Moonlight flowed like water through a clearing in the dense forest. Ye Yun crouched beside Sun Yu's corpse, his fingers lightly brushing the blood-soaked brocade robe. When his fingertips touched a hidden pocket at the waist, he suddenly sensed an unusual fluctuation of Essence Qi.
This is...
Ye Yun carefully took out a palm-sized brocatelle pouch. At first glance, it was no more than an exquisitely crafted purse, its dark blue satin embroidered with intricate cloud patterns and its opening gathered with golden thread. But when he tried channeling a wisp of Essence Qi into it, fine silver runes suddenly appeared across its surface, flowing ceaselessly in the moonlight.
A Storage Bag!
Ye Yun's pupils contracted. He had read about such spatial artifacts in the surviving ancient books of the Ye Family. Made from Void Beast Skin and painstakingly crafted by a Technique Cultivator of at least 3rd Rank, they contained a world within and could hold all things. Even in the Capital City, only core members of the top families could possess such treasures.
The Sun Family was merely a prominent clan in the prefecture. How could they have such a priceless treasure? Ye Yun furrowed his brow, unconsciously rubbing the edge of the pouch. Suddenly, he recalled the burly masked man's dying roar: That lord won't let you go.
Everything suddenly became clear.
So that's it... Ye Yun sneered. Sun Yu must have received the Storage Bag as a reward for throwing in his lot with some Big Shot. He glanced up at the sky. The eastern horizon was already turning pale; he had to deal with the scene quickly.
After tucking away the Storage Bag, Ye Yun continued searching Sun Yu's corpse. Inside the lining of his brocade robe, he found a hidden pocket containing three tokens: one was a token of the Sun Family's direct line; another was made of bronze and bore the same eye symbol as before; most astonishing of all was a purple-gold token, with nine coiling dragons embossed on the front and a single ancient-looking character on the back.
Ye Yun's heart jolted. The Great Zhou Dynasty's imperial surname was Xiao! The owner of this token was most likely a member of the royal family!
There was no time to think it over. Ye Yun quickly put away the tokens and turned to inspect the Storage Bag. Following the method recorded in the ancient books, he bit his fingertip and dripped a drop of blood onto the golden thread at the pouch's opening. The blood was instantly absorbed. The silver patterns on the pouch flared brightly, then returned to normal.
A subtle spiritual connection formed in Ye Yun's mind. With a single thought, the scene inside the Storage Bag unfolded before him like a painting: a gray space roughly three zhang square, with several jade bottles and a dozen or so spirit herbs piled in one corner. Most striking of all were two familiar bronze boxes—the very containers that had held the Nine Nether Spirit Ginseng and the Thought Spirit Pearl!
Just as I thought... A sharp glint flashed in Ye Yun's eyes. Sun Yu had pretended to hand over the treasures, but secretly switched them out. The genuine articles had been hidden in the Storage Bag all along. With a trick like stealing the heavens and changing the sun, he had probably even fooled that Big Shot.
Ye Yun turned to the burly masked man's corpse and searched his clothes, finding several bottles of pills and a short blade gleaming with blue light. He put these items, along with the purple-gold token, into the Storage Bag. Then he took out Corpse Dissolving Powder and carefully scattered it over the two bodies. Acrid white smoke rose, and the flesh quickly dissolved into pools of yellow liquid that seeped into the earth and disappeared.
It was time to head back.
Ye Yun used his Lightness Skill, darting through the forest like a phantom. Along the way, he found a stream and carefully washed the blood from his hands. He changed back into his original constable uniform and burned the night clothes and mask. Finally, he deliberately rolled through a thornbush, tearing his robe and scraping several bloody marks across his face.
When the morning light had completely driven away the darkness, Ye Yun finally caught up with Chen Qingzhou's group. From a distance, they looked utterly wretched. Chen Qingzhou was unconscious, carried by two constables on a makeshift stretcher of branches and clothing. Everyone else was wounded and limping along. Yan Xiao Liu walked at the front, glancing back now and then, worry written all over his face.
"Brother Liu!" Ye Yun pretended to be exhausted and stumbled out of the woods.
"Ye Yun!" Yan Xiao Liu cried out in delight. He rushed over in three quick strides and caught him. "Are you all right? That 8th Rank martial artist..."
Ye Yun shook his head and rasped, "After I drew him away, I was just about to lose when a masked man suddenly came to my rescue... His strength was unfathomable. He killed that 8th Rank martial artist in just a few moves." He deliberately panted heavily and pointed to the scratches on his face. "I was injured by the shockwaves and had to spend quite a while recovering before I could catch up."
A look of understanding flashed through Yan Xiao Liu's eyes. He nodded along. "Heaven has eyes! It must have been a passing hero who came to our aid." Lowering his voice, he added, "Head Chen's badly hurt. We need to get back to the city and find a doctor."
Ye Yun glanced at Chen Qingzhou on the stretcher. Head Chen was as pale as paper, but his breathing was steady. The medicine he had taken earlier was already taking effect. Ye Yun secretly breathed a sigh of relief and took several bottles of Healing Medicine from his clothes—actually from the Storage Bag—to distribute among the others.
"Let's go. We shouldn't linger here."
The group picked up the pace and finally spotted the walls of Chun'an County around noon. The soldiers guarding the gate saw their battered state and hurriedly opened a side gate to let them through. They had barely entered the city when they ran into the county lieutenant and more than a dozen constables, who had rushed over after hearing the news.
"What happened?" County Lieutenant Zhang Dehai barked, his gaze sweeping over them. "Where's Young Master Sun?"
Ye Yun stepped forward and cupped his fists in salute. "My lord, we were ambushed by bandits in the mountains. Young Master Sun... is missing."
"What?" Zhang Dehai's face changed drastically. He grabbed Ye Yun by the collar. "Explain yourself!"
Unflustered, Ye Yun recounted the story he had prepared in advance: a large band of bandits had attacked them on their way back, and Sun Yu had pursued the bandit chief with two guards and had yet to return. The rest of the details were half true and half false. With everyone's injuries as evidence, Zhang Dehai had no choice but to believe him.
"Useless! Every last one of you!" The county lieutenant flew into a rage, but there was nothing he could do. He could only order the constables to escort the wounded back to the county office and send someone to notify the garrison camp.
After they returned to the county office, a physician treated them. Chen Qingzhou's injuries were the worst, but fortunately, the Healing Medicine had protected his heart meridian, and his life was no longer in danger. Ye Yun declined the physician's treatment and returned alone to his duty room, shutting the doors and windows tight.
After confirming there was no one nearby, he took out the Storage Bag again and inspected its contents one by one:
The two bronze boxes went without saying. There were five bottles of pills: three bottles of Qi Returning Pills for healing, one bottle of poison called Soul Severing Powder, and another bottle with a blurred label. When he opened it, a rich fragrance wafted out, and Ye Yun guessed it contained Qi Gathering Pills for assisting cultivation. There were twelve spirit herbs, three of them principal ingredients for refining an 8th Rank Breakthrough Pill.
Ye Yun's gaze finally fell on the short blade gleaming with blue light. It was seven inches long, a deep blue from tip to hilt, with the grip wrapped in the sinews of some kind of demon beast. When he tried channeling Essence Qi into it, strange runes suddenly lit up along the blade. The air temperature plunged, and a layer of white frost formed across the tabletop.
"What a fine Yin-Slaying Blade!" Ye Yun quickly withdrew his Essence Qi. This weapon had clearly been made for someone who cultivated a cold, Yin-type art. It clashed with his True Martial Gangkqi, so he couldn't use it for now.
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