Su Hao hesitated for a moment, then opened the door without the slightest panic.
In the middle of the courtyard, Liu Mei wore a white, high-waisted ruqun. Her features were cool and aloof, and under the moonlight, she looked even more flawless and ethereal.
A pink butterfly fluttered around her.
"Senior Sister Liu."
Su Hao froze for a moment. Why was she dressed so conservatively today?
"It's so late. Did Senior Sister Liu need something from me?"
Su Hao stepped forward and bowed with the utmost respect.
"One of my junior sisters died on Heavenly Medicine Mountain."
Liu Mei shot Su Hao a glance.
Qi Refining Level 3? Naturally, he couldn't possibly be the murderer.
But they hadn't seen each other for over ten days, and this kid seemed to have grown even more handsome.
"Ah?!" Su Hao cried out in alarm. "How did that junior sister die? You... you don't suspect me, do you? I've been cultivating all these days and haven't even taken half a step out of the courtyard. My master is about to come out of seclusion, and he might test me then."
"Hmph, what are you panicking for? Junior Sister Zhou was at Qi Refining Level 5. What could you possibly have done?
"Besides, she was killed after someone absorbed her essence and stripped away her yin."
Killing intent showed in Liu Mei's eyes.
The sisters of Joy Peak had always stood together, and she had been quite close to Zhou Cui Feng.
"Sigh, Senior Sister Liu, is there anything you need me to do? I'll go all out and get it done for you." Su Hao sighed, as though mourning the passing of a beauty.
"You're sure your master hasn't emerged from seclusion yet?" Liu Mei narrowed her eyes slightly.
There weren't many cultivators on Heavenly Medicine Mountain. Lin Zhi Shan was the only one who could be considered talented.
But he was selfish and petty, unwilling to spend resources cultivating or recruiting cultivators.
"You suspect my master?" Su Hao said, rather indignantly. "My master is an alchemy grandmaster. If he wants spirit stones, he has spirit stones; if he wants pills, he has pills. Why would he harm someone from Joy Peak?"
Before he had even finished speaking,
a sash shot out from Liu Mei's sleeve and slammed heavily into Su Hao's chest.
Su Hao flew back seven or eight meters and crashed into a pillar.
"Su Hao, when I give you face, I call you junior brother. When I don't, you're nothing. You have no right to shout at me!"
Liu Mei's pretty face turned icy.
"So... so what? I won't allow anyone to slander my master!"
Su Hao spat out a mouthful of blood, his gaze resolute.
Liu Mei looked at him deeply. "You certainly are filial. But if I want to kill you, Lin Zhi Shan can only consider himself unlucky. He wouldn't dare say a single word. Do you believe me?"
"Don't kill me, don't kill me! Senior Sister, there's a debtor for every debt and a culprit for every grievance!"
Su Hao immediately raised both hands in surrender. The unyielding spirit he had shown just moments ago was nowhere to be seen.
"Heh, why pretend to be filial and loyal? When life and death are at stake, don't you still behave yourself?"
Liu Mei gave him a disdainful laugh. "I can't be bothered to kill you, but someone died on Heavenly Medicine Mountain, so all of you are suspects."
"It could have been someone else framing us and dumping the body here." Su Hao shakily stood up, supporting himself against the pillar, looking as though he might collapse at any moment.
"Whether it was a dumped corpse or something he did isn't for you to analyze," Liu Mei said.
"Then what do you want me to do?"
Su Hao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "I'm only a minor cultivator at Qi Refining Level 3. What can I do?"
"I came to find you, naturally, to investigate. Without evidence, it wouldn't be proper for me to cause trouble for your master!"
Liu Mei moved with a swaying, alluring grace, a faint flush of red powder surrounding her. The butterfly landed on her fragrant shoulder. "This Shadow Powder Butterfly is best at tracing auras and retracing origins. It followed the trail and found Junior Sister Zhou's corpse.
"I can be certain she died on Heavenly Medicine Mountain. She probably came here intending to absorb the essence of a medicine slave. The other dried corpse was most likely that medicine slave."
"Besides, I killed a medicine slave from Heavenly Medicine Mountain before.
"Heavenly Medicine Mountain and Joy Peak aren't without their grievances.
"What's more, Alchemist Lin is famously petty. If he learned that our sisters had harmed a medicine slave, there was no way he would let it go.
"But the possibility that he absorbed her essence is somewhat unlikely."
Liu Mei's gaze was sharp as she slowly explained.
When Zhou Cui Feng's Life Token shattered and the other junior sisters came to report, she had borrowed this Shadow Powder Butterfly from one of her senior brothers.
"Investigate? So what? How do you want me to cooperate?" Su Hao's eyes flickered. He seemed to have thought of something, yet didn't dare say it aloud.
Liu Mei was best at reading people's expressions. She immediately caught this abnormal reaction. "So, for now, we need to eliminate your suspicions one by one and search for clues."
