Chapter 130
The room was clean and tidy, with everything arranged in perfect order, which made the mechanical rabbit on the floor particularly conspicuous.
Nian Qiuyan's explanation was beyond reproach. Just as Changsun Zi raised her eyes, she heard Ou Rushuang holding his Wind-Listening Ruler say: "There seems to be trouble upstairs too. They're urging urgently."
Even here, they could hear the sounds of disciples on several floors above and below arguing and fighting. The conflicts seemed serious, with instructors unable to suppress them. It was almost reaching a life-and-death situation.
Changsun Zi frowned. Obviously, they couldn't delay any longer. Since it was a mechanical rabbit, it could explain the previous noise.
"I'll go up and take a look. I'll trouble you with things here." Changsun Zi said.
Ou Rushuang nodded, seeing Changsun Zi off.
As Changsun Zi left, she glanced at Nian Qiuyan. This glance carried the sharpness of a master, making Nian Qiuyan obediently lower his head.
Ou Rushuang was the first to enter the room to search. Yu Sui watched Zhang Xiangyun and Luo Fu's movements, seeing they had no intention of obstructing. It seemed they were very confident in Agricultural School Saint Ou Rushuang.
So was Ou Rushuang one of them?
Ou Rushuang didn't make much commotion inside the room. He just looked left and right, pushed the door open, casually swept around, and came out. He made a gesture for others to continue searching the remaining dormitories.
Nian Qiuyan stood at the door without speaking.
The previous disturbance and anomaly were all calmed down. Others' attention also shifted, with no one paying attention to him.
Under Ou Rushuang's leadership, the search on this floor proceeded very quickly.
After Changsun Zi went upstairs, the noisy sounds from above gradually faded.
Yu Sui had no qualms about exposing unspeakable messages between disciples, making the entire dormitory building noisy with quarrels and spectacular fights, greatly affecting the instructors' searches.
Below the dormitory building, Kuang Chu placed one hand on his sword hilt at his waist, looking at the noisy dormitory and saying: "Wasn't there a disciple who came out of Inverted Moon Cave last time who was very suspicious?"
Jiang Shulan nodded and answered: "That's Elder Zhu from the School of Names' disciple."
Kuang Chu raised an eyebrow: "We can't be careless just because he's a Saint's disciple."
"The Legalist School's judgment last time already investigated clearly. He did enter Inverted Moon Cave but didn't take the Silver River Water. The Silver River Water matter has nothing to do with him." Jiang Shulan said. "This is the truth as judged by the Di Su Balance Scale."
"Di Su Balance Scale?" Kuang Chu's lips curved in a meaningful smile. "A Di Su Balance Scale brought from outside cannot be convincing."
Jiang Shulan seemed not to understand the meaning of these words, looking at the person beside her with a puzzled glance.
Kuang Chu looked at Gu Qian's floor and said: "I see that floor also doesn't have any Saints going there. Old lady, though you have a kind heart, it's better to believe it exists than to believe it doesn't. Regarding Silver River Water, if we let it flow outside and be taken by Lan corpses and others, everyone will be in great trouble."
Jiang Shulan sighed: "You're right about that... but tonight's arrangements all came from the Communication Courtyard. Which floors the Saints go to for focused searches is also decided by Zou Xian and Li Qiuwen."
She also looked toward Gu Qian's floor following Kuang Chu's gaze: "Since no Saints were arranged to go there, presumably there's no suspicion."
"Do you really think so, old lady?" Kuang Chu looked at Jiang Shulan and asked.
"I have no thoughts." Jiang Shulan said kindly with her eyebrows and eyes. "I just act according to your thoughts. As long as you say you want to search that floor, I won't stop you either."
"I can't leave. If the thief who stole Silver River Water wants to fight to the death and escape from inside, it won't do to leave you alone to guard here, old lady."
Though Kuang Chu had a righteous face, his words were mocking.
After hearing this, Jiang Shulan only smiled: "With so many Saints coming today, I'm afraid they won't be able to escape."
Wei Ren outside, though watching the movements of the two Saints, didn't dare put anything over to eavesdrop. He saw people constantly coming out of the dormitory building, all troublemaking disciples being escorted out by instructors, who walked while cursing these disciples for being so bold.
Yu Sui's attention was now all focused on Nian Qiuyan's floor, not paying much attention to the motionless Jiang Shulan and Kuang Chu below.
