Xu Yuehua had a slight suspicion about Shangguan Xi's concealment, but she dared not put it into practice. She stood at the doorway, looked around twice, and stared at the closed door as if she had completely isolated herself from them.

Nothing unexpected happened on the way back, and they even completed the mission ahead of schedule. When they returned to the mission site to submit their mission, the elder deacon looked at the young men in disbelief, "You finished so quickly?!"

Nangong Yu replied, waving his fan, "Yes, Elder, but the journey was too dangerous. You have no idea what happened. Ugh, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps!"

Nangong Yu's exaggerated words, coupled with his expression, added some credibility to the story. Looking at Nangong Yu's face, the elder actually began to believe it to some extent. "Then, have you suffered any casualties?"

"It's all part of the training, so injuries are inevitable. There are deaths, but it wasn't us who died." Nangong Yu spoke with heavy breathing, startling the elder in charge. He remembered that the children in this team were all prodigies, and he had heard that Senior Sister Xu Yuehuai was also among them. If something happened to this team, he would really have to apologize for his thoughts.

After confirming that they were all alright, the elder deacon refused to speak to Nangong Yu. In order to live a few more years, he refused to communicate. Nangong Yu smiled and stepped back, allowing Shangguan Xi, the team leader, to step forward and submit the task.

Xu Yuehuai had been watching the elder's expression closely, and was astonished when he saw the mission. The elder knew that the mission they had accepted was very difficult, so at first he was just surprised that they could complete such a high-level mission in such a short time. But now, the moment he saw the mission, his thoughts completely changed.

The elder deacon looked up at them strangely, then quickly and with trembling hands helped them register the tasks. After that, Shangguan Xi clapped his hands and said, "Alright, now that the tasks are all completed, let's rest for a few days. Everyone has been quite tired from the journey."

As Shangguan Xi finished speaking and was about to leave, Xu Yuehuai, who was standing next to her, noticed something was amiss. Ignoring her words, he looked at the elder in charge and asked, "Do you know anything about the secrets behind this mission?"

The elder in charge paused in placing the plaque, then smiled and looked at Xu Yuehuai, "What are you saying? How could we possibly know those things? We were just surprised to see you complete the mission, after all, you were the first team to complete it."

The elder in charge pointed behind him, where there were only empty spaces. These spaces were used to store completed tasks, and at this moment, only the plaques indicating that Xu Yuehuai and the others had returned were displayed.

Shangguan Qi knew that Xu Yuehuai never asked unnecessary questions, so he stopped where he was, looked at Xu Yuehuai, and said worriedly, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

She turned her head and looked at the wall in front of her again, but didn't find anything special about it. She really couldn't understand why Xu Yuehuai was staring at such a place.

Xu Yuehuai neither nodded nor shook her head, but simply said to them, "Let's go. The courtyard has been inhabited for a long time and needs to be cleaned properly."

The group left, but after they left, the elder in charge hurriedly ran off to another place.

Back in the courtyard, fallen leaves covered the ground and even the tables, but no one rushed to clean them up. Instead, they looked at Xu Yuehuai and asked, "Is something wrong? Is there something you can't say there?"

Shangguan Xi was puzzled. She could tell at a glance that Xu Yuehuai felt that place was not a good place to talk.

“I suspect that there are more to these tasks than what they appear to be. When that elder was asking me questions, his eyes darted around, and he was clearly guilty,” Xu Yuehuai explained. “Moreover, I saw the tasks hanging on the wall before. Some of them were unusually simple. We’ve been gone for half a month. Logically speaking, those who accepted simple tasks shouldn’t have not returned in half a month.”

Upon hearing Xu Yuehuai's words, everyone seemed to suddenly realize that it was indeed true. Xuan Chi, standing to the side, frowned and asked, "You mean there's a problem within this sect?"

Shi Mu trembled on the side. What would it be like to follow a group of powerful people? This was exactly what he was like now. He didn't know what to do or say, so he could only listen quietly from the side.

Xu Yuehuai shook her head again, "I don't think so. The sect should be fine. The problem should be with the missions."

Xu Yuehuai's words were cryptic and difficult to understand, and Shi Mu was even more baffled by the mystery behind them.

Fu Ziyi didn't listen to what Xu Yuehuai was saying at all. Anyway, there were several people here, so it didn't matter whether he listened or solved the problem. Baili Xiuwen, on the other hand, listened to Xu Yuehuai attentively, but did not express any opinions.

Xuan Chi said, "So you suspect that those disciples who took on other missions might be dead? Or are these missions themselves a trap? But if that's the case, what was the trap we encountered in Tianqi City? It seems we didn't encounter any particular difficulties."

After Xuan Chi finished his analysis, he asked all the questions that Nangong Yu and Shangguan Xi had. Xu Yuehuai continued, "Yes and no. These tasks were all personally assigned by my master. I don't doubt his intentions, but the task is not as simple as it seems on the surface."

"On my way back to the courtyard, I kept observing my surroundings for anything unusual, and I discovered something quite different. I saw disciples who had accepted the mission and had now returned to the sect." Xu Yuehuai felt that the answer was clear by now, and looked at everyone with anticipation in her eyes, hoping to reveal this ending.

Nangong Yu, standing to the side, chimed in, "No way, no way? They haven't all turned into puppets, have they? I already said they accepted a mission and went out. Now that they're back, they must have completed the mission. If they completed the mission, why isn't there any record of them on the mission wall?"

Xuan Chi was about to speak when Nangong Yu interrupted him. He thought Nangong Yu would say something earth-shattering, but he didn't expect this. Xuan Chi looked at him speechlessly for a while.

“I guess the surface mission is actually a route, and the injustices near the final destination of this route are the real mission we need to complete.” Xuan Chi ignored Nangong Yu and voiced his guess, and the whole room fell silent.