Qian Zhao cradled the stone in both hands, nodding like he was pounding garlic, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Watching this, Zhou Xuan knew his little schemes had all fallen into place.
He cupped his hands toward Shangguan Lie.
"Then we'll speak again in three days."
With that, he turned and headed out of the hall with Lin Qingzhu.
The escape route the elders had sealed off earlier now stood wide open. No one dared block it.
At the doorway, Zhou Xuan slowed slightly.
He did not turn around, but his voice drifted clearly back into the hall.
"Oh, one more thing, Vein Master Shangguan."
"Taia has all sorts of people."
"Some things are best said behind closed doors. Don't let outsiders hear them, especially those who shouldn't be listening."
Inside the hall, the collateral-branch elder standing at the very end suddenly stiffened.
Utterly bewildered, Shangguan Lie frowned at Zhou Xuan's departing back, unable to understand what he meant.
Zhou Xuan had already stepped outside, his figure disappearing at the far end of the corridor.
He left the hall full of Taia cultivators exchanging bewildered looks.
Cold sweat had already seeped down that collateral-branch elder's back, and his hand clenched beneath his sleeve until it turned white.
He could not understand it.
That Communication Jade Talisman was the highest-grade kind Great Hua supplied. It left almost no trace when establishing a connection.
Even the restrictions throughout the entire Taia Immortal Vein had noticed nothing. How could this brat from the Northern Lands have detected it?
He dared not pursue the thought.
He only felt that parting remark was like a needle, piercing the softest spot in his heart.
After leaving Taia's main hall, Lin Qingzhu did not dare speak the entire way back. Only once they returned to the