Saving the White Moonlight Chapter 23

After the quest was accepted, a small icon like a compass appeared on the quest panel. Beneath the icon was a string of strange symbols.
Yan Zhuguang was sitting cross-legged. When she stood up and moved, the icon began swaying left and right, and the end of that string of strange symbols began changing constantly.
The system said, “I forgot Host does not know Arabic numerals. I will change it to words now.”
After the system operated for a moment, the symbols soon changed into “about one thousand seven hundred meters.”
Yan Zhuguang quickly understood the meaning of the image and words. “He Sheng’s body is in that direction?”
The system said, “I am not sure yet, but there is definitely a clue there.”
Yan Zhuguang had some understanding of Fenghua Immortal Sect. Fenghua Immortal Sect was very large. Everything within several dozen miles belonged to the immortal sect. The quest panel marked a distance of about one thousand seven hundred meters. In other words, He Sheng had not left Fenghua Immortal Sect.
In that case, the person who killed He Sheng could only be someone inside Fenghua Immortal Sect.
“Host, are you going now?”
Yan Zhuguang thought for a moment. “What is Yun Mixue doing?”
If not for He Sheng’s sudden death, Yan Zhuguang had not planned to leave Ice-Snow Cottage. After all, she had promised Yun Mixue and did not want to break her word lightly.
However, He Sheng’s matter could not be delayed. She could only secretly apologize to Yun Mixue.
The system said, “Senior Sister is still handling sect affairs. She will not be back for a while.”
Then she would make it quick and try to handle this before Yun Mixue returned. As long as Yun Mixue did not discover it, Yan Zhuguang would not count as breaking her promise.
Yan Zhuguang walked outside and said to the system, “Open the beginner gift pack.”
“Oh, oh.”
The items in the beginner gift pack quickly fell into the inventory, and the ten low-grade spirit stones turned into a string of numbers in the currency section at the bottom of the inventory.
“Give me ten spirit stones.”
Each low-grade spirit stone was about half the size of Yan Zhuguang’s current palm. When all ten were taken out, they quickly filled both her arms.
She was clearly carrying a pile of spirit stones, yet she did not look awkward. Yan Zhuguang moved quickly, passed through the corridor outside the side room, and stepped into the icy world of the small garden.
The system watched Yan Zhuguang’s movements curiously.
With one arm, she held those ten spirit stones to her chest. With the other hand, she brushed away the thick white snow on the garden’s green plants. These green plants were of different kinds, and the sizes of their leaves were also different.
Yan Zhuguang chose a broad-leafed plant. She swept away the snow beneath it, then pinched the spirit stones in her hand and placed them one by one according to some rule.
The system had very rich data, but its understanding of the cultivation world was limited to things recorded in books. What Yan Zhuguang was setting up now could only be guessed as some kind of formation. What exact effect it had, the system did not know.
If this were before, it probably would have asked Host why she was playing with plants here when they had clearly said they were going to find He Sheng. But now, it had learned. Its host was powerful and decisive. Whatever she did was planned. It was absolutely not wasted effort. Knowing that was enough.
Of course, more importantly, when its host did things, she was extremely focused. She would not answer its questions at all. Asking would be pointless.
Yan Zhuguang truly would not answer the system’s questions. She had no attention to spare for outside matters. The formation before her had already consumed all her focus.
In the end, her current strength at the third level of Qi Refining was far too weak. Even though this formation had been improved by her and used so many spirit stones, casting it was still very forced.
Unfortunately, to save time, she had to take the risk this once.
He Sheng’s death was not ordinary. Accidental killing could basically be ruled out. Then He Sheng had been killed on purpose.
Why had the other person killed her? Did she have some grudge with someone, or had she discovered something she should not have discovered, learned some secret she should not have known, and been silenced?
There was another possibility, and it was the one Yan Zhuguang was most worried about: the person who killed He Sheng did it to reach some goal, such as framing someone.
If someone was only unhappy with Yan Zhuguang because Yun Mixue had punished He Sheng for her sake and wanted to use He Sheng’s death to deal with Yan Zhuguang, then Yan Zhuguang would not be this urgent.
She had long been used to such things. Being misunderstood and slandered did not matter.
But if the person who killed He Sheng was targeting Yun Mixue, Yan Zhuguang could not tolerate it.
Right now, Fenghua Immortal Sect was busy from top to bottom. It was not impossible for someone hidden in the dark to cause trouble and smear Yun Mixue while she could not get away.
Do not look at Yun Mixue’s good relationships, or how the people of Fenghua Immortal Sect seemed to love and respect her. If everyone truly loved her, then Frostflight Snow would not have fallen on Yun Mixue.
There were many people who acted human to your face and became ghosts behind your back. Yan Zhuguang was the most qualified person to say that.
Yan Zhuguang set the formation very quickly. Before long, a circle of spirit stones had been placed around the green plant. There seemed to be some mystery within it. That ordinary-looking spiritual plant began to glow faintly and turned a strange jade-green color.
Seeing this, Yan Zhuguang wiped the sweat from her forehead. Then she took a deep breath, raised both hands, and her fingers quickly began forming a kind of seal.
