Ning Ning had covered Pei Ji's eyes with her hands before, but then she fell into deep sleep and had no strength left, so she put her right hand on his shoulder. Now, seeing Luan Niang getting up, she subconsciously shook her body and poked his thin face with her finger.

"There's something wrong with the incense."

Pei Ji actually used his spiritual power to transmit his voice. His cold voice sounded like winter snow in the night, and inexplicably carried a bit of laziness and fatigue: "Luo Yuanming should have fallen asleep by now, so there's no need to worry about him."

The incense should have been mixed with sleeping ingredients, so she and Pei Ji felt suddenly sleepy.

Ning Ning slowly gathered her consciousness from inside her body, trying to make herself more awake. At the same time, she whispered to him, "Luan Niang has gone out - let's go out and take a look."

Pei Ji replied with a low "Hmm".

She was never vague in doing things. After the agreement, she planned to leave immediately. However, when Ning Ning gently pushed the door open a little and was about to leave the wooden cabinet, she found that she was firmly tied by something and could not move forward at all.

That's right.

Her heart skipped a beat, and when

she lowered her head to look, she felt that Pei Ji behind her was also stunned. At that time, she moved around in the cabinet to touch his cheeks and eyes. Pei Ji suddenly lowered his head for some reason and said "Don't move" in her ear.

As if to restrain Ning Ning's movements, he put down his hand that was covering her lips when he spoke, and moved down quickly and silently, and put his arms heavily around the girl's soft waist.

Later, the incense became stronger, and the lights in the room were turned off. They were both preoccupied with their own thoughts and tiredness, and for a moment they even forgot about this.

Now the cabinet door was opened, and the moonlight fell between the boy's eyebrows, as cold as a transparent blade, which made Pei Ji sober up in an instant.

He couldn't see Ning Ning's expression, but he felt that the body so close to him was unbelievably warm. His arms were very close to her waist and abdomen, and through the thin layer of clothes, he seemed to be able to touch the slender waistline and the soft flesh as soft as boneless.

The heat that made him feel suffocated surged up again.

"Pei Ji?"

The place where she was hugged was warm and hot. Ning Ning was dizzy from the aroma lingering around her nose. Seeing that Pei Ji did not move, she panicked and embarrassed, and blurted out subconsciously: "Let go first, we can do it later--"

- What to do later?

Ning Ning: ...

Pei Ji: ...

The sleepiness in her head disappeared because of this sentence. Ning Ning was too ashamed to face anyone. She wanted to bury her head in the ground. She was silent for a long time and covered her entire face with her trembling right hand.

Pei Ji did not speak either, and silently loosened his hand on her waist;

Cheng Ying rarely spoke, curling up her entire spirit body like a soft worm, twisting and turning, and making a weird "gulp" sound from her throat.

Luan Niang put drugs in the incense, and got up in the middle of the night to go out while Luo Yuanming was sleeping soundly. Ning Ning knew that she could not delay, and she did not care about the shame and regret in her heart. She forced the unnecessary emotions back to the bottom of her heart and said sullenly: "Let's go." Luo Yuanming was

indeed sleeping very deeply. Through the bright moonlight, she could see the handsome face of the man who was defenseless while he was sleeping. He fell asleep with a faint smile on his face, his body facing the side where Luan Niang was before, and he stretched out his hand in a hugging gesture.

Unfortunately, the person beside him brushed away the hand mercilessly, and it disappeared long ago.

Ning Ning sighed in her heart, and cast a simple sleight of hand on herself and Pei Ji.

If it were seen by people with the same or higher cultivation level, this technique would be like chicken ribs and would not work at all, but for ordinary people like Luan Niang who had no cultivation, it would be difficult to find them even if they were far away.

The woman seemed to be a little afraid of Luo Yuanming, and she looked back from time to time after leaving the bedroom to confirm that there was nothing unusual in the room. Ningning slowed down her pace and breathing and followed her. She saw Luan Niang stop a short distance away and stand in the shadow of the corner of the courtyard wall.

The bright moonlight illuminated her profile. She was truly as fair as ice and as white as cream.

She didn't know if it was an illusion, but Luan Niang at this moment seemed to be more beautiful and fair than the previous times. Her eyes were charming and her delicate skin was wetted by the moonlight, like a flower tree covered with snow, like a demon born under the moon.

