A Skin-Ledger of Debts

What exactly had Monkey Wine said to them to make the heads of those six families so docile and cooperative?

Before a day had even passed, the Ten Families' Ancestral Shrine had already been divided up. The Zhou, Chen, Zhao, Sun, Zhu, and Li families each sent descendants who had not yet crossed the bridge to retrieve a branch of incense from the shrine.

It wasn't that they were putting on airs. They had already crossed the bridge and were no longer human, so they could no longer bear the incense. Only their direct descendants who had yet to cross the bridge could do so.

And it wasn't just those six families. The Noble Lord Zhang Family and the Undying Wang Family had sent people to take their incense away as well.

As for the Meng Family, who had no descendants left, paper figures took their place and led their branch of incense out of the city.

The Ten Families' Ancestral Shrine, which had suppressed the world for twenty-three years, had been dismantled just like that. Now, only nine hollow shells remained, along with the sole ancestral shrine whose incense still burned.

The old man who guarded the shrine was sweeping the dust from its entrance. With a leisurely sigh, he said, "They're all gone. What about your Hu Family?"

Hu Ma looked at him. "Last night, you said there was something you wanted to tell me?"

The shrine's guardian nodded, leaned the broom against the wall, and bent his back as he walked toward the little room where he usually stayed.

He brought out a pot of cold tea and invited Hu Ma to sit. Then he slowly said, "Dong Xuan was the cleverest person I ever met. He was even more intelligent than his master, more intelligent than