Southern Continent.

High up in the air, two figures were flying at a rapid speed without relying on a flying sword or any other flight treasure. If people on the ground could see this, they would have exclaimed—these individuals were both experts of the Heaven Opening stage.

"Brother Ning," one of the individuals said, "We have been flying for days now. Isn't it about time you tell me the details?"

Chen Ning looked sideways at his companion who wore loose robes and was bandaged heavily. Part of his face was still exposing the pale green skin which oozed something sticky and was knotted with veins. One of the veins wiggled. Chen Ning almost failed to mask his disgust. With great self-control, he forced himself to look ahead.

"We are nearing the destination," Chen Ning said. "I suppose it's about time."

The two of them landed in a remote location, away from prying eyes.

"Brother Guo," Chen Ning said with a troubled expression. "My nephew was poisoned."

"Poisoned?" Tian Guo frowned for a moment. If it was a typical 'poison', Chen Ning wouldn't have sought his help. He didn't even have to guess too much as he said with a chuckle, "Is it a gu?"

"Ahem," Chen Ning coughed as he avoided Tian Guo's eyes. His embarrassed appearance was all that it took Tian Guo to confirm his guess.

"Hehe! No wonder you would look for me," Tian Guo snickered and looked at Chen Ning with a smug look. "And here I was, thinking you had forgotten old friends since you became an official…" Tian Guo began to lament about the old days when he and Chen Ning used to hang out together.

Chen Ning could only endure Tian Guo's blabber with a red face.

When Tian Guo felt he had enough fun tormenting Chen Ning, he stopped teasing. "I get it. You want me to help your nephew, right?" He knew how much Chen Ning cared about his nephew, or rather his sister. Putting up the demeanor of an expert, he said, "Where is he? I will see what I can do." He looked around wondering if Chen Ning had hidden his nephew somewhere here.

Chen Ning heaved a sigh of relief as Tian Guo finally stopped fooling around. "My nephew isn't here," he said. "He is inside the secret realm."

"Wait, what?" Tian Guo was flabbergasted. He couldn't understand Chen Ning's reasoning. This was the same as sending his nephew to death. "Why would you let him go?"

"Brother Guo, take a look at this." From within his robes, Chen Ning took out a glass orb. Inside it was a black gooey substance that was writhing, as if alive.

"This is," Tian Guo stared at the orb for a while. A moment later, his eyes bulged so much they almost popped out of their sockets. There was bewilderment, surprise, disbelief, fear, and even a faint trace of excitement and greed. He snatched the orb from Chen Ning's hand with trembling hands and brought it closer to his eyes, almost pressing his eyeball onto the glass surface for a closer look. "N-no way! T-this, this is…"

Chen Ning winced at his friend's crazy appearance. If possible, he didn't want to bring him along, however, he had little choice in the matter. "Brother Tian Guo, you should now understand," he said in a somber voice.

Tian Guo reigned in his enthusiasm with great difficulty before nodding. "This type of gu… once infected, it's difficult to detect and almost impossible to get rid of—" He frowned and looked at Chen Ning as he just realized something. "Since your nephew is infected, where did this come from?"

"T-that…" Chen Ning's beard quivered as if he had recalled something embarrassing. "They also plotted against me."

Tian Guo stared at Chen Ning in shock and disbelief. He was very well aware of the sinister nature of this gu which even left a gu cultivator like him afraid. Had they succeeded, the result would've been disastrous. He immediately asked, "Since they failed, you must have an idea who was behind it."

"It might be the Mu Family," Chen Ning snorted, his eyes cold.

"Mu Family?" Tian Guo frowned. He didn't have any impression of any such family.

"It's one of the families in charge of the Falling Stones City to which I was dispatched," Chen Ning explained. "I was staying with them when I was approached by their young master. But that person is only twenty years old and has barely stepped into the Spirit Condensation realm. He shouldn't be capable of raising such a gu—likely, he is also a puppet… Anyways, I didn't want to startle the snake so I trapped it instead of killing it and pretended to be ignorant. To be on the safe side, I waited till everyone entered the secret realm before I acted… "

Through Tian Guo, Chen Ning was familiar with how gus worked and able to devise a countermeasure. When Tian Guo heard Chen Ning's plan he couldn't help nod his head in approval.

The secret realm's barrier isolated all forms of communication. This included the connection between the parent gu and the child gu. If Mu Changshou was the culprit, he would be inside the realm and wouldn't know any of Chen Ning's actions. Even if the culprit was somebody else, they wouldn't be able to threaten Chen Ning by using Qin Huang as a hostage. Either way, Qin Huang's safety would be guaranteed.

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"We only have a few months before the realm opens," Chen Ning said in a heavy tone. "Brother Guo, you must trace the perpetrator before then and help me capture them."

"Although this is a child gu, as long as the parent gu is nearby, it isn't impossible to trace the connection. However," Tian Guo paused as his eyes burned hot with frenzied greed. "If we catch the owner, I want everything on his person."

"O-of course," Chen Ning said. "I just want to save my nephew."

"Yeah… right," Tian Guo chuckled. It wasn't for a day or two he had known Chen Ning. If he didn't have something to gain, would he have to go to such lengths to keep everything secret from others?

Although he saw through Chen Ning's hypocrisy, Tian Guo didn't expose it, letting his friend save some face.

"We will start with the Mu Family, then slowly expand our search," Chen Ning said.

Tian Guo didn't have any problem. The two set off once again.

#

Mu Family Residence.

In the courtyard of a particular residence, an old man was leaning in an armchair with a wine bottle in his hand.

