Whether it was because of the lighting or something else, Zhuge Heng’s face was livid.
Fu Sang did not care whether his face was green or white.
He casually pulled over a chair and sat down, even leisurely crossing one leg over the other.
“It’s really different when you’ve been an important person for too long. You really know how to keep your composure. Even setting fire to your family’s ancestral hall couldn’t force you out, but the moment I came to flip through the archive room, you became anxious. What’s hidden here that I shouldn’t discover?”
“…They really weren’t wrong,” Zhuge Heng did not answer Fu Sang’s question.
He tugged at the corner of his lips, giving out what looked like a rather unpleasant smile.
“Zhuge Fusang, eccentric, difficult to approach or get along with, self-centered, extremely arrogant and conceited, not knowing the height of heaven or the depth of earth, disregards etiquette, rules, laws, and principles. He does things without distinguishing good from evil or black from white, disregarding all costs and consequences.”
Fu Sang nodded in agreement.
“That’s a very accurate summary. And then? Does this mean you didn’t believe in evil and came looking for me, only to discover that I’m much harder to deal with than you imagined, so now you regret it?”
“Not exactly. I just feel that the price I’ve paid for this deal seems a little too high.”
“That was your choice.”
Fu Sang’s posture was relaxed, and his tone was indifferent.
“You were the one who took the initiative to say that my movements wouldn’t be restricted during curfew. I think you must have mentally prepared yourself for what I might do during this period before giving me such authority. What? Did my actions exceed your expectations? You never specifically emphasized that I wasn’t allowed to burn down the ancestral hall, either, right?
“Besides, I haven’t even had the chance to ask you what you wanted by following me all the way from Jiangchen Residence to the ancestral hall and then to the archive room. Were you trying to get hold of something you could use against me, or quietly take a look at my Crimson Evil? Didn’t your daughter say you were too busy with affairs to meet me? Could it be that following me around was the family head’s important business?
“For a shrewd old bastard like you, who appears generous and proper on the surface, but secretly hides things, lies through your teeth, and even stalks and tails people, I’ll have to think carefully about whether our cooperation is still worth considering.”
“…” Zhuge Heng was truly left speechless by the shamelessness of this junior.
He admitted that he had his own considerations. He had deliberately given Fu Sang the freedom to move around because he wanted to see how Fu Sang would behave and what he would do after obtaining absolute freedom within the family.
After all, Zhuge Fusang was Zhuge Lin’s disciple. Although he knew that this kid hated Zhuge Lin to the bone, there was no guarantee that Zhuge Lin might not bring out even more generous conditions ahead of time and turn hostility into friendship with this kid. The master and disciple could join forces and turn their spearheads toward the Zhuge family together.
Zhuge Fusang and the seventh-rank Crimson Evil under his control were undoubtedly a powerful weapon capable of intimidating the entire Nether Path. It would not be an exaggeration to say that whoever obtained Fu Sang would obtain the Nether Path. If he and Zhuge Lin joined forces, pretending to surrender while actually infiltrating the main branch as a spy, passing information and coordinating from inside and outside, it would be an extremely troublesome problem.
If Zhuge Heng could discern this through the clues beforehand, he could reduce many unnecessary losses and also have time to consider some special methods to deal with this master and disciple pair.
Who would have thought that this troublesome young man would not only be frighteningly perceptive and discover him from the very beginning, but would also completely refuse to play by the rules, constantly provoking and angering him. He was capable of doing anything to achieve his goals, a complete madman. Now, one fire had completely overturned what Zhuge Heng had considered a perfect plan, doubling the losses he had originally wanted to avoid and putting them all on his head.
And now, judging from the situation, this person did not feel guilty at all. He did not think he had done anything wrong and even seemed intent on biting back and shifting the blame onto him.
“Then what do you want?” Zhuge Heng could only bite the bullet and respond.
“I gave you trust and sincerity, but your attitude toward me was too unclear. What I did was merely use my own method to confirm your position while trying not to affect you as much as possible. After all, this is not a small matter. I have to be responsible for this entire family. I hope you can understand my difficulties.”
“I don’t understand. I only know that I wasn’t trusted. I’m very hurt.”
Fu Sang shrugged, then suddenly changed the subject, saying meaningfully:
“Your Shaosi is indeed quite interesting.”
The fox’s tail had finally been exposed.
Zhuge Heng frowned.
“You mean…?”
“I want to know his identity,” Fu Sang paused, then continued, “and I want to meet him. He frightened me in the ancestral hall. I want to hear him apologize to me.”
