After the night deepened, Yan Shouyi and Liu Yiren set up a powerful formation around the child, leaving Zhu Shanzao and Yan Gui to guard, before they ventured from their rear mountain residence towards Yu Lumin’s study.
Longhu Mountain’s terrain was complex, with winding paths, and Dragon Tiger Mountain disciples patrolled every so often.
If it were just Yan Shouyi, evading these disciples wouldn’t have been difficult, but finding the path to the study would be much harder.
Fortunately, with Liu Yiren leading the way, they managed to avoid alerting anyone, bypassing all the patrolling disciples and successfully reaching the outside of the study.
After becoming a Heavenly Master, Yu Lumin hadn’t undertaken any major construction projects to build himself a new study. Instead, he had slightly modified his original residence.
In his own words, he had studied there for over a decade, was intimately familiar with his surroundings, and even the absence of a single blade of grass in the courtyard might affect his state of mind for studying.
The slightly dilapidated small house was Yu Lumin’s study. As there were no valuables inside, no one was even guarding the entrance.
“It went quite smoothly. Let’s go in and take a look,” Liu Yiren said, about to step into the courtyard.
Yan Shouyi, however, grabbed her arm and said in a low voice, “It’s not that simple.”
Liu Yiren was pulled back by Yan Shouyi, looking at him in surprise. Since Liu Yiren had begun using the Zhi Ming Wu Yue, her strength had become considerable, and she was quite confident in herself.
Yan Shouyi then scooped up a handful of loess from the ground and blew a gust of wind towards the courtyard.
The yellow earth swirled and flew, covering the entire courtyard. Gradually, Liu Yiren saw several small ghosts, covered in talismans, crouching in inconspicuous spots within the courtyard.
These small ghosts held threads, which crisscrossed the entire courtyard.
The threads themselves wouldn’t cause harm. Ordinary people passing by would merely feel as if they had brushed against an invisible spiderweb and would flick it away with their hands.
But in reality, these threads were like infrared alarms. As soon as someone entered the courtyard, the owner of these small ghosts would be immediately informed.
Liu Yiren covered her mouth, “These small ghosts are very special. I couldn’t even detect their presence.”
“Do you see the talismans on them? Clearly, someone intentionally placed them here,” Yan Shouyi took a deep breath and said, “If you have a clear conscience, you won’t fear a ghostly knock. With Yu Lumin setting up these small ghosts at his study entrance, do you still think he has no issues?”
Liu Yiren said softly, “Your suspicion is correct. We must find a way to enter the study and investigate!”
At this point, even if Yu Lumin had no issues, Liu Yiren felt obligated to clear his name, thus making it even more necessary to sneak into the study to find evidence.
Yan Shouyi took a small piece of wood from his satchel, carved it into several thin wooden needles with a carving knife, and then flicked them gently.
These wooden needles instantly penetrated the small ghosts, sealing their souls.
Now, even if Yan Shouyi and Liu Yiren walked openly into the courtyard, these small ghosts would show no reaction.
“Let’s go.”
Yan Shouyi stood up and led Liu Yiren into the study.
To be safe, he sent San Yuan to the rooftop. It grabbed a roof tile and peered inside to check the situation.
After confirming that there were no other strange arrangements within the study, Yan Shouyi pushed the door open and entered.
Creak—
Although he was very careful, the sound of the door opening was still somewhat piercing. The study was in disrepair, but Yu Lumin seemed to favor this sense of age.
The furnishings in the study were simple yet rather messy. Everywhere he looked, there were all sorts of books. In the center stood an antique desk, and the walls were adorned with many of Yu Lumin’s own calligraphy and paintings.
Closing the door, Yan Shouyi took out two flashlights from his satchel and gave one to Liu Yiren.
“Let’s split up and search.”
“Okay.”
The dim light from the flashlights was not easily detectable from outside. Yan Shouyi carefully avoided the scrolls on the floor, browsing the books on the shelves without a specific purpose.
Yu Lumin enjoyed reading ancient texts on governance and was also interested in poetry and classics. Most of the books in the study were of this nature.
As for some of the Taoist scriptures of Longhu Mountain, they were not kept in this private study. Even Yu Lumin had to visit the library specifically to consult them, and if he took any outside, he would carry them with him.
Yan Shouyi approached Yu Lumin’s desk, sat in his usual spot, wanting to feel what it was like for Yu Lumin to sit in this study, hoping for some clues.
As expected, he felt that the cushion beneath him was rather hard. He reached under and pulled out two books with very “unique” content.
“Hmm?”
“Oh?”
“So Yu Lumin likes mature women.”
Liu Yiren, who was engrossed in searching for clues, turned her head in surprise, “What did you say?”
“Uh, nothing.”
Yan Shouyi, worried about Yu Lumin’s Heavenly Master persona collapsing, quickly tucked the two magazines back under his bottom, pretending not to have seen them.
However, he couldn’t help but mutter to himself: He never expected that a seemingly upright person like Yu Lumin couldn’t remain free from worldly desires. The ancients weren’t wrong, ‘in books there are houses of gold, in books there are beauties as jade’…
Just as he was about to continue searching for clues, he suddenly caught sight of four paintings hanging on the wall.
The four paintings were a set, depicting plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum, likely all painted by Yu Lumin himself.
What was extremely common could also be extremely elegant. Yu Lumin’s painting skills were quite good, and one particular detail impressed Yan Shouyi immensely – in each painting, there was the back view of a woman holding an umbrella.
Their figures differed, their postures varied, and they wore clothes of red, blue, green, and yellow. Although it was merely a blurry silhouette, it couldn’t hide their elegance.
If they could step out of the paintings, they would undoubtedly be first-class ancient beauties.
Yan Shouyi examined the paintings closely and suddenly felt a flicker in his vision.
“Huh? Is it my imagination?”
Yan Shouyi rubbed his eyes and found that the paintings seemed to have changed slightly.
The women who had previously had their backs to him seemed to have shifted their positions slightly, as if trying to turn and face the viewer.
However, Yan Shouyi hadn’t observed them with such meticulous detail before, so he couldn’t be sure.
He rubbed his eyes again.
When he looked at the paintings once more, he was astonished to find that the women in the paintings were indeed turning!
The four beauties of plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum had gone from facing away from the viewer to being in profile, and their side profiles could vaguely be seen.
It was a pity that the beauties in the paintings all had long hair, which covered most of their faces.
“Yiren, come here for a moment.”
Yan Shouyi quickly called Liu Yiren over, “Look at these four paintings!”
“What’s wrong?”
Liu Yiren walked over quietly, examined the four paintings, and didn’t notice anything unusual. “These should be painted by the Heavenly Master, right? Is there a problem?”
However, Yan Shouyi’s expression darkened, and he said in a low voice,
“There’s a big problem. When I first looked at these four paintings, the beauties in them were facing away from me. Later, they all turned to their sides. When you came to look… not only had they all turned around, but they also seemed to have taken a few steps closer to us.”