Taking the Blame

Gui Hong's handsome face bore a smile as he said:

"I'll set up a Purple Mansion formation for your cave abode, then leave."

Su Yao's face lit up at his words, and he thought to himself:

Having Little Crow here would naturally make things easier, and no one would dare come make trouble.

So he said:

"Does that mean you'll be staying a few years?"

Gui Hong shook his head and teased Su Yao:

"Don't get ahead of yourself. I dismantled one on the mountain and brought it to assemble here. The ley lines have already been surveyed, so another half month should do it."

Su Yao nodded, cutting Gui Hong off before he could continue. He took a chain and a shield from his Storage Bag and handed them over:

"Help me refine these."

Gui Hong's face darkened, and he pointed at Little Red, Little Orange, Liu Yunhe, and Li Siyi:

"They're working this hard just to get a few pointers from me. What about you?"

Su Yao's face darkened slightly. He looked at Liu Yunhe's dust-covered face, Little Red and Little Orange, who were covered in ash from head to toe, and the weariness between Li Siyi's brows, then cursed:

"Are you treating my people like beasts of burden?"

With that, he took the Daoist edict from his waist:

"Just watch how I deal with you."

Seeing this, Gui Hong hurriedly grabbed the chain and golden shield, the two Spirit Artifacts, then vanished into the Great Void, leaving only a soft chuckle behind:

"Little Yaozi, I'm going to find some materials. I'll bring someone back for you too."

Su Yao cursed when he saw this:

"You just wait."

He then asked Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi what had happened over the past half month.

When he heard that two True Persons had fallen, his brows furrowed, then quickly relaxed. He waved the two away to rest.

He then looked at Little Red and Little Orange:

"Come with me."

As his words fell, he was already heading for the cave abode.

Behind him, Little Red and Little Orange exchanged a glance, their bird eyes showing a tragically heroic expression like a human's, as though the wind whistled and the Yi River ran cold, and the valiant men would depart never to return.

But they had no choice. They flapped their wings, shook the ash from their bodies, and followed him into the cave.

When the two birds entered, they saw that Su Yao was already sitting cross-legged on a small cushion. He held out his hand and spoke coldly:

"Hand them over."

The two birds exchanged a glance, then landed on the ground together and lowered their heads, no longer looking at Su Yao.

Seeing that the two birds intended to play dead, Su Yao sneered:

"What, are you going to make me do it myself?"

Little Red called out to Little Orange, and the two birds reluctantly pecked beneath each other's wings.

Before long, each had pulled out a small Storage Bag.

Flapping their wings, they placed them in Su Yao's outstretched hand.

Su Yao looked at the two miniature Storage Bags and poured Law Power into them. The next moment, they instantly became no different from ordinary Storage Bags.

He started with the one Little Orange had taken from beneath Little Red's right wing. After briefly sensing its contents, he took out a tube. It was blue-black all over, with wind and lightning patterns on its surface and eight bamboo slips inside.

His brows knitted tightly. He looked at Little Red and asked through gritted teeth:

"So you were the one who stole the Spirit Omens Mystery-Inquiring Tube?"

At his words, Little Red lowered his head even further.

Seeing this, Su Yao laughed in fury:

"Well, well! Back then, I thought Gui Hong had stolen it and framed me for it. I never imagined you were the thief."

"Let's see what else is in here."

With that, he took out several bottles of pills from various paths and a few talismans. As for the cloud-gauze-filled blanket that had been laid beneath Liu Yunhe earlier, it was the least valuable thing there.

He then turned to open the Storage Bag Little Red had taken from beneath Little Orange's wing. It was fine until he looked, but one look gave him a fright. He turned to Little Orange:

"Tell me, how did the Nine Heavens Auspicious Cloud Banner end up with you?"

Little Orange lowered his head too, not daring to speak. Su Yao continued checking and found that the contents were much the same as Little Red's. It seemed the two birds had committed the thefts together.

He looked at the two birds again:

"What else?"

The two birds hurriedly shook their heads, indicating there was nothing else.

