Chapter 582: Surging Undercurrents (Two-in-One)

The man tucked under the woman's left arm turned his head away, seemingly unwilling to let his younger brothers see him in this state.

But clearly, apart from Yan Jing, the others were entirely accustomed to the sight.

Wuhe stepped forward quickly and freed the man from the woman's grasp. "Third Brother, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Jiuhai mumbled, his voice so quiet it was almost impossible to hear what he was saying.

On the other side, the man tucked under the woman's right arm freed himself from her embrace. He wiped his hands and walked over to Yan Jing. "Ah Ji, I'm your eldest brother, Shi Sanchuan."

"Hello, Eldest Brother." Yan Jing nodded at the man in the sharp suit, then looked toward Jiuhai. "Hello, Third Brother."

"Yeah."

Jiuhai tilted his head up and stared at the ceiling.

Letting his newly returned younger brother see him like this was truly humiliating.

"Oh my, everyone is here."

The woman clapped her hands together. Looking at the crowd before her, tears welled in her eyes. "Only Ah Shan is missing. Once your father returns, we absolutely must take a family portrait."

"Dad hasn't returned yet?"

Jiuhai paused, looking to his eldest and second brothers, who usually managed the household affairs. "What's going on?"

Shi Sanchuan adjusted his black-framed glasses. "It shouldn't be a big problem. I asked Xiao Zhou, and she said there's no news from the head of the Mo Family either."

The 'Xiao Zhou' he mentioned was his wife, Mo Qingzhou.

"Heh, you should probably verify the authenticity of your news first, Eldest Brother," Shi Yicheng chuckled.

Normally, his words would be far more abrasive than this.

But with the woman still present, he settled for that single sarcastic remark before returning to the main topic. "It really shouldn't be anything serious. My sources say it will be over in one or two days at most."

"Word is that Advent Day underwent some changes, so it's taking a bit more time."

"As long as everything is fine," Wuhe breathed a sigh of relief.

If anything unexpected happened to their father, this family wouldn't even need outsiders to tear it down; it would likely collapse from the inside within minutes.

They might all be smiling right now, but that was only because the woman was here.

It was an unspoken rule among the brothers. No matter how vicious their infighting got, they would never drag their mother into it.

It was their shared way of protecting her.

"Oh my, look at you two. Ah Cheng and Ah Chuan are so capable. You boys go sit in the living room. Mom will personally cook a bowl of noodles for Ah He and Ah Ji."

The woman beamed at the others. "Do any of my other precious boys want Mom's noodles?"

"Xiao Zhou just cooked, and I already ate. Mom, you don't need to make any for me." Shi Sanchuan smoothly pulled a handkerchief from his suit collar and dabbed at his mouth.

"I'm not hungry yet, Mom," Shi Yicheng likewise declined. "Don't tire yourself out. I'll ask Aunt Jian to whip something up for me later."

"I'm not hungry either."

Jiuhai tilted his head back up, staring fixedly at the ceiling.

"I'll have a little bit. Just a little," Qi Hu said after coughing twice. "Don't make too much, Mom. You know I can't stomach much."

"Alrighty!"

Without giving Yan Jing or Wuhe any chance to refuse, the woman turned and practically skipped away.

The moment she was out of sight, it seemed the men no longer needed to pretend.

The eldest took the lead, striding toward the living room.

Next was the second brother, Shi Yicheng. The smile vanished from his face as he walked to the opposite side of the room.

"How is your health, Seventh Brother?" Jiuhai, who was just about to step into the living room, suddenly looked back at Yan Jing.

Yan Jing paused, then smiled. "Not bad. Thanks for caring, Third Brother."

"Yeah," Jiuhai nodded. "If you can't finish it, don't force yourself. Learn to throw it up. Don't be like Fourth Brother and force it down just to make Mom happy."

Having delivered his "advice," Jiuhai headed into the living room.

Called out like that, Qi Hu didn't say a word. He simply patted Yan Jing's shoulder and followed them in.

Yan Jing looked at Wuhe beside him. "Are Mom's noodles really that bad?"

Wuhe shook his head. "It's not just the noodles."

"I see..."

Yan Jing nodded.

He figured he could endure it. At worst, he would just temporarily block his sense of taste.

But the moment he took his first bite of the woman's noodles, Yan Jing realized he had underestimated the situation.

It looked like a perfectly ordinary, simple bowl of noodles, and he had deliberately kept them from touching his tongue. Yet, as soon as the noodles reached his throat, his body instinctively began to reject them.

He had only ever experienced this feeling with one other thing.

