Chapter 276: Night Exploration

In front of the Longmen Tower, the youth's bright voice made many pedestrians turn their heads to look. In this place, this scene was indeed rare.

The guard at the door looked at him lazily: "Whose recommendation?"

"..." Pei Ye was dazed.

The two guards looked at him, and their eyebrows wrinkled.

Pei Ye suddenly discovered that he and the girl had a misunderstanding before—he didn't just not know how to deal with the head manager of the chamber of commerce, in fact, he didn't understand the rules of these gangs in the rivers and lakes either.

"Where did this mixed-up kid come from," the guard was already irritable, "Get lost!"

Pei Ye bowed awkwardly: "I am really abrupt, I am new here—want to see Master Kou, do I need a recommendation from someone?"

Another tall guard with a cold face and cold voice said: "Listen well, Master Dragon Pillar doesn't see kids who haven't made a name for themselves. If you really want to step into the sky in one step, please ask the three leaders to pass your bones first. If they are hard enough, and Master Dragon Pillar is in a good mood, he will give you a chance to meet him."

"... I really have urgent business, can you accommodate me?" Pei Ye thought that the three leaders mostly had the rules of the three leaders, and there was really no time to waste on knocking on the door.

He thought for a while and took out the copper sparrow plate: "Two, can this be used as a step?"

The two were indeed startled, but soon sneers squeezed out of their throats. It was a kind of anger mixed with envy and disdain: "Don't bring the dog plate of the Immortal Platform here to act big! Kid, the only rule in Seven-Meng Jiucheng is the rule of Master Dragon Pillar!"

"..."

However, this guard put his eyes on this heavy copper plate, but suddenly smiled coldly: "Since you have some skills, if you really want to see him, I'll give you a chance to fight in the iron cage."

Pei Ye was dazed: "What is 'iron cage fight'?"

The guard revealed a strange smile and pushed open the courtyard gate, pointing to the side. Pei Ye looked over and was stunned for a moment.

Three people who didn't look like people were lying on the ground, not even a straw mat was spread. Blood was stained on their gray clothes, and their limbs were twisted strangely. The bone fragments of their legs and elbows were exposed, and it was a cruel and serious injury.

Several people closed their eyes tightly, and weak groans like hissing came out of their mouths.

"Three-foot long cage fight, dragon comes out, life and death don't matter. Master Dragon Pillar is upstairs. When he looks down and sees you fighting interestingly, he will give you a chance to speak." The guard smiled gloomily, "From now on in Seven-Meng Jiucheng, there will be your name!"

"..." Pei Ye's expression turned cold. He looked at them with disgust, finally understood what this so-called gang rule was, looked at the bright Longmen Tower, and turned away.

Anyway, it was going to be dark.

He turned and left, found a corner to stand, and continued to flip through the play script in his hand.

————

East of the city, Bixiao Pavilion.

The last bit of sunset slipped off the glazed tiles, and the light under the eaves was already dim.

This building courtyard seemed to be cut into two sections, front and back. The front was bright with candles, and the courtyard trees were reflected like dyed gold, while the two courtyards behind were immersed in darkness.

Li Piaoqing sat under the eaves, carefully holding the black cat on her lap.

Since that one time she spoke, it hadn't spoken again. Li Piaoqing didn't dare to talk, let alone poke it again, and kept searching for memories about "monsters."

Except for legendary stories like people turning into monsters or monsters turning into people, the only real one was the legendary "Immortal Hunter."

However, Immortal Hunter...

The only heaven-sent spirit in the world, after signing a contract with the person of destiny, lives and dies together, never separates, and will be the strongest and most trustworthy partner.

But... would it be this little cat the size of a palm on her lap? It should at least be something like a Pixiu or Qilin...

The girl now wanted very much to ask Pei Ye about this, but to call the youth, she had to pass through the black cat itself, which made the girl feel itchy.

"... Little cat." Li Piaoqing looked at the sky and finally whispered, "I'm going to the backyard to take a look, what about you?"

The black cat jumped onto her shoulder silently.

"... Okay, then you have to hold on tight."

Li Piaoqing chose the room furthest inside when she stayed, and it was very quiet all around. The girl had already looked at it in the afternoon. There were some guards in the backyard, but for a Fifth Life, it was loose enough, and the twilight after dinner was also the time for slackness.

She walked to the wall while admiring the flower trees, gently broke off a branch, looked around casually, and suddenly jumped, standing behind the wall.

It was the narrow gap between the wall and the room. The girl stood here steadily, without even rubbing a corner of her clothes. She tilted her head and looked. Two guards outside the courtyard were leaning against the wall and chatting.

Li Piaoqing took out a small dagger and picked it gently. The window behind the room was opened silently, and she landed silently like a cat.

She turned around and closed the window gently.

The room without candles was even darker. The girl gathered True Qi and tried hard to identify the terrain—True Qi could indeed enhance the five senses, but the moon hadn't risen yet, and identifying details was indeed a bit difficult.

