Combined with the current information, it is very likely that the assassination of Heroda was found by the grain collection team in Xipo Village, and then the grain collection team was killed, in order to prevent information leakage, the night elf Jasmine killed Heroda as well!

On the one hand, he was afraid that Heroda would get the relevant information, and on the other hand, he wanted to take advantage of the fact that after Heroda's death, the Solon family would be caught in an internal power struggle, and he would not have time to care about the disappearance of the grain collection team.

Yang Chen touched his chin and thought, Now, the top priority is to find out what kind of secret the grain requisition team has discovered! And this secret should be very close to Xipo Village......

Only by understanding the motivations of Jasmine and the organization behind her can we make targeted actions.

After a little discussion, they separated and prepared to look for relevant clues.

Since the grain collection team is missing in this vicinity, there may be traces of fighting between the two sides nearby!

Thinking of this, Yang Chen frowned and carefully observed the traces around him.

He first brought himself into the perspective of the grain collection team, if he was a grain collection team, he would definitely not want to spend too much time in Xipo Village.

In this way, the villagers will inevitably be asked to collect the grain as soon as possible, so it is very likely that the place where the grain collection team finds the secret is not Xipo Village......

If it wasn't Xipo Village, then where would it be?

Yang Chen thought for a moment......

Since the grain collection team had been staying in Kerry City before, they would definitely not want to spend too much time outside the city, and they would definitely choose to take a shortcut.

In addition, the collected grain will also be transported by horse-drawn carts and ox carts, etc., and this shortcut will not be too remote......

Yang Chen glanced at a few roads outside Xipo Village, and was a little uncertain in his heart, so he was about to turn around and ask the people in the village.

When they come, they will definitely choose the main road, which is flat and open, but it is inevitable that they will take some detours, but when the grain collection team goes, they will definitely not choose this road.

However, if you are not familiar with the road conditions here, then the grain collection team must not know either......

Yang Chen paid attention to it for a while, so he returned to the village and asked the villagers if they had asked anyone for directions when the grain collection team left.

After asking a few people, Yang Chen finally got the answer he wanted.

Sure enough, in order to return to the city with the received grain as soon as possible, the grain collection team really asked the villagers which way they should go.

The village chief recalled, "I remember that yesterday it was Old John next door who led the way......"

"Old John?" Yang Chen had some questions, "Then did he come back later?"

"It's back, it's back, it's back last night!" the village chief didn't dare to fool, and immediately found someone to call old John.

While calling someone, he explained to Yang Chen, "Old John is the hunter in our village, and he is familiar with the nearby terrain...... The people who came yesterday made a strange request, they wanted to let the carriage pass, and they had to be close to the city of Kree...... We all thought it would be better to take the big road, except that Old John wanted to get acquainted with the big man in the city, and offered to offer that he knew a shortcut......"

Yang Chen listened carefully, his brows furrowed slightly, he always felt that something was wrong, why was the grain collection team missing, but the hunter who led the way was able to return safely?

Could it be that I guessed wrong? The place where the grain collection team was killed was not near Xipo Village?

No matter, anyway, it will be clear to old John after a good interrogation.

"Oh no, village chief!

At this time, the villagers who had just been called to find Old John hurriedly ran over.

"What happened?" said the village chief, "didn't you go and call Old John...... What else could happen?"

"Whew...... ...... the man, exhaling deeply, said with some fear, "Old John...... Old John he ......"

"What's wrong with him?" Yang Chen hurriedly asked.

He ...... He's dead......"

"What?!" Yang Chen's pupils contracted suddenly, just now he was still thinking about why only Old John came back, and now he died in the blink of an eye.

Yang Chen grabbed the villager's shoulder and asked, "When did you die, and where did you die?"

Seeing this, the villager swallowed his saliva with some fear, and subconsciously turned his head to look at the village chief.

Seeing that the old village chief nodded, he said a little nervously, "I ...... me too I don't know when he died...... All I know is that when I went to his house, he was lying in bed...... On the bed, I didn't move...... When I got closer to see ...... Only then did I find out...... only to find that his face was covered with dark spots, and his eyes were staring at the boss, and he had ...... I'm not breathing......"

Yang Chen put down the hand that was grabbing the other party's shoulder, his eyes were full of fierceness, "Take me to Old John's house!"

As he spoke, he said to the old village chief, "If my companions don't find me when they come back, ask the village chief to take them to Old John's house!"

......

About half an hour later, everyone gathered at Old John's house.

Old John's family can be described as a family with four walls, and only Old John lives alone, fifty or sixty years old, still alone.

