“I’m done shopping, let’s go.”
Yan Shu touched her cheek, muttered, and walked towards the first floor of Qionghua Pavilion in a daze.
When she reached Lu Qingqiu, Du Zhu, and Qian Yunxiao, she suddenly came back to her senses. She sized them up, and her Sword Intent suddenly soared.
The Sword Dao of Lingjian Mountain primarily cultivates the Sword Heart. Even if Spiritual Qi was not outwardly manifested, its sharpness was enough to make people feel awed.
The three of them suddenly held their breath, their eyes gradually narrowing.
They had seen the woman once yesterday on the Ascension White Jade Platform, and their impression of her was mainly that she was a beauty of unparalleled grace and had a mysterious and noble background.
Seeing her for the second time today, buying things for Ji You, they felt she was more like a lively, charming young lady.
But now, face to face, they felt a pressing Aura.
It had nothing to do with Realm, but rather a condescending presence.
Du Zhu and the other two’s first reaction was, who exactly is this person?
Why did this woman, just by turning around, exude an Aura that was completely different from before, constantly roaring?
However, what they didn’t know was that if this little Master Jian hadn’t come looking for someone to play with on a whim, given their status, they probably wouldn’t have been able to see her in this life.
But to the relief of the three, the cold and sharp woman in front of them made no move, turning and heading downstairs.
And what they didn’t know was that the little Master Jian had just wanted to pull out her sword and poke them a few times, to let Ji You know that she was actually a very dignified woman.
“Ji You, I want to eat candied fruit.”
“……”
Ji You followed her downstairs, watching the little Master Jian in front of him walk with her hands behind her back, her steps steady, completely different from her demeanor when she arrived.
However, after only a moment of dignity, she couldn’t help but start skipping and prancing again.
What a strange woman…
Ji You couldn’t help but mumble. Suddenly, he saw a scholar passing by, also staring at him, with a strange expression.
Ji Hanfei was slightly startled, thinking that this person looked familiar, but in the end, he felt it didn’t matter, it was irrelevant.
“Brother Ji, why are you here? I was just about to go to Ni Mountain to deliver a letter to you.”
“?”
Behind Apricot Blossom Alley in the West City, near the corner of Chunhua Alley, there was a tiled house. This was Kuang Cheng’s residence after he joined the Immortal Supervision Bureau.
The small room only had three feet for sleeping, and besides that, there was a desk and books scattered all over the floor.
There was also a small courtyard behind the tiled house, with fallen leaves piled up, looking like they hadn’t been tidied up yet.
Ji You followed Kuang Cheng into the house and sat in front of the desk, while Yan Shuyi, knowing they had something to discuss, sat in the courtyard obediently sipping tea.
“I’m going to leave Shengjing for a while to investigate the Evil Seed matter. My return date is uncertain, so I specifically came to inform you.”
Kuang Cheng glanced at him: “Is that so? But you seemed not to recognize me on the street.”
Ji You instantly became much more serious: “That was just a bit of my disguise.”
“So Brother Ji is so cautious, that’s true…”
“By the way, why did you ask someone to send me a letter?”
Kuang Cheng lowered his voice: “As I mentioned last time, the Immortal Supervision Bureau is investigating Wei Li’s corruption of tax revenue. There are already clues, and I also took this opportunity to find some leads on the missing children cases from the orphanages.”
Ji You looked at him: “You found the mastermind?”
“I led my colleagues to investigate the Yanhang Post Station outside the city and found that a batch of infants was sent to the Xuan Yuan Immortal Mansion.”
Kuang Cheng couldn’t help but clench his fists: “Xuan Yuan Immortal Mansion does the most of this kind of thing, refining medicine with humans. We also witnessed it in Yuyang County. Brother Ji, after you become the Sect Master, don’t let them off.”
Ji You remembered Qiu Ru, clutching his teacup and saying: “Naturally, I won’t.”
“In addition, among these clues, there’s another puzzling point that I can’t figure out.”
“?”
