Chapter 46 has been found.
Perhaps because it was the Qixi Festival, there were still a few people walking around on the streets of Lotus Town. Shen Bingsi chased after them and asked if they had seen Rong Xie and where he had gone.
"You mean those two out-of-towners from this afternoon? They're all gone, they left a long time ago."
"One flew away, and the other one left later too... They asked me how it left? I didn't see it either, it probably flew away too."
“They didn’t fly away! If they had, people would have said that the two of them flew away one after the other, instead of saying that one of them flew away and the other flew away too.”
"Oh, you think you know so much? You saw it with your own eyes? A god's friend is a god too, so why can't he fly away?"
The two villagers argued for a while without reaching a conclusion. When they came to their senses, they found that the person who asked the question had long since disappeared.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
"Who is it—staying up so late at night? Don't you know people need to rest!"
The door creaked open, and the loud-voiced girl peeked out, still half-asleep.
A tall man stood outside the door; his figure looked somewhat familiar.
The loud-voiced girl's eyes widened suddenly: "You...it's you!"
"Shh, I have something to ask you. You'll leave after you're done," Shen Bingsi whispered.
"My Lord, I swear to God, I only came out to host the show because of my loud voice. I absolutely did not mean any disrespect to you!" The loud-voiced girl clasped her hands together and begged for forgiveness.
"...I'm not...never mind, I'm here to find someone. Do you know where my friend who came with me is?" Shen Bingsi didn't want to say more, and gestured from a distance to prevent her from bowing down.
The loud-voiced girl breathed a sigh of relief; at least she wasn't going to interrogate him. "Didn't Young Master Rong go after you? Could it be that you ran too fast...? I misspoke. What I meant was, could it be that Young Master Rong went in the wrong direction and just happened to miss you, my lord?"
“We will stay at Xiangji Temple,” Shen Bingsi said in a deep voice.
"That...that shouldn't be the case, there's only one road." The loud-voiced girl was a local. As soon as Xiangji Temple was mentioned, a path from the past automatically appeared in her mind. That road was easy to recognize and had no forks or branches, so she shouldn't have gotten lost. She muttered to herself, "Could it be that the evil wind was too strong, and Young Master Rong stopped to take shelter from the wind somewhere? Did the immortal look for him on his way here?"
Shen Bingsi fell silent.
"I understand, he must have looked there. But please don't worry, sir. Maybe Young Master Rong found it too windy and went back to the inn in town. Why don't you look for it there? Or maybe go a few miles to the west, there's another town called Lengshui, where there's an inn..."
Guided by the loud-voiced girl, Shen Bingsi went to look for nearby inns, but there were none.
During the search, Shen Bingsi kept activating the sound transmission jade pendant, hoping to contact Rong Xie, but each time only a long "buzz" sound was heard.
From Lotus Town to Xiangji Temple, a distance that could be covered in the blink of an eye, Shen Bingsi never felt it was that long. But Rong Xie just happened to disappear along this road. Where did he go? There was no trace of him. Every footprint on the road, every trampled blade of grass, became a suspect. Shen Bingsi went through this road three times over.
It was midnight. The dark clouds dispersed, but the moon did not appear (this is the phase of the moon on Qixi Festival, it only appears in the first half of the night). Several beams of light of different colors darted across the grass. A moment later, several monks dressed in black and white Taoist robes appeared in the square in front of Xiangji Temple.
"Sword Saint Shen, I haven't found anything here."
"I don't have any here either."
"The sect's Heavenly Eye reports that there are no disturbances of demons appearing in the eastern suburbs of the capital."
"..."
These people were disciples of the Xuantian Sect. When Shen Bingsi couldn't find Rong Xie, she immediately contacted them. After all, Shengjing was Xuantian Sect territory, so it would be faster for them to find people. Moreover, they had the sect's Heavenly Eye, a large magical artifact specifically used to monitor demons and monsters around the capital. They could easily find out if any demons were passing through this area.
