Chapter 43 Wealth and Prosperity Are Always Seeked in Peril (Part 3) - Secret Letter

In the Jin Mansion of Shengjing, Jin Younian, the head of the Jin family, paced back and forth in the empty study with his hands behind his back.

The heavy rosewood door was tightly shut, and even his most favored thrush, which he usually cherished in his spare time, dared not approach. The servants had long since been dismissed. Jin Younian stopped in front of the display cabinet, his gaze falling on the inconspicuous ebony box.

The method that the Jin family had spent countless generations searching for over hundreds of years, both openly and secretly, has finally come to rest quietly in his hands in another form.

"A Soul-Swapping Talisman, a Soul-Swapping Talisman, what a wonderful thing..." Jin Younian stroked the cold box, a low chuckle escaping his throat. His days were numbered; it was time to replace this useless mortal body of his!

He never revealed this matter to anyone. His son was a good-for-nothing, and his grandchildren were even more useless. The once-great Jin family was now left with only Jin Zhufeng, who still retained some of the sharpness he had shown in his youth. Because of the past, he was still somewhat filial to Jin Zhufeng.

Jin Younian stroked his beard and pondered for a while, then shook his head after thinking of something: "No, no."

The matter was accomplished in secrecy and must not be publicized. The Jin family has many cultivators, including several elders at the Nascent Soul stage. But that's not enough, far from enough. He wants to rise above others; he is already the head of the Jin family. How could those ordinary people possibly catch his eye?

Jin Younian began pacing in the room again. He needed to find the most suitable person; besides the one in the Xuanji Palace, the strongest person in the world was the Imperial Advisor. This thought only flashed through his mind before he quickly dismissed it. The Imperial Advisor's cultivation was unfathomable, and he lived secluded in the palace year-round; encountering him would be tantamount to courting death.

Counting down further, there are the three Mahayana stage cultivators from the four great families. Shen Xiyun, the exceptionally talented woman from the Shen family, is already dead and her cultivation has vanished. Ming Qi from the Ming family is in seclusion, and the location of his cave is a mystery; he's probably already decayed. After all that, only Xiao Wang from the Xiao family remains—his old friend.

Upon hearing the name, a smile finally appeared on Jin Younian's gaunt face. He immediately wrote a letter, inviting his old friend to a reunion in their old haunts. As for the reason, it was naturally the matter they both knew about back then.

Once everything was arranged, Jin Younian slumped back into the armchair, closed his eyes, and stroked his treasure, letting out a satisfied sigh.

——

In the Ming family mansion of Yunchuan, the patriarch Ming Qian walked through the connecting corridor and suddenly stopped. The night breeze brought an unusual aura. His eyes sharpened, his fingertips twitched slightly, and the jade slip at his waist fell into his hand and lit up silently. The defensive array patterns on the bluestone slab under his feet appeared faintly.

In the center of the courtyard where the moonlight was brightest, a blurry figure stood quietly. Ming Qian did not rush forward, but his expression changed slightly. With his Nascent Soul stage cultivation, he could not detect the other party's true strength at all.

Hearing the noise, the person under the moon slowly turned their head. With white hair and a youthful face, they remained silent.

Mingqian was startled and took a few steps forward, his face filled with worry: "Father, how could you..."

Mingqi cultivates the Way of Non-Action, and he went into seclusion more than ten years ago, claiming that he would not leave his cave until he had thoroughly understood the Great Way. Now that he has not yet achieved the Great Way, how could he give up halfway?

Ming Qi waved his hand, looked up at the bright moon in the sky, his gaze seemingly piercing through the clouds, landing on a distant place unreachable by mortals. After a long while, he spoke, his voice hoarse and aged, unlike his youthful appearance: "The spiritual energy is about to dissipate."

Mingqian composed himself and said, "The depletion of spiritual veins is irreversible, and there are frequent anomalies in various places. I have recently been discussing with the elders how to maintain it, so that even if the spiritual energy is completely dissipated, Yunchuan will not be affected in the slightest."

Ming Qi shook his head: "The spiritual veins support the land of the Nine Provinces. When they do, the sky will tilt to the northwest, the land will sink to the southeast, rivers will overflow, and mountains will collapse. If the spiritual energy dissipates, it will not be as simple as all living beings turning into mortals; it will be a natural disaster."

Mingqian's expression changed drastically: "How could this be! Could it be... that prophecy?"

