bookbashuk Chapter 87 Doubts
Chapter 87 Doubts
Suddenly, Zhao Fan thought of a possibility: what if they were telling the truth, and the person behind them harbored great malice towards him and did not have a stable ability to defeat him, while also harboring malice towards the Su family?
Thinking about it that way, there really is someone who fits the bill.
This person is Zhang Tie!
However, this idea was quickly suppressed by Zhao Fan. It was unlikely that Zhang Tie would meet the conditions, but given Zhang Tie's arrogant demeanor at the time, he would definitely take action once he knew Zhao Fan's whereabouts.
Moreover, these two are too weak; even if they succeed in their sneak attack, they won't cause me much harm.
Moreover, since the two have already made their move, if he wanted to take the opportunity to kill me, he couldn't have ambushed me too far away; he would have been nearby.
Just now, his attention was only on the two of them. If Zhang Tie made a move, with his strange demonic skills, he could certainly injure him severely if not kill him.
But there was no one else around, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Zhao Fan's gaze fell on Su Zicheng. After a moment of silence, he slowly spoke.
"What does the person you're dealing with look like?"
Su Zicheng trembled and quickly raised his head, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes. His lips moved, but he did not make a sound immediately.
Zhao Fan frowned slightly and said in a cold voice.
"What, you don't want to talk about it?"
"No, no, no! I'll talk! I'll talk!"
Su Zicheng waved his hands repeatedly, took a deep breath, and then said in a trembling voice.
"That person...that person was covered in a strange layer of blood, as if...as if they had crawled out of a pool of blood!"
"The blood was still writhing on his body; it looked absolutely horrifying!"
Zhao Fan's heart skipped a beat.
His entire body was covered in strange blood? Wasn't that Zhang Tie's appearance?
Zhang Tie was in that form within the Blood Refining Array.
But Zhao Fan had already deduced that if it really was Zhang Tie, why didn't he take action himself? Why send these two useless people to their deaths?
He suppressed his turbulent thoughts and looked at Su Ziyuan again.
Su Ziyuan was leaning against the rock wall, his face pale. When he saw Zhao Fan looking at him, he nodded with difficulty and said hoarsely.
"It's...it's true, that person was indeed covered in blood. We...we didn't dare look at him for long. We did whatever he told us to do..."
Zhao Fan didn't reply, but just watched the two of them quietly.
The fear on their faces seemed genuine, and there were no obvious flaws in their words.
But Zhao Fan dared not believe them easily. Just now they wanted to kill him, so how much of what they were saying now could be trusted?
The phrase "covered in eerie blood" is too specific to be easily made up.
But if it really is Zhang Tie, why would he use such a roundabout method?
Zhao Fan's mind was churning with thoughts, but he couldn't make sense of them.
After a moment, he took a deep breath, took out a new communication talisman from his pocket, and briefly recorded the situation at this place.
The talisman transformed into a streak of blue light and vanished into the night sky.
Zhao Fan put away the talisman and looked at the two of them again.
"I have already sent a message to the Su family that someone will come to pick you up. As for whether what you said is true or false, Fellow Daoist Su San will decide."
Su Zicheng nodded repeatedly, not daring to voice any objection, while Su Ziyuan also closed his eyes, clearly resigned to his fate.
Zhao Fan ignored them, got up and walked to the campfire, squatted down, and looked at the pile of ashes again.
The doubts Xiao Er had before still lingered in his mind.
He reached out and brushed aside the ashes to examine them closely, but still found nothing; there was nothing but ordinary charcoal and ashes inside.
He then scanned the surrounding area of several feet with his divine sense, but still found nothing unusual.
What the two had just said left Zhao Fan somewhat confused.
Zhao Fan shook his head, temporarily suppressing these chaotic thoughts.
Now that the trail has gone cold, there's no point in thinking about it anymore; we can only continue the investigation.
He looked up at the night sky; the eastern horizon was already tinged with a faint, fish-belly white, and dawn was approaching.
An hour later, it was broad daylight.
A whooshing sound came from afar, and two figures arrived on their magical artifacts, landing in the valley.
The leader was a middle-aged man with the seventh level of Qi Refining cultivation, followed by a young man with the fifth level of Qi Refining.
"Fellow Daoist Zhao!"
The middle-aged man stepped forward quickly, clasped his hands in greeting, and spoke.
This middle-aged man was none other than Su Mingyun, who had previously helped Zhao Fan guard the cave.
Zhao Fan nodded and pointed to Su Ziyuan and Su Zicheng, who were slumped to the side.
"These are the two. They set an ambush, but I have already subdued them. As for what they said, you should go back and inform Fellow Daoist Su San so he can make a decision."
Su Mingyun's gaze swept over the two of them, a complex look flashing in his eyes, before he nodded.
"Thank you for your trouble, Fellow Daoist Zhao. We'll take these two back now."
With that, he waved his hand, and the young man behind him stepped forward to help the two of them up. Su Ziyuan was seriously injured, and every step he took made him wince in pain, but he dared not utter a single complaint.
Before leaving, Su Mingyun looked at Zhao Fan again.
"Fellow Daoist Zhao, aren't you coming back with us?"
Zhao Fan shook his head.
"Although the clues have gone cold, I still want to search the surrounding area. Su Zixuan is still in their hands. The longer it drags on, the more dangerous it will be for her."
Su Mingyun remained silent for a moment, then clasped his hands in a fist salute.
"In that case, Fellow Daoist Zhao, please be extra careful. If you discover anything, please send a message immediately."
After saying that, Su Mingyun took out several more communication talismans and handed them to Zhao Fan.
Then, the four of them took off on their magical artifacts and quickly disappeared into the eastern horizon.
The valley returned to silence.
Zhao Fan stood still, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings. The sunlight had already crossed the mountain ridge and shone on the sandy ground at the bottom of the valley. Last night's campfire was now just a pile of ashes, and a few gnawed animal bones lay scattered to the side, making it look no different from an ordinary wilderness camp.
But Xiao Er's reaction and the two men's confessions both told him that this place was definitely not simple.
Zhao Fan took a deep breath, suppressed the surging thoughts in his heart, took out the Green Leaf Boat, and took off into the air.
Since the trail ends here, let's start over.
He maneuvered the flying boat, slowly ascending into the air, his gaze falling upon the mountains below.
The path I followed last night resurfaced in my mind: the traces of a battle on the rocky beach, the bloodstains in the ravine, the campsite in the valley, all the way west...
He closed his eyes and mentally reviewed all the discoveries he had made along the way.
Those cultivators led Su Zixuan westward, and when they reached this vicinity, all traces suddenly disappeared.
Either they used some means to conceal their presence, or they changed direction.
Zhao Fan opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding mountains. To the east lay the path he had come from, to the south and north were continuous mountain ranges, and to the west stretched a gradually opening plain.
If you change direction, which way are you most likely to go?
He pondered for a moment, then finally fixed his gaze on the north.
The terrain there is more complex, with ravines and numerous hiding places. If those cultivators want to conceal their tracks, the north is the best choice.
With that thought in mind, Zhao Fan no longer hesitated, and steered the Green Leaf Boat, flying north close to the treetops.
The search continued for another day.
As the sun moved from the east to the center and then slowly slanted westward, Zhao Fan meticulously searched every mountain peak and ravine within a radius of a hundred miles, but still found nothing.
Those cultivators vanished as if they had evaporated into thin air, leaving not a trace.