Yun Jin hurried back to Tianxing Sect as soon as she finished her tasks. She had never been able to truly relax when it came to Zhao Wuji and Yang Yun.
Every day, she would check in with Lin Ya to ask about the sect's situation.
She couldn't tell whether everything was genuinely fine or if her naïve and oblivious master was just too dim-witted to notice anything.
Either way, Lin Ya always gave the same answer: everything's fine.
Still, there was no real urgency now.
Even if something had happened...
She was back.
That meant nothing could go wrong.
Yun Jin paused for a moment and decided not to return to Tianxing Sect immediately.
The banquet wasn't until the evening.
There wouldn't be any trouble before it started.
Yun Jin asked Yue Zhao, "Senior Brother, I asked you before to investigate whether there were any traces of the demonic path around here. Do you have any updates?"
Yun Jin was reminded of her previous life.
Something had always felt off.
The demons had clearly come for Yang Yun. He had deliberately leaked his whereabouts, intending to use others to eliminate his enemies.
But those demons hadn't realized Yang Yun had nearly recovered. When they attacked rashly, they were wiped out—by Yang Yun and his mysterious subordinates.
The issue was with those subordinates.
Where did they come from?
Back then, so many people had seen Yang Yun and his group, yet no one suspected a thing. That meant they had hidden their presence extremely well.
They appeared out of nowhere, and no one noticed a thing.
Afterward, Yang Yun and his subordinates were even treated as honored guests.
But still...
Yun Jin firmly believed that wherever something existed, traces would remain.
They might have hidden their spiritual aura...
But with so many people...
Could their behavior really have been perfectly normal? Not even a single slip?
People nowadays relied far too heavily on sensing spiritual aura to identify demons or practitioners of the demonic path.
Yun Jin's perspective was simpler.
It didn't matter what aura someone had—whether human or demon. If they acted in the ways of the demonic path, if they followed that road, then they deserved to die.
What, practicing a righteous cultivation method but doing evil deeds doesn't count as being demonic?
Of course it does.
Yue Zhao paused for a moment, then said, "When I left earlier, I hadn't noticed anything strange. But I left people here to keep an eye on things. We can head to the market and check for any updates."
"Alright," Yun Jin agreed.
Yue Zhao cast a conflicted glance at Yun Jin.
Sigh...
Little Junior Sister had figured out he was a transmigrator, but she hadn't said a word about it to him.
Which made it... even more awkward.
After flying for a while, the group quickly arrived at the market.
"This place is pretty interesting," Lao Huo said, looking around with a fresh curiosity.
If this were the old Yue Zhao, he'd probably be boasting endlessly right now. But at the moment, he glanced uneasily at Yun Jin and muttered, "It's nothing special. Just some standard operations, really."
Yun Jin blinked. "Senior must not know. All of these ideas were created by my Senior Brother here."
Lao Huo turned to Yue Zhao in surprise.
Yue Zhao was practically dripping with cold sweat.
"Oh, right. My Senior Brother goes by the alias 'Ren Woxing' here. Everyone, make sure you don't slip up," Yun Jin added with a smile.
Yue Zhao: "..."
He hadn't been sure whether Yun Jin got the reference.
Now he knew.
Not only did she get it, she'd probably been laughing at him in secret for a long time.
Yue Zhao walked up beside Yun Jin and hissed through clenched teeth, "Junior Sister, spare me some dignity."
Yun Jin's eyes curved with a smile. "Senior Brother, what's the problem? It's just standard operations."
Yue Zhao's composure was wearing thin.
He was genuinely frustrated.
Junior Sister must've learned about him being reincarnated from the Heart Testing Mirror.
But from just that, could she really also know Smiling Proud Wanderer?
Yue Zhao suddenly had a strange thought.
Could it be… that she came from the same world as him?
Were the two of them… from the same hometown?
Yue Zhao looked at Yun Jin with a probing gaze.
Yun Jin had no intention of confirming anything.
Let Senior Brother stew on it.
Bleh.
Yue Zhao led the group to a private room at a restaurant and had someone come to report recent happenings.
"Boss Ren, some strange things have been happening lately," the informant said.
Boss Ren…
Yun Jin gave Yue Zhao a sidelong glance.
Yue Zhao looked even more uncomfortable.
He'd just thought it sounded more natural that way!
Now?
Now it was just... painfully awkward.
Yue Zhao cleared his throat. "Just get to the point."
The man quickly continued, "In the past few days, some odd folks have been showing up in the market. They keep getting into random brawls. Pavilion Master Chen and the others have punished them several times, even detained them. But here's the strange part—these people are locked up during the day, but by nightfall, they're gone. The next day, a completely new group shows up and starts the same chaos.
"What's truly strange is that they seem to have no motive. Most people start fights because of an argument or trouble of some sort, right? But these guys… it's like their whole goal is just to get into a brawl. Also, while the market's detention cells aren't the most secure in the world, they're still not somewhere just anyone can break out of. And yet these people vanish into thin air, like ghosts. There's clearly something else going on.
Pavilion Master Chen and the others are worried too. With how bizarre these people are acting, maybe they're connected to the demonic path. But no matter how many methods they've used to investigate, they've found nothing suspicious. These people seem like ordinary cultivators. They haven't caused any real harm either, so maybe they're just… doing it for fun?"
Even the man himself sounded absurd by the end.
Who would go to all that trouble—picking fights, getting arrested, subjected to scans—just for fun? Even if they had a way to escape later… what were they gaining?
"That is pretty strange," Yue Zhao said with a frown. "Anything else?"
The man replied, "There's also been a few disappearances among the loose cultivators. There are several sects nearby. Even if someone couldn't join a sect, living around here usually made things safer. It was normal for loose cultivators to go missing in areas without protection, but now it's happening here too. Not a lot, though. So we're not sure if it's worth noting."
Yue Zhao gave a noncommittal hum. "Anything else?"
The man shook his head, indicating that was all.
Yue Zhao finally waved him off.
Seeing Yun Jin lost in thought, Yue Zhao asked, "Junior Sister, did you notice something?"
Yun Jin pondered for a moment before replying, "I'm just thinking… those troublemakers, their routine is very deliberate. First, cause trouble. Then get arrested. Then get examined. Then escape. After that, a new batch takes over. Now let's assume they're not just messing around. If they hadn't achieved their goal, they would've come back a second or third time. But your man said a new group comes in each day. That means the first group probably already achieved their goal."
Achieved their goal?
Getting caught was the goal?
Yue Zhao and the others were stunned.
Yun Jin spoke slowly, "They wanted to get caught. They wanted to be examined. They were trying to confirm something."
"What were they trying to confirm?"
Yun Jin's voice was quiet but steady.
"That their aura… is truly seamless."