Chapter 402: The Traditional Skills of the Great Pure Palace

Tang City University, old building of the College of Liberal Arts, inside the meeting room.

“You brat, what are you trying to do to Young Friend Liu?”

Professor Ma saw Mao Sanyou’s behavior, which looked suspiciously like child abduction, and stood up indignantly, blocking between him and Gou Meng, his eyes full of vigilance.

Hou Jun is no good person, so his students are probably no good either! Professor Ma thought.

Mao Sanyou smiled at Professor Ma and said, “Professor, I’m not taking her anywhere. Isn’t there still a lot of stuff in the unused classroom next to our meeting room?”

“When I came, I heard from other professors that this Young Friend Liu is an heir of a folk appraisal family, so I wanted to invite her over to have a look together.”

Professor Ma’s expression eased a little, and he said, “But didn’t we already look at all those things next door before?”

Mao Sanyou scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly, “Professor, I just thought, we shouldn’t miss any artifact if we can help it.”

“That’s why I wanted to ask this young lady to give us her opinion from the perspective of folk appraisal.”

Professor Ma looked at Gou Meng and asked gently, “Young Friend Liu, is that really the case?”

“……” Gou Meng was silent for a moment, then her face broke into an innocent smile and she nodded, “Mm-hmm, that’s right, Grandpa Ma, that’s what big brother told me.”

“Then do you want to go take a look? Don’t be shy, just say what you think.” Professor Ma pressed on.

Some people might think that children are just children, and as long as they listen to adults, it’s fine, but Professor Ma never thought that way.

Children are people too. They may not be good at expressing themselves, but they have their own thoughts, things they like and dislike. As a mentally sound adult, one should listen to their opinions seriously.

“Um…” Gou Meng pouted, looked at Professor Ma, then at Mao Sanyou, and sighed, “I’d love to help big brother, but I got up too early today and I’m a bit sleepy. I want to go back and take a nap in a while.”

Although Mao Sanyou said he had a lot of “pickles,” which was very tempting to Gou Meng, she didn’t think it was a good idea to let Professor Ma go with her.

If Mao Sanyou had any bad intentions, in her current state, she wouldn’t be able to ensure Professor Ma’s safety if she had to run away.

Hearing Gou Meng’s words, Professor Ma turned and glared at Mao Sanyou, saying sternly, “Did you hear that? Young Friend Liu said she’s sleepy now and will go back for a nap in a bit.”

Although it was not even ten in the morning, children are growing, so it’s reasonable for them to like sleeping.

“This…” Mao Sanyou looked deeply at Gou Meng, then smiled, “It’s fine, a little earlier or later doesn’t matter. My teacher is ill and has temporarily entrusted the work to me. I’ll probably be here for a while. Whenever this little friend has time, she can come over.”

As he spoke, Mao Sanyou stepped aside. Gou Meng gave him a meaningful look, then quickly climbed onto Professor Ma’s shoulder.

However, just as she settled on Professor Ma’s shoulder, she sensed a faint psychic energy fluctuation from behind. She turned back in surprise and saw Mao Sanyou quietly passing her a small slip of paper.

Looking at the note Mao Sanyou handed over, Gou Meng hesitated for a moment, then, before Professor Ma noticed, took the note and put it in her jacket pocket.

[Respected Gou Mang’s power heir, King of Hauntings of the Eight Hundred Li Taoyuan, Miss Gou Meng, I know your situation is very dangerous right now. I am willing to offer any help I can. If you trust me, please meet me at midnight tonight in front of the old building of the College of Liberal Arts at Tang City University.

PS: I have already found most of the artifacts sealing the hauntings. If you need them, you can take them at any time.]

Taking advantage of Professor Ma’s inattention, Gou Meng secretly read the contents of the note Mao Sanyou handed her, then calmly tucked it into her pocket. She glanced at the busy Mao Sanyou from afar and frowned.

Who on earth is this guy?

Not only does he know who I am, but he’s also secretly collecting those pickle jars…

Just as Gou Meng was grumbling inwardly, Mao Sanyou seemed to sense her gaze, turned his head, and gave her a smile full of goodwill.

Seeing Mao Sanyou’s smile, Gou Meng quickly shrank her head and hid behind Professor Ma. After a moment, she poked out her big eyes to secretly observe Mao Sanyou, just like a child caught doing something bad, sneaky and furtive.

This guy is suspicious! If he wants to help, just help-why does he have to be so mysterious about it?

If a normal person wants to meet, why would they arrange it for midnight?

I’ll have to ask Lu Yibei to check him out thoroughly. If this hidden danger isn’t removed, I won’t be at ease! Gou Meng thought.

“…Anyway, junior brother is that kind of really handsome and sunny boy! He probably hasn’t even dated a girl yet, he’s especially pure and kind, and he might not even know about psychics.”

Lu Yibei, “…”

I just asked you to describe what junior brother looks like, why are you saying so much useless stuff?

Don’t I know myself if I’m sunny, handsome, pure, and kind?

After complaining inwardly for a moment, Lu Yibei sighed silently and said earnestly, “Then you can rest assured. I’ve seen that little kid you mentioned. When the chaos started, he had already left the mall with the crowd.”

“I can vouch for this with Zhang Huainan’s character!”

Hearing Lu Yibei say this, Fu Xinyi finally realized that the passersby in the cinema lobby had disappeared at some point, except for…

Those few unlucky ones who were used as meat shields by Suolang Baima.

“In that case…” A look of determination flashed in Fu Xinyi’s eyes. She turned to look at the window of the cinema lobby and said solemnly, “Then, senior, let’s go!”

Although she didn’t know why the girl used the Headmaster’s character as a guarantee instead of her own, but what kind of unfathomable existence is the Headmaster?

