The Rise of a Family: Starting from Daily Intelligence - Chapter 400 (Patreon)

Chapter 400: Heavenly Sound Stone Vein, Opening the Coffin, Killing to Silence Witnesses

“Kan’er, have you investigated your mother’s matter?”

Once the array was sealed, Fu Changsheng could no longer hold back.

At the mention of his mother, Kan’er’s face showed a trace of sorrow. “Grandfather, the Soul Lamp my mother left in our Soul Hall has already gone out. As for what happened before her death, Grandfather—His Grace—ordered that no further investigation be made. Your grandson…”

The Soul Lamp has gone out? Yet the one left with our Fu Clan still burns.

There was no need to think—this had clearly been the Seventh Commandery Prince dressing up Ningning’s disappearance as a natural death to protect Kan’er’s reputation. “Kan’er, tell me everything you know—leave nothing out, not a single detail.”

The dead are like a lamp snuffed.

Kan’er didn’t understand why his maternal grandfather insisted on bringing this up again, but he obediently condensed everything he had looked into after returning home and gave a succinct recounting.

Fu Changsheng listened, his brows knitting tighter.

If Ningning truly meant to elope, she ought to have slipped away in secret. Why leave openly through a Teleportation Array and hand others a handle to seize? That was the first point.

Second, this lover’s background was too clean—so clean there wasn’t a single friend or relative to be found.

Third, the Commandery Princess Consort’s sudden death and Ningning’s disappearance happened almost back-to-back—obviously there was some hidden trick in between.

Most crucial of all: everything fit together too perfectly.

After a round of analysis, Fu Changsheng reckoned that if he wanted to know Ningning’s whereabouts, he would likely have to ask the Commandery Princess Consort herself. But now she was dead—no one to confront!

Seeing Fu Changsheng’s expression shift again and again, Kan’er asked cautiously, “Grandfather?”

Fu Changsheng came back to himself and switched to Fange’er’s situation. “The Prince said that ten years ago he recommended your eldest maternal uncle to the Great Zhou Academy as an instructor. Do you know of this?”

“Mm.”

Zhou Kan’er nodded repeatedly at last—something he actually knew. He hurriedly said, “When Eldest Uncle was teaching us at the residence, he got on famously with Master Zhou from the Great Zhou Academy. When Master Zhou returned, he invited Eldest Uncle to go back to the capital together. After Grandfather—His Grace—learned of it, he specially wrote a letter of recommendation. In previous years, Grandfather even received a thank-you letter from Eldest Uncle, saying all was well at the Great Zhou Academy.”

Fange’er replied to the Seventh Commandery Prince, yet didn’t think to send a word to Mei Zhen in Jingzhou. That style didn’t fit Fange’er at all. Did his heart go wild after reaching the capital?

Jingzhou and the imperial capital lay not merely ten thousand li apart.

Fu Changsheng regretted not giving Fange’er a Shadow Gate Mask back then. Now he knew nothing of Fange’er’s situation.

Seeing Fu Changsheng fall silent, Zhou Kan’er said, “Grandfather, are you worried about Eldest Uncle?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. You still need to enter Heavenly Secrets Valley next. Go back and shut yourself in for a proper preparation.”

Once the boy left, Fu Changsheng shut the array again.

At the same time, a familiar mechanical voice sounded in his mind.

“Ding.”

“Your wife Liu Meizhen has successfully persuaded the Lei Clan and the Cao Clan. The three families have formed an alliance regarding quotas for the Kunlun Minor World. You gain 500 family contribution points.”

Right after, the family contribution points on his panel changed to six hundred.

Fu Changsheng’s eyes lit up.

These points came at just the right time. Without hesitation, his will fell onto the sea-of-consciousness panel. “Redeem intelligence!”

On the spot where everything happened, his system had upgraded—this time it ought to refresh relevant intelligence.

The Prince’s manor could not be searched at will, and with the Seventh Commandery Prince issuing a gag order, everything concerning Ningning could only rely on intelligence. If he could also learn a thing or two about Fange’er’s situation, so much the better.

Fu Changsheng stared tensely at the panel.

Hum! The panel quivered.

A flood of yellow light surged.

Lines of text unfolded:

[1: A Millennium Snow Lotus lies within Heavenly Secrets Valley.]

Using a Millennium Snow Lotus as medicine could awaken his daughter-in-law Hai Yun’s Water-Spirit Physique. Perhaps once the physique was awakened, she would recover memories related to the South Sea. If he could learn from where she had been transmitted into Great Zhou, it would be even better.

