Iron Snow Clouds

Chapter 1972: Detour

After hearing this, Tie Hongyan immediately wrote something on a piece of paper and asked Wu Xunsheng whether Hou Xueyan had taken anything out of the cloth bag.

Wu Xunsheng recalled and said, "It seems not. During the time he was near the Qixing Zuiren Pavilion, he probably didn't move the bag. I couldn't see it clearly, but I felt that he had to observe his surroundings while doing those movements, so he didn't have much time to take things out of the bag, right? Even if he really took it out with very small movements, I couldn't see it."

Tie Hongyan wrote some words and asked Wu Xunsheng whether he felt that Hou Xueyan always standing in the same position had something to do with the practice.

Wu Xunsheng nodded and said, "Yes, that's what I think. I think he went to that position to perform a ritual towards the Seven-Star Zuiren Pavilion, and I feel..." Wu Xunsheng thought about it.

Tie Hongyan looked at him, wrote something on a piece of paper, and told him that he could just say whatever he felt at the time.

Wu Xunsheng said: "I think Hou Xueyan was performing a ritual before. He went to the Qixing Zuiren Pavilion just to perform a ritual. Moreover, I do feel that he needs to stand in a specific place to perform a ritual. Otherwise, he could have performed a ritual in a more secluded place. When Hou Xueyan saw others passing by, he hid in a place where he could not be easily seen. Logically speaking, couldn't he have performed a ritual directly in that place? Why did he have to go back to the place where he was before? I think he went back to that place just to perform a ritual."

Tie Hongyan also thought this was probably the case. He wrote to Wu Xunsheng to ask what happened to Hou Xueyan later.

Wu Xunsheng told Tie Hongyan: "Then Hou Xueyan took another path and left. I was curious, so I followed him for a while. Although he took another path, he was actually taking a longer route."

Tie Hongyan asked him if it was Hou Xueyan and later he walked back to the same road he had walked on before.

Wu Xunsheng said, "You guessed right again. When he returned from the vicinity of the Qixing Zuiren Pavilion, no matter whether he first took the small path he took when he came here or the small path he didn't take when he came here, he could later walk to the main road he took when he came here, so I said he was taking a detour. In fact, he didn't have to take that small path at all. If he had taken the same path he came from, it would have been much closer." Tie Hongyan asked Wu Xunsheng through writing. He wondered whether Hou Xueyan took a detour at that time was because he wanted to prevent being discovered, or because he wanted to do something related to magic on the road.

Wu Xunsheng said: "I don't know, I haven't seen anything in this regard."

Tie Hongyan wrote some words and asked Wu Xunsheng if he thought Hou Xueyan might be performing a ritual on his way back.

After thinking about this, Wu Xunsheng said, "Are you thinking that the other path Hou Xueyan took on his way back was also related to the location of the ritual, and then he secretly performed the ritual on the way back?"

Tie Hongyan told him in writing that she thought this was one of the possibilities.

Wu Xunsheng said: "I didn't see him making any obvious movements at the time, and he didn't seem to be performing any rituals on the way back. However, if he was performing the rituals secretly by reciting the spells, then it's hard to say."

Tie Hongyan wrote some words, saying that what Wu Xunsheng said made sense. If Hou Xueyan did it secretly, outsiders would not be able to understand it at all.

Tie Hongyan wrote to ask Wu Xunsheng whether Hou Xueyan looked around on his way back like he did before.

(End of this chapter)