After nightfall, the lanterns in the mountains were blown by the wind, flickering uncertainly. A pale moon appeared from the treetops in the distance, only to be immediately covered by slowly drifting thick clouds, leaving only a hazy faint light. The night wind suddenly stopped, and the surrounding fields fell into a dead silence, with only dry branches swaying slightly, making a dry, thin sound. The world seemed to be quietly constricted, the breath cold and desolate, as if something unrevealed was lurking in the dark, pressing the entire night even deeper.
Lin Dalu wore a suit of Night-Travel Black Garb, with a Black Head-Wrap covering his face, his back straight and his steps light and steady. Following the Prohibition Positions he had noted down when familiarizing himself with the sect with Qin Yue earlier, he moved through the darkness at an extremely slow speed. Occasionally, when his toes touched the ground, there would be faint Spirit Power Fluctuation spreading from the ground, and he would immediately withdraw his body to avoid it, his eyes as calm as water, but his heart tightly strung.
In the night, array flags were hidden in rock crevices, and Formation Inscriptions were concealed among grass roots, as long as there was a slight oversight, the Prohibition would be triggered. He held his breath all the way, bypassing three Concealed Formations and one Overt Formation, taking a full hour before reaching the edge of the mist in the back mountain.
The mist was so thick it almost condensed into substance. Lin Dalu reached out his hand, and the mist immediately stuck together, completely swallowing his elbow. He mobilized Spirit Power to test it, but only felt his vision deadlocked, making it difficult even to land a steady step. He stepped in again, but it was like sinking into a quagmire, unable to distinguish directions, and difficult even to maintain a square inch of ground. In desperation, he had to withdraw from the mist and stand at the edge, his brow furrowed.
"This mist is not ordinary, if there is no specific path, it might be difficult to enter." Lin Dalu pondered for a long while, anxious as fire, yet still without a solution.
While he was in an anxious state, there seemed to be light and shadow swaying slightly deep in the mist. Lin Dalu's heart jolted, and he immediately hid his breath, suppressing his Cultivation to the lowest level, his whole person appearing to melt into the black shadows, with only his eyes quietly watching.
The figure in the mist was initially blurred, then drifted lightly, with steps like gossamer, its form appearing and disappearing under the push of the mist, as if stepping on an invisible rhythm. Occasionally, when the toes touched the ground, a very slight "bo" or "da" sound was made, that was not the sound of falling rocks, but a slight Qi wave triggered when avoiding the concealed Formation Core.
"As expected, there is a special method," Lin Dalu's gaze narrowed slightly.
When the figure completely stepped out of the mist, the appearance of a woman in a blue gown was revealed. She appeared to be in her twenties, with a small but graceful figure, and long black hair scattered over her shoulders and back, gleaming with light like water when brushed by the night wind. Her appearance was thirty percent similar to Xiang'er, only between her eyebrows and eyes, there was a trace more of charm and agility. Her gestures naturally carried a bit of captivating aura, not intentional, yet making it hard for people to look away at a glance.
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She held a wicker flower basket in her hand, which was full of freshly picked flowers, their fragrance spreading faintly with the wind. Spirit Qi slowly surrounded her, appearing weak, yet implicitly containing a stable Spirit Qi Current Flow, vaguely at the Qi Refinement Level 5 Cultivation.
After stepping out of the mist, the woman lightly raised her chin, as if identifying the wind direction, and then stepped forward, walking along a secret route all the way, her feet without any error, clearly extremely familiar with this mist.
Lin Dalu held his breath, not making a sound, quietly observing her from the shadows as she went far away.
The woman's figure gradually went further away. Lin Dalu made a quick judgment and then followed along another steady route he had noted down. His steps were extremely light, his feet landing like feathers, not even disturbing the fallen leaves in the slightest. He only followed the breath, not relying on sound or shadow, maintaining a distance of thirty zhang, his expression steady, but his heart calmly deducing every possible variable in each step.
The woman in the blue gown walked to the central main building of Yin Spirit Pavilion, the Zhu Que, its shadow standing towering in the night, an eleven-story high building with light and shadow interlaced under the illumination of lanterns. Lin Dalu stopped in the darkness, remembering the introduction Qin Yue had whispered earlier, "The first to third floors are the Administrator office, the fourth floor is the residence for elders, and reaching the fifth floor, it is the living quarters for the Pavilion Master's Concubine."
As the woman stepped onto the stairs, a faint Spirit Radiance flashed beside her, and the lanterns on the floors flickered in the night wind, just interlacing with her figure in a series. Lin Dalu used the changes in light and shadow of the lanterns to calmly judge her position, finally determining that she stopped on the fifth floor.
"Blue gown, breath is soft, but carries the intent of fragrance techniques. This person, most likely, is one of Qiu Shengshui's Attendant Concubine." Lin Dalu's eyes were like lightning, which the night could hardly hide, and he clearly saw her push the door and enter in the dark.
He did not act rashly, bowed his body to retreat, and bypassed to the front yard residence, his expression steady, but a plan for the next step had already faintly formed in his heart.
After returning to his residence, Lin Dalu first drank a few mouthfuls of warm porridge to make his mind a bit more steady, then sat cross-legged to meditate, regulating his breathing and exhaling. Spirit Power circulated in his body circle after circle, and the anxious intent was also suppressed along with it. He knew in his heart that this matter could not be rushed, and he had to wait for the woman in the blue gown to appear again, so as to use the opportunity to find out the path through the mist.
...
The next day, as the sky turned dark again, Lin Dalu returned once more, waiting quietly behind a rock by the mist of the back mountain. The night wind gradually turned cold, the tree shadows swayed, and time passed bit by bit, yet the mist remained quiet and soundless. Until the first light appeared in the east and dew wetted his clothes, the woman still did not appear.
