It turned out that Yuan Taotu had also a pair of surprises for Wu Guang. Not only did he already break through and so now was a 3rd Spirit realm level cultivator but he also mentioned that a packet had arrived from Blue Tree City. Wu Guang was happy for the first news, but after hearing the second he practically wanted to slap someone, and judging from who was the cause, the slap would be for Yuan Taotu.
"Could have told me before"
"People present"
"Teammates... And still, when they left, you did not tell me either"
"The orb is more important"
"One of these days I will drop something on your head, maybe it will help to improve your thinking process. Heavens, if such happens you would even be grateful!" Wu Guang's joke made Yuan Taotu laugh, or well if the small quivering of his mouth could be considered such.
After placing the orb back in place as Yuan Taotu intended to use the night for cultivation, Wu Guang walked towards one of the side rooms and found the box that had arrived. As expected it was from Li Xia and contained two sets of alchemical tools, a few dozens of ingredients, and some other stuff that he had ordered. A small note was also present, in which Li Xia reported the prices for each item and mentioned which rare resources were bought on Wu Guang's instruction of spending all the coins he had left her.
Unexpectedly there was also a pair of jugs of wine and Wu Guang was really surprised to see them. The surprise did not come from that he did not ask for them, but from the fact that Sect rules prohibited alcohol to be sent, sold, or consumed to or by disciples inside the sect, and still, these two jugs somehow smuggled themselves.
After thinking about the fact that he did not ask for them and Li Xia would have not sent something like this, Wu Guang grew cautious. Evading the check on the entrance was one thing, but putting something into his package inside the sect was another matter entirely. So albeit this could be called extreme and unneeded, Wu Guang decided to notify elder Mo or even the Discipline Palace if the opportunity arose.
This also made him carefully examine all the things inside the box and he found that there was a pair of herbs missing. And not simple herbs, but two extremely rare for the city medium spirit herbs that were bought on his behalf and with a cost of 25 gold coins!
25 gold coins was a steep price but Wu Guang found that the herbs were indeed valuable. After all, they were respectively a five hundred years old ginseng and a ring mushroom, both of which were extremely useful for recuperation and so could be used for high-tier recovery medicine or in Wu Guang's case for the most advanced physical recovery potion recipe he had.
After discovering that not only something was added, but also something went missing and remembering that during the check by the Discipline Palace on the sect entrance such would be noticed, Wu Guang reached the conclusion that the stealing took place inside the sect. Yuan Taotu was obviously not a suspect and he was at the residence when the box arrived, so this could have happened only between the main gate and the residence.
Explaining the situation to Yuan Taotu and confirming that he received the box and did not leave the residence afterward only took a few moments. And so after asking him to guard the place and hide the orb, Wu Guang moved to the Arts hall in hopes of encountering Elder Mo.
Regretfully Elder Mo was not present and the hall was closed, so Wu Guang had no other option than go to the 'Discipline Court'. This time he came with a report so he went directly to the main entrance. The hour was already nearing midnight but the doors were always open and so he had no trouble finding a disciple and explaining the reason for his arrival.
Stealing, in general, was something investigated and punished severely by the Discipline Palace but after the disciple heard the value of the items, he quickly called for an elder. Wu Guang knew that this would occur and so initially he only gave some general details, while when the elder arrived he explained the matter fully.
"Understood. It's good that you did not move the box. While you did touch the contents, it still may contain some traces of the perpetrator, so please return to your residence and wait for an investigator to arrive. It should not take more than an hour"
"Thank you elder"
***
The investigator indeed arrived after a few minutes from Wu Guang's return to the residence, albeit it was expected as 'Discipline Palace' members on duty had no restrictions to their movement and so could move around far quicker. Still, the fact that the investigator was an old elder of the palace was surprising. And he wasn't alone as it should be, in fact, he was accompanied by several even more surprising people.
Well, the identity of these people was surprising indeed. It was not only Elder Kong who had trained him today but also two enforcers! And the latter acted only on orders from the Main Palace and were not part of the 'Discipline' branch.
The four of them nodded in greeting and after asking where the box was quickly proceeded to close themselves in the indicated room. Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu were asked to remain outside but before the former could even begin to guess what was going on, he was amazed to see that Master Sikou and Head Enforcer Zhen had arrived as well.
After a quick greeting, both of them questioned Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu about every detail. Especially Wu Guang as he was asked about practically every object he had bought, how he paid, with whom he spoke about it, and so on.
