Was It Really Just Fulong Village?

When Su Xuan heard Li Guanqi say his sister's ashes had been taken, his expression changed drastically. Li Guanqi's heart leaped into his throat. His brow furrowed tightly as he stared at the old man with grave concern. "Grandpa, has... something happened?" Only then did Su Xuan realize he had lost his composure. Reining in his suppressing aura, his gaze flickered incessantly. "Can you tell when they were stolen?" A flicker of chilling murderous intent flashed through the depths of Li Guanqi's eyes, only to dissolve into a helpless shake of his head. "I don't know. "I checked thoroughly and found not a single trace. "Even the Shiwu Flame Spirit couldn't detect anything. I suspect it happened a long time ago—perhaps more than twenty years!" Su Xuan's eyes gleamed; he clearly trusted Li Guanqi's judgment. If Li Guanqi said at least twenty years, it was certainly not an aimless guess. "It seems... they have been plotting this for many years!" "Yet what can someone accomplish with mere ashes?" The perpetrator's act of stealing ashes left Su Xuan thoroughly baffled. When he had first heard the news, Su Xuan's immediate thought had been the myriad bizarre arts of the Immortal Realm! Yet... A plot hatched twenty years ago had borne no fruit to this day. It was very likely that they had failed! Still, another possibility remained: they were waiting! Waiting for the opportune moment! Su Xuan drew a deep breath and called out softly, "What do you think?" These words were not directed at Li Guanqi, but at the Sword Spirit. *Buzz!* A subtle ripple stirred the space, and the figure of the Sword Spirit materialized. Her face was equally solemn yet laced with confusion as she spoke. "I do not know. The mysterious and bizarre arts of the Immortal Realm are beyond count; even I cannot know them all. "However, since they went out of their way to steal Li Cuiwei's ashes, they must have some ulterior motive." Saying that, the Sword Spirit's beautiful eyes flickered. Meeting Su Xuan's gaze, she slowly asked, "Could it be that old fellow surnamed Lu from back then?" Su Xuan pondered for a moment before shaking his head with a murmur. "I don't know... It isn't impossible. "Yet Guanqi hardly ever spoke of his origins to others. Even if he did, it was only among ourselves. "Moreover, over all these years, Guanqi has practically never spoken to anyone about his mother and sister." Listening to their discussion, Li Guanqi's expression suddenly altered drastically! "Wait... I did mention my sister!" "And right in front of a great crowd..." The Sword Spirit frowned slightly; she had no memory of this. Su Xuan furrowed his brows and asked, "You spoke of such matters before a crowd?" Li Guanqi sighed helplessly as memories flooded back to when he had first entered the Great Xia Sword Sect. Back then, Zhao Yuanlin had slandered him, and he had subsequently beaten Zhao Yuanlin to death with his bare fists. The feud between his sister and the Zhao Manor had been heard by quite a few people back then. It was also at that moment that his past as a beggar had been exposed to everyone. The Sword Spirit had not yet met Li Guanqi at the time, so she naturally knew nothing of it. Su Xuan's eyes narrowed into slits, a sharp glint flickering within his cloudy gaze. "If that is truly the case, someone lurking in the shadows must have taken note of that information. "And not long after, they tracked it down to Beiliang City. "After all, when I took you away back then, I didn't bother masking my aura. "That would certainly make sense... Over twenty years ago—the timeline fits!" Li Guanqi also fixed his suspicion onto those present on the sect square that day! Particularly the people around him. Yet thinking it over from every angle, he still couldn't recall anything amiss. Back when the Great Xia Sword Sect began forming alliances with various sects, Li Shenzhi had arrived representing his own sect, only to be slain by Li Guanqi. Li Guanqi happened to be at the sect at that time, and he had scrutinized everyone around him without uncovering the slightest suspicion. "Could it be... someone among those who weren't chosen on the sect square that day?" Li Guanqi furrowed his brow, shaking his head in frustration. Looking at it that way, there were virtually no clues to be found. The mastermind might not even have been on the square themselves; they could have easily captured any bystander and used soul searching. There was simply no starting point to investigate! Noticing Li Guanqi lost in deep thought, Su Xuan reached out and patted him on the shoulder, snapping him back to reality. "Enough, don't dwell on it so much. "Since they harbor an ulterior motive, their fox tail will show itself sooner or later. "Now that we know, we can simply stay on guard beforehand. Why tie yourself in knots over it?" At this point, Su Xuan's tone softened. "As for your sister's ashes... when a person dies, their light fades, and mortals are no different. "Death itself is not what is terrifying. It is not the true departure of a loved one." A faint smile touched the corner of Li Guanqi's lips, and he softly finished the thought: "Forgetting them is." Su Xuan smiled, packed his pipe with tobacco, and puffed away contentedly. "Hurry up and break through. I'm still waiting for you to challenge the Four Kings." The corner of Li Guanqi's mouth twitched. Looking at the old man, he couldn't help but say, "You certainly have boundless faith in me... Are the Four Heavenly Kings opponents I can just challenge on a whim?" Su Xuan chuckled and tapped Li Guanqi lightly on the forehead. "By all rights, Shiwu's power was enough to elevate your cultivation straight into the late Tribulation Transcendence realm. "Yet you firmly suppressed it. Now that you've lingered at the peak of the mid-stage for a while, it is just about time to break through. "With the Devouring Void Sacred Flame protecting you, you have no need to worry about an unstable foundation." Li Guanqi rubbed his nose and nodded. "Alright, I understand." Returning to the main topic, Su Xuan's brows knit together, and after a long silence, he spoke again. "In the Human Spirit Realm... aside from Gu Xici, we probably also need to be wary of that old fellow surnamed Lu from Fulong Village. "Furthermore, the jade pendant fragments that ended up in Meng Jiangchu and Zhang Qixuan's hands were likely orchestrated deliberately by someone with hidden designs. "Whether Old Man Lu obtained one as well is hard to say." Li Guanqi nodded, quietly digesting everything he had learned today. As matters stood, besides Gu Xici, that Lu Tiancheng was likely another figure lurking in the shadows. And his methods were exceptionally discreet. The information Li Guanqi had exposed back at the Great Xia Sword Sect might have reached Gu Xici, or it might have reached Lu Tiancheng. Li Guanqi looked at the elder beside him and voiced his final question. "Grandpa, why did you bring me to Fulong Village back then?" Su Xuan looked back at him, his eyes twinkling with an enigmatic smile. "Silly boy, you know that village as Fulong Village. "In truth... that place wasn't named Fulong for prosperity, but Fulong as in 'Crouching Dragon'!" Li Guanqi's mind shuddered violently, and he cried out in shock, "What?! Crouching Dragon?! "Could that mean... Jiuxiao was..." Su Xuan smiled without answering directly, murmuring, "What that party deduced wasn't necessarily the Sword Spirit. "It could very well have been you, bearing the dragon's fortune. Zhang Qixuan and Meng Jiangchu merely stumbled into waiting until that moment. "Otherwise, why do you think those medicinal baths back then were so agonizingly painful? Ground dragon bones had been stirred into every single one of them." Li Guanqi was dumbfounded. He had always believed those medicinal baths were merely to bolster his physique. "Then the dragon egg in the pocket realm back then..." Su Xuan chuckled. "Naturally, I guided you there on purpose... If not for that, do you think the dragon egg could have hatched so smoothly? "It had lain inside that ruined sect's pocket realm for thousands of years. How could a dragon egg have retained its vitality all that time?"