Ruan Bei lay in Qin Gu's arms, her eyes twitching with pain. Even though nearly twenty years had passed, the pain brought on by the memories seemed endless.
Qin Gu's palm lightly covered his eyes, the warmth of his palm soothing his skin. Ruan Bei rubbed against his palm, and in a daze, he felt the pain gradually subside.
"Why did she seal my ability to see ghosts?" Ruan Bei asked, puzzled.
Qin Gu said in a deep voice, "That's not the key point. The key point is, how did she know you have the ability to see ghosts, and how did she know the method to seal your eyes?"
Especially the first question, you can't tell from appearance alone that someone has yin-yang eyes. A child born with yin-yang eyes might accidentally let it slip and be discovered because of their young age, but Xiao Bei was too young at that time, so it was impossible for him to show any difference.
Therefore, it is only possible that Zou Na has a special method to distinguish between people with yin and yang eyes.
Qin Gu had no idea what specific method she used, but at least he himself had never heard of it.
Given his status as a direct descendant of the Xuanqing Temple, if he had never been exposed to this special method, then Zou Na's background is highly questionable; she is definitely not simply an orphan girl who lost both parents and sought refuge with distant relatives.
Qin had a feeling that once he found out Zou Na's background, all these questions and doubts would be resolved.
In early October, it was Qin Zhengze's birthday. Qin Gu, under the pretext of celebrating his father's birthday, went to the capital with Ruan Bei.
In fact, besides avoiding Luo Zikun's invitation, they also needed to meet with Qin Zhengze to discuss some things in person.
It happened to be the National Day holiday, so they didn't even need to ask for leave. When they met Qin Zhengze, they first received a survey report about Zou Na.
"Your great-uncle and senior brother both put in a lot of effort to get this information. Look, it's actually quite valuable." Zou Na is a member of the Xuanmen sect, and Qin Zhengze's connections alone are not enough to investigate her background.
However, given the many evil deeds she committed through Lu Sibai and her apparent connection with the Yinming Ghost King, both Ruan Bei, as an elder, and the leader of the Special Affairs Bureau as a maintainer of order, have an obligation to investigate this matter thoroughly.
Qin Gu paused in flipping through the documents: "Does Martial Uncle know?"
Zou Na left with Luo Zikun, and he was the last person they saw before she disappeared. When they investigate her, they also have to investigate Luo Zikun.
"I didn't say anything. Didn't you tell me to keep it from him?" Qin Zheng crossed his arms and looked at him leisurely. "You and your martial uncle are quite close, so why are you suddenly being wary of him?"
Qin Gu was silent for a moment: "We suspect that he is helping Zou Na. Some time ago, he contacted me and invited me to Yundang Mountain to help him break the formation. I suspect that he wants to make a move against me."
Qin Zhengze rarely showed a surprised expression: "Are you sure?"
As far as he knew, Luo Zikun treated his son quite well. Compared to his own father, the boy was probably closer to Luo. Now, he actually suspected that Luo was trying to harm him.
Ruan Bei hesitated, but Qin Gu held him down and nodded: "I'm sure, they don't necessarily want to kill me. They probably want to trap me, or even use me as a hostage to blackmail you."
Qin Zhengze's brows furrowed slowly: "What is he trying to do? Has he gone mad?"
Qin Gu was his junior disciple. It was a great taboo in the Xuanmen sect for fellow disciples to kill each other, let alone for elders to persecute juniors.
If he had simply killed Qin Gu and hidden the crime well enough that no one would know, then that would have been fine. But since he didn't intend to kill him, doing something like this would mean he was doomed once Qin Gu escaped.
Qin Gu crumpled the document in his hand and looked at his father for help: "But we have no evidence. He's still waiting for me to come back to Jincheng. If I refuse him outright, I'm worried there will be a next time."
Qin Zheng gave him a deep look. He understood what Qin Gu meant; he wanted to resolve this trouble this time.
The best way is to catch him in the act. Qin Gu should pretend to accept his invitation and go to Yundang Mountain with him. Of course, he shouldn't go alone; a reliable person should accompany him in case he needs to be rescued in time.
However, Qin Gu would inevitably take some risks with this approach. If Luo Zikun does indeed have problems, there must be arrangements made at Yundang Mountain. What will happen after he goes there is unpredictable.
The Qin family is powerful in the secular world, but when it comes to metaphysics and formations, his subordinates are truly incompetent.
Although his uncle Fu Zhao was nominally the director of the Special Affairs Bureau, he basically delegated management authority to Xuan Ningcheng. If someone needed to be transferred from the Special Affairs Bureau, Xuan Ningcheng was still the one who had to be involved.
The difficulty lies in the fact that Qin Gu claims Luo Zikun wants to harm him, but he has no evidence. He also asks his sect members to help him guard against Luo Zikun, who might even take action against him.
Ke Luo Zikun was also a member of Xuanqing Temple. He had treated him very well before. They were from the same school. It is a crime for an elder to persecute a junior, and it is equally serious for a junior to make unfounded speculations and slander against an elder.
Of course, if all else fails, they can avoid their master's group and seek help from other connections. His maternal grandfather has some friends, and although Ruan Bei's teammates are not good, they still have reliable elders in their families.
This clearly shows that Qin Gu doesn't trust his sect. Once things are over and his master and fellow disciples find out, they will inevitably be heartbroken.
Ruan Beidu wanted to just tell everyone about his rebirth to avoid putting Kunkun in such a difficult position.
But Qin Gu forbade him to speak of it and warned him that his rebirth should be stopped there and that he should never tell anyone again.
