Steward Xu, a deacon disciple on Lingxiao Peak.
At this moment, she was rushing into Yao Furnace Peak in a panic.
Her face was deathly pale, and her expression was filled with anger, fear, and worry.
A Yao Furnace Peak disciple who was familiar with her tried to greet her.
“Steward Xu, what brings you here today? Is there something…”
Before she could finish speaking, Steward Xu shot past like she had wheels of wind and fire beneath her feet.
She did not even glance sideways and charged straight into the buildings of Yao Furnace Peak.
“This person… why is she so strange today?”
The Yao Furnace Peak disciple frowned and muttered softly, then shook her head and went back to her own business.
Turning left and right, after the number of people gradually thinned out, Steward Xu slipped into a remote, dim little room.
In the lonely shadows of the room, she finally saw the person who made her heart hang in her throat.
Pei Ruanyan.
Without waiting for Pei Ruanyan to speak, Steward Xu first let out an anxious and furious low roar.
“Pavilion Master Pei! Do you not know what kind of situation you are in right now?! You contacted me at a time like this? Are you trying to get me killed?!”
Steward Xu was a chess piece that Pei Ruanyan had bought with money when she first began laying plans against Chu Mo.
From her, Pei Ruanyan had learned quite a lot of information about Chu Mo and about Xuan Phoenix Sacred Sect.
This person was extremely pragmatic.
After Pei Yunqing failed, Steward Xu had secretly rejoiced in her heart.
It would have been best if all these dirty transactions rotted in the dirt along with Pei Ruanyan’s, or even all of Mistveil Pavilion’s, corpses.
However, although Pei Yunqing’s suicide had not forced Chu Mo out as Pei Ruanyan had hoped, it had luckily allowed her to slip out from under the layers of surveillance from Breaking Abyss Peak and hide inside Yao Furnace Peak.
In a place where pill dao and medical cultivation flourished, doing dirty work was indeed safer than at Breaking Abyss Peak.
When Steward Xu received the letter written by Pei Ruanyan herself from a bribed Yao Furnace Peak disciple, more than half of the blood in her body had turned cold.
Some things, once done, could never be escaped.
“Steward Xu, why are you so angry? Have a cup of tea to calm down first.”
Pei Ruanyan’s tone was unhurried.
A cup of tea at just the right temperature was placed in front of Steward Xu.
“Aiyo, Pavilion Master Pei, I beg you, please stop toying with me. If there is nothing urgent, we were already even. Can you please stop looking for me?”
As she spoke, cold sweat kept sliding down Steward Xu’s forehead.
The flesh on her slightly plump cheeks also kept trembling along with her agitated tone.
This appearance was both comical and pitiful.
Steward Xu lowered her head. A trace of coldness flashed through her eyes.
If Pei Ruanyan’s strength was not so much higher than mine, I would really want to kill this old fox right now.
“Even?” Pei Ruanyan let out a cold laugh that sounded chilling in this dark room.
“Mistveil Pavilion’s reputation is ruined. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I, Pei Ruanyan, am now hated by both humans and dogs. To put it even more harshly, I am now worse than a pile of stinking dog shit on the roadside. But Steward Xu, tell me—if someone has stepped in dog shit, can they really wash the soles of their shoes clean?”
Pei Ruanyan narrowed her eyes.
In her icy, bone-piercing, threatening gaze was reflected Steward Xu’s trembling figure.
“The calamity from Red Sun Phoenix Heaven Sect—I will probably not be able to avoid it. But if, before I die, I say in Xuan Phoenix Sacred Sect that Steward Xu on Lingxiao Peak sold out the sect’s top-secret information for a pitiful amount of petty profit, Steward Xu, will you be able to avoid it?”
The sound of teeth chattering in terror echoed miserably inside the room.
Steward Xu’s face was frighteningly pale.
Large beads of sweat rolled down her forehead and face, dripping from her chin and splashing into broken water flowers on the ground.
“P-Pavilion Master Pei, you cannot be so ruthless. You know that I never gave you any top-secret information. Those were all just…”
Steward Xu’s words were soft and trembling, like… noodles being lifted and quivering in the air.
“Who would believe you?”
