In the VIP room of the Cloud Palace, the atmosphere was extremely oppressive.
Xu Changsheng stood by, not daring to interject, while Yang Shan was on the verge of losing his ability to think, not even daring to breathe deeply. He was utterly terrified.
"I, I..."
Yang Shan swallowed hard. After sensing Ye Ling's aura, he realized there was a world of difference between them!
Not only him, but perhaps the entire Cloud Palace sub-branch, Ye Ling didn't even take into consideration.
Yang Shan no longer dared to threaten Ye Ling. Trembling, he took a Qiankun bag from his pocket and handed it to Ye Ling, saying, "Sir, all my possessions are in this Qiankun bag. Take whatever you wish."
Ye Ling accepted the Qiankun bag without politeness, easily erased Yang Shan's mental imprint, and probed into it with his divine soul, searching for the silver bracelet he wanted.
However, things did not go as planned. Ye Ling searched through Yang Shan's entire Qiankun bag but found no trace of the bracelet.
"None?"
Ye Ling frowned slightly, then his expression turned quite grim as he stared at Yang Shan and said, "Are you still playing dumb with me?"
"Do you really think I wouldn't dare to kill you?"
Feeling Ye Ling's icy pressure, Yang Shan's pupils contracted sharply. He quickly knelt and begged for mercy, "Sir, spare my life! Everything I have is in here, including the bracelet I bought from Luo Xin!"
"I truly did not lie to you!"
At this point, Yang Shan would not be foolish enough to try any tricks with Ye Ling.
No matter how valuable the bracelet was, it was not as precious as his own life.
Yang Shan knew very well that if he didn't hand over the bracelet voluntarily now, he would surely die!
"Not lying to me?"
Ye Ling's face turned cold. He threw the Qiankun bag at Yang Shan's face and said coldly, "You search it yourself and find where the bracelet is."
Hearing Ye Ling's words, Yang Shan shivered all over. He quickly opened his Qiankun bag and turned out all the items within.
But inside, let alone the bracelet he bought from Luo Xin, there wasn't even a bangle!
"How, how could this be? Why is it gone?"
Yang Shan was sweating profusely, pouring out the treasures in the bag one by one, but he couldn't find the bracelet he bought from Luo Xin at all!
His Qiankun bag had a space of only one cubic meter, and he quickly searched through it.
Yang Shan slumped to the ground dejectedly, endless despair welling up in his eyes, "How could this happen?"
He couldn't understand how the bracelet, which should have been lying safely in the Qiankun bag, had vanished into thin air.
Ye Ling said coldly, "Still playing the fool?"
"Do you really think that as long as you claim ignorance, I will let you go?"
Hearing Ye Ling's words, Yang Shan trembled again and quickly kowtowed to Ye Ling, begging for mercy, "Sir, spare my life! I truly did not lie to you!"
"I always kept that bracelet in the Qiankun bag, I didn't put it anywhere else!"
Ye Ling asked, "Since you said you kept it in this Qiankun bag, why isn't it here?"
In fact, seeing Yang Shan's current demeanor, Ye Ling also realized that the bracelet had likely been intercepted by someone else, and Yang Shan himself truly didn't know where it was.
However, Yang Shan was the only lead he had regarding the bracelet. Ye Ling had no other choice but to pressure him like this, trying to find some clues from him.
The device invented by Li Xiaomei was crucial to his plan.
Before the mastermind behind the scenes could be revealed, Ye Ling would not allow the bracelet to fall into anyone's hands!
Hearing Ye Ling's questioning, Yang Shan's fear intensified. He said in a panic, "Sir, I really don't know what happened!"
"It was in my Qiankun bag yesterday, but it's suddenly gone today... This is too bizarre!"
"I never told anyone else about the bracelet, and I don't understand how it disappeared?"
Yang Shan was on the verge of tears. If he had stubbornly resisted and refused to compromise until death, he might have been regarded as loyal and righteous by the Cloud Palace, and his memorial tablet would have been enshrined in the sub-branch.
But now, he had already prepared to betray the Cloud Palace and hand over the bracelet to Ye Ling, only to have lost it...
As a result, he was in a no-win situation. The Cloud Palace would see him as a traitor, and Ye Ling would not let him off either!
Ye Ling looked deeply at Yang Shan's current state and did not press him further.
His voice also softened considerably as he said to Yang Shan, "Think carefully now. From yesterday when you checked your Qiankun bag until now, who have you met during this period?"
"And among those people, who had the ability to take the bracelet from you without a sound?"
"The people I met during this period..." Hearing Ye Ling's words, Yang Shan's mind immediately brought up one person.
The leader of the Cloud Palace's Xichuan sub-branch, Wang Die!
Was it her?
A hint of hesitation flashed in Yang Shan's eyes, and then he said to Ye Ling with some uncertainty, "Sir, from yesterday until now, the only person I've contacted who had the ability to take the bracelet from my Qiankun bag without me noticing is the current leader of the Cloud Palace's Xichuan sub-branch, Wang Die."
"Wang Die's mastery of the Marquis's Eight Gates and Nine Palaces is superb. Her Eight Gates Transport technique can indeed directly retrieve items from my Qiankun bag..."
"But no one in the Cloud Palace knows that I obtained the bracelet, and I specifically set a seal on it. It's unlikely Wang Die would take the bracelet from my Qiankun bag..."
"You met Wang Die yesterday?" Hearing Yang Shan's words, a hint of surprise flashed in Ye Ling's eyes. He hadn't expected Wang Die to also be involved in this matter.
However, if Wang Die was the one who made the move, Ye Ling was not so shocked.
In the archives, Ye Ling had already experienced Wang Die's methods. Someone who could set up such ingenious puzzles would not be a simple person.
Having learned the whereabouts of the bracelet, Ye Ling did not dwell on this issue further. Instead, he asked Yang Shan, "Speaking of which, why did you buy that bracelet from Luo Xin in the first place?"
"How did you learn about the bracelet's secret?"
Yang Shan had anticipated this question and did not dare to conceal anything. He said, "Sir, you may not know, but Li Xiaomei's father, Li Shan, was once a good friend of my father. When Li Xiaomei's father defected from the Cloud Palace, it was my father who organized the pursuit..."
"At that time, I was still young, about the same age as Li Xiaomei, and my father sent me to be Li Xiaomei's mother's assistant. The original intention was to steal Li Xiaomei's mother's research results, but unexpectedly, Li Xiaomei's mother passed away from illness midway, and my mission ended early."
"However, it was precisely because I had been Li Xiaomei's mother's assistant for a period of time and knew the general content of their research that I felt a sense of familiarity when I saw the bracelet worn by Luo Xin."
"I didn't know the secret key to activate the bracelet, nor did I know if it was the genuine article. I originally planned to find the Red Dust Pavilion to verify its authenticity and estimate its price, but unexpectedly, you, sir..."
At this point, Yang Shan looked at Ye Ling, hesitating to speak.
The rest was known to everyone.
Ye Ling stared at Yang Shan, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.
He hadn't expected this deputy leader of the Cloud Palace to have been an assistant to Li Xiaomei's mother back then!