Chapter 61: Web Of Lies

Chapter 61: Chapter 61: Web Of Lies

"Ah? What do you mean?" Sui Sui asked, staring at him in confusion.

Hearing Yizhou’s speculation, Sui Sui couldn’t help but feel surprised. How could the body in front of them be fake when it had looked so real?

But after thinking about it, the possibility did not seem all that far-fetched. This was the cultivation world, after all. If there were spells that could make a wooden carving look exactly like a human corpse, then perhaps it wasn’t as strange as he initially thought.

"Although it looks exactly like a real corpse, it isn’t one. It’s actually a wooden carving shaped like a human body. A spell has been cast over it to disguise the wood and make it appear indistinguishable from an actual corpse," Yizhou explained.

Sui Sui stared at the body in disbelief. The pale skin, lifeless expression, and even the texture of the corpse had looked completely real. If Yizhou hadn’t pointed it out, he would never have suspected that there was nothing but wood beneath the illusion.

To prove his words, Yizhou raised his hand and gathered a strand of spiritual energy at his fingertips. He pressed it against the corpse and channeled the energy into it.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the corpse’s lifeless skin suddenly rippled. Its pale complexion faded away, replaced by the rough, grainy texture of wood. In the blink of an eye, the illusion completely disappeared, revealing a faceless wooden carving shaped into the form of a human body.

Sui Sui’s eyes widened.

So, it really was fake.

"Ah? But why would they do that?" Sui Sui asked.

Yizhou’s gaze remained on the wooden carving as he considered it. "I suppose it should be connected to the conversation we heard earlier."

Sui Sui paused, searching his memory for the words he had heard while they were hiding.

"Oh, right. They did mention submitting something somewhere, didn’t they?" His expression gradually changed as he connected the two things. "Could it be that they’re collecting corpses to do something shady?"

"This should be the case," Yizhou agreed, his expression turning solemn.

"Then what should we do now? Didn’t you say we needed to inspect the corpse to investigate? How are we supposed to do that when there’s no real body?" Sui Sui asked.

Yizhou’s gaze shifted toward the door, his expression thoughtful. "I think the place they took the bodies to should still be somewhere in this area. They said they would be submitting them tomorrow, which means this isn’t the only body involved."

Understanding dawned in Sui Sui’s eyes. Yizhou’s reasoning made sense. Transporting the bodies to a distant place would be risky, so it was far more likely that they were being kept somewhere nearby, hidden in a more secluded location.

As the thought occurred to him, Sui Sui also understood the implication behind Yizhou’s words.

"Do you mean they’ve been pretending to perform cremations while actually keeping the bodies somewhere else for another use?"

"That should be it," Yizhou replied.

A chill ran down Sui Sui’s spine.

The thought alone was horrifying. Somewhere within this temple, there could be a room filled with corpses, hidden away from the outside world.

A mixture of fear and sadness settled in Sui Sui’s heart and the more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt.

Families had entrusted their deceased loved ones to the temple, believing they would be given a proper funeral and laid to rest with dignity. If the bodies had truly been taken and kept for another purpose, then the trust those families had placed in the temple had been completely betrayed.

And if Yizhou’s suspicion was correct, whatever they were being used for was likely something sinister.

"But why would they do that?" Sui Sui asked, his brows furrowing. "What could their motive be? And is this related to the case?"

Yizhou did not answer immediately.

Yizhou’s thoughts turned over everything they had discovered so far. The deeper they investigated, the more complicated the case became, as though the clues were threads in a vast web, with each one leading to another hidden connection.

The more Yizhou thought about it, the more he felt that everything they were uncovering had been carefully arranged long before they ever arrived in Xuanshuang City. Even the disappearance of the Soul Bell now seemed less like an isolated incident and more like one piece of a much larger scheme—especially the demon who had attacked them.

If the Soul Bell was truly involved, then this matter was clearly not something that had been planned on a whim. Very few people even knew of the Soul Bell’s existence, and most of those who did were old and powerful cultivators. For someone to orchestrate a scheme involving such an obscure artifact, there had to be far more behind it than what they had uncovered so far.

But what was the purpose behind it?

In his previous life, Yizhou had never been involved in this case. At the time, he had been focused on improving his cultivation and had not been sent to Xuanshuang City. His cultivation at that time had only been at the beginning of the Golden Core Stage, far too weak for his master to entrust him with such a mission.

This time, however, things were different. By the time the task was assigned, Yizhou had already reached the late Golden Core Stage, which was why his master had sent him here alongside his fellow disciples.

Now, with the help of the cultivation technique he learned in that mysterious space and the opportunity in the Ice Cave he had even reached the peak of the Golden Core Stage and was only one step away from the Nascent Soul Stage.

Yet as Yizhou recalled his memories from that time, something felt strange.

Back then, he did not remember hearing about any attack on the demons by his fellow disciples when they were tasked to retrieve the soul bell, so he could not even be certain whether they had successfully obtained the Soul Bell or not.

What he did remember was that around this time, Lin Fan had traveled to the north and unexpectedly encountered something.

When he returned, he had received considerable praise for whatever he had accomplished. Unfortunately, Yizhou had been sent by his master to another place at the time and had never learned the details.

Could the incident Lin Fan encountered back then have been this very case?

And if so, had Lin Fan really solved it?

Was the temple truly the culprit, as Lin Fan seemed to believe?

Yizhou’s instincts told him otherwise.

The temple was undoubtedly involved in something suspicious, but he had a feeling that they were only one part of the puzzle. They might be connected to the case, but they were unlikely to be the true culprit behind everything.

At first, Yizhou had been certain that the case was connected to the Yaomei Pavilion. Several clues had pointed in that direction, and he was certain there was a Qingmei demon within the pavilion. The place had reeked of demonic energy from the moment they arrived.

Yet now, the temple was equally suspicious.

They were clearly involved in something shady, and more importantly, they were also dealing with matters concerning souls.

Two seemingly unrelated places had now become entangled in the same investigation.

Yizhou’s gaze darkened.

There was still a missing piece.

The question was, what exactly was the connection between them—and what was the true purpose behind a scheme that seemed to have been set in motion long before they ever arrived?

Yizhou fell into deep thought, his gaze drifting toward the only source of light in the room—the flickering oil lamp.

Then his nose caught that strange, foul stench again.

Yizhou’s eyes narrowed.

There was no longer a corpse in the room, yet the smell remained as strong as before, as though it had never faded. The scent of a corpse does not disappear easily, but it should not have lingered this strongly, especially after he had already cast a spell to dispel it.

Something was wrong.

Yizhou’s thoughts abruptly stopped.

A possibility flashed through his mind, and realization slowly dawned on him.

He immediately reached into his robes and took out the talisman they had obtained from the Yaomei Pavilion.

Yizhou ran his fingers over the inscriptions, his fingertips catching on the faintly raised markings. There was a strange, greasy sensation beneath his touch, yet not a trace of ink stained his fingers.

He had already noticed that the materials used to make this talisman were far from ordinary. An ordinary talisman could not possibly produce effects as strange as this one.

He brought the talisman closer to his nose and took a careful inhale of the scent.

His eyes narrowed.

There it was.

The same foul stench from the coffin room, though faint enough that it was almost imperceptible.

Yizhou’s gaze sharpened as realization finally settled into place.

He had figured out how the two places were connected.