However, the intelligence did not specify the lotus’s exact location. “Looks like I’ll have to redeem again once I’m inside Heavenly Secrets Valley.”

[2: The Xuantian Token lies within Cloudridge Mountain of Heavenly Secrets Valley. Acquiring the token will grant you one random aspect of the million-fold inheritance left behind by Tianjizi.]

“So Tianjizi truly existed!”

Then was the legend true that Heavenly Secrets Valley had been a battleground between immortals and demons? Fu Changsheng felt a stir of excitement, but quickly shook his head. Based on what he knew, the plane he was on was one of the lowliest among the countless cultivation continents. Never mind immortals—even powers above the Golden Core realm likely could not be sustained here.

Even so, an ancient cultivator’s inheritance was tempting.

“I wonder which inheritance this Cloudridge Mountain Xuantian Token will activate?”

[3: Outside the Misty Ghost Forest, a Xuanxiao Sect disciple named Ren Ziming has accidentally discovered a Heavenly Sound Stone vein near the border of your Fu fief in Huizhou Prefecture. Ren Ziming is a third-rank peak array master. After finding the vein, he did not intend to inform his sect; instead, he and his Dao companion set up arrays and began mining it privately.]

Heavenly Sound Stone?!

Fu Changsheng frowned.

The name sounded familiar.

He slapped his storage pouch, and with a flash of rainbow light, drew out the jade slip list Fairy Tianyin had given him when viewing the clan’s Teleportation Array. It detailed the spiritual materials required to construct such an array—with Heavenly Sound Stone among the indispensable, top-priority rare resources.

“We’ve struck gold!”

If the Fu Clan could take control of that Heavenly Sound Stone vein, then once they found the construction blueprint for a Teleportation Array, they wouldn’t need to beg the court. They could build arrays themselves. Not only at their clan seat Falling Phoenix Mountain, but also Yinan Mountain, the Yunshan Commandery fief, the Huizhou Prefecture fief, and the Jingzhou mulberry estate—five strongholds, five Teleportation Arrays. Talent and resources would circulate with ease, an achievement to benefit the clan for generations. Their rise to a sixth-rank clan would be just around the corner!

Fu Changsheng immediately took out a Shadow Gate Mask and ordered Mei Zhen to investigate Ren Ziming and his Dao companion, and if possible, seize the Heavenly Sound Stone vein without alerting the other sect.

“This batch of intelligence is excellent!”

Even if they didn’t use Heavenly Sound Stone themselves, they could trade it for resources of equal rarity.

The panel still showed three hundred family contribution points remaining.

He would need to hold back a hundred or two for use inside Heavenly Secrets Valley.

But there was still nothing about Ningning.

After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “Redeem intelligence, continue.”

Hum! Words surfaced again:

[4: Your daughter Ningning was imprisoned by the late Commandery Princess Consort in a dungeon and buried in an underground Ice Coffin. Her life hangs by a thread!]

What?!

Fu Changsheng sprang to his feet.

Ningning had been locked in a death cell!

How dare that Commandery Princess Consort!

In an instant, Fu Changsheng’s pupils flushed blood-red. Killing intent surged skyward. Bang—his grandmaster chair, forged from third-tier Skywolf Wood, shattered to splinters. He was about to charge out, but before opening the array he forced himself to calm down.

“Huu—”

He drew a deep breath.

His thoughts raced through what must be done next.

…

In the manor’s main hall secret room, the Seventh Commandery Prince sat cross-legged. Unlike the high spirits he’d shown by day, now his face was pale, his eye sockets sunken—a man with not long to live. As the array in the secret room pulsed, a figure in black flashed into view—the manor’s Left Protector.

Upon entry, the Left Protector saw the Prince open his eyes—though they held no luster. “How did it go?”

“Everything proceeds per Your Highness’s plan. But after the banquet ended, Patriarch Fu specifically called Kan’er over alone. The two shut an array. I don’t know what they discussed. When they came out, Kan’er’s eyes were clearly red—likely over Seventh Young Madam.”

“Mhm.”

The Prince had expected that. He had declared Ningning dead to the outside, but the Soul Lamp kept at the Fu Clan could not be snuffed by that alone. As clan patriarch and Ningning’s father, Fu Changsheng would certainly dig to the bottom.

The Left Protector didn’t much care about that. What worried him was whether the Prince’s body could hold out until the imperial edict arrived confirming Kan’er’s succession. “Your Highness, there’s still one thing I don’t understand. Why must we delay until Patriarch Fu arrives before sending Kan’er to Heavenly Secrets Valley?”

