Feng Yun’ai lowered her gaze and said softly, “But if that’s the case, the only ones who would know how to break the formation are other members of the Moonlight Sect.”
“Correct. You’re smart, Xiuxiu.” In her disguised face, Sang Chencao’s eyes glowed with an eerie brightness. “The Moonlight Sect disappeared years ago. You saw the register at the bottom of Yellow Sand Cliff. Why don’t you take a guess, Xiuxiu—who exactly killed Feng Rong?”
In the end, the clues…
Pointed back to Wen Lanxin.
Sun Qi of the Moonlight Sect was long dead, leaving only Wen Lanxin as a prime suspect.
If this were before, Feng Yun’ai might have insisted that Wen Lanxin had long harbored murderous intent. But now, as she met Sang Chencao’s eyes, her own gaze couldn’t help but tremble.
Was it really Wen Lanxin?
After a long silence, Feng Yun’ai spoke slowly and coldly. “Someone wants to frame Wen Lanxin and wipe out the Moonlight Sect entirely, don’t they?”
Sang Chencao’s eyes curved into crescent moons as she reached out to touch Feng Yun’ai’s earlobe. “You’re so clever, Xiuxiu. You saw the truth without me even having to point it out.”
“But who else knows the Moonlight Sect’s formations so well?” Feng Yun’ai knew nothing of this.
“Ask Feng Rong,” Sang Chencao whispered. Without the flickering of a tongue, she truly sounded like a snake whispering in one’s ear.
Feng Yun’ai’s voice was raspy. “How can I ask her?”
Sang Chencao lifted her chin, nodding slightly toward the summit. She smiled. “By going up the mountain, of course.”
There were still many experts hiding on Listening Goose Peak. Most had already retired for the night, but some were sitting on the rooftops, drinking and talking. The once quiet and desolate Listening Goose Peak had become foul and chaotic.
Feng Yun’ai had lived on this mountain for years; she had never seen so many undisciplined people here. She held her breath and pursed her lips, her displeasure written clearly on her face.
Sang Chencao, however, remained as leisurely as ever. She looked around with curiosity, but because people were everywhere, she couldn’t see as much as she liked. She shook her head. “What kind of people are these? I imagine when you and Feng Rong were here, there weren’t even many birds around.”
Birds and beasts had spirits. When the two of them practiced their swords on the mountain, the biting intent of their blades was enough to drive away most creatures.
Feng Yun’ai didn’t speak. After scanning the area, her gaze fixed on a distance.
The buildings on the mountain were simple—just two residences. One was for daily rest, and the other housed the books and treasures Feng Rong had collected.
Unlike the former Hantian Alliance headquarters at the foot of the mountain, this place had not been maintained in a long time. The Library and the sleeping quarters both looked as if they might collapse at any moment.
Worse, the people sitting on the roofs had no respect for the structures. In the heat of their conversation, they would slap the roof tiles beneath them, making them creak and groan, threatening to shatter the black clay.
A sense of irritation filled Feng Yun’ai’s chest to the brim, making her feel as though she were suffocating.
“Are you angry? Do you want me to help you vent?” Sang Chencao suddenly asked.
Feng Yun’ai shook her head, knowing this woman would only make things worse.
She was just…
She had never been this angry before. She felt helpless and furious, yet she had no outlet for it.
She didn’t know what to do. In the past, she never had such emotional fluctuations. At most, she had felt a bit lonely while staying on the mountain alone.
If she was lonely, she would practice her sword. When she was tired of that, she would read.
“Don’t be angry.” Sang Chencao saw through her. She began to fiddle with Feng Yun’ai’s earlobe again, as if she had developed a deep interest in it. “The more comfortable and unguarded these people are, the more secrets we can dig up. Did Feng Rong ever teach you how to solve riddles?”
“No.” Feng Yun’ai avoided the woman’s wandering hand. Her earlobe felt hot from the rubbing.
Forget riddles—before she left the mountain, she hadn’t even seen a festive lantern. Everything she knew about them came from books.
It was only after Feng Rong had passed away and she had left Listening Goose Peak with her sword that she caught a fleeting glimpse of beautiful lanterns on her way out of Cloud City.
They were radiant and truly lovely.
“I’ll teach you,” Sang Chencao chuckled.
Feng Yun’ai didn’t take her seriously. After all, this woman spoke so much nonsense that not even half of it could be trusted.
In the distance, one of the men on the roof suddenly smashed his wine jar. Uncaring of whether he woke others, he wiped the wine from his mouth and said, “I never expected even the mountain-sealing formation to be from the Moonlight Sect. If Elder Zhou weren’t so capable, we might still be kept in the dark by Feng Rong.”
“She truly had no fear, using a Moonlight Sect formation within the Hantian Alliance. No wonder no one could set foot on Listening Goose Peak for all these years,” another person remarked.
“Have you been inside the Library on the peak? It’s filled with martial secret manuals from every sect. No wonder her swordsmanship was so peerless—she took everyone else’s techniques for herself. Truly a worthy successor of the Moonlight Sect.”
“The one who killed her must have been Wen Lanxin. Those two played the Central Plains martial world for fools, only to end up turning on each other. Heaven is truly on our side!”
“But we still haven’t found a trace of that Wen Lanxin.”
“Elder Zhou will surely capture her.”
“Come, drink!”
The two men on the roof were already drunk. The one who had smashed his jar opened a new one, but before it could touch his lips, a stone struck the back of his head.
“You—” The man beside him turned in a panic, but he was struck in the forehead and collapsed as well.
Sang Chencao weighed the stones in her hand and lowered her voice. “Did you hear clearly, Xiuxiu? Solving riddles isn’t hard. In fact, all the answers are laid out right in front of us.”
“How so?” Feng Yun’ai frowned, scanning their surroundings for fear of anyone hiding in the shadows.
“Zhou Gui doesn’t have this kind of power. There must be someone else behind her.” Sang Chencao narrowed her eyes. “And that person likely has a deep grudge against the Moonlight Sect.”
Feng Yun’ai shook her head. “There are likely many people who hold a grudge against the Moonlight Sect.”
“Xiuxiu, that’s where you’re wrong.” Sang Chencao chuckled. “The Moonlight Sect is nothing like the Sun Chasing Cult. People hated the Moonlight Sect because their talent and comprehension were peerless yet they lacked humility and acted too arrogantly—not because they were inherently evil or cold-blooded killers.”
Feng Yun’ai thought to herself that if the Moonlight Sect still existed, this woman would surely have been a member.
