At this point, the situation appeared calm on the surface, but beneath it, undercurrents surged. The various factions tilted toward one another, secretly vying for their own interests without end.
The reason the four great families of Tanzhou—Su, Gu, Chu, and Shang—had reached their current heights was that, ever since their ancestors, they had made a living trading in things from underground.
By now, although many of their secret methods had been lost, and on the surface they had all become respectable businesspeople running foreign trading firms, they still carried out certain unsavory dealings in secret.
On the surface, they were the four great families; in the shadows, they were the four great sects. Their relationship stretched back through the ages. They guarded against one another while also supporting one another.
It was said that the distant ancestors of the four families had actually belonged to the same sect, taught by the same founding grandmaster.
Amid this complicated situation, Su Qiao of the original body entered the Archaeology Department of a foreign school under the orders of Old Master Su—her grandfather.
At present, she was following Professor Tang, a renowned professor from the Archaeology Department, in pursuit of a mysterious ancient ruin.
Also traveling with them were the Gu Family's Young Master, Gu Han; his younger sister, Gu Ling; and the Chu Family's Young Master, Chu Hui.
Gu Han and Chu Hui were Su Qiao's classmates. Their mentor was also Professor Tang, while Gu Ling had pestered them relentlessly until they let her come along.
The last member of the group was the dark-faced old man with a slight limp. Before they had taken a train for two days and two nights to reach these western mountain forests, they had found him in a village—a veteran hunter.
He was extremely