His Xiao Yu's brewed Herbal Tea.

He had somehow managed to run into two absolute masters of culinary disaster.

After struggling to finish the last of the noodles in his bowl, Yan Jing looked up, only to find his brothers staring at him in utter disbelief.

This was especially true for Wuhe and Qi Hu, who were still eating their own portions. They were desperately controlling their expressions, trying to figure out how to force down as much as possible, yet Yan Jing had unexpectedly finished his entire bowl.

Yan Jing blinked. Just as he opened his mouth to explain, the woman beside him jumped up in excitement. "Ah Ji, you must have starved out there! Wait right here, Mom will go make you another bowl."

Yan Jing pursed his lips. In this aspect, the two women were exactly alike.

"You've learned quite a lot out there over the years, Ah Ji," Shi Sanchuan, the eldest brother, said with a chuckle as he handed Yan Jing a bottle of water.

...

"Thanks, Eldest Brother." Yan Jing took the water with a smile. "Just a bunch of miscellaneous, useless things."

"They can't compare to what you brothers have learned at home."

"It's fine. After you rest for a few days, Ah Ji, I can teach you personally," Shi Yicheng said with a smile. "Advent Day is approaching. You'll need to make some preparations."

"Alright, thank you, Second Brother." Yan Jing nodded with a smile.

He had thought his two older brothers would be more obvious in their probing, but they both stopped exactly where they should. If they weren't planning on playing the long game, then it meant—

"What Tier are you at now, Seventh Brother?"

Right on cue. Yan Jing looked at the boisterous Jiuhai and smiled. "I reached the Summit not long ago."

"Not bad, not bad!" Hearing this, Jiuhai smiled for the first time. He clapped Yan Jing on the shoulder. "We'll spar a little later."

"Ah Hai," Shi Yicheng intervened. "Ah Ji just got back. Let him rest for a few days."

"Fine." Jiuhai shrugged. "But it's a promise. Once you're rested up, Seventh Brother, we definitely need to go all out in a fight."

"Definitely." Yan Jing nodded with a smile.

"Have you reached the Summit, Fifth Brother?" Jiuhai looked over at Wuhe, who had been silent all this time.

Wuhe chuckled. "Close enough."

He spoke vaguely, but Jiuhai seemed to have already made up his mind. He laughed. "That's fantastic. This means almost everyone in our family has reached the Summit. At the very least, we're stronger than the Mo Family."

"Ah Hai!" This time, Shi Yicheng's voice was significantly louder.

Only then did Jiuhai realize his slip of the tongue. He looked at Qi Hu, who was quietly eating his noodles. "Sorry about that, Fourth Brother."

Qi Hu shook his head, saying nothing.

After that little incident, the room fell even more silent.

Once the woman brought out more noodles and Yan Jing finished them—declining her offer for yet another bowl—the group used the excuse of travel fatigue to send Yan Jing and Wuhe off to rest early.

Yan Jing followed Chu Fa to his room. After listening to her instructions, he was just about to close the door when Chu Fa suddenly reached out and held it open. "First Young Master, this old servant has something to ask."

"Go ahead."

Yan Jing looked at Chu Fa.

The female butler appeared quite elderly, looking like a grandmother in her seventies or eighties. Yet she had a massive frame, standing taller than the doorframe itself.

"Did something happen to Chengfa?"

...

Yan Jing fell silent for a moment before smiling. "I originally planned to wait until Father arrived to bring this up, but since you asked, there's no reason to hide it. Grandpa Cheng tried to make a move on Fifth Brother and me on the way here. We subdued him."

"Is he still alive?"

"He's dead," Yan Jing said calmly. "The evidence and the body are both secured. We were halfway through searching his soul when Grandpa Cheng suddenly died on his own. Someone likely placed a forbidden curse on him."

"..." Hearing of Chengfa's death, Chu Fa's breathing grew heavy for a second before she immediately returned to calm. "This old servant overstepped. Please forgive me, Young Master."

Yan Jing maintained his smile. "It's fine. Fifth Brother and I are deeply pained by it as well."

"..." Chu Fa looked at the smile on Yan Jing's face and sighed inwardly.

She turned around and was about to leave, but after hesitating for a few seconds, she looked back at Yan Jing. "The situation in the family is very complicated right now. No one here is simple. I hope you will be extremely careful."

"Thank you for the warning." Yan Jing nodded, then smiled. "Also, please tell Mom not to worry about me."

With that, Yan Jing shut the door.

Chu Fa stood outside the door, looking somewhat stunned.

She hadn't expected Yan Jing to see right through the fact that the woman had sent her here.

