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Chapter 2332: Chapter 2022: This Monster May Not Be Connected to the Empress Dowager

Prince Zhen Nan thought for a moment, then immediately said to the Hidden Guard beside him, "Go and invite the Princely Heir here."

The Hidden Guard turned and left, and soon Lu Chen arrived at the courtyard where they were. Seeing a Deceit Suppressing Guard lying on the ground, shivering, Lu Chen was somewhat puzzled and asked, "Father, what is this?"

Prince Zhen Nan said, "There’s a clue about the village massacre case."

Lu Chen was first taken aback, then immediately asked, "Have you found the murderer?"

Prince Zhen Nan said, "The murderer hasn’t been found, but there is a survivor." As he said this, his gaze turned to the Deceit Suppressing Guard kneeling on the ground.

At this moment, the Deceit Suppressing Guard’s face still bore an expression of fear. It seemed he had been overwhelmed by grief, his whole body somewhat weakened, lying powerlessly on the ground.

Seeing him wearing the uniform of the Deceit Suppressing Guards, Lu Chen asked, "Is he a Deceit Suppressing Guard?"

Prince Zhen Nan said, "Secret Storage Bureau."

Prince Zhen Nan then said to Li Xuan kneeling on the ground, "Tell the Princely Heir everything you saw today in detail."

Li Xuan tried to gather his emotions, then said, "A few days ago, near the Li Family Village, there was a village massacre by Evil Spirits. I worried that the same would happen to the Li Family Village, so I brought a Magic Treasure that can hide one’s aura home from the Secret Storage Bureau, thinking that if Evil Spirits or something Mysterious appeared, my family could use the Magic Treasure to hide."

"But unexpectedly, before I reached home, I saw a monster over a zhang tall emerge from the village. Wherever the monster went, there were corpses everywhere. The monster moved extremely fast and was very brutal. In just moments, the villagers who escaped from the village were slaughtered completely."

"Terrified, I immediately used the Magic Treasure to hide my aura and hid behind a stone. Only after the monster left did I hurry back to the Deceit Suppression Bureau."

Lu Chen asked, "What did the monster look like?"

Li Xuan replied, "The monster wore a red robe, its appearance unclear, with many tentacles extending from beneath the robe that could easily coil people up and bring them to its front."

"It only needed to lightly raise its claw and grab forward, and the villagers’ hearts would be in its hand."

Recalling the scene of those villagers being killed, Li Xuan’s body started trembling again.

Many of those villagers had watched him grow up, they were people he was familiar with, and his family had also died at the hands of this monster.

Thinking of the terrified expressions of his relatives and friends before their deaths, Li Xuan’s fists clenched involuntarily.

Just then, Li Xuan suddenly thought of something and continued, "Right, when the monster left, I saw a pattern of the Other Shore Flower embroidered on the back of its red robe."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen paused slightly: A pattern of the Other Shore Flower embroidered? Doesn’t that mean this monster was released by the Yellow Springs Sect?

Lu Chen thought, Could it be that Pei Shuhua wants to feed on fresh blood, thus releasing this monster to take mortals’ hearts and send them to the Imperial Palace for her to devour? But then again, as the Ancestor of the Strange, Pei Shuhua should have high requirements for blood food.

Moreover, Pei Shuhua and Yun Yudie belong to the same faction, and their philosophies should be the same, not interested in ordinary people.

Those ordinary mortals hardly have any vitality; killing them and devouring the vitality within them wouldn’t greatly aid their Cultivation State, purely a waste of time.

Could it be that the village massacre was done by those Mysterious under Pei Shuhua’s command without her involvement?

Seeing Lu Chen silent, Prince Zhen Nan said, "Earlier, we thought the Empress Dowager only dispatched the Wolf Demon to eliminate dissent, yet she even committed such atrocious acts."

"Since this monster is linked to the Yellow Springs Sect, it must have connections to the Empress Dowager as well. Chen’er, what do you think we should do next?"