"Hic!" Grandpa Wu sipped a mouthful of wine. He reached out to the table in front of him and picked up a mutton skewer from one of the plates, tossed it into his mouth, and munched on them with relish. "Ah! This is life," he mused.

Grandma Jie who just came out of the residence saw Grandpa Wu enjoying idle life and her face twitched.

"Can you not drink when it's still noon?"

Since coming here, Grandpa Wu's drinking habits had worsened. The reason was simple—he had nothing else to do. When they were running the stall, he had to lend a helping hand. Here, Grandma Jie took care of the meals while Ma Hong handled other chores. With nothing much to do, Grandpa Wu drank all day.

"How's my little bug doing?" Grandpa Wu asked.

Grandma Jie snorted, dissatisfied with how Grandpa Wu ignored her complaint, but still answered, "She's cultivating."

"Hohoho," Grandpa Wu chuckled. "She's quite serious, huh? Good, good."

"Hmph! How is that good? Can't you tell she is feeling lonely?" Grandma Jie snapped, causing Grandpa Wu to flinch. He almost choked on the piece of mutton he was chewing.

The two came here to accompany Ningxue, but the results hadn't been good. At first, it was alright, but as more and more days passed it became obvious. After having not seen her parents and her brother for a long time, Ningxue had become depressed. Recently, she had been forcing herself to cultivate. Grandpa Wu thought this was a good sign, while Grandma Jie felt this wasn't healthy.

"Cough-cough," Grandpa Wu gasped. He wanted to say something when he paused and looked into the distant sky. "We have some annoying pests," he said with narrowed eyes.

"I'll go take care of them."

Grandma Jie had just opened her mouth to speak, but Grandpa Wu's figure had already disappeared leaving behind those few words.

#

In the sky, Chen Ning and Tian Guo were approaching the mountain range where the Mu Family resided.

"Brother Guo," Chen Ning said. "The Mu Family has an expert of the Heaven Opening realm. It would be best if we don't alert him."

"I know," Tian Guo nodded. They didn't know the extent to which Mu Family was involved, so Chen Ning's request wasn't unreasonable. "I will be careful."

The two of them began to descend. However, when they had only descended a few feet, they froze. Standing in the air in front of them was an old man holding a bottle of wine.

"I didn't expect to be found out," Grandpa Wu looked at Chen Ning and sighed. "But to think they only sent two Heaven Opening realm experts—aren't you looking down on me a bit too much?"

Contrary to Grandpa Wu's expectations, Chen Ning and Tian Guo looked at him with confusion.

"Brother Ning," Tian Guo whispered, "Is he the Mu Family expert you warned me about?"

"No," Chen Ning shook his head, "He is not the one." He stared at Grandpa Wu. "You, who are you?"

"You… didn't come here for me?" Grandpa Wu crooked his head as he looked at Chen Ning's oblivious expression. "Shit!" His eyes widened as realization dawned on him—he had been too hasty and jumped to a conclusion.

"Ahem!" Grandpa Wu cursed himself as he cleared his throat. "It looks like there was a mistake. I will take my leave."

"Hold it!" Chen Ning frowned as he called out. "I had been previously assigned to this province. I have details on all the experts here. You aren't one of them."

"Hohoho! I was just passing by," Grandpa Wu waved his hand. "I'm nobody important. I will take my leave."

"What rubbish!" Chen Ning snorted as he stared at Grandpa Wu's face. For some reason, he found his face familiar. But where had he seen him before?

"I remember!" Chen Ning exclaimed, just as when Grandpa Wu was about to leave. "You are that drunkard I met during my stay in Mu Family. But, but…" His voice trailed off. He was convinced Grandpa Wu was the same person he had seen, however, he could hardly believe it. He had inspected Grandpa Wu back then, but didn't discover anything unusual. Yet, here he was, standing in the air in front of them. How could he not be shocked?

"The Mu Family has hidden itself well," Chen Ning snorted. The more he thought, the more suspicious he became. He couldn't help but entertain the thought that Grandpa Wu was the mastermind they were looking for.

"Brother Ning, what do you want to do?" Tain Guo asked.

"What else?" Chen Ning sneered. "He might be related to our suspect. Let's take him down."

Tian Guo snickered. Although he was wearing bandages, Chen Ning could tell he must be licking his lips in anticipation. He was well aware of Tian Guo's antiques and couldn't help but feel pity for Grandpa Wu's fate.

Although Chen Ning was sympathetic to Grandpa Wu's plight, his actions didn't stop. He looked at Tian Guo and gave a short nod.

Tian Guo spread his hands towards Grandpa Wu. The bandages on his arms unraveled and a swarm of moths clouded the sky and surrounded Grandpa Wu, blocking his escape routes.

At the same time, a river of stars unfolded behind Chen Ning which coalesced into a spear. Chen Ning launched the spear toward Grandpa Wu. Compared to the last time he used this technique, its execution was smoother and much faster.

Grandpa Wu watched calmly as the spear and moths attacked him in unison. He didn't move, nor did he take any action. However, when the spear and moths arrived at his arm's length, they disappeared without a sound.

Chen Ning and Tian Guo froze. Although they attacked in haste, their cooperation was seamless. Their combined attack wasn't something anyone at Heaven Opening realm could casually brush off.

The two threw each other a fleeting glance. They could tell the other person had the same thought—they kicked an iron sheet.

The next moment, the two didn't hesitate as they fled in opposite directions.

"..." Grandpa Wu stood stunned at Chen Ning's and Tian Guo's decisiveness and tacit understanding. However, he didn't chase them and simply downed the remaining wine from the bottle and smacked his lips.