The first clues

The moment Xu Qi'an asked the question that had been bothering him for so long, he regretted it.

It wasn't that the question itself was inappropriate, but rather that the way he asked the question was inappropriate—he revealed it himself.

Lina, number five, didn't know he was number three. Xu Qi'an had told her that he was an outer member of the Heaven and Earth Society. But the question he just asked undoubtedly exposed his identity.

Ugh, it's all Li Miaozhen's fault. She gave me the illusion that Number Three's identity had been exposed. It's also related to my current confused and aching state, which makes me less clear-headed and rational. Xu Qi'an's expression was slightly stiff as he cautiously looked at Lina.

"No!"

Lina cried out, waving her arms excitedly, "I promised Granny Tiangu that I wouldn't tell anyone about this, and I wouldn't tell anyone that I heard the news from her!"

Oh, the news came from Granny Tian Gu. Wait, she hasn't realized my werewolf bluff yet?!

"What a talent!" Xu Qi'an looked at Lina, his eyes filled with admiration.

"That's your freedom; a gentleman never forces others to do things against their will."

Xu Qi'an nodded, indicating he didn't intend to force her, but after Lina breathed a sigh of relief, he said calmly, "Let's discuss your expenses during your stay at the Xu Residence."

He glanced at Lina's pretty little dress and said, "My sister made two outfits for you. They are made of the finest silk, a gift from the Emperor. They cost ten taels of silver per bolt. With the labor cost, the two outfits will cost a total of thirty taels of silver."

"The lodging fee is three taels of silver per night. You've stayed at my house for several days, so let's say three taels. Then there's food, Miss Lina. I don't need to elaborate on your appetite, do I? Over these many days, you've eaten a total of forty taels of my silver."

"Now, please pay your expenses, which total one hundred and twenty taels."

Lina was stunned, staring blankly at him, and said, "You're really amazing, you were able to calculate the total amount of silver so quickly."

Hehe, all of the above was just me rambling nonsense. Why would I need to be so calculating to fool an idiot like you? You couldn't possibly figure it out anyway. Wait, I've been misled by her too.

Xu Qi'an patted the edge of the bed and said loudly, "Get my point across."

The little black-skinned man from Southern Frontier said, feeling wronged, "But I can't break my promise. I must keep my word."

"Very well, then you'd better pay up, or get out of my house," Xu Qi'an said fiercely.

Lina's eyes reddened; she felt like a stranger in a strange land, bullied and utterly alone. She stamped her foot and said:

"I'll leave. I'll go find Master Jinlian. Even if I starve to death, die out there, and end up on the streets, I will never betray Granny Tiangu."

"Etc."

Xu Qi'an called out to her, making a final effort. "Grandma Tian Gu is in the Southern Frontier, right? I'm in the capital. We're tens of thousands of miles apart. If you don't tell me and I don't tell you, how can that be considered breaking my promise?"

"Is that so?" Lina asked skeptically.

"Of course," Xu Qi'an nodded seriously, "It's like going to Imperial Academy of Music to sleep with women, that's prostitution. But if you don't pay, it's not prostitution. Right?"

Lina was taken aback, thought about it, and realized that Xu Ningyan's words made sense.

Xu Qi'an patiently persuaded, "Besides, you're in a foreign land, all alone and helpless. What's a little sacrifice of your reputation for survival? No one will blame you."

Lina hesitated, her resolve wavering.

Xu Qi'an delivered the final blow. "Three days' worth of meals at Cassia Moon Tower, all you can eat."

Gulu Lina swallowed hard and said in a crisp voice, "Deal, but you swear you won't tell anyone."

Xu Qi'an nodded.

Lina turned and ran to the door, opened it, peeked out for a moment to make sure no one was eavesdropping, then returned to the table and said:

"It was last time, Number Three asked him through the fragments of the Earth Book about a friend who often found money. Our Gu Clan's Heavenly Gu Tribe knows everything from astronomy to geography, from observing the stars to surveying the mountains and rivers. We are all knowledgeable."

"I then went to ask Granny Tiangu, the leader of the Tiangu tribe, and she said that the guy who picked up the silver was definitely him, not his friend."

Suddenly, Lina stopped speaking. She stared blankly at Xu Qi'an, her eyes widening in shock. Pointing at Xu Qi'an, she screamed:

"You... you're number three?!"

"You're only just realizing it?" Xu Qi'an silently bowed, his face expressionless, and said, "Yes, I am number three, but I promised Daoist Jinlian that I wouldn't reveal my identity. Now it's all over; we've broken our promise, so it's no big deal."

