The window frame was pushed open, and a black shadow, like water, silently flowed into the cave dwelling No. 1700.
The young Taoist apprentices in the inner gate dining hall mostly had cultivation at the Qi Transformation stage. It would be difficult to sneak past Yuan Ning’s notice.
Yet this person was completely different—nearly soundless, arriving beside their beds.
Even with Yuan Ning fully alert and on guard, he couldn’t detect the intruder.
[Xiao Ai No. 1 (Lin): He must have a treasure that conceals breath, like the Tortoise Hiding Technique, or he’s mastered the Tortoise Hiding Method.]
Huangpu Yuan closed his eyes and remained still, his eyelashes slightly trembling.
The Tortoise Hiding Method.
In the trial layer of Li Village in Zhenchuan, the wooden puppets sent by the Wang family—three generations of grandfather and grandson—were stealth cultivators trained in the Tortoise Hiding Method.
In the Sea of Books layer, there was the Blood Slaughtering Formation that surrounded the Nine-Tailed Fox.
In the Li Village layer, again, it was a thief using the Tortoise Hiding Method.
What a coincidence?
This Zhenchuan from Clearwater Sect… there was definitely something wrong.
As Huangpu Yuan slightly furrowed his brow, the black shadow beside his bed already covered his pale face under the moonlight.
The shadow moved downward, stopping at the large golden chain on his chest.
[Xiao Ai No. 2 (Huangpu): It indeed is the Tortoise Hiding Method. But… junior apprentice sister, could you please release my blanket first…?]
Huangpu Yuan sighed helplessly.
The black shadow hovering over his chest stopped.
Before the intruder entered, Lin Shuang had tried to hide behind the folded quilts on the inner side of the bed.
But as she turned over, the jade hairpin on her head caught onto the thick, soft fur on his body.
Lin Shuang was speechless about this, even feeling desperate. She applied a Tortoise Hiding Talisman on herself.
That wasn’t all—she also cast a one-way glass talisman onto the thief.
Luckily, the thief was only at the Qi Transformation stage and didn’t notice anything at all.
These one-way glass talismans were her treasured collection, specially used when she was daydreaming or concentrating.
Once applied, everything around turned into a black screen.
Nothing could be seen.
Unless a scenic wallpaper was installed.
The talisman on this shadow figure was from her stock, and she hadn’t yet added a scenic image.
Therefore, the intruder now… was blind, surrounded by darkness.
[Xiao Ai No. 1 (Lin): Senior apprentice brother Huangpu, at a time like this, couldn’t you just give me the entire blanket?]
Huangpu Yuan remained silent.
[Xiao Ai No. 1 (Lin): From a bright area into darkness, it should take only a few breaths before vision recovers. If it takes longer, he’ll sense something unusual.]
[Xiao Ai No. 1 (Lin): If I don’t remove my one-way mirror talisman soon, he’ll use his spiritual sense to investigate…]
Huangpu Yuan let out a leisurely sigh, watching the ‘intruder’ who had suddenly gone blind and become alert, frozen in place.
He formed a sound-dampening seal, reached out his hand from under the covers, and reached toward the bright woman beside him.
His hand touched silk-like smoothness.
He paused, then instinctively let his palm move downward, feeling further.
Her hair, flowing like three thousand strands, was smoother than his fur?
That shouldn’t be.
[Xiao Ai No. 1 (Lin): ??? Senior apprentice brother, this is my hair, not your blanket.]
Huangpu Yuan was momentarily stunned. Could it be that the spiritual spring water in Clearwater Sect’s outer gate was better for hair?
So that’s why the outer gates of Shanhai Sect and Clearwater Sect always fought over the spiritual springs year after year?
His fingers unwillingly moved upward, pulling the jade hairpin from her bun that had been entangled with his fur.
As the intruder reached up to rub his eyes, Huangpu Yuan pushed her behind the folded quilts on the inner side of the bed with one palm.
Lin Shuang was immediately freed from the entangled fur blanket and crouched in the shadows without moving.
But her eyebrows twitched.
Her back was shoved by a palm, and the fabric faintly transmitted a scorching heat.
Tonight… were all these people fond of pushing ‘her’ from behind?
Dogs did it, humans did it.
Well, special circumstances—Senior apprentice brother Huangpu’s actions were understandable.
Lin Shuang gritted her teeth.
