"Your handwriting is truly..." Words failed him.
Before he could finish, Tang Youyou quickly interjected, "What do you think? I put a lot of effort into my handwriting today."
Hearing her explanation, Lan Yuan swallowed back the words he was about to say. He looked at Tang Youyou and said, "That's enough. You can go back. Come and copy tomorrow morning."
Upon hearing this, Tang Youyou stretched and then swaggered out of the library. Once she was out, her drowsiness vanished in an instant.
She coldly stared at the place where the elders lived in the distance. The second and third elders lived on one peak, while the first elder lived alone on the main peak.
Looking at the Qingyun Sect in the middle of the night, Tang Youyou joked, "Waited long, huh? We're going to get to work tonight."
She had been waiting for this opportunity.
After her words fell, Hua Ling, who had been hiding beside the lotus pond, poked his head out. He smiled and said, "You noticed me? How much did you copy? It took you so long."
Tang Youyou replied indifferently, "Not much. Don't worry about it. It's easier to do things at night. I deliberately took so long."
Saying this, she led the person beside her towards the residence of the second elder. On this peak, it was as quiet as a cemetery, with no sign of human activity.
Hua Ling sensed the strange atmosphere and said uneasily, "Are you sure it's here? It's a bit eerie. We need to be careful."
Tang Youyou nodded and walked towards a desolate residence on the peak. The room was brightly lit.
She motioned for Hua Ling to follow closely and walked towards the light. Inside, the old man looked even more terrifying than when they first met him.
It seemed that he was doing something to his face in front of a bronze mirror.
Could this be...
Thinking of this, Tang Youyou exclaimed in surprise, "This guy is actually swapping his face..."
Hearing this, Hua Ling gasped. He had heard of face - swapping before, but it was a forbidden technique in the medical field in the jianghu. He never thought someone would use such a method.
At this moment, Tang Youyou finally understood why the old man's facial features had seemed strange when she first saw him.
A person's facial features grow according to their skull, but this man's features didn't conform to the normal growth pattern.
In other words, his growth was "inhuman".
Tang Youyou quietly watched the entire process of the man swapping his face. He brutally tore the skin off his face and then soaked it in clear water.
The next moment, the man suddenly turned his head and looked towards the window where she was. Fortunately, she reacted quickly and quickly dodged his gaze.
After a while, the second elder confirmed that there was no one outside and then comfortably lay down to sleep.
Through the dim candlelight, Tang Youyou could only see that the man's face was just a mass of bloody flesh, with no skin at all.
This scene left Hua Ling gaping in horror.
On their way back, both of them remained silent. Tang Youyou looked at the person beside her and saw that he was shivering all over.
"I never thought you could be so timid."
Hearing this, Hua Ling glanced at Tang Youyou and said, "Anyone would be scared in such a situation. Don't be so glib."
Seeing that the man was a bit angry, Tang Youyou smiled and said, "Okay, okay, I won't say that. But there's another thing. Did you notice that something is wrong with the inner - chamber disciples of the Qingyun Sect?"
Hearing this, Hua Ling nodded meaningfully. "It's inevitable. There's no sign of vitality on their faces. They're just like walking corpses."
Although Hua Ling's words were a bit scary, it was the truth. Since they started the exam, they had noticed that each of these disciples had a vacant look on their faces.
"So, what do you think made them like this? And what's the purpose?"
These two questions directly led to the conspiracy behind it. Tang Youyou came to the Qingyun Sect not only for revenge but also to find out the secret of the Qingyun Sect's dominance.
It seemed that these students were the key.
"Hua Ling, do you know where the inner - chamber disciples of the Qingyun Sect live?"
Hearing this, Hua Ling looked towards the back mountain and pointed to the attic over there. "Most of them live there. A small number of them, because they are favored by the elders, are kept by the elders."
So that's why she always couldn't find these people.
Meanwhile, in the imperial city of Chang'an, in the imperial garden.
Shameful gasps came from the garden. Under the moonlight, a man and a woman were engaged in an illicit affair.
In the distance, a little maid was holding a kite and trying to make it fly. The kite rose with the wind and landed under a bridge in the distance.
She carefully approached the bridge cave but heard obscene sounds. She was so scared that she immediately dropped the kite in her hand.
She tried to leave quietly, but unfortunately, the two of them heard the sound.
Immediately, a rapid sound of footsteps came. The little girl started running. After a while, she was out of breath. The dark shadow behind her gradually got closer.
The moment the shadow raised its hand, the girl fell to the ground.
Early the next morning, Yan Zhihua was walking alone in the imperial garden. Two terrified maids came running from a distance. They were crying pitifully. When they saw Yan Zhihua, they were so excited that they stumbled and fell to the ground.
"Your servant pays respects to Concubine An, pays respects to Concubine An..."
Hearing this, Yan Zhihua wondered, "Why are you two so clumsy?"
Hearing this, the maid stammered, "Concubine An, there's a dead person over there. Someone drowned in the water."
As soon as the maid finished speaking, the other maid immediately nudged her. "Watch your words in front of Concubine An. Don't offend the concubine!"
After saying this, the two of them fell silent and quietly watched Yan Zhihua walk towards the bridge.
Then they saw the body of a little girl floating in the stream. There were also a few kites beside the little girl's hand.
In such a scene, anyone would think that the child had accidentally fallen into the water and lost her life.
Seeing this, Yan Zhihua carefully approached the body. Taking a closer look, she was shocked to find that this person was actually Lady Yu!
How could this child end up like this!
Just thinking that Lady Yu, such a young child, had lost her life at such a young age made her heart ache.
But just as she was feeling sad, she noticed faint bruises on the child's neck.
It seemed that someone had hit her hard, and the bruises had appeared after the person had died.