Mystique Soul: A Cultivator's Flame
Chapter 113: The Search is On

Chapter 113: The Search is On

The morning sun cast a warm glow over the city’s cobblestone streets as Feng Jiao Xue and Mo Tianze stepped out of the inn. The air was filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread and the distant chatter of vendors setting up their stalls.

"Where do we start?" Mo Tianze asked, adjusting the strap of his satchel. "Should we head to where he went first? The alley?"

"No" Feng Jiao Xue shaled her head. "That would be like entering a beasts mouth thinking it’s a cave."

Feng Jiao Xue decided to start gathering information in the most populated place first. Not to search for Wei Jian immediately but to gather informations from the locals themselves on what they could probably be dealing with.

Whenever Feng Jiao Xue had a mission before, Lou Xi always gathers every information he can get, no matter how useless it may be from the beginning to cover their bases before they make a move and Feng Jiao Xue always falls back to operations she is already familiar with.

And which place would people gather most than the plaza.

With the sizzle of grilled meat, the clinking of metal from blacksmith stalls, and the overlapping cries of merchants negotiating prices, the market district was alive with its typical symphony. However, the sound seemed far away to Feng Jiao Xue, muffled behind the keen edge of her attention.

Mo Tianze moved ahead of her, weaving between stalls with his hood drawn low. Despite his usual enthusiasm, his movements were sharp and Feng Jiao Xue can see how his ears are perked and his guards are up despite appearing friendly and approachable.

Seeing Mo Tianze like this is a hard reminder for Feng Jiao Xue that despite how innicent and pure he appears often... Mo Tianze had seen the world as much as she had. How his actions are borne through surviving through day to day basis. And only until now that she realized... she barely knows him at all, who he was before her.

Mo Tianze approached vendors and passersby with a gentle smile, asking the same thing over and over again.

"Excuse me, have you seen a man around this height? Big sword on his back, talks too loud, kind of hard to miss?"

"Excuse me, have you seen someone about this tall, black eyes, looks scary but is secretly a softie..."

"Excuse me..."

"Sorry kid" A Baker shaked his head.

"I see people like that all the time. Stop wasting my time"

"What do you want?"

"I don’t think so, sorry."

Was the negative reply he receives one after another.

Sometimes he adjusted the description, depending on the person. "Red scarf, messy hair, likes to laugh a lot." Or, "He’s part of our guild, he didn’t come home last night. We’re worried."

Feng Jiao Xue stayed a few paces behind, arms crossed as she leaned against a stone wall near the shade of a produce stall. She didn’t speak. She didn’t have to.

Her eyes did the listening.

Each time Mo Tianze posed his question, she watched. The way the merchant’s brows twitched. The slight shifts in posture. A frown that came too quickly. Eyes that darted to the side, lips pressing into tight lines.

Most denied knowing anything, shaking their heads politely. But it was the ones who avoided eye contact, or suddenly had something more pressing to do, that caught her attention.

She didn’t just observe the reaction of who Mo Tianze was talking to but also those that are within listening range around them.

A woman selling talismans fumbled her string of charms and glanced too long at a dark alleyway nearby. A boy who had been loitering ran off the moment he overheard Mo Tianze’s question.

They were hiding something. Or someone had warned them to keep quiet. Or perhaps... this was already a common occurrence to them.

Mo Tianze circled back to her, cheeks puffed in frustration. "Nothing. Everyone’s either clueless or pretending to be."

She nodded. "Some of them know. They just won’t say it."

He looked up at her, brow furrowed. "You saw something?"

"Too many eyes avoiding us. Too many quick exits. It’s not a coincidence."

Mo Tianze frowned. "Should we have asked around more discreetly then?" He asked instead.

"No, you did good" Feng Jiao Xue assured him confusing Mo Tianze.

"Wether we investigate discreetly or not, it will reach the perpetrator considering how long this ’disapearances’ has been going on. But by asking around more publicly, they will think lower of us. And I already got the answer I wanted"

Mo Tianze glanced over his shoulder. "What do you want to do now?"

"We narrow it down. Focus on the ones who reacted."

Feng Jiao Xue’s gaze slid toward the woman with talismans, now hurriedly packing up her wares. "Start with her."

