Chapter 111: The First Glimpse of Dawn

  Yi Tian stared at the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation in the "Formation Spectrum" for a very long time. Although he had already read it thoroughly, he still couldn't fully comprehend it. He opened his eyes and pondered for a moment, planning to study the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation more carefully over the next few days.

  When he turned his head to look out of the window and saw the sky outside, he found it was already afternoon. He looked at his watch again and found that it was already three o'clock.

  For him, practicing for a few hours was nothing out of the ordinary, and he didn't think much of it.

  After picking up the scattered items and tidying up the room, he finally picked up the pager to take a look, only to find that two people had sent messages, namely Lu Yao and Xiao Tong.

  He didn't hesitate and directly called Xiao Tong, the two of them chatted for a while before hanging up the phone.

  Through Xiao Tong's account, he learned that Bai Mao might be the identity of a sorcerer named Bai Qisheng in Miao Autonomous County. This person is extremely famous for his strength and has a black heart, cruel hands, and is notorious for being greedy for money and lust.

  More than thirty years ago, this man committed a serious crime, privately communicating with his cousin's wife and giving birth to a son. After the truth was known by the clan, Bai Qisheng was caught by other Miao sorcerers, tied up on a punishment stake, flogged with 100 salt water whips, beaten until skin and flesh burst open, then exposed to the scorching sun for three days. It is unknown whether it was because Yan Wang Ye did not want to see him or what, but surprisingly he did not die despite this. The sentence had been served, if he didn't die, he would be banished.

  Thus, he was expelled from the tribe with injuries all over his body and never heard of again.

  The clan sister also hanged herself to death, leaving behind only a 5 or 6 year old boy. However, this child was born weak and sickly, and was not well received within the clan. Fortunately, some kind-hearted people gave him food, so he didn't starve to death.

  Someone once told this young boy that he was born with a sickly body, and there was no medicine that could cure him. He had the appearance of an early decline and would not live past thirty years old.

  The child is often bullied and ignored by the group, his self-esteem is getting lower and lower, and he often locks himself in and doesn't come out.

  When the child was seven years old, someone found that he had been locked at home for several days and hadn't appeared yet. Someone curiously went to take a look and found... the child was gone!

  As for the little boy's whereabouts, there were various speculations. Some guessed that he had drifted to another place, while others said that he had taken his own life. There were also those who claimed that he was taken away by Bai Qisheng.

  But the last excuse is quite likely.

  More than 30 years have passed, and people have long forgotten about these few individuals. The older generation still remembers this matter, but no one is willing to mention it again. In that era, being able to escape the pig cage was already considered lucky, and such things were taboo and rarely discussed.

  As for whether Bai Mao was the original Bai Qisheng, Xiao Tong had only made an educated guess based on various sources of information. Fortunately, he had managed to get a faxed copy of Bai Qisheng's photo through a friend.

  After learning this news, Yi Tian didn't hesitate to go and retrieve the photos, planning to let Bi Xia take a look at whether Bai Mao and Bai Qisheng were the same person or not.

  Then, Yi Tian called Lu Yao and they agreed to meet at a coffee shop. However, for some reason, Lu Yao was 10 minutes late to the coffee shop, as if she couldn't be seen there.

  Half an hour later, both of them had arrived, and Yi Tian smiled: "Have all the materials been collected?"

  "Lu Yao pursed her lips and shook her head, "The information about that person named Xue Li has been collected, I believe you will be very satisfied. But as for Bai Mao... Ah, only a simple clue was obtained, but now it's unknown where he went."

  "What? You've actually found a clue about Bai Mao?! Let me take a look quickly!" Although the other party only mentioned a simple clue, in Yi Tian's view, being able to gather clues was already impressive for Shen Feng Men. Having something was better than having nothing after all.

  Lu Yao took out two documents from her bag and pushed them across the desk to Yi Tian, "The information is all here, take a good look."

  Sherly's information was as long as three pages, while Bai Mao's was only one page with a brief message that said two years ago, Bai Mao had appeared at the Yongmao Building.

  Seeing this message, Yi Tian was speechless. This is what they call news? It's really simple! It seems that the bigger the hope, the greater the disappointment. "Is that all there is? Has he been in contact with anyone else? Who has he seen?"

  Lu Yao said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Mr. Yi, this person is really hard to investigate, I don't know how to tell you, we've mobilized a large number of investigators and finally found out with great difficulty. To be honest, our Shen Feng Men has tried its best, if you feel dissatisfied, we will give you a full refund."

  Seeing this, Yi Tian was very satisfied with Lu Yao's attitude and the style of Shen Feng Men. He waved his hand and said: "Ah... forget it, you continue to investigate, if I get any information that is beneficial to the investigation, I will notify you in time, just do your job conscientiously."

  Looking at the line of words on the paper, Yi Tian shook his head, what to do? Two years ago, it appeared in Yongmao Building, only this one, how can we find clues?

  Luyu saw Yitian concentrating on the documents beside her and didn't disturb him, elegantly sipping his coffee.

