Chapter 31: The Disturbance, and the Secret Treasure!

After the birthday banquet, the group from the Immortal Sect asked Old Master Yu about the recent happenings in the mansion and the city.

Ye Qingning, with her identity as the second young miss of the Yu family, was neither a cultivator capable of exterminating evil spirits nor a man. As such, it was inappropriate for her to participate in a meeting where the head of the family and others discussed matters in the main hall.

However, Ye Qingning was determined to listen in, motivated by the possibility of hearing information that might be useful to her.

During the banquet, she had searched among the guests for the Taoist priest, but she hadn’t seen anyone resembling one.

To avoid raising suspicion, she had asked the only person she trusted, Lv Luo, to discreetly gather information from the servants in the second courtyard.

She had learned that the Taoist priest did not attend the banquet. More accurately, after posting the summoning talisman, he had left Yu Manor.

It was said that the second madam had invited the Taoist to stay as a guest, but the priest left in a hurry.

Ye Qingning guessed that the Taoist must have run off as soon as he learned that Yu family’s eldest daughter and the Immortal Sect members would be returning to the manor. If not, he would be caught like a fish in a barrel.

Losing this lead, she naturally had to try and gather other information.

This was a good opportunity, since she only knew that evil spirits were troubling the city, but nothing else.

Moreover, her father, who was in charge of the secret realm, had invited the city lord to discuss matters. Even if her father didn’t know the cause of the evil spirits’ appearance, the old city lord might know something.

“Little sister, exorcising evil spirits is not something you should interfere with. Since you can’t help, why don’t you return to your room and talk to mother?”

Before Ye Qingning could enter the main hall, she was stopped by her sister, Yu Tangtang.

Ye Qingning had anticipated this move from her legitimate sister, as the two of them had deep-seated grievances and both were unwilling to let the other live peacefully.

With a dramatic tone and an air of arrogance, Ye Qingning said, “Who said I can’t interfere? Last night, the steward’s son died, and I was the one who rushed out in the middle of the night to handle the situation. What are you trying to lecture me about?”

“I may not be as skilled as my elder sister in dealing with evil spirits, but last night, the servant guarding my courtyard disappeared without a trace. There’s something only I know about the matter. Are you telling me to leave just to avoid hearing what that servant said before he vanished?”

Yu Tangtang was momentarily speechless.

She had originally suspected that her younger sister might be an assessment candidate, but whether that was true or not, she was now irritated.

She was the legitimate daughter of the Yun family, and in the past, no one dared speak to her like this—except for that fool Su Ruoxi.

Speaking of that fool, she had to mention how Su Ruoxi had sold the Huanwei talisman pen at a low price to her.

If that fool had kept the talisman pen, it would have been useful for this assessment. But now, without the talisman pen and no spiritual talismans on her, how would the eldest daughter of the Su family win the assessment if she drew a cultivator’s identity?

As for Yu Qingning’s actions, they weren’t like that fool Su Ruoxi’s at all. At least until now, she hadn’t noticed anything unusual about her younger sister.

Even if her younger sister wanted to participate in the meeting, it was likely due to her discontent with her as the legitimate daughter.

However, the matter of the missing servant had little to do with her. Her secret identity as a demon meant that she didn’t care about evil spirits or any other matters. All she wanted was to snatch others’ identity tags to earn points.

It would be best if she could encounter Ye Qingning.

Unfortunately, that sickly person had truly made a miraculous recovery. She no longer appeared as sickly and pale as before.

If she still looked half-dead, Yu Tangtang would have been able to recognize her immediately.

In any case, she hoped to avoid meeting Ye Qingning. If they did meet, she would definitely eliminate her from the competition!

“Since the second miss is aware of the situation in the manor, you may come in and discuss it with us,” said Bai Wei, the second senior sister.

As Bai Wei spoke, Yun Mengyao, who was taking on Yu Tangtang’s identity, didn’t say anything more.