Fu Changsheng had only just broken through to the seventh layer of Purple Mansion. Their manor boasted Purple Mansion peak and even False Core cultivators—talents aplenty. Why Fu Changsheng and no other?

The Prince did not intend to explain, but once he was gone, Kan’er could only rely on the Left and Right Protectors. After a pause, he spoke slowly. “Regarding Kan’er’s succession, I wrote to the Eldest Princess and asked her to have the Heavenly Secrets House cast a divination. She said Kan’er’s fate carries a calamity that can only be resolved by the blood of his mother’s family.”

At that, the Left Protector’s heart tightened.

The Heavenly Secrets House was the dynasty’s most authoritative and mysterious organization.

If they said so, it would not be wrong.

“For now we can only pin our hopes on Fu Changsheng,” the Left Protector said. “After all, among Kan’er’s mother’s kin, the highest cultivation is his. And if Kan’er inherits the manor smoothly, the Fu Clan stands to gain greatly. Whether for benefit or for kinship, they’ll do their utmost. When Kan’er sets out, I’ll grant Patriarch Fu a few talismanic treasures for protection.”

As they spoke, a Communication Jade Slip on the Prince lit up.

He glanced down—it was the pair bestowed upon Fu Changsheng at the banquet. The feast had barely ended—why seek him now?

Curious but discreet, the Left Protector withdrew.

Alone, the Prince sent a hand seal into the jade. With a buzz, the slip trembled, and Fu Changsheng’s voice came through, deep and edged with suppressed fury: “Your Highness, I wish to meet you alone.”

The Prince’s brow creased.

At the banquet he’d seemed perfectly cordial. “What exactly did Kan’er tell him?”

At any other time, he would not see a junior who spoke to him in that tone. Below Golden Core, all were but ants.

But for Kan’er’s sake, he could not refuse. Even so, displeasure stirred—Fu Changsheng was getting ahead of himself, ignorant of his own weight.

He left the secret room, issued orders to the guards, and had the main hall opened wide.

A few flickers, and Fu Changsheng entered, all urgency.

The Prince’s frown deepened. He waved the guards away, sealed the array, and said coolly, “Patriarch Fu, to come knocking in the dead of night—what for?”

“For the life of Kan’er’s mother—my daughter Ningning. Where is the late consort’s private prison? I ask Your Highness to lead the way.”

A throb went through the Prince’s brow.

He was a smart man and understood at once, but he still shook his head. “The side hall where the consort lived was sealed upon her sudden death. Before that I had it searched repeatedly—no one was found inside.”

“Please lead the way, Your Highness.”

Fu Changsheng had no wish to argue or explain.

Every moment lost was one more step toward Ningning’s death.

The Prince met Fu Changsheng’s gaze and saw the madness in it. If he said no, this seemingly reasonable man would storm the side hall regardless, cost what it may.

In him, the Prince saw a shadow of his young self—when he’d broken with his mother, the Eldest Princess. “Come with me.”

He ordered everyone out of the main and side halls, activated both halls’ defensive arrays, and left only the two of them within.

Creak.

The side hall door, shut nearly ten years, opened once more.

The courtyard, long untended, was overrun with ghost-glow grass; the whole side hall lay under a lush green, even the roofs climbed over, the splendor of old gone. Scene stirring grief, the Prince’s eyes flickered with sorrow.

The private dungeon’s protective array still functioned.

With no strength left in his body, the Prince pointed to a black-and-white floor tile beneath the bed. “Inject fire spiritual power into the Qian position of this Heavenlink Stone.”

Without hesitation, Fu Changsheng struck out a hand seal. With a buzz, the Heavenlink Stone flipped. Then, with a rumble, a long stone stair unfolded, plunging down into the earth. As the array opened, Skycloud Lamps flared one by one along the stairwell walls.

The underground death cell reeked of corrosion and stank with lingering death and resentment.

The space was small—only three rooms, the situation within plain to see.

“You see,” the Prince said, turning to Fu Changsheng, “no one here fits who you seek.”

“Xiaobai.”

The intelligence could not be wrong.

Fu Changsheng’s sleeve twitched. With a flash of white light, the Blue-Faced White Fox landed on the floor. Its eyes turned, a few strange lights blooming in them. Then it flashed straight to the innermost cell and chirped twice at Fu Changsheng.

