Slowly, a faint light began to rise in the darkness, followed by the melodious sound of a zither.
People in the darkness gradually became intoxicated, gently swaying their heads, their faces flushed with a captivating blush. Some with a good ear for music even joined in, tapping out the rhythm or humming softly.
As the light gradually brightened, many veiled young women began to dance gracefully on the high platform.
Some quick-thinking individuals are already searching for the Fairy of Brocade, while many others remain immersed in the singing and dancing.
Yuan Jue originally intended to casually follow behind and guess where the Fairy of Brocade was—not to become her guest, he had no intention of revealing his guess, but at this moment he had no interest in that.
Because Xue Tuan and Ming Feng suddenly disappeared in that darkness, and not a single sound of anything amiss came out.
There are only two possibilities for this outcome. One is that the person who kidnapped Xue Tuan and Ming Feng is far more skilled than him, and they are taken away silently before they can even resist. The other possibility is that they willingly follow him.
Neither situation is easy to resolve. If they were willingly abducted, it's highly likely they were under a mind-controlling spell or an illusion. However, regardless of the type of spell, neither he nor Feng Fei sensed anything amiss, indicating that the person who set up the spell was clearly highly skilled in that art. On the other hand, being abducted by a powerful figure would also be very troublesome.
Feng Fei naturally noticed this as well and immediately stood beside Yuan Jue. At this moment, only Yuan Jue could inspire any trust in her.
Yuan Jue frowned as he looked around, but still couldn't find anything amiss.
Suddenly, Yuanjue remembered what a crew member had told him on the ship earlier—all the children who had been to or approached the Gentle Water Village would disappear, and no one had ever been able to find where those children were.
Yuan Jue realized something was wrong; the disappearance of Mingfeng and Xuetuan had rendered some of his preparations impossible. Although Mingfeng and Xuetuan were extremely old, their lifespans were so long that they could only transform into the form of children. Compared to their long lives, they were indeed young children at this moment.
Just as Yuanjue and Fengfei were pondering what to do next, a melodious song filled the entire building and reached everyone's ears.
Clearly, the owner of this singing voice is the beautiful fairy from the gentle water town.
The song carries a touch of melancholy, a longing for the future, a childhood pursuit, a sense of joy and sorrow, and a feeling of being down... This song and this music express all the joys and sorrows of life.
The singing and music reached everyone's ears, stirring up all the emotions in their hearts. For a moment, many people burst into tears, while others laughed wildly.
At this point, both Feng Fei and Yuan Jue realized that something was wrong with the singing and playing of the zither. Just as they were about to react, the tightly closed door was gently pushed open.
Yuanjue and Fengfei exchanged a glance, and the two pretended to be engrossed in the song, silently shedding tears.
"Tsk tsk, so these two are nothing special after all. They don't even know their child is missing; they're just too busy being sad."
The speaker's words were full of disdain, and he seemed extremely unhappy that he had misjudged the person.
Chapter Twelve: The Stone Crypt
"Who wouldn't fall for this gentle water town? You clearly overestimated these two, and you're just feeling resentful now."
"Sister Wan Niang, what you're saying isn't right. It doesn't suit my taste!" the person who had spoken earlier scolded, clinging to Wan Niang in protest.
"Alright, Suiyu." Wan Niang tucked a stray hair behind her ear and said with a smile, "Let's get to work first, otherwise it won't be fun if we get scolded later."
After humming and hawing for a while, Suiyu and Wanniang tied up Yuanjue and Fengfei, who were still immersed in the song. With a wave of her right hand, a thin gauze bag appeared in Suiyu's hand: "Wanniang, you should use this restraining bag. I always feel exhausted after using it, which is really terrible!"
"Who told you not to cultivate properly? You deserve to be assigned this task every time. If I hadn't been with you this time, you would still be exhausted!"
"I know that Sister Wan Niang is the best!"
After laughing for a while, Suiyu still handed the bag of entrapment to Wanniang.
Wan Niang smiled and glared at Sui Yu, then took the bag and put Yuan Jue and Feng Fei inside.
Feng Fei was about to resist, but Yuan Jue quietly stopped her.
For a moment, Feng Fei didn't know what Yuan Jue wanted to do. She thought that it might be related to the benefits he mentioned, or it might be to find Xue Tuan and Ming Feng. So Feng Fei forcibly suppressed her displeasure and let Wan Niang detain her.