Luan Niang did not hesitate. While lowering her eyebrows and raising her sleeves, she actually took out something that Ningning was quite familiar with from her sleeves.

It was square and thin, and the talisman was carefully outlined with cinnabar. It was the communication talisman used by Taoists for instant communication.

"Strange."

Ning Ning immediately noticed something was wrong: "The girls in Nuanyu Pavilion said that Luan Niang entered a brothel since she was young and had never practiced immortal arts... How could she know how to use the communication talisman?"

Could it be that as those girls said, Luan Niang's body was still there, but her core was replaced, and she became a completely different person?

But if this assumption was true, why did she buy the painting on purpose? Only the real Luan Niang herself would care so much about her past as a teenager, right?

Pei Ji saw her confusion and said calmly, "Luan Niang has spiritual power in her body. Maybe someone has taught her some magic."

Although Ning Ning had the sleight of hand, it was not convenient for her to be too close to her, and she had no way of knowing the content of Luan Niang's letter in the middle of the night.

She wrote hurriedly, silently chanted the spell and sent it out, and soon received a reply. The reply was very short, probably only a few sentences, but Luan Niang raised the corners of her lips and raised a satisfied smile after reading it.

This smile was a bit creepy.

Ning Ning watched the woman under the moonlight read the letter, and finally leaned against the corner of the wall thoughtfully, with a flash of fire on her fingertips.

——The dark blue flame did not seem very abrupt in the night. It gnawed at the bottom of the letter like a ghost fire, and then burned more and more fiercely until it devoured the entire page, leaving only grains of ashes blown up by the wind.

Ning Ning was startled again: "Is this a spiritual fire?"

Unlike the communication talisman, the spiritual fire requires a more advanced level of cultivation. With the level of Luan Niang's use, she should have reached the initial level of foundation building.

Although foundation building is the level of entry into the immortal way, for an outsider like her who has never been exposed to the immortal gate, it is already an incredible state.

The people of Luan City all think that Madam is just an ordinary person. No one has ever said that Luo Yuanming is teaching her to practice immortal arts. The most important point is...

Ning Ning frowned.

Even though Luan Niang was gifted and a rare talent in cultivating immortals, and Luo Yuanming taught her everything he had learned, they had only known each other for less than a year. It seemed unlikely that they could master the spiritual fire in such a short time.

After Luan Niang burned the letter paper, she glanced around hurriedly, then wrapped her clothes tightly and left in the direction of the bedroom.

The city lord and his wife were both in the room, so Ning Ning naturally couldn't go back to that bedroom. Pei Ji's voice was still a little hoarse. He glanced at her quickly while speaking, and then quickly looked away: "Leaving?"

"There's another place that I'm a little concerned about."

Ning Ning shook her head, a gleam flashed in her eyes, raised her eyelashes and smiled mysteriously at him: "Do you still remember? The previous city lord's wife left nothing... except a bedroom that was ordered to be sealed by Luan Niang."

=====

Luo Yuanming's ex-wife was named Song Xianning. It was said that she had always had a distant relationship with him, and later they often quarreled. In a fit of anger, she moved into a secluded courtyard.

The relationship between the couple was up and down, sometimes good and sometimes bad, but Miss Song's illness became more and more serious day by day, and she died of old age. Now, her name is no longer heard by the people of Luancheng.

Not long after Song Xianning died, Luan Niang moved into the city lord's mansion. Luo Yuanming was at least a humble gentleman. Thinking of the past relationship between husband and wife, he left the house in the corner of the mansion.

Luan Niang must have been jealous and ordered the courtyard to be sealed off, and no one, including Luo Yuanming, was allowed to enter or leave.

Pei Ji didn't quite understand why he searched that room.

"That's what I think."

Ning Ning said, "In order to prove her innocence, Luan Niang ordered people to search the bedroom and study but found nothing, so there should be no cat pus in those two places. Don't you think it's strange that she ordered this place to be sealed off?"

"Song Xianning died unexpectedly. As the saying goes, a husband and wife are bound by love for a hundred days. It is natural for Luo Yuanming to leave her former residence. Moreover, the bad relationship between the two is well-known in the whole city. How can Luanniang be jealous?"

