Li Hanyu laughed. “Yushan set off at the crack of dawn, right in the middle of the yin hour. His cultivation has grown greatly, and this time he didn’t miss the date. He should definitely have made it to the exam.”
Saying this, she finally let out a relieved breath, her eyes shining. “Now that Uncle Huang’s family has left, I’m free too. In a little while I’ll go to Yizhou to meet him when the exam ends.”
“Brother Lu, were you looking for Yushan? Shall we go to Yizhou together later?” Li Hanyu asked with a smile.
Lu Zheng, “…”
Seeing Lu Zheng fall silent, the Li family finally sensed something wrong.
Li Hanyu asked uncertainly, “Brother Lu?”
Lu Zheng took a deep breath. “I just came from Yizhou Prefecture.”
The three members of the Li family looked at him in silence, waiting for the rest.
“But I didn’t sense Brother Zhu’s aura inside the prefectural academy,” Lu Zheng said.
“What?”
“No way?”
The Lushui River God couple were incredulous. Li Hanyu cried out in shock.
“Even if Brother Zhu hides his cultivation, he wouldn’t completely shield his aura, right?” Lu Zheng asked, rubbing his chin.
Li Hanyu glanced at the sky. It was already around the hour of shen in the afternoon. She immediately said, “I’m going to Yizhou Prefecture.”
Lu Zheng nodded. “I’ll come too.”
The two bid farewell to the River God couple, parted the waters all the way to the surface, emerged at the ferry crossing, and headed straight for Yizhou.
Though they seemed to move leisurely, they were extremely fast and soon entered the city and arrived at the prefectural academy.
Li Hanyu’s cultivation wasn’t as high as Lu Zheng’s, but sensing an aura that wasn’t deliberately hidden was still easy for her.
A moment later…
Lu Zheng smacked his lips. “Are we being oversensitive? Maybe Brother Zhu is showing respect for the exam and deliberately restrained his aura?”
Li Hanyu blinked. “That’s… unlikely, right?”
Lu Zheng pointed to a restaurant not far across from the academy. “Let’s wait there.”
Li Hanyu had no objection, so the two went up to the third floor of the restaurant, found a small window table, ordered a few cold dishes and a pot of clear tea, and quietly waited.
…
Time quickly reached the hour of you. After a full day, the provincial examination finally ended.
The academy gates opened wide. Countless scholars streamed out: some jubilant, some dejected, some expressionless.
Some left alone, some gathered friends, some went straight to nearby restaurants.
The two waited until the very last candidate had left and the servants began sweeping and locking up. Still no sign of Zhu Yushan.
Lu Zheng frowned silently. Li Hanyu’s chest heaved; she was clearly agitated.
“Brother Zhu left at the yin hour?”
“Yes, middle of the yin hour.”
“The exam started at the beginning of the chen hour. That gave him a full hour and a half,” Lu Zheng calculated.
“We didn’t see any traces of battle on the way here,” Li Hanyu said, eyes flickering with a hint of panic. “Could some great power have kidnapped him?”
Now that Zhu Yushan was no weakling, a sudden disappearance actually worried her more.
“Let’s go! Back to the River God Mansion!”
Li Hanyu slammed the table and stood. Together with Lu Zheng, she raced back to the Lushui River God Mansion.
…
After reporting the situation to the River God couple, Li Hanyu went to their bedroom, fetched a piece of Zhu Yushan’s clothing, caught his lingering aura, and cast a qi-tracking spell.
No result.
“I can’t find him!” Li Hanyu’s pupils shrank.
There were many reasons tracking might fail, but one of them was death.
Her legs gave way. She nearly collapsed, only caught by her mother, Lady Li, who hurriedly comforted her. “Don’t panic, my dear. Yushan is not fated to die young. Even if something unexpected happened, he will not have perished.”
The River God nodded. “I will immediately dispatch the mansion’s soldiers to search along the route.”
Only then did Lu Zheng have a chance to speak.
“Sister-in-Law, please give me that piece of clothing. Let me try.”
Li Hanyu was already distraught and quickly handed it over.
The River God couple looked at Lu Zheng curiously. They had never heard that Baiyun Temple had any special tracking techniques.
Lu Zheng nodded, patted his gourd, and a bronze mirror flew out. It grew in the air until it was about a chi square.
Cloud patterns circled the rim. The front was mirror-bright, the back engraved with an immortal cloud palace. The whole mirror radiated an ethereal Dao aura.
Lu Zheng formed hand seals, captured a wisp of Zhu Yushan’s qi, and cast the spell in coordination with the mirror’s runes.
The next moment, layers of cloud-mist appeared on the mirror surface.
To be honest, Lu Zheng had been a little nervous while waiting. If even this failed, the chance that Zhu Yushan was dead would skyrocket.
Fortunately, after a few moments the mist dispersed layer by layer, finally revealing Zhu Yushan’s figure.
“Yushan!”
Li Hanyu cried out and hurried to Lu Zheng’s side.
The River God couple also crowded over, worried for their son-in-law and amazed by Lu Zheng’s treasure mirror.
In the mirror, Zhu Yushan appeared to be inside a water-filled underground cavern. Everything around him was pitch-black except for a glowing night pearl floating beside him.
He had used the water-avoidance spell to push the water back, creating a dry space less than half a zhang across.
Not far away floated an old turtle over a zhang long. The turtle’s front half was inside the dry space, its back half still in the water. Its mouth opened and closed as if speaking to Zhu Yushan.
Zhu Yushan listened quietly while his hands kept moving, apparently practising some seal or incantation.
“Where is this? Why couldn’t I find him earlier?” Li Hanyu asked in wonder.
Seeing that Zhu Yushan was safe, she finally relaxed.
“That old turtle is no ordinary creature!” the Lushui River God said gravely.
“Let me see.” Lu Zheng nodded and was about to zoom out when the water in the mirror suddenly churned violently.
“Hm?”
The next instant, inside the mirror, both the turtle and Zhu Yushan acted. They cast spells together, manipulating the currents into layers of turbulent flows that seemed to form a defensive array.
“Enemies!” the River God declared, eyes narrowing.
The Cloud Palace Treasure Mirror truly lived up to its reputation. Even with spiritual energy in chaos from spell combat on the other side, the image remained perfectly clear, showing every movement of Zhu Yushan and the turtle.
Lu Zheng pulled the view back and saw, some distance away in the water outside the cavern—or rather, outside the array—a burly man in green robes was repeatedly attacking, trying to force his way in.
He waved his arms, sending waves of water crashing against the formation, but the array, perfectly integrated with the terrain, held firm and kept him at bay.
