"Nanny Rong, why did you follow along?"
Cang Yuning was clearly somewhat surprised to see who had come, but the old woman only shook her head and said, "Now is not the time to talk. This woman's identity is not simple. Now that she knows about the young master's affairs, this matter must be reported to the young miss for proper handling."
Having said this, she lifted Guan Shanxue, turned, and leaped down from the tree, saying, "Just now quite a commotion was created. Please leave with this old servant as quickly as possible, young master."
Hearing this, Cang Yuning furrowed his brows slightly but still nodded. He turned to look at the woman on the bed behind him.
Immediately, he walked quickly over, rolled up the cotton quilt on the bed with one hand to wrap the woman completely, then shouldered her and leaped out of the room.
The old woman glanced at him but didn't say much, continuously leaping ahead to scout the path while Cang Yuning followed closely behind.
The journey was uneventful. The two returned to Cangyuan Marquis Manor without alerting the servants in the manor, instead heading straight to a courtyard filled with various exotic flowering plants.
"Miss."
The old woman called out softly, and the originally pitch-black room in the courtyard lit up with lamplight. Then a woman's voice came from within, "Come in first before talking."
Hearing this, the old woman and Cang Yuning hurriedly pushed open the door and entered, then heavily closed the door behind them.
...
At the same time, Cang Yinyue, relying on a hairpin, opened all the large locks securing the iron door and finally escaped from the secret chamber.
She roughly discerned the direction within the manor, then circulated the Lingcang Shadow Art. Her figure transformed into a dark shadow and swiftly departed toward a certain location in the manor.
Before long, Cang Yinyue arrived at the location of the Cangyuan Marquis's study.
The study before her was extremely clean, with calligraphy, paintings, and books all neatly arranged.
Cang Yinyue knew that her father pursued fame and profit and affected an air of culture and refinement. In this study, various writing implements and ink treasures could be said to have everything one could want, and he had even collected quite a few expensive famous calligraphies and paintings.
However, the Cangyuan Marquis didn't actually like reading books, nor did he write characters or paint. He rarely came to the study.
Yet Cang Yinyue knew that within this study lay hidden mysteries.
When she was young, she had secretly seen her father disappear from within this room.
Cang Yinyue came before wooden curio shelves, upon which were displayed various antique porcelains and precious trinkets.
She began constantly searching, wanting to find the study's hidden secret chamber.
Since the Cangyuan Marquis married that wicked woman, he had become a registered disciple of the Taiyin Yuan Sect. Although his martial Dao talent wasn't high, he had learned all the martial arts he was supposed to learn.
That Bone-Corroding Dark Wind Finger, there was a high probability he had also practiced it. Perhaps he would hide the secret manual in the secret chamber.
After searching for a while, Cang Yinyue's eyes suddenly brightened. After her fingers touched a hidden compartment, she immediately circulated the true qi within her body and activated it.
Instantly, a section of wall behind the curio shelf slowly sank down, revealing a narrow passage just wide enough for one person to pass through.
Seeing this, Cang Yinyue's face showed delight. Her figure immediately transformed into a dark shadow and quietly slipped inside.
After Cang Yinyue departed, the study fell silent. After a while, a middle-aged man's figure slowly walked out from a dark corner of the study.
The middle-aged man wore a magnificent deep purple brocade robe and a jade crown, his graying hair combed meticulously without a strand out of place.
He looked toward the entrance to the secret passage where Cang Yinyue had entered, and an extremely sinister smile appeared on his somewhat aged face.
...
In the room with flickering candlelight, Cang Yuning and the old woman stood side by side.
The woman wrapped in the cotton quilt and Guan Shanxue were both thrown onto the carpet in front of them.
Cangyuan Marquis Manor's First Madam, Zhu Fenglan, sat cross-legged on the bed, with two purple-robed maidservants standing in attendance on either side.
An expensive and exquisite carpet was laid in the room. From a pure gold incense burner in the center rose wisps of white smoke.
The smoke had no heat whatsoever, nor any fragrance. On the contrary, it released threads of cold yin energy, making the temperature in the room noticeably lower than outside by several degrees.
Zhu Fenglan had a round face and fair skin. Although she was middle-aged, there were only a few faint fine lines at the corners of her eyes.
She looked at Cang Yuning and said coldly, "I already told you long ago not to practice that demonic technique, but you refused to listen. If I hadn't had Nanny Rong follow you, let's see how you would have handled tonight's situation."
Cang Yuning lowered his head, but his face showed no sign of remorse as he said, "This child was wrong, but Mother should know that the 'Earth Volume' of the Taiyin True Scripture cannot satisfy this child's ambitions. And the Taiyin Yuan Sect is unwilling to transmit the Heaven Volume technique, so I could only seek other methods."
Because of Zhu Fenglan's connections, Cang Yuning had been accepted into the Taiyin Yuan Sect from a young age.
The Taiyin Yuan Sect was ranked as one of the four great sects in the martial world. Countless people in the martial world broke their heads trying to join it, so Cang Yuning was quite proud to become a disciple of the sect.
Moreover, his own martial Dao talent and aptitude were not bad. At a young age, he had already stepped into the Martial Dao Master realm. Even among the young disciples of this generation in the entire Taiyin Yuan Sect, he was considered quite good.
However, compared to the very top disciples of the Taiyin Yuan Sect, there was still a considerable gap, which prevented him from becoming a core disciple.
One must know that the Taiyin Yuan Sect's most important foundation was the Taiyin True Scripture, and the Taiyin True Scripture was divided into three volumes: Heaven, Earth, and Human.
Among them, the Heaven Volume technique was the most orthodox and was the true Taiyin True Scripture, belonging to the most supreme divine martial arts.
The Earth Volume and Human Volume were simplified versions compiled and edited by successive generations of Taiyin Yuan Sect's martial Dao experts, more suitable for disciples of different aptitudes to practice.
The Taiyin Yuan Sect did this not only to teach disciples according to their abilities but also to prevent the true Taiyin True Scripture from spreading outside.
As for the true Taiyin True Scripture, historically only core disciples with the strongest martial Dao talent could practice it.
Cang Yuning didn't reach this level and could only practice the Earth Volume technique.
But he was unwilling to accept this. Therefore, in the Taiyin Yuan Sect's Scripture Pavilion, he chose a demonic technique called "Nine Yin Dark Fiend Technique" to practice.
According to the elders of the Taiyin Yuan Sect, this technique was no weaker than the Taiyin True Scripture, only that practicing this martial art easily led to demonic obsession. Only those with resolute character could cultivate it.
Cang Yuning originally paid it no mind. However, problems still arose during cultivation.
He was burned by the fire of lustful energy and had to seize women's primordial yin to practice and suppress it.
This was the reason he became a flower thief.
However, Cang Yuning discovered by accident that this demonic cultivation method could actually allow his cultivation to advance greatly, countless times faster than his previous methodical breathing and meditation practice.
Originally having just stepped into the Martial Dao Master realm, in not very long he had achieved cultivation close to half-step Grand Master. This kind of progress was simply more terrifying than even the martial Dao geniuses in the sect.
Therefore, he became increasingly addicted to seizing primordial yin to practice. These cases in Shangyang City were actually not his first offenses. Previously in other provinces, he had committed at least dozens of cases and had never been caught.
He just hadn't expected that tonight he would be spotted by Guan Shanxue.