Chen Yan walked over, patted his black suit, and smiled, "Brother, do you have a cigarette? Lend me one, I came out in a hurry and didn’t bring any."
The man in the black suit glanced at Chen Yan. Although he had seen Chen Yan always following Chu Keqing today, he hadn’t paid much attention to Chen Yan due to his youthful appearance.
At that moment, Chu Keqing smiled and said, "I haven’t properly introduced you yet. Nephew, this is Chen Yan. He is not a disciple of our Cloud Sect. He comes from the family of a renowned elder within our industry from the Mainland.
That elder trusts me enough to send him to my side for some experience."
The man in the black suit’s eyes suddenly brightened!
The Cloud Sect Leader had to address someone as ’renowned elder’, which meant he was no ordinary person.
So, this young man named Chen Yan was a relative of a big shot!
Immediately, his gaze towards Chen Yan became more enthusiastic.
Quickly pulling out a pack of cigarettes, he smiled, "Brother Chen Yan, let’s have a cigarette together. I didn’t get my fill earlier."
Chen Yan nodded with a smile, and then both of them walked out of the mourning hall, heading to the courtyard outside.
They found a wind-sheltered spot, stood together, and smoked a cigarette while making casual conversation.
He deliberately inquired about the origin of the wreaths seen in the mourning hall today, suspecting that many of them were from local mystical figures in Port City.
In particular, he noticed a name: Zhong Hongliang.
Of all the signed wreaths, there was only one with the surname Zhong, naturally making Chen Yan pay attention.
"Oh, you mean Elder Zhong. He’s really famous in Port City. People outside call him and our master the Twin Immortals of Port City, with ’North Huang and South Zhong’.
Our master’s dojo is here in Kowloon Tong, which is an old district.
Elder Zhong’s business is in the south where the wealthy reside.
So, Elder Zhong’s fame might seem comparable to that of our master, but he earns much more than what our dojo does. Even those rich tycoons on Tai Ping Mountain treat Elder Zhong as an honoured guest.
In this matter, our master... alas..."
Black Suit realized he had talked too much, as a disciple shouldn’t gossip about his master. He quickly changed the topic, saying, "Elder Zhong sent a wreath this time but didn’t come himself. I heard he had an accident over a month ago when he was doing some geomancy work in the mountains and broke his leg.
Since then, Elder Zhong has been resting at home for over a month and hasn’t gone out much.
It’s normal. It takes a hundred days to heal from such injuries, especially for an elderly person. An older person who breaks a leg takes much longer to recover compared to a younger person. So, it’s likely he won’t be going out for a while."
Chen Yan nodded as he listened.
That incident where Elder Zhong broke his leg was probably when I used the Curse·Tracking Technique with the paper effigy to pin his Primordial Spirit. He didn’t notice it in time and ended up injured...
Over a month without going out?
After the two finished smoking in the courtyard, Chen Yan returned to the mourning hall and saw Chu Keqing sitting on a cushion, burning paper money in the brazier again.
In the corner, a second disciple was sound asleep. Black Suit came in but didn’t wake him up; he just quietly stood at the door, smirking.
Chen Yan walked over, Chu Keqing nodded slightly to him, and Chen Yan knew that everything was settled.
After burning another stack of paper money, Chu Keqing pretended to yawn and then stood up to rest. Chen Yan nodded to Black Suit and followed Chu Keqing out.
After returning to her room, Chu Keqing parted ways with Chen Yan, who left for an unknown destination.
After seven or eight minutes, Chu Keqing’s door was knocked. She opened the door and let Chen Yan inside.
Chen Yan carried a pile of things when he entered the room and placed them all on the table. Chu Keqing looked over and saw a pair of copper scissors, a stack of talisman paper, and a small box of cinnabar.
These were fetched by Chen Yan from other rooms in the dojo—after all, in a dojo, items like talisman paper and cinnabar were easy to find.
Chen Yan slowly pulled out a brush from his bosom—the very brush that You Su Yi had given him, made from fox tail hair.
Next, he requested the birth date Eight Characters of Huang Mingyi from Chu Keqing, dipped the brush in cinnabar, and lightly wrote them on a piece of talisman paper. He then picked up the copper scissors and quickly cut the talisman paper into a palm-sized paper effigy.
Chu Keqing took a deep breath and revealed a crumpled piece of paper money from her pocket!
Opening the paper money, it contained a small tuft of hair!
"Did the second disciple notice when you cut the hair in the coffin?" Chen Yan asked Chu Keqing.
Chu Keqing shook her head, "I was afraid he would wake up midway, so after you went out to smoke, I placed a talisman on his head to make him sleep. After cutting the hair, before you returned from smoking, I removed the talisman—no one would notice."
Chen Yan noticed Chu Keqing didn’t look very well and frowned, "You..."
Chu Keqing shook her head and sighed softly, "It’s nothing. It’s just that seeing our third senior brother dead in such a state broke my heart."
Chen Yan nodded without saying a word, and gently pointed with his finger, causing the tuft of hair on the paper money to float up. A flame appeared, burning it into a wisp of blue smoke.
Chen Yan silently recited a spell, swiftly formed several fingerprints with his fingers, then exhaled a breath of Primordial Qi and softly commanded, "Go!"
The strand of blue smoke floated towards the paper effigy inscribed with Huang Mingyi’s birth date Eight Characters!
Then, under Chu Keqing’s attentive gaze, the paper effigy twitched and slowly floated up!
Not some talisman art!
A spell that could be cast without relying on drawing talismans!
Chu Keqing’s heart surged with excitement, her eyes filled with radiance as she intently observed the entire casting process, fearing to miss any detail.
Watching the paper effigy float, Chu Keqing took a deep breath, subdued her excitement, and softly asked, "Senior, what is this..."
"Your senior brother’s birth date Eight Characters, combined with his hair! I’m using the Tracking Technique on his Primordial Spirit! This paper effigy will naturally return to your senior brother’s Primordial Spirit... his soul."
As Chen Yan spoke, Chu Keqing saw the paper effigy in mid-air... move!
Chen Yan stood up immediately and gently pushed open the window.
The paper effigy floated out through the window...
Chen Yan’s face turned solemn, "Let’s follow it; it will lead us to your senior brother’s soul."
After saying this, he grabbed Chu Keqing’s wrist, leapt out, activating the Escape Rune Technique, and the two of them glided out through the window...