Three Suspects

Lan Ting had come to the guest room to deliver clothes. Even though he had no use for them, it would be rude to send her away right at the door. "Junior Sister Lan, why don't you come in and sit for a bit?" "Sure." Lan Ting stepped inside and spotted a half-eaten spiritual fruit lying near the doorway. "My hand slipped earlier, and I dropped it on the floor by accident," Lu Yang said sheepishly, picking up the fruit, wiping it clean, and resuming his snack. With great effort, both of them hopped onto chairs. Lu Yang brought up the topic of their shrinking on his own initiative. "Has anyone found out who poisoned the moon laurel trees?" To whoever was responsible for shrinking him, Lu Yang swore that once caught, they would be brought to justice! "Not yet. According to the investigation, thirty-six moon laurel trees were drugged in total. Some grew larger, others grew smaller, and they were of all different ages. The one used for the mooncake filling and the one you chopped down, Senior Brother, were just two of them." Lu Yang pressed a hand to his forehead in defeat. The Immortal Palace was covered with moon laurel trees across every hill and dale, and he had simply picked a flourishing one at random. Who would have thought it had already been drugged? What kind of luck was this? The Immortal Palace also knew this was purely a matter of luck and had nothing to do with Lu Yang. If it had actually been connected to him, Lu Yang would probably have had to stay next door to Xue Shilou for a while. Then again, the two of them could have exchanged insights on the Sword Dao, so it wouldn't necessarily have been a misfortune. "There's also the fact that when the Alchemy Chamber took inventory, dozens of precious medicinal ingredients were missing, and traces of medicinal residue were found on the drugged moon laurel trees." "The Alchemy Chamber takes inventory once every two months before heading down the mountain to purchase daily supplies. That's why no one realized the herbs were missing until now." "So it really was done by someone inside the Immortal Palace?" Any place where herbs were stored was bound to be protected by layers of formations. To breach all those formations and steal the herbs required either an immortal or an insider of the Immortal Palace. "Master is currently screening the suspects one by one, but she hasn't found anything yet." "Besides, Master can't understand why the culprit would experiment on the moon laurel trees, or what their goal could be." Though Lan Ting desperately wanted to relieve her master's burdens, it was a pity that she was currently just a small child, unable to be of any help. "How many suspects are there right now?" Even though Lu Yang had shrunk and lost all his mana, he figured his mind was still sharp enough that he might just spot a clue. Lan Ting saw no harm in telling Senior Brother Lu the details. Counting on her fingers, she said, "Three in total: Elder Miao, who previously oversaw the Alchemy Chamber; Elder Mei, who currently oversees it; and Elder Mei's eldest disciple, Senior Sister Bai." "Only the three of them know how to open the grand formation, granting them free entry to the Alchemy Chamber's herb repository." "Actually, Junior Master-Ancestor Qu Ling also knows how to open the formation since she was the previous Sect Master, but she's currently locked up in the Hall of Sinners and can't get away, so it definitely isn't her." "Although we can't be sure who stole the precious herbs, the time can be confirmed." "How so?" "Every time the grand formation is opened to enter the herb repository, a record is made: what time, who opened it, and which herbs were taken." "According to the records, over the past two months, the formation was opened sixteen times: eight by Senior Sister Bai, six by Elder Mei, and two by Elder Miao." "Yet after an elder skilled in formations conducted a thorough examination of the records, they discovered that the grand formation had actually been opened seventeen times—one more time than recorded!" "That extra time must have been when the thief opened it!" "Master investigated what the three of them were doing that day in great detail." Lan Ting strained to fish two spiritual fruits—one red and one blue—out of the fruit bowl in the middle of the table to represent the suspects. Tactfully, Lu Yang handed her his half-eaten spiritual fruit so she wouldn't have to struggle to reach a third one. Lan Ting lined up the two whole fruits and the half-eaten one. She nudged the red fruit forward. "Elder Miao is skilled in avatar techniques—so skilled that peers of her cultivation level cannot tell real from fake." "Originally, she wandered the world after retiring to seek a breakthrough, but by coincidence she returned to the sect a month and a half ago. Supposedly, it was because she accumulated massive debts and came back to borrow money, though no one knows exactly how many spirit stones she owes or whether she managed to borrow enough." "On the day of the incident, Elder Miao was catching up with another retired elder and never left her cave dwelling." Lan Ting pushed the blue fruit forward. "As the current manager of the Alchemy Chamber, Elder Mei is always busy, and that day was no exception. She claimed she stayed in her room the entire time pondering new pill recipes and thinking about the shape of this year's mooncakes. She only stepped out twice to take a walk and seek inspiration, but no one saw her outside the Alchemy Chamber." The remaining half-eaten fruit naturally represented Senior Sister Bai. "Senior Sister Bai was refining pills that day. When three junior sisters passed by the Alchemy Chamber, they saw her silhouette through the window paper, refining pills." "The pill Senior Sister Bai was refining was the Nine-Heart Lotus Seed Pill, which takes an entire day to concoct. One cannot lose focus for a second, let alone leave the cauldron." "The Nine-Heart Lotus Seed Pill is extremely difficult to refine. Even Senior Sister Bai has only a ten percent chance of success. That day, she was in great form and succeeded, and afterward, she even bragged about it to several junior and senior sisters." "During the investigation, another detail came to light. A week before the herbs went missing, Senior Sister Bai had a massive row with Elder Mei. Senior Sister Bai had requested three precious ingredients to refine pills and improve her alchemy skills, but Elder Mei felt her skill was lacking and that the batch would surely fail, so she denied the request." "Coincidentally, those three precious herbs were on the list of stolen ingredients." Lu Yang listened with a pensive look. On closer thought, none of the three had an alibi. Elder Miao was skilled in avatar techniques, making it impossible to tell real from fake, so she could have used the other elder to create an alibi. Elder Mei claimed she left her room to find inspiration, but there were no eyewitnesses. Senior Sister Bai couldn't afford a single distraction while concocting pills, but the three witnesses had only seen her through the window paper; the silhouette might not have been her at all. And all of them had motives. Lu Yang lowered his head, a meaningful smile curling at the corner of his lips. This was what they called the darkest place being right under the lamp. "Senior Brother, did you figure something out?" Seeing his expression, Lan Ting was certain he had discovered a clue! "Little Lan, I know who stole them." "The three of them may seem like suspects, but in truth, they aren't. Since all three had legitimate records of entering the herb repository, they could have easily taken the herbs during an authorized visit. Why would they bother opening the grand formation a seventeenth time and leaving behind evidence?" "The only explanation is that none of the three did it!" "Junior Sister Lan, you mentioned earlier that Qu Ling, as the former Palace Master, knows how to undo the repository's grand formation. Doesn't that mean the current Palace Master also knows how to open it?" Lu Yang put on an expression of anguish. Even if the answer was devastating to Junior Sister Lan, it was the truth—a cruel truth she had to face! "Thus, the answer is obvious. The culprit is none other than Luo—" Before Lu Yang could finish, the Immortal Fairy piped up in his spiritual space, observing an astonishing scene through her immortal sense: "Huh? Why is that little girl Bai Ye drugging a moon laurel tree right now?"