Shuzhou City!
The commoner almost stumbled out of the Government Office holding his head, limping along. It was really pitiful.
It had already been three days since the battle at Hidden Moon Peak.
Early this morning, the commoner wanted to check on his cousin's injury. The good news was that his cousin was fine; with the irrigation of various Spirit Medicines, the external wounds healed, and the internal injuries just required some rest.
However, this was bad news for his cousin. As soon as Su Wanjun learned that his cousin's wounds had stabilized, she immediately hung him up in the Government Office's main hall and started whipping him with a leather whip.
Hearing the miserable cries of his cousin, it surely hurt a lot. The commoner took a look as he entered and then decisively retreated.
Outside the Government Office gate, Han Yu was squatting alone by the door playing with stones, wearing a floral jacket and with two pigtails tied on his head, staring blankly, with drool occasionally falling.
What is this situation?
The commoner immediately covered his face.
That day, after Han Yu scared off Ran Shiqing, he just stood there dumbly. When the two slowly approached, they realized something was off with him.
Who could have imagined that someone so fierce moments ago could become so silly in the next moment?
The doctors in Shuzhou City had checked him, and even his cousin's cousin, Su Wanjun, helped to examine him. The conclusion was unanimous; he had injured his brain, and there was no cure.
There had never been a mention of aftereffects of any Divine Techniques being so frightening. The commoner, refusing to believe it, waited for two days, and Han Yu showed no sign of improvement.
Not only no improvement, but he was also as clueless as a two-year-old child. The commoner could only temporarily raise him like a child.
"I want milk, granny."
Squatting on the ground, Han Yu's eyes suddenly brightened, looking at a well-endowed woman on the roadside and shouting.
The commoner's face instantly changed, quickly pulling him away. In the past few days, it had caused quite a bit of trouble. Those who believed the explanation would cast sympathetic glances, and those who didn't would directly report it to the Palace Guard to take them away.
"Don't be naughty, I'll take you to a nice place to drink."
The commoner coaxed helplessly, then forcibly dragged him away, all the way to the cowshed of a household in the eastern part of the city.
The cow there had recently given birth to a calf, and it was a place the commoner found with difficulty. After paying the owner a sum of money, whenever Han Yu said he wanted milk, he would lead him here.
For Han Yu, the three days felt like a blink of an eye had passed.
His last memory was cut off when Ran Shiqing fled in panic. After that, his mind went completely blank.
When he opened his eyes again, he only felt like it had been a mere moment.
"What is that taste?"
As his consciousness fully returned, a sudden fishy taste in his mouth almost made him retch, only to find himself in a cowshed, holding a cow's teat in his hands.
In his mind, Glass was laughing uncontrollably.
"Hahaha! Han Yu, go find a place to look at yourself."
Hearing this, Han Yu immediately left the cowshed. Conveniently, there was a large water jar outside. He cautiously leaned over to look at the water's surface, seeing a blurry reflection with two pigtails sticking up. It looked incredibly silly.
Then he looked at his own floral jacket, which was quite festive, immediately darkening his face.
The laughter of Glass continued non-stop in his mind!
At that moment, the commoner walked over frowning, grabbed him, and said, "Little kids shouldn't play with water, you'll wet the bed if you do."
With a complicated expression, Han Yu turned his head to look at him. The commoner met his gaze and was briefly stunned.
Then he reached out to touch Han Yu's forehead, which Han Yu knocked away with a dark face, giving him a stern look, "This silly getup, did you do it?"
The commoner jumped in surprise, shouting with both delight and incredulity, "You're awake!"
Blushing immediately, thinking of his own spur-of-the-moment "masterpiece," and secretly cursing the incompetent doctors for their harmful diagnoses.
Han Yu speechlessly pulled down the two little pigtails, then looked around, realizing it should be inside Shuzhou City.
Naturally, he asked about the aftermath. As the two left the cowshed and talked, the commoner recounted the occurrences at the scene that day, then talked about his cousin, before finally, with a complicated expression, discussing Han Yu's situation over the past three days.
"You mean I spent these three days like a two-year-old child, wetting the bed, messing my pants, playing with mud, sucking my fingers, chasing people around calling 'granny'?"
Han Yu murmured in disbelief, wondering what kind of embarrassing days he had lived through in those three days!
The commoner looked awkward, having witnessed all sorts of Han Yu's shameful actions. Han Yu seemed to realize something and suddenly changed his expression.
"These days, were you the one personally taking care of me?"
The thought of two grown men in such a situation was revolting...
