“A’Zhang said that ghost creature had two enormous wings!”
“Yes, yes! And it was hopping around—could it be a zombie?”
“Nonsense! How could zombies appear in a prince’s mansion?”
“Then what do you think it was?”
“…”
Qin Chang Ge lay in bed, hands behind her head, listening to the maids and young servants whispering outside the window. After thinking for a moment, she smiled slightly.
She reached out and patted her son’s bottom. “Hey, young master, time for breakfast.”
With a whoosh, Xiao Rong instantly sat up straight. “Get up! Get up! Eat! Eat!”
He dressed with extraordinary efficiency and incredible speed.
If Qi Fan had been present, he would have been so shocked his eyeballs would fall out and his heart would break with regret. Oh, all those years when waking up Young Master Xiao had been such an arduous task! How could someone who had only been with him for a few days already know how to wake him up? If he had known this method could solve the Huang Meng’s greatest difficult challenge, all that previous effort had been wasted!
But he didn’t know that this mother, Qin Chang Ge, was extremely wicked—if Xiao Rong couldn’t organize himself and quickly sit at the table with the urgency of an emergency assembly—she would smile sweetly and say: “Oh my, it took too long, this food has all gone bad… No, no, we can’t let you get an upset stomach. Throw it out, throw it out.”
And very coincidentally, every time the “spoiled” food that got thrown away was definitely Xiao Baozi’s favorite dishes.
After Xiao Baozi had tearfully bitten his fingers while watching his favorite food get mercilessly discarded because he had dawdled in bed for just a moment, causing it to mysteriously “spoil” at lightning speed—after three such incidents, he finally deeply understood the importance of speed.
After the mother and son finished their meal, Qin Chang Ge called in a maid and listened to her vivid description of the “monster.” Then she clapped her hands and said, “Oh my, this won’t do! We must have disturbed something unclean.” She looked around and added ominously, “This courtyard is so secluded…”
The maid shivered at the implications in her tone and trembled as she asked, “What… what should we do?”
After thinking, Qin Chang Ge smiled brightly and said, “I have an idea! I heard there’s a fortune teller on West Prefecture Street who is the thirty-second generation descendant of the Shangqing Celestial Master. He writes excellent talismans and is most skilled at subduing evil and exorcising spirits. I’ll go request a talisman.”
With that, she instructed the maid to guard the door and, using this perfectly legitimate excuse, took Xiao Baozi and left the mansion.
When they reached the coffin shop, she saw from a distance that Qi Fan and Rong Xiaotian were seeing someone out. The man looked very capable—clearly a martial artist—but his expression toward Qi Fan was extremely grateful. He held a box and said something unknown. Qi Fan smiled and nodded, exchanged a meaningful glance with Rong Xiaotian, then Rong Xiaotian had someone bring horses and left together with that man.
When Xiao Baozi saw the two of them, he wanted to rush forward, but Qin Chang Ge grabbed him and said, “Wait.”
Squinting her eyes, she watched from across the street as Qi Fan stood lost in thought. He seemed to consider something, stamped his foot decisively, and led over a horse, preparing to mount.
Qin Chang Ge immediately stepped out.
When Qi Fan looked up and saw her, he was slightly startled. He dismounted and said, “Miss Ming, how did you come today?”
Qin Chang Ge smiled at him. “Brother Qi, going out somewhere?”
“Oh no,” Qi Fan smiled. “Not really going out—I was just thinking of looking for you.”
“Oh?” Qin Chang Ge walked inside, looking around. “Where’s Brother Rong?”
“Oh,” Qi Fan followed her in, glanced at the sugar drying in the courtyard, then bent down to stir the sugar syrup. “Earlier, Gang Leader Su sent someone to find you, saying there was something to discuss with you. You weren’t there, and we couldn’t reveal your whereabouts. We were also worried that coming out of Prince Zhao’s mansion so soon might arouse suspicion. Since Xiaotian was free, he went first. I was just preparing to look for you myself when you arrived.”
Qin Chang Ge made a sound of acknowledgment and watched Qi Fan stir the sugar, asking casually, “What did Gang Leader Su say?”
“Nothing much. I suspect there’s been a breakthrough in the assassin matter.” Qi Fan suddenly remembered something, reached into his clothes and pulled out a paper slip to hand to Qin Chang Ge. “This is the reply from the Princess regarding your inquiry about the reason for leaving the country.”
“Mm,” Qin Chang Ge took the unopened note, glanced at it after opening it, and calmly tucked it into her clothes before continuing, “Nothing else?”
“What else could there be?” Qi Fan smiled. “Even if you don’t go, Xiaotian will explain everything clearly when he returns.”
“Yes,” Qin Chang Ge sat down. “Then I won’t go. I’ll wait for him to come back.”
“Good,” Qi Fan looked at the sky and said, “Earlier the jewelry shop manager sent word asking me to come by, saying there’s some problem with recent shipments. Please sit for a while—I’ll be right back.”
Qin Chang Ge agreed and watched Qi Fan leave. She quickly followed him out, saw that Qi Fan was indeed heading toward the jewelry store on West Prefecture Street, then returned to the shop. After thinking, she said, “Son, at the door earlier, the box that man was holding looked like something from our shop.”
