Chapter 374 - The Former Princess and the Missing Villagers

Chapter 374: Chapter 374 - The Former Princess and the Missing Villagers

The first changes were subtle.

Su Bai could feel the hesitation disappear from portions of his companions’ circulation.

The insights had given each of them something different to work through. Now the barriers they had been pressing against began to yield.

He kept watch while their auras rose.

By the time the last fluctuation settled, each had advanced a minor stage within their present cultivation. None hurried to stand. They continued circulating until the newly gained strength had steadied, and Su Bai waited without interrupting.

Liu Meng opened her eyes first inside the carriage.

She looked through the window toward the fields. The concern remained in her expression, but she no longer seemed caught between it and everything she could not change.

She then turned toward him and bowed with her hands cupped.

"Thank you for the teaching, Senior Brother."

Xiao Ran thanked him as well. Su Bai glanced between them and decided that explaining how little teaching he had intended would only make the conversation more difficult.

"I hope it helped."

"It did," Liu Meng said.

Her answer was quiet enough that he believed her without needing more.

Outside, Han Yuelin stood and stretched his shoulders. He examined his hands, then grinned toward Su Bai.

"If I did not already have a master, Junior Brother, I might ask whether you would take me."

Su Bai raised a hand to his own brow.

"Please do not let Peak Master Jian hear you say that."

Han Yuelin laughed.

Qin Baoshan offered a much more solemn expression of gratitude, while Ji Ruyue looked at Su Bai for a moment before inclining her head.

Once everyone was ready, they resumed the journey.

The lights of the district city appeared ahead before long.

Its walls were built to stop ordinary raiders, and guards carrying lanterns checked the road approaching the gate. When the carriage drew near, one of them examined its insignia, then hurried closer for a better look.

"That is the princess’s carriage."

Another guard looked through the open side and recognized its passenger.

"Her Highness has returned!"

Liu Meng’s expression became awkward.

The guards were already calling for the way to be cleared. Han Yuelin looked toward her, and Qin Baoshan followed his gaze. Su Bai turned from the gate to the girl sitting beside the map.

"I gave up that title when I entered the sect," Liu Meng said quickly. "I am not a princess anymore."

Xiao Ran lowered her head, though she did little to hide her smile.

Su Bai considered several things he remembered about Liu Meng and her position within the auction house. Her familiarity with officials and the confidence with which other people obeyed her acquired a rather different explanation.

He smiled at her embarrassment, hoping to put her at ease.

"Princess or not, you will always be my junior sister."

Liu Meng had been watching his face, but the warmth in her expression faltered slightly at those words.

Her lips formed a small pout before she could help it.

"Always your junior sister..."

Su Bai had already turned to look at the guards clearing the road. Her reply passed beneath the voices outside, and she let it go with a quiet breath.

The carriage entered without delay.

A messenger hurried ahead toward the district lord’s residence, while the escort guided them through streets where most people were occupied with returning home or closing their shops.

Liu Meng explained that the senior officials knew cultivators existed. They would not need to invent a reason for the people traveling beside her or explain why ordinary soldiers should leave the more dangerous inquiries to them.

Su Bai was grateful for that much.

When they reached the residence, the district lord had already come out to receive them.

He was an elderly man with careful manners and the weary expression of someone whose work had followed him into the evening.

He bowed deeply.

"Your Highness. Esteemed guests. Please come inside."

Liu Meng began to correct the title, then glanced at the servants waiting behind him and allowed the greeting to pass.

They followed him into a reception room where lamps had already been lit and a broad table cleared for their use.

As soon as they were seated, her manner changed.

The girl who had hesitated over the guards’ greeting straightened and met the official’s eyes.

"We received a warning about suspicious cultivators in the kingdom. I need to know what has happened in your district, particularly around the smaller settlements."

The lord’s courteous expression grew serious.

"Your highness, I hoped that was why you had come."

Su Bai glanced toward the others.

The old man continued before Liu Meng needed to prompt him.

"There have been reports of strangers near several villages. At first, the accounts were too vague to distinguish them from travelers. More recently, people have begun disappearing."

Liu Meng’s hands stilled on the table.

Xiao Ran brought out the kingdom map. Su Bai unfolded his separate sheet and placed it beside it, then asked the lord to show them where the reports originated.

The old man leaned forward.

He named a settlement and indicated the road leading to it. Xiao Ran found the place on the map while Su Bai checked his own notes. The location was one he had marked for possible inspection.

The next report concerned another.

Su Bai kept his expression composed as the lord continued. Most of the places on his shortlist appeared somewhere in the official’s account, whether because strangers had been seen nearby or because residents had failed to return from ordinary work.

The map had given him places worth checking.

The lord was supplying reasons to go there immediately.

"What have your people found?" Liu Meng asked.

"Very little that explains it. Some had gone to collect wood or travel between settlements. We sent men to ask questions, but the strangers were often gone by the time they arrived."

"Have the villages been told to remain alert?"

"Yes. I have also spoken with the neighboring lords."

Su Bai looked up from his notes.

The old man seemed to notice the significance of that response.

"They have received similar reports," he said. "We met to compare them because none of us could account for what was happening."

Han Yuelin had stopped leaning back in his chair. Ji Ruyue watched the official closely, while Qin Baoshan’s attention remained on the map.

"What conclusion did you reach?" Liu Meng asked.

The lord hesitated before answering.

"That ordinary bandits would have taken something we could trace. Goods, animals, ransom. These disappearances have given us nothing of the sort."

He looked toward the cultivators seated around the table.

"We began to suspect that the people responsible were beyond our soldiers."

Silence followed.

"Which of these reports is the most recent?" Su Bai asked.

The lord pointed to a settlement near the edge of the district.

Su Bai marked it, then looked toward Ji Ruyue, Han Yuelin, and Qin Baoshan. All three had followed the exchange closely enough that he needed no lengthy explanation.

They had somewhere to begin.