Neither Qi Yan nor Luo Chaoge could understand what had happened here. Since they could not figure it out, they put it aside for now. Whatever the case, the situation had made repairing the graves a hundred times easier. Qi Yan moved his parents' graves and soon finished restoring the ancestral burial ground with his clansmen.
Luo Chaoge stood to one side watching the work the entire time.
"Didn't you come along for the burial treasures?" During a break, Qi Yan finally could not help asking her, "So why are you just standing there?"
Luo Chaoge shook her head. "I did want to see if there was anything that could help me break through, but now, almost everything visible has been destroyed. There's no need to go digging through everything. Even an unknown outsider didn't do that, much less a close neighbor like me."
Qi Yan paused, then gave her a closer look.
This world called itself "immortal," but there was little "immortal grace" to it in practice. Whether from his own experiences or from the girl on the other end of the jade pendant, it was clear that competition and plunder were the norm-at least, that was what Qi Yan had seen.
In short, Qi Yan had not even resented the Luo Household for seizing the opportunity to swallow up the Qi Clan. It was simply too normal. With the Qi Clan blown apart like this, another family was bound to swallow it up. There was no reversing it, and by participating himself, he could at least preserve a few things. But that also meant there would be nothing surprising about them killing him once things had truly settled down.
He had long since grown unfamiliar with Luo Chaoge and really did not know her temperament now. She had promised three things earlier, but he did not know how much he could trust them... especially the promise to let him leave. In theory, the Luo Household had no need to kill him, but what if they insisted on cutting the weeds out by the roots? He still needed to prepare to save himself.
He had already been planning a way out to save his own skin. Who would have thought she would not even carefully search through a Golden Core cultivator's burial goods? Especially when she was facing a major hurdle to her breakthrough. That was no easy thing.
Luo Chaoge knew what he was thinking, but did not mind. She casually asked in return, "Wouldn't they be useful to you too? Why aren't you searching carefully?"
Qi Yan smiled. "Even a close neighbor didn't do that, much less a descendant like me."
Luo Chaoge broke into an involuntary laugh.
Qi Yan smiled. "Go ahead and send people to take over the properties. I'll cooperate fully on my end. How are the various parties outside reacting?"
Luo Chaoge said, "We moved fast. No one else can get a foot in."
The Qi Clan had changed hands in an instant. Before the other powers in Anding City could even react, it was already over.
With Qi Yan taking control of the Qi Clan, the public account was naturally that this had been an internal clan struggle, and that Qi Yan had drawn on his childhood friendship with Luo Chaoge to ask for help seizing power.
That was partly true to begin with, but to make the public story sound better, they had actually stretched the pair's relationship into one of childhood sweethearts... This left all the restless parties completely unable to act.
There was no principle in this world that allowed one family to wipe out another at will just because it was stronger. That would throw the world into chaos. There were always rules to follow. For instance, the Qi Clan was not without ties of allegiance and friendship to major sects outside that offered protection, and Anding City's administrators were not a den of bandits either. This time, the Luo Household had acted squarely within the rules and legal justifications. That was also what gave Qi Yan's presence meaning.
Qi Yan turned and headed down the mountain. "In that case, go do whatever needs doing. I'm going to the clan's scripture library. Coming along?"
Luo Chaoge walked with him. "Those teachings might eventually be integrated with the Luo Household's methods, but they're of no use to me personally."
Qi Yan chuckled. "Right. The Resounding Sword Sect's inheritance naturally wouldn't think much of a mere Golden Core's teachings."
"It's not entirely that," Luo Chaoge said. "Stones from another mountain can polish jade. At the threshold I'm facing, looking at another Golden Core cultivator's methods would always be of some use. The problem is that, having joined Resounding Sword, I'm already a sword cultivator, while the Qi Clan focuses on Daoist arts. That makes them incompatible."
Qi Yan nodded.
Luo Chaoge asked again, "Hey, are you really not going to consider visiting Resounding Sword Mountain to see whether you can pass the entrance selection? Are you really going to cross the oceans and head elsewhere?"
She had not asked this far before. Asking now meant she genuinely thought Qi Yan had some prospects and was recruiting talent for her sect.
Unfortunately, Qi Yan did not accept the kindness. "Thanks, but with my current reputation, I won't drag you down."
Luo Chaoge thought that her sect might indeed be unwilling to accept someone like him, and could only sigh. "Then forget it. Go to your scripture library. I'll deal with the other matters."
Standing at the scripture library's entrance, Qi Yan watched Luo Chaoge stride away. He remained there thinking for a while before turning and going inside.
Whatever Luo Chaoge's temperament might be, he could not stake his life on whether someone else was a good person. He still needed measures to save himself. His primary objective in coming to the scripture library was not cultivation methods or the like at all, but texts on restrictions.
Nominally, it was to rebuild the restrictions around the ancestral graves. In reality, once he learned restrictions properly, he could use them anywhere-here, for example.
Just as he went up into the scripture library, Qi Yan suddenly felt his scalp prickle and his whole body go numb.
A woman in white, who did not look very old, was lounging against a pillar inside, reading with a smile.
She was clearly just a young girl with a charming smile, a delicate nose, a small mouth, and eyes like rippling water. She was beautiful, yet Qi Yan felt as though he had encountered some primordial beast. His sense of danger was unprecedented. He had never felt anything like it even when standing before Luo Chaoge...
