The Forbidden Path to Immortality - Chapter 34

Chapter 7 Suspicion

The moonlight was bright tonight, casting only a hazy halo around the periphery. From this height, one could easily make out objects for miles around.

In such a light, Li Xun, supported by He Mulan, descended on his sword directly into the palace.

He felt a strange sensation. He alone among the crowd knew that within this vast palace, a formidable demon lurked. He Mulan’s brazen descent was like beating drums and gongs before a tiger, and…

the tiger was still feigning sleep!

They quickly reached the inner treasury. Li Xun gestured with his eyes, and He Mulan smiled faintly. Then, just as she had a few days before, she stomped her foot, sending a powerful shockwave through the ground, instantly knocking the guards and eunuchs unconscious.

Seeing such a swift and effective move, Li Xun couldn’t help but feel a surge of envy, but then he realized that everyone was watching his expression, and his envy quickly gave way to a slight sadness.

The change in expression was natural and perfectly timed. Seeing his expression, everyone glanced at each other, a touch of pity filling their hearts.

Li Xun chuckled inwardly as he led the group down the tunnel, heading straight for the inner vault. Of course, he made sure to show his unfamiliarity with the route, nearly leading them in the wrong direction several times, his embarrassment palpable.

Only once inside did Li Xun finally grasp the direction somewhat and begin explaining the vault’s layout. Of course, how much they listened was beside the point of Li Xun’s concern.

Clearly, He Mulan and the others weren’t interested in the rest of the vault, instead heading straight for the alchemy room on the lowest level.

Li Xun led them to the alchemy room where medicinal herbs were stored, pointing to the herbs arranged in their respective categories. “Here are the precious tribute herbs. It was here that the Imperial Master mentioned the ‘Peach Blossom Blood’.”

He Mulan gazed at the thousands of medicinal herbs, her expression expressionless. She simply uttered one word: “Search!”

They searched for the better part of an hour, but came up empty-handed.

It was a wonder they could find it! Li Xun had already relocated the Peach Blossom Blood and the still-unknown iron plate. Bringing them here now was intended to exploit this fact and mislead them, that’s all!

Gu Pin’er was already wavering: “Brother, could it be that person stole it?”

Two people immediately agreed: Brother Liu, who despised Li Xun’s character, and a man named Dong. But

He Mulan was clearly not going to give in so easily. He turned his gaze to Li Xun: “Brother Xun, has anyone taken any herbs from here in the past few days?”

Li Xun shook his head: “No! If anything was taken from here… meaning through the proper channels, it would have to be reported to the Imperial Master and the eunuch in charge. There are records to verify. I even went to check today, and not a single thing has been taken out since this batch of tribute herbs was stored.”

This was practically irrefutable proof that the “Peach Blossom Blood” had been stolen! Disappointment crossed everyone’s faces at this statement.

He Mulan was the only one who was different!

He closed his eyes slightly and fell into deep thought again. No one dared to disturb him. While Li Xun sneered in his heart, he also started to think, wondering if he had missed anything. The alchemy room fell silent for a while.

Until He Mulan opened his eyes: “Junior Brother Xun, are there any tributes to be put into the warehouse in the next few days?”

Li Xun was slightly startled, and then he understood what He Mulan meant. While secretly cursing the other party’s stubbornness, he had to answer: “It seems that there are two more batches, and there will be no more after this!”

He Mulan leaned forward slightly and asked word by word: “Is there any ‘peach blossom blood’ among them?”

Li Xun hesitated, scratched his head and said: “I’m not sure about this. I’ll know after looking at the list of tributes. There are two copies of the list, one is in the Ministry of Revenue, and the other is with the National Master… “

At this time, everyone understood what he meant. Gu Pin’er laughed and her mood improved: “Yes! If there is peach blossom blood in the tribute, that person will not come…”

He Mulan nodded: “This thing is not easy to collect. The key is to accumulate little by little. For those evil demons, even if it is just a drop, they will not give up… Junior Brother Xun, can you bring a list over?”

Li Xun had nothing else to say, so he could only nod and agree.

He Mulan said: “No matter whether these two batches of tribute contain peach blossom blood or not, we must keep a close observation on this place during this period!”

Li Xun listened on the side, his mind turning rapidly, estimating the impact of this change on himself.

The final conclusion is that as long as you are careful, you will be fine!

Having figured this out, he ceased worrying and, regardless of He Mulan’s arrangements, led them back to the first floor. Just as he was about to leave, he heard He Mulan ask, “What’s that place?”

