224: Chapter 224 Investigation

Just as Changming Lingxi led the four of them across the front courtyard of the Dojo, a slender figure was walking slowly along the official road outside the North Gate of Huaiyang City.

The newcomer was tall and slender with refined features, appearing to be just in his early twenties. His aura was restrained to the extreme, and walking among the crowd, he was like a drop of water in the ocean, completely unremarkable.

The city guards merely glanced at him before looking away, dismissing him as an ordinary Loose Cultivator coming to Huaiyang City to make a living.

Yun Tianxiang stopped before the city gate and looked up at the three gilded characters on the lintel.

Huaiyang City, one of the largest cities in the southern part of the Central Province, was a place where merchants gathered, powers intersected, and information flowed freely. It was the most suitable place to start investigating the matter he needed to look into.

Now that he had not only experienced an Awakening of his memories but his younger brother had also joined Kunlun, it was time to start investigating the culprit behind the destruction of the Yun family.

He stepped through the city gate and walked northward along the main street. His pace was neither hurried nor slow, but his gaze remained fixed on the shop signs and market layouts on both sides of the street; he was looking for a restaurant.

Back then, he was still the Young Lord of the Yun family, and he had accompanied his father to Huaiyang City to attend an auction.

His father had once booked the largest restaurant in the city to host a banquet for over a dozen heads of noble families and Sect Elders who were on good terms with the Yun family.

That banquet was extremely lively, and amidst the clinking of glasses, his father had finalized several partnerships with a few family friends.

That was his final memory of Huaiyang City, and also the last scene of prosperity before the Yun family's destruction.

He remembered the name of that restaurant: Qionghua Tower. He had once stood by the railing on the top floor of that restaurant, overlooking the myriad lights of Huaiyang City.

His father had stood behind him, patted his shoulder, and said that once the cooperation between the Yun family and those few families was fully implemented, the Yun family would have a place in the Medicinal Pill business in the eastern part of the Central Province.

Yun Tianxiang pulled back his thoughts and let his gaze fall on a six-story pavilion at the intersection ahead.

The pavilion was built entirely of mahogany with upturned eaves, and a row of large red lanterns hung under the eaves, emitting a warm, gentle glow even in the daylight.

The plaque on the lintel bore three large ancient seal script characters—Qionghua Tower.

The handwriting was exactly the same as in his memory. Six years had passed; this restaurant was still here, but the Yun family was no more.

Yun Tianxiang sat down at a tea stall opposite Qionghua Tower and ordered a pot of the cheapest clear tea, his gaze sweeping seemingly casually over the guests entering and leaving Qionghua Tower.

He was not in a hurry to go in, nor was he in a hurry to ask anyone about it. In his previous life, as an Earth Immortal, he understood one truth better than anyone: when investigating such matters, one cannot be impatient.

The power behind the Yun family's destruction was extremely complicated. In his previous life, he had never been able to reach the truth. Reborn in this life, he had to be even more cautious and calculated.

The tea stall owner was a white-haired old man. When he came over with a teapot to refill his cup, Yun Tianxiang asked casually, "Old man, how many years has this Qionghua Tower been open in Huaiyang City?"

Upon hearing this, a hint of reminiscence flashed in the old man's eyes. He slung his rag over his shoulder and sighed, "This Qionghua Tower, it's been there for quite a few years."

"The original owner's surname was Zhao, and they operated it for over a dozen generations. Unfortunately, they later offended someone they shouldn't have, and the whole family was murdered. Now that the building has changed owners, the business is actually better than before, but as an old tea drinker, I always feel it lacks the flavor of the past."

"Someone they shouldn't have offended?" Yun Tianxiang picked up his teacup, his tone remaining calm.

The old man shook his head, lowering his voice a little: "I don't know the specifics, I only heard that the Zhao family was close to some outsider noble family. Later, that family ran into trouble, and the Zhao family suffered for it as well."

"Here in the Central Province, there are some things that small people like us shouldn't inquire about."

He turned away with the teapot to attend to other customers, still muttering something to himself, his voice gradually fading.

Yun Tianxiang slowly placed the teacup back on the table, the bottom of the cup making a very faint thud as it touched the wood. The Zhao family—the Zhao family that had been on good terms with the Yun family for generations.

Among the dozen or so powers his father had hosted in Huaiyang City back then, the Zhao family had been at the top of the list.

The friendship between the Zhao family and the Yun family could be traced back several generations, and the two families had joined forces to occupy a place in the Medicinal Pill market in the eastern part of the Central Province.

After the Yun family was destroyed, the Zhao family had also suffered; he had heard rumors of this in his previous life, but he had never come to investigate it personally.

He picked up the teacup, his gaze passing over the rim and falling upon that open window on the top floor of Qionghua Tower.

Inside the window, figures could be vaguely seen moving, and the sound of clinking glasses could be faintly heard, exactly the same as six years ago.

— —

Changming Lingxi led the four of them across the front courtyard of the Dojo and followed a path paved with bluestone slabs, bypassing a rockery, when the view suddenly opened up before them.

The main hall of Yuelan Dojo was an open-sided pavilion with no walls, only eight sturdy mahogany pillars supporting the upturned eaves of the hall roof, allowing air to flow from all sides and letting in ample light.

There were no statues worshipped inside the hall; in the very center, there was only a zhang-long rosewood table. On the table sat a bronze Pill Furnace half a person tall, several rows of jade bottles, a stack of yellowed ancient books, and a bronze incense burner still emitting wisps of smoke.

Behind the table was a meditation cushion, and in front of the table, over a hundred meditation cushions were densely arranged, most of which were already occupied.

Over a hundred Cultivators had already gathered in the hall, about half of whom were wearing various Alchemist robes, with furnace patterns representing their Alchemist rank embroidered on their chests.

Sun Mingcheng whispered an introduction to the three of them, explaining that these Alchemists were mostly from Huaiyang City and the surrounding cities, with ranks ranging from Profound Rank to Earth Rank.

The other half were Cultivators who had come seeking Medicinal Pills, some holding jade boxes, others clutching brocade pouches, their expressions filled with a mix of anxiety and anticipation.

Zhou Tianchen scanned the main hall and discovered that several elderly people sitting in the front row had Earth Rank Alchemist furnace patterns embroidered on their chests, and one white-haired old woman was even an Intermediate Earth Rank Alchemist.

Even such figures had come to listen to Great Master Changming's lecture; it seemed that this Great Master Changming's reputation in the Alchemy world of the southern Central Province was indeed not low.

Sun Mingcheng led the three of them to sit in a position near the front on the left side. Changming Lingxi, however, walked straight to the side of the rosewood table, sat cross-legged on a small meditation cushion to one side, and took out a Jade Slip from her bosom to read, ignoring the hundreds of gazes cast upon her in the hall.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the meditation cushions in the hall were all filled. Later arrivals could only stand under the corridor outside the hall, craning their necks to peer inside.

Just then, a clear, resonant bronze bell chime rang out from behind the hall, and the noisy chatter in the hall suddenly went silent.

An old man dressed in a moon-white robe walked slowly out from behind the hall. He was thin and lean with white hair and beard, and his brows carried the refined air of a scholar. The medicinal fragrance lingering around him was gentle and long-lasting; it was not strong, yet it made one feel calm and peaceful upon smelling it.

He walked to the meditation cushion behind the rosewood table and sat down cross-legged. His gaze swept across the hundreds of faces in the hall, and a faint smile appeared on his face. His voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the ears of everyone present: "There are quite a few more people here today than last time. My humble Dojo is becoming increasingly lively."