After Ou Rushuang finished checking all the rooms on this floor, he didn't stay long. He removed the parasitic poison from those disciples and left.
As soon as the Saint left, the corridor immediately became lively.
Some disciples turned to knock and tap on the Dragon Locks on their doors, trying to open them.
Other disciples were in no hurry to go in, chatting with people beside them or looking down at their Wind-Listening Rulers.
Mei Liangyu nodded slightly toward Nian Qiuyan standing at the door, indicating for him to come over. As soon as Nian Qiuyan walked over, Kong Yiyi standing beside them glared at him and asked in a low voice: "What unspeakable thing are you hiding in your room?"
"I really haven't hidden anything." Nian Qiuyan said helplessly. "Just a rabbit, a mechanical rabbit."
He explained one sentence to two people.
"I feel like your master is somewhat dissatisfied with you?" Mei Liangyu spoke slowly, with an expression and tone that seemed like casual chat.
"I embarrassed her tonight." Nian Qiuyan sighed. "I didn't arrive at the designated time and was caught by her in front of so many people. My master, though not from the Legalist School, is more clear about rewards and punishments than the Legalist School."
"What nonsense are you talking about? Who doesn't know that the Technical Arts School Saint has a sharp tongue but a soft heart." Mei Liangyu curved his lips slightly, laughing coldly. "Not to mention you're the one everyone in the Technical Arts School pampers."
Nian Qiuyan scoffed: "Where did you hear the rumor that my master has a sharp tongue but a soft heart?"
Mei Liangyu indicated with his eyes that Kong Yiyi had said it.
Kong Yiyi nodded quite approvingly.
Nian Qiuyan seemed helpless with these two people, chuckling quietly for a while before casually changing the subject with a relaxed tone.
……
The dormitory inspection matter gradually came to an end.
The Communication Courtyard was still decrypting and tracking previous messages.
Among the golden-black Number Mountain群, three large Number Mountains shone more brightly, with the speed of character symbols and curse patterns flowing on them also faster.
Nine Schools Arts practitioners wearing the Communication Courtyard's dark green robes surrounded Number Mountains one by one, recording symbols and then decrypting them to obtain the desired messages.
The two people closest to the three large Number Mountains were both looking up at the rotating colored bands above the Number Mountains.
The two had similar builds and similar ages, wearing long robes in starkly contrasting colors of black and white.
Taoist School Li Qiuwen wore white clothes, his garments neat and meticulous. His hair was bound with a jade crown, and he looked extraordinary in bearing. His narrow eyes examined the Number Mountains, seeming to catch something. He squinted slightly, looking thoughtful.
Yin-Yang School Zou Xian wore black clothes, his black hair casually scattered behind him. Even his clothes were worn casually, seeming not to wear inner garments, just draped with an outer robe loosely worn on his body, revealing half of his bronze-colored chest.
Zou Xian reached up to scratch his neck, then covered his mouth and yawned, looking absent-minded. Due to the sound of the Number Mountain colored bands rotating, he squinted and looked up for a while, then said casually: "Can't find it. Give up."
"You make it sound so easy." Li Qiuwen frowned with a somewhat serious expression. "If the Communication Courtyard's Number Mountains cannot record the other party's location, the problem would be serious."
After saying this, he paused and turned to look at Zou Xian: "Have you been drinking?"
Zou Xian said without changing expression: "No, I haven't drunk anything."
Li Qiuwen said with great distaste: "Then where does the smell on you come from?"
After saying this, he even stepped back, putting distance between himself and Zou Xian.
Zou Xian raised his hand to smell his clothes, then made a sound of realization, saying nonchalantly: "From last night. I did drink last night. I wanted to rest early today, but who knew this would happen."
"This matter is of great importance. Be serious." Li Qiuwen covered his nose with his hand. "At Taiyi Academy, as long as someone uses a Wind-Listening Ruler, traces will be left in the Communication Courtyard's Number Mountains. Now we can't find the specific location of the message sender. Isn't this slapping the Communication Courtyard in the face?"
"It's indeed possible we can't find them." But Zou Xian didn't want to spend much time on this matter. He scratched his somewhat itchy neck and indicated with his eyes for Li Qiuwen to look at the Number Mountains. "People who try to crack Wind-Listening Rulers have always been numerous, and quite a few have succeeded. For this person, making the Number Mountains unable to determine location isn't too difficult. When using multiple Wind-Listening Rulers simultaneously to send messages, then destroying them all at the same time."