Old Master Yu, although fond of his daughter, didn’t feel that there was anything wrong with the second miss participating in the discussion.

The night before, he had drunk too much and passed out, but he had heard about the steward’s son’s death. His obedient daughter was indeed growing more capable.

Once everyone was seated, the first to speak was the old city lord.

“It’s truly embarrassing. About ten days ago, evil spirits began causing trouble in the city, and in just a few days, nearly a hundred people have perished. As the city lord, I feel helpless and have no way to deal with the situation.”

“During this time, we’ve invited several masters to capture the evil spirits, but these spirits are not ordinary, and there’s more than one. Up until now, no one has been able to eradicate them.”

“Fortunately, the Immortal Sect’s experts have arrived today. With your help, I hope the situation will improve. Please allow me to express my gratitude to all of you!”

The old city lord stood to bow, but a male sword cultivator sitting nearby raised his hand to stop him. “There’s no need for such formalities. We, the Immortal Sect, have been sent by our sect to exterminate the evil spirits, and we will do everything we can.”

Earlier, Ye Qingning had already learned from the conversation that the male sword cultivator was the sect’s eldest senior brother.

Based on the formal tone of his words and the way he spoke, she was almost certain this person was Shen Xuanli.

The chief disciple of the sect was also a worker in the secret realm, and he had to play along with the act.

“That’s good to hear. But these evil spirits are quite powerful. Just last night, more than ten people were killed, and this time, the evil spirits wiped out an entire household, draining their vitality. They must have grown stronger. I implore all of you to be extra cautious.”

The old city lord spoke with some agitation, his face filled with concern.

Bai Wei, acting as the second senior sister, knew there was something amiss and casually asked, “Has anything else strange happened in the city recently? Old city lord, can you think of anything unusual, perhaps any fresh or odd events?”

Ye Qingning understood why Bai Wei asked this question. The evil spirits’ disturbance must have a cause, and the Taoist’s summoning talisman was part of that reason. Knowing the cause could help resolve the problem.

Moreover, Ye Qingning suspected that the root cause of the evil spirits might be related to the treasure she was seeking.

If she were the one designing the secret realm, the treasure would definitely be tied to the disturbance caused by the evil spirits.

Only by finding the key person behind it could she obtain clues about the treasure.

It had to be said that after participating in the assessment once, Bai Wei’s demeanor and conduct had become more natural, and she handled things with ease. If Ye Qingning’s guess was correct, Bai Wei’s points might be ahead of hers.

The old city lord fell into deep thought, clearly trying to recall anything unusual that had happened recently.

After thinking for a while, aside from the deaths of the citizens, he couldn’t recall anything particularly strange.

“Well, I can’t think of anything unusual…”

Before the old city lord could finish his sentence, Old Master Yu slammed his hand on the table, “There is! There is something strange!”

“Ten days ago, around the fourth watch of the night, a loud sound came from outside the city. I was awakened by the noise, and it felt like the ground was shaking, as if there was an earthquake outside the city. But it stopped quickly after that.”

“The strange thing is, when morning came, I heard that someone had gone out to investigate the situation, but no abnormalities were found. No one knows what that sound or shaking was caused by.”

“Later, the evil spirits began to cause havoc, and naturally, this strange event was forgotten.”

“Yes, now that I think about it, I was also awakened by that sudden noise and shaking that night.”

“I had people go check, but nothing unusual was found.”

“However, in the past few days, as the evil spirits have been causing more and more trouble in the city, many people have gone to stay in the outskirts. Some of them reported seeing ghostly lights coming from the back mountain at night, which scared them so much that they returned to the city in a hurry.”

“Now that I think about it, maybe these disturbances are related to the evil spirits!”

Ye Qingning narrowed her eyes, suddenly realizing something.

The old city lord was getting closer to the truth.

This disturbance wasn’t just related to the evil spirits—it was connected to the Nine-Turn Yin-Yang Bottle!