Chapter 463: Family Graveyard, Bone Whistle on the Stele

"The timing doesn't match up."

After finishing the account of the experience on the side of the Dark God, Du En said this calmly.

Because they had used the guards to clear the path and provide observation, they had actually wasted a lot of extra time, to the point that they had only just finished exploring this problematic mine tunnel.

Yet on the side of the Dark God, the process of the old Daoist Chi Li returning to his residence and dying had been a very brief one.

"On the way here, through the position of the sun in the sky, I had already sensed this point, so it seems that I was caught in some trickery without even realizing it."

"To put it bluntly, I fear that when we sought out the old Daoist Chi Li, we were already influenced by some method employed by the other party or something else; it was more concealed, not merely some evil nature floating on the surface."

"We were discovered long ago; the attention we couldn't perceive, the methods we couldn't detect—this really is a stark polarization, isn't it? Either it's a small scene that can be settled with ease, or it's a bizarre and unfathomable strange scene where one doesn't know where to start."

The two people and one god each had their own words to say, their tones different, but none were shaken or fearful; rather, they were more intent on continuing their actions to catch that fellow who dared to toy with them.

Thus, the two also told the Dark God about the situation here.

"Now that the old Daoist Chi Li has run off after putting on a show of mystery, we can only immediately go to the family ancestral grave of the Venerable Nine Clouds to investigate."

These words from Du En sounded like a final conclusion.

The Dark God nodded first, then asked with concern: "Do we not need to investigate that so-called evil nature we captured first?"

As he spoke, he looked toward the side of Sheng Zhaoshui.

He chuckled and was just about to say something, but Du En had already acted decisively, answering while walking: "The True Monarch specifically gave that treasure to capture the evil nature, so he must have his own thoughts on it; in other words, we cannot consume that wisp of evil nature right now."

"Uh, that is indeed the case."

Sheng Zhaoshui, who had wanted to explain quite a bit, was summarized so quickly that he could only nod in cooperation.

The Dark God said no more, following the pace of Du En and his group, hurrying toward the ancestral grave of the Venerable Nine Clouds.

The one responsible for leading the way was a guard from the City Lord's Mansion, because although Sheng Zhaoshui knew about their family's ancestral grave, he did not know the specific path, and now that his divine sense had experienced various errors, even though he had locked onto the location through screening, it was still better to rely on someone who had been assigned to guard the grave to lead the way.

Although the direction of this journey was very consistent with the location locked onto by the three of them with their divine sense, making it seem as if they had been overthinking.

In short, it did not take long for the group to arrive at this new destination.

The family ancestral grave of the Venerable Nine Clouds was not located within the city, but outside the north of the city, at a distance from Nine Clouds City, in a hidden valley bordering the mortal realm.

Such terrain should normally be relatively dark and damp, a place that accumulates yin and stagnant Qi, damaging the family's fortune; it would be impossible to choose as a family graveyard.

However, it was clear that the situation for cultivators needed to be treated differently.

Especially since the cultivation history of the Venerable Nine Clouds' family did not start with himself, but had been passed down for quite a few generations; therefore, through ordinary operations like opening the valley to invite the sun and ventilate, as well as various acts like setting up arrays, prohibitions, and connections, this family graveyard had been turned into a place even better than a geomantic treasure land, and the guarding force was truly not small.

Especially after the Venerable Nine Clouds became a Great Cultivator, he further deepened and consolidated it, making this place as solid as a fortress, difficult for a large group of Nascent Soul stage cultivators to break into at once, and there were also specially arranged personnel to guard it.

The group coming over so unreservedly naturally attracted the attention of those guards.

"Who is... ah? My Lord? This subordinate is rude, I hope my Lord will forgive me!"

The leading late-stage Nascent Soul guard leader hurriedly leaped out, then hurriedly knelt to plead for mercy.

Du En's ruse was still continuing, and the other party naturally mistook his identity.

"Get up."

"Thank you, my Lord!"

"Have there been any abnormal situations here recently?"

"Reporting to my Lord, no, everything is normal. Whether it is the arrays or other prohibitions, there have been no changes caused by outsiders breaking in. The graveyard is patrolled by personnel at all times, and it is as quiet as ever; all the former Lords can rest in peace."

The guard leader was somewhat uneasy, thinking that he had been relatively slack in his daily duties, always leaving the patrolling to his subordinates, and thus had drawn the Venerable Nine Clouds here.

But very quickly, he noticed something wrong: behind this Lord whom he hadn't seen for quite a while, those guards from the City Lord's Mansion were almost all wounded, their expressions revealing desolation, looking as if they had just experienced a bitter battle and had encountered a terrifying enemy.

