Shirong was sitting in his room, currently a bit bewildered at some news he had just received.

"Uncle Quan died?" Shirong muttered to himself.

***

About two hours ago.

Today was the day that the banquet was going to be held by the Lu clan. All of the influential people of the Deer wood city were invited and were told that the guess of honor was none other than Young Master Shirong. The reason for it was none other than them coming out of a dangerous situation, which was the spatial rift.

The people all agreed and were happy about this, they all wanted to find a chance to suck up to Young master Shirong. After all, there were many that had seen his capabilities and the rumor 'divine armor' had become quite popular too.

There were many theories behind it and how the Young master was chosen by the heavens. Since he was not wearing it beforehand they all thought it had appeared out of thin air. Though the clans knew the true reason behind it and this was merely the gossips of the common public.

Another reason why they did not really mind the banquet was because they had truly not been at a disadvantage back then, and neither had they had any losses due to the spatial rift. It was the Lu clan that had the biggest losses, seeing how one of their high quality courtyards was destroyed, not to mention the junior elder that they had lost to the spatial rift too.

This was the man who was sucked into it, and a small funeral ceremony was held by the clan yesterday as well. Because there was no body, all they could do was make a tablet for him and place it in the ancestral shrine. Even the Clan Head Lu prayed for him as there was a chance that due to his sacrifice, their clan was living to see the next day.

If it had been young master Shirong that had been sucked inside then it would have splat doom for the clan or perhaps the entire Deer Wood city instead.

The banquet was going to be held in the afternoon but was then shifted to the night time because a messenger had come for Young master Shirong. Having no other choice, the banquet was delayed again, hopefully for the last time.

The messenger gave Shirong a letter and went away, but not before Shirong informed him of a few things that he needed from the clan. This included nothing but a high grade spatial storage ring, alchemical pills, and spirit stones.

He also gave the messenger a report of all that had happened here with a few changes here and there that he did not want them to know. Finally, only after the messenger was gone did Shirong dare to open the letter. He had seen the seal that was stamped on it and knew that it came from none other than the Patriarch, his father Ji Shan.

If it came from the patriarch himself, then it was to be taken care of with the utmost privacy and not one bit of the information was to be leaked. Shirong touched the seal and uttered a few words.

~Shing~

~Shua~

Suddenly the seal glowed and formation runes appeared out of it, before forming a circular barrier around Shirong. This was a privacy barrier and no one could listen to what was being said inside it, nor could they see inside it. Even the spirit sense could not penetrate it, and using it on the barrier would only give one backlash.

The seal was finally released, and Shirong was able to unroll the letter. As soon as he saw the impressive and elegant handwriting on the letter, he knew that this letter was personally written by the patriarch and not by an aide like they usually were.

This only raised the importance of the letter that much more.

The letter read;

"My son Ji Shirong,

Your fifth uncle Quan has died under suspicious conditions. He was investigating some anomalies in the Dread Coil marsh and we lost contact with him about a month ago. The people that were working with him have also disappeared and are also presumed dead.

We sent some of our people from the local areas, but they are afraid to go into the marsh now. We only found out about the death of your uncle due to his soul imprint lamp going out two days ago. He was investigating a new small sect that was supposedly operating out of the Dead Coil marsh.

His death is a sensitive matter and others cannot know anymore. Since you are the closest to the location, I am assigning you to this mission.

Your mission is to; find the reason behind Ji Quan's death, investigate the sect that has been operating there, find the people that have gone missing- either dead or alive and finally reach the nascent soul realm.

It has already been quite a while since you've been at the pseudo-nascent soul realm. I believe you should find the right moment and reach the Nascent Soul realm. Since you are the chosen heir, you have to prove your worth and do it on your own without the clan's protection.

A set of supplies has been sent to the Capital of the Ling kingdom and should be enough for this mission. If you need any more or something specific, you can request the supplier when you meet him at the capital.

There is also another thing that I want you to keep an eye on. This is not something specific to you, but rather has been told to all clansmen. There have been some strange movements in the three guardian clans. Some of the temples of the three guardians have been closed down without any specific reason, and the people have been warned not to go there.

We do not know what exactly has happened and neither can we ask the Long clan. All the temples of the three guardians come under their authority and there isn't much we can do. Still, news such as this cannot be kept secret for long and is bound to leak.

If you are able to gain some information, you are to report it to the clan as fast as possible."

~Sigh~

"Let's hope my luck will hold up this time…"