"The entrance and the exit, could it be they are not in the same place?" Lin Dalu's brow furrowed, secretly speculating, but unable to find the logic.
He returned to his residence again, regulated his breath slightly, and waited for another day. After nightfall, Lin Dalu switched to lurking around the Zhu Que, finding an open-visioned but hard-to-be-discovered dark corner, staring at all possible exit movements. All night long the lanterns flickered, no disciples came or went, yet the figure of the woman in the blue gown never appeared.
When the light of the second day appeared again, Lin Dalu took a deep breath, with a bit of irritation in his heart, "If I continue to wait, I'm afraid there will still be no result."
Returning to his room, he stood with his hands behind his back, his brow deeply furrowed, thinking quietly for a long time. No result by the mist, no result in front of the Zhu Que, three attempts were all in vain. Since that was the case, acting in the dark instead felt restricted, it would be better to change the method and enter the building in a dignified manner.
"Since I cannot enter the mist, and cannot find the person, then I might as well simply barge in head-on." Light flashed in Lin Dalu's eyes, his mind suddenly determined.
Lin Dalu took out the Blue Disciple Robe of the Yin Spirit Pavilion, put away the Black Head-Wrap, changed his clothes, tidied the Waist Sash at his waist, and then used Spirit Power to smooth the patterns on the clothes, making them no different from the disciples in the sect. He even smeared some dust on the cuffs and collar to avoid being too clean and raising suspicion.
Having done all this, he took a deep breath and pushed the door to go out,
"Zhi--" The wooden door made a light sound.
Lin Dalu quietly closed the door, his steps decisive, his whole person appearing at this moment to have walked out from the shadows, transforming into the most ordinary disciple in the sect. He looked up at the direction where the Zhu Que was located, Spirit Power moving secretly under his feet, with just one step, his figure was like a shadow caught by the night wind, heading straight for the high building.
This time, he no longer lurked in the dark, what he wanted was, to go straight into the nest.
Lin Dalu had a composed aura, his steps steady, walking toward the main entrance of the Zhu Que in broad daylight. A light breeze blew, and the Blue Disciple Robe, compared with those two Gate-Guarding Disciple wearing Gray-Brown Disciple Robes, appeared particularly eye-catching.
The two Gate-Guarding Disciple, upon seeing the color of the newcomer's clothes, their faces changed immediately, and they hurriedly bowed with cupped hands, their tone humble, "Greetings, Senior Brother, I wonder what brings Senior Brother to the Zhu Que today? Do the two of us need to pass word to the Administrator on your behalf?"
[Illustration ↓]
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Lin Dalu's face carried an air of majesty without anger, the corners of his mouth slightly curled, with a few bits of arrogant aura, "I have important matters to find Elder Diao Zeyi, I wonder if he is here today?"
One Gate-Guarding Disciple hurriedly reported, "Twenty days ago, Elder Diao was promoted to an Inner Pavilion Elder, and took Dharma-Protecting Guard with him to the mountain peak to take over the Teleportation Array. Lately, he has been traveling back and forth between them, and is rarely in the Zhu Que of the Pavilion."
Upon hearing this, Lin Dalu was delighted in his heart, the light in his eyes flashed and vanished, and he thought to himself, "Oh, Not here? This indeed saves a lot of trouble,"
However, his expression immediately sank, his brow deeply furrowed, and his tone sank as he retracted, "This,"
The two Gate-Guarding Disciple immediately lost their composure, one of them hurriedly asked, "Did Senior Brother encounter an important matter? If there are instructions, we would never dare to be negligent!"
Lin Dalu's face turned slightly cold, pressing some anger onto his eyebrows, "I am a Personal Disciple of the Pavilion Master, acting on the Pavilion Master's secret orders! This matter originally required Diao Zeyi to handle personally, and now he is not here, if the Pavilion Master's great matter is delayed, can you take the responsibility?"
"Gu--" The two Gate-Guarding Disciple swallowed their saliva at the same time, with fine sweat appearing on their foreheads. One of them, his voice even trembling, "Senior Brother, please calm down, calm down! We, we will go and invite the Duty-Holding Administrator to come!"
After saying that, that person smiled repeatedly, his face full of fawning, the other one then pulled his legs and ran inside, his steps hurried "da da da--", disappearing at the end of the walkway.
Lin Dalu stood with his hands behind his back, looking down coldly, not saying a word, that suppressed and sharp momentum pressing this Gate-Guarding Disciple so that he dared not look directly at him. Although Lin Dalu was steady in his heart, he was still secretly calculating, the more people who believed it to be true, the smoother it would be. At this moment, he must not show any flaws.
Not long after, heavy footsteps "tong, tong, tong--" came from deep in the walkway, as if a bag of flesh was trembling.
The footsteps approached, and a short and fat figure, following the reporting disciple, came in a hurry. That person's stature was no more than five feet, and the Ash-Brown Daoist Robe was bulging, as if it was filled with fat, trembling three times with every step he took. His breath was also disordered with his steps, clearly only at the Qi Refinement Level 4.
As soon as he saw Lin Dalu, he immediately smiled broadly, panting for breath, raised his sleeve to wipe a handful of sweat, and hurriedly bowed with cupped hands, "I am Liu Qiu, I did not know Senior Brother was gracing us with your presence, and failed to welcome you from afar, I hope you will forgive me, forgive me,"
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https://i.postimg.cc/RZxRvQ1s/Q0018C.jpg
Lin Dalu glanced at him sideways, did not answer, only lightly "hummed" once, his nose full of cold intent.
——(To be continued)