The next day at dawn, the wind and snow had stopped.
In the cedar forest behind the *Traveler's Pavilion* in **White Moon Town**, a young girl with blue eyes, in a cotton robe, slowly practiced a set of sword techniques with a long branch.
The branch was like a whip, dancing in a gusty whirlpool around her, sweeping the snow on the ground in all directions.
Xu Xiyue got up early today, washed up quickly, and then wrapped herself in winter clothes. She came to the place where she had practiced the sword since she was a child, fumbling with the two jade slips that the senior named Ye gave her yesterday.
The mind technique was called "*Frost Condensing Heart Technique*" and the sword technique was called "*Jade Crystal Sword Technique*".When she was a child, she was often taken by her sister to the *Commander's Mansion* in **Heavenly Wind City**, where she read many martial arts books in the library of the mansion, but she had never heard of these two techniques.
Moreover, when Senior Ye gave them to her yesterday, it looked like he had taken them out very casually.
Therefore, Xu Xiyue had low expectations for these two techniques, thinking that they would probably be similar to the skills her sister gave her, or a little better.
However, after only practicing for about half an hour, she found that these two techniques were much smoother to practice than the mind and sword techniques her sister gave her.
This was not a psychological effect. It was truly much more comfortable.
In the past, she was so tired after practicing the sword for half an hour that she could hardly lift her hands.
But now that she had practiced for half an hour, she did not feel tired at all. Instead, she felt clearer and brighter, as if she had undergone a thorough purification.Xu Xiyue picked up the two jade slips and looked at them with some doubt. She tilted her head and pursed her lips slightly. Suddenly, she wanted to go to the library of the *Commander's Mansion* and ask the teacher there about the two techniques.
At this moment, the sound of footsteps crunching on snow interrupted her thoughts.
Turning around, she saw Xu Mulan walking along the forest path in her official robe.
Xu Xiyue was a little puzzled. Her sister was busy with official duties and rarely came over. How come...
"Sister, aren't you busy with official duties? How come you have time to come and see me?"
Xu Mulan smiled, a little embarrassed. "Ah... I just came to see you, and by the way, I brought some specialties from **Heavenly Wind City** to Mr. Ye and Miss Li. They came from afar, so I must do my best to be a good host, right?"
As the saying goes, a sister knows you better than anyone.
When Xu Xiyue heard this, she roughly guessed that her sister most likely wanted to chat with Senior Ye, but she didn't know what reason she had...
"Sister, look at this..." Xu Xiyue handed over the two jade slips. "These are the two techniques that Senior Ye gave me in exchange for my hairpin yesterday."
"Your hairpin... in exchange for two cultivation methods?"
It took a long time for Xu Mulan to come back to her senses. Her sister's hairpin was just something from a street stall. Not to mention exchanging it for a jade slip with a technique, she couldn't even exchange it for a simple jade slip for writing letters...
After hesitating for a moment, she took the jade slip from Xu Xiyue's hand and scanned it with her spiritual sense.
"The *Condensed Frost Heart Skill* and the *Jade Crystal Sword Skill*..."
Xu Mulan had never heard of the names of these two techniques, but she was the leader of the *Snow Guards* after all, and she could tell the quality of a technique at a glance.
These two cultivation methods were by no means inherited from some random low-ranked sect...
And when she saw the four words recorded on the jade slips, Xu Mulan suddenly understood the origin of these two techniques.
At the bottom of the jade slips were the words "*Void Sword Sect Immortal*".
That was a sword cultivator who was once as famous as Nangong Cheng, the Emperor of the **Central Region**. In order to compete with him for the *Nine Dragons Heavenly Seal*, he made a life and death blood oath, with the Immortal Yun Jian as witness. He fought fiercely with Nangong Cheng for hundreds of days on **Yellow Jasper Mountain** in the **Central Region**. However, in the end, he missed one sword move and died.
According to rumors, after the *Void Sword Sect Immortal* was defeated by Nangong Cheng, he gave his cultivation method to him, hoping that he would help him find his descendants. However, Nangong Cheng only agreed on the surface and kept his sword and mind cultivation methods as trophies in his treasure vault.
Xu Mulan found it hard to believe and asked again.
"Hiss--- Master Ye really wanted you to exchange your hairpin for these two techniques?"
"Hmm..." Xu Xiyue nodded faintly. She hesitated for a while, then said, "Seeing your expression, sister, these two methods seem to have extraordinary origins?"
"..."
Xu Mulan was worried. If it was just a small favor, she wouldn't mind her sister accepting it, but this thing was too valuable.
What was Mr. Ye's intention?
He actually gave her sister such a great opportunity...
Could it be that he wanted to take her sister as his apprentice?