Li Xun looked in the direction he pointed and casually said, “That’s the mechanism room, where all the mechanisms in the inner treasury are managed.”

Mulan nodded without another word, and the six of them descended into the tunnel again, leaving the unconscious guards and eunuchs on the ground.

Li Xun strolled along the path, watching the setting sun in the west, his mind racing, calculating the current situation.

It had been five days since the five members of the Tianxingjian Sect received the tribute list. This morning, the final batch arrived, and among them, over two hundred drops of peach blossom blood were indeed among them—a considerable amount, which only made He Mulan and the others even more nervous.

Of course, their defense wasn’t in vain. In the past five days, three groups of wandering cultivators who had attempted to obtain the peach blossom blood had been summarily executed by the five.

The five men worked in perfect harmony, their fighting prowess considerable. All three battles were decisive.

Unfortunately, given the extraordinary scale of the cultivator conflict, they failed to control their strength in two of the encounters, collapsing over ten tunnels and causing earthquakes in the Forbidden Palace.

Longqing summoned Yin Sanren to question him about the situation, only to be scare him off with the allegation that the elixir he was about to release had attracted demonic attention.

Not only was Yin Sanren appointed permanent resident of the palace, but even Li Xun was summoned to protect the emperor.

Imagine the intertwining of Yin Sanren, the Tianxing Jian Sect, various independent cultivators, and even a minor figure like him—the complex intertwining of these forces was eye-popping.

Li Xun felt he lacked the skills to manage such a situation, so he resorted to increased caution, maintaining a low profile and counting the days. When would this end?

Fortunately, Yin Sanren has promised Longqing today that he will start refining the elixir after the Lantern Festival. By then, the peach blossom blood will be integrated into the other medicines, and its effectiveness will be greatly reduced, making it useless.

I think all the troubles will disappear by then!

Li Xun is looking forward to this day. He is even thinking that maybe the day the elixir is refined will be the day Yin Sanren escapes!

It would be best if she and Xue Sanren escape together, the farther the better. And He Mulan and her group should also leave! So that he can breathe freely under this sky.

Of course, this idea is just a delusion at this stage!

Just like at this moment, when he was sighing, the young girl’s voice suddenly rang out: “What are you angry about?”

Li Xun had the urge to sigh again. Gu Pin’er, who suddenly appeared, really didn’t look like a disciple of the strict Tianxingjian Sect!

She was lively, active, curious, and even a little casual. In general, she didn’t look like a cultivator at all, but all of this melted into her innocent and lovely aura, making it all seem more reasonable.

How could there be such a cultivator?

Li Xun stopped while thinking and put on a smile: “Senior Sister Pin’er, do you have something to talk to me about?”

Gu Pin’er, dressed in a purple dress, landed lightly beside Li Xun and blinked. Most of her spiritual energy was in her crescent-shaped eyes. She was always smiling, as if there was nothing in the world that could bother her.

“If you have nothing to do, you can’t come to find me. It’s tiring to wander around in the inner treasury!”

“If you are tired, why don’t you hurry up? “Li Xun cursed in his heart.

He scratched his head – after a few days, this action of his has become more and more proficient. When scratching his head, his calmness and composure, which seem to be almost his age, will be covered up by this slightly silly action, which can be said to be one of his best umbrellas.

“Senior Sister Pin’er, if you say you are tired, then you are tired… Why don’t you find a place to sit down?” Before saying this, Li Xun looked around. After all, they are now in the palace, and the sudden appearance of a beautiful girl is enough for those talkative eunuchs and palace maids to talk for a while.

Gu Pin’er is still very smart. When she saw his look, she knew what he meant. She giggled at first, but quickly shook her head: “Junior Brother Xun, look at you! You have been practicing in the mountains, so why are you still so restrained? Is it because you have lived in the human world for so long that even your courage has shrunk a little? “

The first half of the sentence sounded old-fashioned, but the latter part gave the truth away. Li Xun shook his head and smiled bitterly, but he didn’t dare to talk about this issue any further. He hurriedly said, “Senior Sister Pin’er, there is a pavilion in front. Let’s go sit there for a while?”

“No!” Gu Pin’er shook her head bluntly, “It’s too boring to sit there!”

“Then let’s go…” Li Xun actually understood Gu Pin’er’s thoughts very well. She just wanted to have some fun here with him. God knows how the Tianxingjian Sect educated this playful little girl!

So the two of them wandered around in the royal gardens.

