Jiaohua

Chapter 1678 One by one, we'll see.

Xia Zhaoyi was never afraid of other people's gazes. Feng Qingang's gaze had frightened many people, but it was impossible for it to frighten her.

She looked directly at Feng Qingang and gradually smiled: "You won't tell me?"

"I've said enough, or you can beg me."

“It doesn’t matter,” Xia Zhaoyi’s eyes flashed with disdain. “I asked you just on a whim. If you really don’t want to talk about it, then don’t. I am curious, but not so much that I absolutely have to know.”

Feng Qingang scoffed, "Ali, you're still young. As you get older, your curiosity will only intensify."

"Even as I get older, I don't have the time to waste on this matter."

"What if you also lived forever? You would still have a day when you feel bored and empty."

Xia Zhaoyi smiled brightly: "That's perfect. I have a plan for a hundred years, a plan for a thousand years. If I really achieve immortality, I will have enough time to see peace and prosperity."

Feng Qingang was in so much pain that he was drenched in sweat, but he still laughed loudly: "But what if you see them all alone? You send off your relatives and friends one by one, don't you want to keep them here to accompany you in your immortality?!"

Xia Zhaoyi frowned slightly and turned to look at the old man.

She didn't take the word "immortality" to heart, but Feng Qingang's question made her feel inexplicably lonely, empty, and lost.

"Master, what do you think?"

The old man said calmly, "Let's just wait until one dies."

"..."

The old man looked at Feng Qingang and said, "Man follows the earth, the earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao follows nature. If I were to live for several hundred years like you, that would be her good fortune, a stroke of luck, not the norm of heaven and earth. Others' relatives and friends will die, and so will hers."

Xia Zhaoyi blinked gently, a faint smile appearing in her eyes.

Master is trying to comfort her again.

Xia Zhaoyi looked back at Feng Qingang and returned to the main topic: "When my men and I were scaring you just now, we discovered that you had forgotten or you don't even know the way around here. The map you have belongs to Wei Xingchuan's men, right? We also got several copies, including the masks they made. So, Feng Qingang, tell me, why do Wei Xingchuan's men have such a detailed map?"

Feng Qingang said coldly, "Naturally, it was given by a traitor."

Xia Zhaoyi said, “Several months ago, when I was in Yong'an, I sneaked into Nangong Qiuming’s residence. They had been investigating a man named Zeng Yuanzhi, whose ancestral home was in Xinchun County, Zhuzhou. He was a minor official in the Ministry of Rites of the Great Qian Dynasty. I think you should have met his ancestors. However, I intercepted Zeng Yuanzhi, and he is now in Shen Lie’s hands. Because of Zeng Yuanzhi, I suddenly thought that those who served under Han Ruiqian and you back then must have been deeply knowledgeable about ritual implements, laws, sacrifices, celestial phenomena, and astrology. To avoid being silenced by you, their best option was to use their talents to enter the Ministry of Rites, hide their identities, and avoid your pursuit. Later, Wei Xingchuan, Fan Zhuyi, and others saw this and set their sights on Li Qian’s Ministry of Rites. As for you, you don’t know how to manage things, you only enjoy killing, you use underhanded tricks, you live a life of darkness, like a withered skeleton in a tomb. You can barely survive, you are only fit to hide your head and tail, and you certainly have no ability to compete in the Ministry of Rites.”

Feng Qingang's eyes were bloodshot. He looked down at the map, which was covered in blood, and then viciously plunged his dagger into it.

Xia Zhaoyi's words struck a nerve with him, especially the sentence, "You don't understand business."

Han Ruiqian was a king of a different surname, a title he earned through military merit.

Han Ruiqian was covered in injuries, with many internal organs damaged. In order to alleviate the pain, he began to refine pills and make medicines, and gradually began to pursue the path to immortality, becoming obsessed with it.

An old injury flared up, lasting for five days. Han Ruiqian was in unbearable pain and took medicine haphazardly. He eventually hallucinated and killed everyone around him, including his wife, concubines, and children. Exhausted, he collapsed and died with a high fever. When he opened his eyes again, he was Feng Guoqiao.

He was originally a low-ranking servant in the Thousand Autumns Palace. He was discovered while spying on the so-called magical treasures of several sorcerers and fell into a deep abyss during his escape.

After becoming Han Ruiqian, wealth and power fell from the sky.

He inherited everything from Han Ruiqian, including Han Ruiqian's pain and frail body.

He had been trying to maintain his health for hundreds of years, traveling far and wide to seek out renowned doctors and sorcerers. He finally cured his old ailment, but that was all. He could no longer practice martial arts and was unable to move around much.

As for business, he knew absolutely nothing about it. At that time, he had no strategic thinking whatsoever and could barely read.

Han Ruiqian did leave him a lot of wealth, but because he was unable to maintain it and squandered it all, he soon ran out of money.

Wei Xingchuan was adept at maneuvering. Although those families weren't exactly devoted to him, they had been working for him for centuries, whether willingly or not.

Tang Xiangsi was a good-for-nothing, but he was extremely lucky. Every time he was down on his luck, a benefactor would pick him up and give him money, allowing him to make a comeback.

For example, Shen Lie's maternal grandfather, Guo Shu, gifted Tang Xiangsi an immense fortune.

When Guo Shu was young, he went to Nianhua Zhai to seek treasures and unexpectedly saved Tang Xiangsi. Later, he was attracted by Tang Xiangsi's talent and, knowing that Tang Xiangsi was in dire straits, he not only generously helped him out of his immediate crisis, but also bought him a mansion, hired servants, and helped him rise to prominence.

For decades afterward, the two maintained contact without interruption.

But Tang Xiangsi, that good-for-nothing, still couldn't hold onto the money Guo Shu gave him. However, he was then targeted by the Northern Yuan people, who gave him even more money.

Feng Qingang scoffed, saying that a lump of mud that couldn't be plastered on a wall was still being tried to be propped up by one person after another!

Xia Zhaoyi could tell that Feng Qingang was lost in memories, and they were terrible memories.

After a pause, Xia Zhaoyi continued, "The treasures such as the Fuguang Qinghe Book were acquired from Han Ruiqian, not by your own will. However, after taking over, you continued the production of these treasures without stopping, which shows that these treasures also catered to your greed. Feng Guoqiao, what is your greed?"

Feng Qingang kept his head down and lifted his eyelids.

That look in his eyes resembled that of a ravenous alpha wolf.

“The treasures he created were solely for the purpose of changing his fate,” Feng Qingang said.

Xia Zhaoyi said, "You also want to change your fate?"

"Han Ruiqian wanted immortality, and I wanted rebirth; we were of the same mind. He had many treasures, and the mere Fuguang Qinghe Book was just one of them. It became famous because after it was completed, before I even had a chance to properly appreciate it, the craftsmen rebelled. They imprisoned me here." Feng Qingang turned back to look at the stone door behind him.

"When I came out again, several of my treasures had been stolen, including the Book of Pure Harmony and Bliss. Because it was composed of nine pictures, it was easy to break apart. I tried my best to recover them, but I only managed to get back four pieces. Then, two more pieces were stolen."

As he spoke, Feng Qingang closed his eyes and slowly said, "If all nine pieces of the map are found, then a complete star chart will appear in the Fuguang Qinghe Book. It was drawn by the great astrologer Jiang Lü, who was asked by Han Ruiqian. Six kinds of star charts can be deduced from the movement of light and shadow in the sky. One of them, I was surprised to find, was the star chart of the night before the day I opened my eyes after Han Ruiqian's death."