Chapter 46: The Cat's Absence Chapter 1
About ten days after Bai Qingchen left Lingxiao Sect, a dusty figure appeared in front of the mountain gate of Lingxiao Sect.
The man was wearing a green Taoist robe, his hair casually tied up with a wooden hairpin, a few unruly strands of hair hanging in front of his forehead, and his face showed a bit of fatigue after a long journey. He was Zhou Xuanyi, the elder of Yantian Sect.
Zhou Xuanyi was delayed for some time on the way here. If he had known earlier, he would have brought a guard to show the way before leaving. He hadn't been to Lingxiao Sect for hundreds of years and could hardly find the way.
He came here specifically for Bai Qingchen. He had been meditating in Yantian Sect a few days ago and felt inexplicably uneasy, so he casually cast a fortune for Bai Qingchen.
The hexagram shows that Bai Qingchen will suffer a bloody disaster in the next few months, which is very dangerous.
Worried that Bai Qingchen wouldn't take it seriously, after much thought, he decided to go there in person and take him back to Yantian Sect to avoid the limelight.
As a result, he finally arrived at Lingxiao Sect and excitedly headed straight for Hanyuan Peak, but found nothing.
The peak was deserted. Apart from a few disciples busy sweeping the snow, it took a long time to find the manager.
Seeing it was Elder Zhou, the steward quickly and respectfully replied, "Junior Brother Bai? He applied to leave the mountain ten days ago, saying he was going to look for some refining materials, and he hasn't returned yet."
When Zhou Xuanyi heard this, his heart skipped a beat.
Ten days ago? Doesn't that mean he passed away not long after I told him the fortune?
He immediately began to calculate carefully, his brow furrowing ever deeper. Spiritual energy flowed through his fingertips, his deductions becoming faster and faster, and his expression becoming somewhat grim.
He calculated that the danger had arrived, and it was extremely dangerous, almost a hopeless situation!
Cold sweat almost broke out on his forehead, but fortunately, the hexagram suddenly changed at the last moment, from a very bad omen to a strange calmness.
Although weak, it is still alive and the crisis seems to have been forcibly resolved by some powerful external force.
"This kid... is really lucky." Zhou Xuanyi muttered, and his heart almost settled down.
Since he is temporarily safe, there is no need for him to stay in Lingxiao Sect any longer. There are still a lot of things waiting for him in Yantian Sect.
What's more, just before he finished calculating, he figured out that the man had already come out.
Zhou Xuanyi doesn't like Mo Zhiyuan, the type who would fight whenever they met. He doesn't want to have to meet this self-righteous sword master, it would be troublesome.
Zhou Xuanyi turned around and flew away even faster than when he came.
It doesn't matter if he leaves, but it will be hard for the group of inner disciples who are waiting to listen to his lectures.
When the disciples heard that the person coming this time was Elder Zhou Xuanyi himself, they were all very curious about what this big man who had been famous for hundreds of years would teach.
I arrived at the school early, eagerly waiting for the legendary Elder Zhou to arrive.
After waiting for half an hour, there was no sign of anyone.
Just as everyone was whispering, wondering if Elder Zhou had lost his way, a female cultivator wearing a simple long dress and with a gentle temperament walked in.
She smiled apologetically at the disciples in the hall: "My fellow disciples, I was sent by Yantian Sect to teach this time. You can call me Senior Sister Su Wan."
"My master, Elder Zhou Xuanyi, has returned to Yantian Sect due to an urgent matter. I will be teaching the subsequent courses on his behalf."
There was a sudden murmur of disappointment from the audience. Many disciples came just for Zhou Xuanyi's reputation, wanting to witness the style of this legendary elder, but in the end they didn't even see him.
Su Wan was helpless about this. Her master had always been like this and was used to doing whatever he wanted.
I guess he has been so focused on finding people during the past few days that he has completely forgotten about giving classes.
At the same time, at the top of Hanyuan Peak.
Mo Zhiyuan sat at the stone table in the courtyard, with an icy chill lingering around him, causing the ground beneath his feet to silently crack into several fine lines.
The life-saving sword intent he left in the Frost Sword dissipated, meaning that the sword holder was in a life-or-death situation.
When he sensed the approximate direction where the sword intent dissipated, he tore through space and rushed over almost instantly. His speed was so fast that he didn't even leave an afterimage.
However, when he arrived at the wilderness, he saw only a corpse with a pierced chest and a miserable death, as well as the bodies of three other foundation-building monks. There were also large patches of dried black blood on the ground and a gully plowed by sword energy.
His spiritual sense swept across the area of 100 miles like a tide, but he did not find any familiar aura, nor any trace of the Frost Sword. The man holding the sword seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.
Mo Zhiyuan's face was now colder than the snow on Hanyuan Peak, and there was an imperceptible anxiety surging deep in his eyes.
Who took the frost and snow, and who triggered the sword intent? Where is that person now, is he alive or dead?
Countless questions pierced his heart like ice spikes. He suppressed his turbulent thoughts, and in a flash, he returned to Lingxiao Sect.
