Mountain and sea lantern

Chapter 554 Blood-Red Eyes Approaching
On a street in the city, a gray-clad man wearing a veil glanced at the signboard of Bai's Rice Shop but did not stop. He only stopped at a fork in the road, and as he lowered the brim of his hat, he used both hands to cover his eyes.

The blood-red light reappeared in her eyes behind the veil. She looked around, determined her direction, then the blood-red light disappeared from her eyes, and she turned at the intersection...

On the third floor of the library, a ray of light shone on Dong Liangyu's wrist, revealing the blue veins clearly visible beneath his fair skin.

Shi Chun looked at the money in the other person's palm, his heart skipped a beat, then he breathed a sigh of relief, startled, thinking he had been recognized.

But then I thought about it and realized that something was wrong. I should have given seven coins, right? I shouldn't be so confused about such a small amount.

He lowered his head slightly and actually began to visually count the stack of money in the other person's palm.

Little did he know that Dong Liangyu was taking the opportunity to observe him closely at close range.

Eye contact, subtle habitual gestures, including the shape of the cochlea and earlobe—these things might fool a man, but they're hard to fool a meticulous woman, especially one who has taken notice of them. She can even clearly remember the location of the blemishes in your eyes.

In that instant, Dong Liangyu, though unable to see through the disguise, easily recognized who he was.

After counting the money, Shi Chun couldn't help but scratch his chin. There were indeed six coins, one short. But he remembered that he should have given seven. He looked up with suspicion.

Upon meeting Dong Liangyu's straightforward gaze, he immediately dismissed his doubts. He knew this family quite well, and this woman was not the type to be greedy for a penny. He was willing to risk his life to guarantee that. If it weren't for their differing values, this woman would be a wonderful wife.

Then I started to doubt myself again. Could it be that I made a mistake when I took it out and took one less?
The key issue is that he has no way to verify it, and he doesn't even know how much change he has on him. He's too rich now to care about the small amount of change he has.

Okay, let's just replace one that's missing.

There was nothing to say. He pretended to reach into his sleeve, pulled out a coin, and gently placed it in the other person's palm.

I thought that was finally over, but I found that the other person was still staring straight at me. So I said in a hoarse voice, nodding apologetically, "I'm sorry, I misread it, it wasn't intentional."

Dong Liangyu stared at him and said, "You should know that most of the people who go upstairs to pay for their studies are trying to save a little money. In this situation, they will at least say that they clearly remember paying more than they should have."

Shi Chun paused for a moment, immediately sensing something was amiss, but still explained, "Miss, you are graceful and have an extraordinary bearing. You are clearly a lady of high character. You would never trouble me over a single penny. I must have miscounted. Besides, not everyone reading upstairs is short of money. They simply prefer the peace and quiet upstairs and don't like being disturbed."

To prove his point, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a money pouch. As soon as he opened the pouch, a cloud of golden flames burst forth.

He indicated that he was a wealthy person and it wasn't worth arguing over a penny, and then put away his money bag.

Dong Liangyu lowered his hand holding the money. "Ahem, my whole family was implicated by you and arrested. My father was tortured and almost lost his life. Who exactly are you?"

"..."

Shi Chun was stunned. The words were so clear; there was no point in pretending to be confused anymore.

After a moment of silence, he quickly activated his right eye's special ability to scan his surroundings. There was no one on the third floor, nor on the upper floors, but downstairs there was a figure huddled in a corner reading a book. It seemed there was no ambush.

It's normal that not many people come at this time.

Looking at Dong Liangyu again, he was speechless. He didn't know how this woman recognized him, or rather, the speed at which she recognized him was beyond his imagination.

Most importantly, by so blatantly revealing his identity, aren't you afraid he'll kill you to silence you?

Okay, I was wrong. This family still holds onto the concept of law.

In addition, this family is quite reasonable.

Okay, then let's talk about reason.

