Chapter 128 Can't Afford to Sleep:
"After you left, Sword Saint Shen, Cultivator Rong told us to first take control of the Lu family. He, along with Captain Zhao and us, made the old patriarch of the Lu family and several important relatives stay in the main hall," Ye Er recalled. "After we came out, we stood in the open space in front of the main hall. Cultivator Rong and Captain Zhao discussed what to do next. At this time, Cultivator Rong started to feel dizzy. He said he was a little tired and wanted to go back to his room to rest for a while, and asked Captain Zhao to discuss with everyone first."
"Dizzy?" Shen Bingsi caught a detail. "How so?"
“I noticed he kept rubbing his temples, looking very tired, and he was walking unsteadily. Captain Zhao was worried and asked me to take him back to rest,” Ye Er said. “I didn’t think much of it. I figured that Master Rong had been busy for so many days, all for this case. Now that the case has been solved and the truth is out, it’s normal for him to feel tired after all the pressure is gone… So I took Master Rong back here to rest. As soon as I got here, I saw that half of the eaves of the main house had collapsed. I thought we should move to another place. Master Rong said he slept here yesterday. He rested on the couch in the study for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before coming to find us.”
"The eaves collapsed, are there any people trapped underneath?"
"No. The ground has been cleared; there are no tiles left."
“Go on.”
Shen Bingsi stared intently at Ye Er, who was speaking.
Ye Er felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he tried to recall the details: "After I saw off Master Rong, I went back to find Captain Zhao. It was already dark. Captain Zhao thought that without Master Rong, many things would be difficult to carry out, so he arranged for us to rest at the Lu residence. He found a steward in the main hall to arrange our lodgings. Half an hour passed in this busy work. When we returned to the area in front of the main hall, we didn't see Master Rong anywhere. We asked the people who were staying there, and they also said that Master Rong hadn't come. Captain Zhao guessed that Master Rong was exhausted, so he asked me to go and check on him... Sorry, I'm being a bit long-winded."
"It's alright." Shen Bingsi finally uttered two words, "Tell me everything you know."
"Yes...yes. I went into the courtyard and saw the main house light was on. I thought that Master Rong had already woken up, so I called to him at the door and told him that Captain Zhao had arranged for us to stay and that he didn't need to worry about it. Captain Zhao said that it was getting late and everyone should rest for the day and discuss it again tomorrow. But Master Rong didn't answer me, and the house was quiet. I felt something was strange..." Ye Er said, as if recalling that scene again, a look of shock on his face. "I tried to push the door, and it wasn't closed. I pushed it open and saw Master Rong lying unconscious on the ground, face down, in the spot where he was heading towards the study."
"Which location?" Shen Bingsi immediately stood up, her gaze sweeping sharply toward the study door.
"Everyone who is not involved, get out!" Captain Zhao ordered. The treasure-hunting team members standing in front of the door hurriedly stepped back, clearing a space in front of the door. Ye Er went over and pointed out the location where Rong Xie was found.
“Master Rong was lying face down here at the time. The light in the outer room was on, but the one in the study was not. I guessed that he might have just turned on the light and walked into the study, and then fainted in the process.”
“Wait,” Shen Bingsi called out to Ye Er, narrowing her eyes, “Why did you say he was unconscious? In this situation, doesn’t it look more like a sneak attack?”
"I... I thought Master Rong had been attacked, so I immediately went to check on him. But Master Rong didn't have any external injuries, and his condition... didn't look like he had been attacked; it looked like he was asleep," Ye Er stammered, feeling a bit apprehensive in the face of Shen Bing Si's questioning.
"Asleep?" Shen Bingsi sneered. "Would you really sleep like this? I can't wake you up no matter how much I call you, and even after moving you to the bed, you still don't react?"
"This..." Ye Er lowered his head, "My magical power is too weak, I really... can't tell what's wrong with Cultivator Rong."
Shen Bingsi scrutinized him for a moment, then waved her hand: "Continue."
Ye Er felt immense pressure, and his words became stammered: "I thought that Cultivator Rong was just too tired, which is why he fainted. Perhaps he would be fine after a rest, so I went out and called some people over. Together, we carried Cultivator Rong to this couch, and that's how it happened..."
"They called me," Captain Zhao added.
Upon hearing this, Shen Bingsi's expression darkened further, becoming extremely grim.
"I see."
“Rong Xie said he would rest for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, but you waited for half an hour before you remembered to call him, so you left him unconscious in front of the door for half an hour.”
"You found him, went out to call for help, and then left him here alone without locking the door or putting up any talismans?"
"I..." Ye Er struggled for a moment, "I've closed the door."
"..."
Seeing that Ye Er couldn't say anything more, and given his flawed and inaccurate statements, it wouldn't take much effort for the attackers to succeed. Shen Bingsi forcibly suppressed his anger and turned to Captain Zhao:
"Where are the Lu family members? Are they all being kept under surveillance?"
“Some of the Lu family members are in the main hall, including the old master and several relatives in charge of the main branch. The rest have gone back to their rooms,” Captain Zhao said. “As for the servants and laborers, these people have no spiritual power, and we have not restricted their whereabouts… Does Sword Saint Shen perhaps think that Fellow Daoist Rong was ambushed and that’s why he is like this?”
"...If he wasn't ambushed, could he have been asleep?" Shen Bingsi sneered. "I just checked his pulse, and everything was normal, yet he's in this deep, unconscious state. There's only one possibility: he's been afflicted by a nightmare spell."