"The Five Elements energy has already materialized, but because the Wind-Listening Rulers were destroyed, the messages scattered halfway through. But the Number Mountains can still capture them, so there will be many recorded locations for the same message."
But Li Qiuwen said: "Using six to 12 Wind-Listening Rulers simultaneously, destroying the Wind-Listening Rulers the moment messages are sent, how many people do you think can do such a thing? This method requires multiple people cooperating. Do you think this was a group action?"
Zou Xian yawned again, his face looking more tired than before. He shrugged helplessly: "How many people can single-handedly take Silver River Water from Inverted Moon Cave?"
Li Qiuwen looked at him: "That would be too many."
Zou Xian also realized he had made a joke and said again: "Alright, limited to academy disciples only."
"We've suspected before, but those who could do this..." Before Li Qiuwen could finish his words, Zou Xian said: "Who told you to only suspect individuals? Why can't stealing Silver River Water be group cooperation? The disciples who entered Inverted Moon Cave that night weren't just the discovered Gu Qian, right?"
Li Qiuwen's brow furrowed slightly. Zou Xian yawned again: "Our Yin-Yang School has two. I don't mention it because they weren't caught. As for why others don't mention theirs, I don't know."
"You actually hid this and didn't tell?!" Li Qiuwen said in surprise.
Zou Xian: "I guessed."
Li Qiuwen: "You actually didn't tell?!"
Zou Xian scratched his neck with more force, hurting himself, and hissed: "I'm not the only one who didn't tell. Doesn't your family have any?"
Li Qiuwen's face darkened, his temple twitching hard: "No!"
"It doesn't matter. They're not the focus anyway." Zou Xian said. "Anyway, there were many people who went to Inverted Moon Cave that night. The one caught was Gu Qian. He said the Silver River Water wasn't taken by him, but it could also be that their group cooperation led to the Silver River Water being taken."
"You want to investigate Gu Qian?" Li Qiuwen looked at him. "Gu Qian is Elder Zhu's disciple. During the last Legalist School judgment, Elder Zhu's attitude was very clear."
After pausing, he added: "Moreover, the Legalist School has already made their judgment. Gu Qian has nothing to do with the Silver River Water theft. If you suspect Gu Qian now, you're slapping the Legalist School in the face. They won't allow it."
After hearing this, Zou Xian showed no emotional fluctuation, scratching his neck and grimacing: "I wouldn't do such troublesome things. I'm just using this to tell you that Silver River Water could be a group crime, and tonight's message sender could also be group cooperation."
"The messages sent were ultimately captured by the Number Mountains. They can crack Wind-Listening Rulers, which isn't difficult, but no one can crack the Number Mountains." Zou Xian looked up at the three large Number Mountains ahead. "Only by cracking the Number Mountains can one truly achieve traceless messages and soundless traces."
Yu Sui, hearing this, lowered her eyes to look at the Wind-Listening Ruler in her hand, her long black eyelashes trembling slightly for a moment.
"If the Number Mountains were cracked..." Li Qiuwen thought deeply. Zou Xian interrupted him: "Don't scare yourself."
Li Qiuwen said to the Communication Courtyard people: "Give me the list of everyone who entered and left the Communication Courtyard from when Gu Qian was caught until tonight."
Zou Xian knew this person was particularly suspicious. If there was something he suspected or cared about, no matter how troublesome, he would take it on and investigate.
Li Qiuwen walked to another Number Mountain and focused intently. At this moment, the small Number Mountain displayed information records of people entering the Communication Courtyard during this period: names, times, what they came to do, and so on.
After reading all the records, he found no noteworthy figures.
Only then did Li Qiuwen feel at ease.
Zou Xian had an "I knew it already" expression, tilting his head to rub his cheek against his shoulder to stop the itching, and only then smelled the alcohol on himself: "Cracking the Number Mountains isn't that easy. With so many people in the Communication Courtyard watching, how could they let one person record thousands upon thousands of Number Mountain群 one by one? Then the Communication Courtyard people should be expelled from Taiyi Academy for being too useless."
Yu Sui's lips curved slightly for a moment.
These two could never imagine that she didn't need to enter the Number Mountain formation to accomplish this.
Those were no longer the Communication Courtyard's Number Mountains, but Yu Sui's Number Mountains.