Finally, she sighed and regained her original voice, saying, "Did I implicate your family? I really didn't know about this. I never thought I would implicate your family, and I never thought that even after leaving your family, I would still implicate you. It was precisely because I didn't want to implicate you that I left the library. Second Miss, please believe me, I never had any intention of harming your family."

He did indeed intend to silence the person; if he killed them, no one would know he had been there.

But he still hoped to reason with them. After all, there were many people coming and going in the library, and it would be easy to be discovered if no one was upstairs. If they were alerted, his trip would be in vain, and it would also affect his subsequent investigation of Bai Qiru's situation in the city.

Dong Liangyu said, "I believe you, so I didn't go to the city guards to report you without saying a word. I just want to know who you are. That's not too much to ask, is it?"

Shi Chun said, "Second Miss, I have no ill intentions in coming here. There are some things that are better left unknown. The less you know, the safer you will be."

Dong Liangyu: "Nonsense! Cough cough..."

Shi Chun explained, "If I don't kill you to silence you once you know who I am, others will think I can use your family to blackmail me, and then your whole family will really be implicated."

Dong Liangyu was speechless for a long while before asking, "Since you had already left, why did you come back?"

Shi Chun: "Some bad habits are hard to change. I love reading and I'm a book lover at heart. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been recruited by you to work as a janitor in the library. If I don't read for three days, I feel like I'm out of my mind. The collection of books in Chaoyue Pavilion is so rich, all-encompassing and vast. I didn't get enough of it when I was in the library, so I couldn't help but come back."

The light filtering through Dong Liangyu's neck and shoulders shone on her lips. She pursed them, her gaze shifting, and asked again, "Isn't there some other reason?"

Shi Chun sighed, “Your family has neither money nor power, and no strength. What else can I do in the library besides read books? It’s really just a scholar’s ​​hobby.”

Then he tried to add, "Second Miss, I'll come to read quietly and leave quietly after I'm done. For the sake of our past friendship, please pretend you didn't recognize me. No one will suspect anything, and there won't be any problems. Is that alright?"

If the other party doesn't agree, then he really has no choice but to resort to poison.

Dong Liangyu spread out his palm to count the money, and as if by magic, he actually counted out eight coins. He picked out one and gently placed it on the bookshelf next to him, saying, "I must have miscounted."

Without taking advantage of the situation, he turned around and left.

He went straight downstairs, sat down in his assigned spot, picked up a book, and continued reading, seemingly calm and serene, though he still coughed occasionally. But Shi Chun, with a petty mind, believed in Dong Liangyu's character and continued searching the bookshelf for the one he needed, while simultaneously using his right eye's special ability to check if Dong Liangyu was still in his original position.

His behavior and thoughts are extremely contradictory, which has made him quite tired. Recently, he has been using his right eye's special ability too frequently, which has severely depleted his blood and energy, and he hasn't had a chance to replenish it.

Downstairs in the lobby, a woman in red, who was dozing with her head propped up, paused slightly as she tapped the ledger. On the third-floor bookshelf, a section of a book that Shi Chun had flipped through and put back would immediately be silently pulled out.

Outside the library stood a gray-clad man wearing a gauze hat.

The man in gray looked up at the sign and muttered, "Chaoyue Pavilion..."

This was clearly somewhat unexpected.

She raised her hand, removed her veil, and put it away, revealing an unremarkable, sallow face. She then walked into the library, where the air was filled with the aroma of wine and the sounds of arguing and debating were constant.

After surveying the room, I passed the counter and saw the woman in red, who was pretending to be asleep, half-open her eyes and point at the notice on the counter. So I stopped and looked at the contents of the notice and roughly understood the rules for reading books here.

But he didn't come to read books; he came to find someone. However, he had never seen the target in person, and there was a group of people in the library. He didn't know which one was the target he was looking for.

However, it was inappropriate to openly use his "magic eye" to observe him in public.

