Chapter 28: 18 Years Ago

“What? You couldn’t find him?” Su Chongshan asked in the main hall of a palace. He stood up from his wooden armchair and had a long expression on his face. He looked scary.

“Don’t you have any clues? All the exits are sealed. He can’t escape. He must be hiding somewhere. Go from door to door, every house, without exception. You can’t let him escape. Even if you offend them, tell them I’ll come and apologize to them,” Su Chongshan said like a strong wind and swift rain.

“Taoist priest, it’s late. I can ask someone to take you to a room where you can rest. I will immediately inform you once we capture him,” Su Chongshan said to Mu Yi. He was embarrassed. After all, Su Chongshan had told Mu Yi that Xugui wouldn’t be able to escape even if he was given wings. Time had passed, and they still hadn’t found him.

He was even more scared of such a dangerous enemy. He had been shot by an arrow and had still completely disappeared. Finding him wouldn’t be easy.

Su Chongshan had the feeling that he hadn’t dealt with the situation properly. He should have dispatched more people. Now, he could only pray that the enemy had yet to escape. If he was still here, they could still find him.

He was convinced about that.

“No need. If you’re not tired, I want to tell you some things,” Mu Yi said. He was disappointed, but he couldn’t offend Su Chongshan because of that. Xugui was a skilled man, and he practiced the Dao. Despite his injuries, Xugui wasn’t a normal person, so capturing him wouldn’t be easy.

“I’m not tired,” Su Chongshan said. He knew that Mu Yi wanted to talk to him. “Please tell me.”

“Mister Su, what do you know about the man with whom your daughter escaped?” Mu Yi asked.

When Su Chongshan heard that question, he looked embarrassed, but he still talked. “I’ve seen him only once. I don’t know much about him. He was tall and slim and looked like a poor and pedantic scholar. I don’t know why my daughter fell in love with him.”

Mu Yi remained expressionless. He had never seen him either, but since Nian Nuer’s mother had escaped with him, he probably had some good things to offer.

Su Yingying would have never engaged with a poor man in the first place, especially since she was always with Su Chongshan and under his influence.

“Anything else? Anything particular or noteworthy?” Mu Yi asked. He wanted to learn as much as possible about Nian Nuer’s father. According to Nian Nuer, he had offered the bamboo tree to her mother.

If the man had been an ordinary man, how could he have afforded such a precious treasure? He was wondering if Nian Nuer’s sickness had anything to do with her father. If he had been there, her mother wouldn’t have come back alone with her.

Of course, maybe he was just an unfaithful lover and had just dumped her after making her pregnant.

“Anything noteworthy?” Su Chongshan repeated as he tried to remember. After all, eighteen years had passed. Many things had happened. His memories were blurry, and he needed time to think.

Mu Yi wasn’t in a rush. He didn’t put pressure on him. He took out the small flag from his bag and looked at it.

The flag was quite resistant even though it was broken due to the five thunders charm. Regardless, Mu Yi was curious of the material used to create the flag. Surprisingly, it could change its size in a similar manner to Sun Wukong’s golden cudgel in mythology.

This was why Mu Yi didn’t throw it away even though it was broken. Unfortunately, he didn’t understand the item, and the old Taoist Priest had never told him anything about it.

He touched it for half a day and still failed to understand its composition. Mu Yi tried to inspect it with his mind very carefully. Before, Xugui had made his ghost enter the flag. However, where was she now?

Because he didn’t understand the item, he wasn’t in a rush. He didn’t rush to heal the old woman either. Waiting for a few more days wasn’t a problem.

Mu Yi’s mind touched the flag, and it made him shake violently. He sensed a coldness invade his spinal cord and he immediately cut the connection.

After taking a few breaths, Mu Yi managed to calm down. He realized that the flag was a complex item through and through.

He had tried connecting himself to the flag a few more times before Mu Yi finally started getting used to the coldness and ended up in a secret world. He couldn’t see anything, but he didn’t find anything either. After that, he recalled his mind.

However, he came to the conclusion that the female ghost had been killed by the five thunders charm.

“Taoist priest, I just remembered something. Maybe you will find it useful,” Su Chongshan said. He suddenly remembered something.

“What is it?” Mu Yi raised his head and looked at Su Chongshan. He placed the flag back into his bag.

“I remember that he was holding a disk,” Su Chongshan said.

“Disk? What kind of disk?” Mu Yi asked. What was a disk?

“Back then, I noticed that he was holding a disk in my daughter’s courtyard. I didn’t know what it was. When I saw it, he became furious. I didn’t see the disk clearly though. From that moment, I forbade my daughter from going out,” Su Chongshan said. Remorse invaded his face and eyes. Maybe if he had handled that issue better, things wouldn’t have turned out this way.

“A disk? And he was in the courtyard?” Mu Yi thought of the bamboo tree. It was a precious treasure. Now, Mu Yi could guess a few things about that man’s social status. Even if he was wrong, he was definitely involved.

Even though Mu Yi had guessed some things, he didn’t tell Su Chongshan anything.

“Did you understand anything?” Su Chongshan asked when he saw Mu Yi’s facial expression.

“Maybe. I’m not sure,” Mu Yi said as he then changed the topic. “Regarding your daughter and your granddaughter, there are some things I want to say, but I’m not sure.”