Chapter 294: Tian Yuqing’s Trouble

Tian Yuqing received a letter.

It was an unusual letter. Written on the paper were four words: “Mist, Willow, Rain, Cease.” This was a secret code unique to the Five Masters. When translated using the He Clan’s cipher, it revealed an address, instructing him to go there to collect the goods.

However, what troubled him was not the cipher, but an extra line of text: You need a living dead man.

This was truly baffling. Tian Yuqing sat under the veranda drinking tea, listening to the wind and rain while carefully pondering the sentence. The letter had been sent by an elder, so it was impossible for it to be a mistake or a flawed sentence.

According to the letter, the prerequisite for retrieving the goods was to first find a “living dead man.” Tian Yuqing had no idea how to interpret this “living dead man,” but based on his past experience, the phrase was almost certainly meant more literally.

A living dead man could be understood as someone existing between life and death, sharing a special relationship with both.

Tian Yuqing quietly pinched the bridge of his nose, picked up his phone, pulled up an unfamiliar number, and quickly sent off a text message: Keep an eye out for recent changes in the industry and related sectors.

He was not one to fixate stubbornly. Since he couldn’t figure anything out from the literal words for now, he would use another approach to divine the elders’ intent. For instance, why would retrieving the goods require a living dead man? What role would this person play in the process?

The answer was obvious.

The elders must have known his capabilities thoroughly before officially selecting him. Thus, Tian Yuqing deduced that to retrieve the goods, he had to find this dead man. This person would help him obtain the items, and the elders believed that without them, he would be unable to succeed on his own.

And Tian Yuqing’s capabilities in the trade were plain for all to see.

That alone eliminated more than half of the potential candidates for a “living dead man” within the industry.

Tian Yuqing carefully pieced together recent events in his mind. After an unknown amount of time, a flash of insight struck him. He remembered that in the bottom left corner of the letter was a sketch of a sheep’s horn.

In the reception hall of Guhua Pavilion, the eldest young lady of the Gan Clan held a teacup and took a sip of water. The men and women in the hall were deathly silent. Standing in stark contrast to these well-dressed people was a “beggar” in ragged clothes with disheveled hair.

Tian Yuqing sat in the armchair belonging to the Tian Family, unable to resist sizing the man up a few more times.

“How much money will it take for you to do it? Name your price,” Gan Rong said, fiddling with the string of beads in her hand.

The beggar waved a hand at her, though his voice sounded surprisingly young when he spoke. “It’s not a matter of money. You’ve dragged me here by force; I might as well just gouge out these eyes myself and give them to you.”

As he spoke, he suddenly leaned forward from his chair, a sinister smile creeping across his face. Shoulder-length hair obscured his face, leaving only a single eye visible. “I dare to gouge them out right now. Do you dare to take them?”

Having said his piece, the beggar stood up and walked out. At the entrance of the reception hall, he was blocked by several burly bodyguards in black suits. Seeing this, Gan Rong waved her hand. “You can’t stop him. Let him go.”

The bodyguards immediately obeyed and cleared a path. Carrying a frayed, unraveled bag that looked entirely out of place in Guhua Pavilion, the beggar shuffled out of the hall in flip-flops. Tian Yuqing watched his wild, uninhibited figure walk away, then calmly withdrew his gaze.

He stood up, adjusted his long robe slightly, and prepared to leave as well.

Tan Qiu immediately asked him bluntly, “Without that guy, can you handle that thing on your own?”

Tian Yuqing turned his back to them, his footsteps pausing slightly. “I never said I couldn’t handle it. You were the ones who took it upon yourselves to bring him here for a meeting. Sitting here today was already a great risk for me. Since we are divided in spirit, there is no need for the Five Masters to hold these meetings in the future.”

“When do we start?” Gan Rong asked, calmly setting down her teacup as if she hadn’t heard him.

“When the box appears,” Tian Yuqing said.

It was already night by the time Tian Yuqing rushed back to his residence. He quickly packed the items he needed into a bag. Tian Tinghan watched him from a distance. “Big Brother, are you really going alone?”

Without looking up, Tian Yuqing finished stowing dozens of meters of rope and slung the bag over his back. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back in a couple of days. Until then, take good care of the house.”

Without giving Tian Tinghan a chance to respond, he opened a black umbrella and strode quickly across the courtyard, stepping out into the rain.

The vehicle forged ahead up the mountain road in the torrential rain, its headlights shining brightly against the sheet of downpour. Tian Yuqing glanced at the GPS in the car and brought it to a decisive stop at a spot along the dirt road. He pulled the handbrake, opened his umbrella, and stepped out into the mud.

The heavy rain soaked his pant legs in an instant. Ignoring it, he opened the car door, took off his suit jacket, and tossed it into the back seat. He grabbed a more practical windbreaker, put it on, shouldered his backpack, donned a raincoat, and stepped into the deep forest where no path existed.

The woods were dense, and in the pitch-black night, one could not see their own hand in front of their face. Tian Yuqing’s flashlight flickered through the trees as he moved at a speed far beyond that of an ordinary person. He ran nearly a thousand meters in a single breath, stopping only when he spotted a massive estate hidden deep in the forest.

The flashlight beam revealed the terrifying, grotesque ridges of the estate’s roof. In the heavy rain, Tian Yuqing smelled the scent of decaying wood emanating from the structure. Standing at the entrance of the courtyard, he pushed up his sleeve and watched the second hand of his watch tick toward the top of the hour.

Three, two, one.

As Tian Yuqing finished his countdown, the woods beside him shook violently. A dark shadow swept out from the trees—it was clearly the long-haired beggar. Tian Yuqing didn’t give the man a second look, simply tossing the backpack off his shoulder into his arms.

“Change your clothes. I’m only giving you three minutes,” Tian Yuqing said, glancing at his watch again.

The beggar immediately unzipped the bag and began changing out of his tattered clothes. As he kicked off his falling-apart soles, he chuckled. “There’s no need for this, is there? Sure, they handled things a bit crudely, but why keep it from them? If I help you, aren’t I helping the Five Masters too?”

“It’s not the same. I don’t trust them.” Tian Yuqing crossed his arms, his flashlight sweeping inch by inch over the ancient building before them. “Until I have the situation under control, it’s better if we maintain contact like this. Go about your business as usual. Don’t contact me unless it’s absolutely necessary, or unless I reach out to you first.”

The beggar finished changing and instinctively slung the bag over his shoulder. He took a few steps forward, his voice tinged with helplessness. “Even your younger brother doesn’t know?”

Tian Yuqing remained silent.

“Do you know what our current situation feels like?” the beggar asked with a chuckle.

Tian Yuqing gave him a cold roll of his eyes and a look that clearly told him to shut up. Then, taking the lead, he walked out of the woods toward the building.