In the afternoon, light snow fell, covering the road that had just been swept by the maids and servants in the mansion with a layer of white frost.
The maids of the Cloud Mansion carried ancient scrolls back and forth between the main gate and the main hall.
Yun Yiyi, dressed in a golden fairy-like dress with a feathered belt floating slowly behind her as if unaffected by gravity, sat on the main seat in the hall, exuding an ethereal aura. She frowned while reading through the files brought from Middle Peak Archives by the maids.
In the Sword Pavilion case, she had instructed disciples from the Flowing Water Peak to investigate the identities and recent activities of the twenty-seven internal disciples. Now, she was reading the reports.
According to the statements of those who were close to them, the twenty-seven people had lost contact with them one day before the incident, or they had gone out on a mission, or they had gone to the mountains to collect herbs or capture monsters...
That wasn't suspicious in itself, but the key point was that these twenty-seven people were initially in different locations, yet their bodies appeared simultaneously inside the Heavenly Sword Pavilion.
Based on these few points, after investigating the scene at that time, Ye Anping rightly concluded that it was a "gang crime".
However, therein lies the problem.
---Who exactly helped Xue Xinghai kill those twenty-seven disciples?
Elder Zhuang was indeed highly suspicious.
But what Yun Yiyi wanted to know now was...
---Where did Elder Zhuang find the manpower? He couldn't possibly do this himself; there must be other forces assisting him.
Moreover, these forces could freely enter and exit the Sword Sect's mountain gate...
In other words, it was likely that the people assisting Elder Zhuang were also disciples of the Sword Sect.
Thinking of this, Yun Yiyi felt a little scared.
This whole matter was probably not only related to Zhuang Yan but also to other Nascent Soul Elders of the Moon Shadow Sword Sect and even to disciples in the Core Formation stage.
As the saying goes, "Pull one hair and the whole body moves"; in other words, a slight change would affect everything else.
Yun Yiyi was now a little worried. If it was eventually discovered that the deaths of those twenty-seven inner disciples were related to several Elders, what should she do then?
"Currently, the Moon Shadow Sword Sect has eight Elders at the Nascent Soul stage. The disciples at the Core Formation stage are all practicing at the Middle Peak , totaling four hundred and twenty-one.
Further down are my and my sisters' three inner peaks, with Foundation Building and Qi Refining stage disciples, totaling about thirty thousand people.
Then, there are the seven outer peaks, with more than one hundred thousand disciples in the training stage."
Muttering to herself, Yun Yiyi raised her head and looked at Ye Anping, who was helping her with the internal affairs of the Flowing Water Peak , and said, "This is all that the Moon Shadow Sword Sect has now."
Ye Anping, who had been engrossed in sorting through documents, paused slightly when he heard this. He put his ink brush down and looked at her. Seeing a hint of helplessness on Yun Yi's face, he asked, "Hmm? Miss Yun, why did you suddenly bring this up?"
"Well..." Yun Yiyi let out a long sigh. "I'm worried about the Sword Pavilion issue. What if we continue to investigate and find that three or four Elders are involved? I can't possibly exile or imprison so many Elders, right?"
"..."
"And how could they just surrender? Right now, my father is still in seclusion, and no one can step forward and take charge of the overall situation. There is no way that an Elder in the Nascent Soul cultivation level would be subdued by a small Foundation Building cultivator like me. They will definitely fight back when the time comes. Even if I win with the help of other Elders in the end, the Sword Sect will lose half of its Nascent Soul cultivators and maybe even half of its Core Formation stage cultivators."
Hearing this, Ye Anping understood where her helpless expression came from. After hesitating for a while, he asked, "So, you still want to investigate?"
Yun Yiyi remained silent for a while and answered somewhat resignedly. "Even if the murder is eventually solved, there is no way to sanction it. Isn't that just a futile investigation?"
It seemed she was depressed and needed some motivation... Ye Anping picked up the teapot next to him, poured a cup of tea, stood up, and brought it to her, saying, "But what if this matter concerns the entire Moon Shadow Sword Sect?"
Yun Yiyi didn't understand and tilted her head. "The entire Moon Shadow Sword Sect?"
"Yes." Ye Anping nodded and continued, "Elder Zhuang is highly suspicious, but do we know why he would kill those twenty-seven people? Twenty-seven people, who happen to be all inner disciples with the Yun Family bloodline. What is even more coincidental... in a few months, Master Yun Tianchong will come out of seclusion and pass on the position of Sect Master. Elder Zhuang committing such an act at this time is surely not a coincidence, right?"
Yun Yiyi listened to what Ye Anping said and held her chin, thinking. Then, she asked, "Then, how should we investigate? Yesterday, I sent someone to look for Yun Kun, but there is no news yet. I can't think of any reason why Elder Zhuang would kill those twenty-seven inner disciples..."
Ye Anping decided to give her a hint and said, "In my opinion, he didn't choose those twenty-seven people randomly. There should be something particular about those people."
Yun Yiyi frowned and suddenly seemed to have a moment of enlightenment and quickly commanded, "Someone come!"
As soon as the order was given, two disciples rushed in and cupped their hands respectfully. "Eldest Miss, what are your orders?"
Yun Yiyi took out a jade token from her storage bag and threw it in front of them, saying, "Take my jade token and go to the Middle Peak 's Name Records Hall to help me get the Yun family tree, but don't let others know what you are doing."
The two of them bowed, exited the main hall with the jade token, and flew toward the Middle Peak .
That was the right direction. Yun Yiyi was indeed outstanding; she understood everything with just a hint... Ye Anping watched as they left and sighed.
After Yun Yiyi had obtained access to the genealogy of the Yun family, she should be able to find out that the twenty-seven people who died were all descendants of her elder brother, Yun Kunwu.
As for Yun Yiyi and her sisters, they only knew his name but had never seen him and thought he had been dead for a long time.
But in reality, their eldest brother was destroyed by Yun Tianchong because he made a huge mistake, and his soul was imprisoned in the forbidden area of the Moon Shadow Sword Sect.
Zhuang Yan killed those twenty-seven people to take their organs and stitch them together into a demonic body, which would serve Yun Kunwu to escape from the imprisonment of Yun Tianchong.
But that was something that would happen later.
He had to focus on the present now.
Tonight or tomorrow night, Zhuang Yan might send someone to kidnap Yun Yiyi.
Thinking of this, Ye Anping looked out the window at the snow floating in the courtyard and said, "Miss Yun, please excuse me for a moment."
"Oh? Do you need me to accompany you?"
"No, I'll be back in a minute."
"Well..." Yun Yiyi took out a cloak from her storage bag and draped it over Ye Anping's back. "It's cold outside. Be careful of the chill."
"Thank you."
Ye Anping bowed and tied the cloak securely before walking out of the main hall. Then, he took out an umbrella from his storage bag and walked outside.