Shen Zhuo looked up and happened to see Xie Yuan stepping out of his room.
The moment their eyes met, Xie Yuan acted as if he had been scalded and instinctively averted his gaze.
Puzzled, Shen Zhuo nonetheless offered a standard greeting, “Morning. Did you rest well last night, Fellow Daoist Xie?”
Upon hearing this, Xie Yuan was caught off guard and choked on his own breath, coughing violently until his face turned crimson.
“Are you unwell? Did you also drink last night?”
Seeing him in such a state, Shen Zhuo took a step forward, intending to check the temperature of his forehead. Unexpectedly, the moment he moved, Xie Yuan took a large step back.
“Cough,” Xie Yuan pressed a fist to his lips and turned his face away, his voice tighter than usual. “It is nothing.”
Shen Zhuo scrutinized him for a moment. “If you are unwell, there is no need to force yourself. It is no trouble to rest for a day.”
“I am truly fine!” Xie Yuan replied with extreme speed.
As soon as the words left his mouth, he seemed to realize he had overreacted. He awkwardly raised his hand and began unconsciously smoothing his sleeves, which were already perfectly flat. The more he tried to cover it up, the more palpable his unease became.
Shen Zhuo remained silent, merely watching him. This brief silence did not last long before Xie Yuan admitted defeat. He took a step back and said, almost as if giving up on himself, “I will go back and prepare myself.”
Shen Zhuo stood alone under the corridor, watching the door that had been hurriedly shut. A flash of confusion crossed his eyes. Xie Yuan was truly acting out of character today.
He instinctively tried to recall the events of the previous night, but his memory stopped after those two cups of wine; everything after that was a blur. Could it be that he had actually done something scandalous to Xie Yuan while drunk? Even if he had kissed him, given Xie Yuan’s temperament, the man would at most scold him for being “shameless.” Why would he be so evasive and awkward? He had not even uttered a single word of reprimand.
Before he could straighten out his thoughts, the door opened again.
Xie Yuan held his white jade fan, swaying it lightly to create a breeze that blew a few strands of hair away from his cheeks. He had regained his familiar, dashing appearance, and there was no trace of his previous panic. His gaze casually brushed past Shen Zhuo, and his tone had returned to normal.
“Let us go,” he said, taking the lead to walk out. “We must find Miss Song and regroup first.”
Shen Zhuo walked quickly to catch up, asking behind him, “Fellow Daoist Xie, are you truly alright?”
“I am fine,” Xie Yuan said without stopping. After a brief hesitation, he added in a low voice, “Fellow Daoist Shen, regarding your alcohol tolerance, it would be best to drink less in the future.”
Guided by a servant, the two arrived at the house where Song Yan was staying. Soft sounds came from inside as Song Yan slowly stood up while leaning against the edge of the table.
“Is that Young Hero Shen and Young Hero Xie?”
“It is us,” Shen Zhuo said, walking quickly to the table. “Miss Song, please stay seated. There is no need to rise.”
Song Yan, knowing she was blind, did not stand on ceremony. She asked, “Young Hero Shen was drunk early yesterday, so we have not had a chance to discuss it. Where should we head next?”
Xie Yuan fanned himself lightly and mused, “Mount Fengyan seems to know nothing about the matter. The clues seem to have ended here. Could it be that we must start with Pei Chuan after all?”
Shen Zhuo pulled out a chair beside Song Yan and sat down. “It might not be that the clues have ended completely.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Master Jian mentioned before that when he went to the Song family to collect Miss Song, he saw that the Song family members had all died of sword wounds.”
Xie Yuan said, “You mean the great fire was only to cover up the sword wounds and frame Mount Fengyan?”
“It is possible. Moreover, the real culprit must understand Feng Kongzun’s temperament well, knowing that he ignores outside rumors and would likely never realize his home was being slandered,” Shen Zhuo replied.
After hearing his words, Song Yan asked, “But if they were sword wounds, who could the killer be?”
