Xuanxia

Chapter 552: Death Seclusion

Fu Qingzhou knew that Ning Baimei was not in Mingjian Pavilion.

After their last chat on the hill, Ning Baimei said that he no longer cared much about government affairs and was less involved in the affairs of Mingjian Pavilion, leaving them all to Li Jingzhe and Ning Wuwang.

This is also the reason why Mingjian Pavilion can still operate normally even though he is away from Beijing for several months at any time.

Therefore, if you want to find him, you have to go to his home.

Night was falling, but Fu Qingzhou still kept on riding and rushed to the Ning family.

If he had not met Hua Xiaolan and Hua Wuying, he would have gone there as soon as he came out of Mingjian Pavilion... After delaying for several hours, those who were captured in the Wulin Alliance had to suffer a lot.

But there is no way. Since I have met Hua Wuying, I must explain this matter to him clearly.

I hope that with Brother Hua's determination, he can overcome this and move on to a brighter future...

"Before Alliance Leader Jiang became what he is now, he also hoped that Brother Hua could truly stand on his own."

Fu Qingzhou sighed.

He felt a little sad - a chat with Hua Wuying today once again brought back the sentiment in his heart.

In his opinion, Jiang Baichuan in the past was already dead, so how could it not be worth a sigh?
While I was daydreaming, Ning's mansion had arrived.

Fu Qingzhou jumped off the cart, paid the fee, and walked on the thin snow on the ground to the door.

Ning Mansion is located in the northwest of the capital, not far from the imperial city and Mingjian Pavilion.

In fact, the people living in several alleys and streets nearby are all high-ranking officials of the imperial court - these houses were naturally also awarded by the imperial court.

But after jumping off the carriage, Fu Qingzhou clearly smelled a cold breath.

This is not murderous intent, nor is it malicious, but it is like... a mixture of conspiracy, scheming, blood, power, and copper coins.

He stood in the alley, looking around.

Long blue brick walls connect the gates of one wealthy family after another. Lanterns are hung in front of the gates. The lanterns are lit with red light, but they cannot dispel the chill of the winter nights, nor the strong "official atmosphere" in the alleys.

Fu Qingzhou exhaled a puff of mist lightly, then reached out and knocked on the door of Ning Mansion.

The banging sounds echoed in the alley and were soon drowned out by the sound of falling snow.

Soon, footsteps were heard, and the door creaked open, revealing a familiar face through the crack.

"Ms. Ning!" Fu Qingzhou's eyes lit up.

Yes, the person who opened the door was Ning Wushu!

She was not dressed as simple as usual, but in ordinary women's home clothes. She lacked the solemn and murderous aura of the martial arts world, but the chivalrous spirit between her eyebrows and eyes was no less.

"Oh, it's you?"

Seeing Fu Qingzhou, she also laughed: "You know I'm back in Beijing?"

Fu Qingzhou smiled awkwardly: "Well, I'm here to look for Ning Bai... uh, Master Sword Master."

"Oh, I thought you came to spar with me." Ning Wushu didn't care and opened the door completely: "You came at the right time. If you were a few hours later, my father would not see anyone."

"Ok?"

Fu Qingzhou was startled: "What's wrong?"

"Come in and talk." Ning Wushu said leisurely.

The two of them entered the mansion and walked slowly along the bluestone path in the courtyard. Snowflakes were floating and the cold wind was blowing, but this Ning Mansion did not have the chilliness that they had felt in the alley outside.

On the contrary, Fu Qingzhou still felt a little warm and calm.

"Father is going into seclusion." Ning Wushu said, "Today everyone in the mansion is preparing for his seclusion, but I have nothing to do."

Fu Qingzhou laughed: "No wonder you are the one who opened the door... Wait a minute?"

He was startled: "Master Sword Master, are you going to be in a state of seclusion?"

"Yes." Ning Wushu said softly.

Fu Qingzhou scratched his head: "But why? At present, people like Huijue and Jiang Baichuan are still on the run, and there is also Huo Yaer in Beiyi who is eyeing them covetously. Why did Lord Ning choose to go into seclusion at this time? Is there any enemy that even he feels is dangerous?"

Ning Wushu gave him a deep look and said, "I don't know."

Fu Qingzhou read something in her eyes and said in surprise: "Wait, this has nothing to do with me, right?"

"What are you thinking about?" Ning Wushu said with a smile: "How do you get the qualifications?"

