The few of them were shocked by the bizarre scene before them. They had been at war with the Black Demon Clan until now, and although Nascent Soul cultivators would occasionally fall, even in an ambush, neither side would ever set up an ambush near the other's main camp. This was risking being discovered by a Spirit Transformation cultivator.
A single misstep could result in losing one's own troops. Ambushing a Nascent Soul cultivator would typically have to be three to five hundred thousand li away from the main camp to be possible.
"He encountered a Nascent Soul-level Poison Cultivator or a powerful poisonous creature. After injuring him, the other party had already fled before Dongli Qing's aura erupted. By the time Dongli Qing's poison flared up and caused a commotion, it was too late for him to notice. He could no longer hold the other party back and only attacked an empty space."
The handsome young man's cultivation was slightly higher than Shanggong Changge's; he was the strongest of the four. With a flash, he arrived in front of Dongli Qing's broken corpse, but the Spirit Power shield around his body became even brighter.
He finally focused his attention on Dongli Qing and quickly made a judgment.
"But we didn't find the aura of any Nascent Soul-level cultivator or demonic beast nearby?" one of the burly old men said. He first glanced at the handsome young man, and seeing that he was fine, he also flashed to Dongli Qing's side.
"That means the other party has an extremely strong aura-concealing technique, or perhaps the other party is simply a mid-to-low-level cultivator, and the culprit is not necessarily a Poison Cultivator. Look at this poison. If we were poisoned, would any of us be spared? Using an art to administer poison can also kill people!" the other burly old man said, frowning in thought.
"What Junior Brother Feng said is possible. If facing a cultivator of the same level, Dongli Qing would definitely be on guard at all times. But what if he was facing a mid-to-low-level cultivator? However, a poison that can ambush and kill a Nascent Soul cultivator is too domineering. It would be detected as soon as it was taken out, let alone by Dongli Qing, unless... unless he was careless..." the handsome young man said, looking at the burly old man who had just spoken, as if in thought.
"Dongli Qing failed to hold the other party back before the poison flared up. At least, there are no traces of anyone else's attack nearby. This means he was either very familiar with the other party, or he was following the other party, confident that his cultivation was much higher. In this way, everything could unfold silently before the poison flared up, and Senior Brother Yang's explanation would make sense," Shanggong Changge said coldly, moving her Divine Sense from Dongli Qing and glancing at the handsome young man.
The few of them were all old monsters who had lived for over a thousand years. After just a short examination of Dongli Qing, they had each given their judgments.
When these judgments were combined, they were already very close to the truth. The only thing missing was who the murderer was and what his purpose was.
The reason they hadn't found the murderer, as they had analyzed, was that the other party had taken advantage of a time difference. Even if it was just a one-breath gap, with a meticulous plan, the other party had a way to escape their Divine Senses.
So, their answer was, apart from the murderer being a Nascent Soul cultivator, it was also highly likely that it was one or more mid-to-low-level cultivators.
"His soul is completely gone. Dongli Qing is beyond saving!" the handsome young man finally withdrew his Divine Sense from Dongli Qing and shook his head helplessly.
"Look, there are words here!" the burly old man who was close to Dongli Qing suddenly shouted in a deep voice. Under Dongli Qing's few remaining corroded fingers, a few crooked small words were written in a mixture of blood and water.
After the four of them saw the writing on the ground clearly, they did not first study the meaning of the words left by Dongli Qing, but instead looked at each other and once again sensed the aura of the small line of words on the ground.
They were all experienced experts. They had seen many times the trick of leaving a message after death to set a trap. They did not want to be misled by the content at the first moment.
The most important thing was to confirm whether this line of words was written by Dongli Qing. And with the divine abilities of a Nascent Soul cultivator, they could confirm it through the other party's handwriting and the residual aura of the words.
It was even possible to briefly trace back time, but this method required a cultivator who had cultivated the laws of time to be possible.
Space and time were the two most profound divine abilities. Even a powerful race like the Demon Clan had no one who could cultivate them.
But it was still possible to confirm whether this line of words was written by Dongli Qing himself, unless the person who set the ambush had a cultivation level much higher than theirs.
After each of them cast their arts and compared their findings with each other, the four Nascent Soul cultivators quickly dispelled their doubts.
They confirmed that this line of words was indeed left by Dongli Qing at the end. After that, they focused their attention on the meaning of the words.
"Black Demon... Jiao... go..."
The four of them each stared at the line of crooked small words left on the ground. But after just a moment, they had reached a preliminary consensus.
The words "Black Demon" were easy to understand. It should mean the "Black Demon Clan," indicating that this matter was either done by a Black Demon Clan cultivator personally or was related to the Black Demon Clan.
Although their two clans were no longer at war, it was common for them to secretly send spies into each other's territory. It was just that things involving high-level cultivators like Nascent Souls were very rare.
"Jiao" represented a "snake-jiao" or "flood dragon" type of demonic beast race.
There were still several possibilities here:
One was that the person who ambushed Dongli Qing just now might have been a Black Demon Clan Nascent Soul cultivator with a very high-level "jiao" type demonic beast. The two of them had worked together to sneak attack Dongli Qing, which was why they could succeed in the shortest amount of time.
And "jiao" type demonic beasts were often naturally poisonous creatures. This point was very consistent with Dongli Qing's poisoned state. But trying to determine which kind of "jiao" poison it was from the poison Dongli Qing was afflicted with was very difficult. All naturally poisonous demonic beasts' favorite daily food was other poisonous herbs and beasts. For them, these things were the delicacies of the world and could help them cultivate and advance.
As their own cultivation continued to grow stronger, the toxins in their bodies would not only become stronger but would also slowly undergo different mutations, and outsiders would have no idea what they had become.
