Chapter 256

Everyone's eyes moved to Wudong.

"Since it's strange, it's a speculation without sufficient evidence—you all should be able to see that Huan Si Lou's situation is very uncomfortable."

Pei Ye was stunned.

Ah?

No one in the room seemed to have the same doubt as him, but fortunately, Wudong continued to speak: "Ten soul-stealing beads, three were lost in Xilong, one was lost here, the thing Hushanjian wanted to get was not achieved, and the pursuit encountered the Tunri Society—combined with the Seven Serpents' testimony, the Bowang matter is very likely already their desperate move."

"The swords stolen by soul-stealing vary in quality; since there is a distinction of 'fruit', it is thought that 'fruit' is superior, and others are inferior. 'Yang Hu' must have wanted to pick this fruit that day, thinking it was because of what Huan Si Lou wanted to do, there was a requirement for the number of 'fruit', and the Xilong side was no longer enough to gather them."

Wudong paused, and then said: "But he still lost."

The room was quiet for a while.

Pei Ye realized it instantly this time—if Huan Si Lou wanted to succeed, it was very likely they would come again!

Now that Tianshan and the Immortal Terrace had already arrived, Huan Si Lou's power was naturally also very likely to have gathered nearby.

"This is the reason I asked Magistrate Sui to stay for a while," Wudong continued. "They might have more soul-stealing beads, but the 'Jade Jade Sword' that crossed thirteen prefectures and was ranked first back then is not everywhere."

Anzang tilted his head slightly: "But we are now in Bowang, how would Huan Si Lou be willing to come?"

"For a grandmaster, there are always gaps," Wudong said calmly. "If mature and suitable fruit were so easy to find, why would they have taken the risk in Bowang City in the first place? Looking for a new target now is not easier than continuing to stare at this place. Moreover, such an attack in danger is a strange move... as long as they believe we are truly unprepared."

Anzang was silent for a while and nodded softly: "It can be tried."

Huan Si Lou naturally wouldn't necessarily believe it, and they couldn't make Huan Si Lou believe it, but no one could deny that this possibility truly existed.

Preparing for this possibility might skip the two slow orthodox paths ahead and directly grasp the hemp tendon that Huan Si Lou couldn't advance or retreat from.

Wudong then continued: "We will set an ambush and wait for three days; Magistrate Sui will leave Bowang today, then secretly return to hide and monitor, and Master An and I will perform our duties and listen to Magistrate Sui's signal to support at any time."

Anzang and Sui Zaihua nodded respectively.

"Then it is decided."

Just like that, a killing game was planned simply.

Only Pei Ye was still a bit confused—how was it already decided? What was Magistrate Sui going to monitor?

Until the three grandmasters glanced at him almost at the same time.

"." Pei Ye was speechless.

——Now the whole Bowang knows that you, Young Hero Pei, have amazing sword talent and possess unique skills; if this "fruit" isn't you, who else could it be?

Anzang suddenly frowned again: "I don't know if Magistrate Sui is familiar with these things, otherwise, should Inspector Wudong monitor it himself?"

Wudong said in a flat voice: "Master An is judging people by their official position—Magistrate Sui is more familiar with Huan Si Lou than I am."

Anzang looked surprised, Sui Zaihua smiled faintly, and the passing gaze was as sharp as a sword in an instant.

At this point, the room was quiet for a moment, and Wudong said: "Regarding what was said above, do you all have anything else you want to discuss?"

No one spoke.

"Since that's the case, let's stop here for today."

Everyone nodded lightly.

Only Pei Ye was stunned again.

How was it already over?

"After Master An returns, please understand the case as soon as possible. The Terrace sent me to cooperate. This case in Shaolong will be investigated by you and me together. I hope it can be smooth and unobstructed—it's a pity that Magistrate Sui is busy with official business, otherwise things would be much easier to do."

Sui Zaihua smiled faintly: "I'll take a look first."

"Good, then let's say goodbye. The day after tomorrow, when the two orthodox paths have clues, we will hold another gathering—"

"Wu, Lord Wu..." the youth in the corner suddenly raised his hand.

The grandmasters' gazes fell over, and Pei Ye hesitated: "Has the previous matter already been discussed?"

"."

Pei Ye naturally didn't think it was discussed—the lords had made the matter clear, but half of his purpose for coming here was still in the fog.

To know the purpose of Huan Si Lou's soul-stealing and sword-stealing, chasing "Snow Collapse" and investigating "Heart Amber" were indeed paths that had to be taken, but how could the most core thing only be mentioned once?

Pei Ye looked at the three and said somewhat carefully: "Lords, that 'ancient heirloom'... shouldn't we also figure out what it is? For this matter, where should we start?"

Silence.

Quiet.

No one spoke.

So in this silent atmosphere, Pei Ye suddenly realized that he had asked a stupid question.

