The Great Qian Empire, the twenty-third year of Tianfu, August 11, the third quarter of the first month of Hai.

The imperial capital of Yujing, Changle Fang.

The gibbous moon in the sky above Yujing City gradually glows, exuding a bright brilliance and is beautiful. Come to think of it, after tonight, there will be a lot of poetry masterpieces in Yujing City.

In two days, the Mid-Autumn Festival lantern festival in Yujing City will last for three nights, which can be described as a night and night fish and dragon dance, and the dignitaries and nobles of the great cadres will spend money, which is not merciless.

The northwest corner of Changle Fang used to be the old party of Yujing Mansion, after Emperor Gaozu Wu of Daqian set the capital of Yujing, he issued an imperial decree to change Yujing Mansion to Jingzhao Mansion, and the government also moved from Changle Fang to Luoyang Fang, which was closer to the imperial city. Later, the old party of Yujing Mansion became the public office of the current demon hunting division.

At this time, the lights inside the Monster Hunting Division were brightly lit.

Shang Qing had a vague bad premonition, because from the moment he stepped into the division, the division seemed to be shrouded in an atmosphere of breathless oppression.

Sure enough, the master of the Demon Hunt Division, who had not appeared for a long time, sat expressionlessly on the iron wooden seat in the hall that was almost dusting, and a middle-aged man stood under the hall, looking hesitant and uneasy.

Seeing Shang Qing coming in, the middle-aged man wearing a dark uniform and a plain cloak embroidered with an innate gossip diagram couldn't help but reprimand angrily:

"Shang Qing, what are you doing to eat? Do you still want the identity of a seven-rank demon hunter? ”

After speaking, the middle-aged man glanced at the master of the hall with his spare eyes, and saw that his expression did not change, so he scolded again: "In the Jade Capital City, under the rule of the sage, there are now monsters. That monster has been haunted and hurt people in Ping'an Fang three times and five times, Ping'an Fang is your business director in charge, where do you let the demon hunting division? Where is the Master? Where are the saints? If you provoke the anger of the saint, even if you Shang Qing really have three heads and six arms, it will not be enough to cut off. ”

Shang Qing frowned when he heard this, his face was unhappy, anyone who came would suffer such a bombardment, I was afraid that he couldn't stand it.

Those who have a hot temper may be angry!

However, Shang Qing weighed one or two in his heart, and still opened his mouth to explain:

"Master Meng, I was sick in bed a few days ago, and I wasn't on duty, so I was taken advantage of by that monster."

Meng Huai'an was speechless for a while, and snorted coldly.

The master of the hall stood up at this time, slowly walked to the hall, and then said lightly to the two of them: "Back then, the sage personally set up the Demon Hunting Division, and allowed me to wait for the matter of catching demons and eliminating demons, so as to share the sage's worries and protect the peace of the Jade Capital. Now that the voice of the court to abolish the Demon Hunting Division is getting louder and louder, my Lord Meng, do you know why? ”

Meng Huai'an was shocked when he heard this, and there was only horror left in his eyes, obviously this Shangguan was really angry. So his heart was ruthless, and he hurriedly said: "Please rest assured, five days, no, three days, please give your subordinates three days, and your subordinates will definitely catch the monster who committed the murder." ”

"Okay, just three days!"

The supreme officer of the Demon Hunting Division got the answer he wanted, and his expressionless face finally relaxed, and before leaving, he glanced at Shang Qing casually, and then disappeared in a few breaths.

Meng Huai'an breathed a sigh of relief, stretched out his hand to wipe the cold sweat on his forehead, what the master said put too much pressure on him.

Seeing this, Shang Qing secretly pondered on the side.

After a while, Meng Huai'an, who was relieved, said to Shang Qing: "This monster appeared very strangely! Shang Qing, the pawn has already sorted out the dossier, time is pressing, give you an hour, hurry up and familiarize yourself. ”

Under the strange eyes of the warden, Shang Qing successfully obtained the file of the monster wounding case, and the record is as follows:

[On August 6, the twenty-third year of Tianfu (five days ago), at the second quarter of the first ugly month (half past one in the morning), the third son of Chen Fu of Ping'an Fang went home drunk from Qingping Lefang, and walked from the inner courtyard, suddenly there was a demonic wind, and Chen Sangongzi only felt a cold lower body, and he fell to the ground, and then the tragic wail spread throughout Ping'anfang. Later, Qin Zhutou of Jingzhao Mansion led people to inspect the scene and found that a Confucian book called "Zhao Zi Li Jing" was lost in the house of the third prince. 】

