The bedcovers were slightly wrinkled, as if someone had sat or lain upon them, leaving behind a faint, lingering fragrance that subtly stirred memories of a beautiful past.
With Gu Xiaosang’s abilities, unless intentional, she would never leave such an obvious trace… Naturally lowering his hands, Meng Qi fully activated his Eight-Ninths Mystical Art, sensing danger as he scanned the surroundings. After confirming there were no ambushes or traps, he couldn’t help but think.
Was she teasing and flirting as usual, creating ambiguity to conceal other intentions? Or was she warning him not to act rashly, implying she could easily slip into the Su residence like a phantom and kill one or two at will?
Or was she trying to hint at something else?
There were many guesses, but regardless, Gu Xiaosang’s appearance at least confirmed one thing—that the “Shen Du Drama” indeed involved the Luo Sect. The mysterious mastermind behind Noble Consort Hua was most likely her. Only she, who possessed the first of the Yuanshi Nine Seals, and who knew of his Yuanxin Seal, could understand its subtleties, know to be cautious, and know how to respond and “deceive.” Wasn’t Noble Consort Hua’s serene and peaceful expression at the moment of her hanging, like returning home, another manifestation of “Mother Wusheng, the Void Hometown”?
But for a hidden player behind the scenes, merely to warn an enemy and suddenly expose oneself, stepping onto the chessboard and losing the advantage of secrecy, was indeed unwise and contradictory—unless her appearance could conceal something even more important…
At this moment, Meng Qi’s mind was calm and clear. The scenes and dialogues from his last encounter with Gu Xiaosang, along with his guesses about her condition, all surfaced in his mind.
The battle between Yu Longzi and Gu Xiaosang for dominance over the body and consciousness had spilled into the external world, reflected in the unpredictable mood swings and erratic actions of the Great Luo Sect’s “demoness”—revealing the internal conflict between her desire to kill him and her urge to save him. Thus, it was also plausible that Gu Xiaosang had temporarily regained control and was employing her characteristic ambiguity to warn him, thereby disrupting the Luo Sect and Yu Longzi’s schemes and aiding her in reclaiming the upper hand…
Thoughts swirling, details of the entire matter flashed and revolved in Meng Qi’s mind, stimulating each other, sparking flashes of insight, gradually forming a general outline and overall understanding.
On the second day of the second lunar month, he had returned to Shaolin without concealing his trail; on the night of the fifth, the emperor suddenly died, and Sima Shi mysteriously disappeared; on the seventh, Shaolin received the news, and he headed toward Shen Du…
Standing beside the bed, Meng Qi’s eyes seemed to flicker with electric light.
Suddenly, he turned around, walked through the still-unshut door, and strode outside the courtyard with firm steps and decisive attitude, swift as thunder and wind.
“Second Brother,” a voice filled with surprise and joy came from outside the courtyard.
Meng Qi had already sensed her approach and slowed his pace accordingly. Looking up, he saw that Su Zi Yue had grown taller, her youthful innocence largely gone, her features matured, no longer the awkward girl she once was, but a full-fledged young lady.
“Girls change eighteen times, becoming more and more beautiful,” Meng Qi remarked with a smile, as if watching his own daughter. The Tang family’s genes were truly excellent, evident from his uncle and even his current body.
Su Zi Yue blushed at first, then spat playfully, “Second Brother is getting even more shameless. How can the chief investigator of the Six Doors speak like that?”
This small joke dissolved the estrangement and awkwardness of not meeting for years. The continuous exchange of letters over the years surfaced in Su Zi Yue’s mind, making her feel even closer to her second brother.
“Not bad. In just over four years, you’ve advanced from Qi Accumulation completion to nearing the Sixth Opening,” Meng Qi changed the subject, offering praise.
Su Zi Yue immediately brightened, but tried not to show it too openly, lowering her head and murmuring, “But I still can’t compare to Changqing Ge. He’s already reached the stage of Heaven-Man Communion.”
“Changqing has endured hardships and naturally never relaxes himself. You’ve experienced too little, so it’s understandable you can’t match him in this aspect,” Meng Qi said somewhat wistfully.
Mentioning Gu Changqing always brought him back to those days in the vast desert. Without realizing it, so many years had passed. Life was like smoke. Gu Changqing probably could never regain his original feelings and purity, and the gap between him and Meng Qi had widened, gradually turning them into strangers.
At this moment, Su Zi Yue had recovered from the joy and excitement of meeting her second brother again and looked at him with curiosity.
“Second Brother, you just got home and are leaving again?”
