Chao Lun Hui had officially reached a conclusion: ancient scrolls were liars.
They did not contain false information.
That would have been easier.
Instead, they possessed an extraordinary talent for answering every question except the one he actually wanted to ask.
After discovering the Luo Clan symbol and the parchment hidden among the forbidden records, Luo Yanhe had borrowed every related scroll the elders permitted him to study.
The word permitted was doing considerable work.
He had received twenty-three scrolls, two copied registers and a red instruction slip ordering him to report any unusual bloodline reaction immediately.
Apparently, allowing a disgraced disciple with a history of forbidden cultivation to examine the remains of an extinct clan required administrative courage.
Suspicious.
Very suspicious.
By sunrise, his room looked less like a disciple’s residence and more like the aftermath of a scholarly hurricane.
Scrolls covered the table and bed.
Several occupied the floor.
One particularly stubborn scroll had somehow ended up hanging from the window.
Luo Yanhe still had no idea how.
He stared at the mountain of bamboo slips and rubbed his temples.
Luo Yanhe : “Congratulations.”
The scrolls offered no response.
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple has successfully read twenty-three ancient scrolls.”
Their silence remained absolute.
Luo Yanhe : “Unfortunately…”
He sighed with the dignity of a scholar betrayed by education.
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple is somehow less intelligent than yesterday.”
The ancient objects refused to encourage him.
Very rude.
He reached for another bamboo slip and scanned its contents for what felt like the hundredth time.
Luo Yanhe : “The Luo Clan guarded many ancient relics…”
Already knew.
Luo Yanhe : “The Luo Clan possessed unparalleled formations…”
Already knew.
Luo Yanhe : “The Luo Clan disappeared without explanation…”
Extremely helpful.
He dropped the scroll onto the table.
Luo Yanhe : “Disappeared how?”
The scroll declined to elaborate.
A knock sounded at the door.
Luo Yanhe did not bother looking up.
Luo Yanhe : “If that is another scroll, please leave.”
The door opened anyway.
Shen Yan Ting stepped inside, white sleeves brushing past the doorframe.
His gaze travelled across the scrolls, the buried chair and the bamboo slip hanging from the window before settling upon Luo Yanhe.
Shen Yan Ting : “You have been busy.”
Luo Yanhe nodded immediately.
Luo Yanhe : “Master, this disciple has spent the entire night researching.”
Shen Yan Ting : “I know.”
Luo Yanhe blinked.
Luo Yanhe : “Master knew?”
Shen Yan Ting approached the table.
Shen Yan Ting : “Your lamp remained lit until dawn.”
Luo Yanhe smiled awkwardly.
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple was academically motivated.”
Shen Yan Ting picked up one of the scrolls, read several lines and returned it to its exact place.
Shen Yan Ting : “What did you discover?”
Luo Yanhe answered without hesitation.
Luo Yanhe : “Nothing.”
Shen Yan Ting : “I know.”
Luo Yanhe slowly looked at him.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “What?”
Luo Yanhe : “Master’s confidence in this disciple is emotionally complicated.”
Shen Yan Ting’s expression remained composed.
Shen Yan Ting : “Show me.”
Luo Yanhe gathered three registers and spread them across the table.
Luo Yanhe : “The forbidden-library records already proved that someone removed the Luo Clan from history.
These copies do not explain who did it, but they do prove something worse.”
He pointed to the first register.
Luo Yanhe : “The final recognised branch of the Luo Clan disappeared eighty-six years before the birth date recorded on my identity jade.”
He tapped the second.
Luo Yanhe : “This census lists no surviving branch, adopted household or married descendant carrying the bloodline forwards.”
Then he opened the third record.
Luo Yanhe : “And this is my sect admission report.”
The faded entry bore Luo Yanhe’s name, childhood age and the result of a bloodline formation.
Bloodline: Luo.
Verification repeated three times.
Shen Yan Ting read the entry, then compared it with the spiritual seal embedded in Luo Yanhe’s identity jade.
The signature matched the records from the Hall of Records.
Shen Yan Ting : “The bloodline is genuine.”
Luo Yanhe : “Yes.”
Shen Yan Ting : “The chronology is impossible.”
Luo Yanhe : “Also yes.”
He folded his arms.
Luo Yanhe : “The clan vanished before I should have existed.
There is no surviving branch that could have produced Luo Yanhe, but every formation in this sect insists that Luo Yanhe is unquestionably Luo.”
Saying the name aloud left an uncomfortable weight beneath his ribs.
Chao Lun Hui had never met the Luo Clan.
Whatever grief belonged to these records should have belonged to the original Luo Yanhe.
His body disagreed.
He turned another register before the feeling could become a question.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Hm?”
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple has another theory.”
Shen Yan Ting waited.
Luo Yanhe leaned forwards with complete seriousness.
Luo Yanhe : “Perhaps the Luo Clan had extremely poor librarians.”
A quiet breeze entered through the window and stirred the hanging scroll.
Shen Yan Ting : “That is unlikely.”
Luo Yanhe sighed.
