A farmer has a shrewish wife; he's busy making money every day.

After a rustling sound, the hand that had been blocking his way was removed.

Ye Qingxue instinctively looked towards Lu Ningyuan, only to find him completely covered by the quilt.

It looks like a suffocating feeling.

Ye Qingxue turned to look at Lu Chuci, who acted as if nothing had happened.

She felt like she had been teased, but considering that she was only fifteen years old, she couldn't pinpoint his fault.

Her heart was racing. Ye Qingxue glared at him, deciding not to pay him any more attention. She lit a tinderbox, activated her senses, and began searching the room for evidence.

It seems that Lu Ningyuan is not a book lover; there isn't a single piece of paper with writing on it in the entire room.

They searched almost the entire room, but still found nothing.

Ye Qingxue's heart sank.

Did you guess wrong?

Is the evidence still with Lu Ying in the Duke's mansion?

She exchanged a glance with Lu Chuci, who shook his head, indicating that he hadn't found anything either.

Dawn was approaching, and when the guards noticed that Lu Ningyuan hadn't left his room, they would realize something was amiss.

Don't rush, there must be some areas you haven't discovered yet.

Just because something is imperceptible does not mean it does not exist.

Master said, if you can't see it with your eyes, then feel it, feel it to the fullest extent.

Ye Qingxue took a deep breath, took a step back, and surveyed the entire room, examining each object one by one, engaging all her senses.

Hearing, smell, touch...

The tips of my ears twitched as if I heard a hissing sound. My nose wrinkled slightly. There was a faint fishy smell in the air. I swung my arms slightly to feel the direction of the wind.

Finally, Ye Qingxue locked onto a direction: a wall covered with calligraphy and paintings.

The calligraphy and paintings have already been taken down, and the wall looks normal.

Ye Qingxue stepped forward, placed her hand on the wall, and released her senses.

A resistance emanated from the wall, repelling her senses.

I don't know what material the wall is made of, but it must be something that only someone who knows about cultivation can obtain.

That’s it.

Ye Qingxue turned her head to look at Lu Chuci. His eyes were calm, and he seemed to have noticed the strangeness of the wall as well.

Lu Chuci stepped forward and tapped around the wall: "A spirit-concealing stone, quite a grand gesture."

Ye Qingxue had never heard of this stone, but she knew it was used to shield spiritual energy.

Do you know how to drive it?

"Ah."

Ye Qingxue looked at Lu Chuci, felt around on the wall with her hand, found a spot, and pressed down hard with all her might.

With a click, the wall slowly opened, revealing the scene inside to the two of them.

The darkness was so intense that even the flickering of a few oil lamps on the wall couldn't illuminate it.

A foul stench mixed with a strange fragrance assaulted her nostrils. Ye Qingxue held her breath, probed the fire with a tinderbox, and witnessed a horrifying scene.

Inside the sealed room, cages were piled up like a mountain, containing all sorts of mangled, crawling creatures. Hearing the noise, they all turned to look at her.

Countless gleaming, malice-laden, slender eyes nearly overwhelmed Ye Qingxue.

She gasped in surprise, then remembered that she shouldn't smell this. She immediately held her breath again, but was still panicked and couldn't help but reach out and grab Lu Chuci's sleeve.

She moved slightly closer to him, but the man beside her seemed unafraid and strode inside.

Ye Qingxue suddenly closed her eyes and moved closer to Lu Chuci.

The person next to her seemed to smile, and then Ye Qingxue felt a warm touch on her palm as her hand was being held.

"If you're scared, hold on tight."

Blood rushed to her brain, and Ye Qingxue felt her face getting hot. She slowly opened her eyes, loosened her grip, and then clenched her fist again.

Feeling a little more at ease, Ye Qingxue began to use her senses to explore every corner of the place.

The gouged-out eyeballs, flesh, and torso, stained with thick black blood, were scattered throughout the room.

There were also iron chains covered in flesh in the corner.

The scene was horrifying; one can only imagine the inhumane torture that the reptiles here have suffered.

My attention finally settled on the long table in the middle of the room.

Bottle after bottle of something that smelled bad was placed there.

It seems they're using these organisms for some kind of experiment; I wonder what they're trying to create.

Let's set those aside for now, because they don't really seem like evidence.

Ye Qingxue originally thought that once the secret room was opened, the evidence would be clear at a glance, but in reality, it was different from what she expected. Apart from the bloody and terrifying scene, there was nothing else unusual.

No, there is something unusual.

Ye Qingxue suddenly looked toward the center of the long table.

In the center of the scattered medicine bottles, there was a brownish-red medicine bottle. It looked unremarkable at first glance, but it appeared in Ye Qingxue's memory.

It was that old man Qu Busan again. One day, after the mission was over, he happily showed her the bottle of potion.

What did he say at that time?

"Qingxue, I went through a lot of trouble to find this potion. Come and take a look at it."

Ye Qingxue didn't want to pay attention and just wanted to sleep, but the old man forcefully pressed her head down to smell it.

"Remember the taste. This potion is a secret recipe from a tribe called Chi in ancient times. Only the goddess of the Chi tribe knows how to make it."

"Take it alone; it's extremely poisonous. Only when combined with other ingredients..."

She didn't remember what happened next, but that strange, pungent smell was etched into Ye Qingxue's mind.

After smelling it, she went to the toilet and vomited for a full half hour.

He reached out and picked up the reddish-brown bottle, then tentatively took a sniff.

Same taste!

Ye Qingxue's eyes widened slightly, somewhat surprised.

Lu Chuci noticed her unusual behavior and looked down at her, asking, "What's wrong?"

Ye Qingxue's mind raced.

Their purpose in coming here was to find evidence that Lu Ying and Chi were conspiring together.

The medicine that only the goddess of the Chi tribe could make was kept in Lu Ningyuan's secret chamber and was well protected.

Does this mean...

Do not……

Is this medicine bottle really what they want to hide in this secret room?

Ye Qingxue remembered the iron chain in the corner of the secret room and suddenly looked towards the unconscious woman outside the secret room.

Countless guesses flew through my mind, finally settling on a single, murmured statement.

"Is it possible that the key evidence is not some secret correspondence, but a person?"

"A goddess was sent by the Chi tribe to prove their sincerity in order to make the alliance more convincing."

Outside the window, the sun rose, and a thunderclap boomed in broad daylight.

"Young Master, the secret chamber has been open for a while now. Please be careful not to hurt the Goddess."

The people outside the door were silent for a moment, seemingly waiting for a response.

"Master, Master?"

Faint footsteps could be heard outside the door, as if someone was gradually surrounding the bedroom.

Ye Qingxue frowned and looked at Lu Chuci: They had noticed something was wrong.

Under normal circumstances, escaping would be a piece of cake for them.

But now they have to escape with the goddess as evidence, and they have to rush to the capital. If they are surrounded, the time will be greatly extended, and there are too many uncontrollable factors.

The best-case scenario is that the guards don't discover it, and Lu Ying doesn't receive any news either.

That way, when we return to the capital, we can catch them off guard.

But the current situation...

Click, the guard outside the door had already touched the door.

Lu Chuci hoisted the goddess onto his shoulder, exchanged a glance with Ye Qingxue, and prepared for battle.

"Young Master? I'm coming in..."

"Get out."

A hoarse, extremely impatient voice rang out.

Lu Ningyuan, who was lying on the ground, opened his eyes.