Daishan Turns The Wind Chapter 9

The Case of the Zither Player (Part Two)

Shan Wuzhou watched for a while, suppressing a laugh.

Afraid that Feng Yuluo’s legs would cramp from squatting, Shan Wuzhou pointed at the stall. Feng Yuluo looked up blankly, appearing to Shan Wuzhou like a lost little animal.

A wave of heat surged through him, and Shan Wuzhou immediately regretted his thought, quickly backing away and turning his head aside.

Feng Yuluo scratched his head, stood up with an awkward smile, coughed for a long time, and finally managed to blurt out, “What a coincidence.”

He had been looking for Zhao Zisheng, but Yuanbao’s clone had run off, God knows where to cause trouble this time. Feng Yuluo could only bid farewell to Old Li and leave.

After bribing Yuanbao’s main body with ten catties of melon seeds, it only offered a tiny hint in between spitting out shells: Zishu City.

He had originally planned to quietly capture the clone and leave, but fate intervened. His path crossed with Shan Wuzhou’s, and both ended up at Illusion Moon Pavilion.

Illusion Moon Pavilion was the liveliest spot in Zishu City right now, as Gan Youyou was performing a new composition for seven consecutive days. Feng Yuluo went to join the fun, saw Shan Wuzhou, but the music was so beautiful that he hid in a corner and listened until the end.

Feng Yuluo’s eyes darted around as he tried to figure out what lie to concoct, given that he was supposedly suffering from amnesia.

Shan Wuzhou asked, “Grandmaster, were you worried that your disciple might be in danger?”

Feng Yuluo quickly stepped down from the platform.

He claimed he was uneasy, feeling that the escaped demonic entity needed to be recaptured, especially since he was the Ancestral Master.

He then asked Shan Wuzhou if he had followed him out because he suspected the zither player.

Shan Wuzhou suddenly didn’t know how to respond, falling silent. He picked up his flute and examined it.

Feng Yuluo prompted, “Speak up?”

“I don’t have any suspicions.”

“Then what is going on?”

Shan Wuzhou put down the flute, glanced at the ground, and slowly said, “I thought Gan Youyou’s zither playing was beautiful. I wanted to tell the zither player my inner thoughts and ask him to compose a piece just for me.”

Feng Yuluo’s hand, which was reaching for money, paused. He instinctively felt that this idea wasn’t so simple. He quickly looked over and indeed saw that Shan Wuzhou’s earlobes were slightly red.

Feng Yuluo was speechless: Young people should be playing games appropriate for their age. A twenty-year-old lad obsessing over an eight-hundred-year-old man truly deserved a beating.

Shan Wuzhou was extremely embarrassed and quickly changed the subject, talking about the information he had gathered.

He had come here chasing the demonic entity. From May 19th to May 28th, people had been disappearing here, totaling twenty-three individuals.

The missing people included men, women, and the elderly. They lived in all directions—east, south, west, and north—and had various means of livelihood. The locations of their disappearances were also scattered everywhere, and they all vanished suddenly, gone in the blink of an eye.

This was similar to how the killer in the previous case had suddenly disappeared on the street.

It was obvious that the demonic entity was responsible.

However, he had no idea who the master of the illusion was.

Given that those dragged into the Illusion of Wandering Thoughts last time were all murderers, Shan Wuzhou had specifically investigated, but none of the people who disappeared this time had committed any crimes.

Shan Wuzhou said they needed to investigate further to find the reason why the demonic entity was capturing people.

Feng Yuluo looked at Shan Wuzhou. This kid didn’t remember where this demonic entity came from, and Feng Yuluo couldn’t say much either due to his amnesia. He suddenly said, “Yuanbao.”

“What?”

“I think this little demon is quite interesting. Let’s give it a name. Let’s call it Yuanbao.”

This was typical of the Feng Mountain Ancestral Master’s style. Shan Wuzhou smiled and asked, “But why Yuanbao?”

This touched upon the core of the Art of Wandering Thoughts. Feng Yuluo excitedly explained, “The growth of anything requires the absorption of spiritual energy. Demonic entities need malice. It helped Zhao Zisheng capture murderers last time, so I believe its original nature can be guided. That’s why I call it Yuanbao—to give it spiritual energy instead of malice. Perhaps it can eliminate its demonic nature through cultivation, just like an ordinary minor demon.”

Yuanbao sought out Zhao Zisheng because Zhao Zisheng wanted revenge.

Based on this deduction, Shan Wuzhou realized, “So Yuanbao parasitizes the hidden thoughts in people’s hearts, helps the host fulfill their wish, and uses this to strengthen itself.”

Feng Yuluo commented helplessly, “It is extremely playful.”

Shan Wuzhou opened the case files, trying to sound casual, “Grandmaster is very familiar with Yuanbao. Could it be that you were the one who subdued this demon back then?”