The search returned nothing, but Shen Bingsi's rage did not subside. If there were no demons or monsters, why would his best friend suddenly disappear? Why could the jade pendant that had never had any problems before suddenly stop working?
"Don't worry, Sword Saint Shen. We have already asked the sect to temporarily lift the restrictions on this area within a hundred miles. We will use our spiritual sense to search for him. As long as Cultivator Rong has not left this area, we will definitely be able to find him."
"Then let go quickly! A perfectly healthy person just vanished like that, and I don't know what happened. How can I not be anxious! This is the capital city, a place of great importance. Someone disappeared right under the nose of your sect's Heavenly Eye. Your Elder Bai is also responsible!"
The angry words burst out of his mouth. At this moment, Shen Bingsi didn't care about anything else. He wanted to release his spiritual sense and search the space within a hundred miles. The reason he waited until now and only used his spiritual sense to search a small area was because of Elder Bai of Xuantian Sect.
But what was the result he got? Rong Xie was not found. The Xuantian Sect sent some greenhorns to say some long-winded things. When asked, they said that the process was still in progress and that he should be patient. How could he be patient? These bastards, they don't even use their brains. If their beloved wives ran away, would they still be able to stand there so calmly analyzing this and that?
Of course, Rong Xie is Shen Bing Si's best friend. For these young people who don't understand the value of true friendship, only by using the metaphor of their beloved wife can they empathize.
The Xuan Tian Sect disciples were reprimanded and cowered, heads bowed, not daring to utter a word. They had long heard of the Demon-Slaying Sword Saint's fiery temper, and today they had witnessed it firsthand. However…
When they looked down into the grass, their eyes involuntarily focused on one spot. Then, recalling Shen Bingsi's words about "if your beloved wife runs away," they suddenly understood Shen Jiansheng's anxiety and even felt some sympathy for him.
While reprimanding the boys, Shen Bingsi waited for the Xuantian Sect to lift the restrictions. Suddenly, he noticed that these kids were all staring at his feet and not paying attention to his instructions at all. He couldn't help but angrily ask, "What are you looking at?"
A disciple of the Xuantian Sect mustered his courage and pointed to Shen Bingsi's feet: "Sword Saint Shen, you...you don't seem to be wearing shoes."
Shen Bingsi looked down and saw that her two bare feet were on the grass. The starlight shone on her feet, and she could clearly see the grass blades, dust and mud, mottled marks, crisscrossing, making her look very disheveled.
However, Shen Bingsi didn't feel anything. He was a Nascent Soul cultivator, and even without activating his protective spiritual energy, the stone on the ground would be the one to suffer if he stepped on it.
"What time is it? Why are you still wearing shoes? Will wearing shoes solve the problem?"
"..."
Just as the second round of reprimands was about to rain down, the Xuantian Sect disciples suddenly received a message from the sect. The sect had decided to temporarily lift the restrictions on the area within a 50-mile radius around Xiangji Temple. Any further would involve more complex political issues and would require discussion at a three-sect alliance meeting.
The Xuantian Sect disciples hurriedly conveyed this good news to Shen Bingsi. Although Shen Bingsi was annoyed by the Xuantian Sect's reluctance to grant him full access, he couldn't care less about that now. His priority was to find Rong Xie.
Shen Bingsi activated her spiritual sense and released it in an overwhelming manner.
Those with cultivation within a fifty-mile radius felt a thorn-like pressure, as if a powerful being was watching them from above. Mortals sensitive to spiritual energy fluctuations were also jolted awake from their dreams, their hearts pounding, wondering why they had suddenly woken up...
The disciples of the Xuantian Sect, being the ones directly impacted by the spiritual shock, couldn't even speak. They felt as if their internal organs had been pierced through. They wanted to escape, but their legs felt like lead, and they couldn't take a single step...
One by one, the lights in Xiangji Temple came on, and the senior monks got up, opened the windows or doors to look outside, and some went out into the courtyard, their hurried footsteps echoing everywhere.
In the midst of this chaotic scene, Shen Bingsi immediately spotted that familiar person.