"Nightmare magic?!" Captain Zhao exclaimed in horror. "Only evil spirits would use such a dark art. Madam Mei has already been captured, could there be other evil spirits that have escaped here?"
Captain Zhao had been traveling the world for many years and was quite knowledgeable. He knew about Nightmare Technique, but he never thought of it this way. Nightmare Technique could indeed put people into a deep sleep and not wake them up. It could be successfully cast with the help of mediums such as fragrance and sound, and the recipient would not suffer any external injuries.
However, casting a nightmare spell requires extremely high illusion skills. The only culprit here who knows illusion has been captured, and the leaders of the Lu family are being held captive in the main hall. Logically speaking, this shouldn't have happened, but it did... It's terrifying to think about.
“Madam Mei has indeed been captured,” Shen Bingsi said in a deep voice. “That doesn’t mean there isn’t someone else who possesses the same Nightmare Technique as Madam Mei.”
"Who is it?!" Captain Zhao asked urgently.
“There are too many suspects. The assassins sent by Madam Mei to plot against me, the Lu family members, servants, handymen, including your treasure-hunting team, and anyone who was once controlled by Madam Mei, none of them can be cleared of suspicion.” Shen Bingsi’s eyes were deep.
Captain Zhao's mouth dropped open. He had originally intended to help with the investigation, but he hadn't expected that he himself was on Shen Bingsi's suspect list.
"That's enough. No one needs to interfere in this matter. I'll investigate it myself." Shen Bingsi's voice was filled with a chilling coldness. "If I find out who did this, I'll make them regret being born... During my investigation, no one is allowed to approach this room."
A moment later, all the treasure-hunting team members except Captain Zhao were cleared out of the courtyard. Only Captain Zhao was allowed to stand in front of the courtyard gate to wait for Shen Bingsi's investigation results.
Shen Bingsi returned to the couch and looked at Rong Xie, who was still fast asleep on the couch. She felt as if an invisible hand was tightly gripping her heart. The only thing she could be thankful for was that Rong Xie was sleeping peacefully and did not seem to be having a nightmare...
The Nightmare Spell is extremely vicious. Only by finding the person who cast it can the Nightmare Spell be broken safely and without harm. Otherwise, forcibly waking someone from the Nightmare Spell could leave them with incurable damage, a consequence that Shen Bingsi cannot accept.
That's why he's so eager to find the culprit.
"Rong'er, wait for me, I'll find that person right away." Shen Bingsi gently brushed away a stray strand of hair that had fallen across Rong Xie's forehead.
Thousands of miles away, back at the Mirror Palace, Brother Jiang, who was about to explain the whole story to the recorder, suddenly stopped and listened intently, his expression turning serious.
"How is it?" the registrar asked, leaning against a full-length mirror. She knew that at this moment, the only person who could make Brother Jiang stop talking was their other adjudicator colleague.
However, transmitting a message over such a long distance requires a huge amount of spiritual energy, which is no less strenuous than flying back and forth three or five times on a sword. The fact that Shen Bingsi chose to transmit a message over such a long distance already shows the seriousness of the matter.
After listening, Brother Jiang stood up and asked the recorder for leave. He needed to pause for a while to check the footage recorded by the Golden Bell Shield over the past period.
"Is something wrong over there again?" the registrar asked, glancing emotionlessly at Madam Mei, who had remained composed ever since she was captured.
"Yes, my powerful young friend Shen Bingsi has been affected by the Nightmare Spell, and he's in a real panic right now," Brother Jiang said helplessly. "As you know, anything involving his young friend is always the most urgent matter."
The two adjudicators simultaneously recalled the scene where Shen Bingsi's Dao heart wavered in her pursuit of "that formidable young friend," resulting in a backlash of spiritual energy. She was then escorted to the Mirror Palace by Elder Yunfeng and handed over to the two of them for assistance.
"Go ahead," the registrar said with a hint of amusement. "I'll keep an eye on things here."
"Thank you for your trouble." Brother Jiang nodded, turned around and walked out of the palace into the moonlit courtyard.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Shen Bingsi sat on the edge of the couch and received a message from Brother Jiang.
The Golden Bell Shield indicated that Rong Xie had indeed fainted on his own, and no suspicious person had approached him or cast any nightmare spells on him during that time.
The Golden Bell Shield is a high-level magical artifact specifically designed to monitor the movements of suspects. Brother Jiang has never made a mistake using it in his investigations. For a low-level family like the Lu family, there shouldn't be anyone who can escape the Golden Bell Shield's surveillance.
Therefore, there is only one possibility.
The Nightmare Spell was cast before the Golden Bell Shield fell, but it hadn't taken effect yet, and Rong Xie appeared perfectly normal, so no one noticed.
"Alas! I should have taken the incense burner properly. It was probably at that time..." Captain Zhao's self-reproaching voice echoed in Shen Bingsi's ears again.
At that time, Shen Bingsi and Brother Jiang had just returned to the Lu residence when they encountered Captain Zhao and three team members who were under an illusion spell and were uncontrollably trying to snatch Madam Mei, who was chained up.
Captain Zhao and Rong Xie were always together. If he were to fall under an illusion at some point, there was no reason why Rong Xie would escape unscathed.
After all, Madam Mei's gaze towards Rong Xie was always more vicious than her gaze towards others.
Shen Bingsi clenched her fists, her hands hanging down on her knees.
Mrs. Mei.
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