Bao Zhi left the Auction Hall satisfied. His two inheritances were to be sold soon while he held onto the third one.

"Zhao family... Similar inheritance..." - He recalled from the previous conversation.

Not to waste his time, he started to look into the matter of the Zhao family. He felt this was a good opportunity he should grab onto, but he also wanted to be careful first and foremost.

"If I don't perform my due diligence, this could backfire."

He wasn't sure if the Auction Hall would leak his information to the Zhao family. Whatever the case was, he had to get ahead of matters and gather information before acting.

Bao Zhi headed towards the inner city, on his way he stopped by a beggar on the side of the street. The poor man had a wide straw hat and tattered clothes with an alms bowl in front of him.

Upon seeing the gu master stopping in front of him the beggar leaned back in fright to take a straighter sitting posture.

Bao Zhi unceremoniously took out half a primeval stone and tossed it towards the alms bowl.

Before the stone could land with a 'clink' sound, the beggar nimbly caught the valuable item in his hands. With the same forward momentum, he placed the stone carefully in his alms bowl and kowtowed towards Bao Zhi.

"Ten thousand fortunes upon lords magnanimity!"

"Tell me all you know about the Zhao family, don't leave out any details!"

Even though a lowly beggar wasn't privy to matters of gu masters, they were the eyes and ears on the streets, overhearing many rumors and gossip.

As the beggar noticed Bao Zhi had plenty of stones to spare, he put forward his best behavior in hopes of getting more.

"The Zhao family? Yes, yes, I know about them. Where should I begin...? Oh, yes, the Zhao family is one of the influential big families in the city, that is widely known. They own many shops and businesses here." - He pointed around the street.

"But what not everyone knows... I heard they got into controversy some decades ago, the then young master - now head of the family - was said to have an unexpectedly low aptitude. The head of the family had to lay off some of their servants to raise the young master's cultivation. My old mother was one of them. She served the Zhao house for most of her life..."

"Rumors say, to this day the family is still controlled by the old patriarch. His son was nurtured painstakingly to save face and he's only the head of the family in name. When this incident occurred, the Zhao family lost their place as the most influential family and were pushed back by the other two... Or so I've heard."

"Some say the Zhao family's bloodline was poisoned by a demonic gu master as revenge! Even the current young master is without proper manners and constantly slacking, not one worthy inheritor to take over the family..."

Then the beggar just realized he might have gone overboard with his last remark.

"I didn't say these, I wouldn't dare badmouth the Zhao house. I'm not that kind of person!" - He said with a grin on his face.

The old beggar recounted a lot of hearsay he knew, some of them were outlandish claims if one thought about them for just a bit, but there were always some nuggets of truth to be gained by sifting through these gossips.

Bao Zhi gained a rough understanding of the Zhao family's current and past situation. He took out the other half of the primeval stone and tossed it in the same manner to the beggar as he left.

"Thank you kind sir!" - He heard the voice from behind.

The previous scene played out a few more times after which Bao Zhi felt there was no more information he could get his hands on for just a few primeval stones.

Information was also an asset, if he wanted reliable and accurate intel, he would have to pay by the word by dealing with an information broker. But that approach also had hidden dangers. What if the information brokerage was connected to the Zhao businesses? A city was intertwined with relations and interests, he could not be sure he wasn't walking into a tigers' den to ask about hunting tigers. It was also very unlikely they could provide him with relevant details about the Zhao family's inheritance.

* * * * *

Lingering Mountains Grotto, Golden Peak Pagoda

An immortal has arrived, he landed gracefully before he entered the main hall. He had a tall frame, his appearance was that of a middle-aged man, but his silver-grey beard and mustache exuded an aura of an old master. He was Grand Formation Wen Bo the current generation formation expert of Wen clan.

He cupped his fists and greeted the immortal present in front of him with due decorum, Fairy Wen Jie, the supreme elder of Wen clan.

"Grand Formation, has your mission been successful? Were there any issues?" - Wen Jie inquired.

For a moment Wen Bo's face twitched, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

"It's been done to completion. Lady Wen Yun has stayed behind for Bao Yijun's personal invitation." - He passed a gu worm over that recorded his mission and the details of repairing Bao clan's Flying Leaf Coiling Vine formation. He recounted the events he and Wen Yun spent in Ancestral Grotto during their mission:

"The formation is in orderly operation again. It has not received any major changes since the last inspection. The newly refined Leaf Edge immortal gu was successfully marked inside the formation. With this, we have already reached a significant threshold." - Cold sweat was rolling down Wen Bo as he detailed.

"Mhm, good work. How is your condition?" - Asked Wen Jie, with a perceptive look on her face.

Wen Bo: "This mission has taken a bigger toll on me than expected. Some symptoms have surfaced again."

