hearing that Han Xuhan planned to visit the route immediately.
"This is my nephew, Shen Kai. He’s very familiar with the town’s layout and has cultivated a bit too. So he’ll be a great help to your investigation."
The slightly older youth who came out from the town chief’s house looked rather unassuming, with reverence bursting out from his gaze. His eyes were glued to the badge of the Crimson Snow sect on Han Xuhan’s robe.
"Fellow cultivator, I’m an admirer of the crimson snow sect!" He opened the conversation in an enthusiastic tone.
"I wanted to be a cultivator so badly that even when I was thrown out of the recruitment process due to having little talent, I sold half of my assets and bought one of the cultivation techniques sold in an auction run by the sect.
"Despite the lack of my talent, I’ve done my best to cultivate and reached the fourth layer of that technique last month. If I may ask, what is the level of your cultivation?"
"Ah, that certainly is an encouraging story. Not bad, not bad at all!"