The commoner rolled his eyes at him, saying, "You're overthinking it. I paid an old lady to take care of you. Normally, I just take you out for a walk."
Well, that's a relief.
Han Yu sighed helplessly. The three-day side effects were indeed terrifying, causing him to lose nearly all self-care abilities and have no self-awareness.
Without someone to care for him, who knew what embarrassing thing he'd do the first moment he opened his eyes.
And now, the most urgent thing was to change out of these festive clothes as soon as possible. The two hurried back to the inn.
After Han Yu changed back into his usual outfit, he finally felt comfortable all over.
At noon, someone unexpected came—a cousin who had been beaten up.
He entered with a rosy face, paused for a moment upon seeing Han Yu, then exclaimed with delight, "You're finally awake."
The two just glanced at him with strange looks, and the commoner said teasingly, "You've been released?"
The cousin blushed, scratched his head, and said, "My cousin cooled off and let me out; I'm free again!"
No wonder the cousin looked so rosy; he managed to escape again.
The three sat down together. After the cousin poured a glass of water and drank it, he suddenly grew serious and whispered, "We might have stirred up a hornet's nest."
Han Yu was puzzled, asking, "What happened?"
The cousin's expression was grave as he recounted what he had heard from Su Wanjun.
When the three of them returned to Shuzhou City, battered and bruised, it naturally alarmed Su Wanjun. A large group of Palace Guards went to Hidden Moon Peak based on the cousin's account, but when they arrived...
"Guess what happened?"
The cousin wanted to keep them in suspense, but the commoner impatiently urged him.
"Hurry up and tell us, or get lost."
A wildfire had broken out at Hidden Moon Peak, and when the Palace Guards arrived, they couldn't get close. By the time the fire was extinguished, all that was left were unidentifiable bones and nothing else.
"The valley was also set on fire, and the batch of Corpse Puppets intercepted by the commoner were all reduced to charred corpses."
The cousin sighed.
As it stood, there was no way to indict the Zuyou Sect for Corpse Refinement since, from start to finish, all there was were the statements from the three of them, with no substantial evidence.
Han Yu seemed to remember something and pointed at the commoner, "Didn't you seize the Soul-Attracting Bell and the Sect Token?"
The commoner nodded, saying, "I remember handing them over to Guardian Su that very day."
The cousin shook his head and sighed, "Yesterday, the Zuyou Sect responded that Bao Ruijie has been missing for a long time, and the Sect knows nothing about this."
Isn't that just blatantly lying?
"Wasn't there one more?"
Han Yu recalled the high-tier cultivator.
"Then who is he? What's his name?"
The cousin countered, leaving the two speechless. Nobody knew the identity of that high-tier cultivator.
Then the cousin brought up another matter: a small village at Pian Stone Ridge also experienced a massive fire, killing everyone.
Why bring this up? Because the cousin said Su Wanjun suspects that the high-tier cultivator fled to Pian Stone Ridge and was silenced.
Both places had similar large fires, burning everything clean, and the methods were alike, raising the possibility that the same person did it.
Hiss!
This was truly ruthless, silencing everyone, including the villagers; the deed was handled too thoroughly.
"But this is just speculation. Given how burned Pian Stone Ridge is, it's impossible to distinguish between people. My cousin said let's hope the same person didn't do it; otherwise, we've really stirred a hornet's nest."
The cousin's expression was serious.
"Even coincidences don't align this perfectly. For a small village of dozens to burn like that, unless everyone died first, the fire couldn't spread like this."
Han Yu's face also grew somber.
"So, the Shuzhou Prefecture still has a mastermind, who transferred between the two places to erase all traces."
If that's the case, then whatever they're trying to cover up is not simple.
Why did the high-tier cultivator have to die? It made sense to silence Bao Ruijie for being exposed, but that high-tier cultivator didn't have to die; he could have simply hidden away.
Unless he had a reason to die.
The three thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out, only getting more confused.
The matter was shrouded in mystery; they had just stumbled upon it by coincidence.
Huh~ Ptoo~
In broad daylight, the Glazed Bottle spat again... No, it spat out a pill.
"What's with the Glazed Bottle lately, being so active?"
Glass explained gloomily, "It feels it's made a contribution and thinks it's more useful than me, so it spits whenever it wants, and I can't do anything about it."
Han Yu broke into a cold sweat, wondering what happened to the promised freedom once the Artifact Spirit revived and the promised independent pill refinement.
In his mind, the new pills spun around, freshly spat from the bottle...