Chapter 181

"You mean that leader of the Dark Pavilion!? Sun Jingde!?"

The Celestial Venerable was shocked by Fan Xiaoxiao's words, and leaned forward slightly from his chair. He then realized that his movement was too impulsive, so he sat back down: "Sun Jingde is skilled in martial arts. Don't you know nothing about kung fu? How could you possibly kill him?"

"The poison I used."

Fan Xiaoxiao raised her eyes and looked steadily at the Heavenly Venerable, then succinctly recounted what had happened in the deserted village.

After listening, the Celestial Venerable's brows remained tightly furrowed, and his hand on the table unconsciously tapped the surface.

"If what you say is true, then it's possible that the Dao has come to seek revenge on you..."

Fan Xiaoxiao nodded, not revealing that the Dark Pavilion was actually searching for the walnut in her hand. She stared blankly at the bricks on the ground, lost in thought. She couldn't understand why, even though she had instructed the sect disciples to search for the Heavenly Venerable and Sang Lan'er, the other party seemed completely unaware.

"Heavenly Venerable, I actually sent a message to Tianshan when I left the town. Did neither you nor Sister Sang receive it?"

After a moment of silence, Fan Xiaoxiao asked the same question to the Celestial Venerable again.

The Celestial Venerable abruptly stopped banging his hand on the table, looked up at Fan Xiaoxiao, his eyes filled with seriousness: "You said you notified me and Sang Lan'er!?"

"Yes." Fan Xiaoxiao was quite certain that she had informed the Heavenly Venerable. After all, the old woman had indeed seemed somewhat suspicious. Although she really wanted the blue bricks, she wasn't so unaware of priorities. Besides, a large part of her reason for following her was to allow the Heavenly Venerable to capture someone alive so she could gather information about the court's movements.

Who knew that when she blew the signal whistle given by Tianshan, the men who came were easily defeated by the men in black. Fortunately, those disciples did not lose their lives because of her, otherwise she would not be at peace even as a ghost.

However, the Celestial Venerable seemed surprised by Fan Xiaoxiao's words, and his expression faltered noticeably. His expression turned somewhat serious: "Those disciples are all relatively new to the sect. They were clearly not sent out by me, and besides, I know nothing about this matter."

Sure enough, Fan Xiaoxiao's heart sank slightly; it seemed there were some problems within Tianshan as well.

The Celestial Venerable had clearly thought of this as well. The two exchanged a glance and fell silent for a moment.

It was in this setting that Sang Lan'er entered the lakeside house.

"Master? Lady Xiaoxiao? What are you two doing?"

Sang Lan'er spoke with a slight northern accent from Youzhou, which always made her sound somewhat comical. However, Fan Xiaoxiao and Tianzun had no intention of joking at this moment. They looked up at Sang Lan'er, and then Tianzun asked her, "Little Sangzi, let me ask you, did you hear Xiaoxiao give us a message today?"

"No, Lady Xiaoxiao asked me before, and I told her then that I didn't hear any noise from the mountain gate."

The Celestial Venerable's expression darkened, and he then looked at Fan Xiaoxiao and asked, "Do you remember what the disciple who delivered the message looked like?"

When he asked her that, Fan Xiaoxiao couldn't quite recall the person's face. She only remembered that in her haste, she saw a distinct black mole on the person's neck, near the major artery, and it was very round. That's why she remembered that feature immediately, but otherwise, Fan Xiaoxiao couldn't recall much.

She told the Celestial Venerable and Sang Lan'er about the characteristic she remembered. After listening, the latter frowned slightly: "This disciple does not seem to have seen this person in the sect."

"What about the disciples who returned? They must have seen the person who ordered them to go out! What did that person look like?"

Fan Xiaoxiao thought of her disciples who were still alive, and unconsciously clenched her fists before taking two steps forward.

Mentioning this, Sang Lan'er's expression turned somewhat strange.

Seeing that she didn't speak, the Celestial Venerable raised his eyebrows, looked up at her, and asked, "Speak up, what's wrong? Are you mute?"

Sang Lan'er's mouth moved, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated, and in the end, what she wanted to say turned into a sigh.

"Although all the disciples have returned, only the one with the broken arm has seen the face of the person who arranged for them to leave. However, that person's injuries are too severe. Although we arrived in time, he is still unconscious and shows no signs of waking up."

Fan Xiaoxiao choked up. She hadn't expected things to turn out this way. Suddenly, she felt a lump of resentment welling up in her chest, making her feel uncomfortable.

The Celestial Venerable, his brow furrowed and his hand clenched into a fist as he tapped the table, knew all too well that something was amiss. After a moment of silence, he instructed Sang Lan'er, "Go and fetch that old man from Tianhu to examine the injured disciple. Make sure he lives. Also, inform the elders to check if any disciple in the sect has a mole on their neck."

"yes!"

Sang Lan'er accepted the order and was about to leave the small house, but the Heavenly Venerable seemed to remember something and called her back.

"Wait, I'll go with you. If you go alone, that old guy might make things difficult for you."

After saying that, the Celestial Venerable stood up and was about to leave with Sang Lan'er. Fan Xiaoxiao subconsciously wanted to follow, but just as she reached the door, the Celestial Venerable stopped her with one hand: "You can stay in Tianshan for today. The east side of this courtyard is Xiao Chaoyan's room. You can stay there for today, and I will send someone to take you down tomorrow."

After saying this, the Celestial Venerable led Sang Lan'er out of the lakeside house, leaving Fan Xiaoxiao alone. Fan Xiaoxiao waited at the lakeside house until late at night, but the two did not return.

The early autumn night was still a bit chilly. The tea room of the Celestial Venerable had roller blinds on three sides, which made it a bit cool. Fan Xiaoxiao didn't dare to light the lamp, so she huddled in a corner and hugged herself tightly.

After experiencing so much, she was afraid of being in a closed room. A room with open space on three sides but with a place to lean on behind her actually made her feel safer.

However, since the Celestial Venerable's courtyard was situated between a forest and a lake, Fan Xiaoxiao huddled in a corner, watching the heavy shadows of the trees in the distance, which resembled a pack of black beasts. They swayed gently in the night, the rustling sounds like whispers among monsters.

Although she could lean against something behind her, Fan Xiaoxiao always felt that she could hear the croaking of frogs and the chirping of insects under the board she was sitting on. In addition, there were probably some small animals moving around in the reeds, which always made the reeds rustle.

Fan Xiaoxiao had no choice but to shrink herself down even further, and then she found a bunch of books and built walls of books around herself, trying to gain some sense of security in this way.

But just as she finished everything, the roof above her suddenly made a thud, as if someone had landed on it.

Fan Xiaoxiao tensed up instinctively, pressing herself tightly against the wall behind her, even holding her breath.

"Thump."

There was another thud, but this time the sound was much louder. Fan Xiaoxiao saw a dark figure leap into the waterside pavilion. The figure slowly moved towards her, and Fan Xiaoxiao felt like her heart was about to explode. She desperately shrank into a corner, trying to minimize her presence. She kept praying in her heart: Don't come any closer, don't come any closer, don't come any closer!

But the dark figure didn't hear Fan Xiaoxiao's inner hopes. With another thud, the black silver figure was only five steps away from Fan Xiaoxiao.

That's it, this time it's really over.

Fan Xiaoxiao resignedly closed her eyes, her heart trembling as she began to curse the old man, the Heavenly Venerable, for leaving her here alone. Just as Fan Xiaoxiao was mentally cursing the Heavenly Venerable for the third time, a voice that sounded incredibly familiar rang out in front of her: "Fan Xiaoxiao."

(End of this chapter)