The scenery here is certainly not as good as the Tongxuan Realm, and because it is winter, all the trees are withered, it looks even more desolate, but Li Xun can always find some interesting rumors and anecdotes in and outside the palace, and bring them up just right to keep the atmosphere warm, making Gu Pin’er laugh so hard that she falls backwards and laughs so hard.

Li Xun looked at Gu Pin’er’s happy face and breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

It would be great to get more trust from her. It’s only a few days, and there must be no more mistakes!

He thought in his heart, but his mouth did not stop. When he talked about the various ugly behaviors of Longqing during a Qi refining process, Gu Pin’er was already laughing so hard that she couldn’t walk. Li Xun also accompanied She smiled.

However, at this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of a faint dead branch breaking, and the footsteps became more frequent.

He turned his head and saw several palace maids carrying baskets of fresh fruits, walking from another path. He hurriedly reminded Gu Pin’er to be careful with the volume.

Gu Pin’er was startled by him, covered her mouth, opened her eyes wide and looked over there, looking very cute. But she soon realized that this look was a bit indecent, and hurriedly tidied her clothes, adjusted the position of the dagger under her ribs, and her face showed a more quiet and calm expression.

However, under Li Xun’s surprised eyes, she gave him a fierce look, which still exposed her true nature.

The palace maids only saw them at this time, and they all seemed to be startled. They put down their fruit baskets and knelt down to salute. Li Xun suddenly felt that these people looked familiar, and then saw the palace maid named Xing’er among them, which proved his idea.

“They are from Lanxuyuan…”

Li Xun didn’t know what he felt in his heart, his expression was a little stiff, but he quickly returned to normal. He nodded slightly to let them stand up, and he extended his arm to invite Gu Pin’er to continue moving forward.

Gu Pin’er’s curious eyes swept across the faces of the palace maids, and turned to Li Xun and said: “Are you usually very fierce to them? They seem to be afraid of you!”

Li Xun’s heart skipped a beat, but he quickly calmed down, knowing that it would be a mistake to say too much at this time. He just smiled, and there was an indescribable gentleness and kindness in his smile.

In this smile, Gu Pin’er saw his gentleness and kindness; while those palace maids saw the invisible warning and hostility under his gentle face.

They lowered their heads even more, and Li Xun was quite satisfied with their cleverness.

“Senior Sister Pin’er…”

Li Xun was about to call Gu Pin’er to come forward, when he suddenly saw her turn her head away, as if looking at something. Li Xun also felt something in his heart, and followed her gaze. He saw that among the group of palace maids who all lowered their heads, Xing’er was lowering her head in a panic, which was very conspicuous.

Li Xun’s heart sank immediately!

A smile can temporarily cover up the problem, but there are more expressions that can bring the problem out! Li Xun had the urge to strangle Xing’er to death in an instant, and when Gu Pin’er turned her face, he had to try to keep the expression on his face in the original atmosphere.

Sure enough, the expression on Pin’er’s face changed. Although she tried her best to hide these subtle changes, she was the kind of person who could not hide her thoughts at all. The more she tried to hide, the more obvious it became.

Li Xun’s heart was as calm as ice and snow. His eyes looked directly into Gu Pin’er’s eyes. At the same time, he smiled and shrugged, looking helpless.

Gu Pin’er’s eyes were slightly confused, and she unconsciously looked at Xing’er again. Of course, Xing’er could not look up at her again, so she had no way to determine the other party’s intentions.

After another cold glance over there, Li Xun and Gu Pin’er immediately walked away.

Li Xun sat upright in front of the desk, with a small jade bowl that activated the sound-transmitting sand placed in front of him. By then, it was completely dark, and Li Xun had been sitting motionless for nearly two hours.

After he broke up with Gu Pin’er, he had only “delayed” for a short while, and then sat here, collecting all the information from the small jade bowl.

Nothing was missed.

Perhaps he should be thankful that Gu Pin’er had not yet spoken out the doubts in her heart, but precisely because she had doubts in her heart, this usually lively female cultivator seemed much quieter than usual.

Maybe He Mulan and the others didn’t notice, but this was definitely not a good sign!

At this moment, there was silence over there, not pure silence, there were light footsteps over there, There was the faint sound of fluttering clothes, and even the sound of soft breathing. Listening to these sounds, a cold current flowed through Li Xun’s mind.

Gu Pin’er was traveling alone, patrolling the tunnel according to the plan.