Suddenly, the one-way mirror talisman on the intruder’s shoulder, due to his eye-rubbing, began to fall.
Just before it hit the ground and made a sound, Huangpu Yuan flicked a gentle breeze from his fingers, softly catching it and slowly lowering it to the floor.
No sound was made.
The intruder’s vision instantly returned to night vision, and he moved again.
He swiftly reached out and touched the golden chain around Huangpu Yuan’s neck. The chain broke, and the treasure pouch embedded with a pearl fell into his hand.
Like flowing water, he once again exited through the window beside the bed, making no sound.
Lin Shuang waited a moment before cautiously lifting her head.
Huangpu Yuan opened his eyes.
“Why didn’t Senior apprentice brother act just now?”
“Why didn’t junior apprentice sister act?”
In their eyes, wariness and helplessness flashed.
They hadn’t captured the Qi Transformation apprentice on the spot but instead let the tiger return to the mountains, hoping to catch the entire gang behind the thief.
How many times had this happened?
Since entering Zhenchuan, the two of them had repeatedly thought the same thoughts.
This feeling of being evenly matched was fine once, but happening again and again—it was very ominous.
Lin Shuang and Huangpu Yuan simultaneously lowered their eyelids.
—He thought the same as me again. If Rongbao Studio is the enemy, my future actions will be constantly restricted by him, greatly reducing efficiency. This is bad; I need to find a way to resolve this in advance.
—She’s far smarter than Meng Zi. If we continue working together, my identity might be exposed. I must find a proper way to hide or make her drop out early.
“Senior apprentice brother, where did you buy that blanket? It’s so soft?”
“Junior apprentice sister, what spiritual spring water do you use in the outer gate to wash your hair?”
They both spoke at the same time, trying to mask the wariness they had almost revealed.
But right after speaking, they both showed even more wary expressions toward each other.
Damn, he/she also thought of changing the subject!
*
“Let me tell you, Lin Shuang might be a bit abnormal, her cultivation isn’t serious, but the things she messes with are actually quite useful.”
Meng Zi, bored of waiting, walked into Xiao Bai’s bedroom with his hands on his waist.
On Xiao Ai Backup No. 3 machine, the ‘surveillance’ of the necessary paths around the dining hall, Room 730, and Room 1700 was displayed.
Just chatting, when Meng Zi suddenly stood straight.
On the main path leading to Room 730, a pitch-black shadow swiftly flashed by.
If it weren’t for his years of sneaking around—no, wait, constantly moving between Clearwater Sect’s patrol team and the Yanyi Pavilion’s assassins—he probably wouldn’t have noticed!
“Xiao Bai, he’s coming! Hurry!”
Bai Yu looked at Xiao Ai No. 4 machine, his expression complex.
A bird had just flown away from outside the window.
—The Sparrow Clan has detected movement; the target is approaching. Young Master Bai, please be careful.
The information from the demon race arrived at the same time as Lin Shuang’s Xiao Ai surveillance, both capturing the thief’s figure simultaneously.
Bai Yu shook his head and continued meditating, pretending to be exhausted.
Soon after, the cave dwelling door was silently pushed open.
The intruder who entered was the same apprentice who had served them meals in the dining hall.
“F—got you, you little thief!” Meng Zi instantly pressed down on his shoulder from behind.
Bai Yu and the intruder stiffened simultaneously.
Bai Yu’s expression changed dramatically—Oh no, he forgot to remind Senior Brother Meng not to act recklessly!
Within two or three breaths, Meng Zi was pushed backward repeatedly.
The apprentice, who was only at the Qi Transformation stage, suddenly transformed into water and vanished from the ground like a puddle.
“Damn it, Senior apprentice brother Meng, he had a teleportation talisman on him!”
“He escaped because we acted too soon!”
Meng Zi cursed on the spot and rushed out of the cave dwelling!
*
[Xiao Ai No. 4 (Bai): The thief activated the teleportation talisman and escaped immediately.]
Lin Shuang, supporting her forehead and flipping through an illustrated book under candlelight, suddenly froze.
Huangpu Yuan, sipping tea across the table, frowned slightly as if sensing something.
It didn’t matter that he escaped—there were demon spies all around.
(Note: “妖族” is translated as “demon” in this context, as it commonly refers to supernatural or malevolent creatures in fantasy settings. Alternative translations could include “monster spies” or “evil spirit spies” depending on the specific lore.)
