Du Qing grabbed Chen Mu’s wrist. “What informing?”

The confusion in his eyes didn’t seem fake, but Chen Mu didn’t believe it. “Still pretending! If you hadn’t informed on us, how would we have all been caught in one sweep!”

“Make yourself clear—”

As the two fought and talked, urgent footsteps came from outside the door.

“Looks like he came this way.”

“Knock on these doors!”

Bang bang bang—

Soon knocking sounds rang out. From the increasingly urgent commotion, one could sense the impatience of those outside.

Du Qing couldn’t ask more questions. He pointed to the woodshed. “There’s a rice jar inside where you can hide!”

At such a critical moment, Chen Mu could only choose to listen to Du Qing and flashed into the woodshed.

Du Qing straightened his clothes and went forward to open the door. “Who is—”

His words cut off abruptly as he showed a startled expression.

“Have you seen a thin man wearing dark clothing?”

Night had already fallen, and Chen Mu had run so fast that the Jinlin Guards chasing him hadn’t seen clearly what color his clothes were—they could only tell they were dark, and his build was on the thin side.

“Haven’t seen anyone. You are—”

“Jinlin Guard.” The Jinlin Guard who spoke pushed Du Qing aside and strode inside.

Several Jinlin Guards followed closely behind.

“Search carefully!”

“Yes.”

Seeing several Jinlin Guards rush toward various places, searching through boxes and cabinets without mercy, Du Qing became anxious. “Sir, there’s no one else at this humble citizen’s place. You—”

“Shut up!”

Du Qing shut up. His face showed fear and unease, but inwardly he felt fortunate.

As someone who personally protected the Master, he had always lived separately from the others, with very little contact. When they absolutely needed to communicate, the location was that abandoned residence. And since the Master entered the palace, he had changed his lodgings again. No trace of a second person living here could be found.

What he was curious about now was what trouble Chen Mu had stirred up to be pursued by the Jinlin Guard.

The lead Jinlin Guard stood beside Du Qing, obviously keeping him under his watchful eye. The others went in and out, and soon one person headed straight for the woodshed.

Du Qing inevitably felt nervous inside, though his face still maintained its fearful expression without excessive changes.

The Jinlin Guard who entered the woodshed looked around.

The crude woodshed was low and dim, piled with quite a bit of firewood, with two large jars placed in the corner.

The cramped space and the damp smell filling his nose made the Jinlin Guard instinctively frown, unwilling to stay long.

He was about to turn around when his eye fell on those two large jars.

After a moment’s thought, he strode over and suddenly lifted one jar lid.

Inside the jar were several pickled vegetables, giving off a pungent sour smell.

The Jinlin Guard put down the lid in disgust and lifted open the other one.

The other jar contained brown rice, not even half full. At such a height, obviously nothing could be hidden there.

The Jinlin Guard didn’t even feel a trace of suspicion. He casually tossed down the lid, swept a few more glances around the woodshed, and walked out.

“No one in the woodshed.”

The Jinlin Guards checking other places also returned successively, without any discoveries.

The lead Jinlin Guard’s expression toward Du Qing softened somewhat. “If you see such a person, report it to us promptly.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Du Qing agreed repeatedly, looking as if he had breathed a sigh of relief.

The Jinlin Guards found his reaction completely normal—after all, people who weren’t nervous seeing Jinlin Guards break through their door would be the abnormal ones.

“Let’s go!”

Du Qing saw them to the door, his face respectful. “Please take your time, officers.”

The several Jinlin Guards didn’t look back, heading straight for the next house.

Du Qing barred the door and exhaled slightly.

No matter how composed one was, being searched like this couldn’t help but cause some nervousness.

The small courtyard had already been turned into a mess by the Jinlin Guards. Du Qing stepped over a fallen wooden bucket and walked toward the woodshed.

The woodshed was completely silent. The jar lid lying casually on the ground reminded him someone had been there.

He walked to the rice jar and lightly tapped the jar’s body. “Come out.”

After a brief silence, the rice in the jar suddenly started flowing, as if it had suddenly gained life. Then a head popped out.

Chen Mu used his hands to support himself as he came out, casually pulling at the board at the jar’s bottom.

It turned out the bottom of this rice jar was the entrance to a small cellar, with a movable bottom board. When needing to hide in an emergency, one only needed to pull open the bottom board to hide inside. The only drawback was that the rice used as cover had some weight—those with little strength couldn’t pull it open at all.

Of course, for people like Du Qing, this wasn’t a problem.

Chen Mu spat on the ground, spitting out a few grains of brown rice, looking at Du Qing with doubt and scrutiny in his eyes.

If when they first met he had been full of suspicion that Du Qing informed on them, after being sheltered he felt somewhat uncertain.

Or was it that Du Qing’s purpose was only to stop them from bombing Jinxiu Street?

He was clear about how loyal Du Qing was to Daoist Mingxin.

He could even be certain that if Daoist Mingxin disagreed with the Master, Du Qing would definitely listen to Daoist Mingxin.

A fierce glint flashed through Chen Mu’s eyes as his hand shot out like lightning.

Du Qing had been prepared and dodged, saying angrily, “Are you done yet? If you really fight to the death, you won’t necessarily have the upper hand!”

Before this, the two hadn’t fought, but they both had a sense of each other’s skills. Chen Mu knew Du Qing’s words were true—if they really fought to the death, both would surely be severely injured.

He took a deep breath, his icy gaze locked onto Du Qing. “Today, dozens of Jinlin Guards suddenly charged into our lodging and arrested all my people. When I returned, I sensed something was wrong and hid to the side to observe secretly—only then did I escape disaster. Does this matter have anything to do with you?”

Du Qing’s face showed shock. “You’re saying all your people met with trouble?”

Seeing Chen Mu being chased by Jinlin Guards, though he had anticipated it wasn’t good, he hadn’t expected that only Chen Mu had escaped.

“Otherwise why would I appear here?” Chen Mu stepped forward, his killing intent fully revealed. “Answer my question—was it you who leaked information?”

Du Qing looked baffled. “Are you insane? Aren’t we on the same side?”

Chen Mu sneered coldly. “But Daoist Mingxin doesn’t approve of this plan!”

Du Qing rolled his eyes. “The Master simply doesn’t approve, but he also wouldn’t move against his own people. Could it be that you carelessly leaked your whereabouts?”

“Impossible!” Chen Mu flatly denied. “With such a major matter, no one would dare be careless. Even when scouting during the day, we made good disguises. Those Jinlin Guards had laid an ambush early on, waiting until most people had returned before making their move—obviously they had their eyes on us long ago. I’ve thought it over and over, and the problem most likely occurred after I met with you.”

“Wait, you’re saying the problem most likely occurred after you met with me?”

“Correct.”

Du Qing frowned, paced back and forth several times, then stopped. Looking at Chen Mu, his gaze held a measure of gravity. “Have you considered that perhaps you were followed that day?”

“Impossible!” Chen Mu’s first reaction was denial.

“How is it impossible? Whether you believe it or not, the information wasn’t leaked from my side. Besides, if it really was me, why would I shelter you just now? To let you go back and report to the Master?”

Chen Mu was swayed and recalled the events of that day.