As he spoke, Lan WangJi had already walked up three steps of the ruyi stairs and unsheathed Bichen. Jin Ling seemed guarded, “This is my uncle’s bedchamber. Have you gone to the wrong place? No, you’re the intruders, aren’t you? What do you want?”
The cultivators who had gathered at Koi Tower also came over, one after another. All were surprised.
“What happened?”
“Why is there so much noise here?”
“This is the Fragrant Palace. Isn’t it a bit unsuitable for us to…”
“I just heard the sound of the alerts…”
The cultivators both frowned and panicked. No sound came from within the palace. Wei WuXian readily knocked on the doors, “Sect Leader Jin? Chief Jin?”
Jin Ling fumed, “Just what do you want? Everyone is here because of you! This is my uncle’s bedchamber, bedchamber, you understand?! Haven’t I told you not to…”
Lan XiChen walked over, and Lan WangJi looked at him. As their eyes met, Lan XiChen’s expression hesitated before immediately becoming more complex, as though he found something unbelievable. It seemed that he already understood.
Nie MingJue’s head was right inside of the Fragrant Palace.
Suddenly, a smiling voice echoed, “What’s wrong? Is it that the reception during the day wasn’t good enough, and everyone wants to host an evening banquet here at my place?”
Jin GuangYao walked calmly out of the crowd. Wei WuXian, “LianFang-Zun, what a good timing. If you came a bit later, then we wouldn’t be able to see what’s in the secret room of the Fragrant Palace.”
Jin GuangYao paused, “Secret room?”
Everyone looked rather confused, unsure of what was going on. Jin GuangYao looked somewhat lost, “And? Are secret rooms a rarity? With a couple of scarcely used treasures, any sect would have treasure rooms, right?”
Just as Lan WangJi was about to speak, Lan XiChen interrupted.
He spoke, “A-Yao, would it be possible to let us in and allow us to take a look at your treasure room?”
Jin GuangYao looked as though he found the request both strange and difficult, “Brother, since it’s called a treasure room, the things inside are best if put away. And you want me to open it all of a sudden. Well…”
Within such a short period of time, it was impossible for Jin GuangYao to have transported Qin Su somewhere else without anybody knowing. The transportation talisman could only transport the one using the talisman. Judging from Qin Su’s current state, it was impossible for her to have either the spiritual power or the intention to use such a talisman. Which was why, as of the moment, Qin Su must still be in there.
Alive or dead—either way, it’d be a fatal to Jin GuangYao if found out.
Jin GuangYao put up a final struggle. He was still so calm, tossing excuses everywhere. Unfortunately, the more he refused, the more certain Lan XiChen’s tone became, “Open it.”
Jin GuangYao looked fixedly at him. All of a sudden, he grinned, “Since Brother is so intent on it, then I must open it for everyone to see, mustn’t I?”
He walked to the front of the door, which opened at a wave of his hand. From amid the crowd, someone remarked coldly, “People say that the GusuLan Sect values conduct the most. Seeing from this, it seems that rumors are only rumors. Barging into the bedchamber of a sect leader is good conduct indeed.”
Back when they were in the square, Wei WuXian heard the Jin Sect’s disciples receive the certain person with much respect, calling him “Sect Leader Su”. This was the sect leader of the rising MolingSu Sect—Su She. Su She wore white robes. With slender eyes, fine brows, and thin lips, he was quite handsome, somewhat arrogant as well. Yet, although his air and features could be described as fair, they weren’t anything special.
Jin GuangYao, “Forget it, forget it. It’s not as though there are any disreputable things.”
The tone that he spoke with had been controlled with great care. Others would think that he had a nice temper, and yet could also hear a slight degree of awkwardness. Jin Ling followed behind him. Indignant at how his uncle’s bedchamber had been barged in, he gave quite a few glares to Wei WuXian.
Jin GuangYao spoke again, “You would like to look at the treasure room, right?”
He put his hand over the bronze mirror. Drawing formless incantations on the mirror, he was the first one to pass through. Following closely behind him, Wei WuXian entered the secret room again. He saw the curtain covered in incantations hanging over the cabinet. He saw the iron table of cutting corpses apart.
He also saw Qin Su.
Qin Su stood by the table with her back to them. Lan XiChen was somewhat stunned, “Why is Madam Jin here?”
Jin GuangYao, “All of our possessions are shared. A-Su often comes in here to look at things as well.”
Seeing Qin Su, Wei WuXian was also surprised, So Jin GuangYao didn’t transfer her somewhere else or kill her? Isn’t he scared that Qin Su might say something?
Worried, he turned to Qin Su to scrutinize the side of her face. Qin Su was not only still alive, but in fact living quite well. There was nothing unusual about her at all. Although her expression was blank, Wei WuXian was certain that she had neither undergone some sort of an enchantment nor drunk any strange poisons. Her mind was conscious.
But the more conscious she was, the stranger the situation was. He saw with his own eyes just how strong Qin Su’s emotions were, how much she resisted Jin GuangYao. How could Jin GuangYao have reached an agreement with her and silenced her mouth within such a short period of time?
A foreboding feeling grew in Wei WuXian. He immediately decided that this wasn’t as smooth as they had thought. He walked toward the treasure cabinet and quickly lifted the curtain.
Behind the curtain, there wasn’t any helmet, much less any head. There was only a dagger.
The dagger shone coldly, emitting strong killing intent. Lan XiChen had been staring at the curtain as well, but he hadn’t made his mind to lift it or not. Seeing that it wasn’t what he thought it was, he seemed to let out a sigh of relief, “What is this?”
“This,” Jin GuangYao walked over and played with the dagger in his hand, “Is something rare. The dagger was the weapon of an assassin. It killed countless people and it’s extremely sharp. Look at the blade of the dagger—if you look closely, you’ll see that the reflection inside it isn’t yourself. Sometimes it’s a man, sometimes it’s a woman, sometimes it’s an elder. Every one of those reflections is a spirit that had died in the assassin’s hands. Its energy is too strong, which is why I hung a curtain there to seal it.”
Lan XiChen frowned, “This must be…”
Jin GuangYao replied calmly, “That’s right. It belonged to Wen RuoHan.”
Jin GuangYao was clever indeed. He had expected that one day somebody might discover the secret room. Thus, aside from Nie MingJue’s head, he had also placed a number of other treasures here, such as swords, talismans, stone tablets, spiritual weapons—it was full of rare items. The secret room looked exactly like the average treasure room. The dagger, as he had said, was a rare item that held intense dark energy. Many sects had the habit of collecting such weapons, much less a war trophy from killing the leader of the QishanWen Sect.