Old John didn't usually communicate with people very much, and he didn't have any friends in the village, so although Old John was seen coming home last night, it was not until this afternoon that Old John was found dead at home.

Yang Chen had already observed it up close before, and found that the black markings on Old John's face were very unusual, if the expected was good, the cause of his death would definitely be inseparable from these black lines!

Hearing Yang Chen's analysis, Ciri and Pastor Duke also stepped forward to take a closer look.

Ciri looked at the markings on the deceased's face, and for a moment he didn't know what kind of spell caused it.

However, old Duke felt a little familiar, but the time was a little long, and he couldn't remember it for a while.

After recording the streaks, they began to examine the body, which was already very stiff, and the blood had begun to clot, and Ciri speculated that the deceased had died probably seven or eight hours before, or even earlier!

Moreover, except for the stripes on the face, there is no abnormality, there are no fatal wounds, and other body functions are relatively normal.

Ciri speculates that Old John may have died of the Curse!

Curses are different from regular elemental spells in that they cannot directly damage the target through elemental energy, but they can be weakened by the curse spell to inflict other damage, and if they want to kill, the curse can only deal damage to the target's soul spirit.

For a while, everyone stared at Old Duke, and everyone was not as good as a priest like Old Duke for the damage that directly affects the spirit of the curse!

The priest itself relies on the gods and directly communicates with the origin power of the world, which can effectively suppress spiritual spells, and among them, the Light Priest is undoubtedly more useful for evil spells such as curses.

If John Sr. had met Duke Sr. shortly after receiving the curse, he might have had a chance to live......

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Old Duke finally spoke, "Although I don't know what kind of curse spell this is, but such an evil spell that lasts for a very short time, ordinary wizards can't learn and master it at all! So, I speculate that the wizard who unleashed the curse spell on Old John must have a huge organization behind it! Otherwise, there is no way to explain the source of the curse spell!"

The sorcerer is a different kind of spellcaster than the magician, and is "famous for its evil sorcery" and highly poisonous potions! Most of the curses mentioned above are similar to it, and it is a spell that directly attacks the soul and spirit of people.

For a moment, everyone couldn't help but associate this wizard with Jasmine, a night elf.

It is said that wizards are evil, but in fact, the reputation of the Night Elves is not very good, otherwise, when Old Duke sensed Jasmine's use of the law of the night, he would not have arrived in Cree City so quickly to hunt down Jasmine.

Everyone felt a bit of a headache, one jasmine was tricky enough, and now an evil wizard who wasn't easy to mess with came out......

Wizards are more frightening than the Night Elves, after all, if the Night Elves make a move, it is only through magic and fighting spirit, but once a wizard makes a move, it is all kinds of witchcraft and all kinds of potions!

In the history of the continent, there was an outbreak of a plague that directly caused the death of one-tenth of the people in the entire continent!

At that time, the major forces investigated and found that the cause of the plague was actually because a wizard accidentally leaked out while researching the potion and flowed into the river, so everyone who drank the water of the river was contaminated with the disease. After some more spreading, eventually most of the people on most continents were infected with this terrible plague!

In the end, this wizard was found and executed by the major forces, and then destroyed the potion formula, and even carried out a large-scale siege and suppression against the wizard!

Until now, it is rare to encounter wizards on the mainland, and even if there is, they will hide in secret, not daring to appear in the open.

"In an organization, there are both ancient remnants like the Night Elves and evil wizards who are dying out...... I don't think it's going to be a bad name on the mainland, but what kind of organization is it? Is it the notorious Dark Council? Or is it the doomsday thug who preaches the end of the world?"

Ciri asked, frowning.

The others began to ponder, only Yang Chen was a little confused......

"I don't think it's the Dark Council, the Dark Council shouldn't do such a thing...... What's more, the center of their activities is in the hinterland of the empire, and it is unlikely that they will do things in Noonan on the border...... "Old Duke Dao, who knows the Dark Council best."

After listening to the old Duke's explanation, Ciri also nodded in agreement.

Only Yang Chen still looked confused, so, what is the Dark Council?

A few days ago, Yang Chen read a lot of books in the library of the Academy of Magic, but he still didn't understand some of the common sense between the extraordinary.

The Dark Council is the largest dark force in the whole continent, and it is rumored that there are all kinds of dark creatures, vampires, werewolves, dark mages, necromancers, gray dwarves and so on!

In addition, the headquarters of the Dark Guilds, such as the Assassins' Guild and the Thieves' Guild, which are highly hidden, are located in the Dark Council Residence!

The Dark Council is a true hiding place!