The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 307 The End
Zheng Yi pointed towards the dense forest.

"Sir, look in this direction."

She took a few steps forward and drew a few lines in the air, outlining a pattern along the contours of several trees and stones in front of her.

"This is the clue left by Xue Bangzhu."

She turned to Li Miao and said.

"Most of the trees here are Chinese scholar trees, except for these few trees which are cypress trees, and their bark is a slightly different color. To other people, they might seem ordinary, but to the people of Penglai, they are extremely conspicuous."

"Because the paths formed by these trees overlap, which is exactly the path of my Penglai Ear Technique's true energy circulation. And these stones, if viewed from the correct angle, correspond to the major acupoints that this technique needs to temper."

"Only one meridian is missing."

Zheng Yi took a few steps to the side and stopped, squinted her eyes, raised her hand and gestured, pointing forward.

"This is the direction, sir."

"Xue Bangzhu deliberately did not point out this meridian, but used this missing meridian to indicate the direction and lead us this way."

"The clues she left behind should be in this direction."

Li Miao nodded.

Although Xue Bangzhu wasn't exactly a clever person, she spent several years figuring things out and eventually came up with a method that only the people of Penglai could understand.

"Bu Liu Xing" was constantly monitoring her, so she couldn't openly leave any clues, or she would be discovered quickly. But the trees in the mountains were everywhere, and if she casually scattered some seeds, "Bu Liu Xing" would have no way of noticing them.

Once these trees have grown, find an opportunity to cut down the same kind of trees, and you will have a clue that is obvious to the people of Penglai but completely hidden to others.

Add to that the stones representing the locations of major acupoints, and the people of Penglai would be absolutely certain at a glance that this was a message left behind by their fellow disciples.

Xue Bangzhu endured the excruciating pain and lived here for seven years, presumably to prolong the process of leaving clues, so as not to let "Bu Liuxing" notice anything amiss.

Once the trees had all grown and the stones had been moved and compacted to their correct positions day by day, she finally moved away from the desolate mountain forest.

Li Miao shook his head and glanced at Xue Hanmeng.

"The beloved son of his parents has far-reaching plans."

"It's a pity that we raised a fool who recognizes a thief as his father. It's really not worth it."

After saying that, Li Miao and Zheng Yi followed the direction indicated by the clues.

Xue Hanmeng didn't move, standing there staring blankly at Zheng Yi, her lips moving and her face pale.

"How...how could she understand the clues left by my mother...My mother said that only members of the Penglai Sect could understand these clues!"

"If she really is a member of the Penglai sect, then why would she attack my uncle..."

"No, Yingzhou and Penglai share the same origin. In recent years, Yingzhou has been hunting down Penglai disciples, so it's possible that some of their cultivation techniques have fallen into their hands!"

She shook her head violently, gritted her teeth, and chased after the two.

But as time went on, her complexion grew increasingly grim.

Xue Bangzhu didn't just set up this one clue. She also considered the possibility that Yingzhou might obtain the Penglai cultivation technique, so she set up four or five similar obstacles.

Ear skills, lightness skills, internal energy cultivation, palm techniques, and sword techniques.

These clues only indicate the direction, but do not mark the distance. Another clue may appear at any time, changing the direction of progress.

Moreover, these clues are not based on the main parts of the Penglai cultivation method; rather, they are randomly selected from minor details. Even if one obtains the manual, without years of personal practice, it is impossible to discern the clues at a glance.

These clues involve almost every technique in the Penglai lineage; missing even one technique would make it impossible to reach the end.

Only a true descendant of Penglai like Zheng Yi could discover Xue Bangzhu's hints. As Zheng Yi skillfully cleared the levels, Xue Hanmeng's expression grew increasingly grim, her gaze constantly shifting between Zheng Yi and the "Bu Liuxing" that Li Miao was holding.

She did trust her "uncle," but she would never doubt her own mother.

Xue Bangzhu did not die in front of her, but left alone and disappeared without a trace. It was her "uncle" who found her, told her about her mother's death, told her who to seek revenge against, and took meticulous care of her for several years, which is why she trusted her "uncle" so much.

But she also clearly remembered that Xue Bangzhu had solemnly told her before leaving not to tell anyone the clues she had left behind. If someone found the clues without any prompting in the future, then she would have to trust that person unconditionally.

Because she kept Xue Bangzhu's instructions in mind, she never told her "uncle" about the matter, no matter how he tried to subtly inquire about it over the years.

But now, the mother's instructions to "unconditionally trust fellow disciples" have resulted in her uncle being turned into a bloody mess and carried around in her hand.

Xue Hanmeng dared not think about what this meant.

She could only lower her head and follow Li Miao and Zheng Yi blankly, silently praying that they wouldn't reach the end—if they did, it would mean they were right, and that she really was a fool who "recognized a thief as her father".

The skeleton that Zheng Yi mentioned when she scolded her, which was lying on the table in the mortuary and was so rotten that it was unrecognizable, was her mother.

She dared not admit it.

Just thinking about this possibility almost made her internal energy burst out of her dantian and rupture her brain.

However, the facts will not change because of her thoughts.

Before an incense stick could burn, Zheng Yi stopped and stared intently at the mountain wall to her left. It took her a while to come to her senses and she sighed.

"This is it, sir."

She pointed to the stone wall and sighed.

"The patterns on this stone wall vaguely match the artistic conception of my Penglai sword technique. They are naturally formed. I don't know how Xue Bangzhu found this place."

"That's why she moved here; she planned to hide the clues here from the very beginning."

Li Miao turned to look at Xue Hanmeng, who had been silent for a long time, smiled, walked up to her, and waved his hand in front of her.

"Silly?"

"What, you know what you are, but you're afraid to face the truth? Have you gone mad?"

Li Miao raised his hand and threw "No Regrets" in front of Xue Hanmeng.

"Here you go, didn't you always want to save him? Here you go, use it to heal his wounds."

Xue Hanmeng did not move.

Li Miao reached out and pinched her face, forcibly lifting her head.

"You have two choices now."

"Or, I'll give you a quick death right now."

“I’m not a member of the Penglai Sect. What you said and did tonight has already made me hate you enough. I won’t give a fool a second chance.”

"or--"

Li Miao flung her hand, sending her flying towards the stone wall.

“You can also ignore your ‘uncle’ for now and go retrieve the things your mother left behind.”

"Then I'll tell you just how much you've made your mother die with regrets all these years."

(End of this chapter)