He is not here ?

Seeing all the exotic, rare spiritual houseplants and precious ornaments, Drake's previous life's thieving instincts kicked in, and coupled with the mask's negative effect*, he unwittingly neglected the fact that the sect master and group were already on their way back, and focused his attention on all the precious items around him.

Meanwhile, as the sect master and group rushed over towards the main peak, it didn't take them long before they arrived at the entrance to the huge mansion.

"Greetings sect master !!!" having already detected their arrival when they were still some distance away, the apeman guard thumped his chest with his right fist as he greeted with fervor.

Looking at the passionate and extremely loyal variant human, a slight trace of genial love appeared in the sect master's eyes as she returned the greeting with a gentle nod. She then cast a quick glance at the people around her and noticed that everyone had solemn expressions on their faces... except for the woman dressed up in leopard fur clothing, who is actually blushing non-stop since she saw Yuan wenyan.

Seeing her expression, the sect master couldn't help but feel exasperated, and her gaze unwittingly went to the long sword hanging by her waist. As if responding to her gaze, the steel long sword began to vibrate indiscernibly inside the scabbard.

𝘕𝘰, 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨!? the sect master quickly composed herself.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵, she thought as she looked at Yuan wenyan and asked, "Master Yuan, shall we go in ?"

"Un... Let's go" Yuan Wenyan said with a nod, and without any wait, he directly strode through the entrance.

After nodding to the four elders who stood beside her, the sect master followed behind Yuan wenyan, entering through the huge entrance located between the two bronze statues of sword-holding armored knights.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸? 𝘐𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘱 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘵! Burly Huang thought with knitted brows as he looked at the sect master's receding back.

Just at that moment, elder Gao turned around, catching the sight of his knitted eyebrows. Thinking that the young woman might be worried about meeting a core formation realm expert, he cleared his throat and said in a reassuring tone, "Miss, we need to go in too. You can just follow behind us... Don't worry, we will try to keep you safe."

Hearing Elder Gao's words, the already haggard grand elder and other two elder's expressions became slightly twisted.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘫𝘰𝘬𝘦! 𝘏𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯? the grand elder couldn't help but snicker inwardly.

"Oh... Ok, thanks for your care," Huang Changpu said with a sweet smile, not at all rejecting the elder's good intentions.

Seeing the young woman suddenly smile so happily, elder Gao couldn't help but become dazed.

𝘐𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘯𝘢𝘪𝘷𝘦? 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬!? he thought inwardly.

Shaking his head he turned around and engaged in a short discussion with the three elders. Mostly, He spoke about what he has observed about the mysterious senior and how they should not act rashly at any cost.

In the meanwhile, as Huang changpu gazed at the large mansion, observing each and every carving present on its exterior, he couldn't help but develop profound admiration for the person who sculpted them.

Others may not be able to notice in their first time itself, but he has an enhanced vision, boosted by his peculiar cultivation technique. He could see that above each of these carvings the profound Dao truths that the master sculpture tried to express have manifested into invisible layers of Dao runes.

𝘋𝘢𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭! 𝘏𝘦𝘩, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥... 𝘎𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘞𝘦𝘯. Huang changpu thought inwardly.

After their short discussion elder Gao signaled burly Huang to follow them as they too approached the mansion's entrance.

Meanwhile, when the Sect Master and Yuan wenyan stepped foot inside, they found the large hall completely empty, except for one of the sect master's personal maids, who seemed...

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 !? the sect master thought befuddled as she looked at her personal maid, who is waving her legs in a frenzy while half of her body was swallowed up by a huge green-colored vine plant.

Meanwhile, Yuan wenyan who entered the hall before the sect master was already beside the maid. He immediately raised his right hand and sent a palm strike towards the mouth of the vine plant. Immediately a pained howl was heard as the huge vine plant vomited the maid onto the floor along with a large amount of sticky green bile and quickly retracted itself back into the ground, leaving behind only a small creeper plant with strangely bewitching flowers all over. These flowers radiated a faint violet glow which brightened at one moment and dwindled the next as if the flowers themselves were breathing.

"Violet flower demon vine... What did she do to agitate this vine plant to this extent!?" Yuan wenyan wondered out loud.

"Bai Qiu... " the sect master called out in a loud voice as she quickly walked over towards the unconscious maid who is lying on the floor covered in sticky green liquid.

Hearing the loud voice drake slowly opened his eyes, finding himself being stared at by the sect master and yuan wenyan.

"Sect Master! Cough* Cough*" drake coughed a few times as he hurriedly tried to stand up when he saw the sect master.

Just at this moment, the four elders along with burly Huang entered the large hall. Immediately their expressions became unnatural as they looked at the scene in front of them.

