Concealment

Liu Jing was an old Imperial Guard, with extensive experience. Seeing that the monk they had dragged over was also wandering around the plum grove without being able to get out, he knew the monk had also fallen into a trap.

Liu Jing frowned, his hand resting on the hilt of his saber. "Isn't this plum garden part of your temple? How can a small plum garden have an illusionary barrier?"

The monk broke out in a cold sweat and quickly explained, "Although the plum garden belongs to the temple, the abbot said that beautiful scenery should be shared with the world, so there are only two walls. The other two sides have never been built, and anyone can enter the garden to enjoy the scenery.

We monks only do the pruning, fertilizing, and watering. The rest of the time, we let the plum trees grow naturally and never interfere with what happens in the grove. We truly don't know when this plum garden developed an illusionary barrier that even trapped us."

Liu Jing let out a cold snort.

The monk pondered for a moment before saying, "All illusionary barriers require external objects. These plum trees cannot be moved. The movable objects in the grove are mostly stones. Why don't we move all the stones we see? Perhaps that will break the illusionary barrier."

A spark of anger ignited in Liu Jing's heart. He suppressed it and kicked at a stone within his sight. He knew this method might not work; for powerful illusionary formations, even the objects used to set them up were invisible.

He kicked away several stones and then saw a large rock at the base of a plum tree not far away, which would require manual lifting.

With a displeased expression, he stepped forward and moved it. As he straightened up, he realized the plum tree roots he had seen earlier were now far away from this rock. After the stone was moved, there was a large gap between the plum trees.

Liu Jing's brow furrowed slightly. He scanned his surroundings, looking at the suddenly changed environment, and slowly walked in, his hands gripping his saber hilt.

It was suddenly clear and open. This was an open space between two rows of plum trees, with a flat, unmarked ground. Naturally, there was no one there.

How could there be a place without even a single footprint?

Liu Jing looked back at the path they had taken and then at this new area. It looked strange no matter how he looked at it. He stomped on the soil with his foot and then crouched down to examine it closely. Strangely, the soil seemed to be a mix of old and new.

He lay down on the ground and smelled the soil. His expression changed slightly, and he immediately stood up, looking around.

The monk jogged over, asking curiously, "Benefactor, what's wrong?"

Liu Jing asked with a grim expression, "Who has been to the plum garden today?"

The monk looked at him blankly. "Benefactor, this plum garden is outside the temple. Normally, our temple's back door is closed. Today, no monks have come here, so I truly don't know who has been to the plum garden."

Liu Jing looked around, his gaze fixed. He pushed the monk aside and went to examine a plum tree closely.

The monk also saw it and exclaimed, "Oh dear, who chopped this plum tree? They've made such a big hole in it."

The wound on the plum tree was messy, with bark and wood splinters flying, but the color was fresh, indicating it had been recently chopped.

Liu Jing examined the wound on the plum tree carefully. He could tell that the person who made the cut had used a lot of force, and the cut was very deep. It should have been difficult to pull the saber out, so the person had shaken it up and down to extract it, which caused the wound to become so messy.

Liu Jing searched for a long time before finding a small piece of fallen wood shavings on the other side of the plum tree's roots.

He frowned, looking at the ground, finding it strangely clean.

The wound on the tree indicated that the person who pulled the saber out was different from the one who cut it. The person who pulled it out didn't have much strength, and perhaps wasn't tall enough, which is why they had to shake it up and down many times to remove the saber.

Under such circumstances, there should have been a lot of wood shavings left on the ground.

Liu Jing spun around in confusion. Finally, he dug into the ground near the wound on the tree. In a short while, he unearthed quite a few fallen wood shavings and some larger pieces of wood from the soil.

Liu Jing held these items in his palm, but his gaze involuntarily shifted to the ground he had smelled earlier...

As he was lost in thought, the monk cautiously asked, "Benefactor, is there something wrong with this tree?"

"No," Liu Jing lowered his eyes, concealing all emotion, and stood up. "This tree is clearly not going to survive after being chopped like this. It's useless to keep it. Have someone chop it down and plant a new one."

The monk glanced at the large wound and wanted to say that plum trees don't die that easily, and despite the large wound, it could still live.

But meeting Liu Jing's gaze, the monk stammered and agreed.

Liu Jing stared into his eyes and said word by word, "It's best to chop it down immediately. The wound looks too ugly, it's frightening."

The monk quickly agreed and promised, "I will chop it down shortly."

Liu Jing took one last look around and said, "I'll come back to check later." This implied he wanted it chopped down before his return.

The monk reluctantly agreed.

Liu Jing re-entered the temple through the back door. This time, he paid more attention to the traces on the ground.

However, the ground was paved with bluestone once he entered the back door, and there were many people coming and going in the temple. He couldn't discern anything.

He went to find the temple's guest reception monk to inquire about people entering and leaving the temple today. "Did a little girl around seven or eight years old enter or leave?"

The guest reception monk thought for a moment and then shook his head. "There were no young female guests today."

Liu Jing frowned, thinking he might have been mistaken, and returned to the plum garden.

The monk had already brought people to chop down the plum tree. The cut branches were piled messily on the ground, and the scene was chaotic.

The scene, which was already difficult to find evidence in, was now even more devoid of any clues.

Liu Jing stood aside with an unreadable expression and watched for a long time until the monk cautiously said, "Benefactor, this plum tree has been planted for a long time, and its roots are deep. It will take some time to dig out. Tomorrow..."

