The opening scene reveals the story of Yao Lao, alarming the Soul Emperor.

Hunyuan did not speak after entering the room.

His gaze swept around the secret room, passing over the jade slips on the four walls, then over the Soul-Suppressing Stone in the center, and finally resting on the jade slip that Hun Yu had not yet put away.

Hunyu pushed the jade slip back into the stone trough and patted the dust off his fingers.

"The Great Celestial Venerable's arrival is timely; I had just begun to look at the draft."

"I'm not here to see the draft."

Hunyuan stood at the door for a moment, then stepped in and casually closed the door behind him.

The light in the secret room dimmed by half, leaving only the blue glow of the Soul-Suppressing Stone shining up from the ground, casting an unnatural hue on the faces of the two people.

"I heard everything you said in the main hall."

"Was the Great Celestial Venerable listening outside the main hall or around the corner?"

Hunyuan paused for a moment, then smiled.

The curve of his smile was perfectly controlled, neither too deep nor too shallow, just enough to make the person opposite him feel that he didn't care about being exposed.

"corner."

He admitted it very readily.

"When the temple master was cleaning the hall, I went through the side door, but I didn't go far."

"I'd like to hear what you say when you're alone with the Palace Master."

Hunyu pulled a handkerchief from his sleeve, spread it on a flat stone slab in the corner of the secret room, and sat down.

Then he took out a palm-sized copper kettle and two very small cups from his pocket. As soon as he lifted the lid of the copper kettle, steam came out.

"The tea is still warm; I brought it from the other courtyard. Would the Great Celestial Venerable like to sit down and have a cup?"

Hunyuan glanced at the bronze pot.

"Do you carry a tea set with you?"

"I'm used to it. Drinking something hot helps suppress the bloody taste in my chest."

Hunyu poured the tea into two cups and pushed one of them to Hunyuan's feet.

The tea soup was very pale, almost transparent, but it had a very subtle herbal aroma, unlike the spiritual tea varieties commonly found on the Dou Qi Continent.

Hunyuan did not go to get the cup.

"You said in the main hall that suspicion had been placed on three people."

"right."

"All three of them are at the Heavenly Venerable level, two of them being me and Hun Yue."

"What the Great Celestial Venerable said was not what I said."

Hunyuan crouched down to look Hunyu in the eye.

This action changed the atmosphere in the secret room, transforming it from a hierarchical relationship between superiors and subordinates into a parallel, tentative confrontation.

Do you know what you're doing?

"Know."

"You offended three half-step Dou Di at the same time, and even took the Hall Master's black token and acted arrogantly in the Tian Gang Hall."

Hunyuan's voice was very flat, so flat that it sounded a bit fake.

"How long do you think that badge can protect you?"

Hunyu picked up his cup of tea, blew on it, and took a small sip.

"It won't last long."

"You dare take it if you can't even guarantee it?"

"Because I don't need it to last too long."

He placed the teacup on his lap and looked up at Hunyuan.

"Great Celestial Venerable, I have a question for you, and you may choose not to answer."

"Go ahead and ask."

"The route for the seventh operation is known only to you and Hun Feng."

"Um."

"Hun Feng is dead. His communication soul seal is blocked, there is no record of unblocking it, and he has never left the study."

"You already said these things in the main hall."

"I've already mentioned it, but there's one detail I didn't mention in the main hall."

Hunyu drew a circle on the rim of the cup with his finger.

When was the route for the seventh operation decided?

Hunyuan's brow twitched.

"Six hours before the operation."

"Did you and Hun Feng decide on this together?"

"Yes, it was decided in my study, with the door closed."

"What did you do after you made the decision?"

"I went back to my residence."

"Did you meet anyone else in between?"

"no."

After answering "no," Hunyuan paused for a moment, as if realizing something, and his gaze tightened.

"You're testing me."

"Great Celestial Venerable, you are overthinking it. I am merely verifying."

"The direction you're investigating is that you're doubting me."

Hunyu did not deny it.

