Chapter Forty-Six: The Jade Pendant's Transformation

Shi Chengren’s face showed confusion and contemplation. This time, he paused for several minutes before finally continuing.

“The specific reason is probably unknown to anyone. Back then, he left very suddenly. Even the old master received no notice at the time.”

“When they realized what had happened, he was already in Kunlun. The old master sent people to chase after him, but by the time they arrived, he had vanished without a trace.”

“In the end, he has remained missing ever since. The rest you already know—you married into our family and became our son-in-law…”

Shi Chengren knew a great deal. Although he hadn’t answered many of Yan Yuanqing’s most crucial questions, he had at least offered some explanation for the doubts lurking in Yan Yuanqing’s heart.

For example, what his father had gone to do, and where he had disappeared.

At the very least, this gave Yan Yuanqing a direction for his investigation.

“Alright, is there anything else you can tell me?” Yan Yuanqing spoke as he stared intently into Shi Chengren’s eyes. Under such scrutiny, Shi Chengren dared not utter anything contrary to his heart and could only tell the truth.

In the end, he gently shook his head.

“There’s nothing more. This is all the information I know, and it was only because the old master, shortly before his death, suddenly remembered this unfinished matter and entrusted it to me.”

“If you’re satisfied, I hope you’ll keep your promise. May I leave now?”

At this moment, Yan Yuanqing’s mind was filled with nothing but his father’s name and the word Kunlun. He had no patience left for the nuisance beside him. He waved his hand impatiently.

“Go on, then. I don’t want to see you again!”

Shi Chengren bowed slightly and turned to leave.

Once Shi Chengren had gone, Yan Yuanqing opened his right hand, palm upward. A jade pendant engraved with a dragon motif appeared out of thin air in his palm, golden light flickering around it.

The dragon-patterned jade pendant was unchanged from when he first obtained it; the carvings were still vivid, as if a real dragon might leap from the stone at any moment.

Even now, Yan Yuanqing could sense a faint pressure and a strong aura of majesty emanating from the pendant.

Perhaps to this day, Yan Yuanqing had not unraveled all the secrets of the dragon-patterned jade pendant, nor did he know where it had come from or why it had appeared in his ancestral shrine.

“Father, if this jade pendant is connected to you, I’d rather forsake such a treasure and wish only for your safe return!”

Yan Yuanqing tightened his grip, feeling the warm sensation radiating from the pendant, as a tear slid down his cheek.

If there was anything Yan Yuanqing could not let go of, it was his missing father.

Moreover, Yan Yuanqing kept striving to improve his own strength, to grow ever more powerful, in hopes that one day he could bring his father back to his side.

Suddenly, Yan Yuanqing felt a dampness on his hand—his tears had trickled down his face.

He quickly wiped his cheeks.

But just as he finished, a scorching heat surged in his palm. It felt nothing like holding a jade pendant; it was more like grasping a burning coal. Even with Yan Yuanqing’s resilience, the heat was almost unbearable.

“What’s going on?” Yan Yuanqing was startled. Since coming into his possession, this dragon-patterned jade pendant had always seemed ordinary, without any strange behavior or change. Why had it suddenly become like this today?

Yan Yuanqing watched the jade pendant in his palm with great caution. Even though it now brought him intense burning pain, and might even injure him, he was unwilling to let go of any chance—what if this was some kind of omen?