Chapter 2497: Chapter 104: The Unmoored Boat

Lin Youxie actually left behind the cultivation method of "Mind Dust" at the end of this thin booklet recording the Autopsy Technique.

This shows that she indeed harbored the resolve to die back then.

What was she thinking the day she handed over the Lin family’s secret technique to Jiang Wang?

At that time, she was under the shadow of dark clouds hanging above, all evidence erased, her last kin’s corpse floating in the sea. At that time... all people related to the case years ago were unreliable, none was without suspicion!

The four great Green Badge Aristocratic families have been continuing from the time of Emperor Wu of Qi until now. Though their power has waned, how vast are their connections? Yet at that time, looking around Qi Country, she couldn’t find a single person to trust.

This cannot but be considered a form of sorrow.

Under strong power, human hearts are devious.

Du Fang was half a disciple to Lin Kuang, yet personally threw Lin Kuang’s corpse before the young Lin Youxie.

The four great Green Badge Aristocratic families, how many years have they been operating in Qi Country.

When they vanished into smoke and clouds, who gave even a sigh?

Just like that day Lin Youxie asked—

"In the world, how many are worthy of trust? How many can I trust?"

Only Jiang Wang.

Back then, she entrusted all this to Jiang Wang, giving him her final trust. Besides trusting Jiang Wang to properly utilize the clues left on her corpse after her death, she probably also wanted to leave her father a legacy.

In the end, it was Jiang Wang who knocked her out, stepped forward to do everything he could, and then traveled far to Chu Territory.

But to the end, Jiang Wang didn’t know whether he betrayed her trust or upheld it?

He never asked, and Lin Youxie never said.

And after time passed and circumstances changed, Lin Youxie never mentioned this Nameless book she sent out.

Unfortunately, Jiang Wang only opened it today.

Lin Youxie, oh Lin Youxie, where have you gone?

...

The light in the study room of the Marquis of Bowang’s Mansion stayed lit all night.

The housekeeper Xie Ping awoke in the morning to arrange the affairs of the mansion for the day, specifically instructing all servants passing by the study room to keep quiet. The troupe of dancers said to hail from Chu Territory in the backyard were also called off their rehearsals prematurely.

The Marquis hadn’t appreciated these beauties even once since bringing them back from the grasslands, merely keeping them.

Could it be that he didn’t favor this hobby?

Of course, Xie Ping dared only ponder this question secretly, not speaking it out loud. In fact, a maid with a loose tongue who vocalized such a query was promptly expelled from the mansion by him.