But if Nine Clouds City had been attacked by some powerful enemy, it would be impossible for there to be no movement here at all; furthermore, the Venerable Nine Clouds, this City Lord, was calm and composed, unscathed, his demeanor far surpassing the past, which did not match the situation of the guards behind him.

The more the guard leader thought about it, the more strange and suspicious he felt.

Little did he know that at this moment, the guards looking at him and the other guards who had hurried over to pay their respects were secretly filled with pity, followed by a strange sense of relief at dragging others down with them! Anyway, they were already like this, and you are all in the same boat as us, so why should you be able to live your lives peacefully? Glancing at their performance, Sheng Zhaoshui only shook his head slightly, lamenting that if they didn't change this attitude, how could they survive later, which made the Dark God feel a bit strange.

Then this slacker fellow discovered it and started talking to him on his own.

Du En didn't pay attention to the chattering behind him, only saying to the graveyard guards: "Lead the way."

"Yes."

Responding with a sound, the guard leader didn't dare to ask more, leading them into the family graveyard.

At this moment, a question became obvious: which one was the ancestral grave the only son of Nine Clouds spoke of? Or was it this entire graveyard and cemetery?

The whole thing was clear at a glance; using divine sense to search, they didn't see or discover any abnormalities.

Du En looked calmly at the luxurious tombs one by one and said very directly: "Go, open all the tomb chambers and carefully inspect the situation inside!"

"Ah? My Lord, this... will it not disturb the former Lords?"

"It will not."

Even if they had turned into ghosts or some other evil things, Du En could try to suppress them all back, so naturally, it would not.

While the guards were still subconsciously hesitating and suspicious, the guards from the City Lord's Mansion had already rushed out in a hurry, like wolves and tigers, looking as if they were going to ravage the place.

"This, my Lord, at least the coffins..."

"Open them all, inspect them carefully, do not miss a single spot."

"Yes, yes..."

Although this guard leader was relatively lazy on weekdays, he was not actually that bad of a person, which was why he had been thrown here to sit on the bench for nearly a hundred years; it was also because he didn't fit in that the Venerable Nine Clouds trusted him to guard his family's ancestral grave well, without worrying about anything else.

"From today on, you are the guard leader of the City Lord's Mansion, work hard."

Du En said this, making the other party freeze.

A turn of fortune!

A turn of fortune indeed! I also have a day where I am trusted by my Lord, ah no, by the Venerable One... wait a minute, you guys be gentle! The new guard leader, looking at the rough tomb-opening actions of those guards, immediately cast aside the excitement that had welled up and hurriedly took his men to assist in the supervision.

Even if there was a reason, and it was the decree of the Venerable One, the ones buried here were the former Lords! "Hey! These guys probably already realize you're a fake, so they have no scruples at all; they are showing you their loyalty!"

As Sheng Zhaoshui said this, the Dark God cast a glance at Du En.

How about we shut this fellow's mouth first, to save him from continuing his slacker chattering! Clearly, the Dark God and Sheng Zhaoshui still couldn't get along.

However, Du En's attention at this moment was on the other side. On Zhu Qing.

As he stepped into the restrictions of this grave-guarding formation, the foreign aura tainted at the source of his life force was beginning to stir!

Was his younger sister, Zhu Yi, right here? He secretly paid attention and made judgments.

But there were no other clues for the moment, so he could only continue to observe.

About an hour later, all the tomb chambers had been opened, and all the coffins had been inspected.

No one had turned into a ghost, nor had anyone become an evil corpse; the whole situation appeared exceptionally normal, and there was simply no way to find where the problem lay.

The guards were uneasy, secretly glaring at the new leader who had just taken office and was already bossing them around.

—If not for his obstruction, they would have continued to dig three feet into the ground, determined to dig up new clues for this cold-blooded and heartless superior, hoping only that their loyalty and sincerity would win his favor so they wouldn't be used as expendable materials.

Du En did not pay much attention to this, because the focus was still on Zhu Qing.

The situation inside his body became more apparent, and at the same time, because he heard the report and knew there were no clues, he was worried sick about his younger sister, becoming dazed and distracted.

In this state, he was finally driven by internal factors and subconsciously took a step forward.

Du En followed closely behind him, while An Shen and Sheng Zhaoshui began to stay alert to their surroundings, lest any sudden situation disturb the key changes occurring here.

The graveyard fell quietly silent.

