As Zhang Yuan pondered, he suddenly sensed a faint trace of hostility. His brows drew together, and he instantly spotted the girl he had followed among the academy disciples nearby.
He flashed behind the girl and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Who are you?" Zhang Yuan asked in a low voice.
He had come to the Upper Nether Academy by following several of its students, including this girl. Now that he had encountered a True Lord's handiwork in the Scripture Pavilion, it was hard not to suspect something was wrong with her.
Could she be a True Lord's pawn?
Should I simply deal with her now?
The oppressive weight of his celestial person status briefly robbed the girl of the ability to think. Her body trembled beneath her loose Confucian Robe as she answered in a quavering voice:
"I... my name is Cao Xu."
Cao Xu...
Zhang Yuan fell silent for a moment, then finally removed his hand.
He had to admit that the scare from the True Lord's handiwork had turned him back into something of a bird startled by a bowstring, just as he had been in the Dust-Dyed Realm. The slightest rustle of grass in the wind made him suspect one person after another.
Especially now that his Master, Xiao Yuanjun, was not beside him, his vigilance had increased sharply.
The girl named Cao Xu was probably innocent.
Anyone chosen as a pawn by a True Lord would be an important figure. They would not be delivered right before his eyes so casually. The True Lord within Roselight Capital was still hiding in the shadows.
"You... go see Ruan Jiang for some reward money. If he asks, tell him Libationer Zhang Yuan said so."
Leaving those words behind, Zhang Yuan strode out of the Scripture Pavilion