Jiang Lian could understand Shen Gun’s confusion, and could even faintly smell the heavy pressure within this confusion.

Because of his series of dreams, Shen Gun, or perhaps Shen Gun’s ancestors, seemed to have played a role that wasn’t so righteous and honorable back then.

Especially in this dream, Shen Gun had memories of having his abdomen cut open and intestines pulled out—who would suffer such cruel punishment? Jiang Lian felt that words like “spy” or “traitor” were already on the tip of his tongue. Moreover, the elongated “S”-shaped birthmark that had grown on Shen Gun’s abdomen after he reached maturity looked too much like a wound from having his belly cut open.

Also, that person inside Yanluo had strangely indicated that he “knew Shen Gun,” and had drawn a picture that seemed to show two people passing a box to each other, perhaps recreating the box-stealing incident from back then.

Jiang Lian smiled: “Whatever role you played will eventually come to light, but there’s no need to feel pressured about it—misfortune doesn’t extend to descendants, how many generations have passed since those events? Kuang family’s ancestors were even betrayers, does that mean Meiying needs to atone for it now?”

There were even the ancestors of the Mountain Ghost and Water Ghost, who, it seemed, were all part of the theft and receiving stolen goods faction.

Shen Gun remained silent.

It was true that misfortune doesn’t extend to descendants, but everything has cause and effect, and descendants might be affected by causes planted long ago: wasn’t Kuang Meiying’s illness, and the disaster that befell Water Ghost, perhaps karmic retribution? Weren’t they still paying for the actions of certain people from long, long ago?

After breakfast, Jiang Lian met the liaison person arranged for him by the Kunlun Mountain Returning Mountain Group.

She was a young lady, about the same age as Kuang Meiying, looking very delicate with fair skin and sweet features, not like a Northwest beauty but more like a Jiangnan beauty. Her name was also pleasant-sounding: Tao Tian.

Kuang Meiying and she hit it off almost immediately, becoming quite close after just a few exchanges, with their topics eventually extending to daily attire and foundation color shades.

Jiang Lian, however, felt a bit uncomfortable. All along, the Mountain Ghosts he had contact with, such as Liu Guangguo, Qiu Dong, Lu Sanming, Pixiu, and so on, were all men. Interacting with the same sex was less restrictive, and besides, the person who picked them up at the airport last night was clearly a young man, so why was it changed today?

But he couldn’t say anything: having someone specially assigned to liaise with you was already quite good, what right did he have to be picky about gender or appearance?

Tao Tian brought him a printed version of the Kunlun Mountain map. One look at the data notations, and Jiang Lian realized how unrealistic their previous idea of “Shen Gun as the probe, Meiying as the assistant” really was.

Kunlun Mountain was a massive mountain system, stretching from the Pamir Plateau in the west, across Xinjiang and Tibet, extending to Qinghai, with a total length of about 2,500 kilometers and a total area of over 500,000 square kilometers. This didn’t even account for the height—the average elevation was five to six thousand meters, with many areas likely never visited by humans since ancient times.

With such a vast area, relying on Shen Gun as an occasionally effective probe would take several years, right? And forget about Kuang Meiying’s small frame—even if she were a blood truck, there wouldn’t be enough blood to sprinkle around!

Jiang Lian’s head felt enormous as he silently stared at the mountain map for a long time.

Tao Tian, not understanding the situation, was still earnestly briefing him. She pointed to a red-marked landmark: “This is information provided by the Wan Fenghuo side. It’s the spot where Old Lady Duan was seen in the 1970s, but this location doesn’t have much practical significance for us, because you have no idea whether Old Lady Duan walked a few kilometers, tens of kilometers, or hundreds of kilometers in that direction.”

Currently, our focus is still on the Qinghai section of Kunlun Mountain, with particular emphasis on the Three Rivers Source area. The advance team consists of two hundred people, all from the Great Returning Mountain Group of Kunlun Mountain—don’t think two hundred sounds like a lot; once spread out, it’s pitifully few. Considering the difficulty of movement in high-altitude areas, Fourth Aunt is still considering whether to add more people.”

