Chapter Fifty-Five: The Underworld King

Yue Leiting and Huo Qian personally accompanied Gu Xiaotian as he departed, while Liu Hao and I returned to our room. Gu Xiaotian had only needed a few words to persuade Yue Leiting to hand over the Golden Dragon Tortoise, something he valued more than his life. Considering the importance of the Golden Dragon Tortoise to the Ming Thirteen Tombs, my curiosity about Gu Xiaotian only grew.

“What is Uncle Gu’s background, that even Brother Ting is so wary of him?” I asked Liu Hao, who was beside me.

“Of course—everyone in the underworld fears him, not just the boss,” Liu Hao replied with a wry smile. “Do you know what they called Uncle Gu when he was young?”

“What?”

“The Lord of the Underworld.”

I’d studied Gu Xiaotian’s face: his steely features and sword-like brows marked him as a man of decisive action. Such a nickname was hardly surprising.

“I heard from Brother Ting that Uncle Gu is from Shandong. He set out on his own as a youth, skilled in real martial arts, earning great respect throughout Guanzhong. He carved his way single-handedly to the Southwest with a single blade, cutting down any who defied him. Gradually, more and more people followed, and soon, all the major crime syndicates of the Southwest bowed at his feet. They say that before he was thirty, he already held the entire underworld in the palm of his hand. Anyone in the trade feared him, for he was ruthless and uncompromising. They called him the Lord of the Underworld, but to put it plainly, Uncle Gu was the emperor of the criminal world. No one dared defy his word.”

“Indeed, as the ancients said: the heavens tower high, the five sacred mountains bow in homage. To achieve such dominance before thirty—he was destined for greatness,” I murmured quietly to myself.

“When Uncle Gu was at his peak, the boss hadn’t even been born yet. Later, the boss followed Uncle Gu. Perhaps Uncle Gu saw in him a reflection of his own youth and valued him highly, nurturing him until the boss rose to power. When Uncle Gu finally washed his hands of the underworld, he actually dismantled the empire he had built with his own hands,” Liu Hao recounted, seemingly relishing every detail.

“He dismantled it?” I asked, astonished.

“Uncle Gu divided his territory by region—Southwest, Yuzhou, Yunnan-Guizhou, and Guanzhong—into four parts. The boss took over the Southwest syndicates.”

“So Brother Ting’s current domain originally belonged to Uncle Gu!” I exclaimed in surprise.

Liu Hao nodded, smiling uncertainly. “I don’t know what Uncle Gu was thinking. After so much effort conquering the world, he just split it up. If he’d left it all to the boss, wouldn’t that have been wonderful?”

I suddenly paused, a slow, meaningful smile curling at my lips. In that moment, I realized I had seriously underestimated the elderly man on the bench earlier. Gu Xiaotian’s wisdom and insight were likely unrivaled.

A lifetime of bloodshed and glory would eventually be eroded by time. Everyone called him the Lord of the Underworld out of fear, but one day, when age caught up to him and no one feared him anymore, even if he didn’t dissolve his empire, others would rise to seize it from him.

But how could one ensure perpetual fear?

This was the brilliance of Gu Xiaotian’s strategy.

Never allow a single person to dominate—keep them in mutual check.

If he’d left everything to one man, and that man ever turned on him, what could an old man do? He couldn’t hope to take it all back by force.

So Gu Xiaotian divided his territory among several people, Yue Leiting among them. Even without a single soldier left, these successors would hold each other in check, unable to overpower one another. In matters of great importance, they would need an impartial arbiter.

And that arbiter, of course, was Gu Xiaotian himself.

No wonder Yue Leiting feared a man in his seventies. Even now, I had no doubt that if Gu Xiaotian wished to topple Yue Leiting, it would be as easy as flicking his wrist. The same, of course, could be said for the others.

The Lord of the Underworld.

I smiled knowingly. As long as Gu Xiaotian lived, he would forever remain the Lord of the Underworld.

“Yan Hui, I’ve discussed it with Huo Qian. For this competition, you’ll represent me,” Yue Leiting announced, returning from outside, his face alight with excitement. Ever since he’d heard Gu Xiaotian mention the competition would test the Five Arts of Taoism, I’d noticed the weight lift from his shoulders.

