Water Ink Panel: Starting with Bow Technique to Hunt the Sun and Patrol the Skies

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"Boss, it's here."

Shen Qing, accompanied by an officer, stood in front of a residential building.

"The first carpenter in the city to die at the hands of a demon died in this house," the officer said respectfully.

This officer was named Ji Youwu, the son of a small merchant in Yongzhou City.

From a young age, he learned martial arts and mingled with gangs, eventually bribing his way into the Guardian Martial Department, where he became an officer and began living off the official's salary.

Among the many officers in the fourth group, his background wasn't exceptional, and his cultivation wasn't high, but he had a clever streak.

After Shen Qing became their dispatch officer, Ji Youwu did not resist and continued to actively investigate cases as before.

After several rounds, Shen Qing grew accustomed to using him, often assigning him to track clues.

"Let's go in and take a look."

Shen Qing stepped forward and gently placed his hand on the front door, giving it a light push.

The door was unlocked, and amid creaking sounds, it swung open on both sides, shaking down a layer of white dust.

Inside, there was a deathly silence.

At first glance, Shen Qing saw the room was covered with a thick layer of dust. The light from outside filtered through dense cobwebs, casting mottled shadows on the ground.

It seemed like it had been uninhabited for a long time. The air was filled with a damp, musty smell, which made Shen Qing wrinkle his nose involuntarily.

With one hand on his longsword, he stepped in first, followed closely by Ji Youwu.

The clean government boots stepped on the ground, stirring up circles of floating dust, which drifted in the light streaming through the window, forming beams.

"Has this carpenter been dead for more than two months?" Shen Qing asked as he looked around.

Ji Youwu replied, "Specifically, it has been seventy-eight days. This carpenter died with his heart and liver gouged out. The demon should have cut open his belly while he was still alive, then consumed him from inside out, and left only half of his body."

"So, this person was alive and watching himself being eaten?"

"Pretty much."

Shen Qing surveyed the surroundings.

The room wasn't large and could be seen in its entirety with just a quick glance.

Except for cobwebs and dust, it was empty, having been abandoned for quite some time.

However, a dried bloodstain on the floor was particularly conspicuous.

Shen Qing slowly approached the bloodstain and observed it carefully, noting that there was just one spot of blood and it hadn't spread widely, indicating the carpenter was either hanging or standing when he was eaten.

The absence of other footprints on the ground suggested the demon either had a high level of spiritual wisdom to cover its tracks or had the means to float in the air.

Either possibility indicated that this demon in the city was a particularly troublesome entity.

"Who is the owner of this house?"

"It's the Zhou Family's."

Shen Qing raised an eyebrow, instantly becoming alert.

"To be precise, it belonged to a steward of the main Zhou Family branch. After the steward died last year, this house has been left vacant," Ji Youwu explained in detail.

Shen Qing asked, "Was the carpenter related to the Zhou Family?"

"No," Ji Youwu replied. "The carpenter was just a lowly worker living in the Outer City, not capable of associating with the top-ranked Zhou Family of the Thirteen Lines."

"Have you investigated how the rumor of the Cat Demon came about?"

"In the recent demon cases in the city, our secret investigation found that every time a murder occurred, surrounding people heard a chilling cat cry. So, everyone thought this demon was a Cat Demon."

Shen Qing remained silent, carefully observing the room again, then said, "Let's go and see if the carpenter's family has noticed anything unusual."

"Yes."

...

Outer City.

Shen Qing rode on a tall steed, surveying the street districts of the Outer City in front of him.

Compared to the Outer City of Taiping County, the Outer City of Yongzhou, though also rundown and cramped, was clearly more organized.

He and Ji Youwu walked into a somewhat noisy district, with a dense blend of street-market smells like various buns and rotten vegetable leaves filling the air.

Wrapped in thick coats or huddling their necks, people moved through the wafting smoke, appearing and disappearing.

Shen Qing, donned in an official robe and cloak, stood out conspicuously in this street-market setting.

Soon, they led their horses into an eatery.

"Madam, two bowls of noodle soup and a plate of pork offal, please."

Shen Qing handed the reins to Ji Youwu and chose an empty spot to sit.

After tethering the horse, Ji Youwu sat beside Shen Qing.

After a while, a young boy followed by a woman, presumably the mother, brought the stewed offal and noodle soup to Shen Qing, smiling apologetically, "Gentlemen, enjoy your meal."

Shen Qing nodded slightly, picked up chopsticks, and began eating the piping hot noodle soup.

Nowadays, with his physique, his daily energy consumption was significantly less, and thanks to refining True Qi, his demand for regular grains diminished.

He usually preferred consuming food or medicinal soups that contained vital essence to maintain or enhance his cultivation.

Occasionally, though, he would indulge at small eateries to satisfy his taste buds.

As Shen Qing looked up, he found the eatery somewhat quiet.

It wasn't that there were no people, as it was noon and many came to eat, but it was unusually silent, starkly contrasting the lively scenes in Yongzhou Inner City.

Here, people were just silently eating, without joy or sorrow, with an expression of apathy.

Additionally, with his presence and their awareness of his government office identity, people dared not utter a word.

Some, timid, hurriedly shoveled a few bites, left some copper coins on table, and quickly left.

After finishing his simple meal, Shen Qing turned and called to the woman, "Lady, come here. I have something to ask you."

The busy woman behind the stall froze, glanced at the man beside her, then nervously approached, saying, "Sir, is there something lacking in our service?"

"Your food is good, that's not what I want to ask." Shen Qing turned to the woman and said, "I want to ask about your previous husband. Was there anything unusual about him before he died?"

"You are…" the woman asked in surprise.

"Investigating why your husband died."

Before coming, Shen Qing had learned from Ji Youwu that the carpenter's wife and child had remarried to the eatery owner.

The lower class of Great Zhou lived precarious lives, holding the concept of chastity lightly, so remarriage was common.

Seeing that Shen Qing wasn't here to trouble her, the woman quietly sighed with relief, thought for a moment, and said, "There was nothing unusual the day my husband died. He went to the city to find work like any other day, and I waited all day but didn't see him return. It wasn't until the next day that I learned he was dead."

Remembering this, the woman's eyes couldn't help but redden.

"Anything else?"
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"No, I haven't even seen his remains."

"Alright, thank you."

Shen Qing stood up, took out a few broken silver pieces, and left them on the table, saying to Ji Youwu, "There's no clue here, let's go check Xi Chasi's scene."

Ji Youwu promptly got up and followed.

In the following ten days, Shen Qing tirelessly ran to various crime scenes, investigating the demon matter in the Inner City, yet without any progress.

There weren't even many clues, and thus the demon case was stalled.

The deadline Zheng Yuanqiu had set for him was already half over.

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