However, how could a prodigy who had formed a *Heavenly Dao Golden Core* at the age of twenty-two be interested in an ordinary girl with dual spiritual roots like her sister?
Observing her sister's expression, Xu Xiyue was even more convinced that these two jade slips were more valuable than she thought.
She frowned and nodded seriously. "Sister, I think Senior Ye is interested in you. He probably wants you to be his cultivation partner."
?
"...Ah?" Xu Mulan was stunned before knocking her on the head. "What are you talking about?!"
Xu Xiyue shook her head, raised her index finger, and analyzed. "Why else would Senior Ye give me such a great opportunity? He must be after something from one of us. I am just a dual-spiritual cultivator in the *Qi Refining* stage. Senior Ye would not covet anything from me, right? So, he must be after you, sister."
Xu Mulan suddenly became a little flustered. Indeed, her sister had nothing special except her good looks.
"So, is Mr. Ye after my position as the *Snow Guard* Commander?"
Xu Xiyue propped her chin and thought for a while. "It shouldn't be... His fiancee is the Lady of the ***Dragon House***. Your identity as the *Snow Guard* Commander should not be special to him."
"Then..."
"He should be interested in you, sister."
"Ah... interested... in me?"
Xu Mulan was startled, and her cheeks turned red. Her shoulders stiffened, and her big watermelons were squeezed, bulging out.
However, seeing her like this, Xu Xiyue frowned and grabbed her face, scolding her. "Sister, why are you blushing? You didn't fall for Senior Ye just because he made a good first impression on you and he's handsome, did you?"
Xu Mulan pursed her lips. "Wasn't it you who said that?"
"We need to think carefully about this matter. Sister, you are a one-track-minded person. You're so focused on the case that you can't judge people right now. Leave this matter to me. I will watch it carefully, and if Senior Ye is really what he seems to be, you can still agree to be with him."
"..."
Xu Mulan felt as if she was the younger sister now. She grabbed her cheek, asking, "You little girl, how do you know all that..."
"As the saying goes, those involved are confused, while bystanders can see clearly."
Xu Xiyue raised her index finger like a little adult and added, "Sister, you are the one involved, and I am the bystander. I can definitely judge Senior Ye's character more clearly than you."
Xu Mulan rubbed her head. "Anyway, first come with me to thank Mr. Ye for giving you such a big opportunity."
"...Alright."
...
The side room of the *Traveler's Pavilion* was quiet, Li Longling had not yet awakened from her deep slumber, and the Fire Phoenix lay on the pillow while looking at Ye Anping, who was meditating on the mat, with a vigilant look on its face.
Sensing that dawn was near, Ye Anping gathered back the spiritual energy spread throughout his body into his abdomen, ending the night of energy condensation.
He exhaled a long breath, looked back at Li Longling with a helpless smile, then stood up. He walked to the window and opened it, letting the cold wind from outside get in and blow away the turbid energy inside the room.
Although he had decided to leave the matter of the **Cold Country** to the girls yesterday, he would not just sit idle and take care of Xiyue leisurely here.
After all, it was the first time the girls faced the enemy on their own without him.
As a big brother, he naturally had to watch from the side.
In case his sister or the girls made a mistake, he would help clean up the mess.
After a while, Ye Anping took out a file from his storage bag, sat down by the window, unfolded it, and started reading.
This file was given to him by Xu Mulan last night when she asked him to take care of Xiyue.
It contained testimonies from the case of the missing children.
The *Snow Guards* questioned the residents of the town where the crimes occurred and found some scattered suspicious traces.
It was like a jigsaw puzzle.
For Xu Mulan, because she didn't know what the puzzle would look like after it was completed, she had no idea where to start with the case.
However, for Ye Anping, the situation was different.
Although the perpetrator wasn't Wu You like in the game, it was still a child kidnapping case, so the details of the case may be different from the game, but the general direction should be pretty much the same.
In other words, he had an approximate picture in his mind, and then slowly pieced it together using the file. Of course, it was much easier for him than for Xu Mulan.
Ye Anping read the contents of the file carefully and sighed, seeing that many things were different from the mission he remembered from the game.
The most obvious was...
The demonic cultivator who was kidnapping the children now had much more crude methods than Wu You.
His impression was of someone who was imitating Wu You's style of doing things in a clumsy way, and what he did was too reckless.
Suddenly, there were two light knocks on the door.
*Knock knock---*
Because Li Longling was still sleeping, Ye Anping raised his sword finger and lowered the gauze curtain by the bed, then said, "Come in."
Xu Mulan brought Xu Xiyue into the room, and Ye Anping quickly stood up and cupped his hands. "Commander Xu, what brings you here?"