Pei Ruanyan picked up the teacup on the table and gently blew away the foam.
Between the layers of ripples stirred up by the tea water was reflected Steward Xu’s fear-distorted face.
After struggling violently in her heart for a long time, Steward Xu clenched both hands into tight fists.
She had never regretted her own greed so much! She had actually handed her lifeline over to this madwoman before her eyes!
“Pavilion Master Pei, whatever instructions you have, I will listen to you.”
Steward Xu forced out a smile that looked a hundred times worse than crying.
“Steward Xu, we are friends. I will not make things difficult for you. First, tell me what major events have happened in Xuan Phoenix Sacred Sect recently. Also, where exactly is Chu Mo right now.”
With a trembling and stuttering voice, Steward Xu recounted in great detail everything that had happened recently to Pei Ruanyan.
When she heard that Yan Qingge had been staying on Lingxiao Peak and refusing to leave, and that Chu Mo had only met her once in an abnormal manner, Pei Ruanyan’s brows furrowed tightly.
“You also do not know where Chu Mo is…”
Pei Ruanyan muttered softly.
Could it be that, as Lin Rou had said, the timing was simply unfortunate and Chu Mo had been assigned some secret mission by Nalan Qingjue? Tsk. But…
Pei Ruanyan had previously thought that the reason the people from Red Sun Phoenix Heaven Sect refused to leave was to seek revenge on Mistveil Pavilion.
However, it now seemed that the real reason was clearly Yan Qingge.
Her behavior was not only strange, even Chu Mo’s attitude toward her revealed oddity everywhere, as if…
Chu Mo was holding onto something that Yan Qingge desperately wanted but was unwilling to share.
A jolt ran through Pei Ruanyan. A sharp light exploded in her eyes.
This thing could be an object, or it could be a person.
Pei Yunqing had once said that during the year he disappeared, Chu Mo seemed to have found a new love—a beauty so stunning that Chu Mo had kept her hidden away.
This level of beauty was a taboo for all women.
Therefore, no matter how close Chu Mo and Yan Qingge’s relationship was, the two of them would still turn against each other and fight endlessly over this.
A good-looking man whose medical skills were the same as her own.
No wonder. No wonder Lin Rou probed so curiously.
She was not interested in the medical skills at all. She was probably only trying to figure out this man’s background!
This narrowed the scope down far too much.
Slap!
A crisp sound! The teacup in Pei Ruanyan’s hand suddenly exploded.
Tea mixed with blood and porcelain fragments dripped down between her fingers.
Yet she seemed to feel no pain.
Pei Ruanyan lowered her eyes. Her gaze held an indescribable daze.
Fate was truly absurdly laughable! It had actually played such a huge joke on her.
All kinds of emotions were swallowed down by Pei Ruanyan.
She raised her eyes and stared at Steward Xu as she slowly said, “Help me investigate whether there have been any recent sightings of the Fox Clan in Xuan Phoenix Sacred Sect. Or even whether any fox has been secretly hidden on Lingxiao Peak.”
These words shocked Steward Xu so much that her mouth fell open.
In that instant, she even suspected that the calculating Pei Ruanyan before her eyes had gone mad.
Setting aside the fact that the Human Race and Demon Race had not interacted for a long time, Xuan Phoenix Sacred Sect was not some remote border sect.
How could there possibly be any Fox Clan sightings?
And even that a fox had been hidden on Lingxiao Peak?
This was practically saying that Chu Mo had captured a fox and was keeping it as a plaything!
Before she could speak, Pei Ruanyan’s sinister eyes made her swallow all her questions back down.
“Also, keep a close watch on Lin Rou and Yan Qingge. If there is any news, immediately contact me through that Yao Furnace Peak disciple.”
“Yes…”
Steward Xu lowered her head dejectedly.
Only then did she realize with shock that a pool of water named fear had already accumulated beneath her feet.
“Steward Xu, this matter is extremely important to me.”
Pei Ruanyan paused for a moment.
The smile on her face was especially crazed and twisted.
“I have already lost everything. If I cannot obtain the information I want, I do not mind having one more friend to accompany me on the road to the Yellow Springs.”