Yan Zhuguang’s fingers moved so fast that only afterimages could almost be seen. Sweat on her forehead grew more and more. It slid down from her brow, over the hair damp with sweat and stuck to her cheek, down her long neck, across her delicate collarbone, and finally vanished into her clothes.
The system did not dare disturb Yan Zhuguang while she cast the spell. It could only sink into admiring Host’s beauty.
A serious Host looked the best. It was only a pity that white dresses always felt a little out of place on Host. The system thought about it and still felt that brilliant red, or deep, enchanting purple, suited Host better.
As Yan Zhuguang’s spell deepened, a faint green light shone from her fingertips. It gradually turned into green ribbons that spread over her whole body. In the next moment, green light burst around Yan Zhuguang. She finished the hand seal and stepped into the formation. Her whole body disappeared.
The system felt as if it had burrowed into the plants with Host. Then they kept leaping, from one plant to another, so fast that it had no time to react.
Just as it slowly began to adapt to this feeling, it felt itself pushed by a sudden great force. It and Host were shoved out together. After a dizzying spin, Host landed lightly on the ground, and this extremely fast jumping journey finally stopped.
“This place is less than thirty meters from the quest marker!” the system said in surprise after checking.
This was a small forest. Tall, dense trees stood all around. Unlike Zhouxue Peak, there was no endless white snow here. Yan Zhuguang was half kneeling in the corner by a large tree, one hand holding the trunk. She looked somewhat exhausted.
“Host, are you all right?”
Yan Zhuguang shook her head and stood. “Open the mini-map.”
The system obediently opened the mini-map. Yan Zhuguang searched the area. Apart from small red dots representing little animals, there was nothing unusual and no one nearby.
“Do you have a way to search whether there are detection or image-recording spells left around here?”
Yan Zhuguang was cautious in her work. Since she guessed He Sheng’s death might have been for framing someone, it was not impossible that the other party had left some spell nearby to record images in order to better complete that goal.
She did have methods to detect such spells. But earlier, she had forcibly used the Wood Escape technique, consuming a large amount of energy. She still needed to keep some strength to handle whatever might come next. So she could only borrow the system’s help here.
The system said, “The Save the White Moonlight System has an anti-recording device. As long as Host turns it on, you will not be recorded by this world’s image-recording spells. This is a built-in system benefit. Host does not need to worry about this.”
The Save the White Moonlight System was, in the end, an outside system. Each host’s actions would definitely not fully match the actions of the native people. If image-recording spells captured them, would this world not fall into chaos?
So an anti-recording device was necessary. But this device was an active skill and required the host to choose to use it.
“If you want to detect other methods, spirit stones will be deducted. Each detection costs two low-grade spirit stones, and depending on the strength of the spell detected, appropriate extra fees may be charged.”
Yan Zhuguang did not hesitate. “Turn on the anti-recording device. Start detection.”
The system deducted two of Yan Zhuguang’s spirit stones and used professional methods to search the surroundings. “No abnormalities.”
Yan Zhuguang nodded. With a tap of her foot, she quickly ran toward the direction indicated by the quest icon. After only a few steps, she saw the purpose of this trip.
The system said, “He Sheng’s body really is here.”
Yan Zhuguang approached the body. The woman still held the posture she had when she died. Her whole body lay on the ground, but her head was turned to the side. Her eyes were not closed, and a trace of disbelief from before death still remained.
Perhaps because this small forest was too remote, and the people of Fenghua Immortal Sect were busy holding the sect master succession ceremony, no one had passed by. He Sheng’s body had not yet been found.
From the moment Yan Zhuguang discovered He Sheng had died, to the system issuing the quest, to her using Wood Escape to arrive, not much time had passed. By reason, He Sheng’s corpse should still be warm.
But strangely, this small forest was not Zhouxue Peak. It was clearly somewhat warm here, yet He Sheng’s body was already cold. A layer of white frost covered her hair, brows, and lashes.
Yan Zhuguang’s eyes chilled. This manner of death made it obvious at a glance that she had been killed by an ice spell. Yan Zhuguang did not know how many people in Fenghua Immortal Sect knew ice spells, but Yun Mixue was certainly one of them.
If they further investigated He Sheng’s experience before death, the fact that Yun Mixue had expelled her from Fenghua Immortal Sect would point suspicion even more toward Yun Mixue.
Although killing one or two people in the cultivation world was not an especially great matter, and could even be considered ordinary for most people, Yun Mixue was not included among most people.
Even if He Sheng’s actions deserved execution, this matter could not be done by Yun Mixue.
Because she was publicly known as kind, as bright and open. She could not do something like privately executing a disciple who had committed wrong.
The method used by the person who killed He Sheng to frame someone was rough and clumsy, but for Yun Mixue, it was very effective.
Even if Yun Mixue was finally proven innocent, this matter would still cast a shadow over her reputation.
Yan Zhuguang was thinking about how to handle it when she heard the system speak quickly and anxiously. “Host, Host, hurry. Someone is coming!”
Yan Zhuguang’s eyes darkened. They came quickly.