Chapter 251 Wherever there are fragmented pieces of information, there is Gu Aotian.
After Yu Sui and Wan Qi scaled the wall and entered Taixu Hall, Wan Qi became extremely vigilant, fearing that they would be discovered and attacked by a group of people.
From the moment they climbed over the wall, Wanqi took the initiative, leading the way and pushing Yu Sui behind him, telling her not to run around or separate from him.
Yu Suidu nodded in agreement.
Wanqi was genuinely afraid that if something happened to her while she was left here, she would be hacked to death by Shengfei when she returned.
If Wanqi takes the wrong path, Yu Sui will correct him and tell him to go in a direction that avoids the crowd.
As Wan Qi walked close to the wall, he asked in a low voice, "Have you been to Taixu Hall before?"
Yu Sui nodded and said, "The Nangong family was invited to the last Taixu Hall Master's birthday banquet."
That's not surprising.
Wan Qi believed Yu Sui's words without a doubt.
Therefore, he could never have imagined that Yu Sui was able to precisely avoid the people from Taixu Hall because the Five Elements Light Cores she released allowed her to avoid them in advance.
The corridors inside the Taixu Hall were numerous and long. The two of them had to rely on their black robes and invisibility talismans to walk along the shadowy edges of the corridors to avoid being discovered. It was also because it was night, and there weren't many people outside. Although there were still some rooms with lights on, no one was out walking around.
Yu Sui led Wan Qi toward the pavilion where the elder was, asking him along the way, "You seemed so afraid of Taixu Hall before, did you make an enemy of Taixu Hall?"
Wan Qi: "I'm an honest man, and honest men don't deal with gangs from outside the city."
Honest people don't say they're honest.
"Were you bullied by the academy's disciples?" Yu Sui asked again. "You can join the Qingyun Society. Senior Brother Pu told me during the day that the Qingyun Society exists to help students who encounter trouble and difficulties."
After hearing these words, two words couldn't help but come to mind: naive and kind.
Nangong Sui is a perfect match.
He sighed inwardly, scratched his head, and said, "Qingyun Society is good, and Chairman Pu is good too, but they have nothing to do with me."
Yu Sui: "If anyone bullies you, tell me and I'll help you."
Wan Qi couldn't help but turn around and glance at her, but both of them were completely wrapped in black robes, and nothing could be seen.
Yu Sui: "What's wrong? I'm serious!"
"Let's talk about it when we can get back alive." Wan Qi thought for a moment and then asked, "Besides, how do you know that I didn't bully someone else and that's why I lost my Light Core Realm?"
"Huh?" Yu Sui exclaimed in surprise, "What kind of person would you bully?"
Wan Qi: "..."
He turned back, somewhat annoyed.
The two spoke in hushed tones as they made their way to the foot of the pavilion. Yu Sui made a shushing gesture, indicating that Wan Qi should go upstairs.
Not far from the stairwell, the two hid in the shadows and could see Yue Shu being supported by people from Taixu Hall from afar.
Zhao Feiluo stood in front of the door saying something. After a while, the door opened and an old man with almost a full head of silver hair walked out, coldly glancing at the unconscious Yue Shu.
Wan Qi slowed her breathing and subconsciously looked at Yu Sui beside her.
She was right.
In other words, Nangong Sui wasn't lying; she really wanted to snatch academy points from a group of top-tier disciples.
Wan Qi couldn't help but think to herself: Nangong Sui is really simple-minded and bold in her actions. She must have been raised in a noble royal mansion to think that everything in the world would go her way and that she could do whatever she wanted.
Now that it was confirmed that Yue Shu was indeed in Taixu Hall, Wan Qi planned to retreat to the bottom of the pavilion and then send a message to the academy, asking them to bring people to handle the situation.
Wan Qi made a gesture to Yu Sui, but Yu Sui pretended not to understand and stared blankly at him.
"Let's go." Wan Qi took off his hat, pointed downstairs, and said silently.
Before Yu Sui could react, Zhao Feiluo said from the front, "Let's go."
Startled, Wan Qi immediately put on his cloak and hood to cover himself up.
Zhao Feiluo led Yue Shu downstairs, with Elder Zong at the back. The whole group had to pass through the stairwell.
Fortunately, both of them reacted quickly and went downstairs first.
After seeing Elder Zong lead Yue Shu into the house, Wan Qi peeked out from the passageway, and Yu Sui whispered, "Let's go listen."
How many lives do you have to risk like this?
Just as Wan Qi was about to stop her, Yu Sui had already gone over first.
He was so desperate he was about to bite someone.
Wan Qi gritted his teeth and followed.
Elder Zong stood by the bed with his hands behind his back, looking at Yue Shu lying on the bed.
Zhao Feiluo took out a calming pill and a qi-gathering pill from the box and fed them to Yue Shu. He then lit a calming incense in the room to help Yue Shu slow down the onset of the poison and keep him conscious.