After the previous exchange with her sister, Xu Mulan felt strange when she saw Ye Anping and her eyes wandered a little as she said, "Mr. Ye and Miss Li, you are our honored guests, so I came to see if you feel comfortable here."
"You don't have to worry, Commander Xu."
Ye Anping noticed Xu Xiyue staring at him. He squinted his eyes and smiled back at her, then picked up the file he had just read, ready to give Xu Mulan some hints. "Commander Xu, I briefly looked over this file last night. Would you like to hear my input?"
Hearing that they were going to talk about the case, Xu Mulan immediately perked up, motioned for him to come closer, and they sat down at the round table.
"Mr. Ye, have you made any progress? I've been looking at this case for several days, but I don't have any clues."
Ye Anping smiled politely. "I can only tell you my guess. After all, the clues recorded in this file are too fragmented."
"Please speak."
Ye Anping paused, then said, "I think the person who kidnapped the kids may be a demonic cultivator."
"..." Xu Mulan frowned. "Are you saying this is the work of a demonic cultivator?"
"Most of these missing children were not orphans. Without exception, they all lived with their parents or relatives."
Ye Anping pointed to some words on the file and continued, "Look, all the people who testified in the case said the same thing: that the children suddenly disappeared overnight for no reason, and the neighbors also clearly saw the children with their relatives before they disappeared."
"Yes, this is exactly what I was wondering." Xu Mulan nodded. "No one knows when those children disappeared, they all went missing overnight... There is also no suspicious person in the town."
"So I was wondering if the relatives of these kids were the ones who led them out of town and turned them over to the villain."
Xu Mulan felt that this idea was a bit stretched, and she shook her head with a frown. "But you also..."
"Yes, I have no evidence." Ye Anping shrugged slightly. "So, I can only speculate. The children's relatives were infected with toxic parasites and were compelled to take the kids to the forest outside the town and hand them over to the villain. Then, the toxic parasites compelled the children's relatives to return to their homes so that no one would be suspicious. In this way, the *Snow Guards* wouldn't be able to find out about it."
Xu Mulan listened. Although there were no loopholes in what Ye Anping said, she wasn't convinced. She said, "But if you put it that way, he might just be a cultivator with superb escape skills who took the children away without anyone noticing. And why would the demonic cultivator go to such trouble? Those children are in the *Qi Refining* stage..."
"That, I can't answer you." Ye Anping replied, stretching out his hands. "I can only speculate since I have no evidence. If you believe me, you can also investigate this trail..."
"Poisonous insects..."
Xu Mulan thought for a while, then nodded. "Then, I'll take note of it, but I don't think it's likely to be a demonic cultivator. This is the hinterland of the **Northern Region** after all."
At this moment, a *Snow Guard* rushed from outside, seeming anxious. "Commander Xu! A guest has come to the *Commander's Mansion*. Please hurry up..."
Xu Mulan was annoyed, thinking that it was another one who had come to propose marriage to Xiyue. "Who is it?"
"Miss Xiao of the ***Black Star*** Sect."
Xu Mulan paused. "Ah? Who?!"
"It's the young Miss Xiao from the ***Black Star*** Sect. She said she met a demonic cultivator in **Yulu Town**, who was probably related to the disappearance of children in the area in recent days... She also brought two cultivators from **Yulu Town**."
"Hiss---" Xu Mulan took a deep breath, looked at Ye Anping, and quickly stood up and cupped her hands. "Sorry, Master Ye."
Ye Anping smiled helplessly. "It's fine, after all, it's the Young Lady of the ***Black Star*** Sect."
"Then, I'll take my leave. Xiyue, you listen to Master Ye, understand?"
After instructing Xu Xiyue, Xu Mulan stood up and hurriedly followed the *Snow Guard* who came to deliver the letter and flew from the *Traveler's Pavilion* on her sword.
After watching them leave, Xu Xiyue turned around and asked, "Senior Ye..."
"Hmm?"
"You said yesterday... that Young Miss Xiao of the ***Black Star*** Sect is your sweetheart. Aren't you going to see her?"
"... Well, I won't get involved." Ye Anping shrugged slightly. "Xiyue, please help me vacate these two rooms. Miss Li and I will move to the inn across the street."
Was he trying to hide from the Madam?
Xu Xiyue was a little confused, but she didn't say anything and just nodded instead. "Yes, Senior Ye."
"Oh, yes. If they come here later, don't tell them that I live across the street with Miss Li."
"...Okay."
Xu Xiyue frowned slightly. Could it be that Senior Ye had eloped with Miss Li?
This was a bit suspicious, she must note this down later...
With this in mind, Xu Xiyue nodded and went downstairs to help the two of them check out.