“This…”
“You know, in the past five thousand years, there has only been one seventh-rank Crimson Evil, and now he is my pet. He obeys my every word, and I dote on him very much. If you want to take him from me, what you proposed earlier was already not enough. Now that you’ve caused this incident as well, I think I should have the qualifications to bargain.”
“I told you, his identity is a core secret of the family. Until you become…”
“I don’t care.”
Fu Sang interrupted Zhuge Heng.
“…” Zhuge Heng’s expression became even worse.
He pondered it for a long time before finally making some sort of decision. He gritted his teeth and spoke.
“I can’t make that decision if you want to meet him. Unless there are special circumstances, he won’t meet anyone, including me. As for an apology, if you get the chance to meet him and have the courage, you can ask him yourself.
“As for his identity… All I can say for now is that his existence has supported the Zhuge family’s glory for nearly a thousand years. You can imagine the weight of that statement as much as you like. I really cannot reveal anything more.”
“The core secrets of the family must never be passed on to outsiders. Originally, this was something only the family head of each generation had the right to know. The fact that I can tell you this much already means I’ve broken the family rules. If you want to know all the details, you must wait until I’ve confirmed that you and I stand on the same side. This is the greatest concession I can make.”
Fu Sang raised his eyebrows, seemingly considering what Zhuge Heng had told him.
If he still could not get anything out of him even after all this, then it really was a matter of principle that could not be revealed. There was no need to waste more time on it.
A core secret, whose existence had supported the entire Zhuge family’s glory…
He really knew how to describe it. It was indeed easy to make people imagine endlessly.
“I hate being schemed against, and I also hate it when people play what they think are clever little tricks in front of me. This is the first time, and I hope it will also be the last. If there’s a next time, and I find out about it, it may not be just your ancestral hall that gets burned down.”
An excellent businessman had to know when to stop after gaining enough. Fu Sang raised his chin and gave a simple summary of his confrontation with Zhuge Heng, indicating that the matter had come to an end for now.
Afterward, he returned to the main topic.
“Since the family head’s business is finished and you now have time to stand face-to-face with me here, shouldn’t you also tell me what this so-called ‘Zhuge Lin’s plan’ that can’t be mentioned in front of outsiders is, and exactly what you want my Crimson Evil for?”
Zhuge Heng was now in an awkward position, like riding a tiger and finding it difficult to get off.
He originally wanted to wait a little longer, until he had confirmed that Fu Sang and Zhuge Lin were not on the same side before discussing these things. But now, not only was he still uncertain, he had also lost an ancestral hall. When asked about these matters, he had to obediently tell the other party the secrets and plans without leaving out a single word. In the end, he had gained nothing from either side.
When faced with a situation he was not yet certain about, Zhuge Heng could naturally refuse Fu Sang and find an excuse to delay things for a while longer. But he was worried that doing so would make this strange-tempered young man unhappy again, causing him to do something outrageous and make another huge scene.
His ultimate goal was still to achieve cooperation, not to push the person farther away because of all sorts of messy concerns and create an extremely troublesome enemy for himself. If Fu Sang was still neutral at present, but because of this matter took a dislike to him and directly chose to pinch his nose and help Zhuge Lin, then he would truly have to slap his thigh in regret.
So Zhuge Heng decided to grit his teeth and make a big gamble while everything remained unclear…to gamble that Fu Sang was not Zhuge Lin’s person, and to gamble that Fu Sang’s hatred for Zhuge Lin was even deeper than he had imagined.
But Zhuge Heng still felt aggrieved.
He had dominated the winds and clouds from the family head position for decades. Who in the Nether Path did not lower their head respectfully when they saw him? Who would have thought that in his later years, he would have to lower himself, swallow his anger, and be manipulated and squeezed by a brat whose hair had not even fully grown.
That was only because he needed something from him now.
When the situation reverses in the future…
Zhuge Heng’s eyes turned cold, and he did not think any further.
“Come with me.”
Afterward, as though he had sighed and resigned himself to his fate, he stood up with his dragon-headed cane and walked toward the depths of the archive room.
Fu Sang watched his movements and followed behind him unhurriedly.
Zhuge Heng slowly walked toward the Seven Life Fate Wheel.
The footsteps inside the room were very light, but the sound of the cane hitting the floor was heavy, knocking out one dull thud after another.
After entering the archive room, Fu Sang investigated Zhuge Qi and Zhuge Mingyun and had not yet had time to study this famous artifact. Now that he was approaching it, he took the opportunity to examine it carefully.
