Facing an Ancient God for a Year

So soon?

And judging by Jia Yi’s tone, the scene must have been gruesome.

The news brought by Jia Yi clearly took Lanaia by surprise.

After exchanging a glance with Fu Qian, both tacitly chose not to mention the content of their previous conversation.

“Has there been any news from the Academy?”

Unfortunately, Jia Yi hadn’t forgotten and directly stared at the two, asking.

...“Not for the time being.”

Lanaia shook her head slightly, adding no further details.

They couldn’t entirely rule it out yet, but it was now even less possible to disclose the speculations about Li Weixuan to the Yuan Clan.

“Take us to the scene.”

She didn’t look at Jia Yi and spoke in an indisputable tone.

One could tell that the Academy had an imposing reputation, and Jia Yi was clearly dissatisfied, but after hesitating, he didn’t say anything more.

…

“It’s the handiwork of the same person.”

In the cluttered warehouse, Lanaia whispered to Fu Qian.

She was clearly quite professional, having quickly scanned the scene and immediately drawn this conclusion.

No wonder she was the head of the Academy Disciplinary Department!

Fu Qian had some understanding from before and knew that based on different focuses, the Academy’s instructors could be roughly divided into two categories – research and combat.

Research-oriented ones primarily focused on the study of transcendent powers and the training of students, while combat-oriented ones emphasized refining themselves and handling more fieldwork.

Without a doubt, Lanaia was among the outstanding ones.

“Indeed.”

Fu Qian agreed with her assessment.

The second warehouse at hand mirrored the scene he had encountered previously almost exactly.

The perpetrator had obviously just left, as the bodies hadn’t yet been collected.

Under the crisscrossed wounds, the blood was still fresh and hadn’t solidified.

From the number of bodies, it was clear that the Yuan Clan had indeed added more people, but it was to no avail.

“At least Fifth Phase strength, the Sword Intent extremely fierce,” Lanaia sighed softly.

“It’s almost as if the killer was slaughtering animals.”

“Even within the Academy, there aren’t many with such strength, how could this…”

“From receiving the alarm to losing contact, it was only a matter of minutes.”

Jia Yi, standing by, wore an extremely grim expression, finding it quite difficult to explain the consecutive incidents.

“The items are gone again?”

Fu Qian looked inside and noticed the emptiness.

“Yes, just like the last warehouse, most of it was transcendent materials.”

“The Academy wouldn’t lack cultivation resources…”

Lanaia looked at Fu Qian, implying that if it were someone from the Academy, there should be no motive to kill for loot.

Especially Li Weixuan!

By now, almost everyone agreed that if he could ascend to a demigod, he would surely become the next Director of the Academy.

Would he kill for loot for the lack of cultivation materials? The very suggestion was laughable.

But such terrifying strength… inevitably made people think of him.

Jia Yi’s subordinates had already retrieved the surveillance footage by this time.

However, the useful content this time was even shorter, having been destroyed almost immediately.

The skill of the perpetrator was evidently becoming more refined, leaving behind no traceable clues.

“With such tragedies occurring in succession, the situation is worse than anticipated.”

Having completed a full survey, Lanaia’s expression suddenly turned serious as she said to Fu Qian,

“You go back and find Director Li to report the situation here.”

Before Fu Qian could say anything, she patted his shoulder again.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep tracking this all the way. You just hurry back as soon as you can,” she added.

“Understood!”

Fu Qian nodded, without saying much.

Obviously, there weren’t any valuable clues here; it made no sense for both of them to stay.

Lanaia purposely mentioned going to report to Li Weixuan, clearly intending to have him confirm Li’s whereabouts.

If they could verify that Li Weixuan had been at the Academy all this time, then once everyone else had been cleared of suspicion, the rest would be easy to deal with, or they could even throw in the towel directly.

And if, by chance, Li was involved, at least the Academy would be forewarned.

Seeing Fu Qian leave promptly and decisively, Jia Yi hesitated, worried that the Academy might be withholding some information.

Unfortunately, Lanaia’s statement was watertight, and he really couldn’t raise any objections.

…

He made his way back to the Academy along the same route.

Instead of heading straight to his target, Fu Qian, using the information on his identity card, first located the Heaven’s Commencement Institute.

The reason was simple: he had no concept of the Academy’s layout.

Even if he wanted to disturb Li Weixuan, at the very least he needed to know where Li was in seclusion.

The core area of the Heaven’s Commencement Institute was an exceptionally grand three-story building.

And almost the moment he entered, Fu Qian detected something abnormal.

This smell!

Fu Qian sniffed the thick, pungent odor in the air, somewhat surprised.

For some reason, it even felt familiar.

As he walked briskly, Fu Qian searched his memories.

A few seconds later, he finally remembered where he had encountered the smell before—the underground storage area of the Shangjing Night Watchmen Base, that special corpse.

Because the Thorn Blood had been removed, the corpse had mutated, stinking up the entire storage area and forcing Yuan Shan to personally supervise down there.

The Night Watchman hadn’t disposed of it, but had the Heaven’s Commencement Institute taken it for scientific research?

Those people really had no taboos; no wonder their reputation was poor.

Fu Qian recalled the earnest admonitions from Lanaia he had heard on the way.

Though officially a unified institution, the Academy was actually a collective of several organizations with not so tight connections, each with its own philosophy and characteristics.

Unlike the Swordsmanship Department, which advocated Sword Dao cultivation, the Heaven’s Commencement Institute, as the name suggests, was almost entirely composed of individuals who had directly awakened their powers, much like Wen Li.

As a result, the people of Heaven’s Commencement had little reverence for Transcendent powers, rather viewing the human body as a fascinating construct.

They were not only keen on researching the origins of special abilities but even attempted to decode and replicate them.

This philosophy was completely different from that of the Swordsmanship Department, which places great emphasis on spiritual and physical cultivation, hence the usual discord between them.

Under such circumstances, was it not asking for trouble to mingle with the people of the Sword Pavilion?

They regarded cultivation as akin to the heavenly path; would they tolerate you treating them like experimental subjects?

Remembering Lanaia’s words, Fu Qian quickly located his office and went through the necessary documents.

These included, but were not limited to, the layout of the Swordsmanship Department, the Sword Pavilion’s open schedule, and so on.

It must be said, the task Lanaia had given him was somewhat troublesome.

After all, the Academy’s investigation had officially concluded that Li Weixuan was “in secluded cultivation and had not responded.”

Approaching him now, claiming to clear his name required a look inside, was likely to be futile.

However, both Lanaia’s request and his own mission warranted verification.

Moreover, the sooner the better.

Fortunately, on his way, Fu Qian had already come up with an idea.

After confirming that the Sword Pavilion was still open, he made some quick preparations and set out.