Chapter Ninety-Two: The People Who Mysteriously Disappeared
By the dim candlelight, a slightly pale hand brushed across the paper, seemingly effortlessly removing the fine dust.
Ya Feiyu lowered his eyelashes, his pale face hidden in most of the darkness, flickering with the candlelight. His silver eyes reflected the scattered candlelight. He picked up the book and shook off the crumbs.
"What is Master looking at?" Ye Chi had just returned when he saw Ya Feiyu engrossed in a book. Ya Feiyu was aloof and indifferent; at least in Ye Chi's memory, he rarely seemed interested in anything, and it was even more unusual for him to be so absorbed in a book. Ye Chi couldn't help but be curious. He sat down next to Ya Feiyu and naturally put his arm around Ya Feiyu's shoulder.
The latter then came to his senses, glanced at him lightly, and then looked away. He didn't answer Ye Chi, but instead calmly closed the book, even avoiding Ye Chi's gaze, clearly not wanting him to see it. He hid the book under the bed and said, "It's nothing, just a book I picked up somewhere."
Such a secretive attitude was even more unusual for Ya Feiyu. Ye Chi was momentarily intrigued, but he didn't go too far and just smiled obediently: "It's rare to see Master so interested in a book. But Master, aren't you afraid that I'll take it out and peek at it since you left the book there?"
Ye Chi said this because he had indeed considered doing so. Upon hearing this, Ya Feiyu lowered her eyelashes to look at him, appearing completely indifferent: "Would you peek?"
Being gazed upon so earnestly and sincerely by those clear eyes, no one could escape the flutter in their heart, especially since his heart was already beating for Ya Feiyu. Ye Chi couldn't help but tremble inwardly. After regaining his senses, he tightened his arms around Ya Feiyu and buried his head in the back of her neck, nuzzling her twice, like a large dog marking its possession: "Master, asking like that is really against the rules. Your disciple is too embarrassed to peek."
"Then don't look at it." Ya Feiyu said calmly, casually ruffling Ye Chi's hair twice. "Good boy."
Ye Chi smiled helplessly, turned his head and rubbed against Ya Feiyu's palm. He was still infatuated with the warmth of this person's body. "Master, can't you tell your disciple what kind of book it is? Your disciple is just curious and just wants to ask."
"A book about magic."
Ya Feiyu gave him only such an ambiguous answer, and Ye Chi nodded vaguely, as if he had gotten the answer he wanted. He then stopped asking questions and pulled Ya Feiyu aside to be affectionate. No one mentioned the book hidden under the bed again.
Ye Chi secretly began to ponder.
As the number one person in the world today, Ya Feiyu probably knows more than Ye Chi has ever eaten. There is nothing in this world that can arouse Ya Feiyu's interest, let alone something as knowledgeable as magic. Whether it is modern or ancient, forbidden or popular, there is almost no magic that Ya Feiyu cannot name. Magic books can no longer arouse Ya Feiyu's interest, but now he is studying a book so intently, so the problem must lie in the book.
Is there something about this book that's worth studying?
Ye Chi frowned, falling into a brief moment of thought.
...
The next day, instead of waking up naturally as usual, the two were awakened by a commotion outside. Ye Chi opened his eyes, puzzled. He instinctively covered Ya Feiyu's ears with his hand and peeked out through the tent flap. He saw several young men dressed in the robes of low-ranking disciples of the Qing Shen Pavilion grabbing a few people and asking them something urgently. The details were too far away for Ye Chi to hear clearly.
Realizing something was amiss, Ye Chi gently shook Ya Feiyu's shoulder, waking him from his sleep. Ya Feiyu frowned slightly, clearly having heard the commotion outside. He propped himself up on his arms, and after a brief three-second pause, his pupils suddenly contracted.
Just then, one of them stepped to the tent, unceremoniously lifted the curtain, and yelled at the two, "Come out!"
Ye Chi, bewildered, hurriedly led Ya Feiyu out of the tent. Standing under a tree, he felt somewhat displeased. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a rather elegant figure at the front of the crowd—the Qing Shen Pavilion's hierarchical system was obvious, easily discernible from their clothing. These simply dressed mortals became the stark contrast, like clowns highlighting the protagonist's presence. However, this glamorous "protagonist" was currently pacing back and forth, looking troubled by something.
"What happened..." Ye Chi murmured to himself, his heart sinking slightly.
Just then, a relatively thin figure walked out from the crowd. Aying frowned slightly, approached them, and said with some concern, "It's good to see you're all alright..."
To say something like that, Aying must know something. Ye Chi hurriedly asked, "What happened?"
