Li Xinge fell silent.
A long while passed.
Li Xinge let out a long, stale breath.
"And then?"
"Then..."
Old Mo gave a bitter laugh. "Then I was discovered. Although I managed to escape the Imperial Mausoleum by relying on my movement technique, the imperial family's experts soon came after me with their men. Outnumbered, I had my body shattered, leaving only a wisp of my soul to hide inside the Soul Nurturing Jade and cling to life. I hid there for seven hundred years, until I met you, my lord..."
There was a trace of bitterness in Old Mo's voice.
Li Xinge had no interest in any of that.
He asked gravely, "Where is that Imperial Mausoleum?"
Old Mo paused.
Slowly, he uttered a name.
"Ji Province."
"Ji Province?"
"Yes."
"Where exactly?"
"Suiyang Prefecture in Ji Province, but..."
Old Mo changed tack.
"There's something strange about that Imperial Mausoleum. It seems to... move on its own?"
"Move on its own?"
Li Xinge's gaze sharpened.
"You mean the Imperial Mausoleum is a spatial artifact, or that it exists within some drifting subplane?"
Old Mo shook his head. "I can't say for certain. There was something sinister about that place. When I entered, mountains surrounded it, but when I came out, there was nothing outside but an endless desert."
Li Xinge's expression shifted uncertainly.
He withdrew the Three Fiends Spirit Swallowing Flame.
Before Old Mo's nearly transparent soul could even breathe a sigh of relief,
Li Xinge drew him back into the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.
Once that was done,
he turned to Old Jiang, who was still immersed in grief and outrage, and ordered, "Old Jiang, go to Night Owl Hall. Tell Li Yanjing to find the Great Zhou Imperial Mausoleum for me, whatever the cost."
"Yes, my Lord."
Elder