The night was already deep. This Wangshan Bookstore, with a footprint of over two hundred square meters, suspended in the mountains, was once exclusively for the sole head of the Bai family. Now, it had been usurped, and Yan Chou felt no discomfort, as if it all belonged to him.
For so many days, Yan Chou and his group had occupied the Bai family manor, yet no one from the Bai family dared to utter a single word of protest.
It was only natural. With their ancestor already wiped out by the opposing party, how could the Bai family dare to be anything but compliant?
In fact, the Bai family had offended far too many enemies, especially the Liu family, the Li family, and the Lushan Sect.
Although the incident with the Refining Evil Rebirth Array had passed, the anger of the public had not subsided. Consequently, the Bai family was now in a state of being universally condemned in Rongcheng.
The Four Symbols Mountain, secretly founded by Tong Jingcheng, was also having a difficult time. Lu Jing had specifically dispatched people to the Fujian-Nan region to conduct a thorough sweep, determined to eliminate the remnants of the Four Symbols Mountain to the last root!
With all these factors combined, Yan Chou resided in the Bai family manor with complete peace of mind.
When reading, he lit the most expensive agarwood, drank the most expensive red wine, and smoked the most expensive cigars.
Despite spending over a decade in prison, Yan Chou had not been deprived of enjoying these fine things. Especially in the past two years, various influential figures had lined up to visit him in prison, offering gifts that were increasingly precious. However, Yan Chou accepted nothing except consumables like cigarettes and alcohol.
At this very moment, Yan Chou held a novel written by an author born in the northern part of Jianzhou Province, reading it with great relish.
This author, though unknown, wrote novels that were incredibly authentic, focusing on events within the Xuanmen Daoist and Jianghu circles. His writing was precise, and the plots were tense, suggesting that the story might even be the author's personal experience.
Just then, a knock sounded on the door. Yan Chou closed the novel and called out to the person outside, "Come in."
Yan Shouyi and Lin Zitong pushed the door open and bowed slightly to Yan Chou.
"You two are back so late, you haven't been out having fun, have you?" Yan Chou said with a hearty laugh. "I can understand, I can understand, you're young."
Seeing Yan Chou's impertinent demeanor, Yan Shouyi found himself speechless, neither crying nor laughing.
Yan Chou had two faces: one for his own people, always cheerful and sometimes even cracking lewd jokes; the other for his enemies. During those times, Yan Chou was unyielding and imposing, sometimes even making people feel as though he were the villain.
In the eyes of the Li family, Yan Chou was undoubtedly a heinous scoundrel.
Yan Chou then asked:
"Kid, I asked you to find out about Li Qing'er's matter. How did it go?"
"I met Li Qing'er and obtained something from her, but many other things happened today as well."
Yan Shouyi slowly recounted the day's events to Yan Chou, trying not to omit any detail, as this was a matter of life and death involving vengeful enemies coming to their door.
Yan Chou listened with great interest, showing no signs of worry, and even chuckled from time to time as if he were listening to a joke.
After finishing, Yan Shouyi said with a wry smile:
"Dad, I'm telling you something very serious. Stop laughing. That would be very embarrassing for the Daoists of Shengxian Temple."
Who would laugh heartily instead of being afraid or worried upon hearing that vengeful enemies were coming for them?
Yan Chou laughed and said, "They are a bunch of defeated opponents. What dignity do they have to protect? Moreover, they were dealt with by my son before even meeting me. Should I laugh or cry?"
"That makes sense..." Yan Shouyi was utterly speechless.
"The eminent Daoist you mentioned hails from Kunxu Mountain Shengxian Temple. His ancestor was a disciple's disciple of Wang Chongyang, and also a disciple of the True Man with Iron Feet, Wang Chuyi. This disciple later betrayed his sect and established Shengxian Temple in that desolate place called Kunxu Mountain, teaching Wang Chuyi's skills. But their actions were far from human!"
"They would calculate the sex of unborn babies for pregnant women. If it was a boy, they would keep it. If it was a girl, they would force the pregnant women to take abortifacients. Once, a woman from a village below Kunxu Mountain had three consecutive daughters, all of whom were killed by the eminent Daoist and his followers. These three daughters became vengeful spirits and began to retaliate against the villagers. Your father happened to be passing by, so I acted on behalf of heaven, transcended the three vengeful spirits, and then went up to Shengxian Temple, cutting the eminent Daoist on the face to teach him a lesson."
"This is just one of the most insignificant trivial matters I encountered while roaming the Jianghu in those years. If he hadn't found you, I wouldn't have even remembered it."
As Yan Chou spoke, he chuckled again. "In those years I roamed the Jianghu, I never wrongly killed a good person, nor did I wrongly kill a bad person. Anyone who seeks revenge from me is no good! Twenty years ago, they were my defeated opponents, and they are the same twenty years later. So there's no need to worry about them. Let Xiao Long continue to keep them running around the world, and we'll do our own thing."
He paused and then added, "Compared to those defeated opponents, I am more interested in the ancient texts you mentioned. Bring them out for me to see."
The ancient texts were kept by Lin Zitong. She now took them out and handed them to Yan Chou.
Yan Chou took the ancient texts and scanned them briefly.
Combining the story Yan Shouyi had told with the analysis provided by the eminent Daoist, Yan Chou quickly studied the ancient texts.
At this point, his expression was no longer as relaxed as before.
"Dad, did you discover something?" Lin Zitong asked curiously.
Yan Chou nodded. "Putting aside the story of the general and the princess, the method for achieving immortality that the eminent Daoist spoke of is indeed recorded here."
"Really?" Yan Shouyi asked. "Then they also said this is the lower volume of the Luban Book..."
"That's because they are stupid."
Yan Chou sneered. "What is recorded in the lower volume of the Luban Book is far more stimulating than this so-called method for achieving immortality in this broken ancient text."
Lin Zitong was startled. "Dad, have you seen the lower volume of the Luban Book?"
In fact, even Yan Shouyi had never seen the lower volume of the Luban Book. He had always believed that the lower volume of the Luban Book simply did not exist, and that Xuanmen figures had fabricated it to sow discord and create hatred for the Luban Sect by coveting the content of the upper and middle volumes of the Luban Book.
Seeing Yan Chou's expression now, Yan Shouyi genuinely suspected that the lower volume of the Luban Book might actually exist.
Unexpectedly, Yan Chou fell silent, smiled, and shook his head.
"It doesn't exist?" Lin Zitong did not understand.
"Heaven's secrets cannot be revealed," Yan Chou replied.
Yan Shouyi rolled his eyes. "Could it be that Grandpa lost it when he passed it down to you back then?"
"Of course not!" Yan Chou immediately retorted.
But as soon as he retorted, he realized he had fallen into Yan Shouyi's trap.
While Yan Chou was outwardly refuting the idea of losing the lower volume of the Luban Book, he had actually answered another question: the lower volume of the Luban Book truly existed, and it had been passed down to him by Yan Shouyi's grandfather!
As expected, Yan Shouyi was smirking with a triumphant look.
Lin Zitong's eyes widened. "So, the lower volume of the Luban Book really exists!"