This was a real one-person world. After the previous battles, the guards and eunuchs in the secret passage were all withdrawn by Yin Sanren with some excuse. At this time, only five people from the Tianxing Jianzong were left in the secret passage.

In fact, in the deserted underground building, in the deep and long tunnel, next to a beautiful girl, anything could happen!

If he wanted, maybe…

The footsteps sounded regularly, and Li Xun’s heart beat with the sound.

There is a chance, no one is more familiar with this tunnel than him, and Gu Pin’er’s cultivation is not much higher than his. With intentional actions, there is always a chance!

A simple Gu Pin’er will not pose any threat to him, but He Mulan and the others are different! If Gu Pin’er tells them the doubts, Li Xun’s situation will be a hundred times worse than it is now!

But even if he does it, will the situation get better?

Unknowingly, Li Xun made a mistake – playing both sides is a taboo in doing things! Just when he was hesitant, he heard Gu Pin’er exclaim, which made him tremble slightly.

Gu Pin’er said, “Brother, what are you doing here?”

Just take a look! “

It was He Mulan who answered her. They must have met somewhere. Li Xun was a little disappointed, but at the same time he felt inexplicably relieved. He quickly put his mood back on track and estimated the location.

At this time, he heard Gu Pin’er ask, “What’s so good about this place? You might as well go to the side and look at the calligraphy and paintings.”

He Mulan chuckled, paused for a moment and then said, “Actually, I’ve been thinking about one thing these two days… Pin’er, do you think that the person I injured that night is very familiar with the secret passage of the palace?”

Li Xun’s heart tightened, and he couldn’t help but clenched his fists, holding his breath and listening.

Gu Pin’er paused before saying, “Yes! If it weren’t for you, senior brother, who felt the breath of peach blossom blood, you might not be able to catch up with him. That is to say…”

He Mulan did not answer directly, but said, “The several groups of people I met in the past few days are not the same as that person. It can be seen that these people who came later are not familiar with the secret passage, and most of them groped their way in! Compared with the two, that person is even more suspicious! “

Gu Pin’er hummed and hawed repeatedly, and it could be heard that her mood suddenly became excited: “Not bad, not bad! It’s really suspicious! Senior brother, do you have any clues?”

The hairs on Li Xun’s back stood up, and his muscles were tense. He listened to He Mulan’s words. He seemed to be addicted to keeping people in suspense, and still said slowly: “Don’t be anxious, Junior Sister. Think about it again, that night in the inner treasury, do you remember how I found out that person was lurking in the dark?”

Gu Pin’er answered very quickly: “That idiot actually used the half-baked water mirror technique, he deserved to be caught!”

He Mulan laughed and clapped her hands lightly: “It’s the water mirror technique, but it’s definitely not half-baked! Junior sister, look here, the fragments in this corner, do you remember anything?”

Gu Pin’er thought for a long time before tentatively saying: “Broken copper…lens? “

Lens?

” Cold sweat streamed down Li Xun’s forehead, and he felt like he was about to collapse. He never thought that there would be such a big flaw in this place!

That mechanism! Oh my God! It was indeed his negligence, not only him, but also Yin Sanren’s negligence!

It’s broken, it’s really broken this time! There is no room for making up for this flaw!

He Mulan smiled and said, “That’s right! Do you still remember that after that man escaped, we were also here and saw large pieces of debris. At that time, I didn’t know what was going on, but just now, I finally figured it out. This is not the eunuch guards in the inner treasury who want to take a picture, but the hub of the water mirror mechanism!”

He became more and more excited as he spoke: “I just went in to check. Although many of the prohibition patterns inside have been erased, there are still clues left. Before this, there must have been corresponding mechanisms arranged! Think about it, if it wasn’t someone who was very familiar with the inner treasury and could enter and exit at will, how could he install the mechanism here, and even put the hub here? “

Gu Pin’er let out a long sigh, then clapped her hands and shouted, “Yes, that’s right! There are only two people in this palace who can enter and leave the inner treasury freely, one is the emperor, but of course he can’t, and the other is the national teacher… could it be her!”

Li Xun widened his eyes. Is this possible?

But then, Gu Pin’er frowned again: “No, that national teacher obviously has no cultivation!”

“No cultivation at all! It’s that their cultivation is so high that you can’t even see it!” Li Xun added a comment in his heart.