"Even if you answer honestly, I still won't trust your answers!"
"The human heart is difficult to fathom. Only oneself is truly trustworthy!"
She raised her hand and lifted Su Hao's chin.
Her full, red lips parted slightly, exhaling a fragrant red mist that shot straight toward Su Hao's face.
She repeated the same trick she had used to bewitch Su Hao before.
Her bewitchment was far stronger than Zhou Cui Feng's.
Su Hao's eyes gradually grew hazy as he stared blankly at Liu Mei.
"Were you the one who absorbed Junior Sister Zhou's essence?"
"No..." Su Hao shook his head stupidly.
"Then do you know who did?"
"I... I..." Su Hao struggled for a moment.
"Speak!"
"My master, it was my master!" Su Hao screamed in terror. "If I tell you, he'll kill me..."
Liu Mei's face filled with fury. She waved her sleeve, releasing another fragrant, bewitching breeze. "How dare he! How could he be so ruthless!"
"My master came out of seclusion today and was planning to test me.
"But by the clear pool beside the waterfall, he happened to see Senior Sister Zhou absorbing the essence of a medicine slave alive.
"Then I accidentally let slip that Senior Sister Liu had also absorbed the essence of a medicine slave before.
"My master was furious. He said that raising medicine slaves wasn't easy and required many Heart Nurturing Pills and Origin Blood Pills.
"So he said Junior Sister Zhou had to compensate him, and then he absorbed her essence!"
Su Hao recounted the entire process in detail. "My master had already broken through. After absorbing her essence, he was extremely happy. He said it had saved him a great deal of time consolidating his new realm. He also found a bottle of top-grade Moonlight Spirit Pills in Senior Sister Zhou's storage pouch and said that not only had he recovered his investment, he'd even made a profit."
"Moonlight Spirit Pills!" Liu Mei's beautiful eyes widened.
Three months earlier, the sisters of Joy Peak had followed the sect's seniors to raid a group of righteous cultivators and had made a huge haul.
When they divided the spoils, the bottle of top-grade Moonlight Spirit Pills had gone to Zhou Cui Feng.
Su Hao even knew about that.
He was either the murderer or a witness!
"Lin Zhi Shan, you bastard!"
Liu Mei slapped Su Hao flying. Then she rose into the air, Crimson Silk Ribbon swirling around her as she shot out of the courtyard and through the sky, heading straight for the cave abode at the mountaintop.
Without evidence, she had been unable to cause trouble for Lin Zhi Shan. After all, Joy Peak still had to ask him to refine some of their pills from time to time.
But now, one of Joy Peak's sisters had died.
Lin Zhi Shan had to give them an explanation!
"That was close... I never thought she'd actually believe it. Back when I was only at Qi Refining Level 3, she used that bewitchment on me. Now that I'm at Qi Refining Level 7, you still thought you could bewitch me with the same strength!"
Su Hao crawled out of the flowerbed, panting heavily.
If Liu Mei had discovered that he hadn't been bewitched, he would have had no choice but to fight for his life.
Qi Refining Level 7 against Qi Refining Level 6—however one looked at it, he would have held a certain advantage.
And the Hidden Kill talent was extremely powerful. It had even concealed the truth from Liu Mei, making sure she never suspected him from the beginning. That had been the key factor behind his success.
Fortunately, everything had ended without danger.
"But can she kill Lin Zhi Shan?"
Su Hao completely concealed his aura and slipped into the bamboo grove.
The mantis stalked the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!
Tonight was a golden opportunity!
The cave abode at the mountaintop.
When Liu Mei tried to break through the stone door directly, a barrier rose from the cave abode.
The Two Elements Guardian Array, worth over a thousand spirit stones!
"Formation Breaking Hammer!"
Liu Mei had expected this. A small golden hammer, dazzling with golden light, appeared in her hand. The golden hammer rose into the air, and the instant it touched the array barrier, it shattered into powder, while the great array shook violently and collapsed.
With anger clouding her mind, she didn't care in the slightest that the Formation Breaking Hammer was even more valuable. "Lin Zhi Shan, get your old ass out here!"
In a quiet chamber deep within the cave abode, Lin Zhi Shan jolted awake.
Beside him, only a skeleton remained in the pill furnace.
He had absorbed Ge Lao Si two days earlier; he had merely wanted to spend some time consolidating his cultivation.
"Who is it? Liu Mei? Junior Sister Liu, what are you doing? You actually had the heart to destroy my array with a Formation Breaking Hammer!"
Lin Zhi Shan flew out of the cave abode in a fury. When he saw Liu Mei, beautiful as a celestial immortal, standing at the entrance, then looked at the fragments of the small golden hammer on the ground, he was instantly dumbfounded.
What kind of deep-seated grudge was this? Was it really worth wasting a treasure just to destroy the array?