“Gong Shangyu! You brat!”
Gu Qingying’s purple eyes flared with fury at Gong Shangyu’s ambiguous attitude and her lazy, seductive tone.
She grit her silver teeth and swung her small fists, aiming to smash the paper-stuffed nose of Gong Shangyu, intent on making her nose bleed again.
“Hey! Qingkong. Come over here!”
Just as Gu Qingying’s fists were about to hit Gong Shangyu’s nose, Lu Li’s cold voice suddenly echoed from the front hall.
Gu Qingying instantly froze as if struck by a vital point, quickly withdrawing her ferocious expression and replacing it with an obedient and compliant demeanor.
She hurriedly walked over to Lu Li’s side.
“Master, what are your orders?”
“Tch… Little Green Tea~”
Gong Shangyu, having witnessed the entire transformation of her junior sister’s expression, muttered resentfully, feeling a twinge of regret.
Originally, she had planned to trigger the system’s time stop just as her junior sister’s fist was about to land, to toy with Gu Qingying and make her realize who was really the boss.
But unexpectedly, Gu Qingying’s luck was truly something else—she had been unintentionally saved by their Master.
“Hmph! Consider yourself lucky this time, girl! But Master won’t always be there to save you!”
Gong Shangyu watched Gu Qingying’s retreating back and muttered with some grievance.
Meanwhile, Gu Qingying was completely unaware of this.
Like a loyal dog, she stood quietly beside Lu Li, waiting patiently for his instructions.
But Lu Li didn’t look at her.
His gaze remained fixed on the jade slip where he recorded clues, and without lifting his head, he gave his disciple orders.
“Mr. Zhou and Miss Zhou were greatly frightened. Qingkong, take them to the Pianting to rest for a while. Prepare a few Anshen Fu to make into Fushui for Miss Zhou to drink, to calm her mind.”
“Yes, Master.”
Gu Qingying quickly responded, though unwilling in her heart, she chose to obediently follow orders and respectfully gestured “after you” to the Zhou father and daughter.
“Mr. Zhou, Miss Zhou, please follow me.”
Mr. Zhou repeatedly expressed his thanks and led his daughter to follow Gu Qingying toward the Pianting.
As Gu Qingying passed by Gong Shangyu, taking advantage of Lu Li’s focus on speaking with Steward Wu, she quickly shot Gong Shangyu a fierce glare that said,
“Just you wait.”
Gong Shangyu decisively returned an even more dazzling, somewhat proud smile, lightly fanning herself as she silently mouthed,
“Hehe… take care, little junior sister~”
Gu Qingying was so furious she nearly tripped.
She forcefully suppressed the impulse to turn back and argue, instead leading the Zhou family to the Pianting to rest.
Watching Gu Qingying’s stifled retreating figure, Gong Shangyu’s mood brightened further.
Her pink eyes flickered, once again turning her gaze to Lu Li, who was currently analyzing the case with his “father” and several Keqing among the scattered cultivators.
“As expected, no matter how many times I see it, Master’s back is always so charming…”
A few minutes later, after sending the Zhou family to the Pianting, Gu Qingying returned.
At this moment, Lu Li and the Dan Ding Pavilion group were all at a loss over the thorny case, completely unable to find a breakthrough.
“Tch… the clues are simply insufficient!”
“And after the Zhou family’s fright, their logic is completely chaotic! What they said can’t be used as evidence at all…”
Faced with the tangled mess of clues, Lu Li rubbed his temples hard, feeling a headache coming on.
The atmosphere in the front hall grew somewhat heavy.
Lu Li, Steward Wu pretending to be the Dan Ding Pavilion’s Chief, and the several scattered Keqing stationed at the Zhou family last night all furrowed their brows.
Though Lu Li’s jade slip contained fragmented clues, it was difficult to piece together an effective trail.
That thief moved like the wind, his methods strange, and his appearance was as elusive as black mist.
Except for confirming that his target was a child with a Four Yin Mingge, there was hardly any valuable information.
“Sigh… this won’t do.”
Lu Li pondered for a moment, then broke the silence.
His gaze swept sharply over everyone present as he boldly proposed,
“Fellow Daoists, since this thief is obsessed with finding a Four Yin Mingge child to perform the ritual, his failure this time won’t make him give up easily.”
“After all, Four Yin Mingge children are rare. Compared to finding a new target, someone in a hurry to hold the ritual will definitely prefer to continue capturing Miss Zhou.”
“Miss Zhou remains his target. So we can use her as bait to lure out that thief!”
Hearing this, Gong Shangyu shook her feather fan helplessly and said to Lu Li,
“Chief Lu’s words are spot on. To be honest, our Dan Ding Pavilion has tried this method before.”
“We even mastered a secret technique that can temporarily disguise an ordinary Mingge child as a Four Yin Mingge, using this as bait to trap the thief.”
“However…”
Gong Shangyu paused briefly, then sighed,
“In previous bait attempts, not only did we fail to catch the thief, but even the children acting as bait were forcibly abducted by his mysterious method…”
“Those children remain missing to this day. The thief clearly has some special secret art capable of bypassing and seeing through our Dan Ding Pavilion’s guards.”
“And his Dunshu, which leaves no trace, is also a huge obstacle in capturing him.”
Lu Li lowered his head in disappointment upon hearing Gong Shangyu’s words.
But then, as if suddenly remembering something, a glint of inspiration sparked in his eyes.
“Miss Shang, the reason you failed before was because the children you used as bait had no ability to protect themselves.”
“So once the thief succeeded, he could easily escape thousands of miles with those children, making pursuit impossible.”
“But… what if we found a cultivator with a childlike body, disguised as Miss Zhou?”
Lu Li suddenly paused, his voice steady and persuasive.
“We let this cultivator act as bait. Once that Mozong thief appears, we don’t rush to catch him. Instead, we have him engage the thief for a short time, leaving a subtle magical mark on the thief.”
“At that moment, the thief, thinking he has succeeded, will bring the prey back to his secret lair. We can then trace that magical mark and the cultivator’s magical aura to directly strike the thief’s nest!”
Hearing this, Steward Wu’s eyes lit up, but he soon revealed a trace of difficulty.
“Hmm, Chief Lu, this plan is excellent! However… the cultivator with a childlike body must also have sufficient cultivation to hold off the thief for a while… Where can we find such a person so quickly?”
As Steward Wu finished speaking, the eyes of everyone in the hall unconsciously began to scan the room.
Almost simultaneously, Gong Shangyu and Lu Li’s gazes both settled on Gu Qingying, who had just returned and was standing at the hall entrance, waiting.
Gu Qingying:
“Hmm?”
Feeling the dangerous gazes from Master and Senior Sister, Gu Qingying felt like a little white rabbit caught in the sight of two hungry wolves.
Suddenly, a chill surged up from the soles of her feet straight to her crown.
Her petite body stiffened abruptly.
Her purple eyes widened, and she instinctively took a half step back, her back pressing against the cold doorframe.
“Uh… Master? Gong Shang, why… why are you both looking at me all of a sudden?”
“Why do you both have clothes that look the same as Miss Zhou’s…”
“P-please don’t come closer!”
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