The restraining bag was made of some unknown material. After Feng Fei and Yuan Jue entered it, apart from being unable to move their bodies, their spiritual energy could still circulate.
Moreover, the bag remained unchanged after containing Yuan Jue and Feng Fei; even though it was made of a thin, gauze-like material, the contents were completely invisible. However, one could see the delicate hand holding it through the bag.
Yuan Jue breathed softly, but not a single muscle in his body moved. However, his extended spiritual sense told him that they had entered the person-binding bag that Sui Yu and Wan Niang had mentioned. When they were sucked into the bag, they only felt a momentary stagnation, without any other special sensations.
Yuan Jue was quite curious about this man-binding bag, but now was not the time to act rashly. He could only spread his divine sense to carefully study the internal structure of the man-binding bag.
After being captured, Feng Fei did the same thing as Yuan Jue.
The inner wall of this man-binding bag has many small holes, and a faint suction force appears at the entrance of the holes. When it appears, it absorbs some of the spiritual energy in the bag, while when it is hidden, it lets in the aura from the outside world.
This seems to be a small space that allows for communication between the inside and outside.
Feng Fei's tightly closed eyes gleamed with a sharp light. Escaping from the bag would be easy, but the ropes binding them would be the problem. Then there was the question of how to retrieve this special restraining bag once they were out—it allowed them to breathe freely inside, unlike storage rings which could only hold inanimate objects. This alone made the restraining bag invaluable.
If she could get her hands on this arresting bag, it might be of great help to her and his future actions.
Not to mention Feng Fei's inner thoughts, Yuan Jue was also secretly plotting this trap.
Judging from the aura emanating from the restraining bag, Yuan Jue realized they had moved from the fragrant, gentle water town into a place filled with an extremely cold and gloomy atmosphere. This aura was somewhat somber, but to Yuan Jue, it was like a potent tonic.
Yuan Jue felt as if every pore on his body had opened up. If the current conditions didn't allow it, Yuan Jue would have loved to open his mouth and shout a few times.
However, Yuan Jue was not the kind of person who lacked self-control. He forcibly suppressed the excitement in his heart and focused on absorbing the aura and spiritual power he had inhaled through the restraining bag.
Feng Fei could naturally sense Yuan Jue's movements, but she didn't quite understand what was going on with him. She could only feel all the surrounding energy and spiritual power rushing towards Yuan Jue. The surrounding energy also instantly surged violently, so her divine sense couldn't detect what Yuan Jue was doing. Once her divine sense got close to Yuan Jue, it would be completely shredded by the wildly churning air around him.
After several attempts, not only did they fail to discover anything, but they also lost a significant amount of their spiritual energy, and even the spiritual prison within her body used to imprison her soul loosened somewhat.
Feng Fei, who possessed Feng Jin'er's soul, was horrified and never again dared to probe Yuan Jue with his divine sense.
Not only did Feng Jin'er inside the bag notice Yuan Jue's abnormality, but Wan Niang and Sui Yu outside also noticed the unusual nature of the restraining bag.
Wan Niang held the bag of people in her palm and looked at Sui Yu with suspicion: "Have you sensed anything strange about the surroundings?"
Suiyu nodded and pointed at the Man-Binding Bag, saying, "Moreover, the strangeness comes from this Man-Binding Bag. Could it be that the Man-Binding Bag has undergone some kind of change? Or is it about to advance in rank?"
"Although the 'Bag of People' has the potential to be upgraded, I always feel that things are not that simple."
"But the current situation with the 'bag of people' is very similar to what the original poster described!"
"You yourself said it's 'similar,' not 'completely,' so we can't rule out other possibilities."
"Sister Wan Niang, have you thought of something?"
Wan Niang shook her head, somewhat disappointed, and said, "How could I possibly think of any other possibilities? If Quan Lang were still here, he would surely be able to guess something."
Upon hearing this, Suiyu's expression also darkened somewhat.
The musician suddenly collapsed tonight. Although such things are extremely common in the building, and someone dies suddenly every now and then—it's not really sudden, there are always some subtle symptoms beforehand, but once the symptoms appear, it means there's no hope. Suiyu still remembers the ashen and desperate face of Wan Niang when she found out about the musician's condition.
Suiyu was also in a very bad mood. She had almost no contact with those who had suddenly died from bodily collapses in the past; now, only Wanniang and the musician were truly close to her. She had never imagined that either of them would suddenly leave her, but reality was always so cruel. This time it was the musician; she wondered who would be next, whether it would even be herself…
Thinking of this, Suiyu couldn't help but shudder.
