The world spun, a dizzying sensation that lasted for a full ten breaths.
Li Nanzhu felt as if her internal organs had been stirred into a mess. Countless fragmented shards of light and shadow flashed before her eyes. Suisui clung desperately to her shoulder, its bone claws digging deep into the fabric of her clothes.
"Bang!"
The four of them slammed hard onto a bronze floor. Li Nanzhu’s knees struck the cold metal, causing her to hiss in pain. She squinted her eyes and looked up, seeing moonlight spilling through a towering dome, illuminating the forest of massive bronze pillars that stood all around them.
"What is this place?" Feng Weilan was the first to scramble up, his long blade already unsheathed by half an inch.
Feng Qingping rubbed her bruised elbow, three copper coins flipping between her fingers. "The teleportation deviated by at least three hundred li... but we should be out of the range of Chishui City..."
Suisui suddenly jumped down from Li Nanzhu’s shoulder, its bone claws clicking against the floor. The intricate cloud and thunder patterns on the bronze bricks shimmered with a faint light as it tapped on them.
Jiang Yifan stared at the floor for a long moment before suddenly crouching down to touch the seams between the bricks. "These patterns..."
"You recognize them?" Li Nanzhu scooped Suisui back into her arms.
"They look familiar..." Jiang Yifan frowned. "But such pure thunder-fire copper shouldn't be used in..."
Before he could finish, a loud gong suddenly echoed from the distance, followed immediately by a piercing alarm and the sound of orderly footsteps approaching from afar.
"Enemy attack! East side of the forbidden grounds!"
"Someone has broken into the ancestral temple!"
All four of their faces changed instantly. Feng Weilan grabbed the dazed Jiang Yifan. "Run!"
They sprinted through the shadows cast by the nearest pillars. Suisui struggled violently in Li Nanzhu’s arms, its bone claws pointing toward a narrow corridor on the right. Just as they ducked inside, a loud boom resonated behind them—the spot where they had been standing erupted in a burst of fire.
"This is my family's ancestral temple forbidden grounds!" Jiang Yifan finally realized why everything looked so familiar.
"This is your family's place?!" Feng Weilan roared while running. "They drop thunder-fire bombs as a greeting?"
"Don't talk! Follow me if you don't want to be caught!" Jiang Yifan suddenly turned and pulled everyone into a narrow passage almost entirely covered in vines.
His fingers searched rapidly along the bronze wall until they touched a familiar protrusion—a small mark he had carved there when he was eight years old.
With a click, the wall slid open silently.
Jiang Yifan dragged everyone into the secret passage. "This is something I discovered when I used to sneak in to play as a kid..."
The spiral staircase seemed bottomless, and the four of them stumbled forward in the darkness.
Suisui’s soul fire became their only light source, reflecting the dense alchemy diagrams on the walls. Feng Weilan suddenly reached out to stop everyone. "There's a fork in the road."
Three nearly identical passages appeared before them.
"The left one," Jiang Yifan said without hesitation. "The middle leads to the refinery room, and the right is a dead end."
At the end of the passage was a bronze relief wall. Jiang Yifan fumbled in the dark, suddenly pressing down hard on the eye of the dragon in the relief.
Click—
The wall slowly slid aside, and a damp night breeze mixed with the scent of osmanthus flowers rushed toward them.
"This is the secret path in the rockery of the family head's rear garden." Jiang Yifan's voice was tense. "But with the commotion at the ancestral temple, he shouldn't be here right now."
"Keep quiet." Feng Weilan suddenly pressed his hand onto Jiang Yifan's shoulder. "Someone’s coming!"
The four of them quickly hid in the shadows of the rockery.
A squad of guards carrying lanterns passed through the corridor. The leader was grumbling, "In the middle of the night, what on earth is happening at the ancestral temple..."
Once the footsteps faded, Jiang Yifan immediately urged them, "Follow me!"
They moved swiftly against the walls, passing through three moon gates until a small courtyard filled with green bamboo appeared. When Jiang Yifan pushed open the unlatched courtyard door, the copper bell under the eaves chimed softly three times.
"My study." He slid the door bolt shut behind them and collapsed onto a stool. "The ancestral temple guards won't dare trespass into a direct line courtyard."
Feng Qingping suddenly raised a finger to her lips. "Shh—"
The sound of orderly footsteps approached from a distance, accompanied by the crisp clanking of metal. The four of them held their breath until the footsteps gradually faded away.
"Your family's welcoming ceremony is quite unique," Feng Qingping remarked as she skillfully set up a soundproofing array in the room, while Feng Weilan checked every window.
Just then, there was a knock on the study door—three long and two short, following a specific rhythm.
"Old Chen?" Jiang Yifan sighed in relief. "My personal steward."
"Young Master?" an old servant's lowered voice came from outside. "Is it you who has returned?"
Jiang Yifan pulled the door open, revealing Old Chen carrying a tea tray.
The old servant’s mechanical right hand made a faint sound of gears turning. His gaze swept rapidly over Li Nanzhu and the other two, finally pausing in surprise when it landed on Suisui.
"Young Master, this is..."
"My fellow disciples." Jiang Yifan took the tea tray. "Prepare four sets of clean clothes and some food."
Old Chen hesitated as if he wanted to say more, but ultimately just bowed deeply. "This old servant will see to it immediately." As he turned to leave, he couldn't help but look at Suisui again. "Does... it require a special place to stay?"
Li Nanzhu pulled Suisui closer into her arms. "There's no need, it stays with me."
Once Old Chen’s footsteps faded, Feng Qingping immediately reinforced the soundproofing array. Jiang Yifan poured a cup of tea for everyone, his fingers still trembling slightly. "Trespassing into the ancestral temple is a serious crime. According to family rules, it results in three years of grounding..."
"Three years?" Li Nanzhu’s hand twitched.
"But that's for intentional trespassing." Jiang Yifan gave a bitter smile. "Our situation is at most... an accident. It's just that the ancestral temple guards are all stubborn. If we're really caught... it might be hard to handle."
The steam from the tea curled in the candlelight. Suisui curiously reached out a bone claw to touch it, but Li Nanzhu gently pressed its wrist down.
"What do we do now?" Feng Weilan asked in a low voice, his fingers unconsciously tracing the hilt of his blade. "We can't hide in your study forever. Besides, doesn't hiding just make us look guilty?"
Jiang Yifan stared at the tea leaves floating in his cup. "We go to see the family head before dawn. If we do that..."
A night owl’s cry suddenly came from outside, followed by the faint click of a mechanical mechanism. Old Chen appeared outside the window, his expression exceptionally grave. "Young Master, the family head has summoned you."
"So soon?" Jiang Yifan's fingers tightened abruptly, causing the cracks in his tea cup to spread further. He took a deep breath and was about to stand up when Old Chen hesitated and added another sentence:
"The family head specifically ordered... that your fellow disciples accompany you."
The room became so silent that one could hear a pin drop. Feng Weilan’s scabbard knocked against the corner of the table with a dull thud.
Li Nanzhu noticed that Jiang Yifan’s knuckles had turned white.
"I should have guessed... he was the one who first showed me that secret path..." Jiang Yifan closed his eyes.
Suisui shifted uneasily in Li Nanzhu’s arms, its bone claws gently grabbing her sleeve.
"Young Master..." Old Chen said tentatively. "You know the master's temper. Since he specifically asked this old servant to invite you..."
Jiang Yifan suddenly stood up. The tea cup shattered on the table, and the tea dripped down the edge, soaking into the bluestone floor and leaving a dark stain.
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