The gray-robed old man hovered in the center of the fourth level. With a slight lift of his withered fingers, a snow-white Gu worm shaped like a silkworm flew out from his sleeve and landed in his palm.
This Gu worm is called Silk Draw, and it is a seventh-level Gu worm. It is good at capturing the traces of residual aura in the air, and it can extract even the energy fluctuations that are deliberately concealed from the void.
The Silk -Silk Draw Gu's short forelimbs flared rapidly, and strands of transparent silk condensed from the air, wrapping around its forelimbs like spider silk.
A moment later, the silk threads gathered into a ball of energy and slowly floated towards the old man.
It was clearly the disguised aura that Lin Yu had deliberately left on the restriction when he left.
The old man narrowed his cloudy eyes slightly, his sharp gaze sweeping over the triggered restriction.
"A mere trick." A hint of mockery appeared in his eyes.
As expected, as the forelimbs of the Silk Draw rapidly combed through the clump of silk, Lin Yu's disguise was instantly stripped away under the manipulation of the Silk Draw.
Despite its exquisite disguise, it could not escape the detection of the Gu worm's true nature.
Meanwhile, Lin Yu had already returned to the Yin Sha Cave.
Suddenly, he looked at the location of the Nine Palaces and Lin Yu sensed that he was being probed.
Suddenly, his third Heavenly Eye opened, and the pulsating causal line clearly came into view.
"The methods of this Gu Master are truly unpredictable!" Lin Yu was extremely shocked upon seeing this.
He had originally intended to mislead them by disguising his aura, but he was seen through instantly.
Therefore, Lin Yu decisively used his rule-based divine power, combined with his Heavenly Eye, to sever the silk thread.
At the same time, just as the old man was about to follow the aura, the Gu worm in his palm suddenly trembled violently. The condensed aura threads were as if cut by invisible scissors, instantly dissipating into the air without leaving a trace.
"Hmm?" The old man frowned, his hand clenched tightly, but he grabbed nothing. The Silk Draw was also frightened and curled up into a ball.
He could clearly sense that the aura did not dissipate naturally, but was forcibly severed by a more powerful force, and the connection between the two was completely erased.
"This person's cultivation is no less than mine..." A hint of solemnity flashed in the old man's eyes.
To be able to sever the Silk Draw so decisively requires either profound skill or the assistance of a master; either way, such a person is certainly no ordinary individual.
Unsure of the thief's strength, the gray-robed elder suppressed his urge to pursue the culprit and instead used his Divine Sense to sweep across every corner of the fourth floor, trying to confirm the missing texts.
But when his Divine Sense swept over the bookshelf, the old man was stunned.
The jade slips, bone fragments, and animal skin scrolls were all there, but the dusty paper book in the corner was nowhere to be found.
"How could it be this book?" The old man's figure flashed, landing where "The True Understanding of the Gu Dao" had originally been placed. His withered fingers brushed the dust off the bookshelf, his eyes filled with disbelief.
The book was made of ordinary material, and the symbols on it were messy and disorderly. Several generations of palace masters had studied it, but no one could understand it.
It was only placed on the fourth floor as a makeshift display because of its antiquity, and no one ever regarded it as a treasure.
Something unusual must be going on!
The old man squatted down, extended his fingertips to gather a wisp of Gu power, and sensed the traces of Lin Yu's hiding place.
The more the old man sensed, the more solemn his gaze became. This terrifying control and that dreadful escape technique revealed the profound depth of the newcomer's lineage.
That barely perceptible spatial fluctuation, and that feeling of nothingness that erased oneself.
If someone is a Gu Master, they absolutely need to have a hidden Gu of level six or higher to do this. If not, it means that this person's lineage is definitely extraordinary.
"What terrifying methods..." The old man stood up, looking out of the Scripture Pavilion, his brows furrowed.
The newcomer was not only powerful, but also accurately took the useless miscellaneous book, clearly able to discern its hidden secrets.
He dared not delay, turning into a streak of light as he rushed towards the main palace. At the same time, his aged yet authoritative voice resounded in the minds of all the elders. "The Scripture Pavilion has been robbed! Immediately seal off the Ninth Palace!"
The order was given, and the entire Ninth Palace instantly erupted in chaos, like a hornet's nest that had been poked open. Powerful auras surged from all directions, converging on the council hall.
Palace Master Bai Cang sat in the main seat with a gloomy face. He was a peak eighth-level Gu Master, and the Scripture Pavilion contained the inheritance of the Ninth Palace, which had now been stolen.
This is tantamount to ruining someone's future and killing their parents.
"Elder, who could possibly evade your perception?"
The old man shook his head. "This person is highly skilled; he left not a single clue."
Upon hearing this, the elders panicked. If books could be stolen right under the nose of the Supreme Elder, then the entire Scripture Pavilion would be emptied out.
"What books were lost from the library? Could it be high-level Gu-refining recipes?"
The old man was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "He only lost that useless miscellaneous book on the fourth floor."
The council chamber fell into a deathly silence. Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Of all things to throw away, why a book that no one could understand?
Why go through all this trouble just to retrieve a worthless book that we can't even understand?
Bai Cang frowned. "It seems that the book is not as simple as it appears. This person must have seen through its secrets."
"Palace Master, I think we shouldn't publicize this too much." At this moment, the elders exchanged glances, and finally Feng Sui, an eighth-rank Gu Master beside Bai Cang, made the suggestion.
"Why?" Bai Cang glanced at everyone.
He understood that Feng Sui's suggestion was the consensus of everyone, so he looked at everyone and asked.
"The theft of the library is shameful enough, let alone the fact that we haven't caught the culprit yet."
"Besides, we haven't lost any important books. I think it would be better if everyone just focused on them privately."
"So that it might reach the ears of the other eight palaces and become a laughingstock."
Upon hearing this, all the elders nodded in agreement.
"Hmph!" Upon seeing this, the Supreme Elder snorted coldly and left the council hall in a flash.
"In that case, everyone, please take the trouble to search for the thief yourselves."
Bai Cang was also somewhat powerless and could only order the disbandment.
Their Ninth Palace is already at the bottom, and now that such a joke is circulating, they'll be laughed to death by those people.
At this moment, Lin Yu sat on the stone platform, looking at the calmed silk threads in front of him, still feeling lingering fear. "Luckily, I reacted quickly, otherwise I really would have been caught."
Although Lin Yu wasn't afraid of that person catching up, after all, that person wasn't necessarily stronger than him.
But what troubled Lin Yu was the power behind that person—the entire Hundred-Thousand-Li Mountains.
Furthermore, as a righteous cultivator, it is indeed shameful for him to engage in such petty theft; if he were discovered, Maoshan would lose face.
Lin Yu stopped thinking about it and took out the "True Understanding of the Gu Dao" from his pocket. By the faint Yin energy light in the cave, he carefully began to read it.
The ancient symbols on the pages of the book were constantly being deconstructed and reassembled in his eyes, and his insights into the origins of Gu Dao gradually became clear.
This knowledge, combined with what he had previously learned from the Nine Palaces Scripture Pavilion, instantly elevated his understanding of Gu refining to a new level.