Chapter Fifty-Five: The Latter Surpasses the Former

Xu Bin was stuffing photos and letters into his bag when, glancing over, a complex look flickered across his face. “This is unbelievable,” he muttered. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he quickly turned and strode into the darkness.

Zhang Qinglin started, too. By all logic, the entire temple and monastery had collapsed, the mountaintop leveled. The secret passage was several meters below; if anyone had fallen in, survival would be nearly impossible—unless they moved faster than a rabbit.

“Zhang Qinglin, what are you doing here? Come on, I have something to talk to you about…” Li Qingpeng squinted, jogging over in small steps and clapping Zhang Qinglin on the shoulder.

The touch startled Zhang Qinglin. He glanced at Li Qingpeng, then back into the darkness—Xu Bin was nowhere to be seen.

Wanqing and Li Qingpeng showed no trace of dirt or injury; they seemed to have composed themselves. Wanqing cast Zhang Qinglin a look and headed straight for the hotel lobby.

On their floor, the elevator doors had just opened when they saw Baroque Lingda collapsed in the hallway, the door to his room wide open.

Zhang Qinglin rushed into the room, flustered, finding Wanqing’s people sprawled on the floor. Cheng Che was missing. In Wanqing’s room, Jiang Xinyue was gone as well.

Li Qingpeng squatted beside Baroque Lingda, felt for a pulse, propped him up, and called out loudly, “Dada! Dada!”

“How is he?” Wanqing asked.

“He’s fine, just passed out. Hey, Dada, wake up! Come on, wake up—what happened?” Li Qingpeng slapped Baroque Lingda’s face.

“Cheng Che and the others are missing!” Zhang Qinglin shouted, rushing from the room.

At that moment, the sounds of a fight echoed from around the corner. Zhang Qinglin and Wanqing dashed over, arriving just in time to see Cheng Che leaning against the stairwell one floor down. Blood trickled from his nose, his cheek was swollen, and he clutched his stomach, his face twisted in pain.

Zhang Qinglin hurried to support him. “What happened? Where’s Yueyue? Where did Wu Cheng’an go?”

Cheng Che coughed, furious. “Damn it… They were masked; I couldn’t see who they were. Xinyue was taken. Wu Cheng’an disappeared—if I see him again, I’ll make him pay for this. When it mattered most, he was nowhere to be found.” He wiped his bloody nose, still seething.

“She was probably taken by Young Master Chen. Look…” Wanqing approached and handed over her phone.

On the screen was a message from an unknown number: bring the map to Emperor Gaozong of Tang’s tomb to exchange for Jiang Xinyue.

“Young Master Chen? Who’s that?” Zhang Qinglin and Cheng Che asked simultaneously.

Wanqing put away her phone. “Young Master Chen is the one you stole the Shangtang Eight Steeds painting from.”

Zhang Qinglin gazed at Wanqing. “We don’t have the map. Why would he take Yueyue?”

As he voiced the question, realization dawned—Wu Cheng’an hadn’t been captured.

“Exactly! Is he crazy, threatening us with Xinyue? Damn it, Zhang, what do we do now?” Cheng Che groaned, clutching his aching stomach.

“We need to find out where they’re holding her and rescue Yueyue…” Zhang Qinglin said, clenching his fist.

Wanqing took a step forward. “He wouldn’t act unless he was certain of success. He’s had people following you since you left Beijing; otherwise, he’d never have found you. Also, do you actually have the map?”

“Wanqing, you’ve been with us almost the whole time. Old Seven stole the map, and Xinyue lost the Sheji painting in that haunted village. Why are you interrogating us?” Cheng Che shot back, eyes wide.

From the stairs above came a shout: “Wanqing, something’s up with Dada!” Li Qingpeng called.

Wanqing turned and hurried upstairs. Zhang Qinglin helped Cheng Che up and followed. “Cheng Che, there’s something I haven’t told you…” Zhang Qinglin said softly, eyes ahead.

“What is it?” Cheng Che stopped and looked at him.

Zhang Qinglin hesitated, then confessed. “The map is with me.”

Cheng Che froze. “What? You took it back from Old Seven? But we searched everywhere and found nothing.”

“I retrieved the map, but I can’t tell you how. And now, we can’t give it to Wanqing…”

Cheng Che, agitated, protested, “If you have it, why not? We need to save Xinyue!”

“Wu Cheng’an gave it to me and made me swear to keep it safe,” Zhang Qinglin replied, touching the backpack behind him.

“Zhang, are you crazy? Is the map more important than Xinyue’s life?” Cheng Che retorted, his swollen mouth twitching with anger.

Zhang Qinglin stared ahead, silent for a long moment. Finally, he said, “It might be more important than any of us.”

Cheng Che sighed and said no more.

Back in the room, the hotel manager hurried in, asking about missing items and such. Wanqing stationed people at the door while they gathered in another room to discuss their next move.

Cheng Che lay on the bed, watching Zhang Qinglin’s backpack with sidelong glances, his eyes darting constantly.

