Chapter 506: Found

Pei Ye really didn't expect who would dare to steal his money.

Pei Shaoxia now talks and laughs with great scholars, and associates with no commoners. It can be said that all those he associates with are talented and heroic people with status. If any money flow is involved, the only depression is Pei Shaoxia himself.

How could one day his silver note be swapped.

Qi Zhaohua must have looked at it seriously when handing it to him. At that time, although it was the first time he saw it, he had carefully looked at it back and forth, sighing that this thin page was actually fifty taels of big silver.

Later, he absolutely didn't throw it behind his head. Every time he opened the bag, he would confirm whether it was still there—who knew this heaven-killing thief was not stealing but swapping!

It had been a month since he borrowed these fifty taels from Qi Zhaohua.

Pei Ye couldn't distinguish between true and false silver notes, so naturally he didn't know when it was stolen.

How can this be traced?

Xie Chuantang looked at Pei Ye silently, and Pei Ye looked at Xie Chuantang pitifully.

"... Okay, I accept it, don't be too worried." Xie Chuantang had never thought that this skilled language would one day be used on the youth, "Just wait for news from the Yamen."

"Hmm." Pei Ye was muffled.

Sister Xing Zhi looked over with some amusement: "How can someone reach into your Pei Shaoxia's money bag? Hasn't the Divine Chi been squatting on your shoulder?"

Pei Ye turned to look at the little cat, and the little cat shook its head calmly.

"It has also often run to the Cultivation Library this month." Pei Ye sighed, "And the bag is not always on me."

"Isn't your bag placed in the Sword Academy? Who would dare to sneak into your courtyard?" Sister Xing Zhi raised her eyebrows, "There are many wandering knights and prodigals in the capital. You probably encountered a thief while walking on the road."

However, the thing he did most these days was walking on the road, from East City to West City, from the Sword Academy to the Cultivation Library. At this time, he couldn't think of which time it was. For a while, he felt that there was no problem with any time, and for a while, he felt that there were suspicious places everywhere.

Finally, he sighed long and moved his gaze to the lock in his hand: "... Is this dismantled from those complete shackles?"

"Yes."

Pei Ye looked silently for a while: "So, if this lock wasn't opened, the scale monster couldn't have had the strength to break out of the cage."

"Not bad." Sister Xing Zhi clapped her hands, leaned back on the big vat, and held the edge of the vat with both hands, "I think so too. It wasn't that Nan Nan Jin Feng made a mistake itself. With this lock, the scale monster actually couldn't break through the restraint... it's just that some unexpected accident happened."

Pei Ye slowly raised this small lock, frowning and looking inside. It was as bright as new, and there were indeed no traces of being damaged. In other words... this lock just fell off directly.

"Someone sneaked in and opened this lock?" Pei Ye frowned and denied it again, "That's too strange. If he wanted to release this scale monster, why not just bring it out; if he wanted to make trouble in this secret cabin, he should have released more and more thoroughly. What's the point of just unlocking an inner buckle?"

He looked at this lock again. The fine and dense springs inside were engaged, and after many violent impacts such as breaking the vat, explosion, and cabin falling, it was still locked and intact, much stronger than he imagined.

Sister Xing Zhi looked at him and said: "So I think it opened it itself."

"..."

"Maybe they were not transporting a 'stable' creature. In the process, this scale monster suddenly underwent changes they didn't expect—maybe it was indeed very rare." Sister Xing Zhi said slowly, "So it suddenly mastered the ability to open this lock."

"What kind of lock is this?" Pei Ye immediately grasped the key point.

"Not a lock that can be bought, but the principle is not special—use spiritual patterns to forbid spiritual Mystic, deprive of strength, and then use iron mechanical locks to lock the muscle and bone joints." Sister Xing Zhi said, "This is a very mainstream approach now. Compared to using powerful spiritual Mystic restrictions to imprison Mystic practitioners, using strong shields against sharp spears, people prefer to isolate spiritual Mystic first, and then lock the flesh, so they can use hemp ropes to bind mortals."

