One more catty, one more attribute point

Xiaoqing raised her head, observed the surroundings, then sniffed with her upturned, fair nose, commenting.

"At first glance, it does seem unremarkable, but the reactions of the monster-seeking compass can\'t be faked." Su Li took out the monster-seeking compass hanging at her waist, and a faint red light was emanating from the crystal at its center.

By this time, the sun had already set, and the sky was dim.

The light emitting from the monster-seeking compass was especially conspicuous in such an environment.

"Su Heng has already left, but approaching this mansion, the monster-seeking compass still gives a dangerous warning." Xiaoqing\'s brows furrowed slightly, "It\'s really not simple, we should be cautious."

"Mmm."

Su Li nodded, "Let\'s take a look inside the house."

Su Li led Xiaoqing forward, and just as they took a step, they stepped on something that made a crisp cracking sound underfoot.

"Ah!"

Su Li looked nervous, instinctively gripping the hilt of her sword.

"Don\'t be startled, it\'s just a piece of wood, it\'s nothing." Xiaoqing pushed Su Li away.

Su Li looked down.

Indeed, she saw a section of broken wood underfoot.

Only...

Su Li\'s brows, which had just relaxed, furrowed again.

In Xiaoqing\'s puzzled gaze, Su Li bent down and picked up the piece of wood she had just stepped on.

"These pieces of wood have been charred." Xiaoqing was somewhat surprised, noticing something unusual.

"Was he barbecuing here? Life must be quite good." Xiaoqing lamented. Since her rebirth in this manner, the delicacies of the mortal world had lost their flavor for her.

"It shouldn\'t be..."

Su Li said, "There\'s no stove around, and for barbecuing, these wood charcoals definitely wouldn\'t be enough."

Crack!

She squeezed with her hand forcefully.

The chunky charcoal crumbled into black dust, falling from Su Li\'s slender fingers.

"There\'s still warmth in these charcoals, giving me the feeling like..."

"Like what?" Xiaoqing asked curiously.

"Like using brute force to char wood from the inside out, so much so that after such a long time, there is still a certain amount of force sealed within the charcoal."

"Sss..."

Xiaoqing\'s eyes widened, "Such prowess is no small feat, could the Elder Xu of the Demon Suppression Bureau do such a thing?"

Su Li nodded slightly, "He should be able to do that."

"But, Elder Xu has cultivated the Demon Suppression Bureau\'s first-rate unique cultivation technique, the Red Earth Sun Seeking Technique, for decades..." Su Li swallowed dryly, "What has Su Heng cultivated? Just some third-rate cultivation technique found in any martial arts school on the streets, and an incomplete one at that."

"While you are not wrong, I always feel like you are praising your brother." Xiaoqing said crisply.

"No, definitely not." Su Li vigorously denied.

"Let\'s not talk about that." She clapped her hands, looked up at the sky, and the last traces of sunlight also vanished. But the weather today was quite good; the stars dotted the sky, the Milky Way was brilliant, high above the cold, dark firmament.

"Although we have plenty of time, we should still move quickly." Su Li said in a low voice, arriving at the door of the bedroom.

Creak!

The door wasn\'t locked, and Su Li pushed it open easily.

With the aid of the faint starlight from outside the window, Su Li could clearly see the arrangement inside the room.

A widened and thickened bed, a wooden desk, and in the corner, a clothes rack and a wardrobe. The desk was next to the window, where a thick stack of books was placed, along with various notes and so on. Getting closer, one could still smell a faint scent of ink.

Su Li came to the desk, casually picked up a book from it to flip through.

"Changqing County Annals Excerpt · Volume One"

After looking through a few pages and finding they all recorded trivial matters, Su Li lost interest quickly and put the book back as she remembered it.

"Why would he be interested in these things." Su Li muttered to herself.

"Maybe, it has to do with those events that happened in Changqing County." Xiaoqing suddenly spoke, "Seeing things that cannot be explained by common sense, wanting to find answers through such means."

"You mean, I have wronged him..." Su Li frowned as she spoke.

"I didn\'t say that," Xiaoqing said.

