Alert! The Dragon Lord has emerged from seclusion!

"The Zhao family, the Qian family, the Sun family..."

"They're all secretly gathering manpower; it seems they're trying to take advantage of the situation."

"When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter; when the wall crumbles, everyone pushes it down." A distant uncle, Su Wenyuan, couldn't help but speak up. "Patriarch, the most urgent matter is to seek help from the Murong family. After all, your maternal family..."

"That's not appropriate," Su Qingxue interrupted. "The Murong family in the North is three thousand miles away from Jiangnan. Distant water can't quench a nearby fire."

"Furthermore, my mother insisted on marrying into the Su family back then, which has already created a rift with the Murong family, so they may not be willing to fully help her."

She closed the scroll and looked at Lin Chen: "Mr. Lin, what are your thoughts?"

All eyes in the ancestral hall turned to the corner.

Lin Chen opened his eyes, a golden glint flashing deep within his pupils: "The Netherworld Sect will surely return within three days after this defeat."

"But they will not launch a direct attack again—the Nine Yang Demon Subduing Formation of the Su Family Manor has been exposed, and they will try a different approach."

"In what way?" Su Zhenbang asked.

"Poisoning, cursing, taking hostages, or..." Lin Chen paused, "...to commercially cripple the Su family. Evil cultivators also need money and resources. If we can swallow up the Su family's trillion-dollar assets without bloodshed, why not?"

Su Qingxue nodded: "That's what I was thinking. The Su family has three core industries: pharmaceuticals, real estate, and finance. Pharmaceuticals are the easiest to target—if our medicines are poisoned or our production lines are destroyed, the Su family's reputation will collapse overnight."

She walked towards the map of Jiangnan on the east side of the ancestral hall, pointing to several locations with her slender fingers: "The Su family's pharmaceutical business has a production base in the south, east, and north of the city."

"Among them, the North City Base is the largest, accounting for 60% of the group's total production capacity, and is also the most vulnerable target."

"Uncle Tie".

"exist."

"You will take twelve guards and personally oversee the northern base. All incoming and outgoing raw materials and finished products will be subject to double inspection. All workers will have their backgrounds checked, and any suspicious individuals will be temporarily reassigned."

"Yes."

"Uncle Wenyuan," Su Qingxue turned to the elder from the collateral branch, "You have been operating in the banking system for many years. Please immediately freeze all non-essential financial flows of the Su family, especially the accounts with the Zhao, Qian, and Sun families."

Su Wenyuan was taken aback, then cupped his hands and said, "I accept the order."

One command after another was issued in an orderly manner. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the Su family's large ship had adjusted its course and entered a state of full alert.

After everyone left to carry out their orders, only Su Qingxue, Lin Chen, and Su Zhenbang remained in the ancestral hall.

"Qingxue, you did a great job," Su Zhenbang sighed softly, "more decisive than your father was back then."

Su Qingxue pursed her lips slightly, a hint of pain flashing in her eyes, but it quickly disappeared.

She turned to Lin Chen, her tone softening slightly: "Your injury..."

"It's been suppressed for now." Lin Chen stood up and walked to her side. "But we need to find the second person with the Nine Yin Physique as soon as possible. Miss Su, do you have any leads regarding the matter I asked you about?"

Su Qingxue took out her marriage certificate from her sleeve, and then took out the "Xuan Yin Ji Yao" left by her mother, placing the two items side by side on the table.

"The birth dates and times on the marriage certificate are the same as mine, both belonging to the Nine Yin constitution. However, the Nine Yin constitution is also divided into three grades: Xuan Yin, Han Yin, and Shuang Yin. I am the highest grade, Xuan Yin, while the other six..."

She turned to the middle page of the "Mysterious Yin Chronicles," where a star map was drawn, with seven ice-blue stars arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper.

"My mother mentioned in the book that if seven people with the Nine Yin Body appear in the world at the same time, they correspond to the Big Dipper. I correspond to Tian Shu, the head of the seven stars. The other six should be scattered in six places in Jiangnan, and there should be a faint connection between them."