He did not return to his villa immediately, but appeared quietly in the depths of the treasure house, in the area where magic weapons were stored, and his eyes swept accurately to the place where he remembered the Frost Sword was placed.
Empty.
Mo Zhiyuan's heart sank, and he walked to the disciple on duty who was responsible for registering the magic weapons.
The disciple was sorting out the jade slips with his head down when he suddenly felt an indescribable chill enveloping his entire body, as if he had instantly found himself in an ice cave that had existed for ten thousand years, and even breathing became difficult.
He raised his head in horror and saw a tall figure with a face blurred in a faint chill standing in front of him. He couldn't see the specific appearance, but the invisible pressure made his legs weak.
"Check." A word was uttered coldly without any emotion.
"Investigate...investigate what? Senior?" The disciple on duty's voice was shaking.
"Roster, take the record of the Frost and Snow Sword."
"Frost... Frost Sword?" The disciple was stunned for a moment, then frantically searched for the registration book.
He did not dare to delay and took out the nearly four hundred years of registration books, flipping through them quickly page by page, with cold sweat on his forehead running down his temples.
Time passed by little by little, the air seemed to freeze, and the disciple turned the last page, his face pale and his voice filled with tears.
"Senior, I've checked... checked everything, but there's no record of a magical weapon called the Frost and Snow Sword being claimed... There really isn't one..."
Mo Zhiyuan was silent, and the temperature of the air around him seemed to drop a few degrees.
He could tell that the disciple was not lying. The Frost Sword was not on the register?
Was it taken away secretly? Or... He suppressed his anxiety and said one last thing: "Keep investigating. Let me know when you have any results."
As the voice fell, the person disappeared, leaving behind only the disciple on duty who was frightened and sweating coldly.
Mo Zhiyuan returned to the villa on the top of Hanyuan Peak. The spring atmosphere in the courtyard could not dispel the gloom in his heart.
In the corner, Youyou was lying on a special piece of spirit-gathering cold jade, with a faint ice-blue halo surrounding her body. Her aura was fluctuating, and it was obvious that she was hitting a critical bottleneck.
Mo Zhiyuan took a look, a rare hint of softening appearing in his icy eyes. This little fellow, he hadn't slacked off in his cultivation.
Not long after he stood still, a gentle yet powerful figure appeared outside the yard.
The leader of Lingxiao Sect came. He looked like an elegant middle-aged cultivator, with his usual smile on his face and deep eyes.
"Junior Brother Mo, why did you come out of seclusion early?" The sect leader went straight to the point, obviously not surprised by Mo Zhiyuan's coming out of seclusion.
Mo Zhiyuan just nodded slightly as a sign of agreement, and said nothing more.
The Sect Master glanced at Yoyo, who was practicing, and said casually, "Huh? Why can't I see its inseparable little friend?"
He was referring to Bai Qingchen, who often appeared with Youyou.
Mo Zhiyuan's eyes moved slightly when he heard this, but he just thought that the sect leader was saying that Yoyo had made a spirit beast friend on the peak. He didn't think too much about it and didn't respond.
His thoughts were now entirely on the vanished Frost Sword and the unknown sword bearer.
Seeing that he was distracted, the Sect Master said sternly, "Junior Brother Mo, since you have emerged from seclusion, please keep quiet for now. I have received accurate information that there are demonic spies lurking within the Sect, with serious plans."
"They are likely planning to attack during the upcoming disciple competition. If you reveal your whereabouts, it might alert them."
Mo Zhiyuan was silent for a moment, and the chill all over his body grew stronger. He was increasingly unhappy because of the lingering demon cultivators and the rats in the sewers that he could never kill.
Mo Zhiyuan agreed to the sect leader's request and asked him to help him investigate a few people.
The sect leader's smile deepened. "You rarely speak, is there anything you need my help with?"
Mo Zhiyuan was not polite and waved his sleeves lightly.
In the open space in the center of the courtyard, four well-preserved corpses that had been frozen appeared out of thin air. They were Li Xiuyuan and his three masked men. There were traces of sword energy and demonic power remaining on the corpses.
The sect leader looked at the corpse on the ground, especially the terrifying hole in Li Xiuyuan's chest. His eyes became more serious, and the evil aura seemed familiar.
"Leave this matter to me. I'll give you an explanation before the sect competition."
Mo Zhiyuan stopped talking and looked towards the rolling sea of clouds in the distance.
The clan leader knew his temper, so he didn't stay any longer. He turned around and left to arrange the investigation.
Silence returned to the top of Hanyuan Peak again, with only the faint hum of spiritual power flowing as Yoyo practiced.
Mo Zhiyuan stood with his hands behind his back, like a statue. Frost and Snow's whereabouts were unknown, the devil's spies were lurking, and there were four corpses whose identities needed to be ascertained, and the remaining demonic aura... all the clues were mixed together.
Daring to set his sights on Shuangxue, this time it really touched his bottom line. There was uncontrollable anger in his eyes. All the demon cultivators deserved to die!
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