Lang Jiuchuan and A’Piao had speculated more than once about the original body’s origins, and had once considered the possibility that this body belonged to the Rong Family. Now, hearing Zhengyang Zi say it aloud, she felt no particular surprise — only the settling sensation of dust falling into place, of things being exactly as she had suspected.
And from what Zhengyang Zi had revealed, one thing was now certain: both the Rong family head and the Fourth Madam absolutely knew of the original body’s identity and existence.
Then how had this child come to be exchanged into the Lang Family? And where had the child that Cui Shi had given birth to gone?
Zhengyang Zi didn’t know.
“Secrets of blood and lineage — we were not Rong blood ourselves. How would we have been privy to such things?” Zhengyang Zi shook his head. “If we had known earlier about this body’s aptitude, we would most likely have persuaded the family head to bring her back and cultivate her properly. If nothing else, adding strength to the family itself would have been reason enough. But if the Rong young master hadn’t suffered her accident, we wouldn’t even have known this body existed. As for the exact nature of this body’s bloodline, the family head and the others must certainly know.”
There were too many coincidences. After the young master’s accident, they had exhausted every option they could find — until the Fourth Madam went to the family head, and the very next day, the Great Divination Method was used to divine that destiny had led them to Lang Jiuchuan. And when the meridians and bones were transplanted, the integration had been seamless. Without something more going on, who would believe it?
But all of them were sharp enough people, and they understood without needing it said aloud.
Lang Jiuchuan thought of something Gong Qi had once mentioned and asked, “I’ve heard that Rong Qingcang once privately pledged his heart to a woman outside the family. Is that true? How did he come to agree to the arranged marriage and take Xiyun as his wife? Was it truly of his own free will?”
At the mention of the Rong Family’s Fourth Master, Zhengyang Zi’s expression shifted with another wave of regret. “It’s true. But when a member of the Xuanzu possesses a Dao root and pure lineage, they are absolutely forbidden from marrying an outsider. That woman was just an ordinary person — how could the family head ever agree? As for why he eventually complied — it is said that the woman’s life hung by a thread. He went to the family head and petitioned to open the Rong Family’s treasury, taking out the clan’s most precious treasure — the sole Nine Revolution Soul-Restoring Pill in their possession — and on top of that, used the life-borrowing technique to give her twenty years of his own lifespan. In exchange, he agreed to follow the clan’s arrangements and marry.”
A’Piao sucked in a sharp breath. “The Fourth Master of the Rong Family — son of heaven and earth, a man of peerless standing — and he turned out to be such a devoted romantic?”
“Had he not entangled himself in the karmic debt of that life-borrowing, he wouldn’t have lost control when he later clashed with that fierce ghost, which caused his Dao roots to crack and sustain damage — confining him to a wheelchair from then on.” Zhengyang Zi sighed. “If he had remained whole, the position of young master would never have fallen to his daughter, and the Rong Family’s ranking within the Xuanzu wouldn’t have sunk to the very last place.”
“I heard he and Xiyun were never in harmony after marrying — is Rong Huanxuan truly their daughter?”
“Of course she is. If not, would the family head care for her so deeply? As for the lack of harmony — he only married in the first place to comply with the clan’s wishes and obtain the clan’s treasure. Once the Fourth Madam was with child, and later gave birth to an heir with a Dao root inheritance, his purpose was fulfilled, and he withdrew under the pretext of entering closed-door cultivation, living alone. Cultivators of the Dao path — what do they know of a marriage built on love and devotion? To say nothing of the fact that the Fourth Master was always rebellious by nature. Marrying was the concession he made to get what he wanted. Otherwise, he could have been just as defiant to the end as the young master of the Gong Family!”
Lang Jiuchuan showed no particular reaction.
She rubbed her temples. Taking in so much information all at once had her head buzzing and her temples throbbing.
Having gotten to the most critical questions, Lang Jiuchuan had no desire to linger on anything else. She asked quickly about what magical artifacts Lingxu used, when he had advanced to Foundation Establishment, and what his weaknesses were.
After that, she asked about Rong Huanxuan’s recovery after the meridian and bone transplant — and about why Rong Huanxuan had bound the original soul, and what she intended to do with it.
