Li Nanzhu was quick to act, grabbing Mu Wenyan's sleeve and darting behind a rockery by the side of the road.
Mu Wenyan didn't understand why, but his hands weren't slow at all; a concealment barrier silently enveloped the two of them.
"Junior Sister?" Mu Wenyan asked via divine sense, his brow furrowing slightly.
Li Nanzhu instinctively raised her index finger to her lips, her gaze locked on a figure near the bamboo grove ahead.
She saw Cang Dongqing's fingertips constantly stroking the red bead bracelet on her wrist, seemingly waiting for someone.
"Master Brother," Li Nanzhu transmitted, "do you know what that red bead bracelet on Cang Dongqing's hand actually is?"
Mu Wenyan shook his head slightly. "I remember the seventh junior brother saying last time that it was a gift from Ling Xiao Immortal Venerable, but the specific origin..." His voice suddenly paused. "Wait, someone's coming."
A rustling of footsteps came from deep within the bamboo grove, and a figure dressed in Water Moon Sect robes walked out slowly—it was Lu Tingyun.
"Lu Tingyun?" Li Nanzhu's pupils shrank as she silently exchanged a look with Mu Wenyan.
They watched as Lu Tingyun walked up to Cang Dongqing, and the two spoke in low voices.
Because they were too far away and the barrier blocked the sound, Li Nanzhu couldn't hear the content at all. But to her surprise, Cang Dongqing took the initiative to reach out and gently grasp Lu Tingyun's wrist.
"They..." Li Nanzhu's eyes widened.
Mu Wenyan's expression also turned grave.
His fingertips moved slightly, wanting to strengthen the barrier's detection capabilities, but he found that Cang Dongqing's body seemed to be shrouded in a special shield that even divine sense could not penetrate.
"There's something strange," Mu Wenyan transmitted. "That shield... it doesn't look like an ordinary restriction."
While the two were filled with doubt, Lu Tingyun took an object out of his storage bag—it was the Soul-Siphoning Sword he had forged today.
He offered the longsword with both hands, saying something with a solemn expression.
Cang Dongqing shook her head slightly, appearing to decline.
However, Lu Tingyun insisted on handing over the sword, his eyes full of earnestness. After a moment of stalemate, Cang Dongqing finally took the longsword, her fingertips brushing lightly over the blade. She nodded and tucked it into her storage bag.
"Isn't that the magic tool he just forged?" Li Nanzhu spoke with some hesitation. "He just gave it to Cang Dongqing like that?"
At that moment, Cang Dongqing suddenly looked up, her gaze sweeping toward their hiding spot like a bolt of lightning. Mu Wenyan immediately pressed down on Li Nanzhu's shoulder, raising the barrier's strength to its limit.
Cang Dongqing's gaze lingered in their direction for a moment before finally moving away. She exchanged a few more low words with Lu Tingyun, and then they both went their separate ways.
"Were we discovered?" Li Nanzhu didn't even dare to breathe.
Mu Wenyan shook his head. "Probably not, but she seemed to have sensed something."
There was no point in staying here any longer. Mu Wenyan removed the barrier, and just as they were preparing to leave, the bushes beside them suddenly rustled.
"Who is it?!" Li Nanzhu immediately retreated half a step in alertness, already pinching a hand seal.
A red-haired head popped out of the grass, and Liu Qingyang's face, carrying a bit of a rogue-like air, appeared before them.
"Liu Qingyang?" Li Nanzhu breathed a sigh of relief, though she was also a bit speechless. "What are you doing hiding here?"
Liu Qingyang patted the grass clippings off his clothes and grinned. "I was about to ask you two the same thing. What are you doing skulking around here?"
Li Nanzhu suddenly realized something, her mouth twitching. "Wait... the person Cang Dongqing noticed just now wasn't you, was it?"
"Huh?" Liu Qingyang looked bewildered. "What do you mean 'noticed'? I was just following my second senior brother."
Mu Wenyan's brow furrowed slightly. "You were tracking Lu Tingyun?"
"Yeah!" Liu Qingyang lowered his voice, sounding very mysterious. "I've felt my second senior brother has been acting weird these past few days. As soon as the competition ended today, he rushed out. Of course I had to see what he was up to."
He looked around and leaned closer to them. "You saw it too, right? He gave the Soul-Siphoning Sword he just forged to Cang Dongqing!"
Li Nanzhu and Mu Wenyan looked at each other, both seeing the confusion in the other's eyes.
"Do you know why he did that?" Li Nanzhu asked.
Liu Qingyang shrugged. "If I knew, why would I be tracking him?"
Li Nanzhu was silent.
Fine, asking him was a waste of time anyway.
"By the way." Li Nanzhu suddenly remembered something. "The evil-energy warning disk you gave me earlier..."
Liu Qingyang looked blank. "Huh? What about it?"
Li Nanzhu took the disk out of her storage bag. "When I was at the residence, I activated it, and it kept glowing red."
Liu Qingyang scratched his head. "That's impossible, right? I know the magic tools I make best. The red light only activates when it senses evil energy. Did you see it wrong?"
Li Nanzhu frowned. "How could I have seen it wrong? At the time, it definitely..."
"Then how about we activate it now and see?" Liu Qingyang said as he took the warning disk. He gathered spiritual energy at his fingertip and swiped it across the surface.
The warning disk immediately emitted a faint red light. However, the direction the red light eventually pointed to was straight at Mu Wenyan!
"What's going on?!" Liu Qingyang almost threw the warning disk away. "This is impossible!"
He frantically checked the magic tool. "It's clearly functioning normally... how could it point at Senior Brother Mu?"
Li Nanzhu's heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively looked at Mu Wenyan. Her master brother remained calm, though his brow was slightly furrowed.
"Wait..." Liu Qingyang suddenly thought of something and injected another burst of spiritual energy.
This time, the red light on the warning disk grew even brighter. After the pointer shook violently, it split into three directions—one still pointed at Mu Wenyan, while the other two pointed toward the bamboo grove and the center of the arena, respectively.
"This..." Liu Qingyang scratched his hair hard, looking confused. "Is it really broken?"
He hesitated for a moment. "Maybe... I should take it back and study it first?"
"Alright, give it back to me once you've fixed it," Li Nanzhu nodded.
With those words, the three of them fell into a brief silence.
It was Liu Qingyang who spoke first. "Then... I'll head back and research it?"
Mu Wenyan nodded slightly. "Very well."
Liu Qingyang waved at them, but as he turned to leave, he looked back once more, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something, but he ultimately didn't speak.
After Liu Qingyang's figure disappeared, Li Nanzhu and Mu Wenyan began walking back along the stone-slab path.
"Master Brother..." Li Nanzhu hesitated to speak.
Mu Wenyan looked straight ahead, his voice calm. "Back to the residence first."
The two of them were silent the whole way, with only Suisui's bone claws occasionally making a slight clicking sound.
Turning the last corner, the gate to the residence was right before them.
Normally at this time, Duan Xianxing would have been shouting and celebrating in the courtyard, but right now, the entire residence was eerily quiet.
"That's strange..." Li Nanzhu frowned slightly, a trace of unease flickering in her heart.
But on second thought, this was the Sword Heart Sect's territory, and with the cultivation of her senior brothers and sisters, they should be more than capable of protecting themselves.
If there were truly something abnormal, her master brother would have noticed it long ago.
After greeting Mu Wenyan, she carried Suisui toward her own room.
The moment she pushed open the door—
Swoosh!
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