20: Chapter 20 A Thousand-Year-Old Family

A mountain!

A colossal mountain, pitch-black from top to bottom and piercing the clouds, exuding an aura of endless deathly silence and oppressive weight.

Even more hair-raising were the countless thick, cold black chains coiled around the mountain like living creatures.

They stretched from the foot of the mountain all the way to the mist-shrouded summit, layered and densely packed.

The chains were mottled with rust, yet they emanated a terrifying pressure.

The clattering sound of the chains seemed to resonate directly within the depths of Ding Qing's Soul.

The vision flashed and vanished, but it made Ding Qing's heart sink heavily.

The Old Daoist Priest's aura unexpectedly made him feel that same unfathomable, eerie depth he had sensed from the shadow on Phoenix Mountain once again.

Only, it was more restrained, more... "inhuman"!

The Old Daoist Priest seemed to notice the subtle change in Ding Qing's gaze.

His murky eyeballs rolled slightly, and the corners of his mouth curled into an infinitesimal, elusive arc.

He didn't say another word; he simply gave Ding Qing an extremely slow, slight nod.

The movement carried an ancient and eerie rhythm.

Then, he slowly turned around.

Just as when he had arrived, he hunched his back and hobbled along, silently stepping back into the open elevator doors.

The elevator doors slid shut, completely swallowing that gaunt and eerie yellow figure.

The faint hum of the elevator echoed as the indicator light showed it descending.

In the hallway, only Ding Qing's mountain-like back remained, along with Wang Yang, who was huddled in the corner, covering his mouth with wide, staring eyes.

That invisible, suffocating pressure receded like the tide.

Ding Qing slowly exhaled a long breath of hot air that looked like a white silk ribbon; his tensed muscles gradually relaxed, and the black patterns beneath his skin completely faded away.

But his gaze was deeper and colder than ever before.

The brief encounter, the cryptic words, the eerie vision...

It all pointed to one fact!

The dust of Phoenix Mountain was far from settled.

And his extraordinary power, like a lighthouse in the dark night, had inevitably drawn the gazes of certain things lurking deep within the shadows.

"Qing... Brother Qing..."

Seeing that the Old Daoist Priest had left, Wang Yang finally dared to tremble his way over.

"That... that old Daoist... what's his deal? What... what did he mean by nodding at you at the end? Also, what you just promised me..."

Ding Qing slowly turned around, his gaze sweeping over the trashed living room.

Finally, it landed on Wang Yang's face, which was filled with lingering fear and longing, cutting off his rambling.

"Pack your things. We're staying at your place tonight."

"The door... I'll find someone to fix it tomorrow."

"As for everything else..."

Ding Qing's gaze turned toward the heavy darkness outside the window.

The faint hum of the descending elevator vanished completely.

His gaze pierced through the dim hallway light and landed downstairs.

That hunched yellow figure was unhurriedly crossing the path in front of the building, merging into the shadows of the residential area's greenery.

Eventually, he disappeared at the edge of his vision.

The old Daoist's seemingly murky gaze had pricked the dormant ferocity beneath his skin so sharply it nearly burst out.

What made his heart race even more was the silent glance and nod from the old Daoist before he left.

It wasn't an end; it was more like a mark, a confirmation.

...

Meanwhile, diagonally across from the building.

A pitch-black business van with cold, hard lines lay quietly in a temporary parking spot outside the residential complex.

Dark one-way glass shielded the interior from prying eyes.

The interior was filled with the scent of high-end leather mixed with a subtle fragrance.

In the driver's seat, a middle-aged man in a well-tailored navy blue suit gripped the steering wheel tightly.

His knuckles were slightly white from the strain.

Fine beads of sweat seeped from his temples as his gaze remained fixed on the direction where the Old Daoist Priest had disappeared.

Only when that splash of yellow was completely gone did he let out a long, suppressed breath of turbid Qi.