A psychic of his level is just like a high-tier haunting-whenever someone calls his name directly, he’ll sense it. If someone really impersonated him, there’s no way he’d ignore it. So what this senior said must be true, Fu Xinyi thought.

Lu Yibei was sprawled on Fu Xinyi’s back. Seeing her finally move and dash toward the exit of the mall, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as Fu Xinyi leaped up and used the familiar movement technique from The Diagram of the Gentleman Sword of Taihe, flying out the cinema hall window, Lu Yibei turned her head and gave Suolang Baima a deep look.

Although she’d spared his life this time, letting him off easy since he was still of some use, next time…

Thinking this, she glanced at Ms. Rabbit again. As the scenery around her shifted, she slowly closed her eyes.

When she plunged Ms. Rabbit into her psychological shadow, she had already tested out her newly acquired lnnate skill.

The charm ability, combined with the lnnate skill borrowed from Meng to pull people into Dreams, wasn’t just useful-it was a perfect match!

First, immerse the target in a state of charm, then pull them into a Dream, and you could construct a dream-within-a-dream scenario.

Earlier, when Ms. Rabbit was tormented in the deep Dream and her will became fragile, Lu Yibei used this to make Ms. Rabbit dream in the shallow Dream about things she had experienced, learning many things she wanted to know.

It was precisely because of this that she decided to spare Suolang Baima’s life for now, rather than risking everything in mutual destruction.

Keeping him alive-maybe next time, she could use a similar method to find out the whereabouts of other culprits! Lu Yibei thought.

And now, through Ms. Rabbit’s Dream, she already knew the origins of the group that tried to assassinate Gou Meng, and even gained many surprising bits of information.

For example, the methods to reach Eclipse Society’s No. 4 base, the Great Furnace, and No. 2 base, Grey Forest Cabin.

For example, the psychics and hauntings gathering in Taoyuan this time, from the Eclipse Society, Miracle Order, and various black and gray forces, were ostensibly invited by the Crow Slave, but in fact, they had all been guided by a mysterious stranger to come and fight for Fuyang’s power.

And, for example, Ms. Rabbit, in order to avenge the theft of The Witch’s Egg, actually risked her life to max out her fire resistance…

“Pfft-!”

Thinking of how Ms. Rabbit made such sacrifices to adapt to the version, only for herself to update into a brand new version Ms. Rabbit had never experienced, Lu Yibei wanted to laugh. But as soon as she opened her mouth, a mouthful of black blood mixed with bits of viscera spurted out between her thin lips.

Feeling a sudden warmth and dampness on her shoulder, and hearing the girl on her back half-laughing, half-choking, Fu Xinyi froze for a moment and asked in confusion, “Senior, are you alright?”

“Cough, cough, cough, I’m fine, I just thought of something funny,” Lu Yibei said weakly.

“Something funny?” Fu Xinyi tilted her head.

“I was thinking, the Great Pure Palace’s standards really are getting worse with each generation. The matching swords are such cheap junk. Looks like that Zhang Huainan guy isn’t doing so great either!” Lu Yibei said.

“…” Fu Xinyi opened her mouth but said nothing, her eyes flickering thoughtfully.

This senior is badmouthing the Headmaster again. It feels just like when Senior Sister Huá Sāng bullies me. So, she really is the Headmaster’s senior sister after all.

But…

Senior sister, bullying junior brothers and sisters-is that some kind of Great Pure Palace tradition? I’ve never heard of that before, Fu Xinyi wondered.

At that moment, a thousand miles away at Zhenwu Mountain, before the stone gate of the forbidden area in the back mountain.

The back mountain forbidden area was where the Headmaster and elders of the Great Pure Palace secluded themselves. Usually, no outsiders were allowed near, but today, a girl had come.

A girl with a hemp rope tied around her Daoist robe and a blade of grass in her mouth.

The girl was Huá Sāng.

Although Huá Sāng was just an ordinary disciple, she was an exception and could come and go freely.

The reason was simple: she’d gotten close to the Headmaster and, on his orders, secretly brought him food while he was in seclusion.

Food is the most important thing for people. Although the Headmaster had long since stopped eating, locked up in a stone cave without water or food, it was still hard to bear psychologically.

But bringing good food and drink into seclusion would damage the Headmaster’s dignity and authority.

If an elder happened to come by with a question and saw the Headmaster gnawing on a chicken leg and drinking wine, reeking of alcohol and grease-what then?

So, he could only rely on someone as unconventional as Huá Sāng to help him with these shady errands.

However, today, as usual, Huá Sāng had swiped a roast chicken and a jug of yellow wine from the kitchen to bring to the Headmaster, but after calling out at the door for ages, there was no response.

Growing impatient, she simply sat down cross-legged by the stone gate, leaned against it, unwrapped the lotus leaf from the roast chicken, and uncorked the wine gourd, ready to enjoy it herself in the Headmaster’s place.

Just then, the stone gate suddenly cracked open, and a sneaky hand shot out, snatching away the roast chicken on the ground and the chicken leg at Huá Sāng’s lips in a flash.

Huá Sāng bit down on air, her teeth aching, and complained, “Old man, you’re in there? If you’re here, say something! Got my hopes up for nothing, tch, coward!”

“Wouldn’t dare, wouldn’t dare!” Behind the door, Zhang Huainan muttered, “Today I kept feeling someone calling my name. I did a quick divination, and it turned out to be related to that one… Looks like she’s about to come looking for me.”

Huá Sāng, “…”

Is she really that scary?

How could even the Headmaster be so spooked?

Thinking this, her gaze unconsciously drifted to the iron ferule at her waist.

“By the way, disciple’s grandchild!”

“Disciple here!”

“Go tell Elder He that I won’t be coming out in half a month. I’m going to stay in seclusion for another three years.”

Huá Sāng, “…”