“I’m responsible for your line of operation. Fourth Aunt says you’re also looking for something, and told me to ask less and do more, to fully cooperate. So, where would you like to start looking? Once you decide, I’ll arrange the logistics, and we can set out as early as tomorrow. For the rest of today, I suggest you supplement your equipment, mainly clothes, shoes, and hats—Xining is still in summer-autumn, but Kunlun Mountain has already entered winter.”

Jiang Lian pondered for a moment, then pointed to the Three Rivers Source: “Let’s start from here, too.”

After thinking for a bit, he also asked Tao Tian: “Will we meet Fourth Aunt?”

Tao Tian nodded: “Everyone is in that area. Even if you don’t run into her, when the car goes over, you’ll still need to say hello, right? Mr. Shen is Miss Meng’s Three-Layered Lotus Petal, and Fourth Aunt is looking forward to meeting him.”

Jiang Lian hesitated: “Is Fourth Aunt easy to get along with?”

Tao Tian smiled brightly: “Easy to get along with. Fourth Aunt is smiling at everyone. I’ve never heard her say a harsh word.”

Then, lowering her voice: “But privately, we all call her the ‘Smiling Tiger.’ She’s the type who can smile with you, then turn around and deal with you immediately. You should be careful.”

Saying this, her cheeks flushed as if embarrassed for gossiping about the aunt, her eyes darting left and right, looking quite adorable.

Jiang Lian smiled and said, “Thank you.”

After seeing Tao Tian off, he fell back into the sofa, covered his face with both hands, and let out a long sigh.

Meng Qianzi, how could she have as many as seven mothers?

Even the most disapproved son-in-law would at most have to face one mother’s scolding, but for him, it was one after another. If it were seven shares of favor, that would be fine, but this was seven kinds of knives!

The day passed leisurely, mainly spent buying clothes. Jiang Lian had originally wanted to cover Shen Gun’s share as well, but unexpectedly, the mountain household had taken care of it all.

The Three-Layered Lotus Petal indeed enjoyed different treatment.

By evening, Kuang Meiying again dragged everyone to the night market. She had already toured it once yesterday, but her enthusiasm hadn’t diminished. She strongly recommended it to Jiang Lian and Shen Gun, talking about the delicious food as if she knew it all, as if the night market belonged to her family.

Shen Gun was very interested. He had been here more than ten years ago and had visited the night market then, so he was eager to revisit the place, but Jiang Lian declined, saying he had something to do.

Kuang Meiying loved having a big group of people around, making noise, and having fun. With Jiang Lian not going, the fun would be reduced by 1/4. She pouted and said to him, “You’re such a spoilsport.”

…

Jiang Lian had arranged to video call with Meng Qianzi.

For their first date, he still felt a bit reserved, tactfully saying that he and Shen Gun had figured out some more clues and wanted to tell her about them, so she wouldn’t miss too much class.

It seemed that even after establishing a relationship, there was inevitably a process from pretense to shamelessness.

Back in his room, Jiang Lian put down his shopping bags and first sent a message to Meng Qianzi: “Are you free now? Can I call you?”

Meng Qianzi replied: “Approved.”

Approved? What kind of attitude was that!

Jiang Lian felt he shouldn’t indulge her too much, so he held off calling—held off for a full minute before dialing.

On the screen, Meng Qianzi was leaning on a large bed, wearing a satin short-sleeved home outfit, with her long hair falling down with slight curls.

Meng Qianzi didn’t have curly hair; this was surely Xin Ci’s handiwork.

Looking more carefully, she had applied light makeup, with a faint gloss on her lips. Jiang Lian’s throat felt dry, and he very much wanted to kiss her, but the distance was too great.

She put on a show of asking: “Do I look pale? Sigh, lying in bed recovering, I’m such a mess, I haven’t even washed my hair.”

If he were there in person, Jiang Lian would want to pinch her. Before, he thought that having phone calls and video calls was almost the same as meeting in person, but now he realized how shallow he had been. For some people, you’re never satisfied with just hearing their voice or seeing their image.

He missed her scent, missed the supple silkiness of running his fingers through her hair, and missed the softness, naturalness, and familiarity of holding her in his arms.

