Several hours later, the early risers Luo Fuchun, Sang Luojiu, and Ruyi gathered together in Hai Jing's room.

Hai Jing lay on the bed, breathing evenly, his face rosy, but he was slow to wake up.

...These were the symptoms of soul loss.

After probing, Sang Luojiu's face was grim: "One of the three hun souls are gone, and one of the seven po souls are gone... That soul-snatcher actually reached out to Hai Jing."

Luo Fuchun urged anxiously, "Master, quickly ask the master to come and take a look!"

Sang Luojiu glanced at the door: "At this time, I'm afraid the master is still sleeping..."

Ruyi's face looked bad. He rubbed Hai Jing's forehead a few times, then abruptly got up.

Luo Fuchun thought he had discovered something and hurriedly instructed Sang Luojiu to take good care of the unconscious Hai Jing, then followed Ruyi out of the room.

Unexpectedly, he saw Ruyi stride into the room the two of them shared. After the sound of the quilt falling to the ground, Ruyi actually twisted Master Feng Rugu's hand and calmly and brutally pushed him out of the door.

Luo Fuchun was startled and shouted, but Ruyi turned a deaf ear, grabbed Feng Rugu's arm, and went straight past him, returning to Hai Jing's room.

With a bang, Feng Rugu was slammed against the wall by the bed, the dull sound of bones making one's heart turn cold.

The just-awakened Feng Rugu gasped, turning half his face, his long lashes hanging with cold sweat, his gaze happening to sweep over the sleeping Hai Jing on the bed.

"Oh--" Feng Rugu didn't seem to feel that being thrown around like this in front of his disciples by a junior was embarrassing at all. He drawled lazily, "The bait worked."

Luo Fuchun was confused and wanted to pry Ruyi's hand that was twisting Feng Rugu's shoulder: "Master, what 'bait'? What are you..."

Sang Luojiu also sensed something was wrong at this time: "Master?...You did it on purpose?"

Luo Fuchun was even more confused: "What on purpose...what are you talking about?"

They had just found Hai Jing unconscious in bed early in the morning, his soul taken away, clearly the work of the soul-snatcher in the city, what did it have to do with the master?

Ruyi was extremely angry, but it didn't show much on his face, only his eyes were colder and more icy, staring at Feng Rugu's long, pale neck, really wanting to strangle it.

The rooms in Qingqiu Pavilion were arranged by Feng Rugu.

Why did he share a room with himself, but left Hai Jing, whose skills were not strong, to live alone?

The white figure last night was most likely the soul-snatcher who had been causing trouble in the city. It had followed them all the way and even entered Qingqiu Pavilion, presumably for Feng Rugu.

Ruyi stayed by Feng Rugu's side at all times. If it couldn't find an opportunity to make a move, it would probably try to target his companions.

Therefore, Ruyi had specifically set up an energy shield to protect everyone from harm.

If the energy shield was broken, he would definitely notice it at the first opportunity.

But when he came to check this morning, he found that the energy shield had actually been broken.

...Broken without a sound.

In the entire Qingqiu Pavilion, there was only one person capable of setting up such a sinister scheme and breaking the energy shield in this way.

...He let Hai Jing stay in a room alone, becoming the easiest target for the white shadow to break through, and deliberately broke his energy shield, just waiting for the soul-snatcher to come and take his soul.

"If you used a Buddhist protective energy shield, it would be difficult to break. But what you used...was the Daoist protective energy technique my senior brother taught you."

At a time like this, Feng Rugu still had the mood to joke: "Little Hongchen, your skills are not refined."

His shoulder bones made a crackling sound.

Feng Rugu winced in pain, gritting his teeth and letting out an "um", his face losing seven parts of its color, but the corners of his mouth still curled up in a smile. He tremblingly extended a finger and branded a spiritual mark on Ruyi's wrist: "Last night, I already buried a tracking mark in Hai Jing's three hun and seven po souls. Now...um...the little monk's souls should have been taken by someone to Mount Mizhi. Master Ruyi, you might as well follow this lead and go after them early, lest..."

Before Feng Rugu could finish, Ruyi pushed him onto the bed and left with a cold face.

