Rong Zhi arrived at Xia Jin's courtyard and found it different from usual, with increased security outside.
If she tried to force her way in, she would surely be discovered.
Rong Zhi took out a packet of powder from her怀 and prepared to sneak in.
She did not want Xia Yunting to hear what she wanted to ask Xia Jin.
Just as she was about to act, she suddenly heard a call from behind her.
"Xiao Mo."
It was Xia Yunting's voice.
Rong Zhi quickly put away the powder.
Xia Yunting looked Rong Zhi up and down. Seeing that she was unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's good that you're alright."
Logically, Rong Zhi should have been touched at this moment, but after thinking about the conversation between Xia Yunting and Chen Xing just now, she found it hard to feel moved.
"If you wanted to know if I was alright, you could have just sent someone to check."
Since he wasn't worried, why pretend to be so affectionate?
Xia Yunting sensed that Rong Zhi was angry. He pretended not to care and only asked, "Xiao Mo, what are you doing here?"
"I heard you brought Xia Jin back. I've come to see if he's dead."
"I'll take you." Xia Yunting naturally took Rong Zhi's hand. As they approached, the guards on either side looked straight ahead.
Rong Zhi felt a little resistant. With Xia Yunting present, she couldn't ask questions easily.
"Look." Xia Yunting pointed inside the room. A figure was projected onto the window paper, sitting upright. It looked like he was tied up.
There were several guards in the courtyard, making it impossible to get in or out.
Rong Zhi frowned. Fortunately, she hadn't rushed in earlier, or she would have been exposed.
"It's good that he's not dead. I'm going to rest."
She felt a bit disheartened. Xia Yunting did not stop her, but after Rong Zhi walked away, he let out a quiet sigh.
Xia Yunting turned and entered the room, his expression darkening as he looked at Xia Jin, who was drawing a formation on the ground.
"This diagram is drawn incorrectly."
Xia Jin's hand trembled. In front of him was the strange statue used for the Yin Gathering formation. The projection on the window was also the statue's projection, which only looked like a human figure from the outside.
"Do you think you can fool me just because I don't understand these things?"
Xia Yunting's voice was full of pressure. Xia Jin quickly erased the diagram he had just drawn.
"I'll redraw it now!"
Xia Yunting stared at him until the entire diagram was completed. Only then did Xia Yunting's expression soften slightly.
"General, this is the Yin Gathering formation. All the diagrams are drawn in reverse. As long as the birth date and time of the caster are written on it, the caster will suffer a backlash when the formation is activated."
"Hurry up and do it."
Xia Jin dared not disobey. He took a yellow talisman, wrote a string of birth dates and times, and finally placed the yellow talisman on the candle held by the statue.
The yellow talisman instantly ignited and burned to ashes in just three breaths. Whether it was an illusion or not, the statue's eyes seemed to flicker.
"It's done..."
Xia Jin looked at Xia Yunting with trembling hands.
Xia Yunting waved his hand and called two guards to remove everything.
Watching their skilled handling of the items, Xia Jin's mood was complex. There were specific ways to set up and dismantle formations, especially this kind of Yin Gathering formation. A careless mistake could lead to a backlash.
These two guards avoided all taboos and were very skilled.
Recalling that Xia Yunting had pointed out his mistake just now, Xia Jin became even more frightened. Could there be a master in the General's Mansion?
At the same time, in a courtyard near the imperial city gate, Li Hao suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. He felt all his strength rapidly draining away, and his skin visibly shriveled.
His face contorted in pain. With his last ounce of strength, he reached under the bed and took out a small box. He opened it to reveal a beetle.
He crushed the beetle and then fainted.
About fifteen minutes later, a person dressed in a cloak and black robe entered the room. They quickly checked the person on the bed, then picked up Li Hao and quickly left.
Rong Zhi slept until noon the next day. When she woke up, she suddenly remembered the grey-robed woman outside the city.
She had been so busy yesterday that she had forgotten about it for a while. Today, she had nothing to do, so Rong Zhi decided to go and see.
However, when Rong Zhi actually reached that courtyard, she found it empty.
She was too late!
The people inside had already left.
As Rong Zhi was regretting not coming earlier, she suddenly noticed the body of a small insect on the ground.
The insect looked somewhat familiar to her. She took it into the sunlight to examine it. Although the body was broken, Rong Zhi recognized it as a type of Gu worm at a glance.
Gu worms were divided into mother and child types, usually used for communication. The person holding the child Gu would crush the insect, and the mother Gu would crawl towards the child Gu's location, allowing the person holding the mother Gu to determine the direction.
Few people in the imperial city used this; it was generally used by martial artists. Rong Zhi threw away the Gu worm, thinking about the grey-robed woman. Could she be a martial artist?
There were no other traces in the room except for the insect's corpse. If Rong Zhi hadn't recognized the insect, she might not have realized that someone had been there.
She memorized the appearance of the insect and planned to return to the General's Mansion.
It seemed that to investigate, she had to start with the maid from the Grand Tutor's mansion.
It was like a pillow arriving just when she was sleepy. Rong Zhi was thinking about how to approach the maid named Jasmine when she suddenly saw a familiar figure on the street.
Chen An, Chen Yanyan's brother.
The last time Rong Zhi had a minor conflict with him, judging from Chen Yanyan's behavior, it seemed that the siblings intended for Chen Yanyan to discipline Chen An.
