Staring at the suddenly appeared pink-haired youth behind him and the unfamiliar guest room filled with the scent of elixirs before his eyes, Lu Li’s expression was one of deep confusion.
“Uh… may I ask, young sir, who are you? And where exactly are we right now?”
Lu Li forced himself to sit up, cautiously probing the pink-haired youth in front of him, while secretly gathering his spiritual energy in his hand, ready to cast a spell in defense at any sign of danger.
In response to Lu Li’s questioning, the pink-haired youth did not answer directly.
Instead, a look of delighted respect immediately appeared on his face.
Then, the pink-haired youth, Guo Shang Baiyu disguised as a man, suddenly sprang up like a theatrical performer possessed, and hurriedly strode toward the corridor outside the door, deliberately raising his voice with a hint of panic and urgency.
“Ah! Father! Father! Master Lu has awakened!”
Seeing this, the confusion on Lu Li’s face deepened even further.
Just as Lu Li was sinking deeper into bewilderment, the footsteps he had heard retreating hastily outside earlier suddenly returned in a rush.
Following closely, a middle-aged man wearing an elaborately patterned Shu brocade robe in a deep crimson color, with a dignified countenance and exceptionally sharp eyes, stepped into the room accompanied by the pink-haired youth.
This middle-aged man was none other than Wu Steward, whom Lu Li had seen earlier, though now she was disguised as a man.
Gu Qingkong had instructed Shang Baiyu beforehand to feed her a prearranged script.
Finally, without Lu Li’s knowledge, Gu Qingkong had also placed a cognitive modification array over him.
Yet Lu Li was completely unaware of all this.
In his eyes, Wu Steward was a middle-aged man with a calm, commanding presence, evidently someone who had held a high position for a long time.
As for the theatrical Shang Baiyu, he obediently followed behind Wu Steward by half a step, lowering his gaze and wearing the humble, dutiful expression of a son obeying his father’s commands.
Wu Steward’s gaze landed on Lu Li.
Following the script designed by their Sect Leader, she slightly cupped her hands and spoke with a loud voice tinged with a barely perceptible scrutinizing undertone.
“Master Lu, a pleasure to meet you. I am Shang Qianyue, the Sect Leader of this Danding Pavilion.”
She then turned slightly, gesturing to the side toward Shang Baiyu and said to Lu Li,
“This is my son, Shang Baiyu. My son was somewhat rude just now; if we have disturbed you, Master Lu, I hope you will forgive us.”
Lu Li furrowed his brows and quickly ransacked his memory for any information on Shang Baiyu and Shang Qianyue, two game NPCs, but found nothing.
However, what concerned him more was that they had apparently recognized him at first glance.
“Sect Leader Shang, do you know me?”
Lu Li asked.
Wu Steward, feigning to hear this, chuckled lightly and, following Shang Baiyu’s script, put on an expression of one who holds the world’s affairs in his palm.
“Heh heh… Master Lu, you jest. As the newly accepted Closing Disciple of the Xuling Sect, a Great Ascension stage powerhouse, and holding the foundation-breaking position over Duanqing Peak, you have a certain reputation within the Jin Kingdom.”
“In our Danding Pavilion’s business, we deal with all sorts of people. If our information were not accurate, wouldn’t we have closed down long ago?”
“Moreover, Wu Steward has already reported to me about Master Lu’s intention to come to me for alchemical matters. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come here to the Yangzhou City Sub-Pavilion with my son.”
After finishing, Wu Steward shifted her tone, the smile fading slightly as she adopted a probing and unavoidable tone of questioning directed at the just-awakened Lu Li.
“Rather than how I recognize Master Lu, I would rather ask you… why did you lose consciousness inside our Danding Pavilion’s Secret Chamber, where no outsiders are allowed to set foot?”
She uttered the words
“Secret Chamber”
lightly, but they carried the weight of a thousand pounds, directly crashing down on Lu Li.
Lu Li’s face shifted at the words.
The reason he had broken into the Secret Chamber was to investigate the suspicious Protective Array and the living corpse monsters that the Danding Pavilion had secretly moved inside.
Originally, his covert investigation of the Danding Pavilion’s Secret Chamber and its array was already somewhat dubious.
Now caught red-handed, he was at a loss as to how to explain.
Should he simply tell the Shang family father and son that he suspected the Danding Pavilion was involved in some dark rituals in Yangzhou City?
That he strongly suspected their Danding Pavilion was connected to the recent Child Disappearance Case in Yangzhou City?
Even if he spoke up, would they admit any of it?
Besides, he was now deep inside enemy territory, his situation extremely disadvantageous.
As the situation grew more perilous, in the blink of an eye, Lu Li decided to leave.
