Li Yan walked at the end of the crowd. He quietly released his spiritual sense and felt his surroundings. After a moment, he withdrew his spiritual sense with an unchanged expression.
When he came here just now, he had already felt that there seemed to be something different around him. After a quick scan with his spiritual sense, he found that there was indeed an array restriction here that was quietly activating and had surrounded them.
Li Yan's spiritual awareness has far surpassed that of a cultivator in the late foundation building stage, reaching about seven hundred miles. But before Li Yan came, he knew that there was an old ancestor in the middle stage of the golden elixir sitting in Xuanqing Temple, so he didn't dare to act recklessly.
He always kept in mind the importance of being cautious and never released his spiritual sense to scan the entire Xuanqing Temple on a large scale. Now that he was worried, he had to release his spiritual sense slightly to investigate at close range.
Li Yan was the last to step into the courtyard. He first scanned the courtyard and found that this courtyard was more than half the size of the one they were in before, with only three houses.
At this moment, there were four Taoists standing in the courtyard. One of them was about forty years old, of medium build, with thick eyebrows and a square face. His face was as red as a date and he looked extremely majestic.
When he saw Li Yan and his group coming, he spoke lightly.
"My name is Gong Chuiluo. People outside also call me Gong Daoist. I am the head of Xuanqing Temple. I don't want any trouble to happen in the temple today. I have to trouble you fellow Taoists. Fortunately, I know some of you, so it saves me some trouble to talk."
Having said this, his gaze swept over the cultivator named Lin with the Blood Hand Flying Scythe, the head of the Qinggu sect Yue, and the fat man in the red robe. When these people saw Taoist Gong's gaze sweeping over them, they all nodded.
Finally, Taoist Gong glanced at the two men in black robes and the hunchbacked old man one by one.
"There are several fellow Taoists here, but I am not familiar with them. I am sorry for offending you. Please forgive me."
After he said this, the two men in black robes remained silent, but the cloaks on their heads rose and fell slightly, as if nodding.
The hunchbacked old man seemed not to have heard anything, and his expression was a little dull. Taoist Gong didn't take it seriously. He would check the status of everyone present later. As for Li Yan and other Qi Condensation cultivators, he just glanced at them quickly and didn't ask any further questions.
The three people behind Gong Daoren were also staring at Li Yan and his group. These three people were Luo Sanpang, Song Bo and Qin Chengyi, who were among the four people who came back from the market early this morning.
Li Yan counted silently in his mind. Among the four people in this courtyard, there were three Foundation Establishment Taoists and one Qi Condensation cultivator. Together with the four Taoists and Taoist nuns who followed him, there were as many as seven Foundation Establishment Taoists in this small courtyard.
This is already extremely powerful for a second-rate sect.
Especially this Taoist Gong, his aura is extremely calm, giving people a feeling of mellow and satisfying aura.
Li Yan had only seen this feeling in his senior brother Li Wuyi and several people in Bailiyuan Lele. Although these people had restrained auras, it was impossible to tell their specific cultivation level without using spiritual sense to explore.
But Li Yan could roughly guess this person's cultivation level. He should be not far from condensing the golden elixir - the realm of false elixir.
When Taoist Gong saw that everyone had entered the courtyard, he raised his hand and pointed to a side room behind him with its door open.
"From my humble opinion, Junior Brother Liu, something happened there, but I still have to tell you about what happened here first, so that I can explain the cause."
Then he turned around and spoke to a fat man among the three people standing behind him.
"Brother Luo, please tell me what happened here."
Luo Sanpang had been standing at the back, feeling uneasy. After hearing what the middle-aged Taoist priest said, his fat shuddered, he took a deep breath, and then took a step forward.
"This morning, Third Master... Oh, no, it was me, Senior Brother Liu, Junior Brother Song, and Junior Brother Qin, who returned from the market, and we went to pay our respects to the head senior brother.
Later, because of what happened yesterday, we violated the sect rules, so the sect leader ordered the four of us to be on duty for half a month, and our spiritual stone salary will be reduced by half next month.
Since the Taoist temple covers a large area, it would be very rushed if one person led the patrol for a whole day. Therefore, the four of us divided into groups privately afterwards, with each person patrolling for half a day!
Three... Oh, I was assigned to the same group with Senior Brother Liu, because we have been in charge of the rear hall 'Taoism Hall' together for many years, and we have some tacit understanding with each other, so we became a team.
Junior Brother Song and Junior Brother Qin are on duty in the same group. According to the order of the head senior brother, the inspection will begin after noon today.
The first group was on duty with Senior Brother Liu and I. When it was almost noon, I came to find Senior Brother Liu to go to the front hall to gather the disciples, and then take over Senior Brother Kong's patrol.
On the way, I met Junior Brother Qin again. Because of what happened yesterday, I simply dragged him along so that I could explain to him on the way that the sect rules were violated yesterday and it was not entirely my and Junior Brother Song’s fault, so as to avoid him and my senior brother being punished and having a quarrel.
