The Grimoire of Heaven had disappeared overnight, meaning that the thief likely couldn't have gotten far, especially while hiding the Grimoire of Heaven's aura.
"Of course we will all cooperate with Senior Elder Wang Zhen," Elder He Xuan said, bowing his head slightly. "In the meanwhile, we must prevent news of this from getting out. We will investigate behind the scenes until then. Not a whisper of this should escape your lips."
He knew the prefects would toe the line, but his words were made for the other winners, who all nodded. "Of course! Not a whisper!"
"Good," Elder He Xuan said. "You are dismissed for now, but we will be interviewing you all in depth. Do not leave the sect's grounds right now for any reason, and if you see anything, do not hesitate to speak up."
Zhang Long, Tang Ze, Chen Yu, and Yin Tiang all walked back to their common area.
"Sorry 'bout that," they all said to Yin Tiang, who had been the only one who didn't get a shot at using the Grimoire of Heaven.
"No I mean, it's crazy it got stolen though," Yin Tiang said, dropping his voice to a whisper as they reached their common living area.
The four of them weren't even sure how the sect was going to conduct its investigation in secret, given how much tighter security would be. People would naturally ask questions about the heightened security, and by not answering that question, it indirectly answered the question.
"If only there was someone who could help," Zhang Long said. However, they were all Qi Condensation cultivators. What could they do? "Unless you have a costume that could help us."
The issue of dressing up as characters like Sherlock Holmes and the like was that their intelligence wasn't considered a power by his talent. It was only if their superpower was intelligence - or put another way, that the character would not be as intelligence as they actually were without that power. Dressing as someone like Sherlock Holmes or a similar fictional detective who had trained their minds and senses to solve crimes would not work because he would not get their life experiences and would basically just be a regular person if he tried. That was because there was nothing 'superhuman' about their abilities.
It was the same for all costumes he made actually in that regard. He could gain a character's powers, but not their experiences using those powers, usually necessitating practice before he put them into action. Unless it was something like with Leonald the Lucky Leprechaun.
He did know a few characters who were specifically intelligent as a result of their powers, but they all had very strange designs, some of them being aliens - which were very difficult to replicate. One such character was a giant brain in a vat of liquid - how was he going to make a costume like that?
Even if he could do so, the fact of the matter was that one cannot make bricks without clay - Tang Ze was a newcomer to this world and was constantly discovering things about it that he hadn't known before. So even if he somehow became very smart, without the requisite knowledge of the world, his intelligence would be useless.
And since he knew so little about what had gone on in order to steal the grimoire, he didn't know what powerset would be useful in this kind of circumstance.
And so, Tang Ze shook his head in response to the question sent his way. He couldn't think of anyone in his wide arsenal who would be able to solve a strange cultivation mystery…
...or was there?
Not a character he knew, but someone else who might be able to help them.
"Wait - I have an idea," Tang Ze said, going to fetch his wizard costume.
"This again? Didn't we go over this already?" the others whined about him dressing up as a wizard again, though it didn't stop Tang Ze one bit as he teleported to go visit Xian Yue.
Yes, he had been instructed to not leave the sect, but this was to find someone who might be able to help them find the Grimoire of Heaven.
He found her spirit and quickly relayed what had happened.
"So? What do you expect for me to do about it?" Xian Yue asked. During her past lives, she had once been part of the Jasmine Dragon sect, though in her most recent life, she had joined the Emerald Floral sect.
She had barely any ties to them now, however, and had never been a member of the Rising Phoenix sect.
So, Tang Ze couldn't arouse her sympathies that way.
"I… well, Elder Wang Zhen thought that it must've been done by someone at the Nascent Soul or the Eternal Soul realm… and we don't have anyone at the Eternal Soul realm, so I thought if maybe you could help out…"
Xian Yue had no reason to help out. This was an internal sect matter, or, in the case that the thief really was from another sect, it was an inter-sect matter which she no longer wanted to be bothered with. The Emerald Floral sect thought that she was dead and she had no desire to relieve them of that misconception.
That said, Tang Ze had helped her out. Or at least, he was trying to.
