A life of clearness

Chapter 16 Little Taoist Priest

Drops of rain fell from the eaves like tears, landing on the bluestone beside the steps, exploding into tiny splashes of water.

In the rain, a teenager, wearing a Taoist robe and a Taoist bun, walked as freely as if he could see even in the dark.

But the little girl who followed the boy closely couldn't do that.

She was holding an exquisite palace lantern, and a thin cape over her embroidered clothes, with a hood to protect her hair decorated with emerald feathers. When she walked, she would accidentally step into puddles and her skirt would get dirty. Compared with the young man whose clothes were not wet, she was much more embarrassed.

"Master, this is where the Master and the Master stayed for the last time." The girl who spoke was Yun Nong.

Master Guo and Mr. Yu rode out of the city in a carriage. Such news could not be hidden from the Ning Wang Mansion. And now it is already curfew time, and they still haven't returned. Yun Nong is not without worry, especially in this period when everything is suspicious.

The shopkeeper Li of the bookstore was hunched over, and the light from the lanterns under the eaves made his short figure look extremely long.

His cloudy eyes were filled with anxiety at this moment, looking extremely pitiful.

After receiving the order from the palace, he had to reopen the shop immediately even if he had closed it. He hunched his shoulders in the bitter wind and rain, asking for nothing else but that no matter what happened, it would have nothing to do with him in the end.

"I greet Her Royal Highness the Princess and Sir."

Shopkeeper Li had the sharpest eyes at this moment. As soon as he saw a vague figure in the rain, he immediately opened the prepared umbrella and rushed out from under the eaves.

He held the umbrella over the little princess' head, not caring about getting wet. He greeted the two boys and girls repeatedly.

He stepped behind the two people and carefully confirmed that the umbrella covered the heads of the two nobles.

"Boss, where are Master Guo and Mr. Yu?" Yun Nong's pretty face was serious.

After opening the door curtain, a pair of beautiful eyes quickly glanced around the store.

“It’s the innermost teahouse.”

Shopkeeper Li folded the umbrella and placed it by the door, then led the two of them directly into the inner room.

He wanted to ignore everything else and quickly bring the princess and the other man to the teahouse. Unexpectedly, the princess and the gentleman came in a hurry and did not seem to be in a panic at this moment.

They took off their shoes and stepped onto the wooden floor in only white socks. The boy did the same even though there was no moisture on the soles of his shoes.

The young man was the first to cross the clouds and accurately found the desk they were using at the time.

The table was neat and clean, and everything was in its original place. It was no different from other teahouses.

"Master, have you found anything?"

The young man looked around and slowly walked to an antique display shelf.

He did not answer Yun Nong, but asked Shopkeeper Li first, "Have you tidied everything here?"

"Yes, yes. The little ones cleaned it up before closing."

I don't know where this young man came from, but even the princess has to call him Master. He is too young, Shopkeeper Li secretly complained.

"No." The boy shook his head. "You missed one."

He bent down and raised his hand to open the cabinet door under the antique display cabinet.

When the cabinet door opened, an expressionless face appeared inside.

"Ah!" Yun Nong couldn't help but scream.

Shopkeeper Li, who was watching the situation nearby, was so frightened that he almost passed out.

The boy was very calm, having anticipated what was inside. He calmly reached out and grabbed her head, pulling it out of the cabinet.

"She...she..." Shopkeeper Li's fingers trembled, and he was still in shock as he spoke, "How did this girl get in?!"

Yun Nong saw that the child did not cry or make a fuss after being taken out. Although he was obviously alive, Yun Nong could not calm down after seeing this strange scene.

"Whose house is this? Why is it here?" He looked at Shopkeeper Li and asked sternly.

"She should be..." Shopkeeper Li tried hard to search his memory about Zhong Xiu, "The child of the Gong family. She is Gong Xiu's mother, brought by her biological mother."

He was busy clarifying himself, "I don't know why her mother didn't take her away."

Jia Jia's body was still small and her bones were soft. She tried her best to crawl backwards into the cabinet and close the door. The barely audible breathing sound was so loud that even though the hard-of-hearing shopkeeper Li wiped the shelf before closing the door, he could not hear it... Right in front of his feet, there was a little girl lying.

"Gong Xiuniang?" Yun Nong had no impression of this name. "Who else?"

At this moment, there was a commotion outside the door.