So he didn’t expose her act, nor did he follow the routine to let her feel smug. He just smiled at her and asked: “Is your injury better?”

“It’s only been a few days, how could it be better? I still need a wheelchair to get around. What about you? Are you all going into the mountains?”

Jiang Lian nodded: “We’ll go into the mountains and try our luck. We can’t just sit around doing nothing.”

Meng Qianzi suddenly remembered something: “Didn’t you say you figured out some more clues with Shen Gun? What are they?”

Oh, right, he had almost forgotten the main point. Jiang Lian organized his thoughts and explained everything to Meng Qianzi in detail.

Meng Qianzi’s understanding was always crude but straightforward: “So, the people of the God Clan disagreed, dividing into the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou factions. After Chiyou was defeated, the Yellow Emperor began burning the boxes. Why did he want to burn these things? They were the culmination of countless generations’ hard work.”

Jiang Lian said, “I can understand it quite well. The God Clan people had always been worshipped as gods. They had civilization, knowledge, and power far superior to the Human Clan, and they could control and use those magical objects.”

“But once they became ordinary people, they would lose this control power and couldn’t guarantee that these objects wouldn’t fall into the hands of those with ulterior motives—using certain objects requires a corresponding level of knowledge and civilization. Just like the seven evil bamboo slips, which are said to be able to control and change people’s hearts. If someone with ill intentions obtained them, they might turn everyone into their slaves.”

Meng Qianzi pondered: “So, you’re saying the Yellow Emperor believed that the level of civilization was too low at that time, people’s understanding was too shallow, and obtaining these things wouldn’t be good for the Human Clan, and might even cause disasters?”

Jiang Lian nodded: “The Yellow Emperor might have wanted to complete the most stable transition. Natural selection, survival of the fittest—the God Clan was eliminated by natural law. If they didn’t want to be destroyed, the only thing they could do was turn themselves into humans, accept the human starting point, adapt to the human pace, not force growth prematurely, and not disrupt the normal development trajectory of humans. Because one day in the future, the level of human development would not be lower than that of the God Clan at that time, and might even surpass them.”

Meng Qianzi laughed: “If the Yellow Emperor thought this way, he indeed had a broad mind and imposing manner. But it’s also understandable that Chiyou’s side strongly opposed it. No wonder they went to steal the boxes.”

Jiang Lian reminded her: “Chiyou’s side didn’t steal just any box; they were purposeful. That box contained something crucial to them.”

Meng Qianzi thought for a moment: “It’s the Water Crystal, right?”

The Water Crystal was the key to their souls’ immortality.

Jiang Lian gave an affirmative sound: “They must have bribed someone from the Yellow Emperor’s tribe to be an inside agent, and bribing an insider wouldn’t be difficult. Even those who followed the Yellow Emperor might have had private desires, unwilling to give up their former glory.”

Meng Qianzi murmured: “The box contained Water Crystal, Mountain Gallbladder, Beast Bones…”

At this point, she suddenly felt something was wrong: “If Mountain Gallbladder counters Water Crystal, wouldn’t the Water Crystal be instantly destroyed if these two things were placed together?”

Jiang Lian smiled: “This brings us to that box. The material of that box must also be very special. Do you remember when Black Third Master once tried to chop the box with an axe, but couldn’t even leave a nick? That box must serve as a kind of suppressor and shield. With so many objects placed inside, their inherent properties were suppressed, allowing them to coexist peacefully in one box.”

Meng Qianzi found it amusing: “Then, when Chiyou’s people opened the box and found that the Mountain Gallbladder was also inside, wouldn’t they be scared pale?”

Jiang Lian sighed: “So the Mountain Gallbladder and Water Crystal had to be separated. The Mountain Gallbladder was hidden so securely, with Cave Gods monitoring nearby.”

A thought struck Meng Qianzi: “What about the Phoenix Feather? The Phoenix Feather was also hidden very securely.”