  After some thought, Yi Tian felt that this information was worthless and began to flip through Sheri's data.

  As for Shirley's basic information, Yi Tian glanced over it briefly and didn't look at it again. The key was to see who she had a relatively close relationship with.

  When I flipped to the second piece of information, a name appeared, Zhang Meng!

  This name is quite domineering. It turns out that Xue Li was in a close relationship with Tian Wang at the same time, but also had an even more intimate relationship with Zhang Meng.

  Because Zhang Meng is Shirley's real boyfriend, they have been together for six years and have always maintained a very good relationship.

  However, Zhang Meng's personality is somewhat weak and lazy. After being fired from several odd jobs, he stopped looking for work and relied on Xue Li to support him.

  Xue Li rushes around all day, when Tian Wang is busy, she goes to find Zhang Meng, and at night, most of the time she stays by Tian Wang's side, also considered a relatively diligent person.

  Attached to the data is a photo of Zhang Meng, who is tall and handsome, but his face looks somewhat bookish.

  Yi Tian went through all the materials and found nothing missing, then he started thinking.

  He had previously speculated that Sherry had some special relationship or transaction with Liu Jingwei, but there was no information about contact with Liu Jingwei in the materials, which means that the two people did not know each other at all, or were not familiar.

  The intelligence source of the Kamikaze Gate is still quite valuable, if there are clues, it should be displayed. Since that's the case, the two have no relationship, and Snowley reacted so big that day, except for herself, the person associated with her should be Zhang Meng!

  It seems that these two people are highly likely to be the culprits behind the haunted house death incident!

  But an ordinary person like him can't even work properly and relies on his wife to support him for years, how could he possibly scare three people to death?

  At this point, Yi Tian was very puzzled and shook his head. Feeling thirsty, he naturally picked up the coffee and took a sip.

  "Hmmph..."

  As expected, he blurted out, "I'm saying, Yao Jie, can you not choose a coffee shop for our meetings in the future?"

  Luoyao's face suddenly turned red upon hearing this, and she glared at him, saying: "What did you just call me?"

  "Yao sister, what's wrong?" Seemingly reacting to it, Yi Tian hurriedly changed his words: "No, no, I said it wrong. Look at the name you've given her, it's Lu sister, Lu Lu sister, this should be fine, right?"

  "Hmm, that's more like it. I'll consider your request." Lu Yao said casually, lightly swirling the coffee on the table with her hand.

  "Why? Do you still need to consider this kind of thing? It's just a change of venue for the meeting, is it that troublesome?" Yi Tian Hao said with a smile.

  "No big deal, the key is that my coffee shop has been doing poorly lately. Bringing customers over can also add some income." Lu Yao smiled slightly and raised an eyebrow.

  "What? You're not saying that both of these coffee shops I've been to are yours, are you?" Upon learning this, Yi Tian was speechless. No wonder Lu Yao always let him pay the bill; it turned out she was just a greedy boss.

  "Alright, they're all mine. If you don't feel comfortable with these two cafes, I can take you to another one that's even better next time."

  "Never mind, I'm not used to drinking 38-yuan coffee, and better ones are also a waste." Yi Tian thought of something else and asked: "You seem to be very rich, how many such cafes do you have? Are the disciples inside the Shenfeng Gate not restricted?"

  Ling Yu smiled faintly, "Not many, some are still partners, I haven't carefully counted the specifics, if Shén Fēng Mén had constraints, I wouldn't have joined. Shén Fēng Mén is different from other schools, with people from all walks of life inside, and the entry conditions aren't strict, as long as you have some connections and social skills, it's fine. That's why gathering intelligence is so convenient and fast, a big difference from before. In modern society, we're talking about business, making money is the main purpose, to have greater appeal and influence, this is Shén Fēng Mén's creed. Otherwise, how could we surpass Tiān Qǐ Mén and become the leader of the 72 orthodox schools? Their thinking is always rigid, they'll be poor for life, and their school will become more and more outdated. Understanding the times, following the trend, that's the way to go!"

  After hearing Lu Yao's words, Yi Tian had a great change in his perception of the Shen Feng Gate. Such a seemingly idle sect turned out to be so tightly organized and led, it seemed that the high-level members were not ordinary people at all, they all had exceptional business acumen and foresight.

  Yi Tian chuckled and cupped his hands together in a gesture of respect: "Hehe, I admire you, I admire you to the utmost."

  Luoyao smiled and asked, "Xiao Yi, have you considered joining our Shenfeng Gate? I can be your referrer, take your time to think about it..."

  "This... is really embarrassing. Although I'd like to join a sect like yours, I'm already a disciple of another sect. Looks like it's not possible." Yi Tian replied casually.

  "This is nothing, all the disciples of various sects in our Divine Wind Gate have it. You don't need to worry about anything. With a disciple like you from another sect, we can cooperate instead of joining our gate. Except for not being able to access the core secrets within the gate, through equivalent exchange, you will still gain great benefits. In short, both parties benefit!"

  "What? This is okay?"

  ……