Pei Ji could not guess the woman's mind. He quietly held the sword and listened to her continue: "Moreover, from the description of the girls in Nuanyu Pavilion, Luanniang is a smart woman who knows how to please everyone. She has finally become the wife of the city lord and has just married into the family. If she did something like this, wouldn't she be labeled as petty? This would greatly reduce the impression of her in the eyes of Luo Yuanming and the common people.

Pei Ji followed her train of thought and frowned a little after hearing her words, "So you think she has other intentions in sealing off the courtyard."

Ning Ning smiled and raised her head, "Other places in the mansion may be exposed to the public, but there is only one place that will not be disturbed. Maybe we can find something useful in Song Xianning's room."

This was her initial guess.

For Ning Ning, Luan Niang's behavior of sealing off the courtyard was really illogical. Based on the information currently available, the only feasible explanation was that the other party had other intentions and regarded this place as a secret base unknown to the public.

As for what Luan Niang had done there, we would have to wait until we entered the room to find out.

Whether in character, temperament or life trajectory, Song Xianning, who was raised in a coquettish manner and was introverted and gentle, was completely different from Luan Niang.

It was said that this young lady had been reading poetry since she was a child, lived in the Gaoge all year round, and rarely left the Song Mansion. Ning Ning didn't know much about her, let alone her appearance. She could only barely draw the image of a thin, weak, and indifferent sick beauty in her mind.

She and Pei Ji easily climbed over the wall and entered the courtyard. The flowers and plants in the courtyard had been unattended for a long time, but they grew more and more lush and green, with branches and leaves spreading out. The shadows on the ground were also swaying in the breeze and moonlight, as if the water was clear and the shadows were endless.

The door was locked, but the window was not closed. The moment Ningning climbed through the window and entered the room, she first smelled a strong aroma of old book pages.

Song Xianning's bedroom was more like a study, with books piled up like a shelf. The air was filled with the smell of dust, and what she didn't expect was that there was no trace of anyone else entering or leaving this place.

There was a thick layer of gravel on the ground. When Ning Ning walked carefully, she left very obvious footprints.

It was also the only set of footprints. No one else had been here before.

The long and painstaking reasoning before... No, it was all over.

Ning Ning felt suffocated. She looked around blankly, and her doubts deepened.

Could it be that Luan Niang had never entered this room again? She was so smart, but for such a narrow-minded reason, she would not hesitate to let herself bear the name of "evil woman" in the eyes of the people?

This is too love-brained!

She was puzzled and checked the drawers, wooden cabinets and beds in the bedroom one by one, but found nothing unusual. Just when she was a little depressed, she suddenly heard Pei Ji whispered: "Senior sister."

"Hmm?"

Ning Ning turned around and saw him standing in front of the bookshelf, handing her a copy of "Ziwei Magic Records": "Open it and take a look."

His tone was very calm, Ning Ning did not hesitate and did what he said.

The rest of the books were covered with dust, and Pei Ji wiped them carefully before handing them to her, so they would not look dirty and difficult to handle.

As she flipped through the pages attentively, she heard the young man beside her say, "Although there are many books on the shelf, they all show signs of being read many times. Only this one is still brand new. Perhaps it was purchased by Madam Song shortly before she passed away. Once it is opened--"

He stopped here.

Ning Ning was also startled.

She opened the "Purple Star Magic Record" bit by bit, and when she passed a certain page, the strength of her fingertips changed.

Just as Pei Ji said, this book did not show signs of being read, and it looked very smooth. Between the pure white pages, there was a thin yellowed piece of paper.

She raised her eyes to look at Pei Ji, took the piece of paper in her hand without saying a word, and with the help of the bright moonlight, she could see the handwriting on the paper very clearly.

The words were small and beautiful, as clear and elegant as bamboo, and were written neatly: [Baihuashen, Lingluo Lane, turn the corner and walk ten steps to the left, behind the curtain.]

=====

"Lingluo Lane, turn the corner and walk ten steps to the left - what place could that be?"

Baihuashen was bustling late at night, but the alleys inside were dark, and all the doors and windows were silent, leaving only the occasional barking of dogs.

Ning Ning followed the path on the note and walked forward, breathing in the quiet and cold night wind: "Pei Ji, who do you think Luan Niang was writing to when she seduced Luo Yuanming late at night?"

She walked on a felled tree trunk, with her arms outstretched to keep her balance. Pei Ji looked to the side calmly, fearing that the little girl beside him would fall down.