The Prince’s gaze fell on the fox, surprise plain in his eyes. As a royal, he had seen much and touched resources beyond ordinary reach. If he recalled correctly, this Blue-Faced White Fox carried a trace of the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox’s bloodline—and judging from its bearing, it was female, making a bloodline awakening more likely.

So this was Fu Changsheng’s fortune… Ten to one, the Heavenly Secrets House’s “mother’s-kin savior” for Kan’er was this very man.

While he pondered, Fu Changsheng slammed a palm into the floor.

Rumble! Golden light surged across the flagstones as sigils lit up—at a glance, a sealing array.

The Prince froze. He had never imagined his own pillow partner had set another dungeon beneath this one.

Could it be… Kan’er’s birth mother truly was imprisoned below?

If so, the manor owed the Fu Clan an accounting. After all, the man’s daughter had married into the princely house and been confined without cause. The Prince’s detachment evaporated. “Patriarch Fu, brute force won’t break this. Give me a moment.”

Now, he actually hoped his daughter-in-law lived.

He whipped out a jade slip and sent a quick message. Shortly, the Left Protector flashed down the stairs. Seeing the newly revealed prison array, he too paused in surprise.

This time, Fu Changsheng didn’t need to speak. The Prince’s face had gone solemn. “Open the array.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The Left Protector was plainly a profound array master. A sweep of divine sense found the key. Being Golden Core besides, he sent a few hand seals into the array’s Qian position. With a thunderous boom—

The ground split.

A flood of dense yin spiritual power spun up like a whirlwind.

An Ice Coffin rose slowly, bound by sixteen chains.

But the seals on the chains were dim, nearly worn away. Ten-plus years without reinforcement—clink, clink—sixteen chains shivered.

Then—

Bang, bang, bang! One chain after another exploded.

From deep within the Ice Coffin, a presence no weaker than Golden Core flared.

“Careful!”

Fu Changsheng had barely spoken when the coffin lid blew off with a violent force and smashed into the stone wall.

A skeleton leapt out, swathed in thick yin fiendish qi—a devil out of hell. Its bones were crystalline, glimmering with a faint, eerie blue.

“This is…”

The Prince’s heart lurched.

Never had he imagined his consort had raised a Golden Core skeleton—and by rights, it should have perished when she died.

Before they understood, the twin ghost-green flames in the skull’s eye sockets flashed. Its claws slashed through the air like blades, lightning-fast at the Prince’s throat.

Though grievously weakened, battle instinct made the Prince retreat, barely avoiding the killing strike.

“Bold fiend!”

The Left Protector barked, flashing in front of the Prince. His hands wove seals; a golden shield coalesced in an instant to block the talons. Bone met barrier with a shriek of metal on metal—sparks flying.

The skeleton let out a razor howl, thick with spite and rage. It twisted midair, claws lashing again—this time at the Left Protector’s head.

He snorted, flitting like a wraith. Flicks of his sleeves sent golden talismans flying, transforming into chains to bind the skeleton.

It moved with shocking agility. One sweep of its claws, and the golden chains snapped. Its cultivation was clearly at Golden Core—and a shade stronger than the Left Protector.

His face hardened. He dared not be careless. A golden longsword flashed into his hand, the blade blazing—an obvious high-grade magical treasure.

“Cut!”

His low shout sent a dazzling sword light cleaving for the skull.

The skeleton gave a cold laugh and swept a claw, bluntly fending the sword light aside.

Two mighty forces collided with a deafening blast, the entire dungeon shuddering.

Fu Changsheng watched, nerves taut, helpless before a clash of Golden Core might. But if the Left Protector failed to end it quickly, Ningning’s life would be in even greater danger. He crushed a jade talisman from his sleeve. Azure light wrapped him as he prepared to seize a chance amid the chaos to spirit Ningning away.

The battle grew fiercer. The skeleton moved ever faster, claws falling like a storm. Though powerful, the Left Protector began to flag beneath the relentless onslaught. His golden blade was sharp, but the skeleton’s body seemed indestructible—every strike turned aside.

“This skeleton is actually this strong!”

Shocked, he knew he could not drag this out. Otherwise, the consequences would be dire. He whipped out a golden talisman.

“Suppress!”

With a low cry, the talisman ignited, becoming a golden pillar of light that crashed down over the skeleton. It shrieked, movements slowing. Seizing the opening, the Left Protector drove his sword straight through its chest.

Boom!

With a detonation, the skeleton’s body was pierced. The ghost flames in its eyes snuffed out; its frame shattered into a rain of bone shards.

He exhaled, pallid—the fight had cost him much essence.

