The First Legendary Demonic Scholar

Chapter 106: Chapter 106: The Killer?

Shen Yuan remained standing in the empty room, his gaze fixed on the charred patch of flooring where the servant’s body had been burned to ashes.

The smell of smoke still lingered in the air.

Whatever clues the corpse had once held had vanished together with it beneath Bang Fo’s flames.

Only the tiny droplet of blood hidden between the cracks of the floorboards had escaped destruction.

He was just about to leave when a sharp voice rang out behind him.

"What do you think you’re doing?"

Shen Yuan turned around.

A young woman strode toward him with quick, angry steps, her brows tightly knitted together. Her expression was so unpleasant that it looked as though she had swallowed a fly.

It was Lin Xia.

Unlike the frightened servants gathered outside, she showed no trace of fear. Only irritation.

She stopped a few steps away, crossing her arms.

"Didn’t you hear the master’s order? Everyone was told to leave."

Shen Yuan lowered his head slightly.

"I was only curious."

"My first time seeing something like this."

"I wanted to look around."

Lin Xia’s eyes narrowed.

"Curious?"

Her voice rose several degrees.

"Servants like you should learn to keep your nose where it belongs."

She pointed toward the courtyard.

"If the master catches you wandering around where you shouldn’t be, you’ll lose more than your position."

The nearby servants quietly lowered their heads.

Nobody dared interfere.

Everyone knew Lin Xia enjoyed throwing her authority around whenever Bang Fo wasn’t looking.

She glanced toward a pile of wooden buckets near the main hall before looking back at Shen Yuan.

"You."

"Since you’re so free, scrub every corridor in the eastern residence."

"Then clean the guest hall."

"After that, carry fresh water to every servant house."

She smiled coldly.

"And don’t expect any help."

Several servants exchanged sympathetic looks.

Everyone understood what she was doing.

Those three jobs normally required an entire group to finish before sunset.

Giving them all to one servant was simply another way of humiliating him in front of everyone.

Shen Yuan merely nodded.

"As you wish."

His calm response seemed to irritate Lin Xia even further.

She had clearly expected him to protest.

To argue.

Perhaps even beg for mercy.

Instead, he simply accepted the work without another word.

"Hmph."

She snorted before turning around.

"Stop standing there."

"Get moving."

Shen Yuan bowed once before walking away.

Not once did he look back.

Hidden beneath his sleeve, however, his fingers lightly brushed against his storage ring.

The tiny droplet of blood resting inside had already disappeared.

Just before Lin Xia arrived...

He had quietly slipped it into his inventory.

No one had noticed.

...

The remainder of the day passed exactly as Lin Xia intended.

Shen Yuan spent hours carrying heavy buckets of water across the enormous estate.

After that came sweeping endless corridors before scrubbing polished stone floors until they reflected the afternoon sunlight.

By the time he finished cleaning the guest hall, the sun had already begun descending toward the horizon.

Several servants glanced at him with pity.

Others secretly admired his patience.

Not once did he complain.

Not once did he ask for help.

He simply worked.

Lin Xia passed by twice during the afternoon.

Each time she deliberately found another minor fault with his work before assigning another meaningless task.

Shen Yuan accepted every order without changing his expression.

Inside...

He was counting time.

Ever since inheriting the Reaper Emperor’s legacy, he had become extremely cautious.

He knew that the mysterious surveillance technique watching him appeared every day.

Although he couldn’t see it...

He knew exactly when it usually disappeared.

There was no reason to reveal his abilities while unknown eyes might still be watching.

As evening approached, Shen Yuan returned to the main hall where the servants gathered before retiring for the night.

He quietly sorted supplies alongside everyone else, acting no differently from any ordinary servant.

Only after the familiar feeling of being observed slowly faded did he excuse himself and return to his small room.

The wooden door clicked shut behind him.

Silence returned.

Shen Yuan remained still for several breaths.

Then he slowly smiled.

"It’s gone."

The surveillance had finally disappeared.

With a wave of his hand, a tiny droplet of dark crimson blood appeared above his palm.

It floated quietly in the air.

This was the only remaining evidence from the murder scene.

Shen Yuan’s eyes gradually became calm.

He extended a finger.

A thin strand of pale gray qi emerged from his fingertip before wrapping around the droplet.

Immediately...

The blood began trembling.

The inheritance left behind by the Reaper Emperor wasn’t merely a cultivation technique.

It was a legacy.

One capable of extracting lingering traces from the dead.

Not memories.

Not souls.

Only echoes.

Every cultivator possessed a unique qi signature.

Even after death...

Minute traces remained attached to objects, wounds, and blood for a short period before naturally fading away.

Shen Yuan guided the legacy’s power carefully.

The crimson droplet slowly dissolved into countless tiny strands of light.

One by one...

They faded.

Until only a single thread remained.

Unlike the blood itself, this thread wasn’t red.

It shimmered with a soft emerald-green glow.

A trace left behind by the murderer.

"So..."

Shen Yuan murmured.

"This is your qi."

The green thread floated above his hand like a tiny ribbon dancing in the wind.

According to the inheritance...

As long as enough residual qi remained, he could temporarily reproduce the owner’s physical appearance.

It wasn’t an illusion.

His own body would genuinely transform.

Only appearance.

His cultivation, strength, and abilities would remain unchanged.

Shen Yuan took a slow breath before allowing the emerald thread to merge into his body.

The moment it touched his skin...

His muscles began shifting.

Bones quietly cracked beneath his flesh.

His shoulders gradually became narrower.

His waist slimmed.

His chest tightened before slowly swelling outward.

Two soft mounds formed beneath his robe.

His hips widened.

His legs became more slender while his height shortened slightly.

Long black hair cascaded down his back as delicate facial features replaced his previously sharp appearance.

Within moments...

The young man standing inside the room had disappeared.

In his place stood an elegant young woman dressed in oversized servant robes.

Shen Yuan walked toward the small bronze mirror resting against the wall.

The unfamiliar reflection stared back at him.

Large almond-shaped eyes.

Fair skin.

Long black hair tied neatly behind her head.

A graceful figure.

There was no mistake.

He had seen this face countless times over the past several days.

"...Lin Xia."

Shen Yuan frowned.

His heart slowly sank.

He had expected almost anyone else.

A hidden assassin.

An unknown cultivator.

Perhaps even one of Bang Fo’s personal guards.

But not...

Her.

The emerald qi unmistakably belonged to Lin Xia.

She had been the last person to touch the servant.

Or...

She had been the one who killed him.

Neither possibility sat well.

Shen Yuan quietly looked at his reflection, countless thoughts racing through his mind.

"If this qi truly belongs to the murderer..."

He slowly clenched his now slender fingers.

"...then what exactly were you doing beside that servant’s body, Lin Xia?"