When everyone's eyes fell on the remaining people, the middle-aged couple in the Qi Condensation Stage couldn't help but tremble all over.
They had the lowest cultivation level, and being stared at by so many Foundation Establishment cultivators had already made them terrified, and they didn't even dare to speak.
The young man in purple was blocked by the hunchbacked old man behind him. Although his face looked ugly, he did not feel any pressure. Li Yan, on the other hand, looked pale.
The middle-aged couple was trembling in their hearts. The male cultivator quietly pulled the female cultivator behind him. Although his face was pale, he still managed to speak.
"I'm Zhang Peng from the Songyue Sect. This is my wife and junior sister. I came to the market yesterday to buy medicine for my master. Today, I used the teleportation array to return to the sect.
Before… because my wife was not feeling well, we both stayed in the side room to rest and really never… never left the room.
Please, seniors, please be merciful and let us go back. Our master is still waiting for this medicine to heal his wounds. It is also okay for you seniors to check our storage bags."
After saying that, the male cultivator hurriedly took out two green porcelain bottles from his storage bag and took off the storage bag on his body.
At his signal, the woman hurriedly untied the storage bag from her waist, but her face was flushed. It was obvious that the storage bag contained things that the woman often used, and she didn't want others to know.
The two of them were helpless as they had relied on spiritual tools to fly here, which had delayed them. After purchasing the necessary medicines yesterday, they thought that it was time to go back.
After gritting his teeth, he decided to use the teleportation array early this morning. Who knew he would be involved in this mess? It was really a double whammy.
In fact, if they had really checked the storage bags and found no problems before letting them go, they could have been allowed to go through as well. After all, no one would think that others would be interested in the things in their storage bags.
However, since one of the couple had wood spiritual roots and the other had water spiritual roots, they were both suspects, so they didn't dare to speak.
Upon hearing this, Taoist Gong did not take the storage bags from the two people. He just waved his hand, and the two green porcelain bottles flew out of the male cultivator's hands and were in his hands the next moment.
The middle-aged couple was shocked. This was the elixir they had worked so hard to buy. They wanted to take it out and let the other party check the storage bag separately, but they didn't expect the other party to take the elixir directly.
But the two of them didn't dare to speak at all. They could only look at Taoist Gong timidly. Taoist Gong opened the stopper of the bottle and probed with his spiritual sense, then closed the two green porcelain bottles again. With a wave of his hand, the green porcelain bottles flew back.
The expression on his face also eased a lot.
"You two take out the sect tokens and let me see them."
After hearing this, the middle-aged couple felt uneasy. Seeing that no one else had taken out a token, they wondered what Taoist Gong meant. But when they saw Taoist Gong's expression ease, they felt relieved and quickly took out two small tokens carved like pine trees from their storage bag.
This time, Taoist Gong just scanned with his spiritual sense and nodded.
"It is undoubtedly the token of the Songyue Sect. Is Min Songzi your master?"
When the middle-aged couple heard Taoist Gong speak like this, they were surprised and felt as if they knew his master. The male cultivator hurriedly said.
"It is my master. It turns out that the senior knows him."
"Oh, he is injured?" asked Taoist Gong indifferently.
“My dear senior, my master was injured four years ago when he was exploring a secret cave with a few friends.
I have been recuperating in recent years, and this time it has reached a critical point, so I need some medicinal pills to assist me, so I sent the two of us to the market to purchase medicinal pills."
The male cultivator answered, but when he spoke of the latter part, his expression was a little gloomy, thinking of his own, a second-rate sect with only twenty-odd disciples. After his master was injured, after a few years, there were less than ten people left in the sect.
Taoist Gong didn't care what the male cultivator thought. He nodded again after listening. In fact, he knew that Min Songzi was injured.
Four years ago, it was he, Min Songzi and several other people who went out to look for treasure. Min Songzi's cultivation had reached the late stage of foundation building, which was quite strong. He was just asking deliberately at this moment.
But Min Songzi was really amazing. During the treasure hunt, the last few people were chased by a third-stage early white jade spider. Although they got some things in the end, two people died.
Min Songzi managed to hold on, and even Gong Daoren himself was seriously injured, but he was the leader of a second-rate sect and had a golden elixir master, so his injuries had naturally healed long ago.
Min Songzi was just a casual cultivator in his early years. He founded a small sect many years ago. He had no one to rely on and had to rely on himself for everything.