“There are indeed many cultivators who use swords, but to be famous for sword techniques,” Shen Zhuo paused for a moment before saying candidly, “it can only be the Xuanyun Sect.”
As soon as the words “Xuanyun Sect” were spoken, silence fell over the table once again.
“Brother Pei has been evasive about the real culprit. Could it be related to this?”
“It is possible,” Shen Zhuo nodded.
“Since that is the case,” Xie Yuan’s fan tapped the tabletop, drawing their attention, “returning to the Xuanyun Sect actually means we have stumbled onto the right path.”
“It is not that simple,” Shen Zhuo shook his head. “As one of the four great sects, the Xuanyun Sect has many disciples, and almost everyone is skilled with a sword. Trying to find the culprit based solely on sword wounds is no easy task.”
“But knowing the Xuanyun Sect might be involved is better than having no clues at all,” Song Yan continued. “Young Hero Shen, when do we depart?”
Shen Zhuo did not answer immediately. Finding the culprit was indeed full of difficulties, not only because of the large number of people in the Xuanyun Sect, but more worryingly because the culprit’s identity was likely not simple. Those capable of slaughtering the entire Song family single-handedly were few even within the Xuanyun Sect, and such a person was not someone they could easily handle.
Shen Zhuo lowered his eyelids to hide the thoughts in his eyes and responded in a low voice, “Once we are packed, we depart immediately.”
The three did not delay further. After a brief meal at the Feng residence, they set out on their return journey.
There was no conversation during the walk down the mountain. Before long, they returned to the mountain gate where they had arrived. At that moment, the gate was wide open, and a carriage sped past them. Shen Zhuo’s gaze brushed over the carriage and noticed a cloud pattern mark engraved on it.
He gathered his thoughts and quickly caught up with the other two, helping Song Yan into their own carriage before entering the cabin himself. However, as soon as he stepped inside, a strange feeling of discomfort quietly surged.
Seeing that he had not settled into his seat, Xie Yuan lifted the curtain and peeked in. “What is wrong?”
“Something is not right.”
Shen Zhuo looked around the interior but found no abnormalities. He turned and jumped off the carriage, carefully inspecting the perimeter. Xie Yuan also stepped down but saw nothing unusual. He could not help but ask, “What exactly is wrong?”
“It just feels wrong,” Shen Zhuo said, still unable to find the problem as he scanned the surroundings once more. “Perhaps I am being overly suspicious.”
Just then, he looked up and saw a white figure flash across the sky. The figure was flying on a sword at a low altitude, heading toward the depths of Mount Fengyan. He recalled the cloud pattern he had seen on the carriage at the gate and judged that the person must also be from the Xuanyun Sect. The two sects were on good terms, so it was normal for the Xuanyun Sect to send people to Mount Fengyan.
However, that figure was exceptionally familiar.
He suppressed the faint unease rising in his heart and returned to the carriage.
The rest of the journey was unusually smooth, as if the previous unease had truly been a delusion. With the support of Xie Yuan’s spiritual power, the carriage was as fast as the wind and soon left the territory of Mount Fengyan.
Inside the cabin, Shen Zhuo closed his eyes to regulate his breathing, trying to dispel the persistent, slight restlessness in his heart. However, that unease was like a maggot in his bones. Instead of calming down, it beat against his consciousness with every vibration of the carriage.
In the midst of his agitation, a very subtle fluctuation flashed by. A chill instantly ran down Shen Zhuo’s spine. That was no illusion!
He snapped his eyes open. The previously vague unease was now suddenly clear; an abnormal spiritual power fluctuation was coming from beneath the carriage, and it was about to break through the floorboards!
“Not good!”
Shen Zhuo reacted with extreme speed, instinctively circulating his spiritual power and slamming a palm heavily onto the floorboards. Thin spiritual power poured from his palm, penetrating the wooden boards to press down, attempting to forcibly suppress the power that was about to explode.
Only a little more. Only a little more was needed to completely cover that technique!