Ruan Bei was merely keeping the secret subconsciously, but Qin Gu thought more deeply. According to Ruan Bei, his rebirth was not purely accidental; it might be related to the jade he had given him. This meant that rebirth could be artificially induced.
Ordinary people in the secular world might only feel envy and sigh when they find out, but cultivators in the Xuanmen sect might inevitably harbor delusions upon learning this.
Everyone has regrets in their life. The temptation to be reborn is too great. If Xiao Bei is targeted, he will never have a peaceful life again.
Therefore, this door cannot be opened. The Ruan family cherishes Ruan Bei and guards his secret to the death. Ruan Xi has never mentioned it to Yin Zhuo.
This secret will be kept in the hearts of the Nguyen family until they take it to their graves.
"I'll handle this." Qin Zhengze pondered for a moment, then said calmly, "I'll go talk to your senior brother."
Qin Gu pursed his lips and shook his head: "No, I'll go."
In this situation, he cannot hide behind his father, or his master and fellow disciples will look down on him.
Ruan Bei said gratefully, "Thank you, Uncle Qin."
After saying that, he tugged at Qin Gu, who was silent for a moment before whispering, "Thank you, Dad."
Qin Zhengze's eyelids twitched, and he felt inexplicably uncomfortable. He coughed lightly and said, "Let's look at the information. It has something to do with Xiao Bei."
"Me?" Ruan Bei asked in surprise.
Qin Zhengze nodded: "Your senior brother said you have the ability to see ghosts? That might be why she's targeting you."
Ruan Bei quickly looked through the information, and after reading it, both of them suddenly realized what was going on.
They didn't find much information about Zou Na over the years because, like Luo Zikun, she traveled all over the country, often venturing into the mountains, rarely using new technological products, and preferred to travel in ways that were easy to conceal.
However, her background was thoroughly investigated.
It turns out that Zou Na appears to be a destitute orphan, but in reality, her so-called parents are not her biological parents at all. She is the only descendant of the Zou family, the same family that Zou Hui, the one with the ability to see ghosts, mentioned before Ruan Bei.
When Master mentioned it, he said that there were several decades between the previous person with the ability to see ghosts and Ruan Bei. These decades were the time of Zou Hui's death. After his death, no one knew about the existence of the ability to see ghosts.
When Zou Hui was alive, underworld messengers weren't as rare as they are now. Problems on the Yellow Springs Road have only arisen in the last few decades. Because there's no way to communicate, even people in the Xuanmen sect are unaware of them.
Zou Hui also had acquaintances among the underworld officials back then. Relying on his relationship with the underworld, the Zou family flourished to an extreme degree. Even a major cultivation sect like Xuanqing Temple had to give them some face.
After all, everyone has to die eventually. If you're not afraid of death, you still have family and friends. You never know when you might need their help.
However, this prosperity was built on Zou Hui alone. He was the only one in the entire Zou family with the ability to see ghosts. After his death, although the Zou family could still communicate with the ghost messengers they knew before, they could only do so with the help of eye-opening talismans each time.
The Zou family members, who used the eye-opening talisman, were no different from other cultivators. Every time they used the talisman, they would hurriedly state their requirements, worried that the talisman would become ineffective. Over time, the ghost messengers stopped paying attention to them.
Moreover, the ghost messengers didn't come every time. Later, for unknown reasons (problems with the Yellow Springs Road), the ghost messengers came less and less, and the connection between the two sides became weaker and weaker until they could no longer contact the ghost messengers.
Given the Zou family's wealth, if they had sought other paths and begun to transform their business, they might not have been able to maintain their former prosperity, but they might have been able to develop well. However, they had become accustomed to making money in the underworld, which was convenient, quick, and profitable.
So instead of thinking about how to find new paths, they thought about how to get their jobs back.
Glory began to decline after Zou Hui's death, so they felt that what they lacked was a new Yin-Yang Eye.
Having the ability to see ghosts is an innate talent. What can the Zou family do if their children can't have it?
However, the Zou family members are not stupid; it's just that they didn't use their intelligence for good.
Even when Zou Hui was still alive, some of the "visionary" Zou family members realized they needed to consider their options. Initially, they thought of researching the ability to see ghosts and, ideally, creating one themselves.
It was later proven that the ability to see ghosts is an innate talent and cannot be artificially created.
Later, they tried to find women with various talents for Zou Hui, who then had a large number of children—Zou Na being one of them. They hoped that his children would inherit the talent of having the ability to see ghosts, but this also failed.
But all that effort in research wasn't in vain. It wasn't until the Zou family was wiped out that everyone learned that Zou Hui hadn't died of natural causes. When he was on his deathbed, the Zou family gouged out his eyes, attempting to transplant them to a chosen descendant of the Zou family so that he could inherit Zou Hui's Yin-Yang Eyes.
The plan also failed, and the Zou family descendant who took over the transplant also died.
The ruthless Zou family did not stop their plans. While waiting for the newly born Yin-Yang Eyes, they captured people to conduct experiments, attempting to artificially create them.
While Zou Hui was alive, they were somewhat restrained. After Zou Hui's death, they arrested people indiscriminately, built special laboratories to conduct live experiments, and gouged out the eyes of countless people.
But all the experiments failed; the ability to see ghosts is congenital.
Since creating something out of thin air is impossible, plunder is the best way. If one's own Yin-Yang Eyes die, then take the newly born ones.
Nearly ten years passed, and the Zou family, who had been closely following news in this regard, indeed found two children with the ability to see ghosts.
They used various means to take the child away from his parents. If such a young child had been raised as a member of the family, he might have been able to become a member of the Zou family.
But they were unwilling to give up. The ability to see ghosts should be a bloodline talent of the Zou family, and they tried to transfer the ghost eyes of the two children to a member of the Zou family.
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