The three lords naturally knew that the "ancient heirloom" was the central hub of the entire spreading case, and they naturally knew that finding out what this thing was was the first priority.

But it was absolutely not a matter with a premise of cooperation.

Tianshan, Government Office, Immortal Terrace.

Especially Tianshan and the Immortal Terrace.

They didn't stand together on everything; there had always been a subtle tug-of-war between the sect and the imperial court.

They all wanted to know what it was, but they would only search and verify through their own channels. Huan Si Lou plotted so hard, the lower limit of this thing could be guaranteed, so after Huan Si Lou failed, whose hands would it fall into? And whose hands was it suitable to fall into?

The interests involved were so naked and distinct.

Therefore, before such sensitive things had the conditions to be brought to the negotiating table, everyone tacitly didn't mention it.

Only Pei Ye didn't understand at all, and he was really anxious—you all hide it and don't say, how would I know what kind of thing it is?

But at this moment, he realized it and was also silent.

"This requires the cooperation of Xilong Dao, we can't exert any effort for the time being."

Fortunately, the grandmasters didn't mind, Anzang smiled and gave him a sufficiently real reason, and this meeting ended peacefully.

——

When walking out of the building door, a light drizzle began to fall outside the door again.

Li Weiru and Anzang were chatting in front, Pei Ye followed behind, his mind still thinking about the jade pendant.

Everyone was secretly investigating, so how was he, a seventeen-year-old child with no official position and no one to rely on, supposed to catch clues?

Even if he opened the jade pendant by then, he was afraid he could only stare at it in a daze.

"Young Master Pei didn't speak for the whole time, so it turns out you also have things you care about?"

Pei Ye suddenly felt the chill of the rain disappear, turned his head, and it was Shi Zanxue walking over with her white sleeves fluttering, her true energy opening an invisible barrier around her body.

"Didn't Miss Shi also not speak for the whole time?" Pei Ye reached out and touched the empty space somewhat magically.

"I am a Tianshan disciple, naturally I follow Master An, but Young Master Pei is a party of his own."

"So I had to say a word at the end," Pei Ye smiled.

". Good."

"After all, it is an object of Yang Yan's sect; if the case is closed in the end, this thing should be returned to the Hushanjian Sect, right?" Pei Ye tilted his head and looked at Shi Zanxue.

The woman was still in the style of clear snow, and at a glance, she had the temperament of not understanding worldly affairs, but her sharing this matter with Gu Yunfu and just now assisting Anzang showed that she was actually clever in her heart.

"Not necessarily," the woman shook her head lightly. "According to the rules, if this thing falls on the surface, it must first be verified by the Immortal Terrace. If the Immortal Terrace doesn't confiscate it, it can be returned to the martial arts world."

"Isn't this it?" Pei Ye glared, but he knew where he was and didn't spit out the words.

Shi Zanxue smiled slightly: "It sounds like that, but I have to say a few fair words for the Immortal Terrace—the Immortal Terrace manages the martial arts world and will keep an eye on all strange objects in the world. After distinguishing them, they generally do three types of processing: 'release', 'confiscate', and 'destroy', but the ratio of the three is about one hundred, one, one."

"."

"The Immortal Terrace has issued a Terrace Order that all strange objects in the Tang territory must be verified by them, but in fact, the ones truly confiscated can be counted. Generally, there are only two types: one is purely evil and poisonous martial arts magic tools, and the other is things the Immortal Terrace wants."

Pei Ye turned his head slowly: "?"

Shi Zanxue smiled: "But this kind of thing is actually very, very rare—I saw it with my own eyes; two years ago, the heirloom of a sect was taken away by the Immortal Terrace. That thing was quite evil and extremely rare. The Immortal Terrace had every reason to confiscate it, and the sect leader was already heartbroken. But three days later, after the Immortal Terrace finished recording it, it was really returned."

". Oh."

So Pei Ye understood, the Immortal Terrace could follow the rules and confiscate it as long as they saw this thing; and if Tianshan wanted this thing, this thing couldn't be exposed at all.

The premise was that this thing was indeed precious enough.

If the Immortal Terrace didn't confiscate it, this "ancient heirloom" would naturally belong to the Hushanjian Sect, but when the time came, the master had passed away, so who would the Hushanjian Sect belong to?

Pei Ye was much smarter this time and didn't say anything more. The rain tightened slightly, the two grandmasters in front turned into the side building, and Pei Ye and Shi Zanxue continued forward. In the sparse dripping, they had already walked out of the heavy, mysterious, and strict main gate of the Immortal Terrace.

This rain had indeed been falling for a while, the street surface was as wet as oil, the cold trees were cold and green, and in the distance was a misty fog, which was the wide and flat surface of the Zhuoyue Lake.

Pei Ye nodded slowly: "Then what does the Immortal Terrace want?"

Shi Zanxue smiled lightly: "How could we know this?"

