It took only a few minutes for Wu Guang and Elder Di to reach the Coastal Hill City. Still, as they had arrived via the West trade tract, they were forced to cross both the Black and Central districts.
In any case, with their identity no trouble to do so arose and in less than one hour they arrived at 'Three Waves' mansion.
Luckily for Tan Wen, in the end, he had not met Lord Liao or anyone else and had just returned after failing to find Wu Guang. Well, at least this was what he told Elder Di. In truth, Tan Wen had only casually looked around the nearest beach for a few minutes as he felt no need to track Wu Guang at all. Afterward, he had spent a pair of hours in a nearby tavern, intending to snatch Wu Guang if he saw him, or simply saying that he did not find him as he did now.
Seemingly his decent character was merely a mask. As for Lord Liao's intent to attack him, he was simply lucky to avoid it because of this.
Everyone else was also present, so after listening to Tan Wen's story and thanking him for his troubles, Elder Di motioned for Wu Guang, Elder Yanshi, and Lan Yanzhi to follow him into his room.
Activating the runes in the room and making a full scan of the room with both aura and senses, Elder Di asked Elder Yanshi to share his findings.
Elder Yanshi was an experienced Discipline palace member and so his explanation was short and on point. For the matter of helping Lan Yanzhi find out more about the current state of the Wu family's manor, nothing except a single name had appeared. This name was Chun Zemin's. This person was an expert that assumed a guest position in the Wei family. Most probably he was also the man behind everything, as the servant that Lan Yanzhi had identified before was a personal one for Chun Zemin. And what's more important, this servant was already on his side before this expert even joined the Wei family two years ago.
A surprising fact was that this Chun Zemin cultivation and the aura that Elder Di had sensed were of the same cultivation, the 4th level of the Soul realm.
"Hmm. You are implying?" Elder Di asked
"Head Elder is right"
"If that's so, then I have to say that this Chun Zemin is extremely daring. Anyway, I feel that you have something else to add"
"I do not, but Lan Yanzhi has"
"Really? Then young miss, please" Surprisingly Elder Di was very polite when saying this. But Wu Guang wasn't surprised, after all, he had discovered that Elder Di was of the rare type that treated everyone with respect. Or at least everyone who was not an enemy.
"Understood"
Lan Yanzhi after being asked explained what she had found. He had used her experience as a bandit to enter one of the Underhill meeting spots and search for information. She could not be fully sure as what she found came from an Underhill bounty broker, but seemingly there was no assassination bounty on Wu Guang right now. The broker told her that lately there were no notices about assassinations related to the 'Three Hills Sect' at all.
"That's very strange. In such case why did Zhou Meiying have an order from the Underhill group itself?"
"If I may share my view..." Wu Guang suddenly spoke
"Ahh, yes go ahead"
"I have been wondering for a long time why the tragedy befell my family at that time. Granted, they did report the matter about the underhill group base, but why would a hidden organization suddenly act so openly and brazenly? Especially as the base was pretty much a gathering of lowlifes. But now that I have been thinking about the matter, I remembered that 'Earth's Cry Ridge' was a land that my father obtained only a week before the attack"
"Young friend Wu Guang, do you mean?"
"Elder Di guess is correct. Right now I feel that the matter has nothing to do with the official version. In place of that, I think that it could be related to 'Earth's Cry Ridge'. After all, no one knows who were the people who discovered the spirit shards and shared this information. And from what I know, this discovery was made public not more than a few weeks ago?"
"Indeed. After we connected the land and you, the Sect dispatched people to confirm the situation and found that there is indeed a cave like the one described. Still, it's sealed with a powerful rune door and so without the key should be impossible to open for anyone below the Warrior realm. Thinking of this, how could someone have discovered the shards?"
"Yes, and if they did, why they released the information? After all, I am the one to inherit the land and so logically they should not be helping me. But if they were the same people that killed my family, maybe they wanted to bait me out?"
"You mean that they did not know about the rune door before?"
"Most probably they did not. So after killing my family and finding out that they could not access the cave anyway, they waited for a bit and released the news. Initially, they intended to kill me and search for the key in my possesions. But as they failed, maybe they now want me to open it for them?"
"But do you have such key?" Elder Yanshi interjected
"I do not... But I trust that my father should have hidden it somewhere. Most probably the manor will contain a clue or two"
"Understood. In such a case, we should proceed with our plan of making you assume ownership. If you find the key, then great. If not, we will later think about it. The first thing is to resolve the inheritance matter and assure your safety"
"Elder Yanshi is only half-correct. We should not only take ownership but even make a brief journey to 'Earth's Cry Ridge' if needed. If our assumption is correct, our opponent is a 4th level Soul realm cultivator, so until he is captured, we shall not consider this matter settled" Elder Di spoke up
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"Thank you elders" Wu Guang stood up and bowed to the elders.
