Chapter 32

Eleven o'clock at night.

The He family manor was brightly lit. Usually, at this time, the He family was still bustling with visitors, and those who came to seek help were either rich or noble.

But today, the He family closed its doors to guests, and the whole family appeared solemn and silent.

In the inner hall of the mansion, in the center, He Huan lay on the cold bluestone slab, stark naked. Her breathing was weak, but her body appeared stiff.

"This is how she was when we found her."

He Fei looked at He Huan, who was already like a walking corpse, his cold eyes unable to hide his rage.

"Where was she found?"

Just at this moment, in the inner hall, a middle-aged man with a majestic expression and slightly graying temples spoke.

He was He Huan and He Fei's father, the current head of the He family, He Tairan.

"In her own room." He Fei looked coldly at his father and said in a deep voice.

"The primordial spirit is broken... she will never wake up again," He Tairan just glanced at her lightly and said indifferently.

"What?" He Fei's expression changed drastically, looking at He Huan, unable to hide his pain.

"Who... who exactly did this?"

The pain on He Fei's face turned into monstrous anger in an instant.

"Good technique, not even a trace can be seen, and the method cannot be identified."

He Tairan walked up, his fingertips gently brushing He Huan's body, his brows slightly furrowed.

"Either the person who did it is a master, or the person who cleaned up the mess is a master," He Tairan said indifferently.

"Investigate... the culprit must be someone who entered the He family today," He Fei gritted his teeth and said.

"Investigate? How do you investigate? Investigate whom?"

He Tairan's expression sank abruptly, his gaze like a sword, looking at He Fei.

Most of those who could enter the He family's door were prominent figures in Yujing City, either rich or noble. It was precisely these connections that allowed the He family to gain a foothold in Yujing City, expand their branches, and dominate the Chuma circle.

Investigating these people... wouldn't that be destroying one's own foundation? "Should we just let it go?" He Fei said unwillingly.

"Now is an extraordinary time; everything must be low-key. We cannot investigate openly, only secretly." He Tairan set the tone.

"Extraordinary time? What extraordinary time?" He Fei asked, puzzled.

"You go down first." He Tairan waved his hand.

"But..."

"Go down."

As the words fell, they carried an irresistible majesty. He Fei looked at He Huan's body with unwillingness, then turned and walked out of the inner hall.

He Tairan watched He Fei's departing figure, his fingertips gently brushing He Huan's body, then turned around and bowed lightly to the clear gauze curtain behind him.

Incense curled, the night wind blew, and on the altar behind the clear gauze curtain, a shadow faintly appeared. Its ears were erect, its long tail lay flat, and it was like a thin fox, so thin it was skin and bone, sitting cross-legged like a human, hands folded in prayer.

Burning incense and offering fire, a wild fox practicing Zen.

"The He family has started to have deaths... just as that man said back then, the twenty-year great fortune is coming to an end."

Just at this moment, a strange fox cry came from behind the clear gauze curtain, but it sounded like a human whisper in He Tairan's ears.

"A word worth nine tripods, surpassing kings and nobles... Because of that man, my He family had twenty years of great fortune... Can this fortune not last?" He Tairan frowned.

"Heaven has heavenly fortune, earth has earthly fortune, people have human fortune... Heaven and earth are impermanent, changing every moment... Since ancient times, there has been the theory of the Three Cycles and Nine Fortunes..."

That strange fox cry sounded again, carrying mystery.

The Three Cycles and Nine Fortunes is an ancient theory.

The ancients took one hundred and eighty years as one 【Great Cycle】, and each Great Cycle is divided into three cycles: Upper Cycle, Middle Cycle, and Lower Cycle.

Each cycle is sixty years, divided into three fortunes, each fortune being twenty years.

Just like the past twenty years, it was the 【Eight White Earth Fortune】. Therefore, in these twenty years, industries involving real estate, mining, agriculture, and animal husbandry rose rapidly, containing countless opportunities and creating countless strong people.

When the Eight White Earth Fortune was about to end, these industries also declined.

Starting from this year, it is the 【Nine Purple Fire Fortune】. Industries related to technology, artificial intelligence, energy, and cultural industries will rise rapidly, and many people's fates will change.

