Li Wenying spun in circles in fury. "It wasn't me, it wasn't me, it just wasn't me! Ask Junior Sister Pan—we haven't been apart since you left, and we never came anywhere near the Huang residence!"
"Fine, not you. Then tell me, if you didn't see the strange phenomenon when the formation was undone, did you not sense the spiritual-energy fluctuations afterward either?" Zhang Ziwang pressed him step by step, his eyes fixed on Li Wenying.
Li Wenying's face darkened. "Why don't you suspect Pan Yun? Why are you only suspecting me?"
Pan Yun hugged her compass, looking small, weak, and helplessly at the two men arguing.
Zhang Ziwang glanced at her before withdrawing his gaze. With a cold laugh, he said, "You have a prior record. Do I need to make it any plainer?"
Li Wenying: ...
He took a deep breath and stressed it again. "It wasn't me!"
Pan Yun timidly raised her hand and said weakly, "Senior Brother Zhang, I can testify that we were together the whole time. My stomach hurt, and Senior Brother Li even gave me acupuncture. Even when I went to the latrine, Senior Brother Li waited outside for me. He truly never left."
Zhang Ziwang still said nothing.
Li Wenying took a deep breath and began to think as well. Frowning, he said, "Could we have startled the snake in the grass this morning, and the Huang family undid the formation themselves?"
No sooner had he spoken than Li Wenying slapped himself, startling the county lieutenant and yamen runners beside him.
Even Old Master Huang, who had been accompanying them, backed away two steps and looked at him as though he were mad.
Li Wenying said, "This formation drew away the qi beneath the Huang residence, making it sit atop a treasure