Why did you provoke me?

Now let's talk about Xiang Mingde.

A whole day has passed, and the young master still hasn't shown up.

Xiang Mingde was somewhat anxious, but he didn't show it. The young master's arrival was a highly secretive matter; no one else knew about it except him.

No, there's also that thief who comes here all the time.

But the problem now is that they've both disappeared.

Xiang Mingde is the head of Guihong Pavilion, but in the young master's eyes, he is just an obedient dog that his family keeps.

Now that the owner is missing, if he has gone back, that's fine. But if he hasn't, then things are in big trouble.

Xiang Mingde forced himself to wait, thinking, "What if the young master is playing and comes back late?" But another voice inside him urged, "Report it quickly! If something happens, the entire Guihong Pavilion won't be enough to compensate." (The "compensation" part is the same as the "burial.")

Night fell in the blink of an eye, and the young master still hadn't returned. Xiang Mingde knew he had no other choice.

He cautiously retrieved an item from the bottom drawer, pressed it to his forehead, and muttered something under his breath.

After putting the things down, I felt like a fish out of water. I slumped into the chair, panting heavily.

He knew that if more people came down from over there, his fate would certainly not be good.

In the first battlefield.

Looking at the crooked lines she had drawn on the table, Yu Meng felt very melancholy.

Even someone as clever as her is now exhausted by the lines on these slips of paper.

Needless to say, Niannian has been sitting on a large rock outside, withdrawn and isolated, for the past few days.

"Fourth sister, this is too difficult."

Yu Meng remained silent, her eyes fixed on the lines on the paper. A flash of inspiration seemed to pass through her mind, but it was too fast for her to grasp.

She closed her eyes, slowly trying to capture the inspiration she had just had.

Lines, lines on a strip of paper.

Yu Meng suddenly opened her eyes. Yes, it was lines. She already had lines, so why did she need to draw them?

Take out the irregularly shaped thread and coil it into that shape according to the direction of the lines on the paper.

The next step is to fill the energy and set up the starting node.

The lines in Yu Meng's design inherently possess energy; all that's needed is to set the starting point and create a closed loop of energy within the lines. Isn't that simple?

Yu Meng looked at the lines in her hand; she seemed to have oversimplified things. She just didn't know if it would work.

Niannian saw Yu Meng carefully carrying something and ran over. "Fourth Sister, what is it that you're handling so carefully?"

Upon seeing the object, Nian Nian stared blankly at Yu Meng, "Fourth Sister? What are you doing? Why are you playing with lines?"

"Niannian, I made that mantra with lines and I want to find someone to test it. Who do you think I should ask?" Yu Meng didn't intend to hide it from Niannian.

Niannian's eyes darted around. "Fourth Sister, if they're from the sect, they'll basically answer any question you ask if they see you. Why don't we go find those two outsiders?"

"Is this a good idea? What should we ask then?" Yu Meng said it wasn't a good idea, but that didn't stop her from doing what she wanted to do.

"I need to think about this," Niannian said, staring at the lines. "Fourth Sister, what do you want to know?"

"What I want to know isn't important; I want to ask some ordinary questions that nobody else knows."

"For example, how old is he? Does he have children?" Niannian whispered, "It doesn't involve any secrets or anything too serious."

Yu Meng gave a thumbs-up with her other hand. "Okay, that's the question. Who should we ask first?"

"Um, Fourth Sister, did they give you that book they said they'd give you?"

"Given it."

"That's good then. Let's find Old Man Cripple. He can't catch us, can he?" Nian Nian said with a mischievous grin.

Yu Meng rolled her eyes at her. "You still want to show your face?"

Niannian was stunned. "How can I ask without showing myself?"

"You can't change your voice?"

"Really?" Niannian still didn't understand.

"I secretly stuck the lines on his back, then asked him in a different voice," Yu Meng said, explaining her idea.

This time, Niannian gave her a thumbs up.

As darkness fell, Yu Meng and Niannian sneaked out, only to run into Jing Er.

Niannian's eyes darted around. "Fourth Sister, let Senior Brother ask."

Yu Meng glanced at Jing Er and nodded in agreement. Anyway, if this worked out, she'd teach them this skill too.

Jing Er heard what Niannian said, but he didn't understand what it meant. However, that didn't stop him from obeying.

Following Yu Meng to the cripple's courtyard, they were surprised to find the long-haired man there as well.

"Crippled man, Yu Mengxue isn't as good at drawing talismans as you say. It's been several days and she still hasn't succeeded."

"It's only been a few days, and they haven't been exposed to these things before. It's already quite good that they've done this much," the cripple said nonchalantly. "Even geniuses aren't omnipotent."

Upon hearing this, Nian Nian pursed her lips and pointed at the long-haired man. Yu Meng smiled and nodded.

She talked badly about them behind their backs and let them hear it. Even if she didn't explicitly mention the long-haired man, she was prepared to do it anyway.

The lines silently adhered to the back of the long-haired man.

Jing Er suppressed a laugh, not expecting that Teacher Yu was also a vengeful person.

"Tell me how old you are this year?" Jing Er's voice was slow and low, without any aggression.

The cripple was startled and turned to look at the source of the voice. "Who is it?" he whispered.

"I am ninety-nine years old," the long-haired man replied.

The cripple quickly turned his head to look at the long-haired man. "What, what are you saying?"

"Didn't you ask me how old I am? Your memory is really bad. I'm three years older than you, and you've already forgotten?" the long-haired man said to himself.

Jing Er's voice came again, "Do you have any regrets?" He didn't ask the questions Nian Nian had taught him.

The first sentence already proves that Teacher Yu's methods are effective, so it's better to ask some useful questions.

The long-haired man sighed. "Of course there are regrets. How can life be without them?"

The cripple was really anxious this time. He turned his wheelchair over to the long-haired man and raised his hand to cover his mouth.

"Old cripple, are you crazy?" The long-haired man slapped his hand away, somewhat displeased.

"You long-haired one, shut up. I didn't ask, did you hear me? I didn't ask!" the cripple shouted.

"Help! Help!" the lame man shouted loudly outside.

Upon seeing this, Yu Meng quietly withdrew the line, gave Niannian a hand gesture, and the two of them stepped back.

Jing Er straightened her clothes, then rushed into the house, shouting, "Senpai, what's wrong?"

When the line left the long-haired man's back, he realized that he had probably been tricked.

"Jing Er, is that you? Who did you see outside?" the long-haired man asked in a deep voice.

Jing'er glanced at the two of them. "I had to go to Teacher Yu's place. I heard the shouting and was worried something had happened, so I ran over. I didn't see anyone."

No sooner had he finished speaking than two more people entered; they were the night patrol team.

"Senior, what happened?" they asked in unison.

The lame man waved his hand, "It's nothing, the wheelchair was spinning too fast just now and almost made me fall. I shouted in a panic."

Jing Er saw through their scheme but didn't say anything. "Then you two rest, we'll go out first." After saying that, she led the two out of the room.

"This matter must not be spread outside," Jing Er instructed in a low voice.

"Yes, Senior Brother."

The conversation outside the door could be clearly heard by the people inside.