Chapter 404

One hundred sixty-one: Struggling with people, the joy is boundless

Inside the small courtyard, a Yin-Yang School formation was being tightly set up.

Ouyang Rong and Rong Zhen were chatting intermittently.

Yan Zhang, who was busy setting up the formation, glanced at the beautiful, graceful figure of the cold girl in palace attire.

Although a handsome, annoying, overly familiar toad had suddenly popped up beside Rong Zhen,

the fortunate thing was that her attitude was cold; it seemed she didn't really want to bother with Ouyang Lianghan, who was asking questions left and right like a curious baby.

Their relationship didn't seem as intimate as he had initially imagined... The main blame was on this Ouyang Lianghan for suddenly rushing over and inserting himself into the case with a familiar air.

Now it seemed that it was just Ouyang Lianghan's one-sided familiarity with Rong Zhen. As for the reason for such enthusiasm, did it even need to be said? Men all understand.

Yan Zhang sneered in his heart, glancing at the Mysterious Yellow Earth Dragon's whiskers that Lian Qing was carefully placing, and the golden four-eyed fierce mask in Rong Zhen's hand.

Compared to that little Commandant who knew nothing and lacked discernment, he felt some emotion in his heart after seeing these things.

Rong Zhen was one of the eight colorful-robed female historians beside His Majesty, but she was not an ordinary colorful-robed female official. Unlike the colorful-robed female historians like Mistress Miao Zhen who could only rely on His Majesty,

if it were the colorful-robed female historians like Mistress Miao Zhen who came, where would they have the energy to secretly transfer the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Fangxiang Mask, and even the Mysterious Yellow Earth Dragon's whiskers—which were rare and precious even in the Great Zhou Imperial Palace—from the Luoyang Imperial Observatory, which served as His Majesty's eyes, ears, and arms for monitoring the court, from thousands of miles away?

And this batch of Qi Refiners in vermilion hair and white clothes from the Imperial Observatory, including himself and Lian Qing, were not people that ordinary colorful-robed female historians could mobilize.

When Yan Zhang was in the Observatory, he had once faintly heard from his teacher that the elusive Grand Diviner privately intended to cultivate Rong Zhen as a successor.

Besides Rong Zhen's monstrous Qi Refiner talent—being able to advance early to the Yin-Yang School's Grade 6 Jade Girl Golden Child and keep her appearance in a youthful form—there were also some secret reasons that his teacher spoke of meaningfully but did not express.

Yan Zhang only had some vague guesses, and among the eight colorful-robed female historians of this generation, the one most favored by that inscrutable Holy Emperor was also this cold girl in palace attire.

Therefore, compared to Mistress Miao Zhen, the Imperial Observatory would indulge her so much in her relentless pursuit of this case, even somewhat ignoring her "little willfulness" regarding the Great Buddha of Donglin.

Even Mistress Miao Zhen's dissatisfied reports were useless; submitting them was like a stone sinking into the sea...

So, besides possessing the "Xin Dingjian" and the crime of harboring a treasure, that thief provoked the wrong person; provoking Rong Zhen, one of the few people in the Imperial Observatory who could not be provoked, was truly the worst luck in eight lifetimes.

Although Yan Zhang was also slightly curious about why Rong Zhen had some inexplicable little emotions of hating that thief to the bone.

However, after thinking about it, he could only attribute it to the fact that she, a proud daughter of heaven, had her pride and self-esteem damaged after being suppressed during their first encounter at Mount Dagu.

What else could it be? Anyway, Yan Zhang felt his guess was not far off.

Therefore, thinking about it carefully, this was also his opportunity to stand out and perform.

Once they locked onto the thief's position and everyone carried this formation to earth-escape and teleport over, if he could personally take off the thief's head, Rong Zhen might very well look at him differently...

In the center of the courtyard, Rong Zhen did not know Yan Zhang's little schemes.

After chatting with Ouyang Rong and dismissing him with a few words, she tucked her sleeves, stepped forward, and surveyed the situation of the formation being set up in full swing in the courtyard.