Zhang Qinglin stood by the window, hands on his hips, gazing at the door. He wanted to leave immediately to find Xu Bin and ask him to investigate Jiang Xinyue’s whereabouts—after all, Xu Bin knew many people in Wuzhou and should be able to find some leads.

Just then, Wanqing came to the door, waved off her subordinates, and entered with Li Qingpeng.

Whatever Baroque Lingda had told them, Li Qingpeng’s gaze was full of disdain as he stared in silence.

Wanqing looked at Zhang Qinglin for a long moment, then stepped forward. “Mr. Zhang, I hope you’ll tell us the truth—who exactly is Wu Cheng’an?”

“He… Wanqing, shouldn’t we be discussing how to rescue our friend right now?” Zhang Qinglin replied.

“Rescue? That’s your problem. I’ll be blunt: hand over the map, or don’t blame me for being ruthless,” Li Qingpeng said coldly.

“You…” Cheng Che sat up at the words.

Zhang Qinglin’s expression darkened as he glanced at Li Qingpeng’s impassive face.

Wanqing glanced at Li Qingpeng, then extended her right hand. A round pendant dropped from her fingers.

Zhang Qinglin took the pendant and studied it. It bore characters for “Heaven” and “Auspiciousness,” and the silver pendant gleamed brilliantly. The chain, too, was silver, clearly custom-made.

He stared at it, suddenly recalling where he’d seen one just like it before. That night in the mining district, their first night after Boss Ma sent them to the black mine—they’d met Miss Su, who wore one around her neck. The lights had caught it briefly in the darkness; it was this very style.

Cheng Che, seeing the pendant, got off the bed and peered at it. “This looks familiar—let me see…”

As he reached for it, Wanqing pulled it away.

“Wanqing, what are you getting at?” Zhang Qinglin asked.

“This was torn from Wu Cheng’an’s neck during his struggle with Baroque. Baroque also said that Wu Cheng’an slipped away amid the chaos when Young Master Chen’s men arrived. The pendant is engraved with the emblem of the Qilin Sect; only their members can wear it. You should know what I mean. And my cousin says you took the money, so you’d better finish the job,” Wanqing replied, eyes wide.

“Qilin Sect… What do they do?” Cheng Che eyed Wanqing’s hand, then glanced at Zhang Qinglin.

“You can’t judge Wu Cheng’an as a Qilin Sect member just because of this. Peng, the map really isn’t with us. If you won’t help, we’ll find a way ourselves. Come on, Cheng Che…” Zhang Qinglin said sternly.

Cheng Che tossed his water bottle aside, grabbed his jacket, and prepared to leave with Zhang Qinglin. He’d had enough—ever since they took that box of money, trouble had followed. Clearly, he shouldn’t make rash decisions in the future.

But Li Qingpeng blocked their way, arm outstretched. Wanqing shifted, her face now cold. “You can’t just leave when you please.”

“Is this about the money? Fine. When we get back to Beijing, we’ll return it to Sister Xiao and call it even,” Cheng Che said.

Li Qingpeng’s eyes were sharp and cold. “Easy to say. But it’s no use looking to her—she won’t help you anymore. I’ll give you one night to consider: either hand over the map, or don’t blame me for being harsh.” With that, he turned and left.

Wanqing silently followed. Two of Li Qingpeng’s men remained at the door to keep watch.

Zhang Qinglin paced restlessly by the bed. Cheng Che, seated, finally complained, “Will you stop pacing? You’re making my head spin.”

“Don’t you have Uncle Xu’s number? Call him—ask him to look into Yueyue’s situation,” Zhang Qinglin urged.

Cheng Che straightened up. Xu Bin made his living trading information, after all. He grabbed the desk phone, intending to call the front desk, but the phone was dead.

“Well?” Zhang Qinglin asked.

Cheng Che set the receiver down; the cord had been cut. “What now?”

Furious, Zhang Qinglin tossed the severed cord aside. He hadn’t expected Li Qingpeng to cut the phone line. They’d have to find another way. Peering through the peephole, he saw their guards still in place.

He moved to the window behind Cheng Che’s chair. Outside, the intersection blazed with light despite the hour—it was nearly three or four in the morning. He tried to open the outer screen.

Cheng Che watched, incredulous. “Are you crazy? This is the twelfth floor! You want to climb out? We’d be better off taking out the guys at the door and making a run for it.”

Zhang Qinglin shot him a look as he searched for tools. “Do you really think we could fight our way out? Help me—tie these together.”

Cheng Che knotted the two bedsheets and the curtain, then handed the makeshift rope to Zhang Qinglin.

They climbed down the drainpipe beside the window. When they reached the ground, a figure darted from the shadows and seized Zhang Qinglin’s shoulder.

Startled, Zhang Qinglin turned to find Xu Bin, who pointed to a battered Santana parked on the street. “I’ve been waiting for you two forever. Come on, get in—we’ll talk in the car.”

Cheng Che hurried over, recognition dawning. “Uncle Xu, you’re just in time—we were about to look for you!”

On the way, Zhang Qinglin told Xu Bin about Jiang Xinyue’s abduction. Xu Bin said he could help them find information, but only on one condition: Zhang Qinglin had to unlock the secret of the white jade lamp.