Volume 3, Chapter 335 – Suspicion

“Family Head?” The black-haired girl looked at Chi Jingwen, her expression momentarily blank.

“I… I have been here the whole time…”

Chi Jingwen’s gaze sharpened by another few degrees as he studied the girl before him.

“You have truly been here the entire time? Not a single moment away?”

The black-haired girl seemed startled by him. Her eyes slid toward Chi Xiyan beside her, carrying a trace of helplessness.

“Father.” Chi Xiyan said. “Muxue has only just recovered from the shock of last night. You are going to frighten her like this.”

Chi Jingwen turned to look at Chi Xiyan, his gaze carrying a measure of scrutiny and doubt.

Chi Xiyan held his gaze and continued. “Father, there are guards stationed outside Muxue’s courtyard. If she had left, the guards could not have failed to notice.”

“And beyond the guards, the entire Chi residence is under the protection of a formation. Any person entering or leaving leaves a record within it.”

“If Father wishes to verify Muxue’s movements, he can simply check the formation’s entry and exit logs directly.”

Chi Jingwen said nothing.

When he heard Chi Xiyan speak up on Chi Muxue’s behalf, he quietly sighed inward.

“Xiyan is right.” Chi Jingwen said. “Your father momentarily forgot something so important.”

He looked back at Lu Zhuxin. “Muxue, go inside and rest.”

“Sitting out here, you will catch a chill.”

He said this and stepped back out through the doorway.

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Chi Xiyan cast one glance at Lu Zhuxin, then followed Chi Jingwen out.

“Father, are you going to check the formation records? I will come with you.”

Lu Zhuxin watched Chi Jingwen’s retreating figure. She let out a quiet, contemptuous click of her tongue.

Go ahead and check. Take your time. See what you can find.

…

Chi Jingwen left Lu Zhuxin’s courtyard.

Throughout the exchange just now, he had been watching the girl’s face closely.

When Chi Xiyan mentioned that everyone who entered or left Chi Residence would have left a record in the formation, the girl’s face had shown no reaction whatsoever.

Was that confidence born from having nothing to fear, or was it simply because this truly had nothing to do with her?

Chi Jingwen had a quiet feeling that regardless of which it was, the formation records would not show any trace of her coming or going.

After all, from the moment she had entered the residence until now, this girl had never once let anything slip.

If it truly was her, she would certainly have found some way to erase her movements and any record of them.

Chi Jingwen did not know how she had managed it. In over a decade, the Chi family’s formation had never had a lapse like this.

“Father, what is going on?” Chi Xiyan had held her tongue for as long as she could. Finally she could not keep it in. “Father, what exactly are you suspecting Muxue of?”

“Does Muxue have something to do with Lu Guan’s death?”

Chi Jingwen let out another sigh. “According to Song Shixuan’s account, Lu Guan was ambushed because he had learned Chi Muxue’s secret.”

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Chi Xiyan went still for a moment.

“Song Shixuan… he actually said that?”

“I do not know the specifics of what he knows,” Chi Jingwen said, “but from the way he put it, he believes Lu Guan was silenced because he had uncovered a secret belonging to the Chi family.”

“Xiyan, he came to find you early this morning. What did he say to you?”

Chi Xiyan’s eyes darkened slightly. “He told me that Lu Guan had learned the secret of Muxue’s constitution, and that he intended to report the matter to the Lingxiao Sword Sect’s sect master and let the sect master come handle things with the Chi family personally.”

“That is why I gathered people and set out to intercept Lu Guan before he could leave the commandery.”

“But… I never imagined we would still be a step too late.”

A trace of worry settled in Chi Xiyan’s eyes.

Lu Guan’s death had caught nearly everyone off guard.

“If I had been just a little faster, I might have intercepted him before he was killed.”

“If that had happened, none of this trouble would have followed.”

Chi Jingwen was silent.

If the truth was really what he suspected it to be, then no matter how early Chi Xiyan had arrived, Lu Guan’s death would have been inevitable.

After all, the other party had prepared every detail of the silencing, down to the motive. Surrounding and killing a Sixth Realm sword cultivator was no small undertaking. A plan this carefully laid could not have been undone by some small variable shifting the outcome.

“Father, where are you going?” Chi Xiyan noticed the path they were on did not lead toward the formation core.

“The abandoned quarters,” Chi Jingwen answered.

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Chi Xiyan was puzzled.

The abandoned quarters? The only one being held there right now was the newly arrived Lan Shuang’er. What was there to see there?

She had only just received twenty lightning strikes as punishment. She would have difficulty even standing.

But looking at the gravity on Chi Jingwen’s face, Chi Xiyan swallowed her question.

Chi Jingwen walked at a brisk pace to the Chi family’s abandoned quarters.

As the Chi family head, he held full control over the Chi family’s grand formation. The prohibition seals on the abandoned quarters posed no obstacle to him. He raised his hand, formed the seal, and dissolved the locks completely.

Chi Jingwen led Chi Xiyan quickly into the run-down courtyard.

With a creak, the worn wooden door was pushed open.

Bu Lianshuang was still lying pitifully face-down on her thin mattress.

Hearing the door open, she lifted her head with effort and looked with puzzlement at the two uninvited guests.

“First Miss. Family Head.”

“Have you come specifically to see me?”

Bu Lianshuang’s face held a look of genuine confusion. She made to rise and greet them, but the wounds across her back gave a sharp pull and the pain drove her back down onto the mattress.

“I apologize. Please forgive this servant for being too injured to rise and receive you properly.”

“May I ask what brings the First Miss and Family Head to the abandoned quarters personally?”

“You are injured,” Chi Xiyan said. “There is no need to stand on ceremony.”

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“Understood…” Bu Lianshuang gave a small nod and lowered her head back down onto the mattress.

Even so, though Bu Lianshuang’s manner remained entirely natural throughout, her attention had not left Chi Jingwen for a moment.

The fox miss said that the human called Chi Jingwen would certainly come to suspect us.

Exactly as the fox miss said.

Humans are truly cunning and full of suspicion.

Then, Chi Jingwen said abruptly, “Xiyan, the young lady Lan Shuang’er appears to be seriously injured. Give her a proper examination.”

Bu Lianshuang’s expression stiffened slightly.

The fox miss predicted this too.

But the injuries on my body are all real. These humans will not find anything.

Chi Xiyan glanced at Chi Jingwen in surprise.

She had already examined Lan Shuang’er’s injuries earlier. Mu Wu had struck without any restraint, as though he had no concept of holding back. Even a Sixth Realm martial cultivator would have struggled to endure punishment that severe.

“Father, I have already examined her before. The lightning punishment did not damage her foundation, but she should not be able to move freely for some time.”

Chi Jingwen listened to Chi Xiyan’s answer, his expression unchanged.

“It is fine,” he said. “Examine her again carefully.”

Chi Xiyan did not understand, but she stepped forward regardless, leaned down, and took Bu Lianshuang’s pulse.