Wan Niang seemed to sense what Sui Yu was thinking. She sighed softly, brushed away her sorrow, and gently put her arm around Sui Yu's shoulder, saying, "Alright, don't be sad. We'll all be fine—nothing has happened to us yet. Quan Lang was most worried about you when he left. You have to be well so he can leave in peace."
Suiyu gently tapped Wanniang: "Sister Wanniang, you're just talking nonsense. Quan-gege cares about you the most, so why would he be most worried about me!"
"Because... I will go to find him soon..."
The maid's voice was soft and low, but she didn't actually say those words as her lips moved.
Suiyu only saw Wan Niang's mouth move, but she didn't hear what she said clearly. Seeing that Wan Niang suddenly quieted down, she also became quiet.
After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Wan Niang and Sui Yu arrived at a cave.
The cave was surrounded by eerie winds, and even Wan Niang and Sui Yu, who frequently entered and exited this place, had to set up a protective barrier to keep these eerie winds out.
Thick, viscous droplets, as black as lacquer, slowly rolled down the walls of the cave, making a heavy sound as they landed on the ground. Each droplet was as heavy as a thousand pieces of gold, creating craters on the ground, but the craters would return to normal in the next moment.
Wan Niang and Sui Yu did not stop walking. Before long, the two arrived at a stone cell carved from the stone wall.
Each of these stone cells was extremely spacious, furnished with exquisite furniture and objects. If it weren't for the extremely dim lighting and eerie atmosphere, one might mistake them for accommodations prepared by hospitable people for their guests.
This stone cell was enormous, and the previous few stone cells had all held people. However, those people inside the stone cells seemed to have lost their consciousness, completely unaware of the strange noises coming from the outside world.
Wan Niang and Sui Yu kept walking and soon stopped in front of a cell deep inside the stone prison.
Wan Niang placed the restraining bag, whose strange phenomena had ceased at some point, in her palm. She gently stroked it with her left hand, and a soft light flickered across the bag. The next moment, Yuan Jue and Feng Jin'er, who had been inside the bag, appeared in the stone cell.
The two lay quietly on the ground, seemingly unaware of what had happened to them, their faces still wet with tears.
"Tsk tsk, these two still haven't recovered."
Suiyu chuckled and clung to Wanniang's arm, saying coquettishly, "Let's leave here quickly. I always feel uncomfortable when I come here."
"We need to report this first." Wan Niang felt something was off, but after thinking it over, she couldn't find anything unusual, so she kept it to herself: "Don't act like this when you see the Master later, or Jinxiu will catch you red-handed, and you'll be in big trouble!"
Suiyu frowned her delicate brows and muttered unhappily, "That woman Jinxiu is really awful! She's favored by the Lord and always bullies people! If it weren't for her special voice, and the Lord always telling me to treat her politely, I wouldn't bother with her at all! If she ever falls on hard times, I'd be more than happy to kick her while she's down!"
Seeing Suiyu's indignant expression, Wanniang couldn't help but laugh.
"Alright, stop fooling around, let's go outside!"
...
After Suiyu and Wanniang left, Yuanjue and Feng Jin'er, who were tied up and sleeping on the ground in the stone cell, suddenly opened their eyes.
The two exchanged a rare, knowing glance and smiled at each other.
Feng Jin'er winked at Yuan Jue, as if to say, "Is there any way to escape now?"
Yuanjue gave him a "don't be impatient" look, and then closed his eyes again.
☆, Chapter Thirteen: Broken Jade, The Pavilion Master
This place was surrounded by extremely potent, yin spiritual energy, which was a great boon to his cultivation. Thanks to this energy, his long-stagnant cultivation had shown signs of a breakthrough. Yuan Jue had to be careful; there was absolutely no safety here. It was better to absorb the spiritual energy now and find a suitable and safe place later to attempt his breakthrough.
Seeing that Yuan Jue had closed his eyes again, Feng Jin'er suddenly realized something.
It seems that Yuan Jue must have gained some benefit here, but it shouldn't be the benefit he mentioned earlier. They were brought to this stone prison before they even found the right place. If Yuan Jue hadn't had another opportunity, he would probably be extremely distressed right now.
Thinking of this, Feng Jin'er suddenly gave a bitter smile. Now it was her turn to be miserable!