Cao Yun grabbed the spatial ring and also recovered what had been stolen from the Huang family. As the young woman was still studying his behavior, Cao Yun sent his Qi within the spatial ring. Someone had clearly tried to break his seal but it had endured thanks to his training with Dian Mo. Inside the ring, the materials he had left behind and the paintings were still there, intact. He heaved a sigh of relief. Then, he strengthened the seal and hid the ring in his clothes.
"Miss, I'm sorry you were involved in this matter. Thank you for seeing through the lies of that thief."
"Sir, I am the one who's sorry for attacking you."
In her previous attack, Cao Yun could tell that she had no intention of actually killing him. However, she had been serious enough to warn him. With her strength, she definitely could injure him. But he wasn't so sure whether she would be able to actually beat him in a fair fight. Of course, she could also attack him by surprise and the damage would be immense. In fact, she might be able to incapacitate him in one powerful blow. That being said, she could not imagine his overall strength and she had no way of knowing how fast he could recover thanks to his blood cultivation.
For now though, Cao Yun was happy that she wasn't an enemy. And he had no reason to make her one. However, he was curious as to why such a powerful cultivator was in the area. They were close to the Huang family so maybe she was related to their presence. After all, she was hiding her identity so thoroughly that Cao Yun couldn't tell a single thing for certain about her apart from her height. Even her voice was probably altered by her veil.
In Cao Yun's mind, this created a huge suspicion. Maybe he was still being affected by his mood, but he was feeling something strangely familiar from that young woman. Perhaps, she was connected to demonic cultivators as he couldn't sense whether she had any form of Evil Qi within her.
"Miss, I am Guai Mo, an alchemist and a guest of the Huang family. Might I be presumptuous enough to ask your name?"
"Of course, Sir Guai. My name is Yong Ke. I can understand that you're a bit suspicious of my presence in those woods. But I have no ill will toward either you or the Huang family."
"Then, Miss Yong, maybe I could help you. And I am sure the Huang family would be happy to be of assistance as well..."
For some time, the young woman didn't speak as she was gauging Cao Yun. In the end, she decided to talk.
"Sir, my presence here should remain a secret. I heard about the small town of Luozhi. Since even Governor Jiahe doesn't seem to care about the well-being of his own citizens, I decided to take it upon myself to investigate. Please, Sir, I do not wish for my presence here to be known by anyone."
The name of Luozhi had an impact on Cao Yun. This was a nearby settlement he had been meaning to visit. Indeed, it was one of the most recent sites where everyone had disappeared. Inspecting that village was one of the reasons why he had gone to Yunling City in the first place. Visiting the Huang family was important too. But getting clues as to what had happened was way more important for him.
Most likely, it had been done by Gu Song one way or another. He had probably not been directly involved, but Cao Yun might find clues about him there. Maybe this was a great occasion for him. If that woman was investigating this small village, she might have more information than Cao Yun. It might not be a bad idea to join her in her investigation.
"I heard about Luozhi indeed. As an alchemist, it piqued my interest. Apparently the entire population disappeared without even leaving a single body behind them. I was wondering whether some kind of poison had been used. Miss Yong, would you mind my accompanying you there? I know you probably don't have a lot of reasons to trust me. If you let me accompany you, I will swear never to say a word about encountering you in those woods."
Once again, Yong Ke stayed silent for a while. Considering her clothes and the beautiful weapon she had showed, she hailed from an incredibly rich family for sure. Or maybe she had inherited it and was from a powerful lineage. Anyway, Cao Yun was certain that she had a strong backer behind her. In fact, it was highly possible that she had some ties with the Imperial City. As such, Cao Yun wasn't sure whether she would accept his offer.
What Cao Yun didn't know was that the familiar feeling he had from her, she had from him too. Since she had seen him, she felt like she had known him before without being able to place either his face or his name. At first, she even feared that he was using some kind of technique to manipulate her. But her veil should have been able to protect her from any mental attack. Not even a middle Spirit Warrior could influence her mind or her soul without taking off her hat, her weimao.
"You've come in the Subei Province to earn a spot in the upcoming Alchemy Conference I imagine."
"Indeed. I thought about having the Huang family support me, but they're not that well established here yet. I will probably leave for the capital very soon. However, now that you mentioned Luozhi, it made me curious. I heard about that place and was wondering what could have happened there. If I find some clue, it could help me improve my standing when I go to Qingyun City."
"I doubt that... But I have no reason to stop you from going there. We might as well go there together. Having an alchemist by my side might prove useful."
Although they were talking with warmth, both of them were suspicious of the other. Yong Ke was probably the most suspicious. Indeed, she had met Cao Yun by chance and all of a sudden he wanted to accompany her to a city whose inhabitants had all disappeared without leaving any trace. Cao Yun himself could understand how strange it might look. On the other hand, he found her strange for accepting that. But she might have the same kind of logic he had. If he was interested in Luozhi, he might have some information she could try to pry away from him.
"Miss Ke, do you have a way of transportation?"
"I propose we embark on your mount. This should be the fenghuang beast I've seen in the distance. I imagine that the Huang family lent it to you."
"Miss Yong, you are mistaken. Hongyu is mine, she doesn't belong to the Huang family. But you are right that she is my mount. Let's see if she accepts to fly you as well."
