119 The Mastermind Behind the Scenes
On the stone staircase of the Hidden Sword Pavilion’s secret room.
Lin Ran slowly walked down the stone staircase step by step. Behind him were a few standard swords that were hanging in the air and pressing against his back. A few more steps back was Xiao Huai, who was holding a rattle drum with a vigilant expression.
After walking down dozens of steps, Xiao Huai finally couldn’t help but ask, “We’ve been walking for a long time. How far is it?”
“About… seven to eight miles?”
Lin Ran thought for a moment and said, “These swords are pressed against my back. I don’t dare to use my internal energy, so I can only walk.”
“Then take your time.”
Xiao Huai replied in a low voice with a hint of smugness in her tone, “Don’t get smart with me. If I find out that you use any internal energy, I’ll kill you immediately!”
“Threatening me isn’t gonna get us anywhere.”
Lin Ran chuckled without looking back. In fact, he was extremely nervous.
Along the way, he had tested it many times and had already figured out the limit of internal energy fluctuations that Xiao Huai could sense.
Without being detected by Xiao Huai, Lin Ran could use a very small amount of internal energy to activate the Mystic Gate Sword Technique, but he could only move about ten steps at most. It was far from the standard of “safe distance”.
However, this was not why Lin Ran was nervous.
He had changed his plan at the last minute and didn’t have time to inform people outside. It had been nearly fifteen minutes since the last time he sent the signal. He was worried that Huo Qiyun would rush in impatiently. If Xiao Huai found out, she would definitely kill him.
“I hope the empress can keep an eye on him…”
As Lin Ran walked down the stone staircase, he prayed in his heart. However, he did not know that Huo Qiyun had already arrived outside the door of the Hidden Sword Pavilion.
Seeing the broken brass lock, Huo Qiyun subconsciously placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. He listened for a moment to make sure that there was no movement, then leaned close to the crack in the door and shouted softly, “Lin Ran? Are you there?”
No one answered. He shouted a few more times, but it was the same.
A hesitant expression appeared on Huo Qiyun’s face. After a moment, he took a deep breath, pushed open the door a crack, and flashed in.
The Hidden Sword Pavilion was quiet, but the sword intent in the air was much stronger than usual.
Huo Qiyun thought that it was Lin Ran who did it, so he didn’t think too much of it. Under the cover of the wooden racks, he continued to walk in and suddenly had a strange feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
If Lin Ran were here, he would definitely stay where he was and rack his brains to figure out what happened, but Huo Qiyun didn’t. Almost as soon as he realized that something was wrong, he immediately retreated the way he came. After a while, he returned to the door..
After taking another deep breath, Huo Qiyun pushed open the door and flashed in. He continued to feel his way forward. The only difference was that this time, he began to observe the surrounding environment carefully.
After walking around two wooden racks, Huo Qiyun found the problem. There were no weapons on the wooden racks here.
Although there was no rule that the wooden racks of the Hidden Sword Pavilion had to be filled with weapons, the two wooden racks he passed were both empty, and it was by no means normal.
“Is it Lin Ran who did it?”
There was no need for Lin Ran to do this. To a Half-Saint, these standard swords were useless, not to mention that Lin Ran already had so many divine swords.
Since it wasn’t Lin Ran who did it, there was only one possibility.
Huo Qiyun narrowed his eyes, his childish face filled with seriousness. Although he didn’t know what was happening in the Hidden Sword Pavilion, he acutely sensed that the whereabouts of these standard swords might be the key!
Closing his eyes and carefully sensing the sword intent in the air, Huo Qiyun quickly realized that the sword intent in one direction was especially strong. Then, he hid his aura and sneaked in that direction.
After going around more than ten wooden racks, Huo Qiyun’s expression became strange because he realized that he had returned to where he was. Moreover, the powerful sword intent had changed to a completely different direction!
Huo Qiyun didn’t know what the Mystic Gate Array formation was. He thought that the sword intent was continuously moving. After resting for a while, he went on chasing after it but he didn’t realize that he had been circling a very small area…
At the same time, in the staircase.
Lin Ran and Xiao Huai were sitting on the steps to rest.
“Even a Half-Saint’s body can’t withstand walking a few miles without using internal energy,” Lin Ran explained to Xiao Huai.
At this moment, almost half an hour had passed since Lin Ran last sent the signal. Lin Ran was a little relieved that there was no movement coming from the hidden sword pavilion.
After taking a few breaths, Lin Ran pretended to be tired and asked, “I feel like I have to rest for a while. Anyway, we have nothing to do. Do you want to talk more?”
“No.”
Xiao Huai refused without hesitation. Her destination was right in front of her, and she had nothing to talk to Lin Ran about.
“Come on!”
Lin Ran’s tone softened as he began to persuade her. “There must be something else you want to know. Tell me who the person who told you about this secret room. Then, you can ask me two questions, okay?”
Xiao Huai was silent for a moment before saying, “Ten questions.”
Lin Ran almost spat out a mouthful of blood. “How can you bargain like that? Three! No more!”
“Nine.”
“Four! Let’s do four. Nine is too many for you to ask.”
“Eight.”
“Five!”
“Deal!”
Xiao Huai clapped her hands, and a hazy light suddenly lit up in the pitch-black staircase.
Lin Ran subconsciously narrowed his eyes and saw that the standard swords were still following behind him. Xiao Huai was sitting on the stone more than ten steps behind him, clearly still wary of him.
“Sigh… This distance is a little awkward.”
Lin Ran sighed silently in his heart. He suddenly felt that this hazy light looked a little familiar.
Before Lin Ran had time to recall, Xiao Huai suddenly said, “I don’t know that person. He’s very old and his face is covered in wrinkles. He’s also very powerful… Oh, right! You smell like him!”
Lin Ran was stunned when he heard this. He thought to himself that he had just taken a shower today and only smelled of soap. However, on second thought, he felt that something was wrong. The smell Xiao Huai mentioned might not be the smell of his body.
For some reason, Lin Ran recalled the time Huo Qiyun discovered him pretending to be the Sword God. At that time, Huo Qiyun said that he had the sword intent of the Ten Miles Sword God.
Could it be that Xiao Huai was also talking about this sword intent? The person who told her to come to the Hidden Sword Pavilion to find the secret room was actually the Ten Miles Sword God?!
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m