Perhaps they were worried that the Five Elements Hall would trouble them. After all, this East Sea was within the jurisdiction of the Five Elements Hall, and even saints would not dare to be too presumptuous.
Pushing aside his doubts, Wan Lei knew why he was here.
He scanned the corpses one by one, observing each of them, hoping to find clues through autopsies.
At the very least, to discover the cause of death.
After watching for a while, Wan Lei realized he didn't know how to perform an autopsy, as he hadn't studied such knowledge.
Inevitably, Wan Lei had to rely on his limited knowledge reserves to discover any anomalies.
His gaze swept continuously, and he eventually discovered something astonishing.
The degree of decay of all these corpses was the same.
Although he couldn't determine how long these people had been dead based on the degree of decay, he was certain that they had all died at the same time.
The bun shop only had the landlady's body; the owner and child had died long ago and were buried.
In front of the fish stall, only the fish stall owner's body remained.
Among the young couple, only Xiao Long's body was present.
The firewood stall was empty.
The emaciated writer probably didn't even have anyone to bury him.
The only exception was the infant in the young mother's arms, which had almost no flesh left, indicating...
She had not buried the infant at all.
Apart from those who had died long ago, the other corpses had the same degree of decay.
In other words, they were all killed at the same time, in one fell swoop.
With this discovery, Wan Lei continued to observe the cause of death of the corpses.
The limbs of these corpses were intact, with no significant wounds on their bodies, no broken bones. To be precise, there were no obvious fatal external injuries on their limbs and torsos.
Wan Lei pondered that there were no expressions of fear before death on their faces, meaning they were killed instantaneously by a powerful force, without even a moment to be scared.
A force that could kill tens of thousands of mortals in an instant was something any high-level cultivator could achieve. However, such a force would surely destroy the bodies of the deceased, making it impossible to preserve them so completely, let alone leave not a trace of injury.
Therefore, moving on to the next step of reasoning, since it wasn't physical death, it must have been soul death.
It was akin to a divine sense ability like "Drawing a River with a Sword," which instantly swept through the town, directly annihilating the souls of these people.
But Wan Lei soon felt something was wrong. If their souls were annihilated, where did the illusions of these people come from? Being lost in an illusion clearly meant one's consciousness was lost.
To have consciousness, one must have a soul. A body without a soul is no longer a living being; it is an object.
Thus, the method of soul annihilation was ruled out.
Wan Lei's thoughts hit a bottleneck.
As is well known, to kill a person, one either kills the body or destroys the soul. Besides these, there is memetic contamination, which pollutes a person directly into a meme, some changing appearance, others their essence while their appearance remains unchanged.
However, in the current situation, none of these three possibilities fit.
Unable to figure it out, Wan Lei directly grabbed the town mayor next to him and began to examine him.
Since he couldn't figure it out, he would directly study a sample.
Wan Lei first laid the town mayor down. The town mayor struggled violently, but as a corpse, how could he struggle?
Wan Lei first examined the town mayor's physical body. Because he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, his physical body's decay was almost negligible, making him the best sample.
The six-eared monkey watched quietly from the side, not stopping Wan Lei's actions at all.
There were no visible wounds on the town mayor's body. Next, Wan Lei extended his divine sense and scanned the town mayor's sea of consciousness.
However, the scene before him made Wan Lei greatly astonished.
The sea of consciousness was barren, and there was no soul within it.
This shouldn't be the case. Without souls, how could they have consciousness to be immersed in those illusions?
This defied common sense!
Was this the means of a saint?
The scene before him soaked the clothes on Wan Lei's back with sweat. He vaguely sensed that behind the peculiar deaths of these people, there must be a great conspiracy.
Such a conspiracy involved a saint. If he were to investigate it, he would surely touch a saint's wrath, and then he would be doomed.
The Five Elements Hall... should not kill a saint for him, a mere Void Refinement realm disciple, to seek revenge, should they?
Saints were so precious. Perhaps they would only offer a warning or reprimand?
Then wouldn't he have died for nothing?
He came to the Five Elements Hall to save people, not to court death...
Damn the Fire Hall Master!
Wan Lei knew that if he retreated now and reported the investigation results truthfully, stating that these people had died long ago and that their residual souls remained in the human world due to their faith in the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, living happily and contentedly, the matter would be concluded.
Then, he would receive his five hundred merit points, and the Great Sage Equalling Heaven would be safe. He would be well, and everyone else would be well too.
Everyone would be well.
Wouldn't they?
But... but...
These tens of thousands of people who died in vain would just go unavenged?
They would die unjustly like this, without a day for the truth to be revealed?
He was unwilling!
He knew that those people had each experienced the most tragic of human sufferings, and he knew that they actually wanted to live.
They wanted to live happily, not to die in such a bizarre manner.
Although they were already dead, they...
If this matter is not investigated thoroughly, my heart will not be at peace!
For the sake of these wronged souls, for them to have their grievances redressed.
He would take a gamble...
A resolute look flashed in Wan Lei's eyes, and he extended his divine sense power again, scanning the town mayor's entire body.
He made up his mind; he was determined to uncover the truth!
Wan Lei's divine sense power was active within the town mayor's body. Since no soul could be found in the sea of consciousness, and the physical body had also died, there must be something that could support their consciousness and manipulate their dead bodies.
It couldn't be external manipulation, as that would make it unnecessary to create illusions suitable for each individual.
The illusions each of them experienced were inevitably related to their own consciousness.
Therefore, there must be a carrier for their consciousness.
As he was thinking, Wan Lei suddenly froze.
He discovered...
Within every inch of the town mayor's flesh and blood, there were fluctuations similar to a soul.
This was completely unreasonable. The physical body was the physical body, and the soul was the soul...
Could it be!
Wan Lei suddenly stood up, his eyes filled with a touch of horror.
It was as if someone, while killing them, had shattered their souls and then, using a peculiar force, left the soul fragments within their flesh and blood, integrating them with the flesh and blood!
It was precisely this force that prevented their obsessions from dissipating, causing them to wander with consciousness even after death, believing they were truly living the lives they yearned for.
And this peculiar force was...
Wan Lei abruptly turned his head and looked at the statue of the Great Sage Equalling Heaven beside him.
Thought power!!!