A Good-for-Nothing

230. The Demonic Seed and the Zhu Family (II)

Translator: Dragon Rider

For many years, there had always been countless tales about Taoism near Mount Wushan in the midwest of this country. Warlocks used their powers to catch glimpses of the secrets of the Divine Law, foretell people’s fortunes and fates. They were said to be foreseers who use Taoist magic to predict the developments of events, represented by the Hidden Dragon Village. Practitioners of the Divination Skills of Wu Xian could use their spiritual power to make contact with other planes of existence, and the most famous ones of them were the Zhu family in Shen City, but this kind of divination skill involved a high risk of being backfired by the energy of the Divine Law, and practitioners of it had to utilize external objects to evade the punishment.

Warlocks without exception lived in mountains coiled by cloud and mist. Every morning, at around seven or eight o’clock, Mount Wushan was covered in a thick blanket of fog.

Zhang Jingqiu and his men had been searching this area for almost a month, and it’d been half a month since the last time they’d found anything useful, which was the location of the Holy Land of Demons. After that, they had been scouring a growing radius of the Holy Land of Demons, looking for large sects the members of which could provide information about the past.

Finally, on one day of the third week after Xiang Hailou and his men came to back them up, they found a declining sect near the Spiritual Vein of Mount Wushan – the Triple Purity Sect.

When they found the Triple Purity Sect, it had only three disciples left.

Zhang Jingqiu was bitterly disappointed, believing that this was yet another wasted trip.

This kind of obscure sect in remote mountains had little connection with the outside world, so they didn’t know about the existence of SMB, but Zhang Jingqiu used to be a disciple of the Tigers and Dragons Mountain, which was a large prestigious sect and used to be the head of all sects in the south. As a result, after confirming Zhang Jingqiu’s identity, the only three disciples of the Triple Purity Sect told them everything they knew down to the smallest detail.

“We’d never heard of the Demonic Seed you mentioned, but over twenty years ago, there had indeed been a woman who went to the Spiritual Vein and got hurt by a Yōkai. My younger sect-brother and I happened to be collecting firewood nearby, so we saved her and brought her back.”

Zhang Jingqiu and Xiang Hailou exchanged glances. The two group leaders saw hope flaring up in each other’s eyes.

“Do you know that woman’s name?”

“No,” replied a relatively old disciple of the Triple Purity Sect, shaking his head. “She just said that she’d come a long way to Mount Wushan to attend to something of great significance, but she didn’t tell us her name.”

Zhang Jingqiu’s heart sank. “This is tricky.”

“What did she look like? Do any of you still remember, brethren?”

“What did she look like? It’s been so many years, and we just met her once. It’s beyond recall.”

This answer came as a body blow to Zhang Jingqiu. He wouldn’t have felt so depressed if he hadn’t found this sect in the first place. Hopes being raised and then disappointed always makes people feel upset.

But it turned out that when someone had been unlucky for a very long time, their fortune would take a turn. After all, every dog has its day.

“In that case, we’ll keep searching. I’m sure there’s still hope.”

“Wait. I haven’t finished my story yet.”

The man walked into a room and then returned with a small package. He handed it to Zhang Jingqiu. The package was about the size of a palm, looking like some girl’s sachet.

“This was left behind by that woman.”

The front of the sachet was embroidered with orchid. It was the back of the sachet that bore a key clue.

There was a small word “Zhu” at the corner of the sachet. Naturally, Zhang Jingqiu noticed it.

“Judging by the woman’s accent, she should be from Shen City. I don’t know whether or not we’ve been helpful, but these are all we know.”

“Shen City. The Zhu family.” Holding the sachet, Zhang Jingqiu exchanged looks with Xiang Hailou.

Like how things had gone during all previous cases, with a clear direction, they now knew how to continue the inquiry. Over two decades ago, Zhu Ning, who’d been in her prime, had gone to Coastal City for a tour and met He Changchun there. The two of them had fallen in love with each other there and before long got married.

She’d been the youngest daughter of the Zhu family, the social and economic status of which had been considered to be equal to that of the He family in Coastal City. At that time the patriarch of the Zhu family had prepared a lot of trousseaus for his daughter, and the marriage had been quite an occasion in Coastal City.

But nobody had known that He Changchun had been a playboy who’d been in a relationship with another woman for a very long time before he met Zhu Ning. Only a few months after marrying into the He family, Zhu Ning had found out about He Changchun’s affair with Qiao Peiyu. The He family had kept it a secret at that time. Strangely enough, Zhu Ning hadn’t kicked up a stink. Instead, she’d left the He family for some time.

The fourth month of her pregnancy, Zhu Ning had paid a visit to Shen City. Everybody had believed that she’d returned to her parents’ place, but now it seemed that she’d gone to Mount Wushan.

…

When Zhang Jingqiu had finished speaking, a deathly hush descended in the conference room.

“After hearing this message, we looked into what had happened in that year. At that time, after Zhu Ning returned from Mount Wushan, He Changchun mistakenly believed that she’d gone back home to tell on him, so he gradually alienated her, but Zhu Ning never showed any signs of displeasure at He Changchun’s attitude.

In outsiders’ eyes, Zhu Ning had always been a refined lady from a noble family, but at first she and He Changchun married for love, and He Changchun cheated on her. If Zhu Ning really liked him that much, why did she remain quiet about it?”

Zhao Yidi was a woman. Though having never been in a romantic relationship, she knew that there must be more to it than that.

Zhang Jingqiu’s eyes rested on Li Zong again. “That was why I said this matter had something to do with Li Zong.

That He boy is now Li Zong’s marriage partner, which makes the Li family in-laws of the Zhu family, so in the beginning I was hesitant about whether or not I should disclose this matter.”

Xiang Hailou, who had been keeping silent all along, observed, “This matter has something to do with Zhu Ning, but the He family is not necessarily involved in it, too. We must ascertain the truth about the matter of the Demonic Seed.”

Li Zong said, “I did have no knowledge of this matter. If it really has something to do with Zhu Ning, I think we should thoroughly investigate both the Zhu family and the He family.”

Li Zong knew better than anyone that what with the connection between Zhu Ning and the Demonic Seed, He Zheng had already been involved in this matter, that if he stopped them from carrying out an intensive investigation, it would raise suspicions and might even cause He Zheng to be detained.

Therefore, the only solution was to find out the truth.