Chapter 932: Three Suspects

Lanting brought clothes to the guest room. Although the clothes were not for him, it would be impolite to simply let her leave.

"Junior Sister Lanting, would you like to come in and sit for a while?"

"Certainly." Lanting stepped inside and saw a half-eaten spiritual fruit by the door.

"I didn't hold it steady just now and accidentally dropped it," Lu Yang said, slightly embarrassed, as he picked up the spiritual fruit, wiped it clean, and continued eating it.

Both of them struggled to hop onto their chairs. Lu Yang then took the initiative to discuss the matter of them shrinking.

"Have you found out who poisoned the osmanthus trees?" Such a culprit, who caused him to shrink, Lu Yang vowed to bring them to justice once caught.

"Not yet. Investigations have revealed that a total of thirty-six osmanthus trees were tampered with. Some caused things to grow larger, others smaller, and they were of various ages. The two used for mooncake filling, and the one you cut down, Senior Brother, were among them."

Lu Yang helplessly rubbed his forehead. Of all the osmanthus trees spread across the immortal palace, he had simply chosen a vigorously growing one at random, yet it turned out to have been tampered with. What terrible luck.

The Immortal Palace understood that this was a matter of chance and had nothing to do with Lu Yang. If it had been related to him, Lu Yang might have had to reside next to Xue Shishisanlou for a while. However, they could then exchange insights on the Way of the Sword, so it wouldn't necessarily be a misfortune.

"Furthermore, when the Alchemy Room conducted its inventory, dozens of valuable medicinal herbs were found missing. Traces of these medicines were discovered on some of the tampered osmanthus trees."

"The Alchemy Room only takes inventory every two months before heading down the mountain to procure daily supplies, which is why the missing medicinal herbs weren't discovered sooner."

"So, it was indeed an inside job within the Immortal Palace?"

The storage area for medicinal herbs is undoubtedly protected by multiple formidable formations. To bypass these layers of defenses and steal the herbs, the perpetrator must either be an immortal or someone from within the Immortal Palace.

"Master is currently investigating suspects one by one, but there have been no significant findings yet."

"Moreover, Master cannot understand why the culprit would experiment with osmanthus trees, nor what their ultimate objective is."

Although Lanting truly wished to help her Master resolve the issue, she was unfortunately just a child now and could not be of much assistance.

"How many suspects are there now?" Although Lu Yang had shrunk and lost all his magical power, he believed his mind was still sharp and that he might be able to uncover some clues.

Lanting felt there was no harm in detailing the matter to Senior Brother Lu Yang. Counting on her fingers, she explained, "There are three suspects: Elder Miao, who was previously in charge of the Alchemy Room; Elder Mei, who is currently in charge; and Senior Sister Bai, Elder Mei's eldest disciple."

"Only these three individuals know how to activate the grand formation, allowing them free access to and from the Alchemy Room's herb repository."

"Actually, Martial Uncle Qu Ling, as the previous Sect Master, also knows how to activate the grand formation. However, she is currently imprisoned in the Hall of Sinners and cannot leave, so it's certainly not her."

"While we can't confirm who stole the valuable medicinal herbs, the exact timing of the theft can be determined."

"How so?"

"Every instance of the grand formation being opened to access the herb repository is recorded: the time, who activated it, and what medicinal herbs were retrieved."

"According to our statistics, over the past two months, the grand formation was activated a total of sixteen times. Senior Sister Bai opened it eight times, Elder Mei six times, and Elder Miao two times."

"However, after the elder proficient in formations thoroughly investigated the activation records for the herb repository's grand formation, they discovered it had been opened a total of seventeen times—one more than officially recorded!"

"This extra activation must have been done by the culprit!"

"Master has thoroughly investigated what each of the three suspects was doing on that particular day."

Lanting painstakingly pulled out two spiritual fruits from the fruit bowl in the center of the table, one red and one blue, to represent the suspects. Lu Yang, understanding her intent, discreetly handed her his half-eaten spiritual fruit so she wouldn't have to struggle to get a third one.