Prince Zhen Nan wanted to see how Lu Chen would handle this matter.

After pondering for a moment, Lu Chen said, "Whether the Yellow Springs Sect is related to the Empress Dowager, we still can’t be certain, and this monster may not necessarily have anything to do with the Empress Dowager."

They presumed the Yellow Springs Sect to relate to the Empress Dowager because the Wolf Demon killed people affiliated with the Imperial Faction, indirectly determining the sect to be a force of the Empress Dowager’s faction.

But all of this was mere speculation; they lacked concrete evidence to prove the Yellow Springs Sect was a power supported by the Empress Dowager’s faction.

The reason Lu Chen now suspects the Yellow Springs Sect is not a force cultivated by Pei Shuhua is mainly that the act of massacring mortals doesn’t fit the behavior of a female Mysterious like Pei Shuhua.

Yet, if the Yellow Springs Sect is unrelated to Pei Shuhua, then who could be the mastermind behind it?

Upon hearing Lu Chen’s words, Prince Zhen Nan was somewhat puzzled.

Initially, it was Lu Chen who suggested a possible link between the Yellow Springs Sect and the Empress Dowager, yet now it seemed he no longer believed the sect to be related to her?

It seemed this son of his had some biases towards the Empress Dowager.

Prince Zhen Nan asked, "You think this matter isn’t related to the Empress Dowager?"

Lu Chen said, "I think the actions of the Empress Dowager have been too conspicuous."

"Take the Wolf Demon killings for example; those killed were all connected to the Imperial Faction’s families. Anyone can see this was done by the Empress Dowager’s faction. Using Evil Spirits for massacres against the Imperial Faction, isn’t the Empress Dowager afraid of inciting public outrage or triggering a backlash from the Imperial Faction?"

"Even though the Pei Family’s influence is large, the Imperial Faction isn’t a force easily manipulated by the Empress Dowager’s faction."

The Empress Dowager, after all, is a woman, and even though she has many supporters, not all of them completely stand by her.

Most of the Empress Dowager’s faction only supports her because of the Pei Family’s significant power, reluctantly taking her side.

But, in reality, many within the Empress Dowager’s faction have their hearts set deeply within the Imperial Faction, and if she truly indulges in reckless massacres against the Imperial Faction, it would inevitably foment dissatisfaction among those hidden imperialists within her faction.

In other words, the Empress Dowager’s faction isn’t truly her faction; they’re just a faction that succumbs to power.

Lu Chen then continued, "What does Father think the Empress Dowager has them harvesting hearts for?"

Prince Zhen Nan thought for a moment and replied, "Perhaps to cultivate some Evil Cultivation."

Lu Chen said, "Father, consider further, with the Pei Family’s strength, does she need to dispatch a monster to massacre civilians?"

Upon hearing Lu Chen’s words, Prince Zhen Nan fell into contemplation.

Lu Chen was right; if the Empress Dowager truly wanted to cultivate some Evil Cultivation by devouring Heart Blood, there was no need to make such a big fuss about it.

With the Pei Family’s prowess, harvesting hearts discreetly would be fairly simple.

Dazhou is plentiful with displaced people, and massacring villagers is laborious and pointless, and would instead attract the attention of the Deceit Suppression Bureau.

No matter how well hidden, they would eventually be discovered one day.

Just like this instance, encountered by the Deceit Suppressing Guards of the Deceit Suppression Bureau.

Considering all this, there really might be no ties between the Yellow Springs Sect and the Empress Dowager.

After another thought, Prince Zhen Nan smiled and said to Lu Chen, "Even if there’s no relation, it doesn’t matter, as long as someone believes it’s connected to the Empress Dowager."

Lu Chen immediately understood what Prince Zhen Nan meant: if ever needed, they could shift all blame onto the Empress Dowager, making outsiders believe the mastermind behind the Yellow Springs Sect is indeed the Empress Dowager.