The most alarming detail was that when he reached the word "ma," a wisp of black mist began to seep from the base of the pagoda. It seemed only he and the young girl in the Western-style dress noticed it. Her fingers twitched slightly, and a copper compass slid from her sleeve, its needle spinning wildly.
Master Chen Si clapped his hands and laughed. "Brilliant! I have kept this pagoda in my collection for twenty years, and only today do I know the truth." He suddenly lowered his voice. "But does Mr. Lin know why this pagoda was replicated?" Mu Feng froze, his Mystic Pupil automatically focusing on the base of the pagoda, where a metal mechanism was emitting a "ticking" sound that only he could hear.
"Because the original pagoda doesn't contain Buddha bones..." Mu Feng felt cold sweat streaming down his back. "It contains a bomb." No sooner had he spoken than glass shattered in a second-floor private box. A figure in black leaped down, a dagger aimed straight at Mu Feng’s throat! In the nick of time, the girl’s compass flew out, carving a streak of gold through the air and deflecting the blade. At the same time, the walnuts in Master Chen Si’s hands burst open, firing dozens of gold needles that forced the attacker back.
"Scum from Shiyi Pavilion!" Master Chen Si roared. "Stop him!" Chaos erupted in the hall. Mu Feng took the opportunity to use his Mystic Pupil to scan the pagoda thoroughly. A fragment was hidden in the core of the mechanism, and more shockingly, a set of coordinates was engraved upon it: 34.26, 108.94.
"Xi'an coordinates?" The girl in the Western-style dress had appeared at his side, whispering into his ear. "It seems we share the same goal." Mu Feng was about to ask more, but he noticed three other figures in black on the second floor using strange instruments to record something. The devices were aimed directly at his glowing eyes! "They are measuring the wavelength of your Mystic Pupil." The girl quickly pressed a note into his hand. "Meet me in the alley after the event. I know the whereabouts of your parents."
Before Mu Feng could react, the girl vanished into the panicked crowd. Master Chen Si directed his guards to secure the scene, then turned to Mu Feng and bowed deeply. "Young Master Mu, I am ashamed that Shiyi Pavilion managed to infiltrate the event." Mu Feng’s heart skipped a beat; Master Chen Si knew his real name!
"Do not be surprised," Master Chen Si said with a bitter smile. "You look too much like your father. Twenty years ago, when he attended the 'Wuhua Tianbao,' he sat in the very seat you occupy today." Mu Feng felt as though he had been struck by lightning. His Mystic Pupil scanned the hall uncontrollably, and suddenly, he "saw" a lingering image in a corner: a young Mu Yuncheng handing something to Master Chen Si for safekeeping...
"Elder Chen, my father... let's talk about it after the event." Master Chen Si glanced around vigilantly. "For now, we must deal with the pagoda. That bomb was meant for you." Only then did Mu Feng notice that the ticking from the base of the pagoda was growing faster. Instinctively, he reached out to press his hand against the tower. His Mystic Pupil glowed with intense golden light, allowing him to see the internal structure of the bomb!
Even more miraculously, his fingers seemed able to influence the mechanism remotely; with a gentle flick, he paused the timer. "Controlling objects with the Mystic Pupil?!" Master Chen Si was stunned. "You are even more... than your father was at your age." Before he could finish, three crossbow bolts whistled through the window, aimed straight at Mu Feng’s face!
Master Chen Si yanked him aside, but took an arrow in his own shoulder. Black mist curled around the arrowhead; it was clearly poisoned.
"Go!" Master Chen Si gritted his teeth, pulled out the arrow, and fished a dragon-shaped jade pendant from his robe, thrusting it into Mu Feng’s hand. "Take this to Xi'an and find... find the Qin family..."
Mu Feng wanted to help, but he was dragged away by Su Yuqing, who had appeared out of nowhere to infiltrate the event. "Old Zhou predicted an ambush! We have to move!"