"Rong'er".
Shen Bingsi suddenly opened her eyes, withdrawing all her vast spiritual consciousness.
He strode across the square in front of Xiangji Temple, entered the temple gate, passed through the courtyard, and arrived at the meditation room in the back courtyard amidst the astonished gazes of the monks.
Right next to his meditation room, four rooms to the right, which were originally unoccupied, now had their doors half open, and a person wearing a plain cloak stood in the threshold, staring at him in astonishment.
"Rong'er".
Shen Bingsi's heart pounded heavily and painfully. He stared intently at the familiar figure, taking the first step, then the second, his pace quickening until the person was within his reach.
He did indeed do that.
Shen Bingsi reached out and pulled Rong Xie into her arms, holding him tightly as if she wanted to meld him into her body, until Rong Xie's shoulder blades made a slight cracking sound.
"Bing Si..." Rong Xie pushed Shen Bing Si away slightly, feeling a pressure on his chest that made it hard to breathe, and his shoulder blades ached slightly. "What... happened? How... did you come back from outside?"
"You're still asking me!" Shen Bingsi, having had enough of hugging Rong Xie, released him and complained angrily, "Didn't we agree to carry the jade pendant with us at all times? Where did you lose it again?! I've been trying to contact you all night, and you haven't given me a single reply!"
Rong Xie was stunned. Shen Bing Si had been contacting him all night? But his jade pendant remained silent, without making a sound. Because of this, he thought Shen Bing Si didn't want to talk to him yet, so he asked the head monk to open a new meditation room next door, intending to talk to her again tomorrow morning.
“I always carry my jade pendant with me,” Rong Xie said.
Shen Bingsi was taken aback: "You've always carried it with you?"
“Yes, it didn’t make a sound at all,” Rong Xie said.
"Let me see." Shen Bingsi held out her hand.
Rong Xie took the jade pendant for transmitting sound from his waist and handed it to Shen Bingsi.
Shen Bingsi examined it from all angles but found nothing. The communication jade pendant still had Rong Xie's body temperature on it, so he was definitely carrying it with him. Moreover, the temperature wasn't high, indicating it wasn't from the vibration.
The sound-transmitting jade pendant has stopped working.
"Sword Saint Shen, now that we've found everyone, then we..."
The voices of Xuan Tian Sect disciples came from behind. They had just recovered from the shock of Shen Bing Si's spiritual sense and followed her in. They saw Shen Bing Si holding someone tightly in her arms—it must be that Rong Xiushi, who was like a "darling wife".
After waiting for a while and seeing that Shen Bingsi did not turn around, the group figured he was going to argue with the cultivator Rong for a while longer, so they reminded Shen Bingsi that they would take their leave first.
Shen Bingsi stood there motionless, as if she hadn't heard anything.
"Sword Saint Shen?" A disciple of the Xuantian Sect mustered his courage and spoke up again.
This time, Shen Bingsi still didn't move, but the cultivator opposite him leaned out, cupped his hands in greeting, and indicated that they could leave first.
"I'm so sorry to trouble you all to come out so late." Rong Xie used his spiritual power to send out his voice from a distance. His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears, politely smoothing things over for Shen Bing Si.
This kind of close-range sound transmission wasn't a particularly difficult technique, but Rong Xie's voice made the group feel like they were bathed in a spring breeze. The disciples breathed a sigh of relief, quickly returned Rong Xie's greeting, and withdrew from Xiangji Temple.
Shen Bingsi was indeed too busy to pay attention to anything else; his attention was entirely focused on the communication jade pendant.
This is no ordinary jade pendant for transmitting sound; it is a jade pendant for transmitting sound between hearts.
There are only two possibilities for the Tongxin Chuanyin jade pendant to malfunction.
Firstly, the jade pendant is broken; it is physically damaged and cannot be repaired, so it must be replaced.
Secondly, the two people who possessed the jade pendant were no longer of one mind; their thoughts had diverged significantly, and they could no longer communicate.
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