After the earth-shattering explosion not long ago, the Four Seasons Courtyard villa complex in the East Garden District had been completely sealed off. Its residents had long since evacuated, and only a select few were allowed through the cordon.
Inside one of the villas, built in the style of a traditional Chinese garden.
Dozens of Cheng Family members stood quietly in the spacious first-floor hall. Though not a sound could be heard, anxiety and unease were plain in their eyes, all of which were fixed on the second floor.
Cheng Qiyue stood among them, dressed in a unisex T-shirt and trousers and looking like a high school girl.
A hint of hesitation showed on her face.
She still remembered how, last month, in that mysterious calligraphy and painting shop, He Mingxuan, the unfathomable Senior Lin had given her two pieces of calligraphy. One was for her to contemplate the Dao, while the other, he had said, was a gift for her ancestor.
With such a calamity befalling the family today, she would naturally have presented that piece to her ancestor at once if he had been here. But he had long since ascended, and the inscription on the piece named him as its recipient. No one but her ancestor himself could activate it, so bringing it out now would serve no purpose.
Besides, Senior Lin had told her to bring it out at the right moment and place it before her ancestor's memorial tablet.
Was this the right moment?
Cheng Qiyue could not be sure, so she kept hesitating.
Just then, a man wearing a black trench coat entered from outside, his medium-length hair tied behind his head. His steps were steady and his expression stern as he crossed the threshold and walked into the hall.
It was Cheng Buxiu.
"Elder Buxiu."
The Cheng Family members bowed and greeted him one after another.
As a direct descendant of their ancestor, with cultivation at the very pinnacle of the third Heavenly Pass, Elder Buxiu held a high position among the family's elders, second only to the Grand Elder.
Cheng Buxiu gave a slight nod, then glanced at Cheng Qiyue. "Qiyue, come upstairs with me."
"Yes, Father." Cheng Qiyue nodded.
Father and daughter immediately climbed the stairs to the second floor and entered a bedroom.
On the large bed lay a middle-aged man with graying hair. His eyes were shut, and he remained unconscious, his face so withered that he resembled a corpse. A young man with a soft, delicate air sat beside the bed, while five others stood nearby.
"Buxiu, did you go to contact other experts just now as well?"
A white-haired old woman spoke. "Are any other experts of our age willing to come and treat the family head?"
Cheng Buxiu shook his head slightly.
Another young man, dressed in a suit and polished shoes, sighed. "I just sent a Flying Sword Message to consult Daoist Prisoner. He said that once someone is attacked by an Outer Demon beast like a Heavenly Dog and has the source of their vitality devoured, unless a Heavenly Immortal descends... there is probably no one who can save them. If even an unrivaled expert like Daoist Prisoner, who has achieved the Five-Pass Breakthrough, can do nothing, what difference would other experts coming here make?"
"I also consulted Senior Free Spirit of Flowing Lake just now. He could do nothing either..."
"Alas, Fairy Featherfall happened to be away at the time, so she couldn't get here in time. Besides... who could have imagined that a Heavenly Dog would disguise itself as a mortal and come here?"
"If not for the protective measures our ancestor left behind, our Cheng Family might have been wiped out..."
The Cheng Family elders sighed one after another.
"Quiet."
The delicate-looking young man seated beside the bed frowned slightly and gave a sharp command.
Once the room fell silent, he looked at Cheng Buxiu and Cheng Qiyue behind him. "Buxiu, whose call did you take just now? You even went outside to answer it... and now you've brought Qiyue upstairs?"
Cheng Buxiu swept his gaze over everyone. "Just now, a senior expert who knew our ancestor before his ascension contacted me. I told him about our current situation, and he suggested that we contact our ancestor in the Heavenly Realm."
"Contact our ancestor?"
The delicate-looking young man frowned. "Before ascending, our ancestor did leave two Other Shore Straw Dolls behind, which can let his will break through the barrier between heaven and mortals and bring his divine sense into the mortal world. But we only have two chances. If even our ancestor cannot save the family head, we will simply have wasted one."
"When I consulted Daoist Prisoner, I asked him about that. He said that even if there is a way to treat the family head in the Heavenly Realm, our ancestor could likely do nothing with only his will descending."
"Indeed, Senior Free Spirit of Flowing Lake said the same. If a Heavenly Immortal descended, there might be hope, but with only a will descending across the divide between heaven and mortals, there is probably none."
"I asked Fairy Featherfall, and her answer was much the same."
The Cheng Family elders shook their heads one after another.
Cheng Buxiu frowned slightly. "How will we know unless we try? Since that senior expert said so, he surely wasn't talking nonsense."
"A senior expert?" the delicate-looking young man asked. "Who exactly is this senior expert you speak of?"
"Grand Elder, that senior is a reclusive expert who dislikes disturbances. He has not given me permission to reveal his identity, so forgive me, but I cannot say." Cheng Buxiu shook his head. "But I can assure you that his abilities are immense. He would never speak without reason."
The delicate-looking young man knitted his brows. "He would never speak without reason? Even an unrivaled expert like Daoist Prisoner, who has achieved the Five-Pass Breakthrough, said it would be useless, and all the other experts said the same. Are you saying that they are the ones talking nonsense?"
"Qiyue has met that senior too. She knows as well." Cheng Buxiu reached out and patted his daughter's back.
Cheng Qiyue stepped forward and said respectfully, "Grand Elder, elders, that senior truly is unfathomable. Since he said so, he must have his reasons."
Cheng Buxiu said calmly, "Qiyue is still an Academy Student of the first Heavenly Pass. The rules of her cultivation forbid her from lying. Surely you believe her now?"
"Qiyue's cultivation is only at the first Heavenly Pass. How could she possibly discern the cultivation of this senior expert you speak of?"