[On August 7, the twenty-third year of Tianfu, Chouzheng, when Zhang San, a small servant in Qingping Lefang, passed under the big peach tree in Peach Tree Lane in Ping'an Fang, there was a sudden demonic wind, and the little girl's eyes were black, unconscious, and after waking up, his tongue had been cut off. Qin Zhutou led people to inspect the scene, but found nothing except the red blood under the peach tree. 】

[On August 8, the twenty-third year of Tianfu, the third quarter of the first month of the ugly month (1:45 in the morning), the old man of Zhu Mansion of Ping'an Fang was cut off five fingers of his right hand in his sleep on the couch. 】

There was a monster injury incident in Ping'an Fang for three consecutive days, and its nature was not bad, and Yin Lu Shengxiang, the governor of Jingzhao Prefecture, attached great importance to it.

Combined with the confessions of passers-by collected by Jingzhao Mansion, the confessions of relevant personnel contacted by the victim of the case, and the results of the on-site investigation, Yin Lushengxiang of Jingzhao Mansion directly wrote four words with a red cinnabar pen on the file: Monsters are haunting.

Then Lu Shengxiang sent a piece of paper to the cabinet and sued the Demon Hunting Division fiercely. Fortunately, the cabinet minister who got the deal had a good personal relationship with the head of the Demon Hunting Division, and he was also one of the few officials in the court who insisted on disagreeing with the abolition of the Demon Hunting Division. So the cabinet minister held it down and informed the head of the Monster Hunt Division of the matter as soon as possible, asking him to solve the case as soon as possible and turn the passive into the active.

After reading the file, Shang Qing's whole heart suddenly sank to the bottom.

The demon clan has existed since ancient times, and in the millions of mountains in the south, it is the largest settlement of the demon clan. In the past, the demon clan would often break into the human world, hunt and devour each other with humans.

Three hundred years ago, Buddhism led tens of thousands of monks in the door to declare war with the demon clan, and fought half a jiazi before and after, at the cost of a quasi-Buddha and five great monks of the Bodhisattva realm, Buddhism completely drove the demon clan to the depths of the million-dollar mountain.

This war is known in the history books as the "Ten Thousand Buddhas and Demons".

Since then, the demon clan's luck has been damaged and gradually declined. Thousands of years of demon disasters have been quelled, and most of the scattered demon clans in the world have chosen to hide, and Buddhism has soared into the sky, and Buddhism is prosperous.

As a result, the world has formed a situation in which the three religions stand together.

"Is this the resurgence of the demon clan?"

Shang Qing cut off all the distracting thoughts in his mind, calmed down and began to analyze the dossier.

He asked the warden for a pen and paper, and listed several important clues one by one:

One: Demon Wind!

Two: bane, tongue, fingers!

Three: Chen Sangongzi, Xiaowu Zhang San, Master Zhu!

Four: Qingping Lefang!

Five: Paw prints!

Shang Qing thought about it and wrote the lost "Zhao Zi Rite Sutra".

"Why did it all happen in Ping'anfang?" Shang Qing muttered in a low voice.

There are one hundred and eight squares in Yujing City, and there are not many powerful people living in Ping'an Fang, but there are many ordinary people's homes.

The Chen Mansion and the Zhu Mansion can be regarded as one of the few high-ranking families in the workshop.

Chen Fuzu was once a third-grade official in the court, and the Chen family has a good reputation in the workshop with poetry and books, except for the current Chen Sangongzi!

As for Zhu's house, Master Zhu has done more good deeds in the workshop and is friendly to his neighbors, and everyone privately calls him Zhu Dashan!

Shang Qing knew how much this case had affected him, and if he couldn't solve the case within three days, then he, a seven-rank demon hunter, would definitely become the backstabber.

I finally picked up a life from the ghost gate and came back, but I can't break through the ghost gate again.

"Calm down! Calm down! Shang Qing forced himself to calm down.

There are many clues, so analyze and reason one by one, and then eliminate them one by one.

The monks under the cultivation system of the three religions all have the ability to blow the demon wind, and people like martial arts, even if they have the ability to blow the demon wind, do not bother to do this, and the martial arts have always acted above board, with revenge and revenge, and revenge. Therefore, clue "one" cannot directly determine whether the perpetrator is a demon or a human.

