Tomb Raiding: My Family's Last Clan Chief is Little Brother

Chapter 331 Two Ghost Seals
(This chapter contains a personal interpretation of Zhang Menyu, which will be filled in in the chapters "Tibetan Sea Flower" and "Sand Sea".)
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Huo Xiangu poured the boiling water into the tea boat, then used a tea spoon to scoop some pre-prepared tea cake fragments into the teapot containing the tea funnel, and then poured boiling water into it.

"I'm very curious, why would someone like you be willing to stay by the side of a spoiled brat, hiding in the shadows and only acting as a powerful henchman?" Huo Xiangu seemed genuinely puzzled.

Zhang Wuxun snorted lightly, "It's truly rare to hear such high praise from the head of the Huo family, the seventh-ranked of the Nine Gates."

“However,” Zhang Wuxun changed the subject, “if you think that this will make me let it go and willingly do whatever you want, I can only say that you’ve miscalculated.”

"Also, my brother isn't the spoiled rich kid you think he is. He's more capable than you imagine." Zhang Wuxun's eyes gradually turned cold. "It's just a pity you won't see his future. Compared to Huo Xiuxiu, who's all alone after you left, he still has a lot of room to grow."

Hearing this, Huo Xiangu was a little stunned, then smiled bitterly, "That's true, that boy is much luckier than Xiuxiu. With you all by his side, even if he follows Wu Sansheng's old path, it won't be so hard."

Zhang Wuxun looked at her quietly without saying a word.

Huo Xiangu didn't seem to be in a hurry. She calmly prepared her tea, then poured Zhang Wuxun a cup, filling it to seven-tenths full, and pushed it in front of him along with a jade ring.

Zhang Wuxun lowered his eyelids and glanced at it, recognizing that the jade ring was very likely the one on Huo Ling's hand, or perhaps the one on Huo Xiangu's hand. He couldn't help but ask with some doubt, "What do you mean by this?"

Huo Xiangu said calmly, "Sit down. I want to discuss a deal with you."

"A transaction?" Zhang Wuxun raised an eyebrow, pulled out a chair and sat down, his gaze shifting between her empty hands and the ring on the table.

After pondering quietly for a moment, she suddenly realized what was going on and tentatively asked, "What, do you think Xie Yuchen and Huo Zhongling aren't enough, and you want to bring me in too?"

Seeing that he had realized what was happening, Huo Xiangu took a sip of tea and said, "That's right, no one is more suitable than you."

Zhang Wuxun laughed directly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Grandma, you keep going back and forth like this, aren't you? You won't give up until you've figured me out completely. Aren't you afraid that if I really get angry, I'll turn around and harm Huo Xiuxiu?"

“You wouldn’t,” Huo Xiangu said confidently. “To be honest, when I first saw that box at the New Moon Hotel, my first thought was that the person behind it had sent you to threaten me with Xiaoling. I asked you what you wanted, but you didn’t tell me directly.”

The moment she saw Huo Ling's hand, anger and sorrow almost overwhelmed her. She wanted nothing more than to grab the man in front of her and torture him immediately, but she desperately restrained herself.

For Huo Ling's sake, she had to endure it.

“After leaving the Crescent Hotel, I originally planned to have the four of you arrested halfway, but you suddenly sought my temporary protection, and what you said was strange, which made me suspicious of your behavior.”

Zhang Wuxun suddenly pointed out that there were rats hiding in the dark watching them, which surprised Huo Xiangu.

Ever since she received the videotape, she has felt as if someone is watching her, and she can tell that those people are clearly not members of the Huo family.

Therefore, she has never slackened in her search for the Zhang Family Ancient Building over the years.

Zhang Wuxun, a newcomer, suddenly revealed the existence of those people and showed obvious hostility towards them, which made Huo Xiangu suspicious of his identity.

Either he was sent by the opposing forces of those people in the shadows, or he betrayed the force that threatened her. Either way, his value is worth reconsidering.

So Huo Xiangu took the opportunity to bring them to the Huo family and had a private conversation with Wu Xiaoxie. One reason was to discuss Yangshi Lei, and the other was to subtly test the waters. Zhang Wuxun's protectiveness towards Wu Xiaoxie was too obvious, and Wu Xiaoxie was the best breakthrough point.

But through Wu Xiaoxie, she learned Huo Ling's true whereabouts, which were completely different from what she had thought. She believed that her daughter was being held captive somewhere by those people and that she was still alive.