That probably pointed to only two possibilities: either she was much stronger than Luo Chaoge, or she was no kindly soul. More likely, both were true.
A demoness? Generally speaking, anyone other than the protagonist who ran into one of those creatures never came to a good end...
Qi Yan drew a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the shock within him. "Miss, you are...?"
The woman kept smiling down at her book and spoke nonchalantly. "My surname is Jiang. Jiang Jinyue."
Her voice was clear and pleasant, but it left Qi Yan thoroughly stunned.
Did this world have the verse "At parting, the vast river lay steeped in moonlight"? Or was it a coincidence?
Besides, what use was just giving your name? Who were you? I've never heard of anyone like you on Tianliang Continent...
Qi Yan ventured, "Over at our ancestral graves, was that...?"
"Mhm, that was me. I was just looking at your restrictions. They were rather interesting." Jiang Jinyue answered frankly, then grinned. "I did help tidy up your ancestral graves, in a way... Are you going to thank me, or blame me for messing with your spoils?"
It really was her... Qi Yan actually breathed a secret sigh of relief. A demoness who refrained from opening coffins and digging up corpses wasn't completely demonic yet, at least? He hurriedly said, "Of course I should thank you, miss."
"Hee... You want to thank me? Then why not help me with some work?"
"Just tell me what you need, miss."
Jiang Jinyue blinked, then suddenly changed the subject. "Have you read all the books here?"
Qi Yan answered honestly, "No. My parents died early, and I was later sidelined. Not only was I denied all sorts of learning, I wasn't even taught the complete text of the basic cultivation method. Isn't that precisely what I've come here for now...?"
"You worked with the Luo Household to fight your way back, risking being eliminated to prevent future trouble, essentially just for these?"
"Not quite. If I hadn't cooperated, I'd probably already be dead... Of course, since I'm here, I'm certainly not going to pass them up."
Jiang Jinyue's lovely eyes roamed over his face several times, seemingly carrying a smile. "From your tone, you actually don't think much of these?"
Qi Yan said, "That's not it. These are a Golden Core cultivator's methods, after all. What right do I have to look down on them...? But I don't think my own knowledge is enough to interpret them fully, so naturally, I don't have very high expectations. Finding a master is still the best course in the end."
Jiang Jinyue nodded and finally closed the book. "At least you know your limits... Your ancestor's methods retain quite a few threads from the middle ancient era... But cultivation methods have evolved from ancient times to the present, and many of the concepts here have already been discarded by people today. The main reason you now struggle even with Qi Refining is the disconnect between the records of your inheritance and present-day common knowledge. Ordinary people really can't make sense of them anymore."
Qi Yan drew a deep breath.
She had to be a big shot, but her name really had never circulated on Tianliang Continent. Was she a secluded cultivator, or had she come from elsewhere? What was a big shot like her doing coming to a small-city clan like the Qi Clan to read?
Qi Yan thought for a moment, then asked cautiously, "Miss, what do you mean by telling me this...?"
Jiang Jinyue said, "I came to Tianliang only to find someone... Judging from what your ancestor left behind, there might actually be some connection. If you can provide any clues, I can certainly help explain these things to you."
"There's no need for an exchange. Just ask, miss... It's only that I've never left this little city in my life, so don't get your hopes up too much."
Jiang Jinyue nodded in satisfaction, then suddenly flicked a finger.
A snippet of sound abruptly emerged. It sounded like a man's voice, reproducing the words "Jiang Jinyue."
"Have you heard this voice before?" Jiang Jinyue asked.
In fact, Qi Yan's first reaction was that it sounded a little like his own voice, but distorted and altered after passing through some sort of medium. Since it had changed, it no longer sounded all that similar. More importantly, Qi Yan knew he had never said the words "Jiang Jinyue" in this world. Of course it could not be him.
Beyond that, he had absolutely no clue and could only shake his head. "I haven't."
Jiang Jinyue had not held out much hope either. She flicked her finger again, and a screen of light appeared. An image of a jade pendant appeared within it. Its shape and color were rather similar to Qi Yan's communication jade pendant, but the engraved patterns were different, more like a sundial... They were roughly in the same style.
Naturally, Qi Yan was not going to hand over the jade pendant that had just helped change his fate for someone to study, so he continued shaking his head. "I haven't seen that jade pendant. But this style is indeed quite similar to some of the engraved patterns in my ancestor's tomb. Is this the so-called middle ancient style?"
"Not entirely... This was the preferred design style of an ancient sect that was destroyed. Mas... hmm." Jiang Jinyue pondered for a moment, then said softly, "Master said not even a chicken or dog was left alive in that sect, so there definitely couldn't be any survivors... Perhaps your ancestor merely had some connection with it. Maybe yours was an affiliated clan? When that sect perished, your family declined with it."
A faint chill rose in Qi Yan's heart.
You're terrifying enough already, you know, and you even have a master!
Not even a chicken or dog left alive... Why did your tone make it sound as though your master was the one who did it...?
Wasn't this a textbook demoness sect?
Whatever the case, Jiang Jinyue's analysis made sense. Qi Yan could not think of any other points to examine and could only nod. "You're probably not far off the mark, miss."
Jiang Jinyue clapped her hands. "So your family does have a few clues worth pursuing after all. I'll be staying here for the time being."
Qi Yan: "?"