He hadn’t told her that Xingyun Temple actually had an underground palace, whose key had been in his hands all along.
And several clans in Nanyuan knew of this too, watching it hungrily all this time,
wanting to get their hands on the key to that underground vault.
What they wanted even more was the “treasure” that had been hidden inside it for a thousand years.
Jiuxiao had originally planned to tell Zengyue after she graduated, but in her past life she must not have had the chance to learn of it.
Yang Zengyue raised an eyebrow. When she’d come back and failed to find her master, she’d been frantic with worry and simply hadn’t had time to check whether there was anything hidden away anywhere in Xingyun Temple.
Then, hearing someone say they’d seen her master leave heading east, she’d rushed off in a panic to search for him.
Besides, in her past life she had always assumed Xingyun Temple was merely a place of cultivation, nothing that would hold too many secrets.
Jiuxiao made up his mind. “Once the work at the foot of the mountain is arranged, we’ll go stay up on the mountain for a few days. There’s a place I need to take you.”
“All right.” Yang Zengyue nodded softly.
Chen Jia’er had already washed up. Yang Zengyue took a quick battle-shower of her own and then started calling Fan Jinggang.
As for Chen Jia’er, she’d opened up a shopping site and was buying in a frenzy.
Yang Zengyue told Fan Jinggang to meet her at the foot of the mountain first thing in the morning, the construction had to start as soon as possible.
They’d discuss the details tomorrow. After the call she also sent him the blueprints.
Fan Jinggang had been in construction for several years. Four years older than Yang Zengyue, he’d served two years in the army after finishing high school, then come home and gone into the building trade.
By now he had four or five years of experience, and the projects his crew turned out were clean and solid, no cutting corners.
He had a strong reputation around the Sikun Mountain area.
Handing these projects to Fan Jinggang set her mind completely at ease.
Ever since taking Yang Zengyue’s call ten days earlier, Fan Jinggang hadn’t accepted any other jobs.
He intended to get everything at Sikun Mountain sorted out for her before taking on anything new.
After hanging up, Fan Jinggang connected to his computer and looked over the design plans Yang Zengyue had sent.
There were three files in all. The first was the floor plan of a house.
Yang Zengyue planned to build a three-story house to the left of where she and Jiuxiao currently lived.
It would have a larger footprint than the current one, with more rooms and more practical layout, and she specifically wanted a reinforced-concrete frame.
No fancy design, just one requirement: it had to be sturdy!
The second file was rather thick. At a glance, Fan Jinggang didn’t think much of it, he only estimated the timeline, roughly five months and more to finish, and that was at a fast pace.
Then he looked at the details, and his heart suddenly began to race.
Because this was no ordinary project.
From Yang Zengyue’s blueprints, she meant to build four defensive fortifications along the key access routes into Sikun Mountain!!!
He had been a soldier, he understood clearly that these structures were meant for defense.
And they were designed with great care—
accounting for terrain, the lie of the land, and position, and most importantly, incorporating defensive facilities.
Whoever designed this had considered every angle.
Fan Jinggang could tell these drawings weren’t the work of a single day, the person who drew them had lived through war.
They knew how to defend, and knew even better which spots were best suited for a surprise attack.
Most crucial of all, this person was extremely familiar with Sikun Mountain.
From the drawings, all these works were built into the mountainside, in precarious, commanding positions.
And all of them were gateways.
He wanted to meet whoever had drawn these plans. He didn’t know whether that Manyue would be willing to say.
Or, had these drawings come from her own hand?
Carrying this question, Fan Jinggang went up the mountain at six the next morning. Yang Zengyue was even earlier, she’d already brewed tea and was waiting for him.
“Brother Jinggang, sit and talk.” Yang Zengyue pushed the tea in front of Fan Jinggang.
Fan Jinggang glanced around. Daoist Jiuxiao sat off to one side, calmly sipping his tea, seeming not the least bit puzzled by Yang Zengyue’s blueprints.
And that Chen Jia’er who had appeared out of nowhere was in the kitchen preparing breakfast, when she saw him come in she’d even run out specially to say hello.
As for Yang Zengyue, she wore a perfectly composed expression.
Fan Jinggang cupped his tea and took a sip. “Manyue, I’ve already arranged the workers for the project. They’ll enter the site and start at eight.”
Yang Zengyue knew she couldn’t fool him, so she told him her intentions—
though she didn’t mention her rebirth.
Borrowing the pretext of an oracle slip from Xingyun Temple, she told him the conclusion her master had reached after interpreting it.
At Sikun Mountain, Daoist Jiuxiao’s name still carried real weight.
Seeing that Fan Jinggang was half-convinced, Jiuxiao finally spoke, slowly. “In earlier years, the oracle-slip tube at Xingyun Temple fell for no reason on two occasions, and the slips interpreted both times came true. This third time is even more terrible than the previous two.”
Fan Jinggang lowered his head and thought for a while, then asked, “Manyue, once these works are built, the workers are bound to wonder about them. How will you explain it then?”
Yang Zengyue had already considered this, which was why the blueprints showed only four defensive gateways.
After the winter month, she’d have people connect the four defensive positions together.
These four gates looked as grand as the entrance to some tourist scenic area,
and they were built to echo the ancient architecture of Xingyun Temple, so others wouldn’t think too deeply about it.
They planned to put out word that they were partnering with a tourism company, and the villagers shouldn’t grow suspicious.
But Fan Jinggang still had a doubt: the timeline didn’t add up.
He was certain the oracle-slip business was something that had only surfaced after Yang Zengyue came back, yet she’d had him prepare materials ten days ago, and these blueprints had only been finalized in the past few days.
He could tell.
Still, Yang Zengyue had no intention of explaining, and he couldn’t very well press her.
He trusted that Daoist Jiuxiao wouldn’t let Yang Zengyue run wild, since the old man himself had given his nod, the severity of the matter surely surpassed anything he could imagine.
Fan Jinggang resolved to supervise the work in person once he was back down the mountain, and to carry out Yang Zengyue’s instructions to perfection.
If disaster really did come, he’d at least have contributed his own share to protecting their homeland.
After telling Fan Jinggang her plans, Yang Zengyue asked him to use this construction as cover to lay in all the materials she’d need going forward.
“Also, Brother Jinggang, I’ll have to trouble you to find me a crew that builds greenhouses. I’m planning to dig up all the medicine fields.” Yang Zengyue had only just come back and had never dealt with such crews before, so she could only rely on Fan Jinggang.
Fan Jinggang frowned. The medicine fields were the entire source of income for her and Daoist Jiuxiao.
So he asked, “What are you planning to grow? Medicinal herbs have fetched good prices these past few years.”
Yang Zengyue understood his implication but had no intention of explaining in detail. She only said, “A warehouse with grain to spare means never having to panic. I plan to use half for grain crops, the greenhouses are for backup needs.”
Her medicine fields totaled one hundred mu, nearly forty of it good arable land, the rest reclaimed hillside and wasteland.
These fields had been left behind by the earlier masters of Xingyun Temple, after the older generation passed away, only Jiuxiao and she were left.
Land was plentiful and people were few around Sikun Mountain, and the elders of Xingyun Temple had all been self-reliant, so they’d reclaimed a great deal of wasteland.
As for those forty mu of good land, she and Jiuxiao had already discussed it, all of it would go to grain crops.