Previously, Zhao Feiluo had sent his two subordinates to guard the entrance of the building, so now only the three of them were inside.
Hiding at the door, Wan Qi had no idea what earth-shattering secret she was about to hear.
Stimulated by the strong scent of the tranquilizing incense, Yue Shu coughed up a mouthful of black blood and woke up. At first, his eyes were unfocused, but after a moment, a glimmer of light returned to his fading gaze, and as his consciousness returned, Yue Shu immediately became alert.
"Awake?" Elder Zong asked in a deep voice. "How do you feel?"
Wan Qi leaned close to the door, trying to hear the conversation inside. Beneath his black robe, he held a wind-listening ruler steadily, his thumb hovering above the ruler's surface. The message was already written; if they were discovered, he would immediately press it down to send the message.
Yue Shu coughed a few times, then slowly sat up: "Thank you, Elder Zong, for saving my life."
Elder Zong scrutinized his pale face and said in a flat tone, "You should know that my decision to save you without informing Taiyi Academy and take such a great risk is conditional."
Yue Shu kept his head down, still maintaining a posture of gratitude: "Elder Zong, what I said is true. The information about the fragments of the Floating Pagoda was investigated by Leng Bin and me together."
What fragment?
Wanqi began to doubt his ears.
What are these people trying to do by searching for fragments of the Floating Pagoda in Taiyi?
Elder Zong gestured for Yue Shu to continue. Yue Shu, with trembling hands, took out a bamboo tube about the length of a thumb from his mechanical box.
Before opening the bamboo tube, Yue Shu looked up at Elder Zong: "My search for the fragments of the Floating Pagoda with Leng Bin was entirely accidental. Leng Bin is a renowned instructor and has access to the Forest of Ancient Steles by famous calligraphers."
The ancient stele forest, created by renowned calligraphers, records and preserves the oldest rune script forms on the Xuan Gu Continent. Rune script forms that have been lost in the long river of history or wars can all be found here.
That day, Leng Bin saw a stele inscribed with characters resembling insects and beasts, scattered yet orderly, mysterious and ornate, imbued with a thunderous aura—a lost and fragmented cryptic script. Standing before this stele, Leng Bin said he could feel a sense of peace and tranquility; no matter how agitated or emotionally turbulent he was, he could calm his mind and achieve clarity. He studied it for several days, but could not decipher its meaning.
Wan Qi nodded in agreement. He had been fortunate enough to visit the Famous Ancient Stele Forest, where the steles varied in size, some as large as several mountains, others as small as the palm of his hand. What they had in common was that he didn't recognize a single character on them.
Let alone the thirteenth-level instructors of Taiyi, even the famous sages might not be able to decipher the characters in the ancient stele forest.
When Yue Shu mentioned Leng Bin, his tone was somewhat wistful: "He was interested in this inscription and studied it for nearly ten years. Because it was shaped like an insect or beast, he secretly made rubbings of the inscription and asked me to study it with him."
Wan Qi couldn't help but curse him as a traitor in his heart! The inscriptions on the ancient steles in the Stele Forest are not allowed to be exposed.
But he perked up his ears and became more and more engrossed in listening.
Yu Sui did not stop Wan Qi from hearing the news related to the fragments of the Floating Pagoda. He allowed Wan Qi to hear the conversation between the two people, so that when the people from the academy arrived later, Wan Qi could be considered a witness.
Elder Zong listened patiently as Yue Shu continued his story: "Did you two finally decipher the inscription?"
"He barely managed to break through one or two of them." Yue Shu greedily inhaled the Soul-Soothing Incense, suppressing the restless Orchid Poison in his body, and stared at the bamboo tube in his hand as he said, "On a stormy day, he was staring at that stone tablet in the Ancient Stele Forest and discovered that seven or eight bolts of lightning struck that stone tablet that night, resonating with the thunderous energy on the inscription."
"He witnessed the talismanic symbols on the stele disappearing into the ground like golden thunder. I don't know exactly what he saw that night, but the next day he wrote eight characters for me: 'Heavenly thunder enters the earth, and crimson fire shines brightly.'"
Yu Sui's eyelids twitched upon hearing this. Crimson Fire?
According to what Yue Shu said earlier, staying in front of that stone tablet can bring a sense of calm and tranquility, similar to the feeling of facing the fragments of the Pagoda.
Elder Zong frowned: "What does this mean?"
Yue Shu's gaze was somewhat unfocused. After listening to Elder Zong's question, he licked his dry lips, opened the bamboo tube, and pulled out a folded piece of white drawing paper.
After the white paper was unfolded, Elder Zong saw a drawing on it, which looked like a circle made of connected pebbles, with a notch about the size of a thumb.
Yu Sui recognized the drawing on the paper as the shape of a fragment of the Floating Pagoda at a glance, using the five elements of light cores in the room.
Although both are black and white portraits, lacking the clear textures and colors of the actual objects, they are still much easier to recognize than those drawn by Xue Mushi.