The matter of potions could not remain hidden in such a situation, but thankfully it could be considered a branch of medicine and so Wu Guang explained almost everything, omitting only the fact about the books he found - in place of that, he simply explained that he knew some basic recipes and wanted to try them out for comparison and experiment.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
As Wu Guang finished explaining everything and he confirmed that no one except he knew about the deal Master Sikou raised his arm and caught a message glyph. After the contents were imprinted into his mind his usually blank expression turned sour. But as he shared what he had received, everyone understood the reason
"The disciples and elder at the gate checked every item. Not only they confirmed the list, but also signed every item as received from this Li Xia, so..."
"So someone inside the sect opened the box and stole the herbs. Not only that, the same person put in two jars of wine, which is prohibited in the sect and so could only be smuggled into. Is this some kind of a joke!?" Zhen Mang spat the words unspoken by Master Sikou and his anger was basically palpable by the last words.
"Wu Guang, have you had any altercations lately?"
"No, I had none Palace Master. I did not participate in any events except for a sense challenge and all my training was individual. I don't think I even could have offended anyone after returning from the expedition"
"And before?"
"Nothing comes to mind as I left right after the first mission that we took with Yuan Taotu when entering the inner circle"
"Hmmm... What?!" The last exclamation was not from Master Sikou but from Zhen Mang as he was silent, most probably via qi transmission, notified of something by an enforcer that exited the until now closed door.
"What happened?" Master Sikou asked right away. He knew that Zhen Mang would not work himself over a small matter, so most probably there was some reason to it.
"The wine if we call it so is poisoned. Not only that but there are traces of poison on some of the tools. Wu Guang, did you touch them?"
"I did move some of them while looking for the herbs, but I had my hands covered with qi as to not damage the herbs"
"Still, it's better to be safe. Wait a moment" Saying this Zhen Mang took out a message glyph and sent it.
And after less than five minutes an old man dressed in white robes rushed into the residence.
Wu Guang was happy to see Elder Chen, who was the one that arrived so speedily.
"I heard that you may be poisoned, I will check you" Without any greeting, Elder Chen moved towards Wu Guang and started scanning him. After a pretty long scan, he recalled the qi used for it and in a more relaxed manner continued
"Congratulations on your cultivation. And thankfully there are no traces of anything so you are safe"
"Thank you Elder Chen"
For the next hour or so Wu Guang was asked to stay there while everyone present tried to find clues from the box. Thankfully the process did lead to a result and not only foreign qi was discovered but also Master Sikou and Zhen Mang working together managed to gather enough for a tracking talisman to work.
"Wu Guang, you are supposed to go on a mission in a few hours, aren't you?"
"Indeed Master Sikou"
"I see... I don't think you will encounter any danger outside the sect and the one within should be cleared before you return, so rest for now and then proceed with the mission normally"
"Understood"
"If we don't find the herbs, be assured that they will be compensated"
"There is no need. If such a problem arose because of me, then I am to blame as well"
"No, the rules are clear in such cases and so they shall be followed" Master Sikou turned around and after nodding in farewell left while accompanied by the members of his palace.
"Don't take it at heart. If you did something to explain such retaliation we would know about it. Any situation that guarantees assassination would be too serious as to be missed. Master Sikou is a bit stern with the rules, but if he said this matter will be resolved and you will get back your herbs or be compensated for them, it means that he is sure that you have absolutely no blame here. Take care, but if something happens, don't hesitate to call for help" Zhen Mang's words were calm and sincere, so Wu Guang understood that indeed he could trust the sect to stand up for him if needed.
After saying his farewells, Zhen Mang also left alongside the enforcers that had arrived before. And if followed closely, one would see that with each step he made his countenance changed and a bloody aura arouse from him.
"Zhen Mang is truly enraged... Take care outside and also, before you leave towards the Coastal Hill City don't forget to visit the Arts hall"
"Understood"
And so the incident could be said to have finished, but Wu Guang was extremely interested in who and most importantly why someone had targeted him. "Most probably planting the wine was the real objective and the herbs were stolen because of greed... but who hates me so much as to kill? Is it related to my actions or it's something that stems from Wu Guang's past?" As Wu Guang thought this he tried to carefully analyze all the original memories he had obtained, but even so, except for the assassination of his family, there were absolutely no shady incidents. While for his actions, he was by far not an important target even if considering his involvement in the Boundary Hill City incidents, so the question of why remained unanswered.
Yuan Taotu had remained nearby for most of the questioning and investigation but had been dismissed about half an hour ago. Still, as Wu Guang turned around, he found him standing nearby.
"I seem to have brought more trouble"
"No problem. Today is yours, tomorrow it may be mine"
"Thank you"
"..."
"Let's get some sleep then? I doubt cultivation is going to be easy and we only have a few hours left of the night in any case"
"Agreed"
The part about cultivation being harder today was referring to the fact that he could not use the orb today as they could have a sudden visit or even be monitored. Thankfully Yuan Taotu understood it perfectly and so both of them went to their rooms.