When it came to karma, no cultivator could deny its existence, though that did not stop demonic cultivators from committing demonic acts.
There was a common story told in regarding that aspect.
There was once was a man who had discovered a rare inheritance along with his brother, though, coveting the treasure for himself he killed his brother over the inheritance. Ironically enough, it gave him the ability to sense karma, and he could see how his actions had tainted himself. One day, while in the woods, a wild animal attacked him, and ended up breaking most of his bones - which he could tell was the karmic retribution of murdering his brother. However, now the negative karma had been cleared from his soul; using his newfound cultivation talents he healed his wounds, essentially suffering from the fruit of his actions, but at the same time, it had not impeded his journey overall whatsoever save for a few moments of pain.
Many demonic cultivators used this story to justify their actions saying 'I may accrue negative karma by my actions, but I can get strong enough to ignore those consequences!'
Now, it was unlikely that helping Tang Ze out would help Xian Yue out in any significant way even if the universe chose to reward her for it, but it also would not cost her very much either.
She already had a very good idea on how the theft had occurred just by listening to Tang Ze's story.
"Alright then, let me see if I can help you," Xian Yue said. "Over there in that chest, you can find a few jade rings, bring one to me."
A smile blossomed on Tang Ze's face - she had to admit that despite herself, she had grown to be somewhat fond of that smile.
He handed her spectral form one of the jade rings, and she injected a piece of her soul into it. Nascent Soul and Eternal Soul cultivators could do this with ease, though even some Golden Core cultivators had managed to develop techniques that let them do so.
Jade was one of the better materials to do so, though other valuable materials like silver and gold could also work. Copper was somewhat dicey to use as a basis for such as it tended to leak large amounts of spiritual energy, but was still viable depending on the grade of the copper used.
This would decrease the amount of spectral energy she had to maintain her soul by a slight amount - but it was like taking a drop of water out of a large lake. As it was, it would make little difference to her plight. Either Tang Ze would find a way to finish that dress and she could ascend, or she would end up fading and rolling the dice with the Wheel of Samsara once again.
She had placed all her chips on this one bet, and she could only wait and see if it would payoff or not.
"This'll let me speak to you even if we're at a distance without you having to dream," Xian Yue explained.
"Heh," Tang Ze said, smirking as he took the ring.
"What's so funny?"
"I've heard of stories of people finding old grandpas in rings, but I managed to find an old granny."
Xian Yue huffed and put her hands on her hips. "You dare! You're calling me granny!"
"I mean, aren't you thousands of years old?" Tang Ze asked. Matter of fact she was so old that her original body had decayed from age and this soul was all that was left.
"Still, I'm a young maiden at heart!" she retorted.
"Ah…" Tang Ze began, but trailed off.
"If I still had my body and looked like this, you'd think I was youthful and beautiful, wouldn't you?" Xian Yue said.
"I still think you're beautiful, even like this."
Xian Yue didn't know how to counter that and crossed her arms before huffing. "Ah- tha- shut up! Let's get going and solve your dumb problem before I change my mind!"
Tang Ze left, but Xian Yue was still left with one thing on her mind.
A memory that had crept up on her.
Of sitting in a room, wondering what the commotion was when her father walked in, with a despondent look on his face.
She hadn't understood what was going on initially - wasn't this supposed to be her big day? What her mother said would be the start of her new life?
It was not to be so, and ever since she had been able to reawaken those memories, she had taken essentially an informal vow of celibacy. She could not see herself placing her trust in another person.
And yet, she had thought that she was long beyond those feelings. Her journey of cultivation was so long she felt that she was over that memory.
Clearly though, she wasn't.
She turned to the dress - that old bridal gown, feeling an intense hatred for what it reminded her of. Practically nothing of the original gown remained by this point, still, the memory of its form seemed to hover over the actual dress.
Were it not for the fact that it was vital to her ascension she would have burned it right that instant.
Her thoughts then went to the man who had just been there a few moments ago.
'I still think you're beautiful, even like this' - his words echoed in her mind as she sighed.
He was such an idiot sometimes!
Especially as he had called her old - something that she normally wouldn't have minded, yet when he said it… she couldn't help but feel intense rage erupt within her heart!