Chapter 315: The Peculiarity

Yuan Yao guessed the boy's identity from the snippets of speech around her.

The boy should be one of the only two survivors of the Water Mirror Immortal Academy, and his father was an instructor there.

The boy's name is Zhang Cheng.

Zhang Cheng now hangs his head, as if he has placed all his spirit onto the wooden puppet, and does not react much to the surrounding sounds.

Yuan Yao follows his gaze and sees his small hands tightly clutching the puppet—a humanoid puppet, only the torso and limbs are carved, the face seems not yet sculpted.

"Did you carve this?" Yuan Yao crouches down, looking at him curiously.

At this moment, everyone's attention also falls on Yuan Yao, a flash of astonishment in their eyes.

Zhang Cheng gives no response; he remains immersed in his own mental space.

Yuan Yao says, "Could the puppet have been carved by his father himself?"

Zhang Cheng still does not react.

"Young lady, don't waste your effort; he won't talk to anyone." Someone, unable to stand it, adds, "These past days he has stayed in this spot; when others ask him questions, he never answers."

"According to the doctor, he may have developed a heart ailment because of the Water Mirror Immortal Academy's extermination case."

"Heart ailments are hard to cure…"

Weng Mingshu pushes into the crowd, puzzled, and asks, "Is there no one who took him in or cared for him?"

"Of course there is." Another young disciple replies, "Instructor Dan Mo of the neighboring Earth Spirit Immortal Academy has some connection with his father, so he brought him into the Earth Spirit Academy and accepted him as a disciple. Dan Mo has been looking after him all this time."

Upon hearing this, Weng Mingshu suddenly understands.

One person, indignant, says, "Unbelievable! A mere old errand boy Wang San managed to kill all 357 members of the Water Mirror Immortal Academy! Such conduct is truly outrageous!"

Yuan Yao stands and asks, "Have you found any evidence?"

The man continues, "It must be that errand boy Wang San! Because a few days before the incident, he bought a large amount of Poison Cicada Medicine from various pharmacies on Yunshui Street; every shop owner can testify. Moreover, if it weren't him, why would he flee?"

Others hear this and also nod in agreement.

This is already extremely close to the truth.

Weng Mingshu ponders, "Could it be caused by conflicts between the academies?"

"Impossible!" At that moment, a rather inconspicuous youth in the crowd loudly retorts, "Although the four great immortal academies sometimes have frictions, they could never commit an extermination!"

Yuan Yao's gaze falls on the youth's face.

The youth notices the surrounding eyes on him and immediately realizes his reaction was too intense.

"Who are you?" Yuan Yao asks.

The youth's face flushes slightly, "I am a disciple of the Earth Spirit Immortal Academy, sent by Instructor Dan to guard Zhang Cheng."

Yuan Yao says, "Why did you react so fiercely just now? Before the Water Mirror incident, did any conflict arise among the four great immortal academies?"

The youth is stunned, his eyes dart away from hers.

"No… no, nothing."

His reaction, to everyone, looks exactly like a guilty thief.

Some people present know what happened among the four great immortal academies, but they keep silent and do not speak out easily.

After all, they all want to find the real culprit and claim the generous reward of ten thousand Top-Grade Spirit Stones.

Yuan Yao silently records the youth's face in her mind, then sweeps her gaze over Zhang Cheng and his puppet.

She feels the matter is not simple.

If Wang San were just a nameless old errand boy, it would be extremely difficult for him alone to kill everyone of the Water Mirror Immortal Academy.

Poison Cicada Medicine can stupefy ordinary disciples, but can it completely stupefy instructors and the headmaster?

Yuan Yao leads Weng Mingshu out of the crowd, returning to Ying Wuji and the Heavenly Cloud Sect disciples' group.

"Youngest Senior Brother, what do you think?" Yuan Yao looks up at Ying Wuji.

Ying Wuji says, "The primary task now is to find Wang San; next, we must investigate what happened among the four great immortal academies."

Yuan Yao nods, "We also need to uncover Wang San's identity and motives. Tell me, how much is a monthly salary for an errand boy of an academy?"

"I really don't know," Weng Mingshu says, turning to the Heavenly Cloud Sect disciples, "Do you know?"

One disciple replies, "It shouldn't exceed fifteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

Weng Mingshu is greatly shocked, "That little?!"

Heavenly Cloud Sect disciples: "……" unwilling to speak to the Eldest Miss.

Yuan Yao asks, "How expensive is Poison Cicada Medicine?"

Ying Wuji answers, "Normally, each gram of Poison Cicada Medicine powder costs about one hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

"They all say Wang San bought a large amount of Poison Cicada Medicine; where did his Spirit Stones come from?" Weng Mingshu frowns, raises her hand, and calculates Wang San's yearly salary with her fingers.

"That's the peculiarity." Yuan Yao and Ying Wuji exchange a glance.

A flash of insight strikes Weng Mingshu; she exclaims, "I know, someone is directing Wang San to poison! Could the other three immortal academies be responsible? Is it one academy, or a coalition of three?"

Hearing their junior sister Weng's analysis, the Heavenly Cloud Sect disciples also think it's very possible.

However…

Thinking carefully, what deep grudge could the other three immortal academies hold against the Water Mirror Immortal Academy to annihilate it entirely?

This case becomes ever more baffling.

They bypass Zhang Cheng and the others, continuing forward.

Meanwhile, Zhang Cheng still maintains the same posture.

"Poor Zhang Cheng…" Weng Mingshu can't help but glance back.

Yuan Yao hears this, also looks back at Zhang Cheng, then withdraws her gaze and lightly presses her ruby lips.

Ying Wuji senses her emotional fluctuation, the softness in his eyes deepens.

When they have almost toured the entire Water Mirror Immortal Academy, they finally see Third Senior Brother Cang Li and Fourth Senior Brother Xue Jin.

The two of them were searching for clues; when they looked up, they saw Yuan Yao's party, and they hurried over.

Cang Li opened his mouth and teased Yuan Yao: "Little lazy ghost, finally awake."

Yuan Yao glared at him: "I was unconscious, not just sleeping in."

"Yes, yes, yes," Cang Li nodded.

Yuan Yao saw his punchable demeanor and was about to kick him, but Cang Li saw through it, skillfully twisting his waist to dodge, then clasped his hands together, sighed deeply, and said, "Patron Yuan, how can the morning anger be so great?"

Yuan Yao gave him a fierce glare and asked irritably, "Where are Eldest Senior Brother and Second Senior Sister?"

Cang Li replied, "The two went to investigate Wang San's whereabouts."

Xue Jin looked at Yuan Yao and said, "Yao Yao, do you still feel unwell?"

Yuan Yao shook her head.

"Much better."