Chapter 836

Li Wenying paced in circles, furious: "It wasn't me, it wasn't me, it definitely wasn't me! Ask Pan Yun—since you left, we haven't been apart for a single moment, and we never once approached the Huang residence!"

"Fine, if not you, then tell me this: you didn't see the anomaly when the formation was lifted—did you not sense the spiritual energy fluctuations after its dissolution?"

Li Wenying's face darkened: "Why do you suspect me and not Pan Yun?"

Pan Yun hugged her compass, looking small and helpless as she watched the two argue.

Zhang Ziwang glanced at her, then looked away, sneering: "You have a prior record—do you need me to spell it out further?"

Li Wenying: …

He took a deep breath and reiterated: "It wasn't me!"

Pan Yun timidly raised her hand, voice frail: "Brother Zhang, I can testify—we've been together the whole time. I had stomach pain, and Brother Li even gave me acupuncture. Even when I ran to the latrine, Brother Li waited outside for me—he never left."

Zhang Ziwang remained silent.

Li Wenying took a deep breath, thinking hard, and frowned: "Could it be that we startled them this morning, and the Huang family dismantled the formation themselves?"

No sooner had he spoken than Li Wenying slapped himself across the face, startling the county magistrate and the government office runners.

Even the accompanying Old Master Huang stepped back two paces, staring at him as if he were mad.

Li Wenying: "This formation siphons the spiritual energy beneath the Huang residence, allowing it to sit atop a fengshui treasure land yet denying it the land's blessings. If the Huang family knew of this formation, how could they possibly allow it to remain? It must have been set by someone else."

Old Master Huang stared blankly for half a moment, muttering his words over three times before understanding.

He was struck as if by lightning.

"It must have been a senior cultivator, far stronger than us, who slipped in while I was treating Little Sister—"

Li Wenying was still analyzing when Old Master Huang let out a shrill cry: "What?! This formation is siphoning the dragon qi—"

"I've been deceived! Oh no, I've been deceived—"

"I knew that woman was suspicious! She told me to reduce the land rent—clearly a scheme that harms myself to benefit others. How could she possibly be helping me? Oh no, oh no, my rent, my money—"

Pan Yun hid behind Li Wenying, clutching her compass, avoiding the suddenly hysterical Old Master Huang.

At the mention of the dragon vein, the county magistrate perked up, fixing his gaze sharply on him. Zhang Ziwang had come to the government office claiming a dragon vein was found here—they hadn't believed him. If he hadn't produced the Long Hushan token, the county magistrate would never have let him come along.

Could it really be true that this place had dragon qi?

Watching the hysterical Old Master Huang, the county magistrate's eyes flickered with mockery. Someone like this, still dreaming of becoming a dragon?

He stepped forward, but Li Wenying blocked him. Li Wenying and Zhang Ziwang flanked Old Master Huang—one on each side—and skillfully questioned him, quickly extracting every detail.

"What was the name of that white-haired, ruddy-faced female cultivator?"

Old Master Huang opened his mouth to answer—then froze, bewildered. "What was her name? Strange—I just remembered it a moment ago, why can't I recall it now?"

He clutched his head in agony: "What was her name? What was it—?"

Zhang Ziwang and Li Wenying exchanged glances, stepped forward, gripped his chin, turned his face toward them, stared into his eyes for a moment, then spoke gravely: "It's an illusion technique. Someone used an illusion to erase his memory."

Zhang Ziwang and Li Wenying immediately ordered the county magistrate to summon everyone in the Huang residence—they would interrogate them.

As the government office runners shouted to round up the servants of the Huang residence, Pan Xiaohei had just leapt down from the kitchen stove. The young maid tending the pot suddenly snapped back to awareness—she saw the water had overflowed, and cried out: "Oh no!" Why had she spaced out?

"Chunchan, hurry! They're calling everyone to the front!" Chunchan replied, scrambling out in a panic. Pan Xiaohei leapt onto the roof, glanced back once, then vanished in a flash.

He had checked every person in this residence. If he was still discovered, then Pan Yun was just unlucky.

Pan Xiaohei leapt swiftly off the roof and crouched in a corner beside the wonton stall, burying his entire head in his front paws.

He was exhausted. After all these years as a cat, except for the time he nearly got killed by Pan Yun when they first met, he had never been this tired.

Pan Yun owes him.

All twenty-eight people in the Huang household couldn't remember the white-haired, ruddy-faced female cultivator's name.

Not even her face.

Zhang Ziwang laughed bitterly: "Then what do you remember?"

Old Master Huang wept uncontrollably: "I remember the money, the carriage, the horses they swindled from me—and the five-year land lease I signed with the tenant farmers! Oh no, my rent, my money—"

Zhang Ziwang took a deep breath: "After we left this morning, who else came?"

Old Master Huang shook his head blankly: "Only you came today. No one else."

The others in the Huang residence said the same.

Li Wenying had relaxed now, leaning against the railing as he watched Zhang Ziwang interrogate them. Bored, he said: "Stop asking. I've figured it out. This Huang fellow is a rich man with no conscience. Probably some senior cultivator passed by, saw the injustice, drained the dragon qi from his estate, swindled him out of money, and even helped the tenant farmers sign a fairer contract. Isn't that just robbing the rich to help the poor?"

"Do you know how serious a crime it is to discover a dragon vein and not report it?"

Li Wenying scoffed: "That only threatens people with homes and families. If someone has no attachments, who cares about this law? I think this senior cultivator is just a carefree Daoist—acting on righteous indignation."

"If he's so carefree, why destroy the formation—and use illusion to erase memories?" Zhang Ziwang said. "This memory-erasing technique—doesn't it feel familiar? Doesn't it resemble our Tian Shi Mansion's methods?"

Li Wenying fell silent.

The courtyard grew quiet. Zhang Ziwang felt something was off—too quiet.

He lowered his head, thought for a moment, then suddenly looked up, his gaze sweeping across the yard, narrowing on Pan Yun: "Pan Yun, why have you been silent this whole time?"

Pan Yun stood to the side, clutching her compass, leaning against the wooden pillar as casually as Li Wenying. She replied: "I'm learning."

She said: "I've never seen a case like this before—it's fascinating. Brother Zhang, Brother Li, please continue."

They ignored her, but their suspicion faded.

Li Wenying didn't understand why Zhang Ziwang was so fixated. In his view, the case simply lacked the senior cultivator—and his theory was flawless: "They say it's righteous indignation—just report the dragon vein, conceal the rest. We've done this countless times at the Tian Shi Mansion. Why are you so adamant about this one?"

Zhang Ziwang stopped walking, turned back, and stared at the Huang residence hidden among the trees.

By now, they had left the Huang residence and walked some distance. From within came thunderous wailing—the county magistrate had ordered government office runners to guard the Huang family; the matter was too grave to ignore, and they must report it.

Half his face was shadowed. He spoke low: "Only after going to the government office did I learn—Deng Maoqi, the rebel causing chaos in Fujian, is from here. And he was driven away from this place by the Huang family."