Of course, these words would not fall into the ears of the two people. Over there, they still deduced according to their own ideas: “Yes, the national teacher has no cultivation, but that person does! We can perhaps imagine that the national teacher is just a liar who uses beauty to seduce the emperor, and knows nothing about the art of alchemy, but why did he make elixirs for Longqing? And asked for peach blossom blood? This doesn’t make sense! But if that person is controlling it behind the scenes, wouldn’t it be clearer? “

Li Xun had no choice but to smile bitterly after hearing this. It was reversed, completely reversed!

He Mulan certainly didn’t know what Li Xun was thinking . He continued to think along his own lines: “If the National Master is that man’s subordinate, he can naturally set up a mechanism for him, so everything can make sense!”

He was quite good at making sense of it. Li Xun was busy thinking about how to use his ideas to clear himself. Suddenly, he heard Gu Pin’er clapping her hands again. If you think so, isn’t Li Xun also a suspect? He can also enter the inner treasury! Moreover, he also worshipped the National Master as his uncle!”

Li Xun jumped up with a bang. Why did this woman’s brain only work quickly at this time?

He Mulan seemed caught off guard by Gu Pin’er’s thoughts on Li Xun. After a pause, she said, “But he’s not familiar with the tunnel…”

“That’s not necessarily true!” Gu Pin’er didn’t realize her words were already getting closer to the truth. “If… I’m just saying if, if Li Xun was lying to us from the beginning… that doesn’t seem possible!”

The sword, having pierced the window paper, was halfway unsheathed before being put back.

He Mulan laughed, perhaps even unconsciously, but there was a hint of relief in his tone. “A person can lie once without being caught, but how can they keep it up after so many lies? Pin’er, he’s just a child!”

Gu Pin’er laughed too, a hint of embarrassment in her laughter. For Li Xun, the crisis seemed over, but he didn’t relax. He took a deep breath, knowing full well that the good times were over!

This fleeting thought was a seed, planted in the sun and soil, slowly taking root in the hearts of Gu Pin’er and even He Mulan.

The human mind is so strange. When they couldn’t think of it before, they just couldn’t think of it at all. But once they think of it, they prefer to think in this direction. No matter how secretive the matter is, it can’t withstand the repeated speculation of the human heart. In this case, even if he has superb acting skills,

he will probably end up with regret! Today, the two of them laughed it off, but tomorrow, or even after a few breaths, maybe just a flash of inspiration may shatter all the disguises he has worked so hard to arrange!

How could this be…

In the blink of an eye, the originally good situation was turned upside down in just a few words. There is nothing more depressing in the world than this!

Is it necessary to do the last step?

The sound in the small bowl was still there, and Li Xun had only one thought in his mind: “Should I not do it?”

The sky gradually darkened, and Li Xun suddenly felt a little tired, and his eyes were a little blurry.

In a trance, five surges of righteous energy descended from the sky, emitting a long, high-pitched howl. The next moment, they transformed into long swords radiating a terrifying edge. A bare hand wielded the sword and thrust it straight into his heart!

There was no pain, but the owner of that bare hand could clearly see the meaning—Master Qingyin!

“Traitor…”

Qingyin’s words were pronounced upon him, her tone still as calm and without a trace of emotion.

Then, the entire space twisted, and a roaring sea of blood rushed over, shattering him into pieces! Qingyin used her bare hand to push aside the thick veil of waves, offering a final glimpse before disappearing behind them.

“Waste!”

Li Xun cried out, waking up. He heard another scream, but it was a maid holding a red candle, trying to light the study. Hearing Li Xun’s cry, she nearly dropped the candle flame.

Li Xun looked at the candlelight and immediately understood that the boundless sea of blood had been transformed by this light!

He wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t.

The maid also came back to her senses at this time, and hurriedly saluted Li Xun. Li Xun waved his hand and asked her to do her job. Now, he also had to do his own thing!

The maid hurried past him, trying to light the lamp, but after lighting two, she screamed again. This time, the candle really fell down. Li Xun slapped the flame out in time and said unhappily, “What are you making a fuss about?”

The maid just pointed to the ground, unable to speak.

Looking in the direction she pointed, there was a small figure lying on the ground, face down, and it was unknown whether he was dead or alive. Li Xun was stunned for a moment, and then he remembered that this was the trophy he had obtained after a short “delay” – the maid beside Concubine Qin, Xing’er!

An idea sprouted in his mind, and then gradually became clear.

At his signal, the maid fled for her life. Before leaving, she stole one last glance at her handsome master. She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but the candlelight reflected a blood-red light in his eyes!

In an instant, her breathing stopped.

In a trance, she heard a few words repeating over and over again: “For the last time, for the last time…”