The work of a formation expert was not easy on the mind, one needed to keep in mind relevant aspects of many paths and make deductions with them when working on formations. Bao clan's rank eight formation overexerted Wen Bo.

Wen Jie looked at Wen Bo with understanding and she activated one of her killer moves.

Soundless ripples spread out in the air around Wen Jie in all directions. The formless waves spread toward Wen Bo and engulfed him fully.

Immortal killer move - Clear Mind Unity!

Wen Bo stood still like a statue, he embraced it without fear. It wasn't the first time this occurred.

The killer move lasted the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

When the ripples receded, Wen Bo thanked her with renewed sharpness in his eyes.

Wen Jie: "Don't miss to report it if your condition changes. The gears are in motion already. Precisely so, because we can't afford to find a new vessel in a short time frame, we will have to depend on you." - She explained in a cold tone before she handed out a gu worm.

This gu worm looked like a coiled ginseng root, an ordinary appearance. But in reality, it was a precious item, a fifteen-year lifespan gu! Even though lifespan gu was a mortal gu, it was a hard currency in the gu world. Everyone wanted to live longer, the demand was always bigger than the supply.

"Naturally. I will fulfill my duty as Grand Formation." - Wen Bo received the lifespan gu with a solemn expression without a hint of joy.

* * * * *

The next day a sealed letter was delivered by a courier to the Zhao family's mansion. A servant took the letter before the head of the family.

"My lord, this letter just arrived. It is addressed to lord patriarch." The servant passed on the delivery with due respect.

"I'll take it, you may leave." - Replied Zhao Feng, the current head of the family.

He was curious why a letter was sent instead of an information path gu worm. He was expecting it to be some nonsense pleading from mortals or something similar unbefitting his status. He was already ridiculing the fool in his mind who had the gall to send a letter to the head of Zhao. He was entertaining this idea when he started reading the contents. Line after line, as he read his face went from curiosity to bewilderment. By the end his breathing was rough and anger was shaking his hand as he gripped the letter.

"Who sent this?!" - He shouted in anger.

The letter had only two portions the first part was a detailed description of a wood path inheritance. The second part only stated: "Sincerely, Scholarly Merchant Association"

Zhao Feng was fuming, he had trouble regaining his calm.

"Sincerely my ass! This is blatant blackmailing! Who are these people? How did they get their hands on our inheritance?" - These were the thoughts racing in his mind.

"I need to show this to patriarch..."

Just as he was about to look for him, the patriarch of Zhao family entered.

"Son, tell me what happened." - He said in a plain tone.

"This, this! They dare to blackmail our family!" - Zhao Feng raised the letter while shaking it.

The patriarch took the letter from his hand. He noticed it was addressed to him directly, he cast a disdainful glance at his son and continued reading on. This made him remember the times when he had to step in personally to save the family from his son's inadequacy.

Zhao Feng could reach his position because he was the only son of the patriarch. Luckily for the family, Zhao Feng's son Zhao Min was a promising genius, but the patriarch took over raising Zhao Min as he could not let another failed family head emerge. Zhao Feng was content with his lack of responsibilities and the hollow authority he had. He was a narrow-minded and shallow person.

When the patriarch was done with the letter, he put it down on the table beside him.

Zhao Feng was eagerly waiting his father's conclusion.

"Yes, you can look at this as extortion. But there are many clues you glossed over. You can see that whoever sent the letter was careful not to use a gu worm. A gu worm would contain the will of the owner and it could be used to deduce or target the owner of the gu. Not many would go to these lengths to distance themselves."

"They are highly confident, they were not afraid of someone intercepting the letter and gaining its contents, they would have used a gu worm instead."

"Another clue is the inheritance itself. Have you not noticed it? This is not our inheritance, it has been altered."

Patriarch Zhao could see some novel ideas incorporated into the techniques and the ingenuity behind them.

"Whoever wrote this has a deep knowledge and vast wisdom. Inheritances cannot be casually modified. Yet they did modify it! Sending it to us in its original form would simply be blackmailing. 'We have your inheritance, pay us or we will publicize it!' But they improved upon it and then shared it with us, this shows goodwill and the intent of cooperation." - Continued the patriarch.

"Lastly, it was signed as a 'merchant association', this implies they are most likely after monetary gains."

Zhao Feng: "They haven't provided a contact, how do we reach them?"

"This is a test. What they are saying with this is, that you aren't even worth blackmailing if you can't contact us. They are clearly looking down on us! So investigate first! Send men around the city and find out everything you can about this 'Scholarly Merchant Association'. If you fail to contact them, just wait, they will contact us again eventually." - The patriarch didn't set high expectations for his son, he already told him what to do if he doesn't succeed. Next, the patriarch took the letter and headed back to his study to properly evaluate this inheritance.

* * * * *