Sha Ji firmly pulled Chen Xi: "Don't play dumb. I saw you that day when you took my father and brother away. It was you. The clothes you're wearing are exactly the same as back then, even the patterns on the sleeves haven't changed."
Chen Xi became more and more confused.
Qi Yu walked out.
Sha Ji looked at Qi Yu: "He's the one who captured my father and brother. I actually saw the figure of the person who captured my father and brother that day, and it was him."
Chen Xi listened for a long time, and finally understood what he meant. He couldn't help but retort: "If your father and brother died tens of thousands of years ago, then it might have been me who swallowed them. But if you're talking about two days ago, then I'm truly wronged. I haven't been to the North Sea at all."
Sha Ji seemed very anxious, his hands trembling.
Qi Yu finally felt that something was wrong: "Sha Ji, can you be sure it was this figure who captured your brother and father? Can you guarantee you didn't misidentify him?"
"I swear there's absolutely no mistake. If you don't believe me, you can investigate my memories." Sha Ji even said this.
Qi Yu looked at Chen Xi and Yan Hua, who was accompanying him: "Master, I know that neither of you has been to the North Sea, but why did you suddenly come to the Nine Heavens?"
"Alas, I wanted to pick some lotus flowers from the Jade Pond." Chen Xi felt that today was truly unlucky for him: "I didn't expect to become the culprit instead of picking lotus flowers."
Sha Ji's expression immediately showed unwillingness, as if he wanted to say something but stopped.
"Then how about this," Qi Yu stood between them: "Let's extract all your memories from that night and put them together. This way, we should be able to determine who among you is lying."
While saying this, Qi Yu kept secretly observing Sha Ji's expression.
If Sha Ji was truly lying and deliberately framing someone, he wouldn't be able to hide his panic if he heard this.
However, to everyone's surprise, Sha Ji didn't panic at all. His expression was exceptionally resolute.
He seemed convinced that Chen Xi was the culprit.
Qi Yu found this matter quite interesting. After bringing both of them to the main hall, he used a memory exploration spell to display their memories from that day in front of everyone.
But they were all stunned after looking.
In Sha Ji's memory, there was indeed someone who looked very much like Chen Xi, who had secretly infiltrated the North Sea, then knocked out Sha Ji's brother and father, carried them on his shoulders, and vanished.
As for Chen Xi's memory, he was resting in his room that night, sleeping soundly. In the middle of the night, he felt thirsty and asked someone to pour him some tea.
Therefore, both of their memories were correct.
"How is this possible? Why would something like this happen? If that person wasn't Lord Chen Xi... then who was he?" Sha Ji's face turned pale.
When he first saw Chen Xi, he had immediately identified him as the culprit. But he never expected that there would be two Chen Xis in the world!
"...This is not right." Yan Hua looked at the scene in Sha Ji's memory and pointed at the fake Chen Xi: "This is not Chen Xi at all, this is an Nightmare Demon."
"Nightmare Demons do not belong to the demon race, but they are a type of demon. They feed on human delusions and are very good at transformation, able to absorb vital energy without anyone noticing, and then transform into the appearance of the person whose vital energy they have absorbed."
Yan Hua pointed at the scene in Sha Ji's memory: "The one who abducted your brother is indeed not Chen Xi, but the Nightmare Demon I just mentioned. Although I don't know where he absorbed Chen Xi's vital energy from, it's certain that this fellow deliberately kidnapped your brother and father. Nightmare Demons are shapeshifters, and in a place like the seabed where currents constantly change, they are difficult to track."
Yan Hua's expression was very serious as he said this.
Nightmare Demons had not appeared for tens of thousands of years. How could one suddenly appear in the North Sea and impersonate Chen Xi?
"Someone must have instructed him, but that's not important. What's important is that the instigator should be very familiar with the customs and practices of the North Sea."
"What do you mean?" Sha Ji's breathing became unsteady: "I don't understand these things. I just want to know if my father and brother are alright."
"We don't know." Qi Yu looked at Sha Ji: "If I hadn't paid a little more attention, according to the usual practices of the North Sea, Sha Ji, you wouldn't have had the chance to come to the Nine Heavens to prove your identity. Military Advisor Changyu would have simply killed you in the prison."
"Because there have been many similar spies in the North Sea before, this instigator must be very familiar with the North Sea. Because if nothing unexpected had happened, we would never have known that someone had impersonated Chen Xi to do such a thing."
Qi Yu's words struck everyone like a heavy hammer.
That was right.
If Qi Yu hadn't been more observant and brought people to the Nine Heavens to question Yue Zhiyin, Sha Ji would definitely have died in the North Sea. No one would have known about Chen Xi being impersonated, and then who knows what else the fake Chen Xi would have done while wearing Chen Xi's face.
"Then, then what do we do now? Should we go and capture him? What about that Nightmare Demon... is there any way to catch him?" Sha Ji was anxious.
Qi Yu fell into a dilemma.
It was impossible to catch him now. Nightmare Demons were always mysterious in their actions. Unless they pretended to be unaware of this matter and secretly monitored the movements of the entire Four Seas, waiting for the Nightmare Demon to make a second move while impersonating Chen Xi.
However.
This way, there was no guarantee that Sha Ji's brother and father would survive.
Yan Hua frowned deeply, clearly thinking the same thing as Qi Yu.
Qi Yu looked at Yan Hua and lowered his voice to ask him: "Master, you've lived for so long, do you know what Nightmare Demons like the most, or where they nest?"
"What do Nightmare Demons like the most? Where do they live? I don't know. I only know that it's highly possible this Nightmare Demon is hiding in the South Sea," Yan Hua replied to Qi Yu: "Because after absorbing Chen Xi's vital energy, if it leaves the seabed, the scent will dissipate very obviously. It has to hide in a secluded place and wait for Chen Xi's vital energy to completely disperse before it can leave."
"During this period, the Nightmare Demon cannot absorb other vital energy. This way, the safest place for the Nightmare Demon should be the South Sea."
After all, Chen Xi's scent was everywhere here. The Nightmare Demon hiding with Chen Xi's scent would be difficult to detect.