Chase Game

A small courtyard in the suburbs.

Zhou Jie's meditation was interrupted by the sudden sound. He opened his eyes and saw Ding Guifang pushing the door open and entering with a hunched back.

She leaned on a cane with her right hand and carried an oil lamp with her left. Zhou Jie's gaze shifted upwards, meeting a pair of fierce eyes.

"snort!"

Zhou Jie snorted coldly, showing no fear of Ding Guifang.

He returned the look with a fierce glare and said, "When are you going to give me the divine bird egg?"

When this was mentioned, Ding Guifang replied with an annoyed look, "The contract states that you need to help me get what I want."

"You haven't even gotten the patriarch's jade pendant I wanted yet, and you already want the divine bird egg?"

Zhou Jie: "Assist? Look at my current state, I almost lost my life. Do you dare say I didn't do my best?"

"I'll kill Wang Yun for you. If you don't get the jade pendant, that's your own problem."

Ding Guifang stared at Zhou Jie, her gaze slightly narrowed.

She only felt that this person was useless without realizing it.

I had given him a defensive item, the Phoenix Feather Shield, but he didn't even use it at the crucial moment of the final explosion.

Otherwise, neither of them would have been able to pursue the fleeing Heart.

waste.

Ding Guifang thought to herself.

Not uttering insults is simply to avoid an argument.

She ignored Zhou Jie, went inside, placed the oil lamp on the table behind him, took out three incense sticks, lit them with the flame from the oil lamp, and inserted them into the incense burner.

At this moment, Zhou Jie was even less inclined to meditate. He turned around and looked at the incense burner on the table.

The three incense sticks inside the incense burner burned slowly, and the smoke produced should have drifted away with the wind, but something was different here.

The smoke drifted upwards towards the oil lamp, then accumulated there, growing larger and larger.

After Ding Guifang finished doing all this, she turned to look at Zhou Jie again and said:

"You have time to heal before the incense burns out. After that, if you still want to get the divine bird egg, then come with me to find the jade pendant."

As she spoke, she pulled an ordinary prayer mat from under the table, then clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and knelt down in devout worship.

Zhou Jie watched this scene, then turned to look at the lingering smoke above the oil lamp.

He thought to himself, "This is probably some kind of method the old woman uses to find things."

He then looked at the burning incense sticks, and judging from their appearance, they would burn out in about an hour and a half.

He absolutely had to get his hands on the divine bird egg; now he could only focus on healing his injuries.

Even without anyone disturbing him, it took Zhou Jie almost twenty minutes to clear his mind of distractions and enter a meditative state.

On the other side, Ling Yi also learned about the basic structure of the Heavenly Pavilion from Meng Dong.

The Heavenly Pavilion has seven floors. Floors 2 to 6 are occupied by nine family elders according to their seniority, while floor 7 is where family meetings are held.

Outside the Heavenly Pavilion, there is an irrigation canal and two wells. However, these wells are not for storing water, but are connected to an underground "ice cellar".

Water channels and ice cellars were the safeguards that protected the elderly from the pain of burning.

The Heavenly Pavilion, the Water Canal, and the Ice Cellar together form a unique system within the Meng Mansion.

Apart from that, there are no other underground spaces in the Heavenly Pavilion. The places that Ling Yi needs to explore are limited to the main body of the Heavenly Pavilion and the ice cellar.

After gaining a general understanding of the structure of the Heavenly Pavilion, Ling Yi activated the two stealth skills: [Silence] and [Concealment].

Ordinary people would not be able to detect Ling Yi's invisibility in this state.

However, he is a cautious person.

To avoid any unnecessary trouble caused by the one in ten thousand possibility of exposure, Ling Yi still chose to cover her face with a black cloth.

Only after making such thorough preparations did he set off to infiltrate the Heavenly Pavilion.

Of course, infiltration doesn't necessarily mean traditional methods like scaling walls or digging tunnels.

Ling Yi had Meng Dong find a random excuse and then secretly followed him through the main entrance.

That way, even if something unexpected happens, Meng Dong can still provide support for Ling Yi while inside.

After successfully entering the Heavenly Pavilion, he felt his heart pounding even more intensely.

It's as if the entire Heavenly Pavilion is a giant heart, and I've now stepped into that heart.

With this suspicion in mind, Ling Yi decided to investigate further first.

He first went to the first floor, which was not inhabited, in order to highlight the high status of the elders.

Ling Yi searched carefully, not missing any corner, and when he found nothing, he went up to the second floor.

There are three rooms on the second floor, one of which is occupied by an elderly man who is enjoying an ice bath in a large wooden tub.

The other two rooms appear to be where the old man's personal servants lived.

Fortunately, in order to facilitate the transportation of water and ice, the doors to the old man's room were all open, and the servants were also in the old man's room, so no one was in his own room.

This made it easier for Ling Yi to search inside; otherwise, without the ability to pass through walls, it would have been difficult for him to enter the house.

Unfortunately, the source of the heartbeat has still not been found.

He went up again to the third floor, which had the same layout as the second floor.

This time, however, two elders were staying, and only one room was occupied by servants.

One of the two elders, like the elder on the second floor, was soaking in the ice water with a look of pure enjoyment on his face.

The other room was different; the door was closed, which made Ling Yi frown.

He heard splashing water and the sounds of men and women laughing and playing coming from inside the room.

Then, less than two minutes later, accompanied by a low growl from the man, the noise in the room subsided.

After waiting a while, a woman with disheveled clothes and water stains all over her body, seemingly looking disgusted, pushed open the door and came out.

Upon entering the room, good heavens, my grandfather was lying naked in a wooden tub, surrounded by water stains, looking as if a water fight had taken place.

Recalling the woman's disgusted expression earlier, Ling Yi understood that it was all bark and no bite.

Ling Yi had no interest in the private lives of his elders, but he still searched for them as usual and found nothing.

So he went up another floor, but after searching all the way to the 6th floor, he still couldn't find the source of the heartbeat.

I did get to read all of these elders' private little secrets.

He discovered that these elders' hobbies were surprisingly the same as those of the elder on the second floor.

Of course, the look of disdain in each woman's eyes when they came out was remarkably consistent.

These elders don't actually need to be soaking in ice water all the time; it's just that they find it troublesome and consider themselves superior, so they simply stay indoors for most of the day.

There's no internet or electronic devices here, and the days are long. What should we do to kill time?

That's what it is, of course.

Although these women looked disgusted, thankfully they weren't the kind of women who were unwillingly and resentfully abducted.

In other words, these elders are at most useless, not yet villains who commit heinous crimes.

Ling Yi had only casually thought about it after exploring the 6th floor, and now he was preparing to go up to the 7th floor.

"Judging by the time, more than an hour should have passed."

"We need to hurry. If it's not on the 7th floor either, we'll have to check the ice cellar."

Thinking this, Ling Yi walked up the stairs to the 7th floor, but the worst-case scenario still happened.

"They even have to install a door on the stairs, and lock it. I don't know what they're trying to prevent..."

Before setting off, Meng Dong had mentioned to him that the stairs leading to the 7th floor might be locked, and the only key was kept by Uncle Meng.

Now that he's confirmed the door is locked, Ling Yi has to go back to find the key.

Having a key is one thing, but opening the door is another.

"There are so many people coming and going, this is a bit of a hassle..."