In the dead of night, scenes of him drugging his fellow disciples replayed in Ao Tian's mind. He dared not imagine what he would do if the drug had been a deadly poison.
That day, Ao Tian went to frame Xie Zhou in such a way. Xie Zhou also knew about the stupid things he had done recently, but she kept quiet about it and even intended to keep it a secret for him. She just told Ao Tian to take care of himself. The mistakes he had made had caused him great mental and physical torment.
As night fell, a dark cloud rolled across the sky, obscuring the moon's watery light, then blowing away the clouds to reveal half of the cool moon. Ao Tian's heart felt as if it had sunk to the bottom of a river filled with cold water.
The room was dark, with only a sliver of moonlight streaming in through the window. Ao Tian's gaze drifted to the dagger on the table, and something in his eyes seemed to deepen, gradually turning ashen.
He walked over step by step, as if welcoming something.
Finally, his gaze swept out the window again. After a long while, Ao Tian gripped the dagger, closed his eyes, and plunged it into his heart.
Suddenly, the dagger froze as it pierced Ao Tian's chest. Xie Zhou kicked open the door, snatched the dagger from Ao Tian, and slapped him hard across the face.
"Why would you die? Which of your fellow disciples who were drugged by you isn't wronged? Which of them isn't innocent? Why don't you think about them? Don't you think about the sect? If you die, won't your master be so angry that he vomits blood?"
A rustling sound came from outside the door, and the oil lamp in the room was lit. In the blink of an eye, the room was crowded with people—Luo Fantian and his fellow disciples from the Sword Sect.
Xie Zhou slammed the dagger on the table, releasing her mental force that had been immobilizing Ao Tian. She was now somewhat angry, as if she were furious at his lack of ambition: "So you're just thinking about dying?"
"Alright, if you feel you have done right by everyone, then use this dagger to end your own life in front of your fellow disciples." Xie Zhou moved the dagger he had been holding in his palm directly toward Ao Tian.
"Senior brother, none of us blame you. We all understand that you acted impulsively. Why choose this narrow path and go down a dead end?"
"Yes, senior brother, we don't blame you!"
“We’ve come to terms with it these past few days. We were also at fault for not asking you to stay or visiting you that day.”
Ao Tian lowered his head, staring at the dagger in silence. He then looked up at his fellow disciples, whose faces were filled with worry. The next moment, he finally covered his face and wept bitterly, "I'm sorry, everyone. I've done something wrong..."
Upon hearing this, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief and rushed forward to comfort Ao Tian.
Xie Zhou shook her head and prepared to turn and leave, but Ao Tian suddenly grabbed her arm. "Junior sister, thank you."
Xie Zhou nodded at Ao Tian and said, "Don't do anything foolish again. It's all in the past. Once we get back to the Sword Sect, just pretend it never happened." After saying that, Xie Zhou tried to leave, but Ao Tian still didn't let go.
Xie Zhou: ? ?
Then, Ao Tian's words piqued Xie Zhou's interest. "Junior sister, there's something else. When I was living with those disciples of the Worry-Free Pavilion, I discovered that they would get up late at night to practice some kind of martial art."
"You all need to be careful, especially Junior Sister. Her temperament... is a bit warlike, and I'm a little worried," Ao Tian said, scratching his head somewhat embarrassedly.
Xie Zhou: That's called being passionate about learning...
I'm afraid the system will hear this and start arguing with her again.
In the afternoon, the Wuyou Pavilion's martial arts arena held its usual competition to improve the disciples' cultivation. Upon hearing this, Xie Zhou also rushed over in the afternoon, wanting to join in the fun and have a match.
However, during the battle, she suddenly received a slight mental shock. Logically speaking, this should happen to all cultivators, so Xie Zhou didn't think much of it at the time.
Now that Ao Tianyi has spoken, Xie Zhou has a hint of doubt in his heart. It seems that there is indeed something strange about it.
"Then, senior brother, did you get a good look at what that person looked like?" Xie Zhou asked.
Ao Tian had calmed down. He said that although he hadn't seen what the person looked like, some of the person's distinctive features were quite obvious. Ao Tian gave the approximate time and place, and Xie Zhou answered him in detail.
She planned to sneak in at night to see who was practicing the martial arts in the middle of the night and what kind of martial arts they were practicing.
Perhaps this is somewhat related to the second half of the book she has been searching for in the Wuyou Pavilion's cultivation technique pavilion. If that's the case, wouldn't it be effortless to obtain it?
One night, in the deep bamboo forest, the lights were all off in the several houses of different sizes, scattered in a neat and orderly fashion. Occasionally, a gust of wind blew through the bamboo forest, making the bamboo leaves rustle.
Under the cool moonlight, a woman as light as a swallow dodged left and right, avoiding places that could be illuminated by the moonlight and easily spotted. That woman was Xie Zhou. She had deliberately changed into light clothing to make it easier to track down the person Ao Tian had mentioned.
According to the time Ao Tian had previously mentioned, Xie Zhou arrived at a certain place.
They staked out the location. Sure enough, in the dim light of the night, they saw a suspicious-looking person enter a room, and then hurriedly close the door.
Xie Zhou stood outside the door. She could clearly feel the slow, flowing spiritual fluctuations inside the room, like a river. She frowned, somewhat puzzled.
After waiting for a moment, the person finally pushed open the door and came out. Xie Zhou hid in a secluded spot nearby, her expression darkening. She simply watched the person leave silently.
Seeing that the person had left, Xie Zhou thought about going in to see what was going on inside, but at that moment the system suddenly issued a warning, "You'd better not go in now."
Xie Zhou asked doubtfully, "Why? That person has already left."
The system said solemnly, "I just detected a strong spiritual energy fluctuation in this room. If you are not a student of the Worry-Free Pavilion, you will only be impacted by the spiritual energy if you enter now. So you'd better not make any rash moves."
Xie Zhou was even more puzzled, but she caught a key piece of information: "If non-Worry-Free Pavilion disciples are affected by spiritual energy, how does it determine whether I am a disciple of Worry-Free Pavilion?"
The system stated directly: "To distinguish whether someone is a disciple of the Worry-Free Pavilion, there is one condition: they must have the personal mark of the Worry-Free Pavilion Master."
"Bai Wuyou?"
"Yes, it requires his personal mark."
Upon hearing this, Xie Zhou withdrew one foot that was about to step into the room and began to think seriously.
The mark personally bestowed by Bai Wuyou, a disciple of Wuyou Pavilion.
These two key pieces of information took root in her mind. The mark and mysterious technique personally taught by Bai Wuyou, as well as the second half of the book, should be closely related. However, to figure out the relationship between them, it seems that she should start by working on this mark.
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