Forbidden Ground

From the very first day they joined the Hundred Flowers Sect, the elders had told Jiang Shuo and the others that the sect's Forbidden Ground was absolutely off-limits.

It was said that the Forbidden Ground housed many secret Martial Art manuals and medical texts, and was also where the Sect Master went into seclusion. As the master of a sect, he secluded himself either to cultivate or to study medicinal formulas, and naturally could not be disturbed lightly.

Though it was called a Forbidden Ground, it was in truth Nothing More Than an ordinary residence, with only a row of crude, ancient rooms. At this moment, the courtyard gates stood wide open. Looking inside, there were no lamps lit in the rooms; they were pitch-black, as if no one was there at all.

"Strange. The Forbidden Ground has always been heavily guarded. Why isn't there a single person here? It's more like they knew someone was coming and opened the gates early to welcome them," Jiang Shuo muttered, suspicion stirring in his heart as a thread of foreboding arose.

"We've come this far. We're only one step away from the truth, so why are you still hemming and hawing?" Sun Daoming's eyes narrowed as he strode inside.

"Hey..." Jiang Shuo had wanted to Call Out To him, but Sun Daoming turned a deaf ear. Seeing the Highland Cold Butterfly slip through a crack in the window, he immediately ran up to the room and placed his palm against the door. Seeing this, Jiang Shuo abandoned the thought of notifying Feng En and followed after him.

Just as Sun Daoming was about to push the door open, he suddenly seemed to recall something and withdrew his hand. He knocked twice lightly. "Sect Master? Sect Master?" He called twice, but the room remained deathly silent, without the slightest response. Sun Daoming exerted force and flung the door open. The two rushed inside. Though it was dark, by the faint moonlight they could still see that the room was completely empty.

"The butterfly is here. There must be a mechanism!" When Sun Daoming saw the butterfly alight upon the scroll of a painting hanging on the wall, he rushed over excitedly.

Crash—

Just then, a faint sound of a roof tile sliding loose suddenly came from the Rooftop above them.

"Who's there?" Jiang Shuo barked, rushing into the courtyard and looking up at the Rooftop, yet he saw no shadow of anyone at all.

"Hmph, look at you jumping at shadows. If you're scared, then obediently go back. At worst, I'll go on alone," Sun Daoming sneered. He had not heard the sound.

Jiang Shuo cautiously looked around. Everything was quiet, with nothing unusual in sight, yet he could not shake the uneasy feeling of being watched. It made him deeply uncomfortable.

"Maybe I really am too tense," Jiang Shuo clicked his tongue softly and returned to the room.

In that short time, Sun Daoming had already found the hidden mechanism, revealing a passage behind the painting. The Highland Cold Butterfly, which had been perched on the painting scroll, fluttered its vivid wings and flew deeper into the passage. The two immediately followed. At the end of the passage was a narrow exit. Once they emerged, they discovered that it was inside an artificial rockery. Before them stood pavilions and winding corridors amid a profusion of flowers—a delicate, elegant garden.

"So this is the true Forbidden Ground!" Jiang Shuo had only just taken one step when a shout suddenly rang out from the side. "Who goes there?!"

A man stepped out from behind the rockery, dressed in close-fitting clothes, blocking the two men's path.

With a glance from the corner of his eye, Jiang Shuo saw the Highland Cold Butterfly continue flying toward the centralmost building, and his brow furrowed slightly.

Sun Daoming, looking anxious, was about to speak, but Jiang Shuo stopped him first. Jiang Shuo restrained himself from looking at the Highland Cold Butterfly again. Without revealing anything, he clasped his hands in greeting and bowed slightly. "I am Jiang Shuo, a disciple of the Hundred Flowers Sect. I have come to pay my respects to the Sect Master."

Whoever was inside, there was a ninety-percent chance they were connected to the murderer. If the other party discovered their purpose, then judging by the murderer's previous methods, there was no guarantee he would not kill both of them.

"Oh? Why is this forbidden area so lively today?" the man muttered in puzzlement.

Hearing that, Jiang Shuo narrowed his eyes, unsure what he meant by "lively."

At that moment, the man's face hardened. Waving them away, he said, "The Sect Master never mentioned this. You'd best go back."

"It was this junior brother who was being too fanciful." Jiang Shuo put on an embarrassed expression and forced out a smile. Deliberately complaining to Sun Daoming, he said, "I told you, we couldn't possibly meet the Sect Master. If anyone could casually behold the splendor of his venerable presence, what would be the point of seclusion?"

As he spoke, Jiang Shuo tugged Sun Daoming back. Things had reached the limit of what he could do. If he rashly told the other party their purpose and tore all pretense away, Jiang Shuo could not be sure he could bear the consequences that followed.

Watching the two behave so strangely, the man's eyes flickered, a glimmer of darkness flashing past them.

"What are you doing? I watched that Highland Cold Butterfly fly in with my own eyes. If we go back now, the clue we worked so hard to get will be cut off!" The moment they turned away, Sun Daoming questioned him. He had tried to speak again and again just now, only to be stopped by Jiang Shuo each time. He had thought Jiang Shuo had some good plan, but never expected him to retreat at the crucial moment.

"That man's aura was perfectly integrated, his steps steady and light. We're no match for him. And..." Jiang Shuo suddenly lowered his voice and said seriously, "I sensed killing intent from him."