Ningcheng County, on the border of Central Plains and Qingzhou.
As dusk deepened, the vendors along the long street stoked the fires under their stalls, trying to make them burn brighter.
Then, a woman appeared, walking along the street, stopping in front of a stall.
She was a woman of exquisite beauty, dressed in a snow-white gown, with eyes as soft and deep as autumn waters, and skin as fair as snow. Yet, her expression was cold, with an air of haughtiness that kept others at bay.
Every evening, she would come here to buy a sweet potato, seemingly fond of it, but always mumbling that it wasn't as good as 'his'.
Initially, the vendor dared not speak out, but after hearing it so many times, he couldn't help but complain a little.
"Miss always says mine isn't as good as someone else's. Why do you still buy it?"
"Because he's not here."
The woman peeled the sweet potato, narrowing her eyes as she said, "Do you know? I've only met him once."
The vendor pursed his lips upon hearing this, thinking, 'How would I know that?' But he did know that if the 'he' the young lady spoke of was a man, she was likely lovesick.
After buying the sweet potato, the woman left along the long street and walked towards a desolate courtyard.
A Disciple of Lingjian Mountain had been attacked in Qingzhou, and after extensive tracking and investigation, the clues led to the Qiling Relic.
However, one thing was overlooked by many.
That was Chen Qinghe's original identity.
The Chen Clan had a rule for accepting Disciples that differed from other Immortal Sects: Disciples who entered the mountain gate had to change their surname and acknowledge the clan.
The reason for this rule was that they did not want overly prosperous Worldly Families in their vicinity.
And according to the information she had found, Chen Qinghe's surname before changing it was not Chen, but Zheng.
During the period of warring states, Zheng was actually a very ancient former imperial surname.
After Great Xia gained the assistance of Immortal Sects and conquered the Central Plains, the State of Zheng surrendered, transforming from an imperial family into a colossal Worldly Family, but it did not decline because the cultivation talents of their clan's children were exceptionally good.
Especially the last Zheng Family Old Ancestor, who was once the Senior Brother of Chen Ruhai, the current Sect Master of the Chen Clan. A hundred years ago, some called them the 'Two Prodigies of Zheng'.
However, lacking the blessing of a Dao tradition, the Zheng Family Old Ancestor had no hope of reaching Immortality. After his Lifespan was exhausted, he passed away.
And since his passing, the Luck that the Zheng Family had accumulated since the warring states era seemed to have been completely squandered. By now, their descendants were dwindling, and they had even sold their ancestral home and moved their entire family elsewhere.
If it were just that Chen Qinghe's original surname was Zheng, it wouldn't be worth the Master Jian of Lingjian Mountain personally making a trip.
But there was another matter, even more peculiar: the Hongshan Mine.
The Hongshan Mine, located in Central Plains, was originally controlled by the Zheng Clan. It is said that later, miners unintentionally dug through a mine shaft that led deep into Qi Ridge.
When the Zheng Family learned of this, they almost went all out, and it seems their family fortune began to decline from that time, with their descendants continuously dwindling.
First, the Zheng Family's Hongshan Mine was dug through, leading to Qi Ridge.
Then, their family member Zheng Qinghe became something neither human nor ghost, constantly traveling back and forth through the Qiling Mountains, escorting caravans.
Yan Shuyi simply didn't believe there was no connection.
The long street soon came to an end, and the Master Jian had already eaten half of her sweet potato.
She was now standing in front of a ruined courtyard, looking up to see that even the plaque was gone.
Only the characters carved on the stone pier in front of the gate indicated that this was once the Zheng Clan's ancestral home.
This residence was vast and had once been incredibly prosperous, but now its main gate was tightly shut, and the copper lock was rusty.
Bang!
A wisp of Sword Qi overflowed, and the main gate of the Zheng Clan's ancestral home collapsed with a roar.
Yan Shuyi stepped inside and immediately felt a coldness assailing her, with a strange smell lingering in the air.
The first courtyard of the residence was filled with knee-high weeds, and besides that, only broken bricks and tiles, and a main hall that was almost half collapsed.
The Master Jian looked around for a long time, then left the front courtyard and went deeper into the Zheng residence.
If a person wants to hide something, they certainly won't hide it in plain sight; this is something even a three-year-old child knows.
As Yan Shuyi stepped over the weeds, she opened her tender palm.
As immortal light surged, a stone mirror floated in the air. The immortal light from the mirror shone down, revealing every detail, and shot into the inner hall of the last room.
Yan Shuyi drew her sword and entered the room. Watching the immortal light constantly waver, she pondered for a moment, then slashed the stone wall of the back wall with her sword.
With a crash, half of the wall was directly cut away, but what was exposed was not the twilight behind the house, but another wall.
This wall was hollow, appearing as one surface, but actually concealing a narrow passage with a stone staircase leading continuously downwards.
"..."
Yan Shuyi stood there in silence for a long time, not moving.
She was afraid of the dark.
This had nothing to do with her strength or Realm; it was purely a psychological factor.
But after a moment of contemplation, she still descended the long, dark passage, passed through the lengthy stone steps, and finally reached the depths.
Before her was an incredibly vast underground palace, not much smaller in area than the Zheng Clan's residence above.
But unlike the pavilions and towers above, the underground palace contained only one stone cell after another, sealed with iron bars.
"Zheng Jinghui, Zheng Yu, Zheng Chen, Zheng Hongwen..."
Yan Shuyi's gaze swept across the nameplates of the stone cells, finally stopping, her brows deeply furrowed.
From the nameplates, those imprisoned here were all Zheng Clan Disciples.
But what the Master Jian saw inside the stone cells was... not human.
They were mummified corpses, dry as charcoal, long devoid of life, confined in individual cells, already covered in dust.
Yan Shuyi continued deeper into the stone cells, stopping abruptly when she reached the very end.
Through the iron bars, she saw an Evil Seed covered in Evil Qi, curled up in a corner. The walls were covered in deep scratch marks, seemingly made by it.
Seeing a living person enter, the Evil Seed suddenly went berserk, pouncing forward, its withered claws fiercely scratching, as if to tear everything before it to shreds.
But in stark contrast to its violent behavior, a weak voice emerged from its mouth.
"Save me..."
"The Old Ancestors lied to me, save me."
Upon seeing this scene, Yan Shuyi instantly felt a chill surge through her heart.
Why did the Zheng Family's descendants dwindle? Was it truly, as the outside world claimed, due to the demise of their Luck, making them unable to bear children, leading to such a large former imperial family falling to the point of abandoning even their ancestral home?
In fact, when she looked at the previous cells, an answer was already on the tip of her tongue.
But even with psychological preparation, seeing the Evil Seed speak human words, that intense feeling of unease still enveloped her heart.
However, Yan Shuyi then noticed another dried corpse, in the shadow behind the Evil Seed.
That was a true dried corpse, not a dead Evil Seed that had lost its Evil Qi.
She could see that this dried corpse had long, beautiful hair; it was a female, still wearing the Lingjian Mountain robe, clearly having been drained dry.
"Oh no..."
"The people in the mountain are all sacrifices..."
Yan Shuyi turned and exited the dungeon. As soon as she looked up, she saw the Qiling Mountains once again erupting with brilliant immortal light.
Compared to the last time Immortal Sect Disciples entered the mountain, this time the immortal light was even more turbulent, with colorful clouds filling the sky in all directions, like golden scales continuously spreading across the mountain range.
Those Immortal Sect Prodigies who had earlier ridden Flying Swords and followed the Disciples into the mountain from outside the Evil Qi, now couldn't contain their excitement, and great swords continuously descended into it.