Liu Shuyue pressed her lips together, her cheeks faintly red. "Mm. I believe you."
"Anyway, let's search the entire Lotus Cloud Sect first. We should find some clues." Chen Xuan called Lin Qing over the radio. "You can come over now. It's safe here."
Once everyone had gathered in the Teaching Hall, he laid out his theory. "The fact that there's no one in the sect probably isn't because someone's deliberately toying with us. Something unusual must have happened. But whether those hundreds of people moved elsewhere or vanished, they must have left traces behind. We should split up and search."
Liu Shuyue crouched and used a sword formed from spiritual energy to sketch a simple map of the sect into the stone floor. "This hall is right in the center of the Lotus Cloud Sect. Farther in are the Fragrant Blossom Grove, the Artifact Refining Room, and the Myriad Treasures Vault. West of the grove are the Disciples' Quarters, while the eastern path leads to the Library Pavilion. Only the vault is dangerous. Barging in might trigger the Punishment Array. Everywhere else is safe."
Based on her information, Chen Xuan divided them into three groups: he and Liu Shuyue would head deeper in to inspect the vault; Lin Qing and Honglian would search the west; and Xu Xuanling would search the eastern area alone.
Everyone readily agreed.
Xu Xuanling even rubbed her hands together excitedly. "The Library Pavilion must have plenty of spell manuals, right? Since nobody's here, no one will know if I sneak a peek."
"You can read them, but don't take any out of the pavilion," Liu Shuyue warned her. "A disciple once stole a book and was hung upside down outside the pavilion for a whole month."
The five of them passed through the Teaching