In truth, Shan Wuzhou had captured it; he was just lending a hand.

“That is indeed possible. I feel a strange sense of familiarity,” Feng Yuluo replied, his expression unchanging, completely unfazed.

Shan Wuzhou smiled silently.

The two went to examine the disappearance locations.

They didn’t know who Yuanbao was currently parasitizing, only who had gone missing. They could try to summarize the common characteristics of these people and deduce the host’s resentment.

They hoped to find that person.

“The person who disappeared behind this house was an elderly man in his fifties. His family said he went to the cellar to get potatoes and never came back. They searched everywhere but found nothing.”

Feng Yuluo listened while wandering around the back of the house. There were many footprints on the ground, as many people had searched after the disappearance, making it impossible to distinguish whose was whose.

There was also a small vegetable garden here, the greens looking somewhat wilted from the sun. Ten zhang away was another row of small alleys, home to over twenty families, none of whom had seen where he went.

Shan Wuzhou had taken a personal item from the man’s house, but his tracking spell yielded no results.

It seemed Yuanbao had learned its lesson from last time and put several locks on the illusion’s gate. Quite clever.

Feng Yuluo searched for a while, picking up a dead leaf and staring at it.

“Grandmaster?”

Feng Yuluo waved his hand, saying nothing, but took the leaf with him. Soon, at the third location, he found another one.

This could no longer be dismissed as a coincidence. Feng Yuluo voiced his confusion, “Where do dead leaves come from in the middle of summer?”

The two quickly walked through every disappearance spot, finding a total of fifteen leaves. The others might have been swept away or blown away by the wind.

Feng Yuluo looked at the pile of leaves and asked Shan Wuzhou to guess their significance.

Shan Wuzhou didn’t understand. He picked one up and examined it. It was an ordinary poplar leaf, palm-sized, and they were all roughly the same.

He flipped it over, trying to see if any marks were left, but didn’t realize his grip was too strong, and the dead leaf crumbled.

Did he just destroy evidence? Shan Wuzhou was slightly stunned.

Feng Yuluo looked at the others. Since there were so many, that one leaf wasn’t special. He said it was fine, adding that dead leaves were naturally fragile.

As he spoke, he picked one up to examine it himself, and accidentally crushed another piece.

After confirming there were no clues on the surface, they could only look at the leaves themselves.

Poplar leaves, withered, fragile…

Feng Yuluo took the disappearance case files and looked through them, then realized something, pointing it out to Shan Wuzhou.

“The missing people include both men and women, but they share one characteristic: most are older. There are seventeen people in their fifties or sixties, and the youngest is over thirty.”

“So the dead leaves symbolize that these people are old? Does the host of this illusion hate older people? And is the host’s inner demon a child?”

“This is just speculation for now. There’s also the point about fragility. If these people are fragile, does it mean they are sick?”

Fortunately, Shan Wuzhou was a cultivator and quick on his feet. Feng Yuluo waited where he was. Shan Wuzhou returned after half an hour and said it was highly likely.

Two families were empty, but after questioning other family members, they discovered that the missing people suffered from chronic headaches, heart pain, back pain, or rheumatism in their legs and feet. Some also had poor eyesight or hearing…

Even the relatively younger man in his thirties suffered from insomnia and headaches, and another had a poor appetite.

All of them were afflicted with illnesses, whether minor or severe.

Combining these clues, Feng Yuluo guessed that the host might be someone who had been tormented by illness for years.

Feng Yuluo stammered slightly as he said this. He had guessed wrong several times before, so he wasn’t sure if he was right this time and asked Shan Wuzhou for his thoughts.

Shan Wuzhou said that if the host had an illness, their wish might be related to it. Therefore, they captured those who were sick, drawing out their remaining life force to heal themselves.

What a sinister idea!

However, the previous case was even more sinister, so this didn’t seem too shocking.

Feng Yuluo suppressed his astonishment, “Then why not capture healthy people? Their vitality is stronger, wouldn’t that speed up the healing process?”

“They might fear being pursued by relatives. When I conducted my inquiries, I observed that while the families of the missing people were anxious, they weren’t… overly concerned. A few implied that it was fine if they couldn’t be found. If healthy people disappeared, their relatives would search relentlessly.”

Feng Yuluo was stunned.

Shan Wuzhou’s tone was calm, showing little reaction.

He himself had been abandoned due to a congenital deficiency and knew that people with chronic illnesses were a heavy burden on their families.

If they went missing and weren’t found, although sad, it removed a huge stone from the family’s shoulders.

In fact, few families had even reported the disappearances; it was Shan Wuzhou who had investigated and found that twenty-three people were missing.

Feng Yuluo felt a pang in his heart and cautiously looked over.