Beijing
Zhang Qishan sat decadently at the head of the main hall, while his adjutant stood right in the center, giving a report.
Yet it was clear Zhang Qishan had no heart to listen. He toyed with the thumb ring on his hand, lost in thought, while Zhang Rishan finished his report and waited for further instructions.
Instead, Zhang Qishan asked a question completely unrelated to the report: "What is that kid from the Fifth Master's family up to?"
"Which one are you referring to?" Zhang Rishan asked.
"Who else could it be? His third boy."
"Oh, Sansheng. Just sightseeing and idling about."
"Where did he go sightseeing?" Zhang Qishan suddenly asked, his expression turning serious.
"Seems to be a Taoist temple on Mount Yimeng."
————
At the same time, at the foot of Mount Yimeng, Wu Sansheng and a round-faced young man with a crew cut were walking side by side along the mountain path.
The two chatted idly.
"Little brother, what's your name?" Wu Sansheng asked.
"Zhang Yude."
Wu Sansheng: "Oh, and what brings you to Mount Yimeng?"
The young man turned his head to look at him in confusion and said, "To burn incense, what else? And you?"
"Me? I'm here to burn incense too."
After that, the two fell silent until they reached the gates of a dilapidated Taoist temple.
"Lingyun Temple—nice name, but it hardly looks inhabited," Wu Sansheng muttered to himself before shouting, "Hello? Is anyone here?" With that, he stepped right into the courtyard.
Just then, a middle-aged Taoist priest with white hair but a very spirited demeanor walked out slowly. He wore a pair of old cloth shoes, and his Taoist robe was washed to a faded white. He bowed to the two visitors.
"This poor Taoist is Muyun. What brings you two patrons here?"
"To burn incense," the young man said.
The Taoist was taken aback. He froze for a moment before asking doubtfully, "Here?"
Wu Sansheng looked at him with a peculiar expression, at a loss for words for a moment. He could only nod while silently thinking to himself that it was no wonder the temple had so few patrons.
"Then please follow me, patrons."
Once the incense burning was finished, the young man left, prompting Wu Sansheng to finally ask, "Taoist Master, would you mind showing me around?"
"Please feel free to make yourself at home, patron. This poor Taoist has matters to attend to and will not accompany you."
With that, he walked straight away, leaving Wu Sansheng—who had still been trying to figure out how to get rid of the priest—completely stunned on the spot.
"Aren't you afraid I'll steal something?" Wu Sansheng shouted.
The Taoist named Muyun didn't even look back as he called out, "The statue of Patriarch Xuantian stands right there. If the patron isn't afraid of incurring his wrath, take whatever catches your eye."
Wu Sansheng was momentarily speechless. He looked up at the statue, then strode toward the back courtyard.
After some searching, Wu Sansheng found an alchemy furnace and spotted the star map inscribed upon it.
On the other side, the Taoist named Muyun caught up with the young man who was about to descend the mountain—a man who used to be a member of the Zhang family.
From the very first moment he laid eyes on the young man, he had recognized him. Even though the man wore a human-skin mask and had changed his name and physique, he still recognized him; it was none other than their clan patriarch.
During that greatest tomb-roiding operation in history, the Nine Gates and the Zhang family suffered heavy losses. Yet the long-decayed Zhang family chose not to face the enemy, instead questioning the authority of Zhang Qiling, causing the family to fall apart overnight.
From the moment he was brought into the Zhang family until before he became patriarch, everyone regarded him as a bastard—a mere tool for bloodletting.
When no one else was willing to take over the Zhang family's mess, he was pushed forward to become patriarch. From beginning to end, not a single person gave him even a shred of warmth; instead, he risked his life trying to protect his clansmen and preserve this decaying family.
Yet the clansmen who clung to life under the shelter of his wings abandoned him when he was gravely injured, leaving him behind to face malicious human hearts and powerful enemies alone.
This was a shameless betrayal!