As she spoke, she glanced toward a safe in the room: Shen Gun had collected more than twenty Phoenix Feathers from Jiang Lian’s body, while she had even more stuck to her, about thirty. They had all been gathered together and brought back to the Mountain Gui Chamber by her. The safe was secure, but it could never cover up that halo of light, which swirled like a cloud cluster in that corner.

During the day, Sister Liu had been shouting outside, saying it looked like there were seven-colored auspicious clouds above Qianzi’s roof.

Meng Qianzi finally understood why they needed to use the Water Cistern and skeletons to cover up this flowing light at the Phoenix Eye. Fortunately, the Mountain Gui Chamber was deep in the mountains with a relatively secluded location. If this were placed in a bustling area, how many livestreamers and TikTokers would it attract?

Jiang Lian said, “How could the Phoenix Feather not be hidden? After the Yellow Emperor discovered the box had been stolen, he left behind some Dragon Bones and Phoenix Feathers, clearly intending to arrange to burn the box again. The ideal situation for Chiyou’s side would be to steal the Dragon Bones and Phoenix Feathers, and use the Phoenix Feathers to burn the Dragon Bones. This way, the box would have no natural enemy and would be safe forever.”

Meng Qianzi suddenly realized: “But they only stole the Phoenix Feathers and couldn’t find the Dragon Bones, so they could only hide the Phoenix Feathers well… Actually, they could have destroyed the Phoenix Feathers.”

Jiang Lian shook his head: “It’s not that easy. Before the Mountain Gallbladder appeared, the ancestral tablet couldn’t be destroyed. These objects are made of very special materials; they can’t be destroyed just because you want to destroy them. They say the phoenix bathes in fire. Anyway, you have Phoenix Feathers on hand, why not take one out for an experiment? I’m afraid it can’t be burned or destroyed—I guess when Phoenix Feathers burn Dragon Bones, some chemical reaction occurs, and they destroy each other.”

So that was it. Unable to find the Dragon Bones, such a big hidden danger remained. No wonder Chiyou’s side wanted to break that box into pieces, wanting it to never be reassembled for all eternity. This intention was indeed profound.

Meng Qianzi muttered, “Why can’t I think of all these twists and turns?”

Jiang Lian smiled: “Weren’t you absent? I also discussed with Shen Gun for a long time before reaching these conclusions.”

Meng Qianzi was very honest: “I think even if I were there, I would just be looking at you, then looking at him, only able to listen to you both talk.”

Before going to bed, Xian Qionghua was thinking about checking on Meng Qianzi again.

She passed through the small courtyard, went around a rockery, and was about to turn onto the corridor connecting the courtyards when she suddenly heard someone calling her from behind: “Seventh Sister.”

It was Qiu Biying. Xian Qionghua stopped in her tracks, casually adjusting the windshield of a candle in the rockery cave in front of her.

Qiu Biying came over, looked around, and lowered her voice: “I just got off the phone with Fourth Sister. Do you know what Fourth Sister did? She played a trick.”

Xian Qionghua was startled.

“She assigned the most beautiful single young lady from our Kunlun Mountain Returning Group to liaise with Jiang Lian.”

Xian Qionghua blurted out: “Seduction?”

Qiu Biying gave her a disapproving look: “What are you saying? What kind of people do you think our mountain household girls are? Fourth Sister means that with little Qian and Jiang Lian not being together, who knows if Jiang Lian might stray? Sending a pretty young lady over, maybe Jiang Lian would try to pursue her, and then the problem would be solved neatly. If asked, we didn’t do anything; it was Jiang Lian who couldn’t control himself.”

Xian Qionghua snorted: “Completely unnecessary.”

She left Qiu Biying behind and strode into Meng Qianzi’s courtyard, entered the main hall, turned toward the bedroom, and when she reached the door, she saw that Meng Qianzi’s door was half-open, with Xin Ci and Meng Jinsong standing at the doorway, whispering something.

Xian Qionghua approached silently.

She heard Xin Ci saying: “I’ve been by Qianzi’s side for over a year and have never seen her flip through a book… This is the first time I’ve seen her put in such effort.”

Meng Jinsong rarely agreed with Xin Ci: “Who isn’t like that? Qianzi has never been the smart type, barely passing with low scores all her life.”