"This lock is the same. Its lock buckle is purely mechanical, and there are seven connected springs inside, and it is made overly strong—it is completely engaged and sealed inside." Sister Xing Zhi said, "The only way to open it is to activate the spiritual patterns outside—it records a specifically compiled Mystic Qi, and only that kind of Mystic Qi can open it."

"But the spiritual patterns were not activated."

"No."

So it directly cracked the innermost mechanical part, inexplicably falling off this spiritual Qi lock from inside to outside.

Pei Ye looked at it fixedly again. Just as Sister Xing Zhi said, its mechanical part was only used to guard against mortals, and as far as mortals were concerned, this was an impossible chain.

No thin iron wire or anything like that could be inserted inside, and even hair couldn't be accommodated.

Just as Sister Xing Zhi said, to unlock this kind of mechanism, one must first open the upper spiritual patterns. There is no reason why the spiritual patterns have not moved, and thousands of mechanisms inside can be opened inch by inch.

But Pei Ye looked at this small lock fixedly and suddenly said: "Water."

"... What?"

"Water." Pei Ye said firmly, "The only thing that can penetrate is water. Thousands of springs are wrapped by water. It wants this lock to open, and this lock can open."

"..."

Sister Xing Zhi looked at him in a daze and suddenly said: "This degree of control, I have practiced water spirit since I was a child, and I only achieved it after stepping into the Mystic Gate."

"So Nan Nan Jin Feng was caught off guard."

"But the spiritual Mystic didn't open at all, how to control water?"

"When you were in the Cao River, didn't you also not find half a trace of spiritual Mystic?"

"... At that time the ship cabin was not broken, how could there be water?"

"On the iron-cast cabin wall, there was water everywhere."

The three were silent for a while. Sister Xing Zhi said silently: "Controlling water without relying on spiritual Mystic..."

Pei Ye looked at her and thought of something at the same time.

"Temporarily misty." Sister Xing Zhi withdrew her thoughts and turned to the desk, "In addition, according to the half-piece of residual scale you brought back, I tried some spiritual arts at the Xianren Terrace and locked such an area."

A map of the Divine Jingcheng was spread flat on the table. What was outlined was the southwest city, about five or six wards, and hundreds of streets.

"I checked half a ward early this morning, and there was no harvest for the time being." Xie Chuantang said.

Pei Ye was still thinking about the speculation about controlling water just now. Such spiritual water nature seemed to have a memory to be awakened. But he still didn't catch it. At this time, he lowered his head to look at this map and slowly fell into deep thought again.

"I'll go for a stroll with you." He said suddenly.

However, Xie Chuantang took the order letter and went out, but saw that the youth didn't walk in the direction outlined on the map, but first aimed at a tall restaurant and climbed straight up.

Seeing the youth walk to the railing on the top floor and look down, Xie Chuantang walked to his side from behind.

"Why?"

Pei Ye looked for a while and pointed: "Look, the West Pool is clearly on the east side of the Cao River."

Looking from here, a considerable part of the Divine Jingcheng was clearly presented in his eyes. Not far away, the wedge-shaped West Pool was like a clear pupil.

"If you were it, you escaped the blockade of the Cao River, how would you go?" Pei Ye looked at Xie Chuantang.

Xie Chuantang understood his meaning: "... Naturally, it is to enter the West Pool by the shortest distance. The West Pool is deep and wide, easy to hide, and connects to the waters of the Divine Jingcheng, where it can go everywhere."

"Yes, if you want to hide, going straight after going ashore is the best choice. Why would it turn west and plunge into the wards?" Pei Ye frowned and supported his chin, "This is a conscious behavior."

Xie Chuantang also put her hands on the railing and looked to the west: "And from the Cao River to these few wards, no matter what, you have to pass that big thoroughfare."

The Divine Jingcheng lacks nothing but people. I don't know how many cultivators live between these prosperous wards. Such a scale monster, whether it is crossing doors and houses, or climbing eaves and walls, is very difficult not to be discovered when passing through such a large area.

Not to mention that the scales don't point to land-dwelling lizards, but are water-dwelling bodies.