"Well, you two can go now. I am acquainted with your master, and I know his skills. This matter has nothing to do with you two."
Taoist Gong said slowly.
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged couple were overjoyed. They bowed respectfully and thanked them repeatedly. Then they stood aside with happy expressions on their faces, keeping a distance from Li Yan and others.
Although this was a shock to them, according to what Taoist Gong said before, they could save a lot of spirit stones, which was a considerable expense for their sect.
But in just a short while, many people cleared themselves of right and wrong. The young man in purple suddenly looked anxious. He couldn't stay for long, so he spoke quickly.
"Although my master and I live in a side room, we..."
But before he could finish, the hunchbacked old man pulled his sleeve and an old voice came out.
"Master, we have no evidence to prove whether we left the side room at that time. Let's wait for that Jindan senior to come back and investigate."
Although he was anxious, he was helpless. He knew that with just the words of the master and servant, he could not prove anything to anyone. If he was in such a hurry to leave, it would only arouse suspicion.
After hearing this, the purple-shirted young man looked outside the courtyard gate, looking even more anxious. But at the moment, he knew that he had no reason to leave, so he could only lower his head in dismay, only whispering.
"If I had known, I would have been in the hall. If I had known..."
When the Qingxuan monks saw this, they looked at him with more caution, especially the hunchbacked old man, who had an indifferent expression on his face, making others wonder what he was thinking.
"Hehe, we two also went to the side room after we arrived, and there is no evidence to prove whether we left."
Just as everyone was still looking at the master and servant, a sinister voice sounded, and it was from one of the two men in black robes.
They actually admitted it directly without any intention of defending themselves. It seemed as if they were not afraid at all that the Jindan senior would come back to investigate. They were quite straightforward.
After hearing this, Li Yan showed an uneasy look on his face, and spoke in a timid manner.
"I... I can't prove that I didn't leave the side room..."
After Li Yan spoke, everyone was divided into two areas. Although some people stared at Li Yan, they just glanced at him and finally focused on the young man in purple and the man in black.
After all, the hunchbacked old man whose cultivation level is hard to tell and the two foundation-building monks are the ones who attract attention. Luo Sanpang and Qin Chengyi have cold eyes. Although they are temporarily safe, they are still the most suspicious people.
When Master Gong's eyes passed over Li Yan, he remembered that this person was recorded in the jade slip as a disciple of the "Blood Leaf Sect". Master Xueye knew this person, but he had never met him, so he couldn't let Li Yan leave casually. "This boy's cultivation is not bad. Although he is a little scared under the pressure, he is still pretty good overall."
Taoist Gong gave Li Yan an evaluation in his heart.
At this point, Taoist Gong turned to Kong Nantai and said.
"Take Fellow Daoist Lin, Sect Leader Yue and the others to the teleportation array. The spirit stones will be paid for by the sect."
After saying that, he turned to the Blood Hand Flying Scythe Scholar and others and spoke.
"My fellow Taoists, I will not delay you any longer. Please!"
The Blood Hand Flying Scythe Confucian and others stood opposite Li Yan and the other five, as if there was a barrier between them. Seeing this, they all bowed to Gong Daoist, and then followed Kong Nantai out of the courtyard.
However, when they walked out, they all looked at Li Yan and others at the same time. Some of them looked sympathetically, like the middle-aged couple;
Some are indifferent, like the Blood Hand Flying Scythe Scholar and Gui Liugang;
Some of them were actually secretly excited, and seemed to be gloating over other people's misfortune, like Sect Leader Yue's male and female disciples, who had been terrified and frightened before, but now when they looked at Li Yan and others, their eyes revealed excitement.
Li Yan saw this scene and thought to himself.
"There are cold-blooded cultivators, and there are also those who take advantage of others' misfortunes. The middle-aged couple may have always lived at the bottom of the cultivator community, but they have not lost their sympathy. It seems that as their cultivation level increases, many cultivators will cut off more things and become more and more heartless."
Taoist Gong no longer looked at the Blood Hand Flying Scythe scholar and others. He looked up at the sky. It was already evening.
In the evening of July, the starry sky was already visible and reflected the setting sun. Even in the summer, the courtyard seemed very gloomy and cold.
He turned around and looked at Qin Chengyi and Luo Sanpang behind him.