An era has the fortune of an era.

Heaven and earth are still like this, let alone a family, a person... "Fortune ends and calamity arrives... That man once said that once the twenty-year great fortune is exhausted, the He family must make a new choice... Once the choice is wrong, it will be eternal damnation..."

The strange fox sound sounded again, echoing faintly in the cold inner hall.

"Eternal damnation? What kind of eternal damnation?" He Tairan frowned and asked in a deep voice.

"Extinction!"

These two simple words made He Tairan, the helmsman of the He family, fall into deep silence.

"Damn it... damn it..."

In the room, He Fei's hysterical voice came. He was like a furious bull, smashing everything he saw in front of him to the ground.

"The old guys in the He family can no longer keep up with the times..."

Just at this moment, a slightly magnetic voice came from the corner, carrying a hint of teasing.

This voice made He Fei calm down slightly.

"You have a way to save her, right?"

He Fei turned to look at the figure in the corner, as if he had grasped the last straw.

"Gluttony is the most precious quality bestowed upon humans by heaven, and it is also a method for becoming an immortal."

The mysterious voice was noncommittal, changed the subject, and suddenly said: "The 'Fangxian Records' says, food is heaven, transforming all things into elixir, and taking elixir to become an immortal..."

"All things in the world are ingredients bestowed by heaven... As long as you eat correctly and eat well... resurrection from the dead and ascending to immortality are not difficult tasks."

The mysterious voice carried deep temptation.

Just like an infant, drinking breast milk at birth, eating rice flour when slightly older, and then eating grains, fish, and meat when even older, strength gradually grows, the body gradually forms, like the metamorphosis of a fly's wings, which is wonderful.

"Gluttony!?"

"Practitioners must pay more attention to eating... There are too many delicacies in this world... Besides thoughts, everything should be tried..."

The mysterious voice revealed a trace of intoxication.

"Can't thoughts be eaten?" He Fei sneered.

"The Divine Demon Sacred Fetus feeds on thoughts, the most ferocious in the world, that is not a method humans can practice." The mysterious voice sighed leisurely. That was his longing, but unfortunately, it was not something ordinary people could touch.

"Besides this, the primordial spirit can also be eaten, but... the Daoist sects have destroyed temples and razed shrines nine times, and such existences no longer exist in this world..."

Harvesting and supplementing the primordial spirit is a great taboo of the Daoist sects. This lineage has no fixed method and no inheritance. It has been mysterious and unpredictable since ancient times, and no one even knows how it appeared. Nine times of temple-destroying and shrine-razing have already wiped it out.

"Heaven creates all things to nourish humans, and humans eat all things to become heaven... He Fei, follow me, and I will let you see a brand new world."

The mysterious voice sounded again, carrying a temptation that no one could refuse.

It was late at night.

Zhang Fan returned home, still alone. He sat in meditation, practiced 【North-South Sect Origin】 for a while, and then began to sleep.

The soft moonlight shone through the window and spilled onto him.

Just at this moment, at Zhang Fan's chest, the mark of the 【Zhenwu Jade Tablet】 flashed with a faint luster, and a soft figure jumped out—it was actually He Huan's appearance.

"My primordial spirit..."

He Huan looked at herself and then at the surrounding environment, unable to believe that her primordial spirit fragments had actually survived.

Just as she was rejoicing, she looked up abruptly and saw a more vast figure sitting cross-legged under the ceiling, looking down at her indifferently.

"Zhang Fan!!?"

He Huan's expression changed drastically, looking in horror at Zhang Fan's primordial spirit. Unlike her, Zhang Fan's primordial spirit was full of ethereal silence. He seemed to have merged with the surrounding environment, without good or evil, without other or self, and without that trace of instinctive consciousness.

"What are you going to do?" He Huan's primordial spirit asked tremblingly.

Hum...

Just at this moment, Zhang Fan's primordial spirit opened its mouth wide and swallowed violently, actually swallowing He Huan's primordial spirit directly.

In the faint moonlit night, in the cold room, a strange chewing sound rang out, great sound is silent, leaving no trace.

(End of chapter)