The three women were stunned.

Qian Shanxue, looking valiant and heroic, gazed at Shen Qiang with astonishment in her beautiful eyes and said, "Are you sure that the evil practitioner hiding here, who has harmed so many people, is a monk?"

Shen Qiang pondered for a moment and said, "I'm not one hundred percent sure, but the likelihood is over eighty percent. Don't be deceived by appearances; whether someone is good doesn't depend on what they do, but on their heart."

Hearing this, Qian Shanxue frowned and asked, "Can you tell me your reasons?"

Standing at the entrance of a cave in the forest, Shen Qiang looked at the desolate surroundings and said, "This place is extremely remote and barren, with no villages nearby. The area has been closed off and reforested for decades; there's no sign of grazing. Moreover, this forest doesn't produce mushrooms or pine fungi."

"So, mushroom collectors wouldn't come here as there's no harvest, and no one would come to graze animals. The trees aren't valuable for lumber, so no one would come to steal the wood. Hence, anyone coming here would arouse others' curiosity."

"Makes sense," Ali said. "But you can't conclude that the evil practitioner here is a monk just because of that."

Shen Qiang calmly said, "Earlier, the forensic expert said that the earliest corpse inside should be from thirty years ago, and the most recent one within the past month. This means the evil practitioner has been here for at least thirty to forty years."

Pointing to a faint trail in the distant grass, Shen Qiang said, "Look around. If a woman appeared here irregularly over thirty years, it would surely draw a lot of attention."

"And across the ridge is Doushi Temple," Shen Qiang raised an eyebrow. "A woman appearing here every so often over thirty years would definitely be noticed by the monks there. They would be curious and come to investigate, and this place would have been discovered long ago."

Upon hearing this, Ye Xiaolei's eyes lit up. "Senior Shen Qiang has a point. I did smell sandalwood in the cave earlier." Pausing, she said hesitantly, "But I also detected a faint perfume smell."

Ali immediately said, "Did you hear that? Ye Xiaolei also smelled perfume, which means the evil practitioner being a monk doesn't hold up."

Shen Qiang said, "You could interpret it as there being a woman involved with the evil practitioner, or a woman among the victims brought the perfume's scent here."

Ye Xiaolei's eyes brightened. "That might be possible. The perfume scent was very faint and dissipated past the cave entrance, so it couldn't be tracked. But the sandalwood scent remains clear."

Ali was stunned.

Qian Shanxue frowned. "Doushi Temple holds a special place in the Cultivation World, Shen Qiang. You'd better be sure, or groundless speculation could bring trouble."

Shen Qiang said, "This isn't groundless speculation. As I said before, who could come back here repeatedly over thirty years without arousing suspicion or attention? The only answer is a monk. Because practitioners have Divine Sense, those who practice Buddhist cultivation do too. Within Doushi Temple's territory, someone who can move freely without being questioned, would most likely be a monk."

At this point, Ye Xiaolei took out her phone. "That ridge marks the boundary of Doushi Temple's domain; this side isn't part of Doushi Temple."

Shen Qiang smiled. "Then we can consider the ridge as Doushi Temple's outer wall. Wouldn't you worry about outsiders lingering outside the wall? Wouldn't you send someone to investigate? Wouldn't you be alert?"

"Absolutely!" Ali's eyes lit up.

"So, let's combine our conditions. First, the person who can freely enter and leave here must be recognized by the monks of Doushi Temple; otherwise, they'd have faced trouble over the years."

"Second, in this world, there's no love or hate without reason. Choosing a place for his lair follows the same logic. Why did the evil practitioner set up his lair here?"

Seeing the three women deep in thought, Shen Qiang smiled.

"When choosing a secret location, the first consideration is convenience, meaning accessibility and quick arrival. The second is controllable security."

Looking around, Shen Qiang continued, "If the monk has significant cultivation and a certain status within Doushi Temple, he could patrol here daily under the guise of practicing or jogging, needing no other reason."

"Even when he's not here, he could use his Divine Sense to monitor the area," Shen Qiang added with a slight smile. "Maybe he's using Divine Sense to watch us right now."

Instantly, the three women's eyes became wary.

Simultaneously, Shen Qiang also released his Divine Sense.

Meanwhile, Shen Qiang swiftly released his Divine Sense, which was unusually powerful, detecting any minute anomaly in a 20-mile radius—except beyond Doushi Temple's array that interfered with Divine Sense detection.

However, the surrounding area appeared normal except for five miles away, where three men were beating a couple.

They were ruthless, but since they were mere mortals and clearly had no intention of killing, Shen Qiang didn't intervene.

Aside from this, he found nothing unusual.

"Let's go to Doushi Temple," Shen Qiang said with determination.

Qian Shanxue had also used her Divine Sense. "Agreed." She nodded.

Ali nodded. "Xun Xiang, it's up to you now."

Ye Xiaolei blushed as she sniffed the air. Stealing a glance at Shen Qiang, she said, "The sandalwood in the cave is refined, mixed with high-quality spices, distinct from the strong, mixed sandalwood scent at Doushi Temple, but the direction is indeed that way."

As they descended the mountain, Shen Qiang speculated, "If the monk is of certain status, he would have a private room with high-grade incense. That's plausible."

The three women nodded.

They followed the trail to the foot of the mountain, took a car from the Storage Ring, and boarded it. Shen Qiang drove towards Doushi Temple.

Sitting in the back, Ali hesitated before voicing her thoughts, "I agree with Shen Qiang's analysis, but one major doubt remains. If it's indeed the monk, why were all the victims' genitals removed?"

Shen Qiang raised an eyebrow at her question. "There's no difficulty in explaining that. Maybe he envied those who were more endowed, or he believed these men had moral flaws and was dealing out retribution. The reasons could be numerous. Our job isn't to understand his psyche, but to catch him."

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