Teleportation talismans distort the surrounding spiritual energy space; anyone passing through would sense it.
But in an instant, he raised his eyebrows, looking at Lin Shuang, whose face had suddenly changed. The smooth, black hair he had just touched began to fade from the top, becoming almost transparent.
“?”
“Senior apprentice brother, something’s wrong—I had a thread of spiritual sense attached to that intruder.”
“As soon as the sense entered, I’m going to be teleported along with him—”
Huangpu Yuan’s phoenix eyes widened slightly.
The demon race reaches adulthood at a hundred years old, lives for a thousand years, and carries a legacy of ten thousand years.
“Junior apprentice sister, you’ve inherited the ten-thousand-year-old Spider Spirit’s technique from the demon race, huh?”
How could your spiritual sense stretch so far? From Room 1700 to Room 730 without breaking?
He had only seen something like that in a spider spirit during his childhood.
“…”
Lin Shuang had no time to explain her daily training of spiritual sense resilience.
She could only wipe her hands and then grab his wide sleeve.
In the span of a breath, her entire body turned transparent like water and vanished from sight.
Along with her, the seated and tea-sipping Huangpu Yuan also disappeared…
*
In a mountain range a hundred miles away.
The black-clothed apprentice, disguised as a servant, emerged from the ground like bubbles, gradually taking shape.
As soon as he appeared, he removed the black cloth from his face, revealing his innocent, clean face of a dining hall apprentice.
But in those clear eyes, a flash of ruthlessness instantly appeared.
“Close call!”
Just muttering to himself, a distant figure in dark purple robes rapidly approached.
“Why are you here today?”
“Today isn’t the handover day.”
The apprentice hurriedly bowed respectfully, his expression nervous. “Honored Master, I was discovered by a disciple tonight while intruding, so I had to escape using teleportation. I only managed to take one treasure.”
“Please grant me punishment, Honored Master!”
Hearing this, the purple-robed venerable one wasn’t angered but instead burst into laughter, his eyes gleaming with covetous desire.
“Good, good, good. You escaped well. Who was the disciple that discovered you—”
But before he could finish speaking, ripples like water gurgled, as if a spring were overflowing.
A tea table, accompanied by two chairs, suddenly appeared before them.
On the Taishi chair sat a clearly beautiful woman in green robes and red cords, holding a novel titled “She Is the Mother of Four Patriarchs” with a smile on her face.
Opposite her, a seemingly frail man with a phoenix-eyed, handsome face, who was now smirking slightly, held a teacup, his temple vein bulging as he looked at them.
Intruding apprentice: “?”
Purple-robed Venerable: “???”
He couldn’t believe it, glaring down at the foolish apprentice.
What the hell, this is the escape you mentioned?
You brought the enemy with you when you fled!?
“Hi.” Lin Shuang waved her novel and smiled at them.
“!”
“!!”
Lin Shuang slowly put away the book, her smile gradually fading.
Her voice dropped from high to low.
“It was you—interrupting my schedule, teleporting me here in the middle of the night?”
“I had only 64 more seconds to finish this chapter.”
Purple-robed Venerable: “???”
Apprentice: “…” What the hell, then why don’t you just leave!?
“Senior apprentice brother,” Lin Shuang turned to look at Huangpu Yuan, “which one do you want? Since you’re not feeling well, I’ll let you choose first.”
Huangpu Yuan chuckled lightly. “Junior apprentice sister, you’re truly generous.”
As he spoke, the Venerable One’s palm strike angrily flew toward them.
Huangpu Yuan’s phoenix eyes widened in an instant. Following the force of the strike, he floated backward toward the ruined temple behind him.
Retreating ten zhang in an instant.
“Junior apprentice sister, the ninety-seven of you—was that real?”
“In an incense stick’s time, I’ll come find you.”
Seeing Huangpu Yuan heading toward the ruined temple, the Venerable One angrily shot a pill toward the apprentice and instantly pursued Huangpu Yuan.
“Take this—it’ll elevate you to the Ningyuan stage for half an hour. Kill this female cultivator!”
The apprentice was delighted.
But in the blink of an eye, as he held the blood-red pill, Lin Shuang slapped his entire body with her novel.
The blood-red pill flew in a parabolic arc.
Apprentice: “!”
“Wasting my entire night, you still want to charge for two minutes and swell for half an hour…”
Lin Shuang reached out, and the blood-red pill, as if precisely calculated, landed exactly in her palm.