The key issue is whether the person is among the crowd inside the hall. If they are, even if he exposes himself, he can simply grab the person and run away without any consequences.

If he were to expose himself first, cause a huge commotion, and fail to find the person for a long time, then he would have to gamble that there are no experts in the city who can fight him.

Of course, the chances of encountering such a master are slim, but if one can abduct someone silently, the value of the target can be maximized.

Just then, Dong Liangying, who clearly looked unfamiliar with the place, came over and kindly reminded him, "The books are all on the second floor; you need to go upstairs to get them."

The man in gray nodded slightly in acknowledgment, readily agreeing, which provided a convenient cover for him to observe the situation at his own pace.

Reaching the corner and avoiding the attention of others, he saw that no one was going up or down the stairs. His eyes turned bloodshot again, and he prepared to take advantage of the cover of the corner to observe the people in the lobby.

To everyone's surprise, the Demon Eye revealed a faint clue with the target's characteristics right before their eyes, making it unnecessary to peek into the main hall.

His bloodshot eyes followed the clues as he looked up and discovered that the target had gone upstairs. He then calmly walked upstairs.

Noticing someone not far from the stairwell, his bloodshot eyes quickly narrowed and soon spotted Dong Liangyu sitting guard.

Upon seeing a guest, Dong Liangyu, who was sitting upright, slightly bowed in greeting.

The man in gray bowed and walked straight past Dong Liangyu. When he reached the rows of bookshelves, he scanned the area to make sure no one was there. His blood-red eyes immediately reappeared, and he locked onto the clues that identified the target. He then followed the clues.

With a whoosh, Dong Liangyu was startled when he heard the sliding door open and close again. He turned his head and was somewhat surprised. How come there was another stranger who could find the hidden sliding door directly?

The man in gray had already gone straight up to the third floor without stopping, and his footsteps landed without making a sound.

Unfortunately, because of Dong Liangyu's earlier commotion, Shi Chun had to use his right eye ability to check if Dong Liangyu was still there from time to time. As a result, even the lightest footsteps were useless and could not escape his right eye's gaze.

At first, Shi Chun only noticed that there was an extra person in the library and didn't think much of it. Another person came to look for books, wasn't that normal?

Of course, the distance is also a factor.

But things changed when they got closer. When they got closer, Shi Chun's right eye felt like it had been pricked by a needle, his eyelid twitched, and his heartstrings tightened instantly.

He couldn't help but instinctively become wary. He saw the demonic energy within the newcomer's body; he was too familiar with that thing to be mistaken.

Moreover, the sheer volume of the newcomer's demonic energy was astonishing; he had never seen a demonic cultivator with such powerful demonic energy before.

Even the Demonic Path comes to the library to read books?

That's entirely possible; who says that those who follow the path of demonic cultivation can't read books?

But he soon realized something was wrong. The other person's behavior showed no intention of looking for books, yet they were gradually approaching him. What was worse, even though he strained his ears, he couldn't detect the slightest sound of their footsteps.

This is not the reaction of a normal reader.

A strong sense of crisis quickly made his heart pound.

It was impossible not to be nervous, knowing that I might be facing an unprecedented master of the demonic path.

He dared not put down the book in his hands, afraid of making the slightest noise, and began to tiptoe around.

It's not only experts who can walk without making a sound; the Cloud-Stepping Boots on his feet are no joke either, as he doesn't even need to step on the ground.

Like a thief, I crouched low, relying on my familiarity with the library, and stealthily moved around, using the bookshelves as cover.

He didn't even dare to take a breath.

Fortunately, the other party did not use any spells to investigate from beginning to end, which he found rather strange. If they could use spells to find someone, why use such a clumsy method?

Behind the lobby counter, a woman in red, who was dozing with her head propped up, paused her fingers as she slowly tapped the ledger, a glint of shrewdness seemingly flashing in her drooping eyelids.

(End of this chapter)