The conversation was becoming increasingly inappropriate. Xian Qionghua lightly coughed.

Both of them hurriedly turned around. Meng Jinsong knew he had spoken out of turn, and his expression changed slightly. Xin Ci was gleeful: Serves you right! That’s what you get for gossiping about Qianzi.

Xian Qionghua peered through the crack in the door and saw Meng Qianzi sitting on the bed, her hair tied in a high ponytail, seriously flipping through something, with notebooks of various sizes at her side.

Xian Qionghua asked curiously: “Why aren’t you resting early at this late hour? What are you doing?”

Meng Jinsong said, “She suddenly asked us to bring all of Old Lady Duan’s ledgers and records from back then, saying she wanted to research them. We couldn’t dissuade her.”

Xian Qionghua made an acknowledging sound, stepped into the room, and closed the door to prevent those two from peeping, coincidentally.

Meng Qianzi heard the sound, looked up, and called out: “Seventh Mom.”

Judging by her tone, her mood was good.

Xian Qionghua smiled, pushed aside some notebooks, and sat on the edge of the bed: “What are you doing? These are all old things, piled up like this, making the bed dirty.”

Meng Qianzi said, “I was thinking, since the matter is related to Old Lady Duan, looking through her old ledgers might yield some results.”

Saying this, she looked at Xian Qionghua, hesitated for a moment, and asked: “Seventh Mom, am I… a bit stupid?”

Xian Qionghua said, “How could that be? Where did that idea come from?”

Meng Qianzi lowered her eyes, her fingernails lightly scratching the pages: “I just feel that every time there’s progress, whenever clues are discovered, it’s always Jiang Lian and Shen Gun talking. I’m always half a step behind… Seventh Mom, do you think Jiang Lian finds me stupid?”

Xian Qionghua scolded her: “You’re talking nonsense again. Why are you comparing yourself to these two? Shen Gun has spent his whole life solving puzzles when he encounters problems; of course, he’s more experienced than you. As for Jiang Lian, isn’t he said to be trained by Kuang Tongsheng to handle affairs? He’s expected to be quick-eyed and quick-minded. Han Xin was good at warfare, and Xiao He could govern the country, but wasn’t it Liu Bang who became the emperor? No matter how smart these two are, one is your Three-Layered Lotus Petal, and the other is your…”

She faltered for a moment.

Meng Qianzi, however, followed up eagerly: “What is he to me, Seventh Mom?”

Xian Qionghua glared at her, but she just smiled and tugged at Xian Qionghua’s clothes. Inadvertently, she knocked over a pile of notebooks at her side, and from one of them, several inserted photos slid out.

Meng Qianzi picked them up to look. It was a group photo: the woman was Old Lady Duan, about forty years old at the time, and the man was a handsome young fellow.

Seeing her expression, Xian Qionghua knew what she was thinking: “It’s probably your Old Lady Duan’s assistant. She would take photos wherever she went.”

Meng Qianzi made an acknowledging sound and picked up another photo. This time, it was a group of three: Old Lady Duan in the middle, a small, skinny old woman on her right, and a pretty seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl on her left.

There was writing on the back that said: Black Miao Gu King and her successor A Mu Li (phonetic translation).

Meng Qianzi exclaimed: “Black Miao Gu King! My Old Lady Duan has met too many impressive people.”

Xian Qionghua was curious: “Let me see.”

She took the photo, looked at it for a couple of seconds, then put it down. She was about to say something when she seemed to have a momentary lapse. After a while, she picked up the photo again and, as she looked at it, her brows gradually furrowed.

Meng Qianzi felt anxious: “Seventh Mom, what’s wrong?”

Xian Qionghua said, “This A Mu Li looks quite familiar…”

She suddenly remembered: “Back when I was arranging for people to investigate Shen Gun’s house in the Foggy Town, there was a photo on his bedside or desk. The woman in that photo looked very similar to this A Mu Li…”

Meng Qianzi had a sudden realization: “You mean Shen Gun’s imaginary girlfriend? She’s the successor to the Black Miao Gu King? Does Shen Gun know about this?”

