The Library Pavilion and the Burial Ground

Where were the books? Where had all the books gone!?

Luo Qingqing bent down and circled the edge of the pit, then followed the stone steps into the courtyard shaft—without Luo You'er by her side, she could only see the ground beneath her feet by getting as close to it as possible.

Before she had taken ten steps, the stairs had reached the bottom.

Only then did she realize that the courtyard shaft, originally seven stories deep, had been filled with earth until only one level remained!

Luo Qingqing did not have time to worry about anything else. She began digging with her bare hands—the soil was loose and had not been repeatedly tamped down, clearly having been filled in only recently. Before long, she found several torn scraps of paper. After raising them to inspect them closely, a chill ran through her entire body.

There was no doubt that these scraps had come from books in the Library Pavilion.

But now they had been torn to pieces, their edges blackened by smoke, proving that someone had once burned the books stored here.

What she had feared most had still come to pass.

Luo Qingqing raised her fist and slammed it into the ground—

If the Bureau of Military Affairs wanted the Luo Family's sorcerers, they could have taken them away. Why did they not even spare the Library Pavilion!?

As her fist sank deep into the soil, it smashed out another pitch-black object.

She froze slightly and picked it up.

It was a severed arm.

There was no longer any way to tell whom it had belonged to. Hardly any flesh remained on the bone. The only reason it had not decayed into rot was because it had been scorched by fire; the entire arm had been burned dry