The side door of Ten Thousand Treasures Auction House closed once more, sealing away the Silver-Faced Envoy's figure and that icy-cold aura. The crowd at the alley entrance continued their clamor, none aware of that brief, secret contact. Xiao Qi suppressed the turmoil in his heart and quickly departed from this troublesome place.
He no longer attempted to find other entrances. The Silver-Faced Envoy's appearance made him change his plans. The other party clearly had arrangements inside the auction house; forcing his way in would be too risky. The priority was to reunite with Liu Yun as soon as possible, inform her about the Silver-Faced Envoy's appearance and their possible collusion with auction house insiders, and warn her to be doubly careful inside.
He avoided the crowded main roads, traveling through the maze of dimly lit alleys, preparing to return to the Banyan Shade Residence. Under the night sky of Qingrong City, the daytime bustle had settled. Only shady corners still hosted illicit transactions, and distant sounds from the auction house direction drifted over.
Just as he passed through a narrow dead-end alley piled with clutter, nearly deserted, the jade pendant at his chest suddenly transmitted an extremely faint, yet unusually clear warmth! This sensation wasn't a warning—it was more like a gentle call, a resonance of blood connection.
Xiao Qi's steps froze. He cautiously scanned his surroundings. The alley's depths held old rattan baskets and broken wood; the corners were covered with moss. Nothing seemed amiss. But he was certain—the pendant's strange reaction was absolutely not baseless.
He held his breath, focused his mind, and slowly infused a barely perceptible strand of spiritual sense mixed with his Xu family bloodline aura into the jade pendant. Immediately, that warm sensation intensified, faintly pointing toward the grimy, cracked wall at the alley's end.
He approached, fingers gently brushing the cold, rough bricks. His spiritual sense carefully scanned; his eyes observed. No spiritual energy fluctuations or man-made markings were found. Yet the resonance between his blood and the pendant clearly indicated something existed here.
Xiao Qi closed his eyes, completely relying on that mystical bloodline sense to feel. After a moment, his eyes snapped open, his gaze fixing on an insignificant, even slightly damaged blue brick in the wall. Deep within a natural crack in the brick, resembling lightning's path, he saw a mark.
It wasn't painted with any pigment or inscribed with spiritual energy—it was more like a brand seared directly into the material's essence, an incomparably subtle soul mark! The mark's form was a lotus bud about to bloom, with a subtle serpentine pattern coiling around its calyx. The serpent's head hung low, carrying a meaning of sorrow and guardianship.
This mark... Xiao Qi's heart racedly. He recognized this pattern! In the memory fragment Aunt Su left him about his family, he had seen similar markings—a secret symbol agreed upon between his mother Su Wan in her youth and her younger sister Aunt Su, known only to those two sisters! The lotus represented the Xu family's purification source, while the bowing serpent symbolized Aunt Su's own circumstances and mindset at that time.
This was definitely a mark left by Aunt Su! She had been here! And she had left information in such an extremely covert manner, information only he—who possessed Xu family bloodline and carried the inheritance jade pendant—could perceive!
Was she delivering a message? Or guiding him toward a direction?
Xiao Qi barely contained his excitement as he carefully sensed the faint information flow contained within the mark. Beyond confirming the mark-maker's identity, it also pointed toward a clear direction—west of the city.
He immediately took out the Eight Wilderness Atlas from his storage bag, his spiritual sense diving into it. Although most regions remained shrouded in mist, the general terrain of Qingrong City and its surroundings was clear. In the western city area, it marked vast abandoned residences and workshops, as well as... an ancient, long-abandoned temple dedicated to the Banyan Ancestor, where incense had long ceased.
The Banyan Ancestor Temple! Yes, it was secluded enough and rarely visited—ideal for a secret meeting.
Aunt Su had risked danger to leave this mark, guiding him to the western temple. There must be something extremely important! Most likely key information about Shadow Snake Pavilion, his father, or the auction fragment!
Without hesitation, he sent a brief transmission talisman to Liu Yun, only explaining that he had an urgent discovery and needed to leave temporarily. He urged her to wait at the inn after the auction ended, and to be doubly careful. He didn't mention Aunt Su or the specific location—not because he distrusted Liu Yun, but because this matter concerned Aunt Su's safety. The fewer people who knew, the better.
Pocketing the transmission talisman, Xiao Qi glanced deeply at the auction house direction, where lights still blazed and distant noise drifted. The auction had begun; that ancient fragment was about to appear; Shadow Snake Pavilion's Silver-Faced Envoy might be watching from a box. But at this moment, Aunt Su's mark undoubtedly provided another, possibly more direct and crucial lead.
He resolutely turned around, his figure ghostly as he merged into the ink-black night, heading toward the western abandoned district.
The night in Qingrong City grew more turbulent. While the auction's open struggles continued, another destiny-altering secret meeting was about to begin at the western abandoned temple. Xiao Qi didn't know what awaited him, but Aunt Su's mark was like a lighthouse in the fog, showing him new direction and hope.