Shanggong Changge, on the other hand, gave another view. It was possible that a cultivator of a jiao-type race had secretly defected to the Black Demon Clan and used poison to sneak attack Dongli Qing when he was unprepared. And this person, Dongli Qing, should have been familiar with or known.
And if she remembered correctly, there was a "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan" nearby, and it was the only sect that controlled this area for tens of thousands of li.
At the same time, this clan were all Poison Cultivators, and the highest-ranking cultivators in the clan were only at the Golden Core stage.
This clan had always had a good relationship with the "Sacred Demon Palace." If this relationship was added, when Dongli Qing faced some mid-level cultivators, he would naturally let down his guard, and the possibility of being ambushed was not small.
A Poison Cultivator's combat power could not be judged by their realm. As long as they mastered a world-class poison, they could easily poison and kill a cultivator one or two realms higher, or even higher.
"And that 'Elder Dragon Flood Dragon' seems to have already half-stepped into the Nascent Soul, and his strength is not weak. In addition, it's only a thousand-odd li from here to the 'Ghost Flood Dragon Clan.' They could have completely avoided our previous targeted investigation of high-level cultivators and thus easily returned to their sect."
So after Shanggong Changge proposed her view, the other three felt that the latter possibility was far greater than the former.
As for why Dongli Qing had appeared here, for now, they could only go back and ask his disciples if they knew anything. But that was just a helpless measure.
Usually, the thoughts of a high-level cultivator would not be known to outsiders.
"The meaning of this message from Dongli Qing is to tell us that a Black Demon Clan cultivator or spy ambushed him, among whom at least one had a jiao-type demonic beast as its true form. They fled after the attack, and he did not die by accident."
The few of them finally pieced together the meaning of these few words. It was just that what was puzzling or regrettable was that in the end, Dongli Qing had tried to tell others where his attacker had fled, but he had not been able to finish writing.
The clue was thus cut off.
"This matter concerns Dongli Qing's branch, so one of us needs to personally go back and report in detail to the Spirit Transformation old ancestor of the Dongli branch. We also need to set up a formation here to protect the traces, and at the same time, we need to further investigate the nearby area. A Nascent Soul cultivator has fallen. The clan's Spirit Transformation elders will definitely come to investigate personally, especially the Spirit Transformation elder of the Dongli branch. In addition, we also need to divide our forces to investigate the cultivators we locked onto with our Divine Senses just now, to see if anyone has hidden their cultivation and is hiding among them. Also, the previously mentioned nearby 'Ghost Flood Dragon Clan' is the most suspicious and must also be investigated."
Shanggong Changge was indeed worthy of being a great general who had guarded the border. Although her cultivation was not the highest here, her thinking was the clearest. She quickly made suggestions to the other three.
"These are all easy to handle. I say, all the cultivators who appeared nearby, including the 'Ghost Flood Dragon Clan,' let's just grab them all and search their souls. One, we can find out the real information. Two, if anyone resists, then they have a guilty conscience."
A sharp look flashed in the handsome young man's eyes. Someone had dared to ambush and kill one of their clansmen near "Sacred Demon City," and a Nascent Soul cultivator at that. They definitely had to find the real culprit and announce it to the world to serve as a warning.
To the handsome young man's words, the other three had no objection at all. Then it was just bad luck for these nearby cultivators for not praying to the right gods.
They were not some benevolent men and women. Killing these people was like casually cutting a small patch of green grass. Everyone nearby was a suspect. This point alone was enough reason.
So, the four of them quickly divided the work and went their separate ways.
Not long after, a monstrous rage shot up into the sky from a certain place in the "Sacred Demon Palace." The eruption of this aura containing anger made the cultivators in the entire "Sacred Demon City" feel as if they had been struck by lightning.
For a time, the streets were littered with wailing and unconscious mid-to-low-level cultivators. Everyone was trembling, not knowing what had happened.
Including those Nascent Soul cultivators in the city, their hearts were also greatly shaken. Their ears were ringing and their hearts were shaking. They quickly opened their sect-protecting grand formations to protect their sect and disciples.
"Which Spirit Transformation senior has become so angry?"
"The anomaly a few thousand li away earlier must have been a major event. This matter should be related to the White Demon Clan. Fortunately, I didn't go. It actually alerted a Spirit Transformation cultivator..."
"This is a monstrous resentment. Did someone touch the direct bloodline of this Spirit Transformation senior..."
Those non-"Sacred Demon Palace" Nascent Soul cultivators in the city were also as quiet as cicadas in winter. Many of them had already guessed that it was related to the anomaly outside the city before and secretly rejoiced that they had not gotten involved in this mess.
And Zhao Min, who had not long returned to the palace, also felt the towering anger, but the formation restriction of her cave residence was one of the best in the "Sacred Demon Palace." And the other party was not directly attacking her cave residence, so she was naturally unharmed.
She could sense the direction from which this aura came. It was precisely the Dongli branch.
'Junior Brother really succeeded. Dongli Qing's injuries must be very heavy. Otherwise, it wouldn't have triggered such a rage from the Spirit Transformation elder of his branch. I wonder how Junior Brother is doing now?'
Zhao Min thought with concern. This plan of Li Yan's to kill two birds with one stone, if it could make Dongli Qing go into seclusion for ten or twenty years, that would be for the best. That way, he couldn't interfere with her coming and going.
At this time, Zhao Min would never have thought that Dongli Qing had already been killed by Li Yan. Her thoughts were more on guessing whether Li Yan had escaped the dangerous situation or not.
Or if he had been captured by the other party and was just temporarily not killed. This was the result she was most unwilling to see. Falling into Dongli Qing's hands, death would be an extravagant hope.