Pei Ye's eyes turned: "What if I join Tianshan?"

"Young Master Pei is joking, what does your joining or not joining have to do with this?"

"I insist on joining, and I want to be a true disciple of your pool."

Shi Zanxue really couldn't help but smile: "Alright then, in that case, Tianshan might... know a little bit."

"Oh." Pei Ye nodded and stopped talking.

"." Shi Zanxue looked at him and couldn't help saying, "Then does Young Master Pei want to enter Tianshan?"

Pei Ye shook his head: "No."

"." Shi Zanxue's smile bulged slightly.

Pei Ye couldn't help but smile too.

The woman was aloof and beautiful, a proud child of Tianshan's eighth life, whose status and cultivation were far beyond the youth who had just won a partial prefecture autumn championship. Seeing her smile and be angry, Pei Ye actually had a subtle, childish pride in his heart.

But soon, this somewhat familiar feeling stirred up the matters in his heart again. Pei Ye paused and fell silent.

It was also at this moment that his gaze stalled, and he saw the young girl in the green dress standing under a willow tree in front, holding a board with both hands to cover her head, watching them quietly.

Pei Ye's footsteps stiffened immediately.

After a moment of daze, he raised his hand and waved it lightly twice.

The young girl immediately trotted over and stood in front of the youth. She was still holding the board, revealing half of her fair forearm; her exquisite green dress was already somewhat wet and collapsed in some places, lacking the freshness he had seen before.

Shi Zanxue supported with true energy, taking her in as well. Li Piaoqing put down the board and looked up at the woman with a forced smile.

". The dress is all wet, why are you still stupidly holding a board?" Pei Ye was silent for a moment and gave the young girl a smile.

Li Piaoqing looked at him somewhat dejectedly and didn't speak.

Shi Zanxue smiled lightly from the side: "The Young Sect Leader doesn't want her hair to get wet and messy."

". Oh!"

The woman smiled and moved her steps: "Then I won't disturb you, I'll ask Young Master Pei to talk again when I have the chance."

After saying that, she retracted her true energy, gathered her sleeves, and headed north.

Only the two of them were left in the quiet.

Li Piaoqing looked somewhat dazed at the back of the woman who had left and murmured softly: "She is so beautiful."

She raised her eyebrows and glanced at Pei Ye lightly.

". Hmm... it's alright." Pei Ye didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Li Piaoqing was also somewhat silent.

Actually, when the young girl came to the Immortal Terrace, she was very happy. She didn't have such experience and was confused and silly about the suddenly arrived feelings like all young people in their first love, but after all, her keen intuition was still playing a role, and the young girl had an unconscious and beautiful expectation for the prospect of her behavior.

——Pei Ye would definitely not have thought that she was waiting for him when he went out, which was just right to give him a surprise; not far away was the Zhuoyue Lake, and the sky was drizzling with light rain; rowing a boat on the lake, the surroundings would be a piece of quiet fog, as if the whole world was left with only the two of them; she had also prepared interesting topics, and she had five paths of words to naturally steer the conversation to topics that would make people blush and heart-beat.

Then Pei Ye walked out, and he was chatting harmoniously with this cold and aloof Tianshan woman again.

This picture fell into her eyes, and the young girl's mood suddenly dropped sharply.

Some emotions that had been buried long ago popped out from her heart.

Especially when she walked over and Pei Ye said "The dress is all wet, why are you still stupidly holding a board?", it really hurt her somewhat.

She knew this was their ordinary banter; he loved to tease her like this, and she would always retort anyway.

But now in front of this woman, the other party was as white as snow, spotless in the cold autumn rain and leaves, and her clear face was like a fairy or jade. And her own carefully selected dress was already somewhat embarrassed, only holding a board to protect the hair bun she had spent a whole morning tying; she was completely a mortal in front of a fairy.

Pei Ye and Shi Zanxue stood together, and the sentence he dropped really hurt her.

However, the young girl was used to adjusting her mood; she raised her head and gave him a light glare: "The hair will collapse and get messy as soon as it gets wet, are you stupid?"

And Pei Ye, having lost the wrapping of true energy, shivered, and really spat out a somewhat silly question: "That... are you cold?"

He was caught in the cold rain, but how could a fifth-life young girl be afraid of this bit of cold?

Li Piaoqing was about to smile, but suddenly remembered Senior Sister Shen's teaching, paused, and said softly: "Hmm... a little..."

She glanced at the outer garment he was wearing.

Pei Ye was surprised: ". Ah? Then, let's go back quickly."

"." Li Piaoqing really felt what it meant to lift a stone and hit her own foot; she quickly changed the subject, "Actually, it's alright—Pei Ye, I remembered one thing, what about the gift you said you would give me after the martial arts competition?"

"Ah?"

Alas, I am really a code-word waste.

(End of chapter)