"Wait, don't talk," the sect master said as she took a few nimble back steps, moving back a few feet. She then unsheathed her long sword and without any wait, she thrust it forward while pointing its tip at the maid.

"Whaaa !!!" drake was not even able to let out a proper scream before a gust of violent wind washed over him, taking with it most of the slimy liquid present on his body. Even drake's body was pushed back several feet before he was able to forcefully stop himself.

Looking satisfied at the result, the Sect Master sheathed her sword back. She then looked straight into drake's eyes and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Huh!" Hearing the sect master's question the corners of drake's eyes twitched indiscernibly as he tried to recall what happened. And a moment is all it took him to realize how he had fallen victim to Mask of mirage's negative effect, completely forgetting that the sect master was already on her way back...

The last thing he remembered before fainting is how he wished to pluck the magical flowers of some spiritual plant, only to tragically end up in its large mouth.

"I... I was only going through my usual routine, sect master. I don't know why this vine suddenly attacked me..." he answered deliberately, trying to feign innocence.

"No, If you didn't do anything, why would it try to harm you like this?" the sect master asked as she stared intently at burly Huang with narrowed eyes.

Feeling the Sect Master's soul-penetrating gaze on him, Drake's heart skipped a beat.

𝘖𝘩 𝘕𝘰! 𝘐𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘺? Drake thought as he began to rack his brain.

"Sect Master, Thank the heavens you arrived!!!" suddenly an exclamation of a female voice sounded out in the large hall.

Hearing the familiar voice, the sect master turned her head, noticing her other personal maid, who is panting heavily with beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

"What happened?" the Sect Master questioned with narrowed eyes as she began to have a bad feeling.

"Sect Master, the senior that elder Gao had brought over... he... he is not here!!!" the maid said while sounding alarmed and anxious.

"Not here? What do you mean? where did he go?" the sect master questioned as her voice turned slightly high pitch towards the end.

"This... Sect Master, initially that senior wanted to meditate, so I showed him the way for cultivation chamber. But just now, when I went there to invite him for the feast, the guards there... they are saying that no one came to them and the cultivation chamber is empty!" the maid explained while looking a little flustered.

"He was not there? Then where did he go?" the sect master thought out loud.

"That was what I thought too, Sect master. So, I went around, making inquiries. That was when I got to know that this senior, had actually been roaming all around inside the mansion! Some guards even suspected that he was searching for something... But, seeing as he possessed the guest token, they could only refrain from obstructing him." the maid further offered the information she gathered from the guards.

At this moment, Yuan Wenyan who was standing to the side listening to the maid's recount, asked in a grave tone, "What is the last place they have seen him?"

Hearing the question, a trace of worry revealed itself in the maid's eyes as she answered, "Sect Master's personal chamber".

Immediately silence descended on the large hall as nobody uttered a word for a long while.

Meanwhile, seeing as everyone's focus being shifted from him, Drake heaved a sigh of relief and relaxed.

"My personal chamber?" the Sect Master whispered to herself as thoughts began to whirl in her mind.

In the Mystic Sword Sect, if one needs to pick a place that is highly secured, that would undoubtedly be the Sect Master's personal chamber. It's purely because of the illusion formation present there. One needs to be above the core formation realm to remain unaffected after entering the formation's range unless they were recognized by the formation as someone authorized to enter.

There were always some rumors in the sect's upper echelons as to why such a powerful formation was needed for a place where sect masters reside.

Shouldn't a sect master be capable enough to protect themself?

To counter this question, some say that the old sect founder always used to experiment with unorthodox cultivation methods, and so in order to maintain secrecy, he laid this powerful formation. Some even went a step ahead with this rumor, saying that there is a secret passageway from that personal chamber leading to a secret cave, where the sect founder left an inheritance before he disappeared. It was said that only a future Mystic sword sect's sect master who is capable enough to meet his requirements would be able to discover the secret passageway.

...

PS: About the mask's negative effect; This is something I forgot to add the last time in the system's description on the 'Mask of mirage'. From here on I wish to include negative effects for every artifact, more or less, to make things more interesting. (Excluding the items gifted by the system... Wouldn't want our powerful system to give out defective products!) Anyways, here is what I've included in the previous chapter.

Artifact name: Mask of mirage.

Negative effect: 'Forgetfulness'

As the wearer wears the mask for prolonged periods of time, they tend to become forgetful. This starts with forgetting some trivial matters at first, then develops into losing of days and months of their memories, depending upon the amount of time they prolonged the usage of the mask. However, this is only temporary, and their memories will be restored once they remove the mask.

Limitation:

It doesn't work against someone who attained the core formation realm