Xian Qionghua found her question amusing: “Whether Shen Gun knows about this or not, you should ask him. Why are you asking me instead?”

Shen Gun didn’t receive this inquiry call from Meng Qianzi. He had gone out to the night market and hadn’t brought his phone at all.

At that moment, he was sitting with Kuang Meiying outside a barbecue shop, enjoying skewers, while Wei Biao had been sent to buy yogurt for them.

Just as they were enjoying their meal, Wei Biao returned with packaged yogurt, distributed one to each person, and then told Kuang Meiying about what he’d seen on the way: “Meiying, do you remember that blind old man from yesterday? Turns out he’s a fortune teller.”

Kuang Meiying certainly remembered: “He said I have good fortune.”

Then she turned to Shen Gun: “Mr. Shen, do you think we should listen to fortune tellers?”

Before Shen Gun could answer, Wei Biao cut in: “I casually asked how much it costs for a reading, and he said starting at three hundred yuan. Three hundred! That’s robbery. Others do it for five or ten yuan—no wonder he’s as poor as a beggar, completely unrealistic.”

Kuang Meiying didn’t say anything, but Shen Gun froze for a moment: “Three hundred?”

“Yes.” Wei Biao fumed, as if the old man had already swindled him, “Those who originally wanted to have their fortunes told for fun heard this and cursed him as crazy.”

Shen Gun asked: “How did he react to being cursed?”

“He didn’t care, just maintained a very aloof manner.”

Shen Gun’s heart began to pound: “Does he have any distinctive features?”

Kuang Meiying answered: “He’s blind. Both his eyes are full of white film, quite frightening.”

Shen Gun stopped eating his skewers and stood up abruptly: “Where is he?”

Wei Biao was startled and instinctively pointed toward the street entrance.

Shen Gun ran off in that direction, then ran back after a short distance: “Money, money, three hundred.”

Wei Biao quickly took it out and handed it to him. Clutching the money, Shen Gun dashed toward the street entrance.

As he approached, he indeed saw an old man in his seventies or eighties sitting on the ground, tilting his head as if dozing, with a dirty, worn divination cloth beneath him and an empty, broken porcelain bowl on the cloth.

Without a word, Shen Gun directly dropped the money into the bowl.

The old man didn’t move, but a nearly hoarse voice floated up: “What would the customer like to see?”

Shen Gun said: “Let me see… my fate.”

The old man raised his head, staring with eyes full of cataracts, scrutinized him for quite a while, and then said: “Half a life wandering, half a life settled, good fortune, long life.”

Shen Gun licked his lips: “Can you see my origins?”

The old man made an acknowledging sound: “What’s your surname?”

Shen Gun answered: “Surname Shen, no, no, surname Shen.” [Note: The character used is different but pronounced the same]

The old man laughed: “Aren’t you just making things up? Everyone’s mortal, how could anyone have the surname ‘God’? There are thousands of people with the surname Shen, but none like you. Three hundred yuan, that’s all you get.”

Saying this, the old man stood up, felt for his divination cloth, pocketed the money bowl, and was clearly preparing to leave.

But what he said wasn’t wrong. Shen Mukun was indeed a homophonic decomposition of “Shen Gun,” a proper-sounding name he had given himself when he needed to register as a drifter years ago.

Shen Gun’s throat went dry, and he asked: “Then what is my surname?”

The old man acted as if he hadn’t heard and just shuffled away.

Shen Gun became very anxious: “Are you from the Ge family? The legendary Ge Da, who walked Jiangbei in one lifetime? Master Ge Da, do you know what my original family name is? I was abandoned at a small village entrance, I never knew my original family name.”

Ge Da’s body halted, paused for a moment, then continued stepping forward. Shen Gun heard a hoarse voice slowly drift back: “Ten beans wear clothes, orange wood felled to plant fir, eight hundred years one sage…”

This was a riddle.

Shen Gun’s mind raced quickly.

Ten beans wearing clothes make the character “Peng.”

Orange wood felled to plant fir is also the character “Peng.”

And eight hundred years, one sage…

The old man’s final words arrived faintly: “Your ancestors’ surname is Peng.”