Zhang Muyun was one of those very people, and at this moment, he was kneeling silently before Zhang Qiling.
According to Zhang family rules, he ought to be a corpse right now.
Zhang Qiling looked at him calmly and ultimately did not strike. Just as Zhang Xilin had said, his heart was not ruthless enough.
Without paying him any further mind, Zhang Qiling continued down the mountain, not looking back as he said, "Drop the surname and live a good life."
He hadn't come here specifically to deal with a traitor; he came to retrieve something—to be precise, a blueprint.
Wu Sansheng was busy examining the star map on the alchemy furnace and missed the scene of Muyun kneeling.
Shortly after Wu Sansheng left, a group of people came looking for Muyun, only to find that he had long since vanished without a trace.
Before long, Zhang Qishan received the news. He looked at Zhang Rishan and said, "He must have been here, otherwise there's no way to explain why he suddenly left."
"Should we go investigate his trail?" Zhang Rishan asked.
"No need. If he wanted strictly to hide, he wouldn't have gone to see Zhang Muyun. Just wait—sooner or later, he will surface on his own."
——
A few months later, Banai,
After leaving Mount Yimeng, Zhang Qiling came to Banai. There was an ancient building here, which served as one of the core nodes of the Zhang family. Buried within it were secrets from various dynasties that could never be revealed to the world; the most important and most ancient among them was known as "The Ultimate".
Consequently, the mechanisms here were also the deadliest, and only successive patriarchs of the Zhang family knew the secrets to all of them.
It was also the place that "It" and all ambitious schemers failed to breach despite racking their brains. Even when they destroyed the Zhang family, they only managed to reach the outer perimeter.
Even if they obtained all the blueprints of the Zhang Family Ancient Building, they would never be able to enter the core layer.
Yet this meant little to the Zhang family patriarch. Upon entering the Zhang Family Ancient Building, Zhang Qiling discovered that the mechanisms had been triggered and found a large number of corpses that had not been carried out.
Clearly, someone had suffered heavy casualties here.
Most importantly, despite the tight defense of mechanisms that so many people had been unable to breach, the Black Gold Ancient Saber he had personally placed inside beforehand was actually gone! And a dagger was missing as well!
Judging by the triggered mechanisms, only a single person had come here, and this person was obviously not of the same party as the ones who died outside.
Moreover, the route this person took was quite interesting: he walked in the exact opposite direction of that group, practically treading his way through the traps.
In terms of pure skill alone, all those people outside put together couldn't hold a candle to him.
One of the purposes of his trip was to retrieve the Black Gold Ancient Saber, which served as one of the patriarch's tokens. Now that it was lost, he had no choice but to take another item.
Fortunately, the person had only taken the Black Gold Ancient Saber and the dagger from the side hall and failed to enter the main hall.
Zhang Qiling walked up to the bronze Kirin in front of the main hall gates, slashed his palm, and dripped his blood onto the Kirin's forehead.
The bronze Kirin slowly opened its mouth and spat out a box. As he picked up the box, the Kirin's mouth closed again.
Opening the box, inside lay a jade plaque carved with strange symbols, interwoven with extremely fine and complex patterns.
Yet if anyone were to compare this jade plaque with the tattoos on Zhang Qiling's body, they would find the two remarkably similar.
This jade plaque was precisely the key to opening the main hall.
Inside the main hall sat numerous coffins, guarding a massive stone coffin right in the center like stars surrounding the moon.
He walked up to the stone coffin, found the mechanism with practiced familiarity, and opened it. Inside were not remains, but a multitude of strange objects and some scrolls.
He picked up one of the boxes containing an imperial jade seal. Carved onto the knob of the seal was a majestic Kirin, with a three-headed imp trampled beneath its feet. If you observed it from another angle, you would discover that countless dragon-fish composed the entire scene.
After checking to ensure there were no abnormalities, he took one scroll and two boxes, and retraced his steps out of the Zhang Family Ancient Building.