"Junior Brother Luo, go pick out a few smart disciples. Junior Brother Liu, this is the east side of the courtyard. You will be the one guarding it until Master comes back. Nothing can be moved to avoid losing any clues.
If there are any mistakes, you will have to explain everything to Master yourself."
After hearing what Master Gong said, the fat on Luo Sanpang's face trembled a few times. He was not stupid and knew that his senior brother was trying to pass on the blame.
Senior Brother Liu's identity is very different. Although he also had the influence of his great-grandfather, how could he compare with Senior Brother Liu, who is related by blood? Now that Senior Brother Liu is in trouble, no one knows how Master will deal with them after he comes back.
We are guarding the murder scene here. At the very least, we are just watching over the place. The murderer has been killed, so there is no reason to go back.
But when it really comes to the end, if the murderer cannot be found and someone needs to bear the master's wrath, he believes that Master Gong will find a reason why the clues are lost, and coupled with the fact that he was the first one to appear at the crime scene during the day, he cannot get rid of the blame no matter what.
But even though he knew it, he didn't dare to refute. He could only respond and went to select people with a bitter face. However, he was not a kind person. He had already made up his mind. He would choose a few disciples who he had disliked for a long time. He would also pass the blame.
When Taoist Gong saw that Luo Sanpang had gone to select the personnel, he turned to Qin Chengyi and said.
"Brother Qin, you go and arrange a place for these fellow Taoists to live. I have something to discuss with several other brothers and sisters."
Qin Chengyi quickly agreed after hearing this. He knew that he entered the sect late and his cultivation was low, so he had to be diligent in doing these errands. Moreover, this was much better than Brother Luo's situation.
He was about to take a step forward, but suddenly stopped, looked up at Taoist Gong, and this time he used telepathy instead.
"Master, do you want to arrange for disciples to guard the place where they live?"
Taoist Gong was just greeting several fellow junior brothers and sisters for a discussion when he spoke in voice transmission without even turning his head.
"All the sect's formations are now activated, and no one is allowed to enter or leave. How many formations can they get out of? Just warn them, and I will have the patrols pay more attention to them."
Qin Chengyi felt relieved and thought.
"Yes, if they walk out recklessly, they will fall into the attack of the formation before they can go far."
Li Yan and the others stood quietly aside, watching the Taoists' arrangements without saying a word.
Qin Chengyi walked over at this time and smiled at them.
"My fellow Taoists, today's incident was something that no one wanted. I can only ask you to stay here for one night. Please follow me."
After saying that, he turned and walked out of the yard.
Li Yan and the purple-robed young man looked at each other, but the two monks in black robes and cloaks didn't even look at them and took the lead to catch up with Qin Chengyi.
So, Li Yan and the other two followed, but they still kept a certain distance between them...
After leaving the courtyard, Li Yan saw that Fatty Luo was coming towards him with several Qi Condensation disciples. Luo Sanpang waved to Qin Chengyi helplessly and passed by them.
At the same time, he glared at Li Yan and others with a bad look, and then with a fierce look on his face, he went to arrange the matters of guarding the place.
Qin Chengyi and his group of four, Li Yan, did not walk too far. They just walked along the row of houses for a few dozen feet and then stopped at the gate of a courtyard.
He stretched out his hand and pushed open the gate, then turned around and spoke to everyone.
“Although there are many disciples in my temple, it is not as prosperous as it was in the past, so there are still many vacant houses, many of which have been converted into places for receiving guests.
This courtyard is one of them. Although there is a large formation covering the entire courtyard, it is usually not opened when there are no guests. After all, the formation needs spirit stones all the time when it is running. "
As he spoke, he had already led Li Yan and others into the courtyard. There were four towering ancient trees in the courtyard, and behind them was a row of six houses. As night fell, white light began to light up in the houses.
Qin Chengyi pointed to a row of houses at the back.
"Because this place has been changed to be used for receiving guests, a small protective formation has been set up in each room. The spirit stones for activating the formation have been placed, and you only need to activate it yourself.
However, this formation is just an ordinary protective ban, which mainly serves the purpose of sound insulation and early warning.
There are disciples patrolling the temple at night. As long as there is any movement here, someone will come quickly, so this formation does have a certain effect.
Of course, if you are worried, you can set up another set of array protection in the room, which would be better. "
Qin Chengyi said with a slight smile.