As we were talking, the two of us arrived at Brother Liu's place. I sent message several times, but there was no response. I didn't know what Brother Liu was doing in the room.
We usually activate the protective formation in our respective courtyards to avoid being disturbed by others during our practice.
Therefore, I was unable to enter the courtyard. At that time, I thought that Senior Brother Liu wanted to be lazy, so I pretended not to hear him and blamed him in my heart for breaking the promise.
I thought that I would be the only one leading the disciples on patrol in the afternoon, and that I would have to settle accounts with Third Master in the evening. Then I said hello to Junior Brother Qin and headed to the front hall alone... "
After saying this, he turned his head to glance at the young Taoist priest in the Qi Condensation Stage beside him. The person he was looking at was Qin Chengyi.
When Qin Chengyi saw Luo Sanpang's gaze sweeping over him, he knew what he meant and nodded quickly.
"What Senior Brother Luo said is true. We did meet on the road and talked to each other until we came to the outside of the courtyard. Senior Brother Luo sent a message several times, but Senior Brother Liu did not respond."
After hearing what Qin Chengyi said, Luo Sanpang couldn't help but feel relieved and continued.
"Just when Junior Brother Qin and I were about to leave, I heard Senior Brother Liu's extremely weak voice, 'Master... Master... Junior Brother, save... save me!'
When I heard this, I was really shocked and didn't know what was going on. But at this moment, the formation restriction covering Senior Brother Liu's courtyard fluctuated, and it seemed that the formation was about to be removed.
But after it fluctuated a few times, there was no sound anymore, which only weakened the protective formation a little. Upon seeing this, Junior Brother Qin and I couldn't help but transmit messages again, but no sound came from inside.
Junior Brother Qin and I began to feel uneasy, and after a brief discussion, we both thought that something had gone wrong with Senior Brother Liu's practice.
Otherwise, we would have lost the magic power to remove the restrictions of the formation. There was no time to inform the head brother at that time, so we both gritted our teeth and used our magic power at the same time to blast forward.
Fortunately, the restrictions of this protective formation had been weakened a lot before. After the two of us attacked together several times, we actually blasted open the courtyard's protective formation.
As soon as we broke through the formation, we rushed in directly. However, when we rushed into the courtyard, we saw that the door of Senior Brother Liu's training room was wide open, but we did not sense any fluctuations in human presence.
We both felt something was wrong, and entered carefully. We saw Brother Liu lying on his back on the ground with a ferocious expression, already dead. I hurriedly cast a spell to summon his soul, but Brother Liu's soul had already dispersed and could not be gathered together. Seeing this, I shouted out loudly!
Because when we bombarded Senior Brother Liu's courtyard defense formation, the noise had already alarmed others, so you, Senior Brother, arrived here very quickly."
When he said this, Luo Sanpang looked at Gong Daoren.
The soul-summoning technique he mentioned is a common method used by cultivators. It can be performed by cultivators who have reached the foundation-building stage and above. After a person dies, his soul will leave the body and enter reincarnation, to be reborn.
However, if it is the soul of an innocent person who has died, due to the existence of resentment, it will still stay near the deceased for a long time and be unwilling to leave, but mortals cannot see it.
The soul of a cultivator is even more powerful and solid. After cultivating to the foundation-building stage, if his own body is damaged or destroyed, the cultivator can let his soul take over the body of another person and be reborn.
However, the conditions for possessing a body are harsh, requiring the physical body, soul fluctuations, etc. to be in perfect harmony. A cultivator can only possess a body once in his lifetime. Otherwise, as soon as the cultivator's physical body becomes old and decayed, he will possess the body of another person, and he will be able to live forever.
"Well, I have also asked Junior Brother Qin about what Junior Brother Luo said before, and the processes described by the two of them are not too different. However, I would like to invite all Taoist friends to come into the house and take a look before we speak.
Junior Brother Liu was just murdered, and I shouldn't have let you watch, but this is a matter of life and death, and I used the art of summoning souls before, but Junior Brother Liu's soul had already dissipated and couldn't be condensed at all.
I think they were taken away by the murderer or simply beaten up, but I don’t know what really happened.
Later on, I may have to ask you for advice, so that you will not go out and say that my temple is only biased without knowing the truth. Therefore, I ask you to speak the truth when you talk about this matter in the future. "
As he said this, a tremendous aura suddenly gushed out from Taoist Gong's body, and the pressure from the Fake Dan realm was overwhelming, and everyone found it extremely difficult to breathe for a while.
Even the cultivator named Lin with the Blood Hand and Flying Scythe changed his expression. Although he was not afraid of Taoist Gong, they were outside.
With the several secret techniques he possessed, although he could not defeat Taoist Gong, he could still escape. But now he was on someone else's territory, and the formation of Xuanqing Temple was so difficult to deal with, it would be extremely difficult for him to escape even if he wanted to.