Cao Yun barely had to wait for Hongyu to come to him. The two of them were deeply connected. As the distance was short, she felt his call in an instant and landed in that sparse wood. When she saw Yong Ke, Hongyu was not too pleased because she imagined what Cao Yun was about to ask her. Just by looking in his eyes, she could tell he was about to ask her a favor and she knew what it was.
Before Cao Yun could ask her anything though, Yong Ke drew closer to Hongyu. She stopped just before it got Hongyu upset. Then, she bowed slightly.
"Miss Hongyu, please pardon this unworthy one. Might I inconvenience you for a while?"
The attitude of that young human pleased Hongyu immensely. But there was also something else. Somehow, she also felt close to this young woman. Still with a glint of arrogance in her eyes, Hongyu let out a small screech to show her approval. Cao Yun was quite surprised that she had accepted so easily. Apart from Huang Liyue and Elder Ying, she had never let anyone get close to her in Baziyun City. Well, Elder Ying would have never let anyone else get close to her anyway.
Anyway, this would speed things up. With Hongyu's help, Cao Yun and Yong Ke reached Luozhi in a matter of hours instead of days of walking through the woods.
-
When they finally reached Luozhi, the place was completely empty. With all of his senses, Cao Yun could detect that there was no form of life at all, anywhere. Stranger than that was the fact that almost everything seemed to be intact. There had been no disaster and no panic, all the people had just vanished. According to the reports, Yunling City had lost all contact with the city a few months ago. It was the last city that had disappeared in such a way since then. However, Cao Yun had discovered other cases of strange disappearance. Most of them were about very small villages like this one. In fact, it was more of a small settlement rather than a true village. But some disappearances also involved individuals.
Cao Yun and Yong Ke jumped down from Hongyu who kept her distance with the settlement. She stayed close but she went hunting around.
For some time, Cao Yun kept inspecting the houses, using his senses to their fullest. Almost nothing could escape his notice. As he was going from house to house, he discovered that everything was as if all the people had been living their life and they had just vanished out of nowhere all of a sudden. There was absolutely no trace of violence or of Evil Qi of any kind for that matter. But in each house, he was able to smell the same kind of odor. Outside, it had almost disappeared but the sand was humid and it had captured a faint trace of that smell. Cao Yun took a handful of sand and was able to clearly get that smell.
As an alchemist, he immediately thought about a poison, or some kind of incense to hypnotize or put to sleep the entire village. However, he had to be careful before jumping to conclusions. Considering that Gu Song wanted test subjects for something Cao Yun could only make guesses about, he had no way of knowing whether the use of poison or incense would be allowed for the abductors. It was also possible that Gu Song had tasked some beast tamer with that and they were simply using the natural means of some demonic beast. But it was also possible that this had nothing to do with Gu Song at all. Maybe it was even related to demons or maybe just standard criminals. Although crimes were few, bandits and murderers still existed at all times within mankind. However, emptying an entire village would be strange for them.
Anyway, there were many possibilities. But Cao Yun was quite happy about his finding. Even though he didn't know what kind of odor this was precisely, it was now engraved in his mind and he could find it. A lead, as faint as it might be, was a lead nonetheless. From this sand, he might also be able to extract some of the substance from which the odor originated. If his nose couldn't identify it, his alchemy might. And it would also be helpful in order to produce an antidote of some kind.
After exploring the village as much as he could, Cao Yun stopped to think over it. He went to the central plaza where a tiny shrine had been erected. It was rather simple but the name of Emperor Weide was inscribed on it. Above it, there was the name of Emperor Nuwa overseeing it, as well as a figurative representation of that woman. Most likely, that village had adhered to the School of the Celestial Goddess. It was an important sect within the School of Ren Dao. For them, Emperor Nuwa was a goddess who had incarnated in human form. And since her departure, her godly essence had been transferred from emperor to emperor. As much as it was flattering for the emperors, it wasn't the official position of the School of Ren Dao recognized by the Hongchen Kingdom. That being said, it was accepted as one of the 108 Noble Words.
Of course, Cao Yun didn't care about that at all at the moment. He was just trying to organize his thoughts. As such, he entered his sea of consciousness and began to look through some of the books he had memorized.
Before long, Yong Ke joined him. She looked at the inscription for a while and didn't disturb Cao Yun's concentration before it looked like he was done.
"Sir, did you identify this strange fragrance?"
"I'm not entirely sure yet. It's a bit old so most of its potency is gone. However, the humid sand captured some of that substance. I might be able to identify it with alchemy, but I can't guarantee that, nor can I know how long it might take me."
"Then, it would be better to follow the lead rather than wait for it to completely disappear."
"Then, you sensed it too?"
"Of course, there is a clear trail going underground. I heard that there were many tunnels under the Deep Cloud Ridge. I always thought it might have been a great way for whoever was responsible to carry the abductees."
Even Cao Yun had not known about those tunnels until he had understood what the Huang family was doing in this area. Yet, Yong Ke truly spoke as if she had known all along. Her information was not coming from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. She had a better source of information than them?!
After warning Hongyu that they were leaving, Cao Yun followed Yong Ke's lead. There was indeed a trail left behind by that strange fragrance. To be fair to the hunters who had investigated already, it was so faint that it was almost impossible to detect it. If Governor Jiahe had sent in alchemists or even array formation masters or Spirit Warriors, they might have been able to detect it. But Mortal hunters had absolutely no chance of sniffing it out.
On the other hand, both Cao Yun and Yong Ke were able to follow it without much problem. The trail was going underground in the humid sand. This wasn't very pleasant, but they both started to dig in order to follow that trail.