In truth, he was a bit surprised to hear about the rune door and key matter as it's something that he did not know before. Still, by using his mind power he should be able to break the runes on the door, so, even if there was no key, he could open the door. As for the culprit, if his guesses were correct and Chun Zemin was the real mastermind, he would definitively wish for his death.
Initially, when taking over the body and learning of the matter, Bai Qi's consciousness had decided to investigate the matter and get revenge if needed as a repayment for the body. So now that the memories had fused and he could be said to be partially Wu Guang, how could he not wish to do so?
There were a few hours before nightfall and so Wu Guang decided to spend this time with Lan Yanzhi and his teammates. Usually, he would not do so as he did not feel much close to people so young, but as his current personality was a mix of the older and younger generation, why would he not? Plus this outing would serve to confirm the conclusions from the previous meeting. After all, if he was expected to search for the key and only then be eliminated, he should be safe. At most, he would be observed, and in such a case, Elder Di or Elder Yanshi who would follow him will have the opportunity to catch the tail.
This being the case, Wu Guang informed the elders and proceeded to invite Yuan Taotu, Kuang Jing, and Wei. As for Lan Yanzhi, she was already accompanying from the moment of the meeting.
Their target was a restaurant called Rainbow Pearl, one of the most expensive and renowned restaurants in the city. Thankfully Wu Guang's funds permitted him to easily dine even on the most expensive of the floors, and this was indeed his intention.
The 'Rainbow Pearl' occupied a big seven-storied pagoda on the Finger Cape's coast. The views from this pagoda were considered the best in the district, as they would overlook the sea, the port, or the district itself depending on the floor and side.
After arriving, the group was baffled by the sheer amount of people lined up to enter this seven floored pagoda, but Wu Guang motioned for them to follow and approached the entrance. This entrance was guarded by two peak Spirit realm cultivators which blocked Wu Guang's and the rest right away.
"If young sirs are intending to enter the Red and Orange floors, then please line up," The guard said in a neutral tone. He was being very respectful considering how they normally treated people, this being because everyone except Lan Yanzhi was dressed in the Sect uniforms, and so their status was enough for the guard to don't lash at them.
"Hmm? Did your managers not teach you to ask first what floor are the guests intending to ascend?" Wu Guang did not know if he was being watched as using his senses in a place where experts could be present was dumb, and so he went with his now normal young master speech.
"Even if you are disciples of the 'Three Hills Sect' you have no way to pay for a higher floor, Scram!" Being provoked by Wu Guang the other guard shouted.
This shout attracted the attention of not only the people in line but also of one of the managers that peeked out of the door.
Seeing this, Wu Guang loudly spoke
"Are you dumb? I already said that I intent to ascend a floor. Even if you are dogs, you should know that ascending means using one of the higher floors" Wu Guang ignored Kuang Jing's pulling his clothes and provoked again.
"You dare to offend us? Don't think that your Sect will defend you if you cause trouble here!" As the first guard exploded and wanted to grab at Wu Guang, he was stopped by the appearance of the elder that had been peeking from behind the door.
"Stop, the young master from the sect has already said he wants to use a higher floor, don't disgrace our restaurant" As the manager appeared, he berated the guard before turning to Wu Guang and asking
"Is young master familiar with the rules and prices of each floor?"
"Obviously"
"Then, could young master please inform what floor he is intending to ascend to?"
"As far as I know the violet floor is under reservation only, so this young master intends to use the 6th, indigo, one"
"Young master is indeed knowledgeable. In such a case, the young master knows about the deposit?"
"I do" As Wu Guang said this, he took out 25 gold coins from his holding pouch and passed them to the manager. Indeed, all floors after the first two had a different amount of deposit to avoid trouble with people that can not pay for their meal. This amount varied from 2 to 5 gold coins per person depending on the floor. Such rules were dozens of years old, and Wu Guang knew of them simply because his father used the 3rd floor as a meeting place while still alive.
"Our establishment is very pained for the altercation provoked by our guards. So your deposit will be taken care of by us as an apology. Please follow me" The manager's tone and bearing instantly changed after receiving the money.
In fact, this manager very angry at the guards almost offending someone who could spend such an amount so easily. So it was no wonder that Wu Guang's 5 gold were returned and that after the manager glared at the guards, the latter shivered.