Fairy Yaohua could no longer spare any thought for her dignity as a master.
She took the initiative to ask, "Did you redeem the Storage Ring?"
Fairy Caixin presented the Storage Ring to Fairy Yaohua with both hands and said:
"After a prolonged tussle with Xu Changxing, I finally redeemed your Storage Ring, Master.
"But when Xu Changxing returned the Storage Ring, he took a zither string..."
Fairy Caixin had barely reached this point when Fairy Yaohua's pupils contracted violently.
Even the hand she had just extended halfway could not help trembling slightly.
After freezing for a moment, Fairy Yaohua snatched the Storage Ring into her hand and carefully inspected its contents.
But no miracle occurred.
She searched through it several times in succession, yet still could not find the zither string.
Fairy Yaohua froze again before slowly turning her head and asking:
"What else did Xu Changxing take besides that zither string?"
By now, Caixin had realized the gravity of the situation. Yet she dared not conceal anything and could only purse her lips and say:
"During the negotiations, Xu Changxing only took a single zither string. He left everything else untouched.
"But whether he took anything else behind my back, I don't know."
Upon hearing this, Fairy Yaohua felt her vision darken.
To her, the situation before her was the worst of all possible outcomes.
She had never imagined that Xu Changxing would discover her true intentions.
Fairy Yaohua's eyes were filled with bewilderment as she said, "How could this happen?
"Why did he leave everything else untouched and take only that zither string?
"Just how did he see what was special about that string..."
Fairy Yaohua stood lost in thought for a long while before turning her gaze back to Fairy Caixin and saying, each word distinct: