The first floor of the inn was a small dining hall similar to a regular tavern, but the hygiene was terrible. The floor was dirty, tables and chairs were placed haphazardly, and unwashed bowls and chopsticks were scattered about, emitting a faint stench. The windows were tightly shut, allowing only feeble moonlight to squeeze through, making the figures of Lin Cui and Li Tan appear somewhat hazy.
“There’s no way to hide anyone here, right?”
Lin Cui looked around the cramped dining hall, growing anxious.
The layout was immediately visible: the area for guests to dine, the place where the innkeeper collected money and served drinks, and a room concealed behind a blue curtain.
She quickly strode behind the counter, pulled the curtain aside, and under the dim moonlight, saw a plain little room filled with miscellaneous items.
“Li Tan, come take a look. If Xiao Xue was here, there must be something suspicious about this place, like a hidden room or something.”
“It seems your brain hasn’t completely rotted away after all. At least it’s better than a piece of rotten wood.”
Li Tan spoke in a sharp tone as he stepped forward. Lin Cui was so irritated she could barely contain herself, but she had no choice but to vent her frustration on the pitiful floor.
“You useless good-for-nothing, don’t mock me like that.”
Lin Cui stopped beside Li Tan, responding with an indignant tone.
“Useless good-for-nothing?
Didn’t you hear what I said upstairs just now?”
“That…” Lin Cui was momentarily at a loss for words. After a brief pause, she seemed to grow even more flustered.
“I was just being cautious. Don’t make a big deal out of nothing.”
Li Tan rolled his eyes at Lin Cui, who was now stammering and likely didn’t even know what she was saying anymore. Not wanting to continue bickering or perhaps out of a mischievous impulse to tease the girl, he dropped the subject and stepped ahead of Lin Cui into the storage-like room behind the curtain. A wave of moldy stench hit him immediately—this place seemed to have rarely had its windows opened.
“Ugh… Other than that drunkard upstairs, there’s not a single soul here. What’s the point of running this inn anyway?”
Lin Cui followed shortly after, covering her face with one hand while aimlessly waving the other to clear away the dust.
She paused, glancing around the cramped room.
“Just a front, used to mislead people.”
Li Tan placed his hand on a vase as he casually answered.
“I know that too, but don’t you think it’s unnecessary? Why not just choose a hidden place as a base instead of going through all this trouble?”
“This isn’t unnecessary at all. If we did that, it would easily draw the attention of spies from the city lord’s mansion. Forget that—check if Xiao Xue is in the hidden room.”
“What?”
Lin Cui looked puzzled. At that moment, there was a ‘ka-cha’ sound as a corner of the dusty floor split open in two, revealing a dark stone staircase leading to an unknown place.
Li Tan silently watched the opening of the hidden room, his expression turning serious, secretly thinking with anticipation.
Is it this way?
The hideout of that group.
“What’s going on? Why did it suddenly open by itself?”
Lin Cui’s eyes widened in confusion. Suddenly, as if realizing something, her body trembled, panic flashing across her face. She grabbed Li Tan’s hand and tried to pull him outside.
“What are you doing?”
Li Tan looked at Lin Cui in bewilderment. She turned back, her expression half-angry, half-revengeful as she replied.
“If the hidden room’s door opens by itself, it must mean those kidnappers are coming out. Are you going to stay here waiting for someone to serve you tea?”
Li Tan’s lips twitched. Without a word, he silently turned his head toward the vase his right hand was resting on. When Lin Cui looked his way, he gently tapped it, then firmly pressed and twisted. With another ‘ka-cha,’ the entrance to the hidden room shut closed.
Most areas along the riverside were lively at night, but there were also quieter corners. On one such dimly lit and sparsely populated street, a girl’s silhouette was faintly visible.
She appeared to be around sixteen or seventeen years old. Her long black hair bathed in moonlight, reflecting a silvery sheen. Underneath were bright, curious eyes brimming with vitality—an adorable and energetic girl.
She wore a light green long-sleeved dress with peony patterns, and around her waist was a valuable-looking ancient jade, suggesting she might be the daughter of a wealthy family.
“How quiet it is.”
The girl sighed and sat down on a wooden bench by the roadside, gazing at the half-moon in the sky, her tense body and mind relaxing slightly.
As if recalling something, her cheeks flushed slightly, and she pouted while murmuring.
“I wonder who that young man I met this morning really was. I went specially in the afternoon to visit, but those people wouldn’t let me in. Sigh, I’ll have to find another opportunity.”
This lone girl was none other than Tang Leyin, the one Li Tan missed dearly.
After sitting for a short while, seemingly growing tired of the desolate scenery nearby, Tang Leyin stretched lazily, letting out a soft and charming moan before standing up to walk forward—but she suddenly stopped.
“Huh? Strange aura…”
Curious, Tang Leyin turned around, facing a seemingly ordinary two-story wooden building by the roadside. From the loose-hanging signboard, it was clear this was a long-neglected inn.
She approached the inn, stopping in front of its tightly closed door. She tried peering inside through the paper-covered window, seeing only three or five tables with unwashed bowls and chopsticks scattered about—everything looked messy.
“What a disgusting aura. Could there be a dark cultivator inside?”
Tang Leyin’s expression turned serious. She was about to push the door open and rush in, but then withdrew her hand. She stared at the door, her eyes briefly flashing with a glint—her spiritual energy was being extended outward.
“It seems empty inside. Strange… I should be careful.”
Muttering to herself, Tang Leyin stepped back onto the street, slightly tilting her head upward. With a gentle bounce of her heel, her figure floated upward as lightly as a bird.
Before she even landed steadily, the sight before her left her stunned.
“Why is there a hole? Could someone else have sneaked in?”
Her rippling eyes sparkled with confusion as Tang Leyin tilted her head cutely, her gaze catching a glimpse of the opening.
After hesitating briefly, she carefully leapt down.
“Just an ordinary room. How strange. Why did that aura disappear just now?”
Puzzled, Tang Leyin tugged at her silky hair strands while once again extending her spiritual energy outward. The second floor had only a few scattered guests, such as a drunkard, while the first floor was completely empty.
Driven by curiosity, she cautiously descended to the first floor. She only stayed in the dining hall for a moment before lifting the curtain behind the cashier counter and entering the room behind it—a simple and shabby storage room.
“That aura couldn’t have appeared out of nowhere. There must be a dark cultivator hiding here. Could there be a hidden room capable of blocking spiritual energy?”
Tang Leyin looked around, carefully scanning every corner of the storage room with her spiritual energy.
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