Then a gorgeous blue flame burned silently beside her, illuminating the layers of drawers around.

The girl widened her eyes and looked back. The black cat was looking at the cabinet frame quietly.

"..."

She took two steps, and this flower followed. She took two steps back, and this flower retreated.

It wasn't until she looked at the cool green eyes of the black cat that she pursed her lips and revealed an embarrassed smile.

Under the reflection of this flame, the girl searched and identified the cabinet surface, walked slowly into the depths, and finally stopped. The "Ren Zi" with dim pigments was refracting the faint blue before her eyes.

Searching under this section, skipping items like "Floor Surface" and "Personnel," she stopped at the small drawer of "Entry and Exit." A small lock was locked on it.

Li Piaoqing reached out and grasped this small lock. True Qi penetrated and shook gently, and the lock buckle broke into two pieces silently, falling loosely into her hand.

There were twelve booklets in the drawer. She clearly remembered that the beginning of the "Yinyang County Annals" was "Winter of the Ren Zi Year of the Chi Long Era," so she took out the last three booklets and sat on the ground to flip through them carefully.

Start from "October."

With the ancient scroll in hand, many things that seemed to have been drowned by time were clearly presented before her eyes—as soon as Li Piaoqing flipped to the 【Calligraphy and Painting】 section, the three words "Xi Wantian" on the slightly yellowed paper squeezed into the girl's eyes in a large space.

That was obviously the peak of the painter's creation after he became famous. Paintings were handed over to the Qiyun Chamber of Commerce one after another, with intervals of no more than two or three days.

"Pine Holding Autumn Dew," "Twilight Clouds Covering Autumn Tower," "Xiangzhou First Snow"... "Winter of Ren Zi, Made for Danjun"—

The girl's finger paused.

It wasn't that the name "Danjun" attracted her attention. In fact, there were many with names in this October volume alone, such as "Wine Sent to Tingxiang and Xiaojun for the Ancient Tower," "Getting Drunk Like Mud at the Wedding of Ji Qiu Song," etc.

From these entries, one could see the enthusiasm of this painter. He loved to paint for friends very much, and even small things often had to be painted, and he always enthusiastically titled the names of these friends on the painting names.

This "Made for Danjun" was just one of them, and it shouldn't have attracted any attention, but the girl clearly saw that only this article had no record of sale.

Is it still in the Qiyun Chamber of Commerce? There have been many seekers in recent years, why doesn't Qiyun sell it?

Li Piaoqing lowered her head and looked around, but it was not hanging around. The girl lowered her head, closed this volume, and opened the November volume.

This time, coming to the 【Calligraphy and Painting】 section, the girl was stunned.

She overturned her previous judgment that "names are not important," because this page... was densely packed with the word "Danjun," almost exceeding the number of the three words "Xi Wantian."

Under the large entry "Danjun This Year," "Danjun Twelve · Part 1," "Danjun Twelve · Part 2," "Danjun Twelve · Part 3"... all neat and tidy, a full twelve articles forming a set.

None had records of sale.

The girl was silent for a while, gently put down this volume, and picked up the December volume. This time, the 【Calligraphy and Painting】 section was much less, and there was no name of Xi Wantian among them.

So the girl thought that this was the last month of the Ren Zi year, and also the last month of Xi Wantian's life. He walked into the Xincang Mountain range.

So Li Piaoqing inevitably thought of the "White Snake Love" just now—Xi Wantian mostly had a lover named "Danjun," and it was just before entering the mountains that he was still so passionately in love.

If Xi Wantian had any abnormal behavior at this time, this woman probably couldn't escape the relationship.

The girl's bright eyes thought quietly for a while, tilted her head, and whispered to the black cat: "Can you tell Pei Ye to let him look at the play script again?"

The black cat nodded.

Then seeing the girl motionless, looking at it with bright eyes.

"..."

"What did he say?" The girl blinked.

The black cat was silent for a moment: "He said okay."

"That... how do you talk?" Li Piaoqing finally couldn't help but be curious.

"We speak from the heart."

"..."

The girl and the cat looked at each other quietly.

Then the girl lowered her head and slowly put the three booklets back into the drawer.

This room was the "Public Account Room" of the Qiyun Chamber of Commerce. According to Zhang Dingyun, what was recorded on it was all clear and orderly entry and exit items, which could be adjusted for others to check or as a basis for trial calculation at any time.

To grasp the internal context of the Chamber of Commerce, one must find the so-called "Private Account Book," which would clearly record the reasons behind every transaction—it was not necessarily all unspeakable, it was just that some relationships were not convenient to be known to the public, so there was such a book.

This book was generally placed in the proprietor's residence.

As long as this book was found, the reason why Xi Wantian handed over a large number of paintings and none were sold could be found.

Li Piaoqing gently hung the broken lock back. She didn't want to leave traces, but at this time, there was no other way, so she could only try her best to disguise it as it was.