The delicate-looking young man slowly shook his head, then asked, "Could this senior of yours be a Banished Immortal? Or a reincarnated immortal?"
Cheng Buxiu frowned. Not daring to reveal too much about Senior Lin, he merely said, "The Other Shore Straw Dolls are precious, yes, but with something this serious, what harm is there in using one, even if it is wasted, to let our ancestor decide?"
"Our ancestor has only just ascended. He left the Other Shore Straw Dolls so that we could contact him after he obtained better cultivation methods in the Heavenly Realm. Only then would we be making proper use of their value."
The delicate-looking young man said coldly, "If we use an Other Shore Straw Doll so rashly, I fear even our ancestor would be displeased."
"That senior..."
Cheng Buxiu was about to speak when he noticed the light in the bedroom suddenly dim. A cool ray of moonlight appeared out of thin air, forming a pillar of light that shone onto an empty patch of floor.
Everyone's expression changed, and they turned to look.
Specks of moonlight gathered, forming the slender figure of a woman with flowing long hair. She seemed real, yet her face was indistinct, and her figure looked faintly illusory.
"Senior Xiao Sui."
"Greetings, Senior Xiao Sui."
Everyone from the Cheng Family bowed at the sight.
Only an expert of the Lunar Abyss lineage could form a projection out of moonlight like this.
They had known Senior Xiao Sui for a long time. She had been their ancestor's friend and fellow cultivator before his ascension, an unrivaled expert of the same Lunar Abyss lineage, mysterious in her movements and possessed of immense abilities.
Legend had it... that Senior Xiao was a Heavenly Immortal incarnated as a human, the reincarnation of an immortal from the upper realm. Even unrivaled experts who had achieved the Five-Pass Breakthrough would show her deference.
"What is the Cheng Family's situation now?" the moonlight projection, Xiao Sui, asked calmly.
"Senior Xiao."
The delicate-looking young man hurriedly replied with respect, "Today, a Free Outer Demon, a Heavenly Dog hiding in the mortal world, disguised itself as a mortal and infiltrated our Cheng Family grounds. It killed several family members and gravely injured the family head. Fortunately, our ancestor left behind a rare treasure before ascending, and we were able to kill the Heavenly Dog with it. But the family head had the source of his vitality devoured by that Heavenly Dog, and his life hangs by a thread. Might you know a way to help him?"
"A Heavenly Dog..." Xiao Sui nodded lightly, then said, "There is nothing I can do either. An Outer Demon beast like a Heavenly Dog ranks among the higher orders of Outer Demons. Once it has devoured someone's vitality, generally speaking, there is no treatment in the mortal world, unless an immortal mighty enough to have transcended the Five Passes intervenes."
The delicate-looking young man glanced at Cheng Buxiu out of the corner of his eye, then asked, "Then if we use an Other Shore Straw Doll and ask our ancestor to send down his will, would there be any way to treat the family head?"
"Send down his will?"
Xiao Sui laughed. "Have you not asked other experts? Your ancestor has only just ascended. If merely his will descends into the mortal world, separated by the divide between heaven and mortals, he will have neither magic power nor divine abilities. At most, he could manipulate a little of the mortal world's Spiritual Power. How could he treat him?"
"Thank you for your guidance, Senior Xiao."
After saluting Xiao Sui with clasped hands, the delicate-looking young man turned to Cheng Buxiu and said coldly, "Buxiu, do you believe it now? Even Senior Xiao Sui has said so. What more is there for you to argue?"
Cheng Buxiu frowned and said in a low voice, "I told you, that senior possesses immense abilities, perhaps even greater than our ancestor's. Why would he deceive me?"
"You..." The delicate-looking young man's expression shifted slightly, and his brows drew tightly together. "Even Senior Xiao has said so, yet you still..."
But Xiao Sui suddenly interrupted him. Her hazy, illusory eyes rested on Cheng Buxiu as she asked softly, "The senior you speak of... is his surname Lin?"
Cheng Buxiu was briefly taken aback, then nodded. "Yes. Do you know him as well, Senior Xiao?"
Xiao Sui could not help smiling. "I merely had the good fortune to meet Senior Lin once."
The delicate-looking young man and the Cheng Family elders beside him froze at her words.
Even an expert like Xiao Sui, a reincarnated Heavenly Immortal, called him her senior?
Then... just what sort of expert was this Senior Lin?
"Since Senior Lin said so, then naturally, it must be correct." Xiao Sui smiled. "Contact your ancestor, then."
The delicate-looking young man fell silent for a moment, then answered, "Yes."
Even Senior Xiao Sui had willingly contradicted herself. She had just said that summoning their ancestor's will would be useless, only to change her position and agree a moment later. What else could he do?
Xiao Sui stood to one side with her arms folded, a thoughtful look on her face.
When she called Senior Lin just now, he had said that he had already contacted the Cheng Family. Presumably, he had contacted Cheng Buxiu.
What concerned her most was... that Senior Lin had said he was playing chess.
From what she knew of Senior Lin, this mysterious expert who concealed himself so well casually gave away numerous priceless pieces of calligraphy imbued with great divine abilities. Even if it was for elusive fortune and merit, it was not worth the cost.
Thus, she believed that this senior was likely positioning his chess pieces, perhaps because a great calamity would descend in the future, or perhaps for some other scheme...
In short, Senior Lin was like a chess player, treating the many cultivators as his pieces and stirring up upheaval in this world. Perhaps no one but the great Immortals and Gods in the Heavenly Realm could fathom his true intentions.
And just now, this senior had said again that he was playing chess...
That warranted deeper thought.
Could it be... that the calamity the Cheng Family had suffered was actually just one move in that senior's game?
PS: Another six-thousand-character update today!