"This is..." Elder Zong's voice trembled as he saw the object in the painting, "...a fragment?"
Yue Shu said in a deep voice, "Leng Bin drew it from that stone tablet. Later I discovered that this rune image was a fragment of the Pagoda that could break the oath of non-war between the six kingdoms."
"Elder Zong, now you should believe that everything I said is true, right?"
He looked up at Elder Zong, his eyes flashing slightly: "There is another inscription in this bamboo tube, written by Leng Bintuo, and I can decipher part of it, but... Elder Zong, my injuries are quite serious, and I'm afraid I don't have the energy to tell you everything in a short time."
The meaning behind those words is quite clear.
Yue Shu wanted to keep a trump card up his sleeve so that Elder Zong could help him recover from his injuries.
Elder Zong quickly calmed down: "You can only prove that the inscription may be related to the fragments of the pagoda, but you can't prove that you know where the fragments are?"
Yue Shu laughed and said, "If you can decipher one or two parts of the inscription, you will know where the fragment is. I can tell you now that it must be in Taiyi Academy."
Wan Qi held his breath as he stared into the room, feeling a little itchy to see what the fragments of the pagoda in the painting looked like.
Elder Zong looked at Yue Shu in silence.
Yue Shu coughed twice, feeling a bit dizzy again. He folded the drawing paper back up and put it back into the bamboo tube, his voice slightly weak: "Elder Zong, I know that the other countries have obtained the fragments of the Floating Pagoda and have the right to negotiate, but your Dan Kingdom has nothing."
"Now that the Yan Kingdom is attracting everyone's attention, the Dan Kingdom can barely protect itself. But if the oath of non-war is broken and the Yan Kingdom falls, your Dan Kingdom will be next."
Taiyi is a mixed bag; stateless people are a minority, while the majority are from the six kingdoms.
Elder Zong laughed heartily upon hearing this, and patted Yue Shu's shoulder with a light touch, which made Yue Shu's face turn pale instantly: "Since I have had someone bring you here, I will naturally ensure your safety."
"Rest assured and recover from your injuries." Elder Zong looked at Yue Shu with a kind and gentle expression. "I will wait until you have regained your strength before we analyze the inscription together again."
Yue Shu breathed a sigh of relief and, ignoring the pressure on his shoulder, smiled and said, "Thank you, Elder Zong."
Hearing this, Wan Qi guessed that they had finished talking, so he immediately sent a message, turned to look at Yu Sui, and gestured for her to leave quickly.
The moment he raised his head, a powerful arrow, bearing the spirit of a master, shot through the night mist, passing right between Wan Qi and Yu Sui, and unexpectedly breaking their invisibility spells.
It was like a ferocious bolt of lightning, shattering the door and crashing into the house with a deafening roar.
"Hall Master, be careful!" Zhao Feiluo was the first to draw his sword and stand in front of Elder Zong, but he was knocked away by the Thunder Arrow.
Elder Zong frowned, his body igniting with protective energy. He caught Zhao Feiluo, who had been knocked away, with one hand and firmly grasped the Thunder Arrow with the other.
In a flash, Yu Sui saw a dark shadow flash by.
Yin Yang School's Heavenly Secret Technique: Shadow Swallowing.
The target is Yue Shu.
The person hiding in the Shadow Devourer prioritized killing Yue Shu, then seized the bamboo tube. Just as the blade touched Yue Shu's throat and made a cut, they reached out to snatch the bamboo tube.
The moment the dark shadow swallowed Yue Shu, the Five Elements Light Core closest to Yue Shu exploded beside his hand. Yue Shu screamed, and the bamboo tube flew out along with his severed hand.
No one in the room had anticipated this turn of events. They watched helplessly as the bamboo tube flew down to the doorway with the shockwave and was collected into the black wind robe.
Xiang Feifei, who had killed Yue Shu, looked back in disbelief.
Wan Qi stared in disbelief at Yue Shu, who had died in the Shadow Devourer.
Both of them were thinking: How come there are still people here?!
"Walk!"
Wan Qi didn't have time to think about why Yu Sui was trying to snatch the bamboo tube. He was so shocked by the situation that his scalp tingled. He immediately turned around and told Yu Sui to run.
Although the Invisibility Talisman was broken, preventing them from hiding in the darkness, the black wind robes still completely concealed them.
Yu Sui and Wan Qi were perfectly in sync; they jumped over the fence and began to escape using their wind-riding technique.
Enraged, Xiang Feifei hid in the Shadow Devouring Form and chased after him, using her telepathic beast to tell Gu Gan, who was far away outside the Taixu Hall, "Yue Shu is dead, but his things have been stolen. I'm going to chase after him right now! You hold off the Taixu Hall Master for me!"
Elder Zong snapped the Thunder Arrow in two, his face dark with anger, and roared, "Bring the man back!"
Just as he was about to use his wind manipulation technique to move forward, a second thunder arrow arrived!
[Author's Note]
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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