Chapter 151: Medicine Sect's Movements

Liu San Ye's tears streamed down, he seized both their hands, his words faltering: "Good children… you are good children! Old Liu San Ye here… thank… thank you! From now on, whenever you need this old bone of mine, just give a shout!"

After finally calming the agitated old man, Zhang Jun and Lin Xue instinctively looked toward the White Pagoda Temple.

The old residence remained as it was, hidden and tucked away, exuding an aura of age-old antiquity.

But the aura of that gray-robed old man, which merely sensing from afar would make one's skin crawl, had vanished.

It disappeared completely, as if it had never been there.

"Gone?" Zhang Jun frowned.

"I can't sense him anymore; I don't know where he went." Lin Xue also examined carefully, shook her head: "In the inheritance, there's little said about him; it only mentions he was Medicine Sect's final 'Gatekeeper', extremely powerful, seemingly not wholly under the altar's power."

Gatekeeper…

Zhang Jun instinctively touched the copper piece on his chest, Lin Xue opened her palm to look at the azure crystal within.

After the altar's light faded, these two items hadn't completely ceased; they still faintly pulsed.

That vague sense of being drawn also hadn't broken, it just no longer pointed to the underground of the White Pagoda Temple.

"They're still guiding us." Zhang Jun felt the warmth coming from his chest, the copper piece's slight throb giving it a hint of liveliness.

Lin Xue's azure crystal emitted a soft, steady light, the chill retracting. "The direction has changed." She raised her hand and pointed; it was exactly opposite the White Pagoda Temple.

"It seems the Medicine Sect's secret isn't limited to this White Pagoda Temple nest." Zhang Jun's mind stirred, vaguely feeling that the copper piece and crystal were probably not just simple keys to open the altar, but themselves deeper clues.

Just then, the two almost simultaneously sensed several deeply hidden probes, carrying a weighing intent, sweep icily over them.

Not strong, but that covert, sneaky scrutiny from the darkness made their nerves instantly tense.

"Someone's set their sights on us." Zhang Jun's voice sank.

"Not just one group." Lin Xue's perception was finer; she could tell the probes came from different directions, their auras varied—some familiar, some completely unfamiliar—but all revealed an undisguised… greed.

Zhou Qian had fled, but the commotion from the altar was too great. Their surge in strength could not be hidden from the old foxes lurking in the capital.

The water surface, calm for decades, was thoroughly churned up by these two mighty dragons.

"Qin Family people?" Zhang Jun asked.

"There are Qin Family scouts, but more are others." Lin Xue shook her head, adding a note of caution: "Some sensations are strong, utterly unfamiliar."

Zhou Qian was badly injured; he couldn't leap about in the short term, but he and the Shadow Organization behind him would certainly not let this go.

Now, as they emerged, more wolves drawn by the scent came running.

"Looks like we won't get any peace from now on." Zhang Jun grinned, the smile lacking ease, instead holding a ruthless readiness to bare his fangs at any moment: "Perfect, saves us from having to seek trouble one by one."

"Where should we go now?" Lin Xue asked. The White Pagoda Temple side was temporarily safe, but outside everywhere were eyes.

Zhang Jun lowered his head to glance at his chest, then at the direction Lin Xue's crystal pointed. "Where else could we go?" He spoke with a sense of inevitability: "Naturally, we follow where they point. The Medicine Sect's secret, once a corner is lifted, there's no reason to cover it back up. Zhou Qian's old trinket he painstakingly crafted, the root of that evil technique on Liu San Ye's body—both are surely tied to this. If we don't dig all of this out, future trouble will be endless."

"Good." Lin Xue nodded, without a hint of hesitation.

The inheritance gave not only power, but also a heavy burden and an inescapable fate.

"Let's go." Zhang Jun reached out and put his arm around Lin Xue's shoulders; the two stepped out side by side from the small courtyard.

Their silhouettes quickly merged into the darkest night before dawn in the capital.

The two had just stepped over the threshold of Liu San Ye's small courtyard.

From all directions, countless gazes stuck to them, chilly, filled with estimation and scrutiny, as if they wanted to see them through inside and out.

"Heh, we've become living targets now." Zhang Jun muttered low, his feet not stopping as he pulled Lin Xue into a narrower, darker alley beside them.

"The Medicine Sect's inheritance has been exposed; even the hidden rats must come out to sniff the wind." Lin Xue's voice remained as calm as ever, but her fingers gripping the azure crystal tightened.

She could tell.

Several auras bore the Qin Family's distinctive upright and stern quality, but compared to when at the altar, they were noticeably more cautious.

Qin Yueyao was startled, yet her surveillance had not been withdrawn in the slightest.

There were also several that were dark and sticky, exuding a queer vibe, somewhat like Zhou Qian's old ways, but hidden deeper and with greater intensity.

Further away, there were still some auras completely unfamiliar.

Some were terrifyingly heavy, some overbearing and domineering, some indescribably strange.

All stared from afar, for now not baring their fangs, yet that scrutiny was enough to make one's neck prickle with cold.

"News spreads fast enough," Zhang Jun snorted, "those who don't know might think we dug up someone's ancestral grave."

Capital City, Qin Family Manor.

Qin Yueyao stood by the window, outside the sky a dull gray.

Her subordinates were reporting in low voices.

"Reports from all eyes: at least five groups of unknown origin are secretly investigating Zhang and Lin's backgrounds and whereabouts. One of them has an aura pattern close to Zhou Qian's Shadow Organization, but feels of a higher rank."

"Zhou Qian's side?" Qin Yueyao asked.

"His usual haunts are empty, people completely gone. But we've intercepted some fragmentary news: there's movement within the Shadow Organization, as if a more formidable figure is about to intervene."

Qin Yueyao said nothing, her fingers lightly tapping the icy windowsill.

After a moment.

"Keep watching, don't get too close. Tell our people not to stir trouble for now. I need to find out, besides us and Zhou Qian, who else is eyeing this Medicine Sect thing."

Somewhere in an underground safe house.

Zhou Qian's aura was so weak it could snap at any moment, yet he resembled a mad beast driven to desperation.

Before him floated a palm-sized small banner, black qi coiling in silken threads, countless anguished, twisted ghost faces faintly visible on its surface, emitting soundless wails.

"My lord, using the Soul-devouring Banner exacts too great a toll on your body…" a Shadow Guard beside him said, his voice trembling.

"Shut up!" Zhou Qian coughed up a mouthful of blood laced with black threads, his voice hoarse and terrifying: "If I don't slaughter those two brats and retake the altar, this old man's life is over! I've already reported to the Superior; the Superior is very interested in what those two brats carry! The Black Judge will arrive soon! Before then, I'll use this banner to send them a big gift to sample!"