Ghost Illumination

Inside Zhao Mansion.

A great many people had arrived.

Besides the County Office, there were representatives from the other three great families, several gangs, and even the Four Seasons Pharmacy and the Weapon-Forging Shop.

Qin Jiu exchanged greetings with the people from each faction, trying to learn more about what had happened.

But everything remained shrouded in fog.

No one could say what the demons wanted, or what the hidden hand behind them was plotting.

"Qingyue, Qingyue, look!"

"Isn't that the man who almost became your husband?"

Just then,

Qin Jiu had stepped out of the hall.

And heard someone say that.

His brow furrowed. He looked up and saw a group of young men and women in fitted martial outfits, all brimming with vigor, walking over from the Zhao family courtyard. Han Qingyue was among them.

When she saw Qin Jiu, she froze for a moment, then nodded to him in greeting.

Then she turned to the woman beside her and murmured in displeasure, "Senior Sister Ye, please don't make things up. My heart is set on the martial path, and I've never been promised to anyone. I have no interest in that Young Master Qin, either. Besides, the world is teeming with outstanding young men. Why would I choose a playboy?"

Though her voice was barely audible,

Qin Jiu had already reached the peak of Skin Polishing, and his senses were sharp. He heard every word without missing a single one.

But he only smiled faintly.

His heart remained unmoved.

"Patriarch Qin, please wait."

Suddenly,

A slightly stout man hurried out of the hall.

He was the newly appointed head of the Qian Family.

Qin Jiu stopped and turned back in surprise. "May I ask what else you need, Patriarch Qian?"

"I wouldn't presume to ask anything of you."

"My Qian Family plans to sell off its properties in the Inner and Outer Cities. Tonight, I'm hosting the Han Family, the martial arts schools in the Inner and Outer Cities, and some other guests. Would Patriarch Qin be interested in coming?"

As he spoke, the man dabbed the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.

His body was slack.

Qin Jiu could tell at a glance

that the man had never practiced martial arts.

What surprised him most wasn't that the head of the Qian Family was an ordinary person, but that he'd said he planned to sell off the family's properties.

"Patriarch Qian, you're..."

"Our Qian Family is leaving Songshan County."

The head of the Qian Family sighed. "A disaster befell us several days ago, and we thought things couldn't get any worse. But today, the Zhao Family was wiped out. There isn't a single Internal Strengthening martial artist left in my household. If we stay in the city and the demons come again, the Zhao Family's fate today will be ours tomorrow."

"Leaving?"

Hearing his sigh,

Qin Jiu looked at him with surprise.

The Qian Family certainly had guts. They were willing to abandon the vast business they'd built up over many years in Songshan County and move the whole family away.

But there was no denying that it wasn't a bad idea.

Dark currents were churning through the county seat, and the four great families were bearing the brunt of it.

Whether the demons or the people behind them meant to target several families or the entire county seat, if no martial artist could stand against them, leaving was the only wise choice.

Thinking this,

he couldn't help feeling tempted himself.

But a moment later, Qin Jiu put away his surprise and nodded. "I'll come by tonight."

"Excellent, excellent."

"Then I'll await your arrival, Patriarch Qin."

The head of the Qian Family left, satisfied.

Wang Yue's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. He couldn't help reminding Qin Jiu, "Young Master, the Qian Family's main business is dyeing and cloth. Why would you want to..."

"Uncle Wang, there's no need to worry."

Qin Jiu shook his head. "The Qian Family is hosting all the factions, and they're moving the whole family out of Songshan County. I'm going for two reasons: first, to gather news from everyone; second, to see whether the Qian Family can actually get away after making such a spectacle of themselves."

"If this approach works, perhaps our Qin Family will have to follow their example."

"But I have a feeling this won't go smoothly."

After returning to the Qin Family,

Qin Jiu sent all the servants away and took the Cold Jade Marrow back to his room.

"Ghost Illumination..."

"I wonder what kind of talent it'll be."

He held the black iron block in his hand.

With a single thought, the Red Seal rumbled. At the same time, a corner of the nearly fist-sized Cold Jade Marrow vanished, and the Silver Frost Fox entry in his mind disappeared with it.

"Hum."

In that instant,

Qin Jiu felt an invisible hammer

slam into the depths of his soul, leaving him close to passing out.

"Gah!"

He let out a pained groan.

This agony of the soul was worse than any cruel torture in the world.

Fortunately, it lasted only an instant.

Had it continued,

Qin Jiu reckoned his soul would have dispersed on the spot.

"What is this..."

Once he recovered,

he realized he seemed to have gained an innate ability.

With only the faintest stir of his thoughts,

the colors drained from the scene around him. The furniture, tables and chairs, tea set, and potted plants all turned into a boundless field of white, as if he'd entered an endless void.

And yet when Qin Jiu reached out, he could still touch the objects in front of him.

His vision, however, was nothing but a sea of white.

"No, not just white."

"There's gray, and black..."

Qin Jiu froze.

With the slightest shift of his thoughts, his consciousness seemed to cross space and arrive beside a patch of black.

"Father Qin Xiong, because of your instigation, died at Qin Jiu's hands."

"Why won't you help me avenge him?"

"I hate you!"

As soon as he neared the mistlike black patch,

he heard several voices full of venomous resentment.

Qin Jiu was startled.

At first, he thought he'd encountered vengeful spirits. But as he listened, the voices began to sound familiar. They seemed to belong to an outsider guard he'd met before.

"If I'm in the same place as I would be in the real world, then I must be at the Martial Arts Arena."

He pondered this.

Then he walked over to a few gray patches nearby.

This time, voices rose from them as well.

"Qin Jiu's heart is cruel. Qin Xiong deserved to die, sure, but his family members were all his cousins. He killed them without a second thought. There's no point staying with the Qin Family. I advise you all to leave as soon as you can. With martial skills like ours, we can make a living anywhere. Why stay with the Qin Family and help a tyrant?"

"After all, he's just a young boy. It's only natural that he doesn't understand how people get along."

"Brother Li, you..."

Hearing that,

Qin Jiu's consciousness stirred, and he returned in an instant.

The boundless white void around him faded away just as quickly, revealing the familiar furnishings of his room.

He opened his eyes, about to move,

when an unprecedented wave of exhaustion and dizziness swept over him.

"This talent consumes an astonishing amount of mental energy."

Qin Jiu frowned.

He had no choice but to sit down against the bed.

At the same time, he understood roughly what the talent did.

The Ghost Illumination talent could not only discern other people's malice toward him, but also let his consciousness enter a state akin to wandering beyond his body, allowing him to listen to the conversations within the black and gray mists.

As for its range,

that depended on the strength of his mental power.

After resting for a little while,

Qin Jiu left his room and sent someone to summon Wang Yue to the East Wing. Then he said, "Uncle Wang, I remember there's a man named Xie Xuan in the guard team. He seemed to have been very close to Qin Xiong while he was alive. Find some people to investigate him."

"The best place to start the investigation was with Qin Xiong's former confidant, Wei Yan."

"Also,"

"have someone bring over some precious medicine to restore my energy."