Wang Yue didnât have any particular intention of cozying up to the Kaifeng Wang family, but this truly wasnât the place for a private talk. Without further hesitation, he followed Wang Qing into the manor.
They finished the typical small talk along the way. As soon as they reached the grand reception hall and took their seats, Wang Yue got straight to the point. "Patriarch Wang, Iâve come today because Iâm hoping you can do me a favor."
"Anything, brother. Donât hold back," Wang Qing said with a boisterous wave of his hand. "As long as itâs within the Wang familyâs power, your âbig brotherâ here wonât refuse."
"The Wang family dominates Kaifeng, so I assume your intelligence network is top-tier," Wang Yue said bluntly. "Does Patriarch Wang know the exact location of the Yang family?"
Wang Qingâs expression shifted slightly. He instinctively lowered his voice and pointed a finger toward the ceiling. "Are you talking about that Yang family?"
"Exactly. The Holy Land Yangs," Wang Yue nodded.
"I have business with them, but I only know theyâre in the general vicinity of Kaifeng. Iâm lost on the specifics, which is why Iâm turning to you. Of course, I wonât let you work for free. If you find them, Iâll compensate the Wang family with a top-tier Earth-grade martial technique."
"Ah... Iâm afraid Iâm going to have to disappoint you, brother," Wang Qing said with a wry smile. "I know theyâre somewhere nearby, but to be honest, I havenât the slightest clue where. Itâs a complete mystery."
Wang Qing was genuinely tempted by the offer. A top-tier Earth-grade technique wasnât something you just found lying in the street.
Getting something like that just for pointing out a location would be a massive windfall. But as he said, he really didnât know where they were. As much as he wanted the reward, he couldnât deliver.
"Are they really that secretive?" Wang Yue muttered, disappointed.
Wang Qing sighed along with him. "Sorry, brother. I canât help you directly. But you might want to ask around at the other big families. No matter how much of a âHoly Landâ they are, they canât live on thin air. Someone in the city has to be doing business with them behind the scenes. Besides, people respect them for their power, not for being ghosts. Their location shouldnât be a state secret forever."
"Iâd rather not go through the hassle of dealing with multiple people," Wang Yue replied. "Iâm a stranger in a strange land here in Kaifeng, so Iâll leave this in your hands, Patriarch Wang. Regardless of where you dig up the info, once itâs confirmed, that Earth-grade technique is yours."
This was exactly what Wang Qing wanted to hear. Finding an address was just a matter of hitting the right connection; the cost to him would be minimal compared to the value of a top-tier technique.
Heâd only suggested the other families to avoid looking like a greedy opportunist, but since Wang Yue didnât mind him playing the middleman, he wasnât going to say no again.
After agreeing that Wang Qing would notify him the moment he had news, Wang Yue declined an invitation to stay for dinner and headed back into the city alone.
Kaifeng was an ancient capital, but like every other city, its original architecture had been wiped out during the Great Cataclysm of the spiritual recovery. Any "ancient ruins" left were just modern replicas.
Wang Yue had zero interest in tourist traps, but with the search entrusted to Wang Qing, he didnât have much to do. He couldnât just sit in his hotel room all day.
So, he transformed againâthis time into "Wang Tiezhu," a face so generic heâd vanish in a crowdâand began wandering aimlessly.
He strolled through markets, listening to the haggling of buyers and sellers. He stopped to watch old men play chess under the shade of trees. For lunch, he sat at a roadside stall and ate local street food seasoned with midday sun and city dust.
He had started the walk out of boredom, but as he immersed himself in the "mortal world," he felt himself slipping back into that ethereal state heâd experienced during Chen Yingyingâs class.
In a short time, he achieved sudden insights into various concepts. This, he realized, was likely what the old masters called "tempering the heart in the red dust."
By the afternoon, as he continued his stroll, a sudden jolt of intuition hit himâa pull from destiny, as if an invisible thread were tugging at his soul.
Following the feeling, Wang Yue turned his head. On a nearby street corner sat a small hardware and sundries shop. A small van was parked out front, and three people were unloading crates.
Two of the men wore jumpsuits with "Dafa Wholesale Co." printed on themâclearly delivery guys. The third was a girl who seemed to belong to the shop.
She wore a faded, grey-blue denim outfit and a black baseball cap. She moved with impressive efficiency, hauling crates with a speed that made it hard to even tell she was female from a distance.
It was mid-August, and the heat was brutal. Dressed in heavy denim and working hard, the girl was drenched in sweat. Strands of hair had escaped her cap and were plastered to her damp cheeks.
At a glance, she looked ordinaryâlacking the pampered air of a rich girl, but possessing a grounded, hardworking vibe. In a world obsessed with looks, that didnât usually get you far.
But Wang Yueâs eyes were far from ordinary. One look and he saw the staggering beauty hiddenâperhaps even intentionally suppressedâbeneath the grime and the baggy clothes.
However, he didnât stop because she was pretty enough to rival the "Twelve Beauties of Jinling." It was the feeling she gave him.
He remembered meeting Zhou Pinpin and Zhou Tingting on the boat to Tianhaiâit had been an immediate sense of kinship, a bond of shared blood.
After dual cultivating with his mother, that sensory ability had sharpened significantly. Looking at this girl, he didnât just feel kinship; he could feel a direct, close blood relation.
This baffled him. Heâd never heard of the Wang or Su families having relatives in the Central Plains. The only connection was his aunt, Su Mengchen, who had married into the Yang family.
Trusting his gut, Wang Yue didnât walk away.
The delivery truck finished up and drove off, and Wang Yue started toward the shop.
"Welcome! Can I help you find something?" The girl saw a customer and immediately stepped forward. As she spoke, she used the back of her gloved hand to wipe sweat from her face, leaving several dark smudges across her already soot-stained cheeks.
The simple gesture made Wang Yueâs heart ache. Whether it was habit or a conscious choice, she was clearly hiding her beauty.
What girl doesnât want to look pretty? But when you lack the power to protect that kind of beauty, it becomes a curse. It told him she was a girl with a lot of self-respect; with her looks, she could have easily found a sugar daddy and lived in luxury.
As he walked through the door, his eyes caught a business card taped to the glass. His heart jumped again.
The card read: Cancan Hardware & Sundries. Manager: Yang Cancan.
"Are you the owner?" Wang Yue asked, making sure he hadnât misread the situation.
The girl smiled. "Thatâs right. This is my shop. Iâm Yang Cancan. If youâre looking for a large order, we can even handle home delivery."
Confirmed. And her surname was Yang. Was the world really this small?
Could she be his auntâs daughter? She looked to be in her early twenties; if his aunt had married young, the math checked out perfectly.
Keeping his thoughts to himself, Wang Yue replied casually, "Iâm doing some renovations at home. Just stopping by to see if there are any tools I can use."