Su Yao did not believe them:

"Are you going to make me search you myself?"

The man and two birds remained silent for a long while before Little Red finally spat out an umbrella.

Su Yao took the umbrella and poured Law Power into it. It rapidly grew larger,

its ribs as red as jade, faint patterns of fire flowing across its canopy.

Su Yao's pupils narrowed slightly:

"The Flame Domain Flowing Fire Umbrella?!"

He held up the umbrella and waved it before Little Red's eyes:

"You really are capable, aren't you!"

Little Red's head was almost buried in his wing. He dared only steal a glance upward before quickly lowering it again.

Su Yao took a deep breath and looked at the two birds:

"Is there anything else?"

The two birds said nothing, their heads hanging low.

Su Yao glanced at the ash they had failed to shake clean from their bodies, then at their guilty expressions. He sighed. "Enough, I won't search you. But I can't just let this go."

He held up one finger. "One month. No food for either of you for one month. All the spirit fruits and spirit grains you've hidden in your Storage Bags are confiscated."

The two birds jerked their heads up, their eyes full of shock, their beaks opening as though to plead.

Su Yao raised a hand to stop them. "One more word, and it'll be two months."

Little Red and Little Orange hurriedly shut their beaks, daring only to exchange resentful looks.

Su Yao first cast a spell on the two birds.

Then he waved them out of the cave abode.

Looking at the three spirit treasures before him, he cursed under his breath:

"Those two spendthrift pests even dared steal spirit treasures."

Thinking of Gui Hong's smug face, he grew increasingly convinced that the damn crow knew everything and had deliberately watched him make a fool of himself.

And perhaps the damn crow had taken these things himself and slipped them to the two birds.

After all, the Spirit Omens Mystery-Inquiring Tube and the Nine Heavens Auspicious Cloud Banner were understandable enough. Those two spirit treasures were normally kept in the Purple Empyrean Golden Palace, the main hall of Qixia Mountain.

It was not so strange for the two birds to get those, but the Flame Domain Flowing Fire Umbrella had been hidden in Qixia Mountain's treasure cave. Only Daozheng, Gui Hong, Qingyang, and Su Yao himself could take treasures from there at will.

But when he thought of how many times he had taken the blame for the two birds over the years, he could not resist calling them back and roasting them over a fire.

And he feared it was not just Gui Hong who knew, but also Daozheng and the many Purple Mansion spirits on the mountain.

No wonder Qingyang had warned him back then:

"Do not be misled by what lies before your eyes."

All these years, he had been convinced that Gui Hong had everything.

Who would have thought it was darkest beneath the lamp?

He took out a spirit fruit and swallowed it. Then he took a paper figure from among the things he had seized from the two birds' Storage Bags, poured Law Power into it, and arranged for it to deliver a spirit fruit each to Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi.

He closed the cave abode again and took a Crimson Heart Pill. Refined from spirit medicines of the profound body path, this pill was especially good at tempering the Dao body.

Three days later, Su Yao had just finished cultivating when Gui Hong's voice came from outside the cave abode:

"Little Yaozi, look who I've brought you."

Su Yao frowned. Brought him someone?

He rose and opened the cave abode.

Gui Hong stood before it, looking just as he always did. Behind him stood a middle-aged man with dark skin, dressed in coarse cloth and ordinary in appearance, like an old farmer in the fields.

The moment he saw Su Yao, his previously weary face filled with relief at having survived a calamity. He stepped forward and cupped his hands, his voice slightly choked as he said:

"Han Ziyi of the Blackwater Han Household greets the Dao Child of the upper sect."

Su Yao waved a hand:

"How did you come to Nanzhao?"

Han Ziyi raised his head and glanced at Gui Hong:

"I received an order earlier, and this senior brought me to Nanzhao."

Su Yao nodded and looked at Gui Hong:

"What did you do to bully him into this state?"

Gui Hong shrugged and changed the subject:

"I have important matters to attend to. Once this mountain gate is built, I'll return to set up the formation."

With that, he turned into a streak of rosy light and headed for the Great Void.