Later, according to Lu Qing’s instructions, the talisman went out to investigate a few tis, always very careful and cautious, not alerting anyone.
They said that apart from the night guards, they did not see anyone else.
Upon hearing this, Yan Daoxin grew bolder and went out once with the talisman. When he returned after a long ti, his expression was not as relaxed as when he left.
"I don’t know what they’re using, but it’s definitely not an ordinary seductive fragrance. It’s quite sinister," Yan Daoxin said to Lu Qing with a stern face, "I feel if those people are forcibly awakened, there might be a problem, they might lose their minds, which would be a big hassle."
Lu Qing thought for a mont: "The hot soup they drank during the day, although it can awaken the night-ti seductive fragrance, the villagers we encountered outside were not truly clear-headed either.
I fear that the hot soup is both an antidote and a sedative. Once we control this Immortal Castle, we’ll find a way to get it so you can examine what exactly it is."
With that, he saw Zhu Yu crouching by the small pond and walked over, "Why are you crouching here?"
"We indeed need to act quickly, look," Zhu Yu turned his head and pointed at the pond in front of him.
Floating on the previously clean water surface was a layer of withered white petals.
On the original flower stems, only a withered flower core remained drooping.
"Luckily, we started preparing tonight. If that old steward cos tomorrow and sees the pond, we would be completely exposed..." Zhu Yu was sowhat thankful that it was last night when Yan Daoxin had asked the talisman to help him pick a not remarkable white flower, and the talisman stumbled upon the hidden path. If everything had been delayed by a day, capturing the Immortal Castle quietly would have been much more difficult.
Considering there were many tasks to be done the next day, Lu Qing reminded everyone to stay alert but try their best to rest and regain energy for the preparations necessary for the next day.
Once the matters to be discussed were settled, everyone returned to their rooms.
After the lights were out, Zhu Yu lay fully clothed on the bed, unable to sleep, mind racing, and as she tossed and turned, she suddenly thought she heard so noise outside, like the sound of water, the sound of water pouring and flowing, and sothing splashing.
She quickly sat up.
Lu Qing, beside her, was even quicker, sitting up swiftly, grabbing Zhu Yu’s hand to keep her quiet, then nimbly, and silently getting up to quickly approach the door, gently opening it, slipping outside like a shadow through the door crack.
Clearly, they weren’t the only ones who heard the noise. Soon two more shadows flashed by, seemingly the talisman, followed by another figure, in the dark Zhu Yu couldn’t tell if it was Yan Daoxin or Lu Yan.
As they were all quietly trying to go down to investigate, another room opened, and then Lu Zhang’s voice was heard: "Who’s down there?!"
Almost simultaneously, Zhu Yu heard Lu Yan mutter a low curse.
They all watched as a dark figure leapt out of the pond, and without much regard for anything else, dashed swiftly down to the courtyard below, with Lu Zhang thundering along behind them.
Zhu Yu, taking advantage of Lu Yan moving away, slipped out and followed. By the ti she got downstairs, Lu Qing and the others had surrounded a fake mountain beside the small pond, seemingly cornering soone inside its cave.
There wasn’t much water left in the small pond. The stone slab that the talisman had opened earlier was opened again, revealing most of an entrance, from which the pond’s water had flowed down into the hidden path.
The water sounds they had heard from upstairs had co from this.
Near the spot where strange small white flowers were planted, two panicked footprints remained, the once sturdy green leaves trampled into a haphazard, twisted ss.
Since he didn’t know who the sneaky person erging from the hidden path was, Lu Qing didn’t let the talisman and others rashly charge in but chose to keep them outside and trap the person in the fake mountain’s cave with no escape.
"Who are you? Why sneak in through a hidden path at this hour of the night?" Lu Qing didn’t shout loudly, to avoid alerting the possibly nearby night patrol guards, but his voice was clear enough for the person in the fake mountain cave to hear perfectly.
As he spoke, he gestured to the talisman brothers, who quietly flanked the sides of the fake mountain to encircle it from the back.
Lu Qing continued speaking to the person hiding in the cave: "It’s late at night, it’s cold outside, and you ca out of the pond, your clothes must be wet. Be careful not to catch a cold.
Why not co out and talk face-to-face, how about it?"
There was no response from inside the fake mountain.
"Valiant hero, we are rely rchants taking refuge here, if you seek wealth, don’t harm anyone, let’s discuss and sort matters peacefully..."
Lu Qing’s last words had barely fallen when suddenly there was a clatter of noise from behind the fake mountain, followed by a loud "Got you!" from the talisman.
Zhu Yu knew the person must have been caught, and finally, breathed a sigh of relief.
Lu Yan, upon hearing the commotion behind him and turning around, saw Zhu Yu standing there, sowhat surprised: "How did you hear so well?
Oh, no, you must have been woken up by the noise my second brother made."
Originally, Lu Zhang was not pleased with these words and wanted to rebut, but was silenced by Lu Yan referring to Zhu Yu as "you kid," looking at Zhu Yu without speaking.
Zhu Yu didn’t mind, eting Lu Zhang’s gaze, only responding with a silent smile.
Lu Zhang, feeling sowhat awkward, turned his gaze back to the fake mountain, looked over to Lu Qing in the front, and subconsciously glanced back at the small building behind them.
The room on the second floor, where Yan Shu stayed, had its door closed tightly, seemingly not having been bothered by the noise.
Accompanied by a rustling sound, the talisman brothers erged from the fake mountain’s cave one after another.
The cave was quite narrow, even for one person to pass through required turning sideways slightly, let alone two people side-by-side.
The talisman ca out first, and afterward, the second talisman faced more trouble because he was dragging soone along with him.
That person must be the troublemaker who caused all the ruckus, dripping wet from head to toe, with dirty, soggy clothes clinging to their body.
At this point, they seed to have fainted, limp and lifeless, fortunately, the talisman was strong enough to almost lift them entirely off the ground, otherwise, in such a narrow space, it would have been difficult to drag them out.
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