The main body of the Seven Life Fate Wheel was shaped somewhat like a drum standing upright. Its front was a circle about half a person’s height in diameter. Together with the wooden stand specially made to support it, the whole thing looked like an exceptionally tall grandfather clock.
The whole thing was ivory-white. The lighting inside was too dark for Fu Sang to tell exactly what material it was made of. It might have been white jade, bone, or ivory.
Its surface was fairly smooth, with many unintelligible incantations carved into it. The outer ring looked as though it had been fitted with a gear covered in complicated and exaggerated patterns.
The gear was turning slowly. The teeth along its edge were irregular. Some were sharp like wolf fangs, while others had been worn down into blunt angles. Their sizes, lengths, and shapes were all different. Dark brown fragments were wedged between the teeth, and it was impossible to tell whether they were traces of rust or dried blood.
“This artifact was made by our ancestor Qiyueban. This should be your first time seeing it, right?”
Zhuge Heng raised his hand and gently stroked the Fate Wheel.
“Our ancestor was the only genius in the history of the Nether Path. He was not only proficient in incantations, but also skilled at creating formations and artifacts. His hands left many treasures behind for our Nether Path.”
“One thing worth mentioning is that when he made artifacts, he had a particular habit. He liked using bones.”
“Whether human bones or animal bones, once they were removed from flesh, they would naturally carry extremely strong resentment. Ordinary people might not be able to control it, but our ancestor could transform that resentment into his own power during the process of making the artifact and inject it into the artifact itself. Therefore, the artifacts made by his hands were all of extremely high quality and possessed spirituality of their own. To this day, no one has been able to understand the principles behind them, let alone replicate them. Later generations cannot even make minor repairs to them.”
As he spoke, Zhuge Heng suddenly changed the subject.
“Don’t you also carry some bone-made artifacts on you?”
Fu Sang listened half-heartedly.
He had no interest in listening to people praise Qiyueban. When he heard this sentence, he sensed something was off and immediately stopped him.
“What does this have to do with what you want to tell me? Even if I have them, they’re mine. Are you saying you want to look at them, or do you want them?”
“You’re overthinking it.” With his hint exposed so bluntly, Zhuge Heng felt somewhat embarrassed.
The pointless talk was forced to end. He reached toward the back of the Fate Wheel and felt around for a moment. Then, with a “click,” the floor behind the Fate Wheel slowly opened, revealing several steps and a pitch-black passage below.
“Come with me.”
Zhuge Heng supported himself with his cane and went down first.
The passage was quite spacious, more than enough for two adult men to walk side by side. Looking down, the ground was paved with bluestone slabs, while both sides were built from stone bricks. Every few steps, an eternal candle was lit in the passage, its dim light barely illuminating the road ahead.
It was very cold and gloomy here, and the air carried an old, damp smell that was not particularly pleasant.
Fortunately, the passage was not very long, and they soon reached the end.
A thick stone door stood at the end, with a heavy bronze lock hanging on it. Zhuge Heng stepped forward, took a key from his pocket, and inserted it into the lock.
Fu Sang watched his movements, recalling the direction they had taken along the way, and asked:
“Where is this?”
“Underground of Buer Hall in Yunling Mountain Residence.”
Buer Hall?
Fu Sang knew this place. It was the main hall where the old men and women of the mountain residence received guests and discussed matters. It was the largest and most imposing building within the mountain residence, occupying its central position. Even the family head’s pavilion had to give way to it.
“You left the main branch when you were twelve and never systematically studied the courses afterward. Then do you know how we Nether Path Spirit Masters guide ghosts?”
Zhuge Heng suddenly asked this question out of the blue.
Fu Sang really could not answer this.
He only vaguely remembered that Huo Wei had mentioned before that when she went on missions with her senior brothers and sisters, she had never seen the actual process of guiding them. At the end of a mission, they usually just packed the ghosts up and brought them back to the main branch for the seniors to deal with.
“It’s right that you don’t know, because this is one of the Zhuge family’s most core secrets.”
Zhuge Heng pushed open the door.
After the heavy stone door opened, a strong aura carrying dense resentment and the smell of blood rushed toward them. The viciousness of its momentum and the weight of its karma made Fu Sang instinctively disgusted.
He frowned and raised his eyes toward the inside.
He really had not expected that such a space could be hidden underground beneath the mountain residence.
This place was extremely vast, like another world carved out underground. Countless stone spikes of different sizes and lengths hung from the ceiling, resembling stalactites, or icicles formed beneath the eaves of a house in winter.