He picked up his teacup and took another sip, much slower than the last, as if giving himself a few moments to think.

But he doesn't need to think; what he needs is to make Hunyuan believe that he is thinking.

"The Great Celestial Venerable's heartbeat skipped two beats just now."

Hunyuan's expression remained unchanged, but his left index finger bent slightly.

Can you hear my heartbeat?

"I can't hear, but I can see."

Hunyu pointed at Hunyuan's neck with the end of his fan.

"The pulsation rate of your left carotid artery started to increase from the seventh time I asked you, but not by much, about 10% faster than normal."

"By the time I said I was verifying the direction, we were half a percent faster."

"You're back to normal now because you were consciously controlling your breathing."

The secret room was quiet for three breaths.

Hunyuan stood up and looked down at Hunyu, who was sitting on the stone slab.

His shadow stretched long under the blue light of the Soul-Suppressing Stone, covering Soul Feather's white robes like a closing net.

"Your eyes are something else."

"You flatter me, Great Celestial Venerable. It's not that your eyes are extraordinary, but rather that your body is too honest."

Hunyuan's lips twitched slightly.

It wasn't a laugh; it was an instinctive muscle reaction after being offended.

But he suppressed that reaction very quickly, so quickly that most people wouldn't have time to detect it.

Soul Feather has captured it.

"Great Celestial Venerable, I am not accusing you."

His tone softened.

"But you should understand that of the three suspects, you are the prime suspect."

"Only you and Hun Feng know the route for the seventh operation. Hun Feng has been proven unable to spread the word, so the only person left is you."

"This is the simplest method of elimination."

Hunyuan's breathing calmed down.

He glanced down at the cup of tea that Hunyu had pushed over on the ground, bent down to pick it up, and twirled it in his hand twice.

"The process of elimination you mentioned, the Palace Master can also calculate."

"He will."

"Then why didn't he just attack me directly?"

"Because the temple master knows that simple elimination does not equal the truth."

Hunyu coughed again, this time not hard, but the metallic taste in his throat was very obvious.

"The most suspicious person is not necessarily the real culprit."

"Sometimes the most suspicious person is precisely the one who has been pushed to the forefront."

Hunyuan stopped turning the teacup with his fingers.

"You mean, someone is framing me?"

"I didn't say it; the Great Celestial Venerable thought of it himself."

Hunyuan stared at Hunyu for five breaths.

Five breaths later, he finished his tea in one gulp and placed the cup at Hunyu's feet.

"The tea is good; it has a grassy aroma that I've never smelled before."

"I brought it from my distant ancestral home. It's called 'guide grass,' and it's calming when you drink it."

"Guiding grass".

Hunyuan repeated these three words without asking any further questions.

He walked toward the door to the secret room, and turned his head back as he opened it.

"Soul Feather, I have a piece of advice for you."

"Great Heavenly Venerable, please speak."

"The waters of the Heavenly Gang Palace are deeper than you imagine."

"You think you're fishing, but you have no idea how many dragons are lurking beneath the surface."

"Some dragons are already awake before you even cast your line."

He walked out the door, his footsteps echoing down the stairs.

After taking seven or eight steps, his voice came up from the echo of the stairs, very soft, so soft it was like talking to himself.

"Three days isn't enough time for you to die twice."

The footsteps disappeared.

Hunyu sat there, picked up the empty cup that Hunyuan had drunk from, turned it upside down, and smelled it under his nose.

The tea stains remaining on the cup had a very faint sweetness that didn't belong to the guide grass itself.

That's the reaction that the guiding grass produces when it comes into contact with specific soul power fluctuations.

The soul power of the Soul Abyss activated the guiding herb factor in the tea.

From this moment on, the scent molecules of the guiding grass will spread with Soul Abyss's breath to every corner he passes through, lasting for about twelve hours.

It is colorless and odorless, and neither ordinary people nor Dou Zun can smell it.

But Hunyu's golden eyes could see it.

He put the cup back in his pocket, stood up, and brushed the dust off his white clothes.

"The second step is to tie the bell."