Last night, Hai Jing had said that he wasn't a bad person.

Now it seemed that those were truly false words.

After Ruyi left with a flick of his sleeve, Luo Fuchun was both angry and annoyed, feeling that Feng Rugu's method of catching the criminal was too dishonorable: "Master, how could you do this?! Even if you wanted to use the little monk, you should have told him beforehand and gotten his consent. What if the white shadow is an demon cultivator and took his soul to refine it? Wouldn't he become a living dead person for the rest of his life?!"

"That way we can find the soul-snatcher and prevent the next victim from appearing." Feng Rugu grinned, gently moving his shoulder. "Sacrificing his own life to save others, even if he dies, it would be a worthy death, and he would ascend to the Western Paradise."

Luo Fuchun was so angry that he found the person in front of him detestable again: "Then why don't you use your life to save others?"

Sang Luojiu was startled: "Senior Brother! Watch your words!"

Feng Rugu leaned on his shoulder and said lightly, "Are they worthy?"

Luo Fuchun shouted, "What kind of master are you with such actions?! What kind of gentleman are you?!"

Feng Rugu sat down beside Hai Jing's bed: "My senior brother is the gentleman, I Feng Rugu am the evil in the Dao. If you admire such a bright and upright person, you might as well take my senior brother as your master instead."

Luo Fuchun was so angry that tears were about to fall. He rushed out the door and went after Ruyi.

...The little monk had been with them for the past two days and shouldn't have been used as bait by the master and sacrificed in vain.

At least he was going to save the little monk.

The two left one after the other. Sang Luojiu was silent for a long time before lowering his head and saying, "Master, you could have done it more covertly..."

If he had done it, he would have had ways to make the little monk the bait without anyone suspecting him.

Feng Rugu didn't answer, only taking out a pipe from his storage pouch: "Go watch your senior brother and keep him in check, don't let him run wild."

Sang Luojiu wanted to say something but stopped. In the end, he still respectfully cupped his hands: "Yes, Master."

The three of them had all left, leaving only Feng Rugu alone in the room.

Feng Rugu rolled some bamboo tobacco leaves, lit them with a smoking lamp, and closed his eyes to focus on smoking for a while, only then did his tense shoulders relax a little.

Only after finishing a pouch of tobacco could his shoulders move a bit more freely.

He lowered his head to open his storage pouch and took out a small brocade pouch, which contained the "Heavenly Soul" and "Spiritual Wisdom" that Hai Jing had lost.

Feng Rugu held the items he had stolen last night in his palm, observed them carefully for a moment, then returned a soul and a spirit to the little monk.

Soon, the little monk furrowed his brows and muttered a few words in his sleep, as if he was about to wake up.

Feng Rugu pointed a finger, and the little monk's meridians instantly weakened, causing him to fall into a deep sleep once again.

After confirming that ordinary disturbances would not wake him, Feng Rugu got up and walked to the small table in the room, poured two cups of hot tea, placed one in front of himself and pushed the other to the opposite side of the table, his movements leisurely and at ease.

However, due to the pain in his shoulders, his lips and complexion were still pale.

He said in a clear voice, "I have already found a way to send the person away."

The room was silent, and no one answered.

Feng Rugu slightly raised his voice, "Sir, you stole the souls of many people, causing the monks of Hanshan Temple to return home to visit their relatives, killed them and discarded their corpses, forming a part of the Feng character written in blood. You also managed to leave zelkova leaves under the corpse of my fiancée, all of which were meant to lure me down the mountain and entice me to come here. Now, I am here alone, why don't you come and meet me?"

He rested his chin in his hand and smiled, "...Could it be that you are blaming me for falsely accusing you of causing the little monk to lose his soul, and you are angry?"

After a while, there was a slight fluctuation in the air of the room.

An almost transparent white figure stood in front of the steaming tea, its face unclear, but its voice was clear and clean, "Since Lord Yunzhong's heart is like a bright mirror, then please forgive me for speaking bluntly..."

He reached out his hand to Feng Rugu, politely as if inviting Feng Rugu to his humble abode for tea, "...I invite Lord Yunzhong to die in peace."