The guards also sensed that something was wrong; they didn't even dare to breathe loudly, putting on a submissive look and trying hard to minimize their presence.

Zhu Qing was not disturbed in the slightest, walking in this dazed manner until he arrived before a tomb chamber.

Raising his eyes to look, several lines of text were strikingly written on the tombstone.

Tomb of the late father, surname Xu, given name Ruying; son Jiuyun, courtesy name Shang, inscribed by Xu Tianci.

The tomb chamber of the father of Ascendant Jiuyun! "Eh?"

Zhu Qing was somewhat stunned and surprised, as if he had seen something, and walked over quickly.

The key was that Du En, on his side, actually did not see it...

Couldn't see it? Fiery Eyes of Truth plus Pupil of the Source, fully activated.

Brilliant light intertwined like flowing plasma, and two pupils with concentric ring patterns emerged, instantly pushing his observational power to the limit without any other enhancements.

In other words, the divine ability Undying Holy Source, activated.

An Shen and Sheng Zhaoshui had also intended to use their own methods, but the suddenly surging ripples of Dao from Du En made them stop their actions, because that was already a significant source of interference, and continuing to channel their own would only yield half the result with twice the effort.

Then the two of them exchanged glances, silently communicating their thoughts through their eyes in this instant.

If the guards could see the two of them right now, they would only think their relationship was truly good, being able to communicate just by relying on their eyes.

Du En did not care about anything else now, staring fixedly at the tombstone in front of him.

At its top, something was finally reflected in his field of vision.

A small bone whistle, extremely crude, completely like something a child had ground out haphazardly.

"It really is it, Yiyi, my younger sister really has been here, this is her personal item!"

Zhu Qing felt as if he had found a way out of a desperate situation; he took the small bone whistle and turned his head, speaking to Du En with excitement.

Following his contact, the whistle seemed to fall back into the human world, and others could suddenly see it directly as well.

Du En silently retracted his physical divine ability, extinguished his Dao techniques, and asked: "This thing looks a bit special to me, what is its specific origin?"

His words calmed the other's excitement, making Zhu Qing quiet down as he rubbed the small bone whistle in his hand.

"Actually, there is nothing special about it; it's just that when I was young, I ground it out from a piece of cow bone to coax my younger sister, telling her it was left to her by her parents, and that as long as she blew it, she could call back their souls, so she always treated it as a treasure and always kept it on her person..."

By the time he finished speaking, his worry surged again, actually breaking through Du En's great magic power.

He simultaneously noticed that the tainted aura of Zhu Qing's life source also emerged along with it, quietly sinking into the small bone whistle, and then it disappeared without a trace.

"Interesting!"

As that aura flowed out and emerged, the god and the human also sensed it; Sheng Zhaoshui immediately muttered, though his expression appeared grave.

An Shen was also extremely grave, seemingly already brewing a countermeasure, not wanting to repeat the same mistakes.

Du En remained calm: "Can you let me take a look at it?"

"If it is to find my younger sister, naturally there is no problem, but it is so ordinary, and after this..."

"Rest assured, it will be returned."

"Many thanks, my lord, thank you for your magnanimity!"

Zhu Qing breathed a sigh of relief and only then handed over the small bone whistle.

Taking the bone whistle, Du En observed it before his eyes; it indeed appeared plain and unremarkable.

"Could there be a problem with this Zhu Qing?"

An Shen was the first to ask at this moment.

"There shouldn't be any problem; when that evil nature appeared earlier, he had absolutely no unusual movements."

Sheng Zhaoshui said this, looking as if he had already done his best at the time, but clearly that was not the case.

"The point now is this whistle; although it proves Zhu Yi has been here, the Jiuyun family ancestral grave is visibly ordinary, so it was clearly just a passing visit. We still have to use other methods to continue following the vine to find the melon."

Du En said this, seemingly having already made a plan in his heart.

So An Shen did not ask further about this, but was somewhat concerned about another point: "I feel like we are now like marionettes on a stage, not only completely under the gaze of others, but also being invisibly manipulated in every move we make."

It was very similar to his previous situation, but clearly much worse.

"There is no help for it; information is missing, time is missing, and even countermeasures seem to be missing. We can only dance as much as possible and see if we can pull chestnuts from the fire when the stage catches on fire!"

Sheng Zhaoshui spread his hands and said this.

He had basically figured out An Shen's pulse! So An Shen immediately fell into silence.

Du En did not dwell on this topic: "Next, I will try to track and provoke that aura, and Daoist An will..."

He only spoke of his own tracking plan, not caring about the topic of marionettes.

(End of chapter)