However.
According to what’s written in the dossier, the Illusion Sound Sect has always been pretty well-behaved, never done anything outrageously evil.
If they don’t stir up trouble, the court wouldn’t bother paying attention to such a small sect either.
So then.
How exactly did Shu Fan, the senior sister of the Illusion Sound Sect, end up getting caught?
"Lord Hundred Households!"
Beneath the black cloth, Shu Fan’s voice sounded again.
Even though she was covered by black cloth and couldn’t see what was going on outside, after chatting with these people for days, Shu Fan was already clear—among them, the highest-ranking official was Ye Liuyun, a Hundred Households of the Embroidered Uniform Guard at the Innate Realm.
"This black cloth is so uncomfortable for a delicate lady like me, my lord, why don’t you help lift it off for me?"
"..."
Ye Liuyun sat atop his horse, leading the group up front.
His eyes were calm, not a hint of interest in responding.
"My lord, you’re an Innate Martial Artist. Are you worried my techniques could affect you?"
Seeing Ye Liuyun stay silent.
Shu Fan wasn’t about to give up—she kept on speaking in a sweet, delicate tone.
"I hate trouble."
This Shu Fan—she’s obviously a huge pain to deal with.
So right now, all Ye Liuyun needed to do was deliver her safely to the Imperial City’s Celestial Prison. About anything else, he had zero intention of getting involved.
"But I’m not a troublesome person at all, my lord, you shouldn’t randomly slander people!"
"..."
Seeing Ye Liuyun ignore her again.
Shu Fan didn’t feel bored or annoyed—instead, she found it quite entertaining.
"My lord, aren’t you just a bit curious what I look like under this black cloth?"
"Not curious!"
"Aren’t you even curious why I got caught?"
"Not curious!"
"Aren’t you curious why you were assigned this case?"
"Not curious!"
"My lord, could it be—"
"Not curious!"
Shu Fan kept asking questions, but Ye Liuyun only ever replied with those three words.
"I hadn’t even finished talking yet."
By the end, her playful tone had shifted to grinding her teeth a bit in frustration.
"No matter what you say, I’m still not curious."
Shu Fan clearly knows something, but Ye Liuyun had no plans to pick up the conversation.
"You!"
She really hadn’t expected Ye Liuyun to be this thick-skinned and unreceptive—totally unlike what she’d imagined.
"My lord, do you really not want to know anything?"
"All I know is I need to deliver you to the Celestial Prison in the Imperial City, and that’s enough for me."
Hearing this back-and-forth,
Si Nan pulled his horse closer to Shi Sheng, nudging Shi Sheng with his shoulder.
"?"
Catching Shi Sheng’s confused look, Si Nan whispered quietly.
"Wanna bet that this lady’s definitely gonna take a liking to our lord later?"
"So what?"
Shi Sheng thought about it—he didn’t see anything interesting about this kind of thing.
"Aren’t you even curious how things’ll go when that happens?"
"Not curious!"
Shi Sheng’s answer was simple.
"It’s just a woman—what’s to be curious about? If you spent half the effort you use gossiping about women on training, you wouldn’t still be stuck with no progress."
"..."
Si Nan just felt his mind buzzing from the blow.
All he wanted was to gossip a little—didn’t expect to get a lecture instead.
But thinking it over, that actually suited Shi Sheng’s character perfectly.
"You probably won’t find a woman in your entire life."
Si Nan muttered something at Shi Sheng, not sounding impressed.
Shi Sheng, though, just shrugged indifferently, clearly not bothered at all.
Maybe from the start, Shi Sheng never planned to look for anyone—he was perfectly fine on his own. He could practice whenever he wanted. Having a woman around would just be trouble.
Thinking like that,
Shi Sheng only felt more certain—women will only slow down my training.
Besides,
"I’m not interested in these fragile girls. If I had to look, I’d only pick someone strong, with good martial skills."
"???"
For the first time, Si Nan realized—
So Shi Sheng likes that kind of woman, huh.
No wonder when they went to the Imperial Music Bureau last time, Shi Sheng didn’t even spare a glance at the women. He just sat there drinking.
"You’re a legend!"
His mind flashed with a mental image of a woman who fit Shi Sheng’s ’requirements.’
Si Nan decisively shot Shi Sheng a thumbs-up.
Bro, you’re the real hero here.
"Hmph!"
Shi Sheng could tell Si Nan’s look was full of bad intentions, but he didn’t care in the slightest.
If he wanted someone, he’d find someone like that. If he couldn’t, he’d rather stay single.
...
Shu Fan had actually wanted to keep bantering with Ye Liuyun.
But after walking a bit further,
Ye Liuyun suddenly raised his hand, signaling for the group to stop.
"Whoa!"
The party reined in their horses. Si Nan and Shi Sheng came up alongside Ye Liuyun together.
"Weird, there was definitely a road here before!"
Right now, the way ahead was blocked by several giant old trees.
Si Nan found it strange.
They’d used the same route coming here, and back then these trees weren’t there. Plus, from the look of them, they weren’t newly planted, either.
Ye Liuyun didn’t waste words.
With one hand on the reins, he raised the other, circulating his Inner Strength as his palm faced the ground.
A palm-sized rock was drawn up to Ye Liuyun’s hand.
He flicked his wrist casually.
The rock flew towards those ancient trees.
"Whoosh!"
There was no sound of stone hitting timber; the rock passed right through the trees.
"An illusion again?"
Seeing this, Si Nan and the others realized what was going on.