"No need to dig it out," Liu Jing said. "I see that the roots of this plum tree are still very good and can sprout again. Let it be."

The monk: ...You could have said so earlier. He would have left more branches on it. Now only two stumps remained.

But the monk dared not contradict an Imperial Guard and could only agree, assuring him that it would sprout and grow as soon as possible.

Liu Jing turned and returned to the Town Commander's office.

Wang Yong had not returned.

Wang Yong did not show up for three consecutive days. The Town Commander's office finally sent people to the Wang family to look for him. Upon learning that Wang Yong had also not returned home for three days, the Town Commander's office finally sensed that something was wrong.

And Liu Jing said nothing.

He placed the wood shavings, small wood blocks, and a paper bird together, closed the box, and put it in the drawer. After thinking for a moment, he picked up the paper bird and went to the Pan family's residence.

The Pan family was packing their belongings.

The events of three days ago seemed to have terrified them. The Pan family had decided to move back to their hometown and no longer live in the capital.

Seeing the Imperial Guards arrive again, Pan Tao's expression soured, but he had no choice but to put on a brave face and deal with them.

Liu Jing walked around their house, his gaze sweeping over their faces one by one, and asked, "Who made this paper bird that was hanging in the corridor that day?"

Seeing the paper bird in his hand, Pan Tao's heart pounded. He tried to laugh it off, "What paper bird are you talking about, sir? It was chaotic that day, and my family was terrified. I, Pan, don't remember any paper bird at all."

Liu Jing looked at him with a half-smile, tapping his sword hilt. Pan Bai quickly interjected, "Sir, I hung this paper bird. I saw it at a small stall outside and thought it was interesting, so I bought it and hung it up."

He rushed into the house, grabbed a bag of silver, and stuffed it into Liu Jing's hand, respectfully saying, "Sir, do you find this paper bird an eyesore? Perhaps I can buy another one..."

Liu Jing took the money, snorted at them, and left without returning the paper bird.

No one knew if he had simply found an excuse to extort money or if he had truly discovered something from the paper bird and was just collecting money along the way.

Whichever it was, the Pan family couldn't afford to wait.

As soon as he left, Pan Tao said, "We can't stay any longer. We'll leave tomorrow."

Madam Wang: "But the things..."

"Give away what we can't take to the neighbors, or leave it for the next owner. We'll set off early tomorrow morning," Pan Tao interrupted her. "Our lives are more important. The Imperial Guards have clearly set their sights on us and won't let go."

Madam Wang was worried and lowered her voice, "If we leave like this, what will happen if she comes back and can't find us?"

Pan Tao: "Hush. Never mention it again. Be careful, walls have ears."

Pan Tao felt a pang of sadness, his heart feeling as if it were being gnawed by ants. It had been three days. If she were to come back, she would have done so by now.

Pan Tao went into the house to inform his mother that they would be leaving early the next morning.

Old Madam Pan opened her mouth, wanting to ask, but hesitated, afraid to do so.

The Imperial Guards were everywhere, and no one knew where they were lurking to spy on them at that moment.

Pan Tao knelt before her knees and whispered, "Mother, we're going back to our hometown. It will be better once we get home. Everything will be fine."

Old Madam Pan's tears streamed down her face as she choked out, "This journey to Changzhou Prefecture is a thousand miles away. We have little money, and we have the old and the young. How can we possibly travel?"

When that child left, she had been so flustered and lost that she hadn't even prepared travel expenses for her. Their family's return to their hometown was already difficult, let alone for a little girl?

Old Madam Pan could only ask repeatedly, "Have you prepared the money? Have you prepared the travel permits?"

Pan Tao knew she wasn't asking about their family, but about Pan Yun. Tears also fell from his eyes, but he could only nod and reply with a choked voice, "Everything is prepared, Mother. Don't worry. Everything will be fine. Everything will be safe."

Thinking of her eldest son's family, who had been exiled to Datong, Old Madam Pan finally rallied her spirits and began packing luggage and preparing travel rations together.

The next day, the Pan family bid farewell to their neighbors and boarded a carriage they had rented from a horse and carriage agency, heading south.

They had a lot of luggage and elderly people, so the carriage moved slowly. It was estimated that it would take about ten to fifteen days to reach Changzhou Prefecture.

In contrast, the speed of Pan Yun and the other two, who relied on their own two legs and occasionally hitched rides on passing carts, was much faster. In just three days, they had traveled from the capital to Daming Prefecture.

At this moment, the three of them were sitting at a small riverside stall eating noodles. Pan Yun looked up at the bustling canal not far away and asked, "Why don't we take a boat?"

Tao Ji: "No money."

Pan Yun: "That's true. A Taoist priest having to stay in a Buddhist temple... you can tell he's broke."

Tao Ji instantly felt that the noodles in his bowl were less appetizing. He stopped eating and looked at her, "Are you going to eat or not? If not, we'll set off. We have to reach Kaifeng Prefecture tomorrow."

Pan Yun, whose legs were sore from walking, expressionlessly lowered her head to eat her noodles. She had never walked so much in her life.

The black cat squatted beside them, finished the noodles picked out from the bowl, elegantly wiped its mouth with its paw, then meowed twice at Pan Yun and extended its paw.

Pan Yun expressionlessly took out a handkerchief and wiped its paw. Seeing that its mouth was glistening, she reached out to wipe it, but the black cat suddenly turned its head away and disdainfully pushed her hand away.