Then the flame flower beside her moved, and a stream of faint blue injected into the lock hole. The originally cool and sensationless flame suddenly showed a fierce temperature. The girl watched with her own eyes as the broken section of the lock rod melted and re-bonded together.

"..." The girl stared dazed at the quiet little cat beside her. Just as she couldn't help but open her mouth, the blue flame around her body suddenly collapsed, and the surroundings fell into pitch darkness.

At the same time, a cold and icy voice sounded in her ear: "Silence, someone is coming."

Li Piaoqing suppressed her heartbeat and breathing in an instant.

Under the miserable radiance of the cold moon, without turning her head, the shadow of a person had already been cast on the thin door and window, and it was gradually expanding toward this door.

Its silent action made the girl's heart slowly tighten—she had been tensing her nerves the whole time, but she hadn't noticed this person entering the courtyard at all.

At least... Seventh Life.

The girl truly knew that her breath-holding skill was absolutely insufficient to hide in front of such an expert—in the same room, they could even hear the sound of blood flowing slowly.

The person outside went up the steps, and then a "click" sound was the sound of opening the lock.

Li Piaoqing's palms were full of sweat, and she slowly grasped the sword hilt.

Precisely because this public account room was not very important, she was confident that she could explore it at night. She really didn't expect to run into such an expert.

Just as her body was stiff as iron, a small claw gently rested on her wrist, and a mysterious and inexplicable Qi flowed into her body. The noise of her body was suppressed in an instant, and she felt herself become as silent as air.

The door pushed open with a "creak," and the faint moonlight flowed in. The person didn't hold a candle, and the long shadow almost stretched to Li Piaoqing's feet.

He walked inside slowly. The girl noticed that the little cat beside her also tensed its body.

The account books in the room were classified by year. She searched to thirty years ago, which was actually in the very deep part of the room. And this person walked slowly into the depths, but didn't know which year's record he was looking for.

Footsteps approached step by step. Both sides were now separated by no more than two rows of shelves. Li Piaoqing vaguely saw his outline.

He was a slender man, his age couldn't be seen, but the coldness like moonlight on his body seemed to have approached her body. The silver pendant on his earlobe flashed with faint cold light in the dim moonlight. The girl's eyes stung, and the cold hair on her neck stood up like a cold blade approaching.

In the sudden rise of the hair, the urging footsteps finally stopped.

Li Piaoqing didn't even move her gaze. She identified it. That was about twenty years ago. She only heard him open the lock and take the booklet, and then stood still for more than ten breaths.

Only the sound of flipping pages lightly.

Finally, the sound of closing the drawer sounded crisply again, followed by the sound of locking. But the process of returning the booklet was missing, and the person left the account room with this volume.

The black cat immediately jumped out of the window silently.

After a long silence, the girl slowly got up, removed the traces, and returned to the outside of the courtyard from the original path.

The black cat was already waiting for her here, pointing to the small courtyard in the southeast corner: "He entered that courtyard."

Li Piaoqing nodded. Under the silver radiance of the flower trees in the moonlight, she paced to the front gate of the courtyard just now. The guard leaning against the wall stood up, and the girl smiled first: "Is it not allowed to enter here?"

"Yes, distinguished guest, please forgive the inconvenience." The guard bowed.

"Where, where, I walked too far while admiring the scenery—this pavilion is really beautiful." She smiled, looked at the southeast corner inadvertently, and her eyes lit up, "Eh? That little building is really good-looking, is it also the courtyard of your pavilion?"

The guard looked over and smiled: "That is the residence of our proprietor."

Li Piaoqing nodded. That courtyard was still pitch black before, but at this moment, bright fire candles were lit.

——

The moonlight was in the sky, and Pei Ye had already flipped the play script to the end.

Li Piaoqing's discovery during the night exploration of the account room had already been told to him. Pei Ye flipped through the play script, but didn't see the two words "Danjun." However, there was indeed a plot of a painter making a painting for his lover, and the painting was named "Winter Made for Bai Su."

Pei Ye felt more and more that this play had the shadow of the matter back then. He still remembered the four words "pupils shooting snake-like light" in the "Yinyang County Annals" clearly.

Afterward, he flipped through the play script section by section and didn't see similar plots anymore. However, he found that the ink handwriting on the last few pages was different from the previous text. After checking carefully, he found that even the book spine had traces of being rebound.

Pei Ye was stunned for a while and immediately realized—if it wasn't repaired, it was modified!

He immediately remembered the slight sense of conflict when listening to the play, and the student's sentence "This play is only available in our theater."

Thus, Pei Ye immediately felt that he had ignored an important line, which was much more effective than finding some Master Kou to ask.

——Since "White Snake Love" is only available in the Seven-Meng Jiucheng Theater, where did they get this play script? Who is the author? What is the modified content?

On this line, there must be someone who knows about Xi Wantian's matter back then!

He got up immediately, no longer caring about the dirty building behind him, and headed straight back to the theater.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 277 =====