But just then, the scattered shards gleamed blue and convulsed, skittering inward with a hideous scraping. Before their eyes, the skeleton reassembled, ghost flames flaring anew.

“Not good!”

The Left Protector’s pupils constricted, dread overtaking him.

He vaulted back, hands flying through seals to form another shield—but the skeleton was faster. With a needle shriek, its claws swept, casting a blade of killing chill. The hastily raised shield burst; the Left Protector’s body jolted, hurled into the wall. Blood sprayed from his lips, his face bleaching white. His golden sword slipped from his grasp and clanged to the floor.

The skeleton did not pursue. It uttered a cold laugh, sank, and turned into a streak of blue that burrowed into the earth. The crack sealed over, as if nothing had happened. Silence returned to the dungeon, broken only by the Left Protector’s ragged breath—and the stunned looks of the others.

“What… what is that skeleton?!”

Fu Changsheng’s face changed. He had never seen such a thing—shattered, yet instantly reformed.

The Prince hurried to the Left Protector and pressed a pill into his hand. “Take this healing pill first.”

He swallowed it with effort; some color crept back. “This skeleton is no common thing. I fear it’s beyond Golden Core—perhaps even at False Nascent Soul. The yin fiendish qi is too dense for ordinary cultivators to withstand. Your Highness, we must order a thorough search of the manor at once. We cannot allow it to lurk within.”

While they spoke, Fu Changsheng’s gaze fell into the open Ice Coffin. The air around it seethed with yin chill; his spiritual sense could not probe within. But intelligence said Ningning was sealed inside.

The skeleton’s appearance gnawed at his heart.

He stepped closer. The cold cut to the bone—but he had no mind for it now.

At the coffin’s edge, his pupils tightened; his heart clenched in an invisible grip.

“Ningning!”

Within, Ningning lay quietly, her face serene as if asleep. But her body was pinned by several pitch-black locking nails. Each nail was wrapped in strange witch-lights that exuded a dreadful aura. They sank deep into her limbs and chest, and the witch-light writhed like vipers through her body.

“Ningning…”

Fu Changsheng dared not act rashly. He had never seen these five nails before.

The Left Protector and the Prince came up—and both turned ashen at the sight.

The Prince swept a glance over the nails; his expression grew grave. “Patriarch Fu, unless I’m mistaken, these five are the legendary Soul-Locking Nails—refined by a very profound witchcraft. Soul-Locking Nails not only pin the soul, they siphon it. Of the five nails, three arrays of witch-script are fully lit. That means one soul and five spirits… have already been devoured.”

If they had come any later, then even if she lived, Ningning would have been a vegetable—a living dead.

What a vicious method!

Pain and fury flickered in Fu Changsheng’s eyes.

If he had known, he would never have allowed Ningning to marry into this manor.

The imperial family’s calculations were a hundred times more ruthless than he had imagined.

He clenched his fists until his nails bit his palms and blood dripped between his fingers, unnoticed.

Beside him, the Prince felt guilt and unease. Though it was the late consort’s doing, it had happened under his roof. “Patriarch Fu, so long as Ningning’s three souls and seven spirits are not completely eaten by the nails, there is a way. If we can invite a great witch from the Northern Marches, she can surely be restored.”

The Northern Marches?

That was the most mysterious of regions—north to their east—far, far away. Even the court treated it as taboo and had never considered stepping foot there.

But for now, the urgent matter was to free Ningning from danger.

Fu Changsheng turned. “Your Highness, please remove the Soul-Locking Nails from Ningning first.”

The witch-light around the nails seemed chaotic, yet formed a witch array—something he, a layman in arrays, could not dismantle, much less a witch array.

The Prince glanced at the Left Protector.

After quickly refining the pill in his core, the Left Protector rose and sent a silent transmission. “Your Highness, we’ve already declared to the outside that Seventh Young Madam is dead. If this… gets out, the court will hear of it; Kan’er’s succession may be affected. Moreover, these Soul-Locking Nails are from the Northern Marches. The court shuns such things like snakes and scorpions. If Fu Changsheng spreads word, it will be nothing but harm to us. Your Highness, shall I…”

A hard light flashed in the Left Protector’s eyes.

Plainly, he intended to kill and silence—remove Fu Changsheng and tidy up the late consort’s mess in one sweep. Within the Prince’s manor, erasing a seventh-layer Purple Mansion cultivator would leave no trace. The Left Protector’s essence began to flow. He needed only the Prince’s word to strike and kill.

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