Zhengyang Zi answered, “After the meridian and bone reconnection, she went into closed-door seclusion. I was assigned to keep watch over the formation at the Ren Family’s estate, and that was where I remained — cultivating in the meantime — until I fell into your hands. Karma comes around, I suppose.”
His tone even carried a trace of wistful regret.
Lang Jiuchuan let out a cold laugh. “The karmic debt you carry goes far beyond just this. The countless wronged souls at the bottom of that lake — don’t you know in your own heart how many of them died because of you?”
Zhengyang Zi stiffened, and let out a soundless, bitter smile.
“How did you come to know about the Ren Family’s water dungeon? Was the Ren Family’s extermination also the Rong Family’s doing?” Lang Jiuchuan’s cold eyes fixed on him as she asked.
Zhengyang Zi immediately shook his head. “I had no hand in that. I was only following the family head’s orders to guard the formation. When we first came to this place, the family head brought us here himself. The formation was drawn by the family head as well — I only took over watching it later.”
The family head. The family head. Lang Jiuchuan’s eyes narrowed to half-mast. It seems this Rong family head is the one holding the greatest secrets — and the true mastermind behind all of this. As long as she could take him down, she should be able to learn everything — including where the child Cui Shi had given birth to had been taken.
The thought that the child Cui Shi had birthed was, in all likelihood, herself made Lang Jiuchuan’s chest grow heavy and dim. She died too — her bones lay somewhere unknown, her soul incomplete. To have died in such a state, how utterly devastating must it have been?
Lang Jiuchuan suddenly felt deflated.
Seeing her shift into that expression, Zhengyang Zi was momentarily at a loss and instinctively glanced at A’Piao.
A’Piao shot him a single withering look. It all came back to the Rong Family’s sins — the Rong Family was to blame for all of it.
Like a beaten dog brought low, Zhengyang Zi bore it in silence and thought to himself: one day he would find a way to turn things around as a ghost, and he would make sure to repay this debt.
Lang Jiuchuan composed herself quickly and said, “You still haven’t told me what Rong Huanxuan intended to do with the bound soul. Does she have any lackeys guarding her? And what is the Rong family head’s cultivation level?”
“As for what the young master intended with the soul binding — I genuinely don’t know. After that incident, I was stationed here continuously. But the Rong Family possesses a precious text — an ancestral Heaven Master’s Ghost-Control Technique, passed down only through the direct bloodline.” Zhengyang Zi said this and seemed to think of something, adding, “There’s also another possibility.”
He hesitated, looking as though he was afraid of Lang Jiuchuan and didn’t quite dare to say it.
“Speak.”
“Soul consumption.” Zhengyang Zi said, “She has already fused with the meridians and bones of this body. If she were to also consume the soul, the integration would be even more perfect — the rejection would be negligible — and it might even confer significant benefits to her cultivation. Moreover, there is a passage in the Ghost-Control Technique stating that planting a Ghost Eye within the body allows one to summon ten thousand ghosts and bend them to one’s will…”
A’Piao erupted with fury. “Utter rubbish. Call it ‘Ghost Control’ all you like — in truth, it’s nothing but ghost-refining. The Rong Family had precedents for this kind of thing in the past. And yet they still had the gall to call themselves the righteous path — I spit on every last one of them!”
Zhengyang Zi fell silent.
The reason the Xuanzu were the Xuanzu was that they had truly descended from the great masters of the Daoist lineage — they were no self-taught wanderers. Even the Rong Family’s founding ancestor had been called the Marvelous Countenance True Sovereign, renowned for the art of scattering beans to raise soldiers — a mastery that defied the mortal realm.
Yet passed down through the generations, each one had grown dimmer than the last, until even the founding ancestor’s legacy was nearly spent. The glory was gone, and in a desperate bid to cling to their former prominence, they had walked a blade’s edge — which was simply to say their Dao hearts had grown crooked.
But if they had not been a righteous path, would he ever have accepted their invitation in the first place? In the end, it was years of being placed too high that had corrupted his Dao heart — he had lost sight of what was fundamental and inverted his priorities, which was how he came to his current state.
Burdened by position, and imprisoned by it as well.
This was the crisis facing the Xuanzu in the present age.
Zhengyang Zi looked again at Lang Jiuchuan and thought: now that someone like her had appeared — someone bold enough to stand in direct opposition to the Xuanzu and declare war — the world of the Dao path was likely heading into a storm of unprecedented upheaval.