Chapter 158: The stars return to their positions, and a strange shadow lurks
"Miss Jiu, Wang... uh, that... brother with the thorns, has something important to attend to." Censor Qian could only explain awkwardly, "He wants you to eat well and take care of yourself before he can rest assured."
Jiu nodded as if he understood, then he stretched out his little hand, picked up a piece of yam cake, and began to eat it in small bites.
At this moment, there was a sudden commotion outside the quiet room.
"Senior Brother Qingfeng!"
"We're back!"
Several young yet steady voices, accompanied by the gentle sounds of formation fluctuations, came from far away.
"Junior brother! Junior sister! You are finally back!" Qingfeng's surprised voice sounded.
The next moment, the door of the quiet room was pushed open.
Qingfeng led three people and walked in quickly.
The leader was a young man wearing a green Taoist robe and holding an ancient compass. He had a handsome face, a calm temperament, and a pair of eyes that seemed to be able to see through people's hearts.
Following beside him was a girl with a neat high ponytail and a large medicine box on her back. There was a heroic look between her eyebrows and her steps were capable.
At the very back was a tall, strong, and taciturn man. His exposed arms were covered with faint marks left by drawn runes.
They are Chu Xuanyi's other direct disciples.
The young man in green, Yun Shen, is proficient in divination and sensing destiny.
The heroic girl, Lingzhu, is good at making medicine and is a master of medicine.
The tall man, Mo Li, specializes in formations and talismans, and is as still as a mountain.
Following their master's orders, they were stationed at strategic locations in the observatory. After receiving the letter from the flying crane sent from the capital, they immediately rushed back at the fastest speed, day and night.
When they saw the white-haired figure on the bed, whose breath was as weak as a candle in the wind, the faces of the three of them turned pale in an instant!
“Master!”
The three of them knelt on the ground, their voices filled with uncontrollable shock and grief.
Especially Lingzhu, she rushed to the bedside and her fingers touched Chu Xuanyi's wrist like lightning. In just a moment, her eyes turned red.
"My origin is depleted, my spiritual veins are dried up, my foundation is crumbling... Master! You... you've burned your Dao bones!" Her voice trembled, tears welling in her eyes. "Who the hell is this bastard who hurt you like this? I'll go refine a furnace of 'Nine Revolutions Resurrection Pills' right now and grind him to ash!"
“Nonsense!” Chu Xuanyi opened his eyes. Although his voice was weak, it still carried the dignity of a master. “I’m not dead yet, why are you crying?”
He struggled to sit up, glanced at the three dusty disciples, and finally there was a hint of relief in his eyes.
“It’s good that you’re back… It’s good that you’re back…”
He looked to the side again and saw Ah Jiu, who was frightened again by the arrival of a stranger and was hugging his knees and quietly chewing on the yam cake.
"Master, this is..." Yun Shen noticed Ajiu and a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes.
This little girl has a very strange, yet extremely unstable power.
It was a kind of...almost godlike purity, strangely intertwined with the abyssal chaos.
"She is...Ajiu." Chu Xuanyi sighed and simply recounted the story.
"What?! Ah Jiu..."
"Miss Jiu..."
Lingzhu and Tieshan were both stunned.
They had all heard Qingfeng mention Ah Jiu, and they only knew that she was gifted, but they had never expected... that she would be so seriously injured, and even... lost her memory.
Lingzhu immediately walked over and wanted to check on Ajiu.
But as soon as she approached, Jiu immediately raised his head vigilantly, his blank eyes full of wariness.
“Don’t… don’t come over here…”
"Miss Jiu, don't be afraid!" Ling Zhu softened her voice. "Let me check your body, okay?"
Ah Jiu just kept shaking his head and hid the half piece of yam cake behind him.
Seeing this, Lingzhu felt both distressed and helpless.
At this moment, Yun Shen, who had been silent all the time, slowly frowned.
He raised his head and looked towards the sky above the Imperial Master's Mansion.
The needle of the ancient compass in his hand began to vibrate slightly and irregularly at some point.
"Something's wrong."
He suddenly spoke.
"What's wrong?" Tieshan asked immediately.
"The aura in this mansion... is very wrong." Yun Shen closed his eyes and sensed it carefully. "On the surface, it's calm, the spiritual energy is stable, and the defensive formations surrounding the mansion are functioning normally. But... beneath this peace, there's a hint... an extremely subtle discord."
"It's like a perfectly composed piece of music with a tiny, misplaced note mixed in. Ordinary people can't hear it at all. But it's there."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's heart was lifted.
"Is it the energy of the Netherworld?" Chu Xuanyi asked immediately.
“No.” Yun Shen shook his head. “It’s more cunning than the Netherworld Aura, and more… traceless. It’s like a shadow, a sight, lurking everywhere… watching us.”
"I'll go check the formation!" Tieshan turned around and rushed out without saying a word.
Yun Shen, holding a compass, slowly walked out of the quiet room and came to the courtyard.
In the yard, Xiao Yu was standing with his hands behind his back, listening to Xuan Yi reporting military intelligence.
He was not surprised to see Yun Shen and others come out. He just nodded slightly as a greeting.
"Senior Brother Yunshen, have you found anything?" Qingfeng followed nervously.
Yun Shen did not answer, letting the compass needle in his hand spin wildly. Finally, it pointed to a direction... no one could have imagined.
That was a dog hole pointing to an old locust tree beside the courtyard wall.
It was left there specifically to facilitate the entry and exit of an old yellow dog kept in the mansion.
"Here?" Qingfeng was stunned.
Everyone's eyes were focused on the past.
There was nothing there except a few fallen leaves.
Yun Shen walked over slowly and squatted down.
He stretched out his hand, but did not touch the dog hole. Instead, he picked up a withered yellow leaf that had been hit by the autumn frost from the side.
"No... not here."
He put the fallen leaves to his nose and sniffed them gently, his brows furrowing even deeper.
"This aura is elusive and has no substance. It's more like a... curse, or perhaps a medium."
He stood up and glanced quickly across the yard.
Finally, his eyes fixed on a stone bird feeding trough in the corner.
A gray sparrow was perched on it, pecking at the grains inside.
That is the most common sparrow, which can be seen everywhere in the capital.
However, in Yun Shen's eyes, there was a faint black thread wrapped around the sparrow's body, which was thinner than a hair.
"Found it."
Yun Shen's voice suddenly turned cold.
He put his fingers together like a sword, muttered something, and a light golden rune took shape at his fingertips in an instant!
"Break the delusion!"
He snapped his fingers, and the talisman turned into a stream of light and flew straight towards the sparrow!
The sparrow seemed to sense danger, and it let out a strange cry and suddenly flapped its wings to fly!
But it's too late!
Golden runes were precisely printed on its body!
"grumble--!!!"
A shrill scream that didn't sound like a bird's scream suddenly rang out!
The sparrow's body suddenly exploded in mid-air!
A fist-sized, constantly shifting black shadow! Its single scarlet eye was staring intently at them!
"Servant of Shadow!"
Yun Shen's face darkened, "It's a spy from the Wugu tribe!"
The black shadow let out a silent scream and suddenly pounced towards Xiao Yu who was closest to it!
Xiao Yu snorted coldly without even raising his eyelids.
"court death."
An invisible and terrifying pressure exploded with him as the center!
"puff!"
The black shadow that was coming with such force was completely annihilated in an instant when it was still three feet away from Xiao Yu.
It turned into a wisp of green smoke.
The entire courtyard was dead silent.
Everyone was stunned by the terrifying power displayed by the Regent's casual attack.
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