Thinking was endless. The two looked down at these neat wards, discussed several possible routes according to the starting point and ending point, and went downstairs and went down, listening to the talk of the wine guests again, as if the wind and clouds of the entire world were gathered in this city.

People said that Minister Yuan submitted the "Advancement of Virtue Table" to the court again, making the whole hall silent; the newly appointed Jingzhao Magistrate took office and was vigorous everywhere, and there must be a hard pillar behind him; others said that the Ministry of Justice Vice Minister Zheng had not gone to the Yamen for several consecutive days...

And the Taiping Cao gang, which was cooking oil with fire, collapsed overnight. Some people talked about the young knight named Pei who raised his name, so people talked about the few prominent names in the Divine Jingcheng again, arguing about who was the most powerful; the merchants returning north said that the wild people didn't seem to be very stable, and the business was a bit difficult to do.

Listening from the twelfth floor to the first floor, in fact, most of them talked about the same thing, but the angles and depths were very different. If it weren't for the official business, Pei Ye believed he could listen to it for a day.

And the "official business" was really boring.

Pei Ye and Xie Chuantang took the public servants and checked the designated route carefully and without missing a single bit. However, whether it was investigation or visiting, they didn't get any valuable information. Some ambiguous clues were traced to the end and were always empty. This scale monster seemed to have the ability to be invisible again, clearly traveling through the wards, but didn't reveal a shadow.

Tired all day, seeing the sun setting again, Pei Ye lay on the railing on the fifth floor and sighed long. Xie Chuantang leaned beside him and also sighed with difficulty.

"I always feel that we are doing white work." Pei Ye looked at the dim yellow clouds on the city horizon, "Running into a dead end with no results. You say this painting... such a dangerous thing, drilled into the ward, how can it not make a splash?"

Xie Chuantang rubbed her eyebrows and said softly: "When old Ding took me to handle cases, he said that there are not so many exquisite strange cases in the world. Many times, when the criminal you imagined becomes too mysterious, it is mostly because you have thought wrong yourself."

Pei Ye was silent for a while: "A very good senior who handles cases also told me similar words."

"But I am a tiger father and dog daughter." Xie Chuantang sighed long.

"I am also rotten wood without carving." Pei Ye sighed.

"..."

"..."

"... Or... you should still handle the case of my lost silver for me."

"No."

"... I am also puzzled!" Pei Ye frowned and smashed the railing, "You say Taiping Cao doesn't dare to make it public, so it's fine if you can't catch it, but our Jingzhao Prefecture is so big, how can we not find a shadow?"

"Even if you don't know where you left the city, there must be some traces. So many cultivators, didn't anyone find it?"

Xie Chuantang hugged her arms and looked at the neat big wards below, but suddenly froze.

She suddenly turned her head and grabbed Pei Ye's forearm: "If... someone found it?"

Pei Ye was stunned, and his spirit was suddenly startled.

Yes.

Four eyes were together.

Yes.

They had always regarded it as an alien hiding in human society, but if... it happened to get human help?

It was precisely in this assumption that Pei Ye felt the dead knot stuck in his brain was crashed and shattered in an instant. How many times of confusion before were solved one by one.

It was not just getting human help, it was simply that it had entrusted itself to a human as soon as it went ashore!

So it naturally didn't go to the West Pool, but went to the ward, because that person was going to take it home!

So there was no need to climb walls and walk on tiles, just a carriage—or any ox cart or donkey cart, and it could be transported back from the thoroughfare of the Divine Jingcheng in a grand manner!

So no matter how they visited, they couldn't get its traces.

Only Xie Chuantang still hadn't reacted, frowned and said: "But who would shelter such a dangerous monster? Not to mention that night, we didn't find anyone in..."

She was dumb.

Pei Ye looked at her, his face tense and gradually gnashing his teeth.

Who else could it be?

The stuttering youth, the over-water nature of the scale monster, the magic that amazed everyone on Pingkang Street, the lower garment he was drenched in, the sudden encounter on Nan Nan Jin Feng... On the map that delineated the scope, a small street was so inconspicuous, but Pei Ye stared at it.

—"Grandpa is Little Xu of Weeping Willow Street!"