Lan Ting came to the guest room to deliver clothes. Although he had no use for the clothes himself, it wouldn’t be polite to just send Lan Ting away immediately.

"Would Junior Sister Lan like to come in and sit for a while?"

"Sure." Lan Ting entered and noticed a half-eaten Spirit Fruit by the door.

"I didn’t hold it steady just now, and it accidentally fell to the ground." Lu Yang picked up the Spirit Fruit, apologized, and continued to eat it after cleaning it off.

Both of them struggled to hop onto the chairs, and Lu Yang took the initiative to talk about the shrinking incident.

"Have you found out who poisoned the Laurel Tree?"

The culprit who caused his shrinkage, Lu Yang swore he would bring them to justice once caught!

"Not yet. The investigation revealed that a total of thirty-six Laurel Trees had been tampered with, with effects ranging from enlargement to shrinkage, involving trees of various ages. The ones used for mooncake filling and the one you chopped down were among them."

Lu Yang helplessly massaged his forehead. With the ample Laurel Trees all over the Fairy Palace, he picked one at random that was thriving. He hadn’t expected it to be one that had been tampered with.

What luck.

The Fairy Palace also knew it was a matter of luck and unrelated to Lu Yang.

If this issue had been related to Lu Yang, then he might have to stay next to Xue Shilou for a while. However, the two could exchange insights on swordsmanship, which might not be such a bad thing after all.

"There’s also the Elixir Brewing Chamber inventory count. Dozens of precious herbal ingredients are missing, and some residues were found on those poisoned Laurel Trees."

"The Elixir Brewing Chamber inventory is counted every two months before heading down the mountain to purchase daily necessities. That’s why the loss of ingredients went unnoticed until now."

"Could it really be someone from inside the Fairy Palace?"

The place where the ingredients were stored was certainly protected by layers of Array Methods. Only someone capable of passing through multiple Array Methods to steal the ingredients could be an Immortal or someone from inside the Fairy Palace.

"Master is investigating suspected individuals one by one, but so far, there’s no progress."

"Moreover, Master can’t figure out why the thief would want to experiment on the Laurel Trees and what their goal is."

Although Lan Ting would love to help Master solve this problem, unfortunately, she was just a child now and couldn’t lend a hand.

"How many suspects are there now?" Lu Yang’s body might have shrunk and he might have lost all his mana, but his mind was still sharp. Perhaps he could find some clues.

Lan Ting felt there was no harm in discussing such matters in detail with Elder Brother Lu Yang. Counting on her fingers, she said, "There are three in total: Elder Miao, who used to be in charge of the Elixir Brewing Chamber, Elder Mei who is currently in charge, and Elder Mei’s senior apprentice, Senior Sister Bai."

"Only they know how to unlock the Great Formation and can freely enter and exit the Elixir Brewing Chamber’s medicine warehouse."

"Actually, Elder Qu Ling, the former Sect Leader, also knows how to activate the Great Formation, but since she is currently imprisoned in Sinners’ Hall, she can’t be involved."

"Although it’s unclear who stole the precious ingredients, the timeframe can be confirmed."

"How so?"

"There’s a record every time the Great Formation is activated to enter the medicine warehouse: what time, who initiated the Great Formation, what ingredients they took."

"According to the tally, there were sixteen activations of the Great Formation within these two months: eight instances by Senior Sister Bai, six by Elder Mei, and two by Elder Miao."

"And an Array Method expert Elder conducted a detailed inspection of the medicine warehouse formation activation records, finding a total of seventeen activations of the Great Formation, which is one more than recorded!"

"This time, it must have been the thief who opened it!"

"Master conducted a detailed investigation into what those three did that day."

Lan Ting struggled to pull out two spirit fruits, one red and one blue, from the fruit plate in the middle of the table, to represent the suspects. Understanding the situation, Lu Yang handed over the half-eaten spirit fruit to Lan Ting, so she didn’t have to struggle to pull out a third spirit fruit.

Lan Ting arranged the two whole spirit fruits and the half spirit fruit in a row.

She pushed the red spirit fruit forward, "Elder Miao is adept at the Cloning Technique, so skilled that her peers cannot discern the real from the fake."

"Originally, after her retirement, she wandered the lands seeking a breakthrough opportunity, but coincidentally, she returned to the sect a month and a half ago, allegedly because she had accumulated a huge debt and came back to borrow money. However, no one knows exactly how much spirit stone she owed or if she borrowed enough."

"On the day of the incident, Elder Miao was catching up with another retired elder and never left her abode."

Lan Ting pushed the blue spirit fruit forward a bit, "As the current manager of the Elixir Brewing Chamber, Elder Mei is always busy. On the day of the incident, she was no exception. She said she stayed in her room the whole time, pondering over new pill formulas and what this year’s mooncake shapes would be like.

She only left the room twice to walk outside and seek inspiration, but nobody saw her outside the Elixir Brewing Chamber."

The remaining half spirit fruit naturally represented Senior Sister Bai: "That day, Senior Sister Bai was brewing elixirs, and three junior sisters saw her through the window paper of the Elixir Brewing Chamber."

"The elixir Senior Sister Bai was brewing is called the Nine-Heart Lotus Pill, which requires an entire day to refine and during which she cannot be distracted, not to mention leaving the pill furnace is out of the question."

"The Nine-Heart Lotus Pill is an elixir of considerable difficulty to brew, and even Senior Sister Bai only has a ten percent chance of success. That day, her condition was very good, and she managed to produce it, later showing off to several senior and junior sisters."

"In the process of investigation, another fact was uncovered; a week before the ingredients disappeared, Senior Sister Bai had a big argument with Elder Mei.

Senior Sister Bai had applied for three precious ingredients to refine elixirs and improve her pill brewing skills, but Elder Mei thought she wasn’t skilled enough and that she would surely fail, so she didn’t approve Senior Sister Bai’s application."

"Coincidentally, these three precious ingredients are on the list of stolen elixirs."

After listening, Lu Yang revealed a thoughtful look, carefully realizing that all three had no alibis.

Elder Miao specializes in the Cloning Technique, which is hard to discern as true or false, and might have used another elder as an alibi.

Elder Mei claimed to have left the room and went outside in search of inspiration, but there were no eyewitnesses.

Senior Sister Bai couldn’t afford to be distracted while brewing the elixir, but the three eyewitness junior sisters had only seen through the window paper; the figure they saw might not have been Senior Sister Bai.

Moreover, they all had motives for the crime.

Lu Yang bowed his head, his lips curling into a smile brimming with intriguing possibilities.

This is what is called ’darkness under the lamp,’ isn’t it?

"Elder Brother, have you thought of something?" Lan Ting saw Lu Yang like this and was sure he had discovered a clue!

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

"Although these three all seem suspicious, in fact, they are not. Since all three have records of entering the Medicine Warehouse, they could have taken the ingredients they wanted while accessing the warehouse; there was no need for a seventeenth entry into the Great Formation, leaving a trace!"

"The only explanation is that it was none of these three!"

"Junior Sister Lan, you just mentioned that as the former Palace Master, Qu Ling knew how to unlock the Medicine Warehouse Formation, doesn’t that suggest that the current Palace Master would also know how to unlock the Great Formation?"

Lu Yang looked pained. Although the answer was unfortunate for Junior Sister Lan, it was the truth, the harsh reality Junior Sister Lan had to confront!

"Therefore, the answer is obvious, the perpetrator is just..."

Before Lu Yang could finish speaking, he heard Fairy Eternity in the Spiritual Space reveal through Immortal Sense an astonishing scene: "Eh, why is the little girl Bai Ye tampering with the Laurel Tree?"