"Regardless, now that we are here, we have to investigate clearly before saying anything." Su Li clenched her teeth, feeling that her prejudiced thinking might have wronged her brother. But no matter what, things had developed to this stage, and there was no room for turning back halfway.

"Where is the entrance to the basement?" Su Li asked again.

"Under the bed." Xiaoqing first closed her eyes, her body gradually turning translucent, and then opened her eyes, confidently answering.

"Under the bed..."

Although the wooden bed had been thickened, it was nothing for Su Li.

She effortlessly moved the wooden bed aside.

Beneath was a blocky bluestone floor, which at first glance seemed no different from the surrounding floor, but there was no dust on it, clearly indicating it was frequently cleaned – an uncommon occurrence in itself.

"Thump, thump, thump!"

Su Li gently tapped on the floor, estimating there was a hollow space underneath.

She took in a deep breath, slowly moved the floorboard, and revealed a wide black passage to both of them.

Rudimentary stairs continued into the darkness, where one couldn\'t see one\'s hand in front of their face.

Oil lamps were placed on the walls on either side of the stairs.

To be safe, Su Li didn\'t light the oil lamps but instead took out a bamboo tube as thick as a finger from her bosom.

The faint scent of grease wafted from the tube, with a white wick at the end.

The wick was ignited.

Bright, white flames dispelled the darkness.

This was a bamboo lamp made of whale oil; not only was it bright, but it was also odorless, making it especially suitable for use in unexpected situations during field missions.

With her breath held subconsciously, Su Li slowly entered the underground chamber.

The chamber was deep, about five meters or so.

It took Su Li a while to finally reach the bottom, where she came to a crude arched wooden door reinforced with wood – the door was also unlocked.

Click!

Su Li reached out and pushed the wooden door open.

A strong scent of blood immediately hit her face, causing Su Li to cough twice and feel somewhat nauseous.

Even Xiao Qing, a being from the shadows, seemed uneasy in such an environment, slowly lifting her feet off the ground and floating in mid-air.

"This..."

Su Li placed the whale oil lamp on a protrusion in the wall.

The sight before her made her pupils dilate instantly; she raised her head to see a fierce, pure white-haired cheetah hanging above her.

She stepped back, taking a defensive stance.

Then she realized that the cheetah was nothing more than a skin, stretched and hung in mid-air, turned into some kind of decoration.

Su Li let out a sigh of relief.

Turning her head, she then saw a shriveled, greenish head on the wall behind her, staring back at her.

Beneath the empty eye sockets were two lines of darkened blood tears.

"Hiss..."

Su Li recognized the origin of this head, "Isn\'t this the same water ghost we were originally tasked to seek?"

"Mhm."

Xiao Qing nodded affirmatively beside her.

"What a terrible way to die," Xiao Qing said, sticking out her tongue and adding without forgetting.

"Indeed terrible." Su Li saw bones shattered on a wooden table and some shriveled organs hanging from iron hooks with the help of the whale oil lamp\'s light. It was not hard to imagine that the water ghost was first killed and then its body was brought here to be dissected and chopped up bit by bit.

Su Li shivered; she saw several large barrels in the corner from which a strong stench of blood wafted.

She stepped back, intending to see what it was.

Bang!

It was as if she bumped into something.

"Xiao Qing, stop fooling around..." Su Li scratched her head, thinking she had just been standing behind her.

This little one...

When floating in mid-air without a sound, she always pops up suddenly, giving herself a scare.

But as she was pondering, Su Li realized something was off.

Because out of the corner of her eye, she had already spotted Xiao Qing\'s slender figure.

At the moment she was clinging to the wall, shaking uncontrollably, her face pale white, her mouth open, seemingly wanting to warn something, but unable to make a sound. That was an overwhelming fear from being overpowered on a fundamental level of existence, rendering her speechless.

"Xiao Qing, you\'re here... Then what\'s behind me..."

Gulp!~

Su Li dry swallowed.

Bit by bit, she stiffly turned around, first seeing a broad chest. Only when she raised her head and looked further upward did she finally see Su Heng\'s expressionless face shrouded in shadows.