Chairman He frowned, "Teacher Chu, didn’t you see anything? Not even a single clue?"
Chu Keqing slowly replied, "There are some leads."
"Then tell me," Chairman He took a deep breath, a sharp glint in his eyes, "No matter what, I must find my mother’s body! If I find out who stole her body, I will make them pay!!"
He was a billionaire, and during his early years of accumulating capital, who hadn’t navigated some grey areas? At this moment, his fierce determination exuded an impressive aura.
Chu Keqing sighed lightly, "Chairman He, I..."
She hesitated for a moment before slowly saying, "Actually, I suspect that there might be a Spirit Monster in these mountains!"
Chairman He was taken aback, "A Spirit Monster?"
"Yes, a Spirit Monster. It’s a general term for creatures in the mountains. Some creatures become monsters through cultivation, and are called Spirit Monsters. There are also native Spirit Monsters, like Mountain Demons and the like, which are also called Spirit Monsters.
There are water Spirit Monsters and mountain Spirit Monsters.
Your mother’s body disappearing in such a bizarre manner is too unlikely to be human work—it’s impossible for a person to silently and tracelessly steal a body from a closed coffin."
Chairman He listened, his face even graver, nodding, "After the incident, I did have someone check the coffin. The nails on the coffin weren’t tampered with multiple times...
That means since the burial, the coffin’s lid hadn’t been opened. Until the time we opened it to relocate the body, it was the first time it had been opened.
And the coffin board was perfectly intact, with no signs of disassembly."
Chu Keqing nodded, "Yes, that’s what I mean... This couldn’t have been done by a human. Only a Spirit Monster in the mountains would have the ability to achieve this."
Chairman He’s eyes twitched, "Is there really such a thing as Spirit Monsters in this world?"
Though he was somewhat superstitious—if he weren’t, he wouldn’t have associated with someone like Chu Keqing, the "Elder Zi".
But he was not so superstitious as to be obsessed. When it came to Spirit Monsters, he was skeptical.
Chu Keqing did not answer, she just quietly looked at Chairman He—although she didn’t speak, her posture showed her meaning: If you do not believe me, why bother asking for my help?
Chairman He, being a shrewd man who had built such assets, thought for a moment, then nodded, "Alright, if it was done by a Spirit Monster... Does Teacher Chu have a way to deal with it?"
"I need time," Chu Keqing shook her head, "It can’t be accomplished in a day or two. In the coming days, I’ll need to stay here. I’ll take my people up the mountain every day to search for the Spirit Monster’s traces... Chairman He, please be patient and give me some time."
Chairman He pondered, "Going up the mountain to search? If necessary, I can mobilize people to help search the mountain! In He Village, mobilizing one to two hundred people is no problem. If that’s not enough, I’ll have people summoned from nearby."
"No need, ordinary people won’t be useful in searching for a Spirit Monster." Chu Keqing declined, "I’ll take my people up the mountain."
Chairman He’s face was serious, after thinking for a while, his eyes reddened again, "Teacher Chu... Why would a Spirit Monster steal my mother’s body? What... would it want to do with a human corpse?!"
"It’s hard to say," Chu Keqing shook her head, "But your mother was a blessed person, and won’t face any great disasters after death, I calculated her Eight Characters long ago. So Chairman He doesn’t have to worry too much. Perhaps the mountain Spirit Monster took her remains for some spell... I know you must be speculating wildly, but please rest assured, I will do my utmost to find your mother’s body."
"If there’s anything I can do to help, feel free to tell me." Chairman He sighed.
At this moment, Chen Yan suddenly spoke, "There is one thing we need Chairman He to cooperate with."
Chairman He glanced at Chen Yan, feeling somewhat displeased with this seemingly unqualified young man, but still said steadily, "Tell me, as long as it helps to find my mother’s body, whatever you need, just say it."
Chen Yan looked at Chu Keqing, then at Chairman He, "When the lady was buried, the whole village must have come to pay their respects, right?"
Although Chairman He didn’t know why Chen Yan asked this, he answered, "Our He family is deeply rooted in this area. When my mother passed away, indeed, many families from the village came."
"Then, there must be a guest list at home, right?" Chen Yan continued to ask.
"..." Chairman He looked at Chu Keqing, but found that she remained silent, only looking at him calmly.
He nodded, "There is a guest list. My mother always valued the social connections within the village, and following her teachings, I always kept a guest list to reciprocate later."
"We need that list," Chen Yan said steadily.
Chairman He’s eyes moved, and he gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, "A list?"
He looked at Chu Keqing, "Teacher Chu... Are you suggesting that there is some human involvement?"
Chu Keqing didn’t speak, Chen Yan said, "The lady’s grave has excellent geomancy. Surrounded by mountains and water, it’s a superior auspicious site!
Such an auspicious site naturally brings good fortune. How could a sudden heavy rain cause a landslide and such bad luck?
Moreover, the landslide specifically happened only at the lady’s grave site.
A place with excellent fortune shouldn’t suffer such calamity. This incident itself is unreasonable.
We do have our suspicions, but we need to investigate carefully."
Chairman He’s face changed!
He understood the point... A place of good fortune suddenly suffering disaster?
It’s like a person with great luck suddenly getting hit by a falling lamp while standing inside a house?
Chu Keqing sighed softly, "Chairman He, we just checked, the grave’s geomancy is indeed flawless, it’s a place of good fortune! This is not a treacherous place, so even if there was heavy rain, the mountains wouldn’t collapse, and even if they did, it shouldn’t have happened at the lady’s grave! I, Chu Keqing, have never made a mistake while marking and surveying graves in my life.
To be honest, I doubted myself before coming, wondering if I had failed and chose a bad spot, thus causing this disaster.
But after re-surveying the site today, the geomancy was not the issue. The fate of the place should not have encountered such a disaster."
[The story will be available at twelve o’clock tonight. It will be updated at twelve o’clock. I hope you all will enjoy this story.
The first subscription depends on you all.
Also, there will be more than ten thousand words updated tonight.]