Chapter 349: The thousand dao city 19.

Mo Yuxin examined it.

"At the current rate, another two or three months before the central core begins failing."

Ji Ruyan looked shocked.

"Then why would someone make it fail slowly?"

Mo Yuxin answered, "Because a sudden collapse would reveal sabotage. A slow decline looks natural."

Nobody spoke for several moments.

Su Lian immediately knelt beside the formation core.

"Can we remove it?"

Mo Yuxin looked at her.

"Yes."

Su Lian sighed in relief.

"How?"

Mo Yuxin raised one finger.

The false node disappeared.

It was that simple.

Su Lian stared.

"You did not even use a formation tool."

"I did not need one."

"That is not normal."

Mo Yuxin shrugged.

"It worked."

Su Yubing smiled quietly.

Mu Qingru looked at Mo Yuxin with a new expression.

Suspicion remained, but now it was mixed with something else.

Respect.

Ye Qinglan bowed slightly.

"Thank you."

Mo Yuxin shook her head.

"It was not difficult."

Ye Qinglan smiled.

"It was difficult enough that our entire sect failed to find it."

Su Yubing stepped in.

"Then perhaps someone should examine the other formations."

Mu Qingru looked at Su Lian.

"Can you do it?"

Su Lian nodded.

"With enough time."

Mo Yuxin said, "You should do it yourself."

Su Lian looked surprised.

"Why?"

"Because if I repair everything, you will never learn what the person who planted these flaws wanted you to miss."

Su Lian considered that.

Then nodded.

"Understood."

Ji Ruyan looked at Mo Yuxin.

"Why are you helping us?"

Mo Yuxin looked at her.

"Your sect has been treated unfairly."

Ruyan frowned.

"So?"

"So I do not like it."

Ruyan seemed almost confused by the simplicity of the answer.

Mo Yuxin added, "That is all."

Ruyan looked at Su Lian.

Su Lian smiled.

"I told you they were strange."

Mo Yuxin said, "Thank you."

Su Lian laughed.

The evening might have ended peacefully.

Then Ning Shuyue suddenly looked toward the western wall.

Her hand moved to her sword.

"Someone is there."

Everyone turned.

A shadow flashed across the roof.

Ji Ruyan immediately moved.

Mo Yuxin caught her shoulder.

"Wait."

Ruyan froze.

Mo Yuxin stepped forward.

Her divine sense spread silently.

She found the stranger immediately.

A masked cultivator was moving along the rooftops.

Their cultivation was around early Nascent Soul.

Not strong enough to be a serious threat.

Mo Yuxin flicked her finger.

The masked figure stumbled.

Their spiritual energy locked for one breath.

Ning Shuyue leaped upward and grabbed them.

The figure struggled.

Ruyan joined her.

Within seconds, they brought the masked cultivator into the courtyard.

Mu Qingru pulled away the mask.

A young man stared back.

He wore an ordinary gray robe.

No sect symbol.

Ye Qinglan asked calmly, "Who sent you?"

The man refused to answer.

Ning Shuyue placed her hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Talk."

He remained silent.

Mo Yuxin looked at him.

"You were not here to attack."

The man glanced toward her.

She continued.

"You were examining the formation tower."

No response.

Su Yubing asked, "Why?"

The man looked toward the ground.

"I was told to see whether the repair had worked."

Everyone became still.

Ye Qinglan’s eyes narrowed.

"Who told you?"

The man finally spoke.

"I do not know their name."

Mu Qingru frowned.

"Then why obey them?"

"They paid me."

"With what?"

The man hesitated.

"Spirit stones."

Mo Yuxin stepped closer.

"What exactly were you told to check?"

The man looked at her.

"Whether the old damage was still there."

Mo Yuxin understood.

The person controlling him did not know the formation had already been repaired.

They expected the planted flaw to remain.

That meant someone was monitoring the Battle Maiden Sect’s decline from outside.

The masked cultivator was taken to the city authorities.

The incident should have been enough to make the sect alert.

But it was not enough for Mo Yuxin.

As they walked back toward the inn, Su Yubing stayed close to her.

"What are you thinking?"

"The attacker was too careless."

"You think he was meant to be caught?"

"Maybe."

"A distraction?"

"Possibly."

Su Yubing thought for a moment.

"Then we should be careful."

Mo Yuxin stopped walking.

She looked at her wife.

"Are you worried?"

"A little."

Mo Yuxin immediately took both of Su Yubing’s hands.

"I am here."

Su Yubing smiled.

"I know."

"Then do not worry."

"I am not worried about myself."

Mo Yuxin looked at her quietly.

Su Yubing’s expression softened.

"I know you can handle anything. But I do not like watching people use someone else’s trust against them."

Mo Yuxin nodded.

"Neither do I."

She leaned closer.

"And I will not let anything happen to you."

Su Yubing touched her cheek.

"I know that too."

Mo Yuxin smiled.

"Good."

They walked on.

Halfway back to the inn, they passed the same quiet street where they had eaten pastries the previous morning.

Su Yubing stopped.

"There is that shop."

Mo Yuxin looked.

It was a small jewelry stall.

A woman was arranging hairpins and jade ornaments beneath a lantern.

Su Yubing walked closer.

She picked up a pale blue hairpin shaped like a flower.

She looked at it for several seconds.

Mo Yuxin noticed.

"Do you like it?"

"It is pretty."

Mo Yuxin bought it.

Su Yubing protested immediately.

"You did not even ask the price."

"It does not matter."

"You are going to make the shopkeeper think we are rich fools."

The shopkeeper smiled.

"I have already decided you are rich."

Mo Yuxin nodded.

"Good decision."

Su Yubing laughed.

She let Mo Yuxin put the hairpin in her hair.

Mo Yuxin carefully adjusted it.

"Beautiful."

Su Yubing looked at her.

"Is the hairpin beautiful or me?"

"You. The hairpin is just helping."

The shopkeeper smiled knowingly.

"You two are newly married?"

Su Yubing opened her mouth.

Mo Yuxin answered first.

"Not newly."

The shopkeeper asked, "Then how long?"

Su Yubing smiled.

"Long enough that she thinks buying everything I look at is normal."

Mo Yuxin said, "It is normal."

The shopkeeper laughed.

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TO BE CONTINUED.