Lang Jiuchuan believed in karma, but she also believed that good people rarely lived long, while wicked ones weren’t always claimed by Heaven in time — or if so, far too late for it to bring any comfort. The words late but certain sometimes failed entirely to settle the heart, leaving only a festering sense of indignation.

But regardless — she would be the tribulation of the Rong clan head’s lifetime.

“You asked earlier what I intend to do with the Rong Family. I want the Rong clan head to watch — with his own eyes — the family he has devoted everything to protecting fracture apart, fall from grace, and be reduced to nothing.” Lang Jiuchuan gazed serenely at the remaining traces of the water dungeon and said, “Destroy what he holds dear. That is enough.”

There was no better form of revenge than this.

To have what you strained every sinew to protect collapse because of yourself — let him, too, taste that despair. The more desperately he tries to keep hold of things, the further they slip from his grasp. All the better.

Wu Youzi said, “As you wish.”

Lang Jiuchuan glanced down at his legs. “I’ve heard that Senior was injured at the root of your cultivation from fighting to purge demonic entities. Your inability to walk well — that stems from the same cause?”

She paused. “If there are things that are inconvenient for you to handle directly, you may leave them to me. I only need you to cooperate in dismantling the Rong Family from within.”

Wu Youzi placed his hands on his thighs and said, “The Rong Family does possess one truly exceptional secret technique — one that could bring a person’s power to its absolute peak. Most dare not attempt it. Rest assured, I will give them an accounting.”

Gong Tinglan’s expression shifted almost imperceptibly. He immediately looked toward Wu Youzi.

Wu Youzi met his gaze with perfect calm, conveying his decision in silence. As long as he could drag this long-rotted clan down into hell alongside him, he had no fear.

As for whether Heaven and Earth would tolerate a traitor who betrayed his own clan — he cared not at all. The one who had truly brought shame upon their ancestors was not him. It was Rong Yiming. The one who owed his ancestors contrition was Rong Yiming. What Wu Youzi was doing was nothing more than setting wrongs aright.

The they Wu Youzi spoke of — Lang Jiuchuan understood without asking. It meant no one other than Ren Yao and her daughter. So she did not ask him what this secret technique was. Even if he chose to die for this, it was his choice.

This was his own karmic reckoning to settle.

So long as the outcome matched what he hoped for — that was completion. To have given everything, yet have the ending fall short of the sacrifice, short of a heart that had gone all in without turning back — that would be the true waste.

Yet looking at the man before her, far too composed, Lang Jiuchuan still said one thing: “If you aren’t entirely certain of success, Senior, it would be better to preserve yourself first. So long as there is life, vengeance can be spoken of.”

Wu Youzi’s nose stung. He looked at her face, then awkwardly looked away.

“Xi Yun — I’ll leave her to you. If you want to see what your daughter looked like, her memories are preserved in Xi Yun’s soul — but they likely won’t be good memories.” Lang Jiuchuan added quietly.

What Xi Yun’s memories held of that young girl was almost certainly the scene just before her death.

Wu Youzi’s body trembled slightly. He had evidently reached the same conclusion. He said, “Xi Yun is not worth much concern. Now that Rong Huanxuan has been destroyed, in keeping with the clan head’s nature, she has become a discarded pawn. Without the glory of Rong Huanxuan to shelter behind, however high Xi Yun once stood, she has fallen just as far. Everyone she ever stepped on will seize this chance to humiliate her — and she won’t be able to endure that kind of fall.”

He lowered his eyes and said with quiet finality, “Since Yaoyao and her daughter’s tragedy began with Xi Yun — let us start with her.”

As for himself — once everything was settled, he would make his own atonement to them.

Lang Jiuchuan said nothing more. She picked up a piece of charcoal from the ground and began writing on the wall in quick, sweeping strokes — herself, the original owner, both their parents, the Rong clan head, Rong Huanxuan, and the rest — each name inscribed, then connected by lines, all finally pointing toward a darkened mass she had smudged black.

