Willing!
…
Wu Ran, if you must sacrifice your reputation for the family, are you willing?
Willing!
…
Wu Ran, if the family requires you to give your life, are you willing?
I am willing!
…
I knew I wasn’t wrong about you, Wu Ran. From your grandfather to your father to you, all are loyal subjects of the Wu family! Now, the family has a task for you. This task will require you to sacrifice your future, your reputation, and even your life.
Clan leader, for the family, I am willing!
…
A glint of light flashed in the darkness, and Li Ran suddenly opened his eyes.
Phew… He exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, sat up from the bed, and murmured, Dreaming again.
This dream was not a figment of his imagination; it came from the deepest corners of his memory.
“Li Ran” was his alias; his real name was “Wu Ran”!
The surname Wu in the South represented something significant. It represented the number one hegemon of the South, the Wu family!
Eleven years ago, the patriarch of the Wu family, Empress Wu Ji, personally received Wu Ran and gave him a secret mission—
Infiltrate the upper echelons of the Shang family!
For this, he changed his name, wandered alone for three years, and then settled down in Shang Family Town.
This mission lasted eight years!
Eight years, a full eight years. The members of the Wu family must have forgotten me by now? Wu Ran is considered dead; there is only Li Ran in this world.
Li Ran couldn’t help but sigh deeply.
He had been undercover for too long, to the point of almost forgetting his real name.
Here, he wore a mask and lived for eight whole years, disguising himself as a libertine. An ordinary Gu Master at the lowest level. He hadn’t let slip a single word even to his wife, whom he once deeply loved.
During this period, he only went out every six months to contact the Wu family. It was always one-way contact, achieving the utmost secrecy.
Until a year ago, his contact told him that the family was about to activate this piece. His excitement at that time was beyond words!
After enduring eight years, finally being activated. Everything will be different! Li Ran was deeply moved. With a thought, he took out a rough stone from his storage gu.
This rough stone was square and regular, like a brick, with specks of starlight on its surface.
It was a Star Stone.
If Fang Yuan were here, he would definitely recognize this stone. It was very similar to the stepping stone in the gambling den.
Li Ran gently stroked the rough stone with both hands, frowning slightly.
As a spy, he had spent nearly ten years in hiding, building an absolutely transparent past, enough to win the trust of the Shang family.
But trust alone was not enough; he also needed extraordinary talent. Only then could he dominate the martial training grounds of Shang Family Town. Only then could he be noticed and promoted by the Shang family, eventually becoming an external elder like Wei Yang and wielding the family’s authority.
This talent had to emerge naturally, not too abruptly.
For this, the Wu patriarch, Empress Wu Ji, personally selected a gu for him.
This gu was steeped in legend.
It came from an ancient Strength Path inheritance. In the current world, it could be called an extremely rare and precious gu!
With this gu, Li Ran could stand out and dominate the training grounds.
How to obtain this gu without arousing suspicion—the Wu family had already planned it.
That was stone gambling.
Luck was the hardest thing to fake, and it was normal for rough stones to contain ancient gu.
The demonic gu master, Wei Shenjing, had been secretly recruited by Empress Wu Ji. Forging a fake miscellaneous rough stone was a piece of cake for him, and they were not afraid of being exposed.
Li Ran had also put thought into this.
To convince others that this was a rough stone from the gambling den, not one he brought himself, he specifically chose a stepping stone in a gambling den.
This stepping stone had been there for many years, with people coming and going, and no one had paid it any attention.
Li Ran first communicated with the Wu family, and Wei Shenjing forged a similar-looking star stone.
Then his plan was to secretly exchange this star stone for the stepping stone when no one was watching. He was a Gu master and had scouted the place for half a year, so he knew when he could make the switch without being noticed.
Once he unlocked this star stone, everyone in the gambling den would testify to his good luck.
After obtaining this gu, he would turn over a new leaf, acting out a story of a prodigal son returning. He would rise, find his wife and child again, become an external elder of the Shang family, and finally complete the mission, returning to the Wu family with his wife and child.
Thinking about his wife and son, Li Ran’s heart filled with guilt.
He loved his wife deeply; she was so kind and so strong.