Lin Chen stared at the star map, then suddenly remembered something and took out the other six marriage certificates from his bosom, unfolding them one by one.

Sure enough, next to the portrait on each marriage certificate, a star was marked with a very light vermilion dot: Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Yaoguang.

"The second one should be Tianxuan Star." Lin Chen pointed to a marriage certificate, "Qin family, Qin Yurou."

Su Qingxue looked at the portrait of the gentle woman on the marriage certificate, her fingertips lightly touching the character "Qin":

"The Qin family of Jiangnan is a scholarly family and has a long-standing relationship with my Su family. Qin Yurou... I think I've met her before, at the poetry gathering three years ago. She was a very quiet woman."

Where is she now?

"It should be in Jiangcheng," Su Zhenbang interjected. "The Qin family's main business is the restoration and publication of ancient books, with their flagship store located on Jiangcheng's ancient street. However..."

The old man frowned slightly: "A strange thing happened to the Qin family half a year ago. Qin Yurou suddenly fell ill with a strange illness. She was always afraid of the cold and had to wrap herself in a quilt even in the middle of summer. Old Master Qin consulted many famous doctors, but none of them could do anything about it."

Lin Chen and Su Qingxue exchanged a glance.

"If the Nine Yin Body is left unguided, the cold energy will spontaneously erode the meridians, indeed causing cold symptoms," Lin Chen said in a deep voice. "She may have already awakened, but doesn't understand the cultivation methods and is being devoured by the cold energy."

"There's no time to lose," Su Qingxue decided immediately. "I'll go to Jiangcheng with you."

"No." Su Zhenbang and Lin Chen objected simultaneously.

"You are the head of the Su family. If you leave now, the clan's morale will surely be thrown into chaos." Lin Chen shook his head. "The Netherworld Sect is eyeing us covetously. You need to stay at the heart of the clan."

"But your Nine Yang Burning Heaven Body..."

"It can last another half a month." Lin Chen smiled, but a golden fire flickered in his eyes. "That's enough."

Su Qingxue remained silent for a moment, then suddenly took out an ice-blue jade pendant from her bosom. It was the Cold Heart Jade that Lin Chen had seen that day.

"This is my Su family's ancestral 'Ice Heart Pendant,' carved from thousand-year-old cold jade. It can temporarily suppress restless yang energy. Wearing it will allow you to last for five more days."

She handed over the jade pendant, her fingertips accidentally touching Lin Chen's palm.

The moment the icy cold and the scorching heat touched, both of them were jolted.

The jade pendant automatically adhered to Lin Chen's palm, and a cool aura flowed through his meridians, calming the turbulent Nine Yang True Qi within his body somewhat.

"Thank you." Lin Chen solemnly put it away.

"Furthermore," Su Qingxue turned and walked towards a side room of the ancestral hall, and after a moment took out a sandalwood box, "this is the key to the Su family's secret vault, which contains gold, silver, elixirs, and magical artifacts. You may take whatever you wish."

She then handed over a black card: "Globally valid, limit of one billion. The Qin family is of noble character, but it's inevitable that money will be needed to bribe officials when treating patients."

Lin Chen did not refuse this time.

He knew that in worldly affairs, money was sometimes more useful than spiritual cultivation.

"We'll depart in three days," Su Qingxue concluded.

"In these three days, you need to help me thoroughly stabilize the Profound Yin Origin. In exchange, I will transcribe the section on cultivating the Nine Yin Body from the 'Profound Yin Manual' passed down by my mother for you—it should be helpful in your search for the other six people."

"make a deal."

……

into the night.

Su Qingxue's meditation room.

This quiet room is located in the basement of the small building. It is built of bluestone and the walls are inlaid with thirty-six luminous pearls, arranged according to the stars in the sky.

The ground is engraved with a huge yin-yang symbol, with warm jade covering the eyes of the yang fish and cold jade covering the eyes of the yin fish.

Lin Chen and Su Qingxue sat facing each other on the Yin-Yang fish eyes.

For the past three days, the two have been cultivating here for two hours each day.