Luo Yanhe : “Master rejects all of this disciple’s best theories.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Your best theories concern librarians.”
Luo Yanhe looked offended.
Luo Yanhe : “History is important.”
Shen Yan Ting : “So are credible explanations.”
Luo Yanhe : “The librarians would disagree.”
Before Shen Yan Ting could answer, one of the oldest scrolls on the table trembled.
Once.
Then again.
A faint golden light spread across the bamboo slips.
Luo Yanhe’s humour vanished as ancient characters surfaced beneath the faded writing.
Neither man touched it.
Luo Yanhe : “Master, this disciple is beginning to suspect ancient artefacts enjoy dramatic entrances.”
Shen Yan Ting watched the light travel towards Luo Yanhe’s side of the table.
Shen Yan Ting : “Perhaps.”
Luo Yanhe : “That was agreement.”
Shen Yan Ting : “It was.”
Luo Yanhe exhaled.
Luo Yanhe : “Master has become surprisingly cooperative.”
Shen Yan Ting : “You ask unusual questions.”
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple receives unusual answers.”
The golden light weakened when Luo Yanhe stepped back.
Shen Yan Ting noticed.
Shen Yan Ting : “Touch the table.”
Luo Yanhe : “The table?”
Shen Yan Ting : “The scroll is following your spiritual signature.”
Luo Yanhe placed two fingers beside the bamboo slips.
The light brightened at once, winding towards his hand without crossing into Shen Yan Ting’s side of the table.
The scroll was not responding to the room.
It was responding to Luo blood.
The characters rearranged themselves.
Luo Clan Record : “When the forgotten blood returns, the silent witness shall awaken.”
Luo Yanhe frowned.
Luo Yanhe : “Forgotten blood.”
His gaze moved towards the red instruction slip from the elders.
A bloodline response would not make him innocent, trustworthy or entitled to whatever authority the clan had left behind.
It would merely give the sect another reason to watch him.
Luo Yanhe : “Could this mean the Truth Stone?”
Shen Yan Ting : “Do not decide before the evidence does.”
Luo Yanhe : “Master’s method is much less exciting.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Continue reading.”
A second sentence appeared.
Luo Clan Record : “Seek not the truth through records.”
Another line followed beneath it.
Luo Clan Record : “For history remembers only what survives.”
Luo Yanhe read both lines twice, then lowered the scroll.
Luo Yanhe : “That explains everything.”
Shen Yan Ting looked at him.
Shen Yan Ting : “Does it?”
Luo Yanhe : “No.”
He considered the matter.
Luo Yanhe : “But it sounded convincing.”
Shen Yan Ting’s gaze returned to the scroll.
A final cluster of characters appeared, weaker than the others and broken by age.
Luo Clan Record : “The inheritance remains unfinished.
Let the returning blood be tested before it is named.”
The light went out.
Luo Yanhe stared at the dark bamboo slips.
Returning blood did not mean heir.
Being recognised did not mean ownership.
The message offered neither title nor explanation, only the possibility that the Luo Clan had left something incomplete and expected someone to return for it.
Someone named Luo Yanhe, perhaps.
Not Chao Lun Hui.
Yet grief moved through him as though the distinction had failed to reach his body.
Shen Yan Ting rolled the scroll carefully.
Shen Yan Ting : “This must be taken to the Hall of Records.”
Luo Yanhe : “Master plans to surrender my most cooperative scroll?”
Shen Yan Ting : “It responded to your bloodline.”
Luo Yanhe : “Exactly.
We have finally established a working relationship.”
Shen Yan Ting : “The relationship is under investigation.”
Luo Yanhe looked at the scroll.
Luo Yanhe : “Master has made it sound criminal.”
Shen Yan Ting : “You found it.”
Luo Yanhe : “That is unfair evidence.”
They searched the remaining records until afternoon faded into evening.
No other scroll awakened.
Every useful passage ended where an answer should have begun.
Luo Yanhe leaned back and stretched both arms above his head.
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple officially surrenders.”
Shen Yan Ting rolled up the final scroll.
Shen Yan Ting : “Already?”
Luo Yanhe gestured towards the mountain of bamboo slips.
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple has argued with twenty-three ancient scholars today.”
He pointed at the awakened scroll, now stubbornly ordinary again.
Luo Yanhe : “Lost to all of them.”
Shen Yan Ting placed it beside the identity jade.
Shen Yan Ting : “Tomorrow, the Luo Clan jade will be examined with your bloodline record.”
Luo Yanhe lowered his arms.
The records had failed to explain how the original Luo Yanhe existed.
The awakened scroll had refused to name him.
Somewhere between those two failures waited an inheritance that had not finished choosing its successor.
For once, Chao Lun Hui was not chasing the next clue.
The next clue had arranged an appointment.
The chapter has now been updated to the latest revised version.
I truly appreciate everyone who waited and continued supporting this story while I worked on improving it.
I hope this updated version gives you a smoother and more enjoyable reading experience.
Thank you for staying with me.
Happy reading!