Clear at a glance.

“Effort is never wasted on those who are determined. We’ve already pried open one corner of the truth. As for who orchestrated this scheme — the Rong clan head is the key to the answer.” Lang Jiuchuan’s eyes glimmered as she tapped the blackened mass. “If the Rong clan head is the one behind all of this, things are relatively simple. If he isn’t, then we need to move faster than whoever is — otherwise, the clan head gets silenced first, and we’re back to square one.”

Gong Tinglan studied the diagram of connections on the wall, his expression grave. “Capturing the Rong clan head will be the moment we tear the mask from this mysterious figure — but the purpose behind orchestrating the whole scheme is something only he would know. And if your deductions are correct, and you truly are Madam Cui’s daughter — then you also died. Which means this person’s purpose has already been half-achieved.”

A quiet fell over the group. Indeed — if Lang Jiuchuan’s piecing together of the threads had met no error, then the ninth young lady of the Lang Family who had been substituted away was already dead. Her soul was incomplete — testament to a brutal end. Which meant that if the mastermind had used her for any purpose, a large part of that purpose had already been fulfilled.

She had been nothing more than a half-grown child when she died.

Gong Tinglan looked at Lang Jiuchuan. “If we find out the truth, the enemy you face will likely be far more powerful than the Rong clan head. Little Jiu — are you afraid?”

Everything they had uncovered so far had come from unraveling the threads of the original owner’s karmic debts and tracing the connection between them. The Rong clan head was one of the culprits, but not the whole of it. Once Lang Jiuchuan discovered the truth behind her own death — would she be able to stand against that person?

That was her own true enemy.

Lang Jiuchuan smiled. “I returned from the depths of the Nine Abysses. Was it not for vengeance? The worst possible outcome is simply dying one more time. Why would I fear that?”

The gathered group felt something strike the core of them.

Gong Tinglan said, “For the matter of the Rong Family — with Senior Wu Youzi, and with you, I’ll leave it in your hands. The two of you together are more than enough to give them a taste of real suffering. I’ll travel outward and see whether there is anything unusual to be found across Dahan.”

He intended to help Lang Jiuchuan investigate the truth behind her death.

Lang Jiuchuan’s expression softened, a flash of inspiration crossing her mind. “The grand formation trapping the three thousand soldiers of the former Liang at Beacon Fire Pass — it may be worth looking into further. That seems connected to the nation’s fortune, and the Cong Family’s old patriarch had the intention of siphoning national fortune for his own cultivation as well. Among fellow cultivators — if it were you, what would you seek as your ultimate Dao? Some seek the supreme simplicity of the Dao itself. Some seek glory for their clan — like the Rong Family. Others seek to cultivate eternal life. Whatever one does, it ultimately comes down to forging one’s own Dao. Whatever this person’s ultimate goal in their cultivation path is — that should be the truth I’m looking for.”

Gong Tinglan fell into thoughtful silence, then after a long moment said, “Then I’ll take my leave first.”

Lang Jiuchuan gave him a solemn Daoist bow. “Don’t forget to keep the jade communication talisman on you.”

Gong Tinglan quirked the corner of his mouth, turned, and walked away. After two steps, he turned back. “You trust Senior because you share a common enemy. But why do you trust me? Aren’t you afraid I’ll turn around and sell you both out? I am, after all, the young master of the Gong Family — one of the Xuan Clan.”

Lang Jiuchuan tilted her head and thought for a moment. “In the past, I might not have been able to beat you. Now it’s different. I should be able to take you in a fight.”

In other words: My fists are harder than yours. I can handle you.

Gong Tinglan blinked, then broke into genuine laughter, raising a hand as he walked away: “Then get even stronger!”

Only when you grow more powerful can we speak of the Dao as equals. Only then will the way of the Dao gain new vitality breathed into it.