What’s going on? How come people keep sneaking into the bamboo grove for secret dates?
Mu Yanxi took a small detour around the pool and peered into the bamboo grove. She actually saw two naked girls. One of them had just arrived, and the other seemed to have been waiting there earlier.
But strangely, they both had terminal rings on them—one wore hers on her right leg, the other on her neck.
As Mu Yanxi had climbed the mountain, she noticed most girls disliked bathing with their terminal rings on; only a few still wore them. Did these two happen to both like wearing theirs?
The waiting girl grew alert at the sight of someone approaching, but upon recognizing the newcomer, she broke into a smile and asked anxiously, “Did you bring the goods?”
“I’ve already placed them there. Did you bring the recording spirit stone?” the girl who had just arrived asked.
“I brought it, but how can I be sure you actually put the goods there?” the waiting girl asked worriedly.
“Let me show you this.”
The arriving girl handed over a piece of paper. Mu Yanxi couldn’t see it clearly, but it seemed to be a photo.
After looking at the paper, the girl beamed with delight. “No problem. Let’s start the transaction then.”
As she spoke, she swiped her hand over her terminal ring, and a pile of spirit stones appeared on the ground. Mu Yanxi could see clearly—they were real spirit stones, not just numbers in an account.
The arriving girl crouched down and counted them. After confirming the quantity was sufficient, she stored all the spirit stones into her terminal ring, then took out a jade token and handed it over.
Mu Yanxi happened to see that jade token. She was puzzled. That looked just like the jade token for opening bathhouse lockers—exactly like the one on her own wrist. That girl gave a pile of spirit stones just to exchange for a locker’s jade token?
“Senior sister, I still don’t understand. Why can’t we just trade directly? Handing over spirit stones for the goods would be much more convenient than putting them in a locker, wouldn’t it?” the waiting girl asked.
“Idiot! There’s no way I’m carrying that thing on me. If I get caught, the least I’ll get is a thrashing! If transferring money wouldn’t leave traces, I wouldn’t have come to collect the spirit stones in person!” the arriving girl scolded sternly.
“Yes, senior sister.” The waiting girl was clearly intimidated and lowered her head.
“Good that you understand. I chose to trade here because the bathhouse has no Spiritual Moon Sect surveillance. No evidence can be left.” With that, the arriving girl packed away the spirit stones and left without looking back.
According to the immortal brain’s analysis, the arriving girl was at Qi Refining Layer 43, making her at least a sophomore. The immortal brain also showed she was disguised—not her real appearance, but illusionary magic.
Mu Yanxi hadn’t expected to stumble upon such explosive information. Who were these two? Could they be spies or traitors sent by other sects?
Mu Yanxi recalled the paper that looked like a photo and earlier rumors that outsiders were plotting to obtain the Lingyue Ascension Song. Were they trading confidential information about the Spiritual Moon Sect?
Even if it wasn’t classified intelligence, they were definitely trading something illicit that violated sect rules. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so secretive, choosing this location, not even carrying the goods themselves but instead stashing them in a locker for the girl to retrieve.
At that moment, the girl was quietly getting ready to leave the bamboo grove. Mu Yanxi thought it over and decided to follow and see.
She considered that she was now a disciple of the Spiritual Moon Sect.
As a disciple, she had benefited from the core cultivation methods the sect taught—the Lingyue Art and the Fake Phoenix Art—as well as free access to the top-grade spiritual spring. Even though she had only joined three days ago, once admitted, she was a formal disciple.
If those two were doing something that harmed the Spiritual Moon Sect, both emotionally and logically, as a disciple, Mu Yanxi couldn’t ignore it. She should follow and see, then report the evidence to the teacher—that was her duty as a sect disciple.
At this point, the girl who had been waiting in the bamboo grove had already left the grove and was heading downhill. Her steps were hurried, as if she couldn’t wait to get her hands on that item.
Mu Yanxi also climbed out of the hot spring and followed her from a distance.
The mountain path to the hot spring was bustling with disciples coming and going, so even if she pretended to be a disciple who had finished bathing and was heading down, it would look natural—no need to worry about being discovered.
And so, Mu Yanxi followed her all the way to the changing room at the foot of the mountain. Mu Yanxi followed her in and saw her walk straight to a corner of the changing room, stopping in front of the last row of lockers against the wall.
This put Mu Yanxi in an awkward spot. The girl from the transaction had been extremely cautious. She placed the item in the deepest locker, with the outer lockers completely blocking the view—you couldn’t see what was in that back row at all.
If Mu Yanxi walked in, that girl would definitely become alert and wouldn’t open the locker in front of her. And since she didn’t have a jade token for that row to open a locker, the girl would surely become suspicious.
With no other choice, Mu Yanxi sat down opposite the row of lockers one aisle away, pretending to dry herself with a bath towel. At this angle, she could still catch a glimpse of the back row.
Soon, Mu Yanxi heard the sounds of a locker opening and closing—the girl was clearly impatient. Then she saw—
The girl, too excited after retrieving the item, walked straight out. In her hand was a row of injections, very similar to what Mu Yanxi had seen in physical education class, linked together by a package strip.
Was that all they were trading? Just physical enhancement injections?
“Huh?!”
The girl hadn’t expected someone to be in the outer row. She had been too rushed going in to notice if anyone was there earlier.
Mu Yanxi had already been pretending to dry herself. Only when she heard the girl’s startled exclamation did she look up, wearing a confused expression as if she didn’t know what was happening.
At that, the girl quickly stashed the injections into her terminal ring, then took out a school uniform from the ring and put it on. She fled like a thief caught red-handed.
To be honest, if the girl had stayed and stared, Mu Yanxi would have been the one feeling awkward. Her own locker wasn’t in this row. If the girl kept watching, Mu Yanxi wouldn’t be able to explain why she was there.
Of course, given their earlier sneaky behavior, Mu Yanxi had already decided that if the girl pressed further, she would directly demand to know what she was doing.
Seeing that the girl had scampered off just as she expected, Mu Yanxi breathed a sigh of relief.
So that was why they wore their terminal rings into the bathhouse.
Since they were trading via lockers, they couldn’t put their own clothes inside the lockers, so they had to store them in the terminal ring. After the transaction, they could just take out their clothes in the changing room and leave.
Mu Yanxi stood up, deep in thought.
‘Should she report this or not?’