She raised her eyebrows, looking down at the apprentice lying in the deep pit.
“What gave you such dreams?”
The apprentice gasped, “…!”
Lin Shuang turned the blood-red pill and sniffed it lightly, immediately frowning.
It had a strong fishy smell.
Stepping over the deep pit where the apprentice lay, she put away the pill and turned off the high-energy BGM in her earpiece. The ninety-seven Dantian she had just unleashed also instantly retreated and rested.
The apprentice, filled with shock and panic, asked, “What are you… you’re not from the outer gate…”
But Lin Shuang simply placed her hand on her forehead, completely ignoring him.
She hesitated, pacing back and forth on the spot.
“He said he’d come find me in an incense stick’s time.”
“But now I’m already free. What should I do?”
“Should I take a nap here? But I don’t have plans to sleep outdoors tonight.”
An incense stick’s time was half an hour.
If I have nothing to do early, is that okay?
Apprentice: “…”
*
The purple-robed Venerable One swiftly pursued Huangpu Yuan at full speed, his cultivation at the seventh layer of Condensed Yuan instantly surging to its peak.
A blade instantly slashed toward the frail Huangpu Yuan’s back as he calmly examined the temple.
But the blade shattered with a “snap” behind Huangpu Yuan’s light cough.
It didn’t even touch him.
The purple-robed Venerable One suddenly staggered backward, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Just before the blood splashed onto Huangpu Yuan’s soft fur cloak, the droplets suddenly froze and fell to the ground.
The Venerable One’s sword hilt trembled.
His eyes bulged,
“Refining the Spirit… you, you’re actually a disciple of the Spirit Refinement stage?”
A soft, barely audible laugh vibrated from Huangpu Yuan’s chest.
His gaze finally shifted from a dark brick inside the ruined temple.
He reached out lightly, took out a treasure mirror hidden there, and began to flip it over in his hand.
“Oh, so the stolen goods were indeed hidden at the other end of the teleportation talisman.”
Huangpu Yuan gave a faint smile, turned around, and calmly gazed at the Venerable One.
The Venerable One’s face turned pale. As he reached to press his communication stone, his body suddenly froze.
His throat—was pierced instantly by sharp fingers!
The Venerable One’s eyes widened in terror, only able to gurgle incoherently as he stared up in horror at Huangpu Yuan, who leaned down with a chilling smile.
“You… you’re actually a demon…”
“Shh, I’m in a bad mood lately. Don’t look at me like that.”
Huangpu Yuan lowered his head and whispered softly into the Venerable One’s ear.
“It’s been frustrating, hiding my secrets and unable to act.”
“If she hadn’t come in an incense stick’s time, I would’ve told you everything.”
The Venerable One’s eyes widened in terror, struggling frantically, “No no… no…”
“Actually, compared to using a sword, I prefer killing human cultivators like this.”
Huangpu Yuan’s long black hair slowly turned snow-white with golden streaks, the tips turning blood red.
“Breaking through their bones, tearing their muscles, hearing the sound of their blood dripping onto the ground…”
“What do you think? Is the human’s sword better, or is my way better?”
The Venerable One trembled violently, scrambling backward.
At the seventh level of Ning Yuan, he was almost at the Spirit Refinement stage.
As long as his primordial spirit remains intact, even if his physical body is destroyed, there is still a chance for survival!
“Oh,” Huangpu Yuan tilted his head, smiling lightly, “why am I the only one talking?”
“What secrets do you have, huh?”
His face was as pale as if it had never seen sunlight, yet now adorned with crimson lips and his silver-white-red hair, he appeared even more bewitchingly alluring.
“Are you a demonic cultivator, or a member of the Tianji Society?”
“Or perhaps, both?”
The Venerable One’s pupils instantly dilated.
“It seems I guessed right.”
Huangpu Yuan’s eyes slightly lifted at the corners.
The smile that hadn’t reached his eyes instantly transformed into a furious, mad expression.
“Perfect, a reward for you.”
His slender, pale fingers instantly crushed the Venerable One’s skull, shattering the primordial spirit within piece by piece.
Blood splattered directly onto his expressionless pale face.
He slowly stood up, dragging the remains of the Venerable One, and turned around.
His crimson phoenix eyes gazed toward the temple door.
Meeting Lin Shuang’s gaze, who had just stepped across the threshold with one foot.
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