"Luan Niang drugged Jiuzhou Chungui. If her purpose was to find a female cultivator to be sacrificed--"

He answered without hesitation: "Then she must be discussing with her accomplices about when to deal with Senior Sister Zheng."

Ning Ning looked at him in panic, her feet slipped, and she fell down.

Pei Ji didn't want to let her fall, but he didn't expect that his words would become the fuse. Seeing Ning Ning falling in the opposite direction of him, Pei Ji reached out without thinking and grabbed her wrist.

The girl's wrist was much weaker than he thought, so he didn't dare to use force. When Ning Ning stopped falling, he pulled it up gently.

Pei Ji had never been so serious and careful when holding the thousand-year-old gem in his previous experience.

"Thank you."

Ning Ning was frightened by his words, and her heart was pounding in her throat. After thanking him, Pei Ji continued to comfort her, "Don't worry too much. Most evil arts require human sacrifice. Since Luan Niang is still discussing with that person, it means that Senior Sister Zheng is safe and sound." Pei Ji

is worthy of his name. Even comforting people is so reasonable and well-founded.

She nodded after hearing this, and just as she was about to speak again, she found that something was wrong.

Ning Ning had already got off the stake at this time, but Pei Ji's right hand that was holding her wrist before... still did not let go.

His hands were not flawless and well-maintained like those of the children of aristocratic families. Instead, they were covered with knots and scars, and when they touched Ning Ning's wrist, they felt a slightly rough touch.

Pei Ji's body was always cold, but now there was a faint warmth in his palms. Unexpectedly, she did not feel resistance to the contact, but only felt inexplicably flustered. She turned her eyes around pretending to be calm, and finally mustered up the courage to turn her head to look at him.

Noticing Ning Ning's straightforward gaze, the strength of Pei Ji's right hand was noticeably lighter.

He had never held hands with anyone before.

Pei Ji used to think that this action was cumbersome and troublesome, and he did not like any physical contact with others. However, when he met Ning Ning, he couldn't help wanting to get closer and closer.

Not letting go of his hand from her wrist was a gamble that exhausted all his courage.

Ning Ning might hate the ugly scars and acne on his hands, and struggle with disgust, or she might not be willing to accept his touch, and retract her left hand after an awkward smile. But maybe, she would gradually accept it after a brief surprise -

in that case, Pei Ji would feel that maybe the relationship between them was not that far away.

He hadn't felt at ease for a long time. Even though he had always been cold and gloomy, he still had the inferiority and self-loathing that had been spreading in his bones since he was born.

Pei Ji didn't know what she would do.

All his ten fingers seemed to be burning. He had never been so nervous.

"That... Pei Ji."

Ning Ning's dry voice came to his ears. He suppressed the throbbing in his heart. When he opened his eyelids, his long eyelashes cast a layer of dark shadow under his eyes.

She hesitated to speak, as if she had made a decision, and slowly stopped.

Then she stretched out her other hand, lowered her head and covered Pei Ji's right hand with it, and gently moved the boy's pale and slender hand away.

Pei Ji's heart was empty.

The loss and helplessness came over him like a flood. His heart seemed to be beating wildly, but it seemed to be hanging motionless in his chest. The scalding heat swept through his body in an instant, making him droop his eyelashes in panic.

"Hold me—"

He had never thought that his voice would become so hoarse, like a stone scratching the ground, rough and unpleasant.

However, Pei Ji only said this one word.

When the word "apology" came to the tip of his tongue, he saw Ning Ning carefully grasping his right hand and moving it down somewhat clumsily.

And her left hand slowly approached, first the fingertips fell on Pei Ji's protruding joints, and then the whole finger pressed down, the fingertips, the pulps, and even the entire palm were all attached to his skin, wrapping most of his scarred right hand.

Like a ball of warm cotton, it was entangled in his hand with incomparable tenderness.

His heart was pounding.

Full of joy, panic, and disbelief, it swept up like a tide.

Pei Ji's heart was trembling and he couldn't breathe.

Along with the sound of the heartbeat, the girl's soft voice rang in his ears.

Ning Ning held his hand and continued to walk deeper into the alley as before, and said to him seriously: "This is called holding hands."

Pei Ji: ...

Pei Ji lowered his head and covered his red ears with his hair: "Yeah."