At the gate, she happened to run into the Fourth Elder.
Seeing Song Wanníng in such a hurry, a trace of doubt flashed through his eyes.
"Jinchuan, where are you going?" he asked, suspicion already creeping in.
Song Wanníng remained calm. She had done plenty of things like this before. She just flicked her eyelids and said faintly, "I'm going to take revenge on those two, so no one can say I'm heartless!"
With that, she flew off in a rage.
The Fourth Elder's heart sank when he saw this. After asking around, he finally understood the reason.
Huo Jinchuan had always been proud and could not bear such accusations. If he wanted revenge, so be it. After all, he did owe the Grand Elder and others. Soon, he pushed this matter out of his mind.
…
At midnight, a sudden angry roar echoed throughout the Huo family estate. Countless disciples were awakened, all looking toward the source of the sound—the treasure pavilion. Everyone's heart tightened. Could there be trouble in the treasure pavilion?
Several elders immediately appeared outside the treasure pavilion, alarmed.
"Seventeen, what's going on?"
The Fourth Elder strode in with a grim face. Seeing the treasure pavilion as usual, his heart settled slightly. The other elders were also frowning, scanning the pavilion. The formation was dense; nothing should go wrong.
"Fourth Brother, over forty treasures have gone missing from the treasure pavilion!"
Elder Seventeen's face went pale. He had just done a routine check of the treasure count but found over forty items missing. Even their names disappeared from the recorded jade slips. Yet he was sitting right there and saw no suspicious figures. How could treasures disappear?
"What? Are you sure you counted correctly?"
The Fourth Elder and others were shocked. They immediately entered the formation with jade talismans to recount the treasures.
Soon, they felt as if the sky was falling.
The treasures really were missing—more than forty!
"How is this possible?!"
There was no sign the formation was broken into forcefully; otherwise, they would have noticed.
"Could the treasures be hiding somewhere? Let's look carefully again!"
Everyone thought this was absurd. With the formation and guarding elders as double protection, treasures shouldn't go missing. Especially without a sound—this was utterly ridiculous. No matter how hard they searched, the forty-plus treasures were nowhere to be found. Their hearts sank completely.
"What exactly happened? Seventeen, were you neglecting your duty today? Or did some special person come by?"
The Fourth Elder clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked. The top priority now was to find the missing treasures. Elder Seventeen shook his head. "I stayed here all day, never left, and noticed nothing unusual.
Only Huo Jinchuan came by today, but when he left, I thoroughly checked and found no treasure on him. He said he didn't have enough points to redeem and would wait for the Patriarch's return."
In truth, he suspected Huo Jinchuan at first, but he carefully checked and found no treasure aura.
"This matter, Jinchuan told us early on. He shouldn't do such a thing."
The elders had watched Huo Jinchuan grow up and somewhat understood his character. Besides, why would Huo Jinchuan steal from his own family's treasury? What would he gain?
But suddenly the Fourth Elder's eyelid twitched. He slapped his thigh sharply.
"Not good! When I returned today, I met Huo Jinchuan. He was provoked by disciples and said he would take revenge on those two. He has already left the Huo family…"
He didn't say more.
But everyone understood.
He stole something and ran?
"Damn it, is Huo Jinchuan crazy?"
Elder Seventeen's face flushed. Huo Jinchuan left right before his eyes—this was an insult!
"Do you know where Huo Jinchuan went?"
"Go, find him quickly. If he really stole… Haha, Huo Yang can forget about sitting as Patriarch!"
The elders were furious. They immediately agreed to search in different directions for the fleeing "Huo Jinchuan."
Meanwhile, Song Wanníng had already left the city and returned disguised.
She was now dressed as an ordinary middle-aged female cultivator, showing no trace of Huo Jinchuan's appearance.
Standing by the inn's window, she watched several figures fly out from the Huo family, hastily beginning a thorough search.
Song Wanníng smiled faintly. Since the treasures were already in her pocket, they belonged to her. Just then, she felt a powerful divine sense lock onto her—it was from the Huo elders. She immediately put on a frightened expression, eyes full of fear and confusion.
The divine sense scanned her twice, found nothing unusual, and quickly passed.
That night, countless cultivators in the city were locked onto by divine senses, shocked and unable to sleep.
The next morning, rumors spread wildly throughout the city, mostly connected to the wanted Song Wanníng and her companion. After all, the incident had caused quite a stir recently.
After observing for a while and finding no one paying attention, Song Wanníng left the city with the crowd. She needed to quickly find her real body and Baili Shang, since facing several Unity cultivators alone was extremely dangerous.
She had to hurry to help.
…
"Patriarch, are you sure they came here?"
Elder Nine searched again and again but found no sign of the light gate the Patriarch mentioned. Elder Five looked equally doubtful. They thought the two were hiding somewhere in the dense forest. But the Patriarch led them to a cave, asking them to find a light gate.
"Although I can't be 100 percent sure, it's very likely."
Huo Yang's eyes flickered with malice. Those two would definitely choose to find Huo Jinchuan. The map showed Huo Jinchuan had been here all along.
"Keep searching. Maybe there's a switch we missed."
He personally saw Huo Jinchuan disappear through the light gate. There must be a secret here, possibly a great opportunity. But he could not tell the two elders this.
"Fine, then keep looking."
Elder Nine shrugged and got busy again.
At that moment, all three communication talismans began flashing wildly.
Huo Yang looked down. The talisman was jumping erratically. Suddenly, his brow twitched. Something felt wrong. With a serious expression, he opened the talisman. The first thing he heard was the Fourth Elder and others questioning him.