The two bolted through a side door, running straight into the girl in the Western-style dress. The compass in her hand was spinning wildly toward the Taixu Mirror fragment in Mu Feng’s pocket. "No time to explain!" She grabbed Mu Feng’s other hand. "Shiyi Pavilion has activated the 'Pupil-Catching Net.' If we don't leave now, your Mystic Pupil will be drained dry!"
The three raced into the depths of an alleyway, followed by the sound of rapid, heavy footsteps. The girl suddenly pushed open a wooden door camouflaged as a wall, revealing a basement filled with strange equipment.
"Welcome to the 'Guanfu Society,'" the girl said, locking the door behind them. "I am Qin Yue. My father was your parents' assistant back in the day." Mu Feng’s Mystic Pupil suddenly stung; on a map hanging on the wall, the Xi'an coordinates were flickering with the exact same light as the Taixu Mirror.
What shocked him even more was an old photograph hanging next to the map: a young Mu Yuncheng and Su Mingyue standing before a bronze gate. Qin Yue pointed to the man beside them—it was her father, Qin Cheng!
"What does this mean... After that tragedy twenty years ago, my father has been looking for you." Qin Yue retrieved a copper box from a hidden compartment. "Now, it is time to take you to Xi'an to see my father."
The next day, inside a residence in Xi'an, "Where is your father?" Mu Feng tapped the empty table in Qin Yue’s home. His Mystic Pupil scanned the cup of tea still steaming on the table. The fingerprints left on the cup indicated that Qin Cheng had left in a hurry half an hour ago.
Qin Yue bit her lip, opened a drawer, and pulled out a letter. "He left a code, as expected..." She unfolded the paper. It contained only a few scrawled words: "Small Wild Goose Pagoda, do not look."
Mu Feng’s Mystic Pupil stung again; there were coordinates written in invisible ink on the back of the letter, along with a drawing of a gate. But what caught his attention more was the half-piece of antique jade Qin Yue pressed into his hand. It was carved with runes similar to those on the Celestial Master Seal.
"My father said if you came, you should first establish a foothold in Xi'an." Qin Yue pulled back the curtains, pointing toward the brightly lit city walls in the distance. "Shiyi Pavilion has great influence in Xi'an. You need your own territory."
Su Yuqing suddenly popped her head out of the kitchen. "I made noodles! Eat first, then..." She caught sight of the jade in Mu Feng’s hand, and her chopsticks clattered to the floor. "This... isn't this the Su Family's ancestral Fish Pendant? Why is it broken?"
The three exchanged looks. Mu Feng’s Mystic Pupil activated automatically, revealing hair-thin metallic wires inside the crack of the jade. It had been precision-cut by a laser!
"Tomorrow, we go to the Ghost Market," Mu Feng said, pocketing the jade. "First we make money, then we find people."
At four in the morning at the Xi'an Ghost Market, Mu Feng squatted in front of a stall selling "high-quality Tang Sancai replicas." His fingers quietly reached for a dusty silver pot in the corner. The stall owner, a bald man wearing reading glasses, shouted in a Shaanxi accent, "Three hundred for everything!"
"Will you sell this broken pot for two hundred?" Mu Feng intentionally scuffed the bottom of the pot against the stone floor. "I’ll use it as a flower vase."
The old man waved his hand. "Take it, take it!"
Just as Su Yuqing was about to pay, Mu Feng’s Mystic Pupil caught an inscription on the inside of the pot’s handle: "Twelfth Year of Kaiyuan, Made by the Inner Court." This was a palace wine vessel from the era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang! Even more remarkable, the "corrosion" on the surface was actually a special coating, used to hide the fact that it had been buried underground for a thousand years.
"We hit the jackpot!" Back at the hotel, Mu Feng used a special solvent to wash away the coating. The vessel immediately shone with brilliant colors, revealing exquisite patterns of ladies dancing. "It’s worth at least this much." He held up five fingers.
"Fifty thousand?" Su Yuqing’s eyes widened.
"Add a zero," Qin Yue said, using tweezers to pull a gold bead the size of a red bean from the spout. "This is the real point. It’s a 'Wine Mother' from the Tang imperial palace—a bacterial culture used for ancient brewing. There are fewer than ten left in the entire world!"