Xiao Baozi thought about it and said, “Yes! Now that you mention it, I remember—it had our mark on it.”
“What’s usually kept in those boxes? Your sweets?” Qin Chang Ge smiled.
“My sweets? Uncle Stingy Heng wouldn’t bear to use such a good box for that,” Baozi said resentfully. “Those are for storing precious medicinal herbs. I’ve seen them in Uncle Qi’s room—he has a special medicine shelf with different boxes in each compartment. Both the boxes and shelf have medicine names on them, but I’ve only seen that shelf once. Usually it’s not visible.”
“Oh…” Qin Chang Ge said with a grin, “Let’s go take a look and see what good things he’s hiding.”
“Yes, yes, yes! Let’s go steal—” Baozi was always interested in mischief and immediately dragged her to Qi Fan’s room with gleaming eyes. As soon as they entered, Qin Chang Ge’s gaze fell on the curtain hook by the bedside.
Originally, when she had asked the three of them what they wanted to learn, the martially-inclined Rong Xiaotian and Chu Feihuan had chosen the Soul-Destroying Palm, but Qi Fan had chosen mechanical arts.
This was also a rule of the Thousand Absolutes Sect. The sect was called “Thousand Absolutes” and indeed possessed vast techniques in medicine, astronomy, martial arts, mechanical arts, and other skills like an ocean. To prevent biting off more than one could chew, after each disciple entered the sect, the master would assess their intelligence and talent, then determine how many disciplines they could study. Then, according to their interests, they would choose what to learn and be guided by senior masters who specialized in those particular skills. The three heroes of Huang Meng weren’t exactly Qin Chang Ge’s disciples, but they were considered half-members of the Thousand Absolutes Sect. According to sect rules, non-direct members couldn’t be taught more than three techniques. Qin Chang Ge followed this old precedent and taught each of them one skill.
So to her, Qi Fan’s mechanical arts, learned from her, were mere trivial tricks.
The window was open with a gentle breeze, but the curtain hook by the window didn’t move at all. Too obvious, wasn’t it? Qin Chang Ge smiled and reached out to pull it.
With a series of grinding sounds, the entire wall slid open, revealing an antique shelf.
Xiao Baozi gasped in amazement and, for once, looked at his mother with admiration.
Qin Chang Ge’s eyes swept across the shelf and discovered that the middle compartment of the third level was empty, and the label on the shelf read “Golden Viper Pearl.”
Her fingers trembled, and Qin Chang Ge froze.
Golden Viper Pearl…
Without time to think further, she turned and left.
She ran right into Qi Heng and hurriedly said, “Watch Rong’er, I’ll be back soon.”
Running to the courtyard, she led out a horse, leaped onto it, and galloped directly toward the Blazing Flame headquarters.
Cracking her whip repeatedly, Qin Chang Ge raced through the gradually thickening cold mist of dusk. She crouched low, constantly spurring her horse forward, feeling the wind howling past her ears, her scalp aching slightly, her hair seemingly pulled straight by the extreme speed of her gallop. The slight sweat she had worked up earlier was instantly dried by the wind and stuck coldly to her body, making her skin break out in goosebumps from the chill.
She hoped… she wasn’t too late.
The Golden Viper Pearl—the inner core of the strange beast Golden Viper that lived in the Valley of Ten Thousand Vipers in eastern Long. It was crimson red in color. For ordinary people, it was a deadly poison, but it had miraculous effects specifically for meridian blockage and stagnation caused by domineering palm force flowing downward.
Domineering and incomparably difficult to dispel palm force—the Soul-Destroying Palm.
“…Recently, the gang has hosted a guest. Though young, he possesses outstanding talent and knowledge. In martial arts particularly, he is exceptionally gifted. I discuss martial arts with him daily and feel I benefit greatly. Unfortunately, Heaven envies the talented—he suffers from a serious illness. When it flares up, his pain is indescribable. My Pure Yang internal energy can provide him some relief…”
Su Xuan’s words, which she hadn’t paid attention to at the time, suddenly flashed through her mind with extreme clarity the moment she saw the Golden Viper Pearl.
The mysterious patient highly regarded by the Blazing Flame Gang… the Blazing Flame subordinate seeking medicine… the meaningful look exchanged between Rong Xiaotian and Qi Fan… Qi Fan’s evasiveness… Qi Fan’s excuse about business matters to leave… the Golden Viper Pearl… Pure Yang internal energy…
These scattered pieces of information were quickly connected into a chain by Qin Chang Ge the instant she saw that medicine name.
At the end of the chain was the whereabouts of someone reportedly dead long ago.
Qi Fan and Rong Xiaotian must have also realized something because of the medicine-seeking incident, which is why Rong Xiaotian had followed along, and Qi Fan, being worried, had also found a way to leave.
If they confirmed their suspicions, the first thing they would do would be to settle the unfinished debt from three years ago.
Fei Huan!
Qin Chang Ge deeply regretted—why had she only realized this now?!