The territory of the Tongshan Sect is quite vast, with many hidden mechanisms and secret paths, making the overall layout complex.
Without someone familiar to guide them, outsiders can easily get lost here.
Now with a guide, Tao Mian and his companions naturally wouldn't lose their way.
Xun San's target was clear; he headed straight for the Discipline Hall.
Contrary to what he had said earlier, the people in the Discipline Hall didn't care about that pile of junk at all.
Only two disciples were on night watch at the entrance, and they were drowsy from staying up all night.
Xun San didn't want to alert them, so he used a talisman to conceal his presence and slipped in smoothly.
Tao Mian was about to follow.
Li Fengchan tugged his arm and whispered, "Are we just going to walk in like this?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"No stealth measures? At least use some magic!"
"Don't worry," Little Taoist Tao chuckled, "My illusions are quite powerful. Even if the night watch disciples see us, they'll only see three stones passing by."
"...Stones walking is strange enough already!"
"Oh, don't sweat the details."
Shen Bozhou remained silent, seemingly placing complete trust in Tao Mian.
Among the three, only she seemed to be overreacting.
Li Fengchan rubbed her forehead.
"Alright, I'll go in with you."
"Relax, a snap of the fingers solves everything."
True to his word, Tao Mian snapped his fingers and boldly entered through the main door of the Discipline Hall.
He walked in front, swaggering as if he owned the place.
Shen Bozhou followed closely, walking steadily.
Li Fengchan brought up the rear, cautious and hesitant.
The interior of the Discipline Hall was extremely dark.
Upon entering, a shadow wall divided the space, with narrow doors on the left and right leading to different areas.
The left door led to a classroom, where disciples were taught the sect's rules and laws to prevent them from making mistakes.
The right door led to a long, winding stone path with many turns and hidden doors.
The complex design was because this door separated the area where the Tongshan Sect interrogated and imprisoned offenders.
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Xun San pushed open the left door. The guards on the classroom side were not strict, as all the skilled cultivators had been sent to the other side to watch over the prisoners.
He seemed to have used some potent sleeping drug. When Tao Mian and the others entered, the door was half-open, with two unconscious disciples inside.
With Xun San having paved the way, Tao Mian and his companions could follow and enjoy the benefits.
They made their way unimpeded into the depths of the classroom. Although called a classroom, it was divided into several separate rooms.
Treasures seized from outside the mountain were usually piled in specific storerooms, waiting for the cultivators from the Mingli Hall to inventory them, keeping the useful ones and discarding the rest.
Xun San surprisingly had the key to the Discipline Hall's storeroom, indicating he wasn't new to this lock-picking business.
He sneaked into the storeroom, where things were piled haphazardly. Since this wasn't where the Tongshan Sect kept their most valuable treasures, it was rarely cleaned.
The Li family's belongings were all piled in a corner of the room, several large chests all closed.
Xun San walked over.
He was focused on searching for something inside, completely unaware of the three figures following him.
The cramped storeroom felt especially crowded at this moment.
Once inside, Li Fengchan's attention was immediately drawn to the chests in the corner.
Tao Mian mouthed the question of whether she knew where to find what they were looking for.
Li Fengchan shook her head, wanting to get closer.
Tao Mian nodded in agreement, gesturing for her to proceed.
Xun San opened the heavy lid of a chest, which was so deep it could almost swallow his upper body.
He rummaged through the pile of clutter, sweat gradually forming on his back.
Where were the precious herbs the black-clothed person mentioned?
Xun San tossed out an old piece of clothing, but soon, it hit him on the head again.
"Hey."
He was a bit surprised, but pressed for time, he hurriedly tossed out two more items.
Yet, the discarded clothes returned to the chest once more.
Xun San was stunned.
In front of him was a half-human-high cabinet, placed against the wall.
From his angle, he couldn't see it, but it was clear to the other two.
Tao Mian sat on the cabinet, one leg resting on it, the other dangling.
Whenever Xun San threw something out, Tao Mian would hook it with the peach branch in his hand and return it to him.
After a few rounds, Xun San sensed something was amiss.
"Who's there?!"
He lowered his voice, not daring to shout, as he had sneaked in.
Tao Mian gestured to Li Fengchan to hurry and search, while using his magic to control a blue training robe, making it float in mid-air.
The robe seemed to be blown by the wind, its arms puffed up, and its chest puffed out. It appeared to become a living person, casually picking up a red-tasseled spear from the side, twirling it a few times, and pointing the spearhead at Xun San.
Xun San: ...?
Was he seeing things from staying up all night?
The blue robe wielded the spear skillfully, advancing on Xun San. With no other choice, Xun San drew his sword to defend himself.
The clash of weapons rang out, and Tao Mian slid off the cabinet, waving to the stunned Shen Bozhou.
"Little Six, hurry up, find the stuff!"
Li Fengchan was already in action.
Xun San was busy dealing with the animated blue robe, unable to pay attention to the chests in the corner. In the blind spot of his vision, items from the chests flew out one after another.
Li Fengchan found what she was looking for.
She reached beneath a pile of cultivation techniques and felt a scroll, confirming its texture with her hands before pulling it out.
Li Fengchan stood up and quickly unrolled a third of the scroll.
No mistake, it was the portrait.
She felt a sense of relief, rolling the scroll back up and holding it tightly to her chest.
Tao Mian and the others were still searching.
Li Fengchan returned to the chest, asking if they needed help and what exactly they were looking for.
"It's something that's both alive and dead, old and young."
Tao Mian's arms and shoulders were piled with old clothes and sheets, leaving him wondering why Xun San had brought this junk up the mountain.
Was he robbing or collecting scrap?!
Li Fengchan recalled for a moment. Tao Mian had previously described the Water of Heaven to her, but it was too abstract, and she had no clue at the time.
But suddenly, inspiration struck her, and she thought of something.
"Ah! I know there's something that might be what you call the Water of Heaven."
"What is it?" Tao Mian poked his head out from under an old gauze curtain.
"It's a piece of jewelry with gold inlaid jade left by the ancestors, but that jewelry... was gambled away to the Tongshan Sect by my father a long time ago..."
Li Fengchan's voice grew softer.
"...It seems your father had quite a competitive streak."
Tao Mian was a bit helpless, but he wasn't discouraged.
After all, they were already on the Tongshan Sect's territory, making it convenient to search anywhere.
He really treated their territory as his own backyard.
The three prepared to leave, while Xun San was still wrestling with the clothes.
They exited the Discipline Hall one by one, with Tao Mian being the last to leave.
As he passed by one of the dozing disciples, he quietly whispered in his ear.
"The sect leader is here."
"What? The sect leader??"
The night watch disciple, startled by the words, jumped up.
At that moment, Tao Mian made a hand gesture, intensifying the sounds of battle in the storeroom, even alerting the gatekeeping disciples.
"Who dares to cause trouble in the Discipline Hall!"
The lazy disciples suddenly became active, sending a signal into the sky, causing even the dogs of the Tongshan Sect to stir.
This signal was only used for enemy attacks or when someone came to rescue prisoners held in the hall. The disciples, unsure of who had sneaked in, had to make a big deal out of it.
When the hall master of the Discipline Hall, along with two elders and several cultivators, arrived in a rush, they ran into Xun San being escorted out.
Xun San: ?
He probably hadn't expected that just coming to check on the junk collected from the Li family would land him in a situation with the hall master, elders, and disciples all present.
In that moment, he felt like he was about to become a historical criminal.
It wasn't that serious, really.
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