He bit his lip and prepared to cast a spell, forcibly breaking through the blockade set by the Shang family father and son and escape with his life.
However, just as Lu Li’s gaze sharpened and he was about to act—
“Master Lu, I think there might be some misunderstanding between us!”
Wu Steward seemed to see through his intention and hurriedly clapped her hands calmly.
At that moment, Shang Baiyu, who had already prepared everything, directly pulled out Gu Qingkong, who had been tightly bound, from a corner nearby.
Seeing his own senior disciple “Gu Qingkong” captured, Lu Li’s pupils suddenly contracted, and the momentum he had just gathered instantly collapsed.
“Master! Save me…”
Gu Qingkong called out as soon as she saw Lu Li, her voice filled with urgency and guilt, the performance genuinely heartfelt.
Shang Baiyu watched with satisfaction at Lu Li’s frozen expression and the shock and worry in his eyes.
Then he signaled Wu Steward to speak, threatening Lu Li.
“Master Lu, now… can we calmly sit down here and have a proper talk?”
Upon hearing this, Lu Li’s face darkened considerably.
His eyes flickered between Wu Steward and Shang Baiyu’s triumphant smiles and his disciple’s pale face.
Finally, Lu Li took a deep breath, suppressing all the emotions inside him, and asked in a low voice,
“Qingkong! Didn’t I tell you to stay quietly in the inn? Why are you here? What have they done to you?”
Gu Qingkong lowered her head even further at his words, her voice trembling with guilt at deceiving her master.
“I’m sorry, Master… it’s all my fault. You had been gone for a long time without news, and I was… I was really worried about your safety.”
“So, I secretly came to look for you…”
“And then… I was captured by them.”
Gu Qingkong cast a timely glance at Shang Baiyu, shifting the blame for being captured onto him.
Shang Baiyu, who had rehearsed the scene with Gu Qingkong beforehand, gave a helpless smile and shrugged slightly at Lu Li, as if to say,
“Master Lu, it wasn’t on purpose that I caught your disciple.”
Seeing this, Lu Li’s expression turned completely grim.
He forcefully suppressed the rage and worry swirling in his heart, his gaze like a blade of ice piercing the
“Shang family father and son,”
his voice low and filled with menace.
“Sect Leader Shang, what are your intentions? Treating me and my beloved disciple like this—do you intend to make an enemy of the Xuling Sect and my master, who is currently in seclusion?”
Lu Li straightened his body, his tone and demeanor full of the dignity befitting the peak master of the Xuling Sect.
Wu Steward’s smile stiffened upon hearing this, and a flicker of barely concealed panic flashed in her eyes.
After all, Lu Li’s hardline stance was not part of the script that Shang Baiyu had provided earlier!
She instinctively glanced at the real Sect Leader, Shang Baiyu.
Shang Baiyu cursed silently in his heart, thinking that this Wu Steward was more of a hindrance than help—at a time like this, she should have bluffed through it, but instead she was asking for his opinion?
Now that he was playing the “Sect Leader,” how could he let his “son” take charge in such matters?
Despite his complaints inside, his face remained perfectly composed.
Then he stepped forward, lightly fanning himself, and smoothly cut in before “father” could speak.
“Master Lu, you overstate things. My father and I have always held you and the Xuling Sect in great respect. How could we dare to be enemies of the Xuling Sect?”
“My father and I have no intention of detaining you or your outstanding disciple.”
“We only wish to clarify some misunderstandings you may have about our Danding Pavilion, as well as certain rumors recently circulating in the city concerning the Pavilion…”
“Oh? Rumors?”
Lu Li frowned upon hearing this.
“Yes, rumors.”
Shang Baiyu nodded slightly, then turned to ask Lu Li.
“If I’m not mistaken, Master Lu, you two should be investigating the recent Child Disappearance Case in the city, right?”
Since Lu Li had been evasive about the investigation, he was momentarily at a loss for words.
Seeing this, Shang Baiyu quickly smiled.
“Heh heh… Master Lu, it seems I guessed right.”
“To be honest with you, the disappearance cases have nothing to do with our Danding Pavilion.”
“From a certain point of view, we Danding Pavilion share the same goal as you. The reason we collected so many living corpses in the Secret Chamber is also to investigate the Child Disappearance Case in Yangzhou City!”
“Oh? What do you mean by that?”
Lu Li relaxed his brow slightly, looking at the pink-haired youth in front of him with suspicion.
Seeing that his master had taken the bait, Shang Baiyu proceeded according to plan, fully explaining the background of the living corpse collection in the city by the Danding Pavilion and the recent secrets behind the disappearance cases the Pavilion had been investigating.
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