"Dead?" Li Jing'an snorted coldly. "No one saw him again, so everyone assumed he was dead. In truth, he had hidden himself in the Wang family long ago, borrowing a corpse to return his soul and evading every investigation."
Chu Ning drew a sharp breath. "He was actually the Wang family's founding ancestor?"
"That's right." Li Jing'an nodded. "The Wang family's rise twenty years ago began with his return. Using the Wang family's bodies as vessels, he plotted for years. In three years, he swallowed five commanderies; in eight, he seized control of the secret routes, commerce, smuggling, and military supplies across three provinces... He controlled them all with one hand."
"The Wang descendants knew only his name, not his appearance. He was the ancestor listed in the family genealogy as the 'Attendant,' yet he was the master of Qingzhou's entire underworld."
Chu Ning's expression shifted repeatedly, and his voice sank low. "Then what exactly... does he want?"
Li Jing'an did not answer directly. Instead, he drew a roll of gray-black human-skin parchment from his sleeve. At its head, nine blood-eye totems twisted into a savage, grotesque mass.
"Using the blood of the Wang family's direct descendants, Wang Lin sacrificed ninety-nine people alive every year at the yin hour to refine the Nine Abyss Blood Pool, all for the sake of extending his life by a hundred years."
"What's even more terrifying is that this isn't the first time."
Chu Ning's entire body trembled, and a chill crept up his spine. "He... has done this many times already?"
"That's right. Every twenty years, one blood sacrifice. And now the Nine Abyss Blood Pool is already on the verge of overflowing."
"So..." Chu Ning drew a breath. "If we make our move tonight, won't we... alert the snake?"
A sharp glint