Volume 3, Chapter 227 – What Did She Suffer?

This tattered dress, along with that smear of blood on the collar, pierced into Chi Xiyan’s chest like a sharp thorn.

Something happened!

Something happened to Yu Lizhi!

How could something happen to her?!

Terrible thoughts completely occupied Chi Xiyan’s mind.

She felt her heart pounding wildly, blood pressure impacting her eardrums like forceful drumming in her ears.

She reached out to gently press her chest. The air she inhaled seemed to congeal in her chest, blocking it and making her feel panicked.

This feeling was very unfamiliar to Chi Xiyan.

However, as an alchemist who had studied medical principles and understood the human body, Chi Xiyan clearly knew what this feeling meant.

Her emotions were somewhat out of control.

She, who had always been rational and composed, was actually losing emotional control because of a little girl she’d known for less than a month.

Was she really herself?

Chi Xiyan took several deep breaths.

She used her spiritual power to forcibly suppress the turbulent emotions in her heart.

Behind Chi Xiyan, Mu Wu looked deeply at her back with an inscrutable gaze.

As a Sixth Realm expert, Mu Wu could clearly sense the emotional changes in Chi Xiyan.

Just now, the instant Chi Xiyan saw that shredded dress on the bed, her body had stiffened suddenly.

Clearly, she had received a strong mental shock.

From the looks of it, the Young Miss’s relationship with Miss Yu was even deeper than the Old Master had imagined. Mu Wu thought to himself.

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Having Chi Xiyan go into the room herself to see that tattered dress was the Old Master’s instruction.

Mu Wu felt this matter was slightly unethical, yet he had no choice but to comply.

Chi Jingwen had Mu Wu observe Chi Xiyan’s reaction and report back to him.

Fortunately, the result was good.

Young Miss Xiyan’s relationship with Miss Yu wasn’t fake. Her concern for Miss Yu came from genuine care, not mere pretense.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had such a strong reaction just now. The reaction was even somewhat exaggerated.

Thinking this, Mu Wu lifted his foot and followed Chi Xiyan into the room.

“What is… what’s going on…” Chi Xiyan heard Mu Wu’s footsteps.

She turned toward Mu Wu and asked, “What exactly is going on? Have the wolf tribe people gone mad?”

Seeing this, Mu Wu shook his head and said, “Young Miss, please calm down first.”

Chi Xiyan closed her eyes slightly, then opened them. “I am calm. But precisely because I’m calm, I cannot understand.”

Looking at the scene before her, even if Chi Xiyan wanted to understand, she couldn’t.

She was very calm.

She had always been very calm.

Calmness was a required course for being a merchant.

Chi Xiyan was already accustomed to thinking calmly in all kinds of environments and various crises.

However, the more calmly she thought, the less she could understand the wolf tribe people’s intentions.

“Perhaps…” Chi Xiyan bit her silver teeth lightly and said coldly, “Beasts are just like this. It’s impossible for humans to understand beasts’ thoughts.”

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“Young Miss…” Mu Wu reminded her, “We only found Miss Yu Lizhi’s clothes here. We didn’t discover anything else…”

“So Miss Yu Lizhi should be fine.”

“She should still be in the hands of the wolf tribe people.”

“…” Upon hearing this, Chi Xiyan fell into brief contemplation.

She pointed at the dress on the bed and said through gritted teeth, “These beasts. Could they be trying to humiliate my Chi family in this manner?”

“Have they truly gone mad?!”

Mu Wu remained silent. He understood the reasons, but he couldn’t speak of them.

“Old Mu, can you still track their location?” Chi Xiyan asked.

Mu Wu sighed and shook his head, saying, “I was just about to report this matter to the Old Master. This opponent is more troublesome than any we’ve faced before.”

“What do you mean?” Chi Xiyan asked.

“…” Mu Wu paused for a while, his eyes showing contemplative color. After a moment, he continued, “The wolf demons should be new arrivals to Beihe Commandery, yet during their escape, they displayed extreme familiarity with the area… This doesn’t conform to reason.”

“Moreover, those wolf demons are extremely sensitive to tracking…”

“Every time I wanted to take a shortcut to get ahead of them, they would always discover me in advance and respond quickly… This simply doesn’t seem like something a Sixth Realm demon race at my level could accomplish.”

Chi Xiyan was silent for a while before continuing, “Perhaps this is due to the wolf demons’ innate characteristics.”

“I’ve seen introductions about the Demon Territory wolf tribe people in medical texts. The wolf tribe people live in the Far Northern Ice Plains. They have robust bodies, powerful demonic power, and possess a strong sense of smell. They rank third among the Demon Territory’s four major powerful clans.”

“The wolf demons’ sense of smell?” Mu Wu pondered. “If it’s because of smell and spiritual sense, that would also make sense.”

Before this, Mu Wu had speculated that perhaps an expert familiar with the Beihe Commandery was secretly helping that group of wolf demons.

If so, then matters would become complicated.

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However, Mu Wu didn’t tell Chi Xiyan this conjecture.

This was also Chi Jingwen’s instruction.

“Is there really no way to track them now?” Chi Xiyan asked.

“Unfortunately.” Mu Wu shook his head. “At least with my abilities, I have no idea of their whereabouts now.”

Chi Xiyan’s eyes dimmed slightly. “I understand.”

“I need to go report to Old Master Chi, inform him of this matter, and await his next instructions.” Mu Wu said.

“Young Miss should return as well.”

“The wolf demons’ whereabouts are unknown. Beihe Commandery isn’t safe right now.”

“No need.” Chi Xiyan shook her head instead, saying, “I won’t be going back.”

She turned to look at the dress on the bed. “I want to search for Zhizhi’s whereabouts on my own.”

“Don’t worry about me. I have protective treasures on me. Even a Sixth Realm assassin can’t harm me. Moreover, I’m not alone—there are also the seniors from the martial hall with me.”

Seeing Chi Xiyan’s persistence, Mu Wu could only nod. “Alright, then I’ll return to report first, Young Miss.”

“Mm…”

Mu Wu left.

Only Chi Xiyan remained alone in the room.

She slowly walked forward and picked up that dress.

Although the white collar had been stained red, there were no claw marks cutting through the collar area.

“The wound on Zhizhi’s body wasn’t caused by claws.”

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“What stained the collar red was an old wound that hadn’t yet healed.”

Chi Xiyan made this judgment.

She reached out to lift the torn fabric. This dress had an elaborate and expensive design. The skirt had more than one layer.

“The places where the skirt was torn are very neat… It’s like it was pulled directly off the body. It doesn’t look like it was torn during a struggle.”

“The tears from the claws… there’s a slight misalignment between the inner and outer layers…”

Chi Xiyan narrowed her eyes slightly.

She spread the dress open.

A clear claw mark could be seen running from the front hem all the way through to the back waist.

“The claw marks are fake…”

“The dress was deliberately torn after being taken off…”

Chi Xiyan picked up the dress and brought it to her nose, sniffing it gently.

A familiar fragrance flooded her nostrils.

This seemed to make her consciousness even calmer.

“On this, besides Zhizhi’s scent, there’s also an unfamiliar scent…”

“A woman’s scent.”

“The one who pulled off Zhizhi’s clothes was a woman.”

“Besides this, there are no other scents present.”

“Zhizhi was not violated.”