However, Wu Xiaoxie's words shattered her hopes. Her daughter had actually been murdered by those people twenty years ago, turning into a monster that was neither human nor ghost, neither dead nor alive, and was trapped in the Golmud Sanatorium forever.

Those people have been lying to her all along!

Realizing this, Huo Xiangu felt a surge of rage. She wanted revenge; she wanted to show those people what would happen if they dared to deceive her.

Zhang Qiling's appearance was an unexpected surprise, making Huo Xiangu realize that her chances of winning against those people were much greater, as no one knew the Zhang Family Ancient Tower better than the Zhang family patriarch.

However, Zhang Qiling has lost his memory, let alone learn the exact location of the ancient tower and how to enter it from him.

To her surprise, the person who had previously left her unsure of whether he was friend or foe was also a member of the Zhang family, and from him she learned the possible truth about what happened back then.

She began to plan a game of chess, and the most important and crucial piece was the Zhang family.

However, before she could make up her mind, Zhang Qiling suddenly said he wanted to leave, and the younger members of the Zhang family also exposed her trick, which made her feel somewhat embarrassed. She could only temporarily provide a place to appease them, and then let Huo Xiuxiu and Xie Yuchen, who had already discussed cooperation, go and test them one after the other.

In her constant clashes with the younger generation of the Zhang family, Huo Xiangu gradually realized that the situation was not entirely under her control, and that she had no choice but to compromise if she wanted to cooperate with these people.

But she was not discouraged; in the face of revenge, everything else could be set aside.

Huo Xiangu knew very well that in the vast Huo family, very few people truly shared her heart. She had long anticipated the current situation and had already made all the necessary arrangements, so she was not flustered.

However, what she never expected was that those people in the shadows would stop at nothing to monitor her. The people from the collateral branches were equally incompetent, failing to even realize that the people around her had been replaced long ago. Furthermore, under their instigation, the collateral branches had been thoroughly infiltrated and riddled with holes.

If I make even the slightest move, those people will do everything they can to follow me.

So she decided to play along and brought along everyone she suspected, intending to catch them all in one fell swoop.

The situation is indeed developing as she planned, and now it has reached the most crucial step.

Huo Xiangu knew that entering the Zhang Family Ancient Building was a matter of life and death, but she had to go in because she knew the purpose of the people behind the scenes very well. Only if she went in herself to get that thing would they believe her. And after she had dealt with the obvious spies in advance, they would have no choice but to activate the spies hidden in the darker places.

Only by removing all these obstacles could she hand over the clean and upright Huo family to Huo Xiuxiu. She had already lost one daughter and could not afford to lose her granddaughter as well; she would not allow Huo Xiuxiu to harbor a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.

After listening to Huo Xiangu's heartfelt explanation, Zhang Wuxun's expression remained unchanged, even bordering on indifferent. He said, "It is indeed touching, but what does it have to do with me?"

Playing the family card won't work on him.

"In the end, you still want to make me a pawn in your hands, or rather, a pawn in Huo Xiuxiu's hands. Do you think I'm stupid?" Zhang Wuxun said with a playful smile.

Upon hearing this, Huo Xiangu's expression immediately changed. All the sorrow on her face disappeared, and she regained her usual composed demeanor. She sighed, "You are indeed very smart. I didn't choose the wrong person."

Zhang Wuxun was somewhat annoyed by her self-talk, "Hey, get this straight, I haven't agreed yet."

"You will agree." Huo Xiangu looked at him with great certainty.

Zhang Wuxun didn't think Huo Xiangu had anything that could tempt him. He himself had a mess to deal with, and if he had that kind of free time, he would have gone to take care of his own Wu Xie.

"I've seen you before," Huo Xiangu suddenly said, her expression as if she were recalling something.

Zhang Wuxun crossed his arms and waited quietly for her to confuse him, treating it as listening to a story.

“No, perhaps it should be said that it is another you,” said Huo Xiangu.

Zhang Wuxun looked surprised. This old woman's stories were quite fantastical. Judging from the tone, she had even created a clone for him.

Huo Xiangu said slowly, "I know you won't believe me now, but you'll be able to tell whether what I'm about to say is true or false. Do you know Zhang Menyu?"

Zhang Menyu —

These three words struck Zhang Wuxun like a thunderclap in a clear sky.

Zhang Wuxun's smile vanished instantly. He leaned forward slightly, narrowed his eyes, and exuded a suffocating, cold, iron-like aura of oppression.