A woman in black, dressed in tight clothes, quickly entered the room, walking silently.

She knelt on one knee and said, "Your Highness, there is a commoner named Gong outside the door, who is here to look for his missing daughter." "What a coincidence." She lowered her eyes.

Yun Nong ordered the female guard who had always followed her, "Let him in."

After receiving the order, the female guard outside the door immediately released her grip on Gong Xiaolang.

He stumbled in, "Jia Jia! Jia Jia!"

The anxious eyes firmly grasped the girl at the boy's hand. As a father, he didn't care about offending the nobles, and rushed over to hug his child. The boots left a series of wet marks on the floor.

The young man let go of his hand and didn't care about Gong Xiaolang's reckless attitude.

He had condescended to come here and, in fact, had already gained enough information.

Even though the other party might not want to attract attention, he still captured the remaining weak spiritual energy.

He finally made it. The young man smiled. If he was any later, the last bit of his spiritual energy would have dissipated. He was not an expert at solving cases, and by then, he would probably not be able to find any clues.

Yun Nong's stern question to Gong Xiaolang was in his ears, and the boy closed his eyes. His hands hidden in his sleeves made different hand gestures.

Unable to be detected by the mortals present, a divine consciousness penetrated the faint remnant of spiritual energy and flew all the way.

The surrounding shops with their lights turned off were left far behind by this speed and turned into dark shadows.

It passed through the heavy city gate without any obstruction, and went forward parallel to the horse hoof tracks that disappeared into the night. It was not until it approached the dark mountain villa that the divine sense stopped... The divine sense could see very clearly, and the overlapping restrictions illuminated the mountain villa like daylight.

In order to avoid alerting the enemy, his spiritual consciousness would be withdrawn.

The boy suddenly opened his eyes. His five senses finally came back to reality.

It was very frivolous to rashly release his spiritual consciousness in front of others. But he had to consider: first, he was in front of ordinary people, so they would not sense or threaten him; second, he was confident that even if there were cultivators who wanted to do something bad, he could withstand the attack without any injury because of the robes given by his master.

Is the current base of the group of monks in that mountain villa? The young man pondered.

He did not act rashly, even though he believed that his cultivation was higher than that of the cultivator who kidnapped the mortal. Because the leader of that group of cultivators was someone that even the master had to be wary of. Since they lost the three northern states last time, they had been at a disadvantage.

Really... The young man frowned in annoyance. They were strangers to that group of monks, and they didn't know why they were staring at them.

This question is destined to have no answer. Even if it is asked, Yan Shuang and others will not answer it easily. Because this is the interest that both parties are unwilling to give up.

Yan Shuang pushed open the door and introduced Rong Qing, "This is my junior fellow apprentice. He doesn't have a Taoist name yet, so you can call him by his lay name. His last name is Cheng and his given name is Ke."

"Senior Sister!" Cheng Ke was unhappy.

After glaring at Yan Shuang, her eyes fixed on Rong Qing. If she dared to scream, she would be dead.

"...Mr. Fairy Child." I really couldn't think of a name to address him.

Unexpectedly, Cheng Ke's face turned even darker.

Yan Shuang chuckled.

Unfortunately, Rong Qing did not see the death of the coachman, Old Man Chen.

Rong Qing, who didn't know what taboo she had violated Cheng Ke, felt a little scared when she saw the gloomy look on the boy opposite her.

"Okay, quickly bring the Book of Everything to her. Don't delay Master's business." Yan Shuang urged.

Under the watchful eyes of his senior sister, Cheng Ke didn't dare to do anything.

He took out an extremely thin book from the storage ring. It was estimated that there were only a few pages in it.

Rong Qing reached out to take it, tugged at it, but it didn't move.

"Junior brother~" Yan Shuang smiled with a warning.

Cheng Ke reluctantly let go.

Rong Qing didn't show any change and looked normal.

Yan Shuang sighed secretly. Although she was just an ordinary girl, her character was still better than that of ordinary people. What a pity...

"The Book of Everything has recorded all the books in your library." Yan Shuang explained, and then turned to Cheng Ke, "Watch them. If there is any abnormality in the prohibition, send a talisman letter to notify them immediately."

Yan Shuang knew Cheng Ke's temper, and was still worried, so he secretly sent a message: "After the matter is done, they will all die, so you just have to bear with it for now."

As a result, Cheng Ke's complexion looked slightly better.

(End of this chapter)