Mingqi closed his eyes and opened his arms, his white hair fluttering in the night wind: "I can feel that the spiritual veins are dissipating at an unusual speed, as if something is pulling them to accelerate their collapse."

"Please enlighten us, Elder Ming," a calm female voice rang out, "How should we proceed now?"

Shen Ci, dressed in pure white, said calmly, "I received a letter from the Star Gazing Tower. The Immortal Venerable has already taken action."

Ming Qi was silent for a moment, then sighed, "The Immortal Venerable is extraordinary and her abilities are unknown. I don't know if the other three and I can stop her willful behavior."

Mingqian's face was filled with grief, and he was about to reply when a series of hurried footsteps approached from afar: "Master! Something has happened!"

——

Xiao Jingze sat alone in a private room on the second floor of the gambling den, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the gold ring in his hand.

Mingying lightly traced a line on the table, leaving a message: Aren't you going to the Xiao family?

He glanced down at it, twirling the gold ring between his fingers: "Later."

There was a knock on the door, and a person opened it and walked in. He was the kind of person you would easily lose in a crowd, unremarkable and easily forgotten.

Li Wei greeted them with a smile, his movements practiced and smooth as he made contact. The two exchanged few words, parting ways in a flash, and the tightly closed copper box was already in Li Wei's hands. The box was tightly shut, and Li Wei weighed it in his hand, his smile deepening, his eyes gleaming with the shrewdness characteristic of a businessman.

After the man went downstairs and disappeared into the crowd, Xiao Jingze waved his hand to dispel the invisibility array and beckoned to Li Wei: "Give it to me."

Li Wei's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a bitter expression, almost bringing tears to his eyes. Without Xiao Jingze saying anything more, he obediently presented the box with both hands.

Xiao Jingze casually took it, not even glancing at Li Wei, and turned to leave expressionlessly. Ming Ying raised her wooden hand and made a face-covering gesture; wasn't Xiao Jingze's behavior just that of a bully?

Li Wei, bowing and scraping, watched the menacing figure leave until he disappeared down the stairs, his expression instantly turning clean. He returned to the empty room, looked around, and finally gritted his teeth, picked up a nearby hardwood chair, and slammed it down hard on his forehead. After a dull thud, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Mingying vaguely heard strange noises coming from next door. She tilted her head and quickly realized what the people inside were doing. She wrote: Could he have been left behind by Boss Jin on purpose?

Xiao Jingze curled his lips into a mocking smile: "Boss Jin doesn't do business at a loss."

Mingying stood on the chair watching Xiao Jingze unpack the box. The box's lock was ingeniously designed, concealing a hidden mechanism. Xiao Jingze only glanced at it indifferently, without attempting to crack the code. Instead, he took out a set of tools from his storage ring and began to disassemble the box himself.

His eyes were focused, his fingers flew, his movements were smooth and precise, and the slightest sound of the mechanism was almost inaudible.

Mingying watched his movements, her thoughts drifting. If Xiao Jingze hadn't been born the heir of a marquis's family, with this skill, he could have made a fortune as a petty thief.

She realized what she was thinking and raised her wooden hand to tap her head. She had been badly influenced by Xiao Jingze; how could she become a petty thief? With Xiao Jingze's skills, he should be a locksmith, helping people solve their problems.

She only thought for a moment before Xiao Jingze deftly opened the box and took out the secret letter. The letter was thin, and he was about to tear it open with a slight movement of his fingertips.

Mingying curiously leaned closer, but Xiao Jingze raised his arm to completely block her view: "Since the Imperial Advisor won't let you see, I want to see what's written inside first."

Mingying was a little dissatisfied and reached out to scratch him. Xiao Jingze hadn't said that before. The Imperial Advisor wouldn't let her see it? Then she was even more determined to see it!

Xiao Jingze unfolded the secret letter, his gaze sweeping over it quickly, his expression unreadable: "They even managed to dig up this kind of information..."

Seeing that he wasn't moving, Mingying patted his arm. She wanted to see! What earth-shattering secret was it?

Xiao Jingze stopped stopping her. Mingying glanced at him and saw that he was stunned and motionless. She walked over, tilted her head to see what was written in the letter, and saw that name again.

Who exactly is Ming Sheng? The Imperial Advisor has mentioned this name before. It seems she'll have to look for him in the family genealogy when she returns to the Ming clan... Oh, he's been removed from the genealogy.

