Qin Empire Ming entered the dense woods beside the road, used the Mutton Fat Jade Iron Saber to dig a deep pit, and buried the palm-sized scrap of cloth inside.
"Afraid it'll cause trouble?" Old Man Liu asked.
Qin Empire Ming nodded and tossed a wild rabbit he had hunted into the pit as well.
The young man formed from black mist was sinister and icy to the extreme, giving him a very bad feeling. He needed to be cautious with the only item the man had carried on him.
The two ate a steaming hot breakfast in Silver Vine Town, wandered the streets for another half an hour, then headed toward the household they had arranged to visit.
The Wu Family residence was not small, but it was steeped in decay. The red paint on its gates had peeled away, and the bronze rings had long lost their luster.
"Old Wu, open up!" Old Man Liu slapped the door ring.
"Coming." An old man appeared and invited the two inside.
The courtyard was spacious, but its former grandeur was gone. Some of the blue stone paving slabs had cracked, a large flowerbed had long since been turned into a vegetable patch, and dry gourd vines crawled all over the rockery.
The Wu Family had once been wealthy, but it had now declined. There were no fewer than four courtyards here, yet the houses had fallen into disrepair over the years, looking old and even desolate.
If not for that, they likely would not have agreed to let outsiders read their ancestral secret manual.
Old Wu had only undergone New Life once. He had long lost any airs of a grand household and was much like any ordinary old man.
The Wu Family had no servants to speak of. A