He gritted his teeth and forced his dantian to move. But his cultivation had not yet recovered; his level three Qi Refining spiritual power was like trying to put out a fire with a cup of water, completely insufficient to suppress it! The spiritual power beneath the carriage resisted fiercely like an enraged beast, making the entire cabin buzz as if the carriage would be blown to pieces in the next moment!
At the critical moment, another surge of spiritual power suddenly poured in. Although Xie Yuan was driving the carriage, he had long noticed the abnormal movement inside. He swept back the curtain and entered, his white jade fan flying out ahead of him. The fan opened and scattered a path of white light, merging into the strength of Shen Zhuo’s palm.
With the two spiritual powers combined, they finally suppressed the power that was about to explode. Although that energy was temporarily held down, it did not dissipate and remained restless.
Xie Yuan finally stepped into the cabin and asked in a deep voice, “What was that just now?”
Shen Zhuo’s brow furrowed, and he said coldly, “This carriage has been tampered with.”
The two stepped out of the carriage again and indeed found a talisman pressed tightly against the bottom. They returned to the cabin with the talisman. By now, the spiritual power on the talisman was completely suppressed by the white light Xie Yuan had released, but the spiritual lines on the paper were still faintly visible and had not faded. The caster seemed to have drawn this talisman in a hurry, as the strokes were messy and disorganized.
Shen Zhuo stared at the talisman. “This talisman was intended to blow the entire carriage to pieces.”
“I do not know who would be so ruthless,” Xie Yuan also focused on inspecting the spiritual power within the talisman. “Does Young Hero Shen have any clues? For example, did you make any enemies on Mount Fengyan?”
Shen Zhuo shook his head. “Aside from the Song family matter, I have no other involvement with Mount Fengyan.”
Xie Yuan pondered for a moment. “Then is it possible it is related to the Song family incident? Could Feng Kongzun be hiding something or even intending to silence us?”
Shen Zhuo instinctively touched the Phoenix blood in his robes. “I do not think so.”
“Then who else could it be?”
Suddenly, a figure flashed through Shen Zhuo’s mind. The carriage he had seen when leaving the Feng residence and the figure flying on the sword should have been people from the Xuanyun Sect.
“However, this person’s cultivation should not be very high,” Xie Yuan suddenly spoke.
Shen Zhuo snapped back to reality. “How can you tell?”
“My cultivation has reached the ninth level of the Golden Core stage, nearing the Nascent Soul stage. Suppressing this talisman did not take much effort,” Xie Yuan explained while fanning himself. “I estimate the caster is at most at the early Golden Core stage.”
After listening, Shen Zhuo glanced at Xie Yuan, who was speaking so casually while fanning himself. He immediately looked away, not wanting to be reminded of the fact that he was only at the third level of Qi Refining. If his cultivation were still present, he would not have merely sensed a vague abnormality when getting into the carriage; he would have long ago followed the clues to find the caster.
Xie Yuan’s mention of this truly stirred his displeasure. He would have to find an opportunity to kiss him a few times as revenge.
Distracted for only a moment, he soon brought his thoughts back to the talisman. “If we narrow the scope to those with early Golden Core cultivation, it indeed becomes easier to investigate.”
That being said, while there were not many disciples at the Golden Core stage in the Xuanyun Sect, there were many among the elders and senior uncles. Once a cultivator reached the Golden Core stage, they rarely bothered with worldly affairs. If there was no hope for further advancement, they usually stayed within the sect to handle miscellaneous duties and management. However, as long as they hurried back to the sect and checked who had left the mountain recently, it might not be impossible to find this person.
“Young Hero Xie,” Shen Zhuo was lost in thought when a weak voice from the side startled him. He looked over to see Song Yan with a pale face, cold sweat dripping from her forehead. Her breath was weak, as if she might collapse at any moment.
“Miss Song, what is wrong?”
Song Yan gestured weakly that she was fine, then asked urgently, “Where is the jade pendant?”
“I have it here,” Xie Yuan took out the jade pendant, which was being suppressed by the white light. “What is it?”
Song Yan wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and gasped for air. “I feel that my father, he seems to have something to say.”