Chapter 97: Surveilance

Chapter 97: Chapter 97: Surveilance

After ordering a few dishes, the three of them quickly sat down at the table. Sui Sui soon witnessed firsthand the kind of "bullying" Shi Qing had mentioned earlier.

Yuan Wen had ordered a surprising amount of food, but instead of eating most of it himself, he kept picking up dishes and feeding them to Shi Qing as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"I think Brother Qing looks better when he’s plump," Yuan Wen said with a slight smile. "When we were younger, I met him when he was much plumper. He was really, really good-looking back then, and very good to hug."

Sui Sui blinked.

From the way Yuan Wen spoke about him, it seemed the two really did go way back. They were probably childhood friends.

As they continued eating, Sui Sui also learned a little more about Yuan Wen. He was actually an inner disciple of the sect, but he was surprisingly leisurely for someone with that status. He spent most of his time eating and playing rather than diligently cultivating.

It was quite different from his well-behaved appearance.

Still, there was nothing particularly wrong with it. He simply seemed to enjoy a more relaxed life than most cultivators.

Soon, their conversation naturally turned toward the latest gossip.

"By the way, have you all heard the recent news?" Shi Qing asked.

He lowered his voice slightly, leaning closer across the table as though he were about to share some particularly interesting secret.

"What news?" Sui Sui immediately perked up, his curiosity piqued.

"You might not know about this since you’ve been in seclusion," Shi Qing said, glancing between the two of them. "It has something to do with the Northern Territory. Apparently, a city on the border was attacked by a demon, and everyone inside was dragged into an illusion."

"Yes, I’ve heard about it," Yuan Wen said, joining the conversation. He rested his chopsticks against the edge of his bowl as he leaned slightly closer, clearly just as interested in the gossip. "There was even a strange case where people suddenly started dying. The whole thing was incredibly suspicious. I heard the Vermillion Moon Palace was put in charge of investigating it, but apparently, their leading disciple later admitted that they weren’t actually the ones who solved the case."

Yuan Wen paused for a moment, seemingly recalling what he had heard before continuing. "According to the rumors, it was two rogue cultivators who solved everything."

Hearing this, Sui Sui suddenly had a strange premonition.

"Yeah, yeah! What were their names again?" Shi Qing asked, tapping his fingers lightly against the table as he tried to remember. "It was... uh, Ao something and Tuan something."

He suddenly snapped his fingers.

"Oh, right! Aotian and Tuanzi, really weird name if you ask me. They’re a pair of brothers. Apparently, the Vermillion Moon Palace and the City Lord have both been looking for them and even want to offer them a reward. But the two of them disappeared almost immediately, as if they had never existed in the first place."

Shi Qing shook his head in amazement.

Sui Sui nearly choked on his food.

He quickly lowered his head and pretended to be busy eating, desperately trying to suppress his laughter.

Of course he knew about them.

Not only did he know exactly who Aotian and Tuanzi were, he had even been one of them.

Hearing everyone gossip so seriously about his own disappearance was simply too ridiculous.

Shi Qing continued the gossip, clearly enjoying himself now that they were on the topic.

"By the way, people from the Wenjian Sect were there too. Apparently, a group of low-level cultivators went there for experience under the lead of some Senior Brother called Lin Fan. Unfortunately, they didn’t contribute much to the investigation. Once the other senior disciples arrived, they were sent back to the sect."

Sui Sui paused for a moment when he heard Lin Fan’s name.

He had almost forgotten about him.

So this time, he and Yizhou had apparently stolen the opportunity that should have belonged to Lin Fan. In the original novel, there had been a short section around this point where Lin Fan made a significant contribution during the incident, which helped him gain more recognition.

But now, that scene had been completely changed.

Sui Sui couldn’t help feeling a little pleased.

As long as Lin Fan wasn’t happy, he was happy.

It served him right for betraying the protagonist. Compared to what Lin Fan would eventually do to Yizhou, losing a little glory here was hardly anything.

Shi Qing suddenly turned toward him.

"By the way, Brother Sui, your brother and your dear Senior Brother were sent there too, right? Have you heard anything from them?"

Sui Sui paused before answering casually, "No news yet. They should have only reached Xuánshuāng City by now."

Shi Qing blinked. "How did you know which city they were sent to?"

Sui Sui’s heart immediately skipped a beat: He had slipped up.

Fortunately, he quickly came up with an excuse.

"My brother told me before they left."

Shi Qing and Yuan Wen seemed to accept the explanation without thinking too much about it.

Sui Sui quietly breathed a sigh of relief and decided to be more careful with what he said from now on.

After finishing their meal, the three of them eventually returned to their respective courtyards.

Once he was back in his room, Sui Sui took a quick bath before collapsing onto his bed. The moment his head touched the pillow, the exhaustion he had accumulated over the past three days of refining pills finally caught up with him and he fell asleep almost instantly.

Unbeknownst to Sui Sui, the room had barely fallen silent when a wisp of black spiritual energy suddenly manifested in the darkness.

It slowly coiled across the floor like a thin, tentacle-like strand, moving aimlessly through the room as though searching for something. After wandering around for a while, it finally found its way toward the sleeping Sui Sui.

The black wisp climbed onto the bed and gently curled around his arm before rubbing against his cheek, almost as though it were affectionately greeting him.

Meanwhile, on the Northern Continent, Yizhou sat quietly with his eyes closed, appearing to be meditating.

In reality, part of his consciousness was elsewhere.

Before leaving, he had deliberately left a small trace of his spiritual consciousness inside Sui Sui’s room. Whenever he had some free time, he would use it to check on him and see what he was doing.

Most of the time, there was nothing particularly interesting to see. Sui Sui was either meditating or refining pills. Recently, however, Yizhou had noticed that he seemed to have started practicing alchemy as well.

Seeing that Sui Sui was sleeping peacefully, Yizhou was finally satisfied.

He withdrew the strand of consciousness from the room and returned his attention to the matters before him.

There were still several things he needed to deal with here.