Kuang Cheng lowered his voice and said: “The infant disappearance cases didn’t start from the orphanages. Children have been continuously disappearing for three years, and some were even stolen from their parents’ eyes right after birth.”
“So far, I have investigated 138 cases, and there are files in several government offices in Shengjing, with relatively concentrated reporting records.”
“The most bizarre thing is that three princes in the palace also disappeared one after another.”
“But I checked the exit records of Yanhang Post Station and found that the number of transports doesn’t match this. Half of the children were not sent to Xuan Yuan Immortal Mansion.”
Ji You frowned slightly: “Besides Xuan Yuan Immortal Mansion, there are others?”
After speaking, Kuang Cheng took out a piece of paper from his In arms: “I found a few places, also from the records of Yanhang Post Station, which I think have some problems.”
Ji You unfolded the paper and looked at it, his brows gradually furrowing.
After Kuang Cheng joined the Immortal Supervision Bureau, he held a clerical position and was not involved in investigating cases, so his days were quite leisurely.
But like Ji You, he didn’t want to be idle; he always felt he should do something, so he started investigating this infant disappearance case.
As for why, it actually stemmed from the emaciated child Kuang Cheng met the first time he went to the orphanage to deliver cotton quilts.
That child was named Hu Wa. He didn’t want anything, just knelt and kowtowed, begging Kuang Cheng to help him find his sister, with whom he depended on each other.
Actually, even before investigating, Kuang Cheng knew that the theft of infants was likely related to the Immortal Sect.
After all, in this world today, ordinary people struggle to put food on the table, so who would steal hundreds of children?
But even so, Kuang Cheng still felt that he should give Hu Wa an explanation.
And now, after searching, he indeed found traces of the Immortal Sect, but Kuang Cheng was already powerless, so he hoped Ji You would have a way.
But what he didn’t expect was that when Ji You saw the content on the paper, he felt a chill run up his spine.
There wasn’t much content on it, just the names of three small towns.
Qiling Town, Yuhe Town, Beisha Town.
Ji You was silent for a long time, subconsciously clenching the paper: “Why did you pick out these locations from the transport records of Yanhang Post Station?”
“One of Yanhang Post Station’s convoys went to these places too frequently. These are remote towns after all; even for purchasing supplies from the capital, there shouldn’t be a trip every month, and their travel highly coincides with the time of the disappearances.”
After Kuang Cheng finished speaking, he looked at him, somewhat puzzled: “Do you know these three places?”
Ji You crumpled the paper into his palm: “No, I’ve never seen them, but I’ll help you go check. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
“Thank you, Brother Ji.”
“Having investigated this far, it’s already your limit. Focus on getting promoted. Don’t forget that the burden of the Kuang Family is now entirely on your shoulders.”
Kuang Cheng nodded after hearing this: “The Wei Li corruption case has been almost thoroughly investigated. The Ministry of Revenue has replaced a large number of officials. Your Majesty’s determination to implement new policies this time is very strong, even changing the reign title from Taiwu to Taiyuan. I have more things I can do for the common people.”
Ji You looked up after hearing this: “The imperial court is actually no safer than the Jianghu. Don’t try to stand out in everything, and don’t let others use you as a pawn. Remember what I told you last time, go pursue Wei Li’s granddaughter, or pursue the princess!”
Kuang Cheng turned to look at Yan Shuyi, who was sitting in the courtyard: “Is that your Sect Master’s granddaughter?”
Yan Shuyi was sitting on a stone stool at this moment, her eyes fixed on the only withered leaf hanging on the tree, her expression obedient.
Ji You also looked over, and after a long while, chuckled: “No, just a cute little girl.”
“……”
As the words fell, both their shoulders suddenly trembled.
Because it seemed as if some Qi had suddenly shot out just now. In that instant, the only withered leaf on the tree, along with the branch, broke off.
The little Master Jian, sitting on the stone stool drinking tea, remained calm, only her beautiful eyes beginning to narrow slightly.