Fu Qingzhou smiled and said, "That's right." They passed through the courtyards of the Ning Mansion and walked along the path paved with bluestone slabs.

The atmosphere in the mansion was tense and orderly, and everyone was busy. The servants were holding various tools, cleaning, arranging, or moving things, and no one dared to slack off.

"The place where my father is in seclusion is a quiet room in the backyard of my mansion."

Ning Wushu said leisurely: "This retreat may be as short as a few months or as long as a few years. Although you will not eat or drink during this period, your spiritual energy will be greatly needed. Therefore, you need to set up a formation around the quiet room to capture and transform spiritual energy."

Going deeper into the mansion, Fu Qingzhou soon saw the scene she described.

The servants and maids of the Ning Mansion were all circling around a small room, arranging something on the ground around the room. Some places had stones, some places had saplings planted, some places had fish tanks, and some places had weapons inserted...

Fu Qingzhou had never learned the formation, so he didn't quite understand what they were doing.

But he saw Ning Wuwang, the eldest son of the Ning family, wandering around, giving instructions to the servants from time to time.

"Hey, little sister, Master Fu."

As soon as he turned his head, he noticed Fu Qingzhou and Ning Wushu and smiled.

Fu Qingzhou saluted quickly.

Ning Wushu was very casual with his elder brother: "He's here to look for father, can he come in?"

"Of course." Ning Wuwang said softly, "Father has told me that he has been waiting for Young Master Fu."

Fu Qingzhou scratched his head: "Are all masters like this? Can they know in advance that someone is coming to see them?"

"That's not surprising."

Ning Wuwang smiled and said, "Even if the Xuanxing strong do not practice the art of divination and calculation, their hearts and souls are in harmony with the heaven and earth. If someone wants to come and look for them, there will always be some sense of it."

"Okay, since your father is here, you can go in."

Ning Wushu patted Fu Qingzhou on the shoulder and said, "I heard that you have reached the seventh realm?"

She smiled casually, "This progress is really frighteningly fast, and it makes me even more eager to try... After we come out, we can have another discussion."

After Fu Qingzhou exchanged a few polite words with the brother and sister, he no longer hesitated and strode into the quiet room.

There was nothing else in the quiet room except a straw mat and a stick of burning incense.

Ning Baimei was wearing a plain robe and sitting cross-legged on a mat, with an incense burner beside him. Light smoke was swirling around him like a fairy cloud.

"coming."

He smiled at Fu Qingzhou and asked, "Why are you here?"

Fu Qingzhou blinked: "Since you knew I was coming in advance, don't you know why I came?"

Ning Baimei chuckled and said, "I will let Wuwang go and tell them about the Wulin Alliance. As long as we find out that they have nothing to do with Wuli Village, Xiyu Pavilion, etc., we will not embarrass them, nor will we punish them arbitrarily. We will release them as soon as possible."

Fu Qingzhou breathed a sigh of relief.

It’s so easy. It’s good to know a big boss. It can be done in just one sentence.

"Thank you, Master Ning."

He bowed earnestly and said, "In that case, I will not disturb you from your retreat."

"Don't be impatient." Ning Baimei smiled slightly: "Last time, I asked you to think carefully about the inspiration Jiang Baichuan brought to you. Do you have any ideas?"

Fu Qingzhou was stunned.

"Yes...if you hadn't told me, I would have almost forgotten."

He slapped his forehead and sat down in front of Ning Baimei: "What I think is that Jiang Baichuan has always been avoiding the problems caused by his own mind, which eventually led to the increasingly serious split, and the two personalities became incompatible."

"Later, under the stimulation of Acheng, he had to face a choice. Under the intense conflict, he forcibly merged his two identities, but in my opinion, this fusion... went astray."

Fu Qingzhou said softly: "Everyone has his or her own light side and dark side. He used to separate these two sides, just like a cup of pure and transparent white water and a cup of pure black ink."

"But now, he mixed the two cups of water together, but the ink mixed into the white water will only make the white water turbid..."

He sighed, "Me too."

"I always wanted to merge the Qi Ran Jue and Yi Ran Jue in the past, but if I really did that, in the end, I would just become a cup of blackened water."

Ning Baimei smiled slightly: "Not bad, you have understanding."

But then he asked softly, "So...how are you going to completely pour out this cup of ink?"

(End of this chapter)