As the Zhou Family began their evening banquet in Linhai Commandery's city, Lu Luanli arrived at an abandoned mountain estate twenty-nine li outside the city.
The estate covered an immense area and had been grand in scale, but now only shattered walls and twenty-odd dilapidated buildings remained. Beneath the setting sun, the entire estate looked exceptionally desolate and sinister. Sharp winds howled all around it, like the shrieks of ghosts.
Yet Lu Luanli entered one of the better-preserved stone houses with practiced familiarity.
Inside, a stooped, one-eyed old man with loose hair falling over his shoulders was tending a fire and cooking.
"Uncle Dong!"
Once Lu Luanli entered, her gaze was drawn to some medicinal ingredients laid out on a nearby table.
They were the secret medicines for her advancement to sixth grade-every ingredient was present, including the principal ingredient, Seven-Aperture Stoneheart.
"Thank you, Uncle Dong." Lu Luanli was delighted at first, but then she sniffed, and her brows knitted tightly. "Uncle Dong, are you hurt? Has my father been sending you on errands again?"
She had caught a faint scent of blood in the room, along with a strong smell of medicinal herbs.
It came not from those secret medicines, but from the one-eyed old man.
"Just a minor injury. Nothing serious. It's my good fortune that the master is still willing to make use of me."
The one-eyed old man shuffled over with a plate of freshly cooked braised pig's trotters and set it on the table. "You haven't eaten yet, have you, miss? I made a few dishes, all your childhood favorites."
But Lu Luanli sat down on the south side of the square table, her chest full of anger. "How could Father do this? You finally managed to have a few peaceful days, Uncle Dong. Why