Young hero, stay put and don't be reckless.

Chapter 79 Infiltration

A large group of martial arts practitioners had gathered at the entrance; those who couldn't enter without an invitation were craning their necks to peer inside.

As soon as someone came out, they all swarmed around them.

"It's out! It's out!"

"How's the fighting going inside?"

"Who is this person? Why are they out so early?"

Li Tang stood at the door, her eyes red-rimmed, biting her lip, looking as if she had suffered a great injustice.

"You all may not know this—" Her voice trembled, but she deliberately raised it eight octaves, "Just now inside, Chen Xu of Yinzhai, after losing the match, actually launched a sneak attack! He struck someone so hard that they vomited blood!"

"What?!" The crowd erupted in uproar.

"A sneak attack? Really?"

"Could someone from Yinzhai really do something like this?"

"Who was ambushed? Who?"

Li Tang wiped away the tears that had been forced out from the corner of her eyes and choked out, "It's Jiang Xun, the one who cut off Li Fei's arm and defeated Zhang Tao yesterday!"

He had clearly won his duel with Chen Xu, his sword even at Chen Xu's neck, when Chen Xu, taking advantage of the moment he sheathed his sword, struck him in the chest with a palm strike! He immediately coughed up blood!

"Is there no law anymore?"

"Yinzhai is really going too far!"

"That Chen Xu, he's always been so arrogant, he's definitely no good!"

The crowd erupted in a cacophony of insults.

Li Tang got more and more excited as she spoke, embellishing her account of what had just happened.

He described things like "Chen Xu lost the competition and became enraged", "He took advantage of the moment to kill someone", and "So what if Chen Lei lost the medicine?" He told the stories like a storyteller, gesturing as he spoke, making them vivid and lifelike.

More and more people gathered, completely blocking the entrance to the Meng residence.

The servants of the Meng household were sweating profusely with anxiety, repeatedly urging, "Gentlemen, gentlemen, please spread out and don't block the entrance..."

No one cares about him.

Everyone was listening intently.

"And there's more..." Li Tang wiped away non-existent tears and continued speaking.

Meanwhile, Jiang Xun had already taken advantage of the chaos to sneak back to the Meng residence without anyone noticing.

He had a map and had been there before, so he was much more familiar with the layout of the Meng residence than he had been the day before.

His target was, of course, the backyard.

But he didn't go directly there—there were definitely people guarding the area, and forcing his way in during the day would be suicide.

He went around in circles and headed straight for the kitchen.

The kitchen is located in the southeast corner of the Meng residence, in a separate courtyard.

It was lunchtime, and the room was steaming hot. Several cooks were busy, some chopping vegetables, others stir-frying dishes, and white steam was billowing from the steamers.

Jiang Xun hid outside the courtyard wall and observed for a while. When a fat cook came out to carry firewood, he slipped in from behind him.

There was a small room behind the kitchen, filled with old clothes and miscellaneous items.

Jiang Xun rummaged through his belongings, found a set of dusty servant's clothes, put them on, messed up his hair, and smeared some soot on his face—that was it.

He swaggered out from behind, head down, and mingled among the servants who brought the food, helping to carry plates and bowls.

Nobody paid any attention to him.

Several hundred people came to the Meng residence today, and the kitchen was so busy that it was impossible to tell if there was one more or one less person.

Moreover, he had indeed helped out in the kitchen before, and his movements were skillful and natural, so no one would doubt him.

Jiang Xun kept a close eye on things as he worked, glancing at the food boxes every now and then.

The meals were delivered to the main courtyard in batches.

The servants carried trays through the corridor to the front yard.

But a few were sent in another direction—to the backyard.

Jiang Xun understood.

He continued working and waiting.

By the afternoon, the kitchen was finally less busy.

Several cooks were so exhausted that they slumped in their chairs and dozed off, while the servants also went off in twos and threes to find places to rest.

Jiang found a corner, sat down against the wall, and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep.

Nobody cared about him.

The sky gradually darkened.

The commotion in the main courtyard has subsided; the arena must be over.

Jiang Xun listened intently for a while and vaguely heard people discussing—there was still no result, the judges were still deliberating, and it hadn't been decided who would receive the Dragon Crystal.

It's good that there's no result.

Jiang Xun breathed a sigh of relief.

The lack of results means that Long Jing is still in the Meng family mansion.

It was completely dark when only two servants on night duty remained in the kitchen, dozing off in their chairs.

Jiang Xun waited for a while, then quietly got up and crept to the stove.

Several food boxes were placed on the table, ready to be sent to the backyard.

He took a small paper packet out of his pocket.

This is a sleeping potion given to me by my master, the Master Thief. I used some of it in Yunzhou, and there's still some left.

He sprinkled the remaining powder into the soup, stirred it with a spoon, and there was no trace of it.

Not long after, a middle-aged man who looked like the manager walked into the kitchen and called out, "Is the food in the backyard ready yet?"

The two servants on night duty were startled awake and hurriedly replied, "Alright, alright!"

The steward waved his hand: "Send it over quickly, don't keep them waiting."

The two servants picked up the food box and left.

Jiang Xun lowered his head and quietly followed behind.

After passing through the corridor and around the artificial hill, we arrived at the backyard.

The yard was much quieter than the front yard.

Two servants brought the food box to the door of the house, knocked on it, and someone inside answered. The door opened a crack, and the food box was taken inside.

The servant turned and left.

Jiang Xun hid behind the artificial hill and waited for a while, then waited some more, but there was no more movement in the courtyard.

He crept closer to the courtyard wall, pressed his ear to it, and listened—there was breathing inside, very even and deep.

The medicine is working.

Before Jiang Xun could even feel happy, he suddenly realized something was wrong.

This time, that familiar warm current didn't emerge from my body.

In other words, the dragon crystal is either sealed in a special container or is no longer in the Meng residence.

He hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

Since we're already here, let's go in and take a look.

He took out a hood, put it on, took a deep breath, and climbed over the wall into the yard.

The courtyard was quiet, with a tall blue brick tower standing at the deepest part. There were no lights on the tower, and it was pitch black, like a big pillar standing there.

Behind the tower there is another room, which doesn't look very big, and the doors and windows are tightly closed.

Beside the tower, four martial artists in tight-fitting clothes lay sprawled on the ground, sleeping like dead pigs.

Jiang Xun ignored them and quickly walked to the bottom of the tower.

The door was tightly shut. He pushed it open and went inside. It was so dark that he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. He took out a tinderbox, blew on it, and the flame flickered.

The base of the tower was empty, with nothing there except a wooden staircase leading upstairs.

He didn't go up; it would take too much time.

He turned around and walked out, heading towards the room behind.

Pushing open the door, the light from the tumbler illuminated the bookshelves, the desk, and a painting hanging on the wall.

Several books were spread out on the desk, along with an oil lamp that hadn't been lit yet.

The books on the bookshelf were neatly arranged and spotless.

Jiang Xun quickly searched the bookshelf, but found nothing; he checked the drawers, but found nothing there either; he looked at the paintings on the wall, but still found nothing.

There was nothing there.

Just as I was about to leave, a voice suddenly came from behind me.

"Who is it?"

Jiang Xun turned around abruptly, and a sword light was already upon him, as cold as frost and as fast as lightning.

He dodged to the side, the sword light grazing his shoulder and slicing off a piece of his clothing.

The tinderbox was extinguished by the wind from the sword, and the room was plunged back into darkness, so thick it was almost impenetrable.

In the darkness, he couldn't see the other person's face, but from that cold voice and sharp sword moves, he already knew who it was.

Ye Qingying.