Lina stared at him blankly for a long time before finally accepting the fact that Xu Qi'an was number three. She felt that everyone had broken their promises, and her guilt was immediately relieved.

"Grandma Tian Gu said that twenty years ago, two thieves stole something very valuable from a wealthy family. Some members of the family have already realized what happened, while others are still completely unaware."

"Grandma Tiangu even asked me where I was. I said I was in the capital. Upon hearing this, Grandma Tiangu was incredulous, as if she thought I absolutely shouldn't be in the capital."

"Wait a minute."

Xu Qi'an interrupted Lina, leaned back against the high pillow, remained silent for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and slowly said, "You may continue."

"Later, before I left Southern Frontier, Granny Tian Gu told me that one of the two thieves was her husband. There is a legend in our Southern Frontier that one day the Gu God will awaken from the Abyss, destroy the world, and turn the Nine Provinces into a world only of Gu."

"This legend was deduced by the prophets of the Heavenly Gu tribe, generation after generation. It was a future that would definitely happen. In order to change the future, Grandpa came up with a plan and left the Southern Frontier. Then he never returned."

"His natal Gu in the Gu clan has withered away, which foreshadows his death."

"Grandma Tian Gu also told me that the thing was about to be born, and she foresaw that I would be involved, so she sent me to the capital to seek fortuitous opportunity."

Lina finished speaking, revealing everything except the existence of the Seven Deadly Gu.

The Seven Deadly Gu was entrusted to her by Granny Tian Gu to be given to a destined person. Lina believed that this had nothing to do with Xu Qi'an, so there was no need to reveal it to him.

"I understand. Lina, you can go out now. I want to be alone." Xu Qi'an instructed, "This conversation today must not be told to anyone."

"Um!"

Lina nodded vigorously, walked briskly to the door, and as she opened it, turned back and said, "I'll take Lingyin to Cassia Moon Tower first. Remember to come and settle the bill later."

"?"

Even in such a terrible mood, Xu Qi'an still had a question mark in his mind.

He stared at Lina in astonishment. "No, lunch was just over, wasn't it?"

"I'll teach Lingyin horse stance later, then we'll be hungry." Lina waved and left the room.

"Hey, you two, are you trying to bankrupt me in one go? Can I take back my promise?" Xu Qi'an opened his mouth, feeling a pang of heartache that made it hard to breathe.

Lina ran happily out of the room, her mind preoccupied with the dishes at Cassia Moon Tower, and quickly put the matter of breaking her promise behind her back.

As for the truth that Xu Qi'an is Number Three, her thought was that it didn't matter who Number Three was, it had nothing to do with her. Just be happy, why think so much?

If it were Chu Yuanzhen (number four) instead, he would definitely be brainstorming right now.

Passing by the east wing, I overheard the matriarch of the Xu Household whispering to her eldest daughter, "Lingyue, have you heard any strange noises at night lately?"

"No."

"But Mother always feels that at night, there are people whispering outside the window, and sometimes she can hear the sound of tiles turning over on the roof. Do you think the house is haunted again?"

"Mother, you're talking nonsense again. I'll be too scared to sleep tonight. I'll go find my older brother tonight and have him keep me company outside my room."

"Mother isn't making this up. You don't know, but every day after dinner, Lingyin goes to the yard by herself for a while. When I ask her what she's doing, she says she sees a lot of ghosts and wants to fry them up, but she can't catch them. I've heard that children's eyes can see unclean things."

"Mother, are you having your period? You seem so paranoid. Father, my eldest brother, and my second brother are here. What ghost would dare to haunt our house? Besides, the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sect is here. What are you afraid of?"

That makes sense.

These words were reasonable and well-founded, and the aunt was convinced. She then said, "Lingyin also told me that that Su Su girl is a ghost."

"Lingyin so rude, she'll offend the guests."

"Yes, so I beat her up."

Lina thought for a moment and decided not to tell the mother and daughter the truth, so as not to frighten them. She walked around the mansion and found her apprentice hiding in the flower garden, sucking on chicken leg bones.

"What are you doing hiding here?" Lina said angrily, hands on her hips. "Trying to slack off again?"

Xu Lingyin glanced at her, silently threw away the chicken leg bone, then clutched her stomach and collapsed to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Lina blinked.

"I ate a chicken leg of unknown origin, and now I'm poisoned. I can't do horse stance," Xu Lingyin announced loudly.

"Nonsense, you hid that chicken leg bone during lunch," Lina cleverly exposed her.

Xu Lingyin was taken aback, not expecting her master to have seen through her scheme so clearly. Her master was indeed smarter than her. Then, a thought struck her, and she exclaimed in sudden realization:

"It's a chicken leg that my older brother left over. It has his saliva on it. My older brother's saliva is poisonous, so I can't do the horse stance anymore."