This overwhelming pressure came and went quickly. Taoist Gong simply released and retracted his aura freely and casually without any sense of stagnation. The huge pressure had already dissipated.
But just this moment made Li Yan and others feel like a heavy mountain was pressing down on them. The Foundation Establishment cultivators were still okay, but the Qi Condensation cultivators were all pale, trembling all over, with fear on their faces.
Li Yan's face was also pale, of course he did it on purpose.
But those Taoists, including Qin Chengyi who was only in the Qi Condensation Stage, all had normal expressions. It was obvious that Taoist Gong had controlled his magic power to perfection, and it only covered Li Yan and a dozen others, and did not affect the people around him at all.
The room where the incident occurred was the training room on the right side of the courtyard. The doors and windows of the other two rooms were all closed and not opened.
Next, Li Yan and a dozen people entered the house, but saw that the furnishings in the house were extremely simple. There was only a cushion on the ground and a wooden shelf against the wall, on which there were some books and a dozen porcelain bottles of elixirs.
On the ground, a man wearing the Taoist robe of Xuanqing Temple was lying on his back. The Taoist was about 27 or 28 years old, with a long hooked nose and a ferocious look of pain on his face.
He held a token in one hand and the other hand on the ground, his nails digging deep into the bluestone floor. He stretched and bent his legs, and it was none other than Senior Brother Liu, one of the four people who had returned from the mountain gate early in the morning.
The people around Li Yan already had solemn expressions on their faces, and their spiritual senses shot out towards the ground. Li Yan did not check immediately, but looked around the house. This house had two windows facing the courtyard, one on each side of the door.
At this time, both windows were closed!
On the wall opposite the door, there is a large window with carved railings, which is almost the same size as the two windows opposite it and is also tightly closed. Li Yan judged the position and believed that there should be a lotus pond outside this large window.
Finally, when Li Yan's eyes fell on the door, he saw several cracks on the door, which was obviously opened by someone using magic power.
Li Yan's eyes flickered a few times before he set his gaze on the Taoist priest on the ground. The Taoist priest's robe was relatively neat, and there did not seem to be any signs of fighting with anyone.
After Li Yan's spiritual sense swept across the Taoist priest's body, he became even more suspicious. There was not a single mark on the dead Taoist priest's body. Judging from his painful expression, it seemed that he died of poisoning, but there was no sign of poisoning on his body.
Li Yan could not help but scan the Taoist priest's body carefully with his spiritual sense again, and was immediately shocked to find that there were several very small cracks on the Taoist priest's heart. Without careful inspection, he would have thought they were the tendons and veins on his heart.
But after careful observation with spiritual consciousness, it was discovered that they were just tiny cracks. The inside of the heart had been shattered, leaving only an empty shell of the heart, and there were still faint fluctuations of spiritual power on those tiny cracks.
"This is because someone used magic power to directly shatter the heart. According to what Luo Sanpang said, he heard someone cry for help and try to release the forbidden formation.
This should have been a fatal blow, but it seems that the Taoist priest had some skills, as he managed to protect his heart meridian and made a final appeal for help. "
Li Yan looked at the token in the Taoist priest's hand on the ground. That should be the token that the Taoist priest used before his death to try to open the protective formation of the courtyard.
Li Yan calmly began to move quietly behind the crowd. He did not want to attract his people's attention.
The Foundation Establishment cultivators looked at Taoist Gong at this time. They had finished their observations. The remaining Qi Condensation cultivators, although also had surprise on their faces, did not dare to speak.
Especially the middle-aged couple who were traveling alone, had timid expressions on their faces.
"Fellow Daoist Gong, your junior brother was apparently killed by someone who shattered his heart meridian. Have you found any clues?"
Blood Hand Fei Yan, who was dressed as a Confucian scholar, spoke first. As soon as he spoke, the fat man in the red robe and Sect Leader Yue nodded slightly. This was exactly what they saw.
The two men in black robes also raised their heads at this moment and looked at Taoist Gong.
Since entering the room, the two of them stood at the corner of the door motionless, just sending out their spiritual sense to scan the area. When they looked up, two pale faces appeared under the shadow of the cloak. They turned out to be a pair of twin brothers.
Li Yan stood behind the crowd, acting timidly and staying closer to the middle-aged couple.
The same thing happened to the old and young master and servant. They also seemed not to want to get involved and watched quietly the conversation between the Foundation Establishment cultivators and Taoist Gong in front of them.
Although Li Yan looked a little frightened, he had already quietly dispersed his spiritual sense. He was confident that even Taoist Gong might not be able to discover his spiritual sense.
Such incidents, where one moment is peaceful and the next moment suddenly starts killing people, are not uncommon in the world of immortals, so he naturally needs to be on full alert.
Just as Blood Hand Flying Scythe finished his words, the purple-clothed young man among the master and servant on the side of Li Yan's consciousness curled his lips, but immediately regained his composure.