Seeing that she had covered five li, Gu Shi Yi's old horse was already foaming at the mouth, exhausted, while the pursuers astride their fine steeds, each strong and vigorous, would have caught up to her long ago if not for the treacherous road. Gu Shi Yi had also surreptitiously used some tricks along the way, quietly moving boulders from the roadside into the path to block the pursuers' progress.
With the small town now in sight, Gu Shi Yi was overjoyed.
"Once I get into the town and dive into the crowd, let's see how you'll find me!"
Thinking this, she patted her horse's rump, eliciting a pained neigh as the animal mustered its final burst of energy and charged into the town.
Entering the town, Gu Shi Yi dismounted and led the horse down a secluded alley. Li Yaner crawled out from the small oilcloth pouch at her chest and perched on her shoulder, looking tensely behind them. Gu Shi Yi made several turns as if she was very familiar with the place.
"Shiyi, do you know the way?"
Gu Shi Yi replied,
"I once stayed here with the Old Taoist Priest for half a month. He caught a ghost for a family here, and I still remember the way!"
This world was unlike the one Yaner came from that relished grand construction, forever digging and building. Some places remained unchanged even after a hundred years—the roads were still the same, and so were the houses, just with different people inside.
As Gu Shi Yi led the horse deeper into the alley, the pursuers entered the town, with someone pointing to the alley,
"Young Master, he ran in here!"
"Chase!"
A group of people hurriedly followed into the alley, but after turning several corners, they became disoriented and lost the trail, causing Pu Yuntian to grow furious.
"Where did he go?"
The servants exchanged glances, thinking,
"We followed you here, and if you didn't see him, naturally neither did we!"
No one dared to answer. Pu Yuntian's face darkened with rage, and with a wave of his hand, he commanded,
"Spread out and search for him!"
Everyone dispersed to search but with the low houses and crisscrossing alleyways of the unfamiliar town, they were like headless flies. After reconvening an hour later, they all came back empty-handed.
Pu Yuntian was furious, but he was indeed worthy of being the top disciple of the national teacher's foremost student. He pondered for a moment and instructed,
"Bring over the Second Miss's carriage!"
Swiftly, a runner went and brought back the carriage that was abandoned roadside. Then Pu Yuntian ordered,
"Place guards at the town's entrances and exits; he couldn't have gone far!"
Since the town was built on a flat valley flanked by mountains, with only two entrances and exits, guarding these points and slowly sweeping through the town seemed like a solid plan.
With his mind made up, Pu Yuntian managed to quell his fury and commanded,
"Find a place to stay!"
This town was a thoroughfare between Twin Sages City and another small city, bustling with traffic. The two inns in town did good business, and the rooms were almost full. But that was not an obstacle for the Pu Family's servants; they simply threw down some silver and booked several of the best rooms. While Pu Qutian rested in one of the rooms, once the carriage arrived, he had people guard the outside while he alone boarded the carriage. Inside, he took out a Yellow Talisman and folded a paper crane, then began chanting spells before tossing the paper crane in front of him. Astoundingly, the paper crane took flight, circling the carriage a few times and then heading outside, flying around the carriage twice before flying off.
Pu Yuntian was elated and said to his men,
"Follow the paper crane!"
The band of wicked servants, each armed with a weapon, followed the paper crane out of the inn, only to see it hover endlessly over the town, reluctant to descend. Pu Yuntian frowned at this,
"Could it be that my Taoist techniques are flawed?"
The paper crane was wrapped with a strand of hair he picked up in the carriage, which belonged to the thief they were pursuing. He had used the paper crane tracking technique, expecting it to lead them to their quarry. If the crane found the person, it would descend, but now its relentless hovering was puzzling.
Pu Yuntian's Taoist skills, learned from Zhang Zhenyue—who may have been the national Taoist priest of Yue Country but whose cultivation still paled in comparison to the Old Taoist Priest—were insufficient. Since she was five years old, Gu Shi Yi had been following the Old Taoist Priest through the Itinerant World, ghost catching (really swindling and deceiving), and in both theory and practice, she far outstripped the sheltered Pu Yuntian. So as long as she concealed her presence, Pu Yuntian could follow the paper crane for three hundred sixty rounds and still be unable to find Gu Shi Yi.