“Brother Ting, this is such an important matter. If I make a mistake, it might ruin everything for you. Why not let Brother Qian handle it?” I said earnestly.

“I can fool outsiders with a few tricks, but since this concerns the Ming Thirteen Tombs, our opponents won’t be ordinary. Only if you compete personally can I be confident,” Huo Qian said seriously.

“Yan Hui, don’t refuse. Uncle Gu just told me—if fate decrees you’ll have it, it will be yours; if not, don’t force it. After all, you’re the one who discovered the clue to the Ming Thirteen Tombs. If you fail, I’ll just pretend I never heard of it. Do your best, and don’t think too much,” Yue Leiting said with a reassuring smile, patting my shoulder.

After they all went to bed, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Eventually, I slipped out onto the balcony for some air.

Behind me, I heard footsteps, light as a wary kitten.

“It’s late. Why aren’t you asleep?” I asked with a smile, without turning around.

“You’re no fun at all. How did you know it was me?” Yue Qianling pouted in disappointment.

“With you around, I have to keep my eyes and ears open, or who knows how many times you’d catch me off guard,” I replied with a helpless grin.

“Why do you think Uncle Gu suddenly got involved with the Ming Thirteen Tombs?” Yue Qianling asked, coming to stand beside me.

“You? Wait… were you eavesdropping just now?”

“I saw you all acting mysterious and got curious, so I slipped into the garden to see what you were talking about,” she replied, blinking nonchalantly.

“Uncle Gu is actually saving Brother Ting!”

“I think he’s just exploiting the opportunity. He saw my father had a lead on the Ming Thirteen Tombs and, despite his grand words, just wants a share of the pie,” Yue Qianling complained.

“That’s not it. Uncle Gu is over seventy—what value could money possibly hold for him now? A man who’s already prepared his own coffin and burial clothes fears death far more than wealth,” I replied seriously. “But others covet the Ming Thirteen Tombs. If Uncle Gu didn’t step in to mediate, they might plot against Brother Ting. They’re in the shadows; he’s in the open—it’s impossible to guard against every threat. Besides, how many men does Brother Ting have? If the others join forces, he wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“It doesn’t really matter, though. I heard whoever comes out on top wins the Golden Dragon Tortoise. The competition’s all about things like physiognomy, fate, and divination—your specialities as a so-called charlatan. There’s no way you’ll lose,” she said.

I looked back at Yue Qianling, unsure how to respond.

“You’re always calling me a fraud—why this sudden faith in me?” I asked.

She pouted, her bright eyes deep and tranquil under the moonlight. “If you lose and someone else takes the Golden Dragon Tortoise, and they actually find the Ming Thirteen Tombs, they’ll smuggle the artifacts out for profit. For archaeology, that would be a disaster.”

“So that’s your real motive. After all this, it’s still your precious archaeology you care about,” I teased.

“What do you mean, ‘my precious’? If, as you say, successive Ming emperors sent treasures to the Thirteen Tombs, the site would contain relics spanning the entire dynasty. That would be of immense value for studying Ming history and culture—a true archaeological miracle.”

I sighed, gazing into the distance. “Honestly, I’d rather we never find the Ming Thirteen Tombs. Sometimes, it’s better for secrets to remain unknown.”

“Don’t you want to witness the opening of the Ming Thirteen Tombs?” Yue Qianling asked, curious.

“Haven’t you heard Aunt Lan say it? Opening the Thirteen Tombs will bring disaster and suffering, not an archaeological miracle, but a calamity for the world,” I replied, troubled.

“Yan Hui, whether it’s a miracle or a disaster, you must win. If the Golden Dragon Tortoise falls into the wrong hands, the consequences would be unthinkable,” Yue Qianling said softly, looking at me.

My whole body tensed with discomfort, especially when she called me ‘Brother Yan Hui.’ I was completely at a loss.

“If only you were always this gentle,” I murmured.

Her cheeks flushed as she looked away and whispered, “I am gentle… you just never noticed.”

“By the way, I once told you the Red Phoenix Star was moving for you, and you slapped me without a word. Aunt Lan said the same thing—do you believe it now?” I said, instinctively taking a step back.

Yue Qianling rolled her eyes at me, face crimson, and ran back to her room.