The secret letter was very short. It said that Ming Sheng was an evil talisman master who had been expelled from his family. Years ago, his own sister had a difficult childbirth and was about to die along with her unborn child. In order to save his loved one, Ming Sheng used evil magic to take the life of another.

The evil magic was eventually destroyed by the Ming family, leaving only a name. Ming Sheng named this evil magic "Inheritance." Ming Yu and her child survived. The child was born with spiritual roots, and from then on, all descendants of the Ming family possessed spiritual roots and embarked on the path of cultivation. The life "borrowed" back then must have had an extraordinary origin.

Xiao Jingze's face was gloomy, but Ming Ying's focus was different. She wrote: That little brat, the evil talisman master.

Xiao Jingze's expression turned even uglier, and his voice tightened: "That person, it was you."

He didn't believe in prophecies, and even doubted the authenticity of the secret letter, but he had a question in his heart, and this was the only answer.

Mingying paused for a moment, then, with a smile on her face, she wrote neatly: "Luckily it was me, and not some innocent nobody. Aren't I amazing? I can help so many people all by myself!"

She still likes Mingyu very much. Isn't it good that Mingyu and her child can live well?

Xiao Jingze stared at her intently, still saying nothing. The Ming family were the most foolish people he had ever met; for example, they worshipped a mortal as a goddess, and this goddess…

His mother used to admire people like that.

Xiao Jingze, holding the letter, asked, "What do you plan to do?"

This letter will eventually be sent to the Zichen Palace. It's not hard to guess what the Emperor wants to do, but his scheme will ultimately fail.

Mingying wrote: Burned.

Xiao Jingze said no more, gazing at the firelight, "I need to go back to the Xiao family."

Mingying nodded and quietly wrote: Can you send me back to Yunchuan?

Xiao Jingze turned his head and looked at her smiling, puppet-like face. He paused for a moment and then said, "Okay."

The two tacitly looked away, the flickering firelight illuminating their profiles, each lost in their own thoughts. They had rarely been apart since their trip to Huaijiang, but some things, after all, had to be faced alone.

——

The candlelight flickered in the mourning hall, the incense ash had all settled, and the white banners fluttered without wind. Jin Wuyai, half his face hidden in shadow, leaned close to the coffin and chuckled softly, "Old man, you're finally dead."

"Is Father excited?"

Jin Wuyai's smile faltered, and he looked in the direction of the sound. He saw the figures part, and a young man dressed in a plain-colored long robe was already standing at the entrance, holding a feather fan, handsome and dashing.

Jin Zhufeng did not wear mourning clothes. Behind him stood a dozen or so cultivators, completely blocking the mourning hall. Many of them were familiar faces, and the hall was silent.

Her gaze swept across the entire room seemingly unintentionally, pausing slightly at Jin Wuyai's frozen figure. A faint smile curved her lips, and she gently closed her feather fan, bowing to the black coffin in the distance. Her voice was heavy with sorrow: "Grandfather, your grandson has arrived late and has not been able to see you one last time. It is truly a great regret."

Jin Wuyai scoffed, "What are you doing here?"

Jin Zhufeng asked curiously, "Father, what are you saying? My grandfather died under mysterious circumstances elsewhere, and I have naturally come to fulfill my filial duty. I wonder what the coroner's examination results were?"

The coroner, wiping away cold sweat, stepped forward and said, "Miss Jin, the examination confirms that the Jin family head did indeed die by suicide."

Jin Zhufeng shook his feather fan: "It's really strange. My grandfather sent me a message just a few days ago. How could he have committed suicide? I think he was probably murdered by a villain."

The black-robed cultivator behind him immediately turned his gaze to the person in the room. Jin Wuyai's face showed humiliation, and he slammed his fist on the table, angrily saying, "You unfilial son! How dare you speak to the patriarch like that!"

"Patriarch?" Jin Zhufeng seemed to have heard a joke. "Father is old and works hard. I am always worried about him. I beg Father to relieve his burden and allow me to take charge of the household and share his worries."

Jin Wuyai's hands trembled as he pointed at her and said, "My good daughter, are you trying to rebel?"

Jin Zhufeng shook his head: "That's disgusting."

She stepped forward with her hands behind her back, smiled and bowed: "I beg Father to pass on the seal of the family head to me."

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Author's note: I didn't originally intend to write about so many people, but I felt something was missing if I didn't explain them, so I decided to write a little about them.