Rong Zhi suddenly had an idea. She found a place to change her appearance, deliberately making her makeup more alluring, and went forward to pat Chen An's shoulder: "Young sir, where are you going?"
Chen An shielded his eyes from the sun with his fan. He seemed to have indulged too much, appearing listless even during the day.
But the moment he saw Rong Zhi, his eyes lit up.
"Miss, have we met somewhere before?"
Such a cliché approach, Rong Zhi rolled her eyes internally.
"Is that so? I also find you very familiar. Shall we find a place to chat properly?"
"I couldn't ask for more."
Chen An smiled and followed Rong Zhi to a less crowded place. As Chen An was about to embrace her, Rong Zhi suddenly flicked her sleeve. A gust of fragrant wind passed, and Chen An's eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
While the surroundings were empty, Rong Zhi picked him up and took a shortcut to leave.
In the Grand Tutor's mansion, Chen Yanyan was swinging on a swing with Jasmine when a servant ran over in a panic.
"Miss, this is bad, young master is missing."
"If he's missing, he's missing. Perhaps he's having fun in some brothel."
Chen Yanyan seemed accustomed to this.
"We've already looked, and he's not there."
"Then he must be at some paramour's house."
"We've looked everywhere, and he's not there!"
"Don't just look for women; look for men too."
The servant's mouth twitched: "There really isn't."
Chen Yanyan slowly stopped and jumped off the swing. "Where did he go missing from?"
In the quiet of the night, Chen Yanyan and Jasmine walked on the street, looking at the narrow, dark alleys. Chen Yanyan frowned: "Although this road has fewer people, it's usually not deserted. How could he have gone missing here?"
Jasmine said, "Miss, perhaps the servant is lying. It's likely that the young master caused trouble and is afraid to go home."
This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, and Chen Yanyan thought it made sense.
Suddenly, Jasmine pointed in a direction in the air: "Miss, there's someone there!"
Chen Yanyan looked in that direction and indeed saw a figure flash past, heading towards the city gates.
"Miss, that person seems to be holding something."
Chen Yanyan looked closely, and her expression turned grim: "It's Chen An's jade pendant! Chase!"
The two of them used their Qinggong and chased after the figure.
Along the way, Rong Zhi maintained a moderate distance from them. She glimpsed them out of the corner of her eye, surprised that Chen Yanyan was also a master.
Jasmine was not falling behind at all, and the way she used Qinggong was very similar to that of the grey-robed woman.
It seemed highly likely that the grey-robed woman who had visited the courtyard that day was Jasmine.
Rong Zhi sped up and arrived at the courtyard from last time.
Upon landing, she quickly hid on the rooftop. Dressed in black, Rong Zhi almost blended into the rooftop, making it difficult to spot even up close.
After Chen Yanyan and Jasmine arrived, they didn't know where to chase. Chen Yanyan looked around and said, "Perhaps he's hiding here. Let's split up and search."
"Yes."
After the two separated, Rong Zhi deliberately followed Chen Yanyan and revealed a flaw in front of her.
"Where... ugh!"
Chen Yanyan was about to speak, but for some reason, she couldn't make a sound. Rong Zhi sped towards the imperial city gates.
If Chen Yanyan went back to find Jasmine at this moment, she would easily lose the best opportunity to pursue. With a hardened heart, she chased after him herself.
Shortly after Chen Yanyan left, Rong Zhi reappeared in the small courtyard.
Luring the tiger away from its mountain lair. She hadn't expected them to fall for it so quickly.
Now, dealing with Jasmine alone would be much easier.
Jasmine had already searched the entire courtyard. As she came out of the main room, she suddenly smelled a strange scent in the air. She realized something was wrong, but it was too late to hold her breath.
She took two quick steps outward but still couldn't resist the dizziness and finally staggered and fell.
Rong Zhi blew on her flint and skillfully found the mask on Jasmine's face. After tearing it off, she saw a familiar face.
Yun Heng.
Wasn't this the person who had impersonated a maid at Old Master Zhang's house in Changping County? She hadn't expected her to come to the imperial city as well.
Thinking of Li Hao from before, Rong Zhi connected these two incidents. It seemed highly likely that Li Hao had been lying in this courtyard earlier.
Just then, a string of curses came from outside.
"How dare you play tricks on me!"
Chen Yanyan had returned. Rong Zhi quickly climbed over the wall and left. At the same time, Chen Yanyan pushed the door open and saw Yun Heng on the ground, she was shocked.
"Jasmine!"
Jasmine slowly woke up. Chen Yanyan pointed at her face and said, "Why has your face changed like this?"
Jasmine looked at the mask next to her, her expression unnatural. "Miss, I... I was too ugly, and I was afraid you would abandon me, so I changed my appearance..."
"What nonsense are you talking about? You are skilled in martial arts and kind-hearted. What does your appearance matter? Besides, you're not ugly. You should use your original face from now on!"
"Thank you, Miss. But I'm used to my previous appearance. If I suddenly change my face, I'm afraid everyone will be unaccustomed."
"Then do as you please."
Unexpectedly, Chen Yanyan did not dwell on the matter. She looked at the room: "I think there's something strange here. Someone skilled must be playing tricks on us."
"Perhaps the young master isn't here. Let's change our search location!"
As the two were talking, they suddenly heard a cry of pain from outside. The two went out to look and saw Chen An lying on the ground, holding his head.