Huo Xiangu was somewhat startled. After calming herself down, she spoke again: "At first, I didn't notice anything special about you. I just thought you were an ordinary member of the Zhang family. But that day, I saw you wiping a knife, a knife with a red fire pattern."

Zhang Wuxun's eyelids twitched; it was an illusion!
He rarely used that knife when going into tombs because it was too evil. He only discovered later that the pattern on the blade was a special blood-drawing groove, which made the knife seem alive. When it came into contact with fresh blood, it would suddenly turn crimson, and at the same time, the crimson flame tattoo on his right chest, which was usually hidden, would start to move.

"When did you first meet him?" he asked.

"Many years ago," Huo Xiangu said, "he was also present during the biggest tomb raiding operation in the history of the Nine Gates."

Zhang Wuxun frowned and blurted out, "How is this possible?"

Huo Xiangu took a sip of tea to moisten her throat and said, "I know this is hard for you to believe, but that young man is indeed named Zhang Menyu. In fact, if you look closely, your features are seven or eight parts similar to his."

"He was one of the Buddha's men at the time, but strangely, he always wore a silver mask on the right side of his face and was taciturn all day long. On his back was the Crimson Fire Pattern Knife that you were wiping that day. The reason I remember him so well is because he was a key member of the team at the time. Every time he entered the cave, he brought back the most bamboo slips and silk shawls."

“He would almost always be seriously injured, but he would still lead the team into the cave the next day. I have a deep impression of this man. I once tried to ask the Buddha about him, but the Buddha remained silent about the man’s identity, only saying that he was a member of the Zhang family.”

"And then?" Zhang Wuxun asked hastily.

"I had other missions later on, so I rarely led teams. I only know that there were heavy casualties that time. He seemed not to have come out of there, but before the retreat, Buddha ordered a search of the face of everyone present, regardless of gender. It seems that Zhang Menyu stole something very important from him, pretended to be dead in the cave, and actually escaped from the team long ago."

"Since then, the Nine Gates have been in chaos. We, the sect leaders, are all too busy to help ourselves, and we have all remained silent about what happened at Mount Siguniang back then." Huo Xiangu looked at Zhang Wuxun and sighed. "Since then, I have never seen him again. I think you know what happened after that."

From Huo Xiangu's words, it can be inferred that she and Zhang Menyu actually had no interaction.

Zhang Wuxun lowered his eyelids, mentally assessing the veracity of what Huo Xiangu had said.

He felt that about 80% of what Huo Xiangu said was true, because firstly, the name Zhang Menyu was not something that could be made up at will, and secondly, Huo Xiangu would not lie to him at this time, because she was nearing the end of her lifespan and could not afford any backlash, and she would not gamble with Huo Xiuxiu.

So it seems that Zhang Dafoye did indeed have a member of the Zhang family named Zhang Menyu under his command back then, but the incomplete scroll he obtained was found by the Zhang family overseas. In other words, Zhang Menyu was originally a member of the overseas Zhang family. So why would he be associated with Zhang Qishan of the Qiongqi lineage?

Could it be that Zhang Qishan's charm was so great that Zhang Menyu, who possessed the Qilin, was willingly subdued?

Zhang Wuxun scoffed at this. He didn't think that someone who was suspected to be his biological father would be so brain-dead. So there was only one possibility: Zhang Menyu wanted to get something from Zhang Qishan, so he pretended to surrender.

Finally, Huo Xiangu did indeed say that Zhang Menyu faked his death and "stole" something from Zhang Qishan. This thing was very important to Zhang Qishan, and he was even willing to offend the other disciples to find it.

Something this valuable, after much thought, is very likely the Ghost Seal.

The Ghost Seal that Xiao Ge had when he entered the Bronze Gate was probably taken from the Lu King's Palace and given to Chen Pi Asi, but he didn't give it to Chen Pi Asi in the end. Let's not dwell on the dispute here for now.

Therefore, after the young man came out of the bronze gate, the ghost seal should still be in his possession.

The Ghost Seal photographed at the Crescent Moon Hotel has been hidden in the secret room of the Water's Edge by Zhang Wuxun. The password to open the door is in the secret letter in the white wooden carved box. This Ghost Seal is to be left for Wu Xie to use when he goes to the Bronze Gate to pick up Xiao Ge.

Returning to the topic, why did Zhang Menyu take the Ghost Seal from Zhang Qishan back then? What was his purpose? Did he also go to Changbai Mountain?

Why did this ghost seal end up at the Crescent Hotel?

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(End of this chapter)