Aying said with some helplessness, "That's Elder Yun, the most prestigious elder in our Qing Shen Pavilion. I don't know the specifics of what happened, but it seems that something very important has gone missing. Elder Yun suspects that a mortal stole it, which is why he went to such great lengths to look for it..."
"Although I don't know what was stolen, I know that Elder Yun's punishments are always very strict. If you are caught stealing, even if you are a disciple of Qing Shen Pavilion, you will be punished with several strokes of the cane. If you are a mortal... I think the consequences might be even worse."
Ye Chi seemed lost in thought, his gaze wandering aimlessly. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Ya Feiyu was staring straight towards the tent, her pale lips slightly pursed. Although her eyes were covered by a white silk cloth, it couldn't hide the faint tension and guilt in her eyes. Ye Chi initially found it strange, but then he thought of Elder Yun losing something, and recalled the book that Ya Feiyu had inexplicably brought last night...
...Could it be?!
Suddenly, his heart leaped into his throat. Ya Feiyu had told him that the book was hidden under the bed, and it shouldn't be easy to find unless someone deliberately searched for it. But the problem was that they were now facing a search by someone with "ulterior motives."
Moreover, they got up in such a hurry that they were completely unprepared and didn't even have time to move the book!
Ye Chi didn't even dare to imagine the consequences if he were discovered.
The two waited anxiously. After a while, the disciple slowly emerged from the tent, seemingly carrying nothing in his hand. Ye Chi breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly heard a sharp voice from the side: "Wait!"
Looking in the direction of the voice, they saw that it was Elder Yun who had called out to them. The man narrowed his eyes, which were full of calculation, and took a few steps to stand in front of Ya Feiyu. He said coldly, "You were the one who served me yesterday... right?"
Ya Feiyu was stunned for a moment before realizing that the person was talking about him. Ye Chi was slightly taken aback. He hadn't heard Ya Feiyu say that he had gone to accept the mission on his own. Ya Feiyu had actually kept it a secret from him...?
To avoid giving himself away, Ya Feiyu lowered his head and said in a gentle and obedient manner, "It's me."
Elder Yun scrutinized him closely, his blatant gaze seemingly intent on stripping Ya Feiyu bare. This look made Ye Chi extremely uncomfortable, triggering his predatory instincts and making him, for several moments, want to tear this ill-intentioned old man to pieces. If they didn't have urgent matters to attend to, he certainly wouldn't have chosen to endure it, Ye Chi thought indignantly.
After watching for a while, Elder Yun rubbed his chin twice, probably thinking of something. A glint of light flashed in his cloudy eyes, like a jackal that had spotted its prey. But on his face, he pretended to be a serious and upright gentleman, his eyebrows and eyes stern, and said, "You, come with me."
Knowing he couldn't avoid it, Ya Feiyu relaxed a bit upon hearing this. He patted the shoulder of the almost furious Ya Feiyu beside him, indicating that he wouldn't be in trouble so easily, before turning around and following Elder Yun. He was blind, so Elder Yun openly led him away, which infuriated Ye Chi. However, he had nowhere to extinguish his anger. He was both annoyed and resentful, but after a long while, he could only loosen his clenched fists, letting them hang limply at his sides.
He lowered his eyelashes, and his dark eyes seemed to surge with emotion.
Aying approached at this moment, noticing his gloomy expression, and felt a little worried. She said, "The Immortal Lord will be alright. We didn't find anything suspicious in your tent. Elder Yun probably just went to ask him about something..."
Ask him something? Ye Chi found the idea utterly absurd, but there was nothing he could do but nod, pretending to listen. A Ying, meanwhile, carefully observed his expression, secretly worried about the departing Ya Feiyu.
...A long time ago, she had a senior classmate with whom she had a good relationship. She was two or three years older than her, had a gentle and refined personality, and looked like a harmless and docile little white rabbit. No one disliked her, whether it was her teachers or her peers.
But one day, my senior sister made a mistake and was taken away by Elder Yun. She never came back.
Her name seemed to have become a taboo subject that could never be mentioned in the sect. In her youthful ignorance, she had naively asked many elders or fellow disciples about her senior sister's whereabouts, but the answers she received were either vague and perfunctory or just as clueless as she was. As she grew older, the matter gradually faded from her mind, and she became more and more concerned about other things. Compared to that, her mysteriously disappeared senior sister seemed less important.
Strictly speaking, she wasn't a formal disciple of Qing Shen Pavilion, but rather held a position similar to a bodyguard. She didn't know much about the inner workings of Qing Shen Pavilion, especially after she started her training, when she was practically always on the sword-fighting field. However, she had vaguely heard that many of her senior sisters and brothers had disappeared without a trace after making mistakes and meeting Elder Yun.
Although she had never suspected anything because Elder Yun was a Discipline Elder, but...
Is the situation really as simple as she thought?
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