Clue 2 is all things on the human body, it seems that you have to start with the victim, Shang Qing thought about it, put clue 2 and clue 3 together, and focused on checking the social relationship of these three people, such as whether there is an enemy or something!

Qingping Lefang, as the largest entertainment venue in Yujing City, has a mixed number of people in and out, and it is difficult to get useful clues in a short period of time, and this clue can be put down temporarily.

The Book of Rites of Zhao Zi is a Confucian classic, a must-read book for almost every reader, and the loss of a book does not seem to give a useful goal.

So Shang Qing focused his eyes on the "paw prints", and he suddenly realized that he had never been to the scene from beginning to end, and he would definitely not be able to solve the case by relying on brain analysis, after all, there was very little effective information on the file, and he had to go to the scene.

The hour given by Meng Huai'an only passed less than half.

"Master Meng, go to Zhu's Mansion."

With an idea, Shang Qing immediately pulled him, the Shangguan, to the Zhu Mansion in a hurry. Meng Huai'an's heart that had been hanging was finally relieved at this moment, just now the master and Shang Qing left one after another, and he was extremely remorseful in his heart.

Meng Huai'an has also read the file, he has no clue at all, he has the determination and perseverance to chase the demon for thousands of miles and get rid of it, as for solving the case......

However, after two teas, the two came to the outside of Zhu's mansion, and some people from the mansion came to the door late at night when they saw the official errand, and reported the master's house as soon as possible.

The person who came was Zhu Changfeng, the eldest son of Master Zhu, who was a little unkind on his face, and he was more disgusted by the arrival of the official errand, especially the person from the Demon Hunting Division. But I couldn't do it again, so I had to respectfully invite the two of them into the house.

There was a cry in Zhu's mansion at this time, seeing the scene in the mansion, where would Meng Huai'an not know what was going on, the already relaxed heart sank to the bottom again, and what he didn't want to happen still happened after all.

Shang Qing seemed to ignore all this and went straight to Master Zhu's bedroom.

There was a strong smell of Chinese medicine in the bedroom, and there were obvious traces of being cleaned up, and the bedding on the couch was gone, Shang Qing frowned, but after thinking about it, he didn't say anything. So he walked to the window and saw the "paw prints" recorded in the file, he reached out and touched it gently, and there were three paw prints, which were very shallow.

Ordinary people really can't find it, and it seems that Qin Zhutou is not an ordinary person.

Shang Qing didn't know what it was for a while.

And the pointer on the small gossip plate hanging from his waist also did not react, indicating that there was no demonic energy left in this room.

It seems that this most useful clue is also broken.

Shang Qing's face was a little ugly. He stood by the window, letting the breeze blow on his cheeks.

It's just that this wind has a peculiar fragrance, mixed with the smell of traditional Chinese medicine, very faint, so faint that it is almost imperceptible!

Shang Qing walked around the room again, and when he leaned over the bed, the pointer on the small gossip plate on his waist turned slightly. So he searched the bed carefully, and finally found a black hair the length of his little thumb, and when he put the hair on the plate, the needle turned noticeably more.

"It's really a curse! Who can come and go freely in the Jade Capital City? Shang Qing's face suddenly became solemn.

Meng Huai'an did not enter the house, he was talking to the Zhu family outside.

"My lord, my father has done good deeds all his life, and he has never had bad relations with others, and no one in the workshop praises him. First, he was brutally cut off his five fingers by a thief, and he was too frightened, and now he suddenly contracted a vicious disease and died with a whimper, where is the reason of heaven? ”

The Zhu family, who was already overly sad, was like a candle in the wind at this moment, crumbling.

Meng Huai'an comforted his good life, and promised that he would definitely catch the murderer and give the deceased an explanation.

An imperceptible hint of panic flashed in the eyes of the Zhu family.

At the time of two teas, Shang Qing walked out of the bedroom and asked the Zhu family a question: "Master Zhu, where did your father go a few days before the incident?" ”

The Zhu family thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "In those days, several relatives came to the family, and my father stayed at home to accompany him and did not go out. ”

Shang Qing snorted and glanced thoughtfully at the Zhu family.

Then he said to Meng Huai'an: "Lord Meng, go to Chen's Mansion!" ”