“The emperor’s sudden death and the disappearance of Chief Investigator Sima have left the Six Doors in turmoil with many urgent matters. At all times, they need me, the Chief Investigator, to be present,” Meng Qi shamelessly praised himself. “Just now, while preparing to meditate, I suddenly figured out a crucial point and need to return to the Zhiyi Building to look through some records.”
Living in Shen Du, Su Zi Yue naturally understood the recent situation and half-admiringly said, “Second Brother, you’ve worked so hard.”
While peers were still proudly boasting about obtaining minor official posts through ancestral merits, her second brother, still under twenty-five, had already become the Chief Investigator of the Six Doors, one of the most powerful figures in the Jin Dynasty, maintaining peace in Shen Du and stability across the provinces. Comparing people to people, it was simply incomparable!
“Why did you suddenly come over? They shouldn’t have leaked the news of my return home,” Meng Qi said as he walked along the path toward the mansion gate, with Su Zi Yue following beside him to see him off.
Smiling happily, Su Zi Yue replied, “Ever since I heard you were back in Shen Du, I’ve come every night to check.”
Feeling warm in his heart, Meng Qi smiled silently. Just before reaching the gate, he suddenly spoke, “Zi Yue, both of us carry the Tang Clan’s blood. Now that the Tang Clan has lost its lineage, we cannot ignore it. I’ve already become famous, and changing my surname suddenly might hurt Father’s feelings. Why don’t you change your surname to Tang in the future? If you don’t want to, I won’t force you. At most, I’ll have my own child change it later.”
First, he needed to have a wife.
He didn’t want to reveal Su Zi Yue’s true identity, letting her past memories become like dreams, so that the emotional blow of discovering her real family wasn’t connected would be minimized. After all, she was the “real daughter” of the Tang Clan, so carrying the maternal lineage’s bloodline was only natural.
Su Zi Yue didn’t seem surprised at all and smiled brightly, “Then from today onward, I’ll be the head of the Tang Clan!”
No one would compete with her.
“When you travel the martial world in the future, be sure to visit Shaolin,” Meng Qi, feeling comforted, reminded her.
After leaving the Su residence, Meng Qi directly returned to the Six Doors headquarters, entering the Zhiyi Building. At this moment, a pile of records had already accumulated on his desk, including various investigations and interrogations related to Noble Consort Hua’s death and reports from spies near the Zhang Clan in Longnan.
The Six Doors’ efficiency was indeed high!
However, Meng Qi didn’t even glance at them, heading straight into another room to search for several secret dossiers.
These dossiers were well-organized and easy to find. Soon, Meng Qi had already found the information he sought—the records of Tianbang Law Body, the top twenty of Dibang, the half-step Law Body not listed in Dibang, and outstanding masters like Gu Xiaosang.
These records were far more detailed than the publicly released ones, containing many experiences from each great figure’s childhood to adulthood, most of which were well-documented and known by many, while some were secret, known only to a few.
Meng Qi first flipped to the secret dossier on the Luo Sect’s Dushi Dharma King, which contained various records of his past actions, such as:
“Victim: ‘Yanluo Enemy’ Li Pingchuan.”
“Death cause: Struck in the back of the head by a finger, no resistance, Wusheng Finger.”
“Appearance after death: Body withered, like a mummy.”
“Killer: Luo Sect’s ‘Dushi Envoy’ Chang Huan.”
“Note 1: Fenghou Ferry, Tianle Year 8.”
“Note 2: ‘Dushi Envoy’ Chang Huan later became the ‘Dushi Dharma King,’ the leader of the Luo Sect.”
This was a record from decades ago, when the Dushi Dharma King was still a Qikai-level expert.
Page by page, Meng Qi turned through the records, growing more and more certain. Even Law Body experts had grown stronger step by step from weakness, each experiencing vulnerable periods.
And knowing the time and location, he could use the Seven-Kill Stele to return to that scene!
—The Seven-Kill Stele’s “returning to the past” could not lock onto specific individuals, for reversing time itself was a heaven-defying act that would confuse cause and effect. Unless one reached the Legendary realm, one could not grasp it accurately. Its actual usage involved retracing scenes composed of time and location, allowing one to choose. That was how the Black Mountain Demon King had selected the era before Liang Wují left his master and the location of the Cangtian Sect, making it easy to find him.
Carefully reading through the secret dossiers, Meng Qi focused intently, memorizing past battles of each great figure and formidable opponent.
With the Seven-Kill Stele and Lingbao Blade in hand, even a Law Body expert could be slain!
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