She turned away, murmuring a soft sigh. "They were all born from the same parents. No matter how different they look on the surface, they're all exactly the same in their bones."

Inside the room, Yan Jing lay on the bed, his gaze deep and thoughtful.

At that moment, thanks to Xiao Xin's observation, he could easily monitor everyone's movements.

His eldest brother lay in bed, a shrewd and capable-looking woman with short hair beside him.

"Do you think your two brothers will pose a threat this time?"

"Fifth Brother won't." Shi Sanchuan rubbed his temples.

"You mean the youngest one is actually a possibility?" the woman asked, sitting up curiously.

Shi Sanchuan sighed. "You'll understand once you see him. I really can't see through that kid's mind."

Shi Yicheng sat on his bed, holding his phone. "The plan failed?"

"What did I tell you back then?!"

"They're back now! Once Father returns tomorrow, there's going to be a massive shift in how things play out! What did you promise me?!"

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Jiuhai stood in front of a heavy bag, throwing punch after punch.

With every strike, the bag shuddered violently.

It was impossible to tell what was stuffed inside, but as he kept hitting it, blood gradually began to seep through the bag's exterior.

He wasn't using any martial techniques at all; he simply stood there and punched over and over. Yet, as Yan Jing watched the feed, he felt an indescribable sense of terror.

It wasn't that he was afraid, but rather that Fear existed objectively.

"Heh."

After an unknown amount of time, Jiuhai lowered his fists. The corners of his mouth curled up, revealing stark white teeth. "I hope those two good brothers of mine can give me a different kind of surprise."

"Eldest, Second... are you ready?"

In his room, Qi Hu stood by the window holding a book. His hand lightly tapped the cover repeatedly, though it was unclear what exactly he was doing.

Wuhe sat at his desk, sighing again and again. "Was it right?"

"Was what happened back then right? And is what's happening now right?"

"Ah, Little Third... your fifth brother can't see through it. I just can't see through it at all."

Yan Jing withdrew his gaze.

Chu Fa was right. No one in this family was simple.

Whether it was his seemingly boisterous third brother or his frail-looking fourth brother, even Wuhe had his own secrets.

...

This feeling brought him a sense of novelty. It even made him—

A little excited.

He closed his eyes, but he found that he couldn't fall asleep no matter what.

A single sentence kept echoing in his mind: "Fear! The deepest level of Fear! It is different!"

These were the words spoken to him by the Deity who embodied Fear.

Recalling them now, he felt as though he had grasped some indescribable sensation.

Fear—

It was different.

He remembered when he first came into contact with Fear. It was on the Terror Bus, and then in the Mad Amusement Park...

Two types of Fear. One was silent; the other was immense size and deafening noise...

As he pondered this, he gradually entered a wondrous state.

He was asleep, yet not entirely asleep.

He had experienced this sensation once before. It was the time he comprehended his own path.

But could someone have two of their own paths?

He suddenly recalled that the Ghoulish Life Role-playing System seemed to have told him that the strength of each role he played could grow to match his original body.

The prerequisite was finding one's own path for that role.

That kind of "equality" in strength was different from his current situation. Right now, he was merely borrowing this identity, but the power he wielded still belonged to his original body.

According to the system, if he could find his own path while in this identity, then this identity could also reach his current level along that path.

Coming to the Eerie Capital this time had definitely been the right choice.

The next day.

Today was a big day.

Because San Yan, who had been away for many days, had finally returned.

San Yan was Yi Ji's father.

When Yan Jing arrived at the parlor, the first thing he saw was the man sitting at the head seat.

He wore a dark suit stitched with faint red, hand-sewn patterns, and a drape hung over his right shoulder. His frame was exceptionally large, looking significantly taller than even Yan Jing's original body.

But it was mainly the aura that surrounded him.

Restrained and understated, yet carrying a profound, silent weight.

Yan Jing looked at the man in front of him and said softly, "Father."

"Yeah."

The man nodded and spoke to Yan Jing. "It's good that you've returned, Ah Ji. As it happens, I have some matters to address. Take a seat first."

"Alright."

There was a row of seats on either side of the man—three on the left, and four on the right.

On the left sat Shi Sanchuan, Jiuhai, and Wuhe.

On the right were Shi Yicheng, Qi Hu, and two empty seats.

Yan Jing didn't hesitate. He sat in the very last seat, leaving an empty chair between himself and Qi Hu.

Just as he sat down, he suddenly caught the scent of blood.

Following the source of the smell, he slowly raised his head and looked at San Yan.

San Yan was injured.