The ground was carved with many dark-red incantations that spread from beneath their feet into the depths, all the way to the end, where they climbed up the stone wall opposite them.
The stone wall was covered in moss, and several clumps of withered grass reaching up to the knees grew beside it. Among the grass stood several crooked stone tablets.
This should have been an enclosed space, yet now that he was standing here, Fu Sang could sense that the aura here was flowing.
Following the direction of the terrain, he finally discovered a crack about two fingers wide running across the moss-covered stone wall opposite. The crack stretched from the bottom of the stone wall all the way to the top, with a dark-red void behind it.
The stone wall seemed to be “breathing.”
Because Fu Sang could clearly feel its rhythmic breathing. When it inhaled, it almost sucked all the life force from the cave dry. When it exhaled, it continuously filled this space with extremely threatening blood-filled resentment.
“This place is called the ‘Cui Xing Gate’. Cui, as in urging, and Xing, as in traveling. It means that once ghosts reach this place, they cannot turn back or linger. Everything from the living world must be put down.”
Zhuge Heng faced the Cui Xing Gate and narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Very few people know that Nether Path Spirit Masters actually do not possess the ability to convert or guide the resentment of underworld spirits. To guide souls, we can only rely on these incantations, formations, and this gate left behind by our ancestor.”
“The space behind this gate lies between the worlds of yin and yang. It was an independent space our ancestor opened up for later generations.”
“The Spirit Masters trained by the Zhuge family capture underworld spirits causing trouble outside and bring them back to the main branch. Then we old fellows bring the underworld spirits here and use the power of the formation to separate their souls from the resentment that caused them to become ghosts. Afterward, the souls are freed and returned to the path of reincarnation, while the resentment and negative emotion are stored inside the gate, waiting for a long period of time to slowly dissipate and break down.”
“There are simply too many people in this world who died unjustly and could not find release. You should have seen it too. The resentment accumulated behind the Cui Xing Gate has already reached an extremely terrifying level. If the Cui Xing Gate were damaged, the resentment inside would pour out. For the Nether Path, that would become an unprecedented catastrophe.”
“Zhuge Lin had once been a core member of the main branch, so he naturally also knew the secret of the Cui Xing Gate.”
“I originally thought that after all these years, he should have let it go, but I never expected that he still could not accept the departure of his daughter. He had become increasingly insane and even wanted to drag the entire Zhuge family, even everyone in the world, into the water and have them be buried with his daughter.”
“He wants to destroy the Cui Xing Gate, allowing the resentment behind it to surge back into the living world and wreak havoc. You may not know what consequences this would bring, so let me put it this way.”
“When the ownerless resentment behind the gate returned to the living world, it would actively seek hosts. Even an ordinary first-rank underworld spirit could surge to the sixth rank after being infused with a massive amount of blood qi and resentment. Zhuge Lin’s daughter, Li Guizhen, is a very successful example.”
“With the current average strength of Nether Path Spirit Masters, even an excellent Spirit Master would struggle to deal with a fourth-rank one alone. If hundreds or thousands of sixth-rank Vermillion Nightmares appeared in the world, I simply cannot imagine the consequences.”
“As for why I want your Crimson Evil… it’s because only the Crimson Evil can resolve this situation.”
“A seventh-rank Crimson Evil is an absolute power gap to underworld spirits. Calling him a Ghost King would not be an exaggeration. If we send him into the Cui Xing Gate and use his own aura to suppress and control the ownerless resentment, making it submit and become part of him, then forcibly make him sacrifice himself, the resentment behind the gate would disappear along with him into heaven and earth, and this calamity could be resolved.”
“…Sacrifice?”
Fu Sang raised an eyebrow slightly, carefully savoring his choice of words.
Zhuge Heng thought Fu Sang did not quite understand what “sacrifice” meant, so he took the initiative to explain.
“When underworld spirits reach the fifth rank, their resentment merges with their souls and can no longer be separated. This means they can no longer be guided and can only be killed.”
“To kill and to sacrifice, in plain terms, are the difference between killing someone else and suicide. In theory, getting a seventh-rank Crimson Evil to willingly end its infinite life and powerful strength, disperse itself to settle everything, melt away its own resentment, and let it turn into spiritual energy that nourishes the earth, disperses into the wind, and sleeps together with heaven and earth, is something that is almost impossible to accomplish.”
Upon hearing this, Fu Sang gave a cryptic twitch of his lips.
“But?”
“But…”
Zhuge Heng stared at him.
“As you said, you are his master.
“You can make him do it.”