"Your older brother's saliva isn't poisonous," Lina exposed her again.

"You've never tasted your brother's saliva, how do you know it's not poisonous?" Xu Lingyin Qi Ingestion.

Lina was stunned and didn't know how to refute it, so she beat up Xu Lingyin.

It is only natural for a master to discipline his disciple.

This apprentice is quite clever. If I don't discipline him now, I won't be able to control him in a few years!

In the room, Xu Qi'an, enduring a headache, sat at his desk and wrote four characters on a piece of Xuan paper, "Twenty years ago."

He didn't want to do analysis or reasoning in such a bad state, because it would cause too many mistakes, but since it concerned his biggest secret, Xu Qi'an didn't want to wait a moment longer.

He rubbed his temples, took a deep breath, and wrote down the second sentence: Two thieves.

After a few more seconds of contemplation, he wrote down the third sentence: Only one left.

There should be no doubt about this. Granny Tiangu could not possibly make a mistake. As the current leader of the Tiangu tribe, she would not make a mistake in such a matter.

Of the two thieves from back then, one has already perished.

Finally, he wrote on the Xuan paper: Gu God, the end of the world!

He got up and walked to the round table, poured himself a glass of cold water, and drank it slowly. After finishing it, he returned to his desk and wrote five words after "Twenty years ago":

The Battle of Shanhai Pass.

"On the official ship returning to the capital from Yunzhou, when I awoke, I dreamt of the Battle of Shanhai Pass and saw a young Wei Yuan. This is very illogical, because I was just born twenty years ago and could not have experienced the Battle of Shanhai Pass, so I could not have any related memories."

Xu Qi'an's eyes flickered slightly, and after "two thieves," he wrote the word "luck."

"Grandma Tian Gu insisted that I was the one who picked up the silver and believed that I was related to the two thieves from back then. And what is my biggest secret? It's my luck!"

"So, back then, the two thieves stole the destiny of the Great Feng? In the ancient tomb, the monk Shenshu said that the destiny within me had been refined."

Xu Qi'an dipped his brush in ink and wrote after "Only one left": "Warlock from Yunzhou?"

The question mark indicates uncertainty.

"Dean Zhao Shou once said that the three forces related to destiny are Confucian School, Warlock, and dynasties. First, I can rule out dynasties, as I am most likely not a member of the royal family. Second, I can rule out Confucian School, as the strongest aspect of the Confucian School system is that Law Follows Speech, not the use of destiny."

"Warlock are the only ones who are experts at manipulating fate. I suspect that first- and second-rank Warlock are professions related to fate."

So who stole the Great Feng's fortune, refined it, and stored it within their own body?

Xu Qi'an used to think it was the supervisor, because he had been clearly instructed by the supervisor, but now he had doubts.

Is the Supervisor of the Imperial Censor a thief? The dignified Supervisor of the Great Feng Dynasty, no one in the entire dynasty is better at manipulating destiny than him. If he truly wanted to steal the destiny of the Great Feng Dynasty, would he need to conspire with the Heavenly Gu Tribe of the Southern Frontier?

That would be a gross underestimation of this first-rank Warlock.

"Compared to the supervisor, I suspect it is the Warlock who appeared in Yunzhou, that mysterious Warlock who was at least a third-rank. He conspired with the former leader of the Heavenly Gu tribe to steal the fortune of the Great Feng."

"It was because the two conspired that they were able to temporarily deceive the supervisor? The luck that was stolen twenty years ago, and the only major event that happened twenty years ago was the Battle of Shanhai Pass, a large-scale battle that involved all forces in the Nine Provinces and involved as many as a million troops."

"My dream of witnessing the Battle of Shanhai Pass can also serve as evidence. Although I did not participate in the battle, it is very likely that this is not my memory, but a scene brought about by the revival of destiny? In that case, the Battle of Shanhai Pass was not simple. Investigating what the trigger was might uncover more clues."

"Why should luck be bestowed upon me? I'm just an ordinary Dalang of the Xu Household. There's no reason for luck to be bestowed upon me."

"Such an important thing was given to me, yet I haven't heard a word about it for twenty years. Did they really just give it to me for nothing?"

Suddenly, Xu Qi'an's body trembled, his pupils contracted sharply, and he stood frozen like a statue for a long time. His arm trembled slightly as he wrote three more characters on the rice paper:

"The tax and banking case!"

P. S.: Sorry, the guild leader I thanked yesterday was "Right Hand Dull". What's going on? I've been seeing double images on my computer lately.