Her gaze swept over the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Fangxiang Mask, the Mysterious Yellow Earth Dragon's whiskers, and Ouyang Rong, Yan Zhang, Lian Qing, and others.

Finally, it landed on the red paper in her hand with the "Butterfly Loves Flowers" poem written on it.

She took a deep breath.

After being busy for so many days, nearly unable to eat or sleep, and even becoming somewhat obsessed,

Rong Zhen finally gathered these helpers and treasures.

Just as Ouyang Rong had just said, she had laid out a net of heaven and earth.

She was just waiting for the moment they met again to arrest that back of a scholar wearing a bronze mask.

In fact, Rong Zhen had no conclusive evidence to prove that the owner of "Butterfly Loves Flowers" was still in Xunyang City.

All the clues found so far only indicated that the owner of "Butterfly Loves Flowers" had been lurking in Xunyang City before beheading Zhao Rushe in the street.

But Rong Zhen always had an intuition in her heart, a feeling that it was about to burst forth, feeling that this thief was right here, lurking in the city.

He was not only related to Li Zhengyan and lurking in the dark to spy on the Great Buddha of Donglin, but might also pass by her from time to time, watching her serious investigation like a joke.

This latter thing made her feel as if she had been stripped naked and scrutinized by that person in broad daylight, various intense emotions impacting her heart in turn.

Although this intuition had no realistic basis, it lingered in Rong Zhen's mind, unable to be shaken off.

It was more like... a tacit understanding between smart people.

It was also a proud provocation from one smart person to another.

Even if this was just a possibility, Rong Zhen would not allow it to happen.

She wanted to catch him.

This was Rong Zhen's... greatest selfish motive at this moment.

"This formation is so powerful, doesn't it have a name? What is it called?"

Ouyang Rong's question suddenly came from behind. Rong Zhen's pink fist, which had been clenched unconsciously in her sleeve, suddenly relaxed. She turned her head and glanced; he was looking around.

"Moon Under the Pool."

"Ah?"

"The formation's name."

"Moon Under the Pool? Does the person who created this formation and gave it this name mean that the sword-wielder or Qi Refiner who falls into it is like a moon in the water or a flower in a mirror, unable to be fished out, ending up with nothing?"

Rong Zhen looked at Ouyang Rong more, noncommittal.

"The second-generation Grand Diviner of the Imperial Observatory created this formation to deal with a sword-wielder of the Military School who was famous throughout the world at that time and had a notorious reputation."

Ouyang Rong saw that the arc of her lips was somewhat stubborn and firm, her words sonorous and powerful:

"A sword-wielder is indeed terrifying, and a sword-wielder possessing a Xin Dingjian is even more peerless in killing power, but no sword-wielder is invincible forever. Qi Refiners of the world follow one another, and there will always be geniuses who can figure out the method to crack their new Xin Dingjian divine abilities.

"And every new sword-breaker is a legend revered by the world, such as the second-generation Grand Diviner of this Observatory."

Ouyang Rong nodded. Standing in the center of the courtyard, he looked at the people setting up the formation around him and lowered his eyes to tidy his cuffs:

"Makes sense. A sword-breaker solving the problem of a new Xin Dingjian divine ability, huh. Struggling with people, the joy is boundless. This saying is not bad... Wait, this ink spirit... ink fairy."

His tone changed, and his gaze was cast toward the young Daoist nun in Confucian robes:

"Wasn't the matter of the lost ink sticks from the Hanlei Lei Mozhai earlier..."

"That's right, it was her gluttony."

"Does she love eating ink?"

Ouyang Rong looked at Miao Si a few more times.

The latter also took the opportunity to look up, her eyes peering at him.

One big, one small, they stared at each other for a moment.

Ouyang Rong suddenly said to her: "So it was you who ate it. Interesting."

Miao Si subconsciously thought he was talking about the fifty ink sticks from the Hanlei Lei Mozhai, but then she looked at the handsome Commandant who had arrived at such a coincidental time, feeling that he seemed to be talking about something else...

(End of chapter)