Lanting arranged the two whole spiritual fruits and the half-eaten one.

She pushed the red spiritual fruit forward. "Elder Miao is highly skilled in clone techniques; her mastery is so profound that even cultivators of the same level cannot distinguish her clones from her true self."

"After her retirement, she originally wandered far and wide, seeking opportunities for breakthroughs. However, she coincidentally returned to the sect a month and a half ago. It's rumored she came back to borrow money because of massive debts, but we don't know the exact amount she owes or if she managed to borrow enough."

"On the day of the incident, Elder Miao was reminiscing with another retired elder and never left her cave dwelling."

Lanting pushed the blue spiritual fruit forward. "As the current manager of the Alchemy Room, Elder Mei is always very busy, and the day of the incident was no exception. She claims she remained in her room, contemplating new pill formulas and the design for this year's mooncakes. She only left her room twice, supposedly to walk outside and find inspiration, but no one witnessed her outside the Alchemy Room."

The remaining half-eaten spiritual fruit naturally represented Senior Sister Bai. "On that day, Senior Sister Bai was refining elixirs. Three junior sisters passing by the Alchemy Room saw her through the window paper, confirming she was engaged in alchemy."

"The elixir Senior Sister Bai was refining was called the Nine-Heart Lotus Seed Elixir, which requires a full day to complete. During this process, one cannot be distracted, and leaving the cauldron is simply impossible."

"The Nine-Heart Lotus Seed Elixir is an extremely difficult elixir to refine; even Senior Sister Bai only has a ten percent chance of success. On that day, Senior Sister Bai was in excellent form and successfully refined it, later boasting about it to several senior and junior sisters."

"During the investigation, another fact came to light: a week before the medicinal herbs went missing, Senior Sister Bai and Elder Mei had a heated argument. Senior Sister Bai had requested three valuable herbs from Elder Mei to refine an elixir, hoping to improve her alchemy skills. However, Elder Mei believed Senior Sister Bai's skill level was insufficient and that the refinement would inevitably fail, thus denying her request."

"Coincidentally, these three valuable medicinal herbs were on the list of stolen items."

Lu Yang listened, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face. After careful consideration, he realized that none of the three individuals had a solid alibi.

Elder Miao, being skilled in clone techniques, could easily obscure her true whereabouts, potentially using another elder as an alibi.

Elder Mei claimed to have left her room to seek inspiration, yet there were no eyewitnesses to corroborate her story.

While Senior Sister Bai could not be distracted during elixir refinement, the three junior sister witnesses only saw her through the window paper; the figure they observed might not necessarily have been Senior Sister Bai.

Furthermore, all of them had a motive for the crime.

Lu Yang lowered his head, a meaningful smile playing on his lips. "This is what they call 'darkness under the lamp,' isn't it?"

"Senior Brother, have you figured something out?" Lanting, observing Lu Yang's expression, knew he must have discovered a clue.

"Xiao Lan, I know who the thief is."

"These three individuals appear suspicious, but that's not actually the case. Since all three of them have documented entries into the herb repository to retrieve medicinal herbs, they could have simply taken the desired items during any of those recorded visits. There would have been no need for a seventeenth entry into the grand formation, which would leave a distinct trace!"

"The only explanation is that it wasn't one of these three individuals!"

"Junior Sister Lan, you just mentioned that Qu Ling, as the former Palace Master, knows how to unlock the herb repository's grand formation. Doesn't that imply that the current Palace Master also knows how to unlock it?"

Lu Yang's face showed a pained expression. Although the answer would be deeply unsettling for Junior Sister Lanting, it was the truth—a harsh reality she had to confront.

"Thus, the answer is obvious. The culprit is none other than Luo..."

Before Lu Yang could finish speaking, he heard the Immortal Fairy from his mental space exclaim, her divine sense having observed an astonishing scene: "Oh, why is that little girl Bai Ye putting medicine on the osmanthus trees?"