Chapter 55 Ordinary Scrolls

Jiang Huoyu's smile froze on her Face instantly. Her eyes darted around as she tried to crack jokes and change the subject.

"Chen Mu, look how beautiful the moonlight is tonight. This moon really looks like... like the sesame pancake you just bought, right?"

"Cultivation Technique." Chen Mu remained unmoved, merely repeating those two words.

Jiang Huoyu's Face instantly fell. She had thought that since Chen Mu had been busy running around lately, he would have long since put this matter behind him, allowing her to muddle through. She hadn't expected him to remember it so clearly.

His sudden pressing of the issue caught her off guard, leaving her with no choice but to sigh repeatedly.

"Chen Mu, how do you still remember... I thought you had forgotten long ago..."

"I haven't forgotten."

Chen Mu looked at her, truly not sparing her any Face at all.

"For the sake of Zhao Xiong's Face, I let you stay here for a day, but as men and women should not touch, you cannot stay here for long."

"If you want to continue staying, either return the tiger tooth to me, or give me the Cultivation Technique we agreed upon."

Jiang Huoyu clearly hadn't expected that not only did he remember it clearly, but his attitude was also so resolute. She could only lower her head and say softly.

"The tiger tooth... the tiger tooth is already gone..."

Jiang Huoyu forced herself to remain calm, attempting to muddle through.

Chen Mu, however, no longer gave her the chance to prevaricate, his tone instantly turning several degrees colder.

"From our first meeting at White Tiger Ridge until now, have you said a single word of truth?"

"You said you took the tiger tooth to save yourself, but you didn't explain how that would save you. You said you knew Zhao Xiong, yet his whereabouts are a mystery. You said you came from the Northern Jiang Family, yet I have never heard of it."

"Now, you tell me the tiger tooth is gone, so what about the promised Cultivation Technique? Are you going to welch on that too?"

Chen Mu stepped forward and scoffed, "My patience is limited. Either hand over the Cultivation Technique right now, or take your cat and leave here. As for the White Tiger Ridge affair, I'll just consider myself unlucky to have run into a liar with no sincerity."

Chen Mu stared fixedly at her; although his tone was calm, his eyes held an unyielding resolve that brooked no defiance.

Jiang Huoyu's Face turned from white to red, and from red back to white. After struggling for a long time, she finally let her shoulders slump.

"The Cultivation Technique... I truly cannot give it to you."

Chen Mu's gaze instantly turned cold.

"I... I didn't mean to welch on the debt! I can explain! I used that tiger tooth to break a Seal, and it shattered along with the Seal."

Jiang Huoyu made a bitter Face and began to explain in detail.

"I found a sealed box in my Family that was crafted from millennium profound iron and covered in golden runes, said to be able to absorb the essence of the sun and moon on its own to maintain the Seal! Our Jiang Family has passed it down for generations, saying it contains a heaven-shaking secret treasure. If I could obtain it, it would save me..."

Chen Mu listened quietly without committing himself, and Jiang Huoyu continued.

"I went to great lengths to steal... no, to 'invite' that box out of the Family, and only after scouring countless records did I learn the method to break the Seal: it required the tiger tooth of a century-old tiger demon. That's why I went to White Tiger Mountain to find that tiger demon..."

As she spoke, Jiang Huoyu suddenly made a miserable Face.

"And guess what was inside? It was just a crappy painting! It wasn't some divine Cultivation Technique or Secret Manual, nor was it a Spirit Pill or miraculous medicine. It was just a painting, and a very ordinary one at that, without a shred of Spiritual Qi! I nearly coughed up blood from anger!"

Chen Mu was silent for a moment, then slowly summarized, "So, the tiger tooth is gone, and the Cultivation Technique is gone too. And you used a vague, ethereal story to trade away something that should have belonged to me!"

Jiang Huoyu knew she was in the wrong, but she was unwilling to be kicked out just like that, so she hurriedly pulled something from her bosom.

"But... the painting is here! Although it looks ordinary, this is something from an ancient Seal; perhaps it hides some profound mystery?"

Chen Mu originally held no hope, but seeing her pitiful expression and remembering the favor of Zhao Xiong's gift, he ultimately took it.

The scroll felt slightly heavy in his hand. He unrolled the scroll; it was about two feet long and just over a foot wide.

The content of the painting was indeed as Jiang Huoyu had described, ordinary to the point of being crude.

A valley shrouded in mist, a few simple thatched cottages in the valley, a small stream flowing in front of the houses, and an old tree by the stream.

The brushwork could not be called exquisite, nor could the Concept be called profound; it was simply a plain landscape painting of mountain dwelling.

Chen Mu looked at it for a long time, but there was nothing special about it.

"That's it?" Chen Mu looked up at Jiang Huoyu.

"That's it! For this piece of junk, I sacrificed a century-old tiger tooth and was laughed at by my Family for ages. Chen Mu, tell me, didn't I lose out?"

Jiang Huoyu looked indignant.

Chen Mu didn't answer. He raised his hand to return the scroll to her, but at that very instant, he seemed to feel an extremely faint fluctuation coming from the scroll, and Chen Mu paused slightly.

Was it an illusion?

He stared at the scroll, wanting to sense it again, but that fluctuation had vanished, as if it had never appeared.

"Chen Mu, Chen Mu? What's wrong?"

Seeing him dazed, Jiang Huoyu reached out and waved her hand in front of his eyes a couple of times.

"It's nothing."

Chen Mu withdrew his gaze and returned the scroll to Jiang Huoyu.

Jiang Huoyu was stunned upon hearing this. "You don't want it?"

Chen Mu checked the time and turned to walk toward the courtyard gate.

"Keep this scroll for now. I need to go out to investigate a case tonight; do as you please."

With that, without waiting for Jiang Huoyu to react, he pulled open the courtyard gate and headed toward the location he had agreed upon with Liu Ziming.

...

Yunmeng City at the hour of the Rat had completely fallen into slumber. Most of the streets were empty, with only a few pleasure districts still lit.

After meeting up with Liu Ziming, Chen Mu avoided the main streets, traveled along the alleys to reach the west of the city, and stopped near the back wall of the Zhao Residence.

Chen Mu signaled for Liu Ziming to keep watch below, then leaped up, using a thick-branched old locust tree nearby to scramble onto the wall in a few steps, before nimbly sliding into the courtyard, landing without a sound.

Liu Ziming waited anxiously outside the wall, occasionally peering over.

About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn later, Chen Mu's deliberately lowered voice came from inside the wall.

"Come in!"

Liu Ziming instantly perked up, mimicking Chen Mu's actions by climbing the tree and vaulting over the wall.

Upon landing, he was instantly stunned by the sight before him.

At this moment, the courtyard of the Zhao Residence was brightly lit!

But it wasn't ordinary lantern or candle fire; it was a type of paper lantern emitting an eerie red glow, hung all over the courtyard, casting the entire place in a blood-red light!

The courtyard was decked out with lanterns and streamers, with big red "double happiness" characters pasted everywhere and red silk hanging from the eaves—it looked exactly like a wedding was being held.

But the problem was, three people had just died in the Zhao Residence today, and all of them had died tragically!