"Forget it. Things have already come to this point. Blaming you is useless."
Zhu Fenglan waved her hand, then her gaze fell on the unconscious Guan Shanxue as she pondered, "This woman's identity is special. She is the daughter of Six Doors' Divine Constable Guan Tianqian. I don't know right now why she targeted you."
"However, judging from the fact that you didn't encounter anyone from Six Doors at the time, this matter doesn't seem to be led by Six Doors."
Hearing this, lewdness and killing intent flashed in Cang Yuning's eyes as he said, "This matter is simple. Why doesn't Mother hand her over to me for cultivation practice, then kill her and destroy her body to eliminate all traces? Then no one will know about tonight's events."
However, Zhu Fenglan shook her head and sternly rebuked, "Before doing things, you should use your brain a little. Right now we don't know why she targeted you, and whether she has evidence of your crimes in hand. What use is just killing her?"
"What if she left behind clues that lead Guan Tianqian to our door? Do you want us to be buried with you?"
Cang Yuning's expression immediately changed. He glanced at Guan Shanxue lying on the ground, then immediately lowered his head and asked with furrowed brows, "Does Mother have a foolproof plan?"
Zhu Fenglan pondered for a moment, then instructed a maidservant at the side, "Go fetch the 'Thousand Infatuations Hundred Resentments Powder' for me."
"Yes, Madam."
The maidservant bowed slightly and soon departed, bringing back a porcelain bottle from another room in the courtyard.
Zhu Fenglan glanced at the porcelain bottle, nodded, and signaled the maidservant to make Guan Shanxue take it.
"This Thousand Infatuations Hundred Resentments Powder was something I obtained years ago from a jianghu sorcerer skilled in poison refinement. Anyone who takes it will, for a period of time, be infatuated and obsessed with the first person of the opposite sex they see, unable to extricate themselves."
Zhu Fenglan explained aloud to Cang Yuning, her narrow eyes squinting slightly as she said, "In a moment, when you question her, she will certainly tell you everything. After we find out what she knows, I'll decide how to deal with her."
Hearing this, a lewd expression appeared on Cang Yuning's face with its red lips and white teeth as he said, "Can Mother bestow some of this powder upon me to facilitate my future actions?"
Zhu Fenglan glanced at him and said, "Handle your own affairs yourself. This powder only has this last bit remaining. Once it's used up, there won't be any more."
Cang Yuning showed a regretful expression but said nothing more.
Seeing that the maidservant was feeding medicine to Guan Shanxue and that it would still take some time for the medicine to take effect, he walked toward the woman wrapped in the cotton quilt and said, "This child will go handle some business first. I'll come back for the questioning later."
Having said this, he shouldered the woman wrapped in the quilt, turned, and walked out of the room.
Seeing this, Zhu Fenglan said nothing, only watching Cang Yuning's departing figure and nodding, "Yuning's martial Dao cultivation has become increasingly profound. Although this Nine Yin Dark Fiend Technique has demonic properties, it truly is a miraculous technique. Compared to Elder Sister's 'Blood Transformation Return to Origin Great Method,' it seems not inferior in the slightest."
Hearing this, Nanny Rong at the side nodded lightly and said, "Indeed so. However, it's only because the young master has high talent. If it were others, they couldn't achieve such results."
Speaking of which, Nanny Rong seemed to remember something and said, "The date when the Imperial Consort needs 'blood food' this month is approaching. This servant may need to make several more trips outside the city recently. The authorities have been strict in their inspections lately, and many of those human traffickers don't dare enter the city."
Hearing this, Zhu Fenglan's gaze looked toward the flowering plants in the courtyard, showing a thoughtful expression as she said, "Handle this matter as you see fit. However, Elder Sister's needs must be fully satisfied. Her cultivation practice cannot have any problems."
"It would be best to keep more maidservants in the manor to prepare for unforeseen needs."
Nanny Rong acknowledged and also looked back at the lush and beautifully blooming flowers in the courtyard. At this moment, the air was filled with a rich floral fragrance.
...
"So she came home."
Under the hazy moonlight, Li Musheng appeared silently outside Cangyuan Marquis Manor. He glanced at the true qi thread in his hand, then stroked his chin.
Given Cang Yinyue's relationship with Cangyuan Marquis Manor, this girl didn't seem like someone who would voluntarily return home.
"Hmm... I see."
"She probably came back to steal that Bone-Corroding Dark Wind Finger so I can solve the tattoo on her face for her."
Li Musheng's face suddenly showed an expression of realization. He glanced toward the manor and raised his eyebrows slightly, "I wonder if she can succeed?"
"I might as well go in and take a look. Perhaps I can pick up another favor."
The next moment, he disappeared into Cangyuan Marquis Manor.
...
After Cang Yinyue entered a passageway extending downward, she walked for a short while and came to a cave built with bricks and stones.
She lit a fire starter and swept her gaze around. The cave appeared to be quite large.
Some places had old excavation marks, suggesting that expansions had been made to the original cave, and clearly quite some years had passed.
At this time, Cang Yinyue saw wall lamps on the stone walls and immediately used the fire starter to light them one by one.
Soon, dim yellow light gradually filled the entire cave.
Cang Yinyue didn't delay too much and immediately began searching for the secret manual of the Bone-Corroding Dark Wind Finger.
However, aside from dusty wooden frames and more than ten rusty empty iron chests, she found no trace of any secret manual.
"Drip!"
At this time, the sound of dripping water suddenly rang out, breaking the pin-drop silence in the vast cave.
Cang Yinyue looked up following the sound toward the upper part of the cave. The next moment, she furrowed her delicate brows tightly.
She saw that the entire ceiling of the cave was studded with densely packed iron chains, and beneath the chains hung a huge copper pot covered in green rust.
The copper pot blocked nearly half the cave ceiling, preventing Cang Yinyue from seeing the scene above. She could only guess that the dripping sound came from above the cave ceiling.
Her face showed a strange expression, not knowing why such an odd arrangement existed in this secret cave.
After pondering briefly, Cang Yinyue immediately exerted force with her foot, rushed forward quickly, lightly touched the iron chests and the brick walls on the rock face, and leaped up to the edge of the copper pot wound with iron chains.
As the fire starter illuminated, she slowly surveyed the scene above.
However, in the next instant, Cang Yinyue suddenly froze completely, horror and disbelief flowing in her eyes.
"What... is this?"
Her complexion immediately became extremely ugly.
Above the copper pot before her was a patch of dark, damp soil. This soil emitted wisps of decaying odor, and mixed within it were darkened human bones, densely packed like an underground mass grave.
A hand bone had even been squeezed out partway, hanging outside the soil. Yellow corpse oil had accumulated in the soil and occasionally dripped down along the bones toward the copper pot below.
The dripping sound Cang Yinyue had heard earlier was actually the sound of corpse oil dripping.
For a moment, Cang Yinyue couldn't quite imagine why such a thing would exist in the secret chamber of her father's study.
"My dear daughter, you've still discovered your father's secret after all."
Just at this moment, a mellow middle-aged man's voice floated eerily from below.