"President... President Chen,"

His voice carried an imperceptible dryness and tension as he turned to look at the back seat.

"The one from Black Mountain Temple... has come in person. And by the looks of it, he's already met that kid surnamed Ding.

This... what comes next, I'm afraid... will be difficult to handle!

The Zhang and Zhou families have used up every bit of their deepest favors this time. We..."

The light in the back seat was even dimmer.

A woman leaned lazily against the leather seat, appearing as if she were one with the shadows.

She wore a wine-red velvet qipao, the slit revealing a section of her breathtakingly shapely calf clad in black silk stockings.

Between her fingertips was a long, thin lady's cigarette, her crimson nails looking like droplets of congealed blood in the gloom.

Smoke curled upward, blurring most of her face.

Leaving only a pair of phoenix eyes that shimmered even in the dark, seemingly able to pierce through one's heart.

She took a slow drag of the cigarette.

Her movements carried an elegance and nonchalance that seemed ingrained in her very bones.

The red glow of the cigarette tip flickered near her lips, illuminating a faint, almost mocking smile at the corner of her mouth.

"What's the panic, Old Lin?"

Her voice was like aged red wine—lazy and raspy, yet possessing an unquestionable sense of control.

"Those two old foxes, Zhang Tianhao and Zhou Zhengxiong—their sons were lost in a hellhole like Phoenix Mountain. They'll dig three feet into the ground to get to the bottom of it."

"The old temple master of Black Mountain owed the Zhang family a massive favor in his early years. Now that the Zhang family's line has ended, if he doesn't come to repay the debt, who will?"

She tilted her head slightly, her gaze seemingly piercing through the car roof toward the broken window of the building, her eyes deep and inscrutable.

"It's only right that he came."

Her red lips parted, each word clear and carrying a cold calculation.

"We went to so much trouble, even going as far as using the 'Catalyst' to send those students to that 'Sifting Ground' on Phoenix Mountain to stir up that long-dormant Yin Domain... for what?"

Her fingertips gracefully flicked the ash.

"Wasn't it just to make this stagnant pool of water move? To force these old relics, who hide in nooks and crannies thinking they've transcended the Three Realms, to show themselves and enter the game?"

The curve of the woman's mouth deepened, her lazy tone revealing a blade-like sharpness.

"Old Daoist Huang stepping out of Black Mountain Temple and coming by invitation means the bait we cast has been taken. The plan... has also reached its most critical step."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man in the suit, Old Lin, didn't lose the look of worry on his face; instead, he grew even more anxious.

"But President Chen, that Ding Qing... what he just displayed... and that Wang Yang, Huang Guohua, Zhao Xiaoya, Sun Hao... these are all living clues!

What if they talk too much, or if they're targeted by other forces..."

"Talk too much?"

The woman chuckled, her laughter sounding exceptionally cold in the enclosed car.

"The dead are best at keeping secrets. As for clues? Once Old Daoist Huang gets that 'item' we want from Phoenix Mountain, these minor details will naturally be cleaned up."

"Those above..."

She paused, a flicker of indifference that saw through the rules flashing in her phoenix eyes.

"What they want is stability, that the order beneath the surface remains unbroken."

"In this day and age, things beneath the surface are becoming increasingly restless. Even those above need 'hands' like ours to clean up the filth and maintain that fragile balance."

Her voice lowered, carrying an arrogance and coldness born from an ancient heritage:

"A thousand-year-old Noble Family, a hundred-year-old Dynasty. As long as we get the 'Key', our plan can move forward."

"As for the end, we just need to give those above a 'Perfection' response. For example, completely 'purifying' the Phoenix Mountain Yin Domain and eliminating the unstable factors..."

"In that case, the loss of a few 'accidentally involved' university students, or even sacrificing the petty ambitions of the Zhang and Zhou families... those above won't care too much."

She stubbed out the cigarette, which had burned to its end, in the car's crystal ashtray, her movement as elegant as crushing a withered flower.