Mo Tianze approached her casually, a hint of charm laced in his voice. "Good morning, ma’am. Lovely talismans. Did you make these yourself?"

The woman tensed. "Y-yes. They’re blessed. For safety and luck."

He picked one up and turned it in his hand. "Safety, huh? Sounds like something my friend could use. He’s been missing since last night. You wouldn’t have seen him, would you?"

She hesitated.

Feng Jiao Xue stepped forward then, silent and calm, her presence cold but unthreatening.

The woman’s hands trembled slightly.

"I-I don’t know him. Sorry."

"Then why were you looking at that alley when you dropped your charms?" Feng Jiao Xue asked, voice quiet.

The woman’s face drained of color. "I didn’t- I just-"

"No one’s accusing you. Please calm down. I’m just aaking" Mo Tianze said gently. "But he’s our friend. And we’re running out of time."

The woman bit her lip. Her fingers curled tightly around her charm string. She lowers her voice when she saw Mo Tianze’s ears, pretending to be busy while whispering. "I heard something last night. I was selling my products at Rabbit Town- south, over there, its near the wall so just head south" She clarifies when she remembers they might not know where it is. "I heared screaming. From the alley. Then... silence."

Feng Jiao Xue and Mo Tianze exchanged a glance.

"Did you see who it was?" Mo Tianze asked as he bend over as if to observe a talisman to make sure she hears him.

"No" she whispered. "But there were people in dark cloaks moving around. Two of them. They dragged something."

"Which way did they go?"

She nodded toward the west end of the city. "That direction. Toward the old glassworks."

"Thank you" Feng Jiao Xue said simply.

The woman looked down. "I didn’t say anything. Understand?"

Mo Tianze gave a solemn nod. "Of course."

As they walked away, his steps quickened. "Should we go check it out?"

"Not yet," Feng Jiao Xue murmured. "Let’s follow the trail first."

Feng Jiao Xue secretly removed the silencing spell she discreetly chanted while they where talking. Cultivators senses are not to be underestimated but with the amount of noises around them, unless they’re specifically focused on them.

They spent the next hour retracing the path toward the west end, stopping every so often to ask questions, each time paying close attention to the reaction of those listening nearby. In one if the districts, a guard tightened his grip on his spear when Wei Jian’s description came up. In the herbal market, an old man dropped a basket of dried roots when he overheard the words "missing adventurer."

Something about Wei Jian’s disappearance wasn’t just suspicious, it was making people scared.

They paused near the edge of the district, under the eaves of an old building covered in faded murals.

Feng Jiao Xue crouched beside the alley’s entrance, examining the ground. Scrapes. Not from shoes, but something heavy being dragged.

"There’s blood" she muttered.

Mo Tianze leaned down. "Are you sure?"

She pointed. "Dried. Washed away by water, but the trail’s still faint."

He swallowed hard. "So it’s real. But considering this place’s... activities. It could be someone else’s"

"I know but Wei Jian isn’t necessarily the only one they took"

Mo Tianze didnt say his doubt and just followed the trail in silence, the mood thick with tension. It led them through increasingly narrow alleys, past moldy walls and rotting crates, until it ended behind an abandoned warehouse.

The air was thick here, stagnant. Quiet.

Too quiet.

Considering how crowded the other places they’ve been, this raised their guards even more.

They didn’t enter yet. Feng Jiao Xue held Mo Tianze back with a hand on his chest.

"We’ll need to come back," she whispered. "With the others. If something’s waiting in there, we can’t face it alone."

Mo Tianze didn’t argue. His tail flicked once, agitated.

But just before they turned to leave, he froze. "Did you hear that?"

"Tianze, my senses may be enhanced but not the same as yours. What do you pick up?" Feng Jiao Xue asked frowning because at this range and lack of other noises, she should be able to hear it too.

"Righ,there’s disturbance in the air" Mo Tianze replied.

They both stopped. A faint scrape. Like metal on stone.

Then silence.

Feng Jiao Xue’s eyes narrowed.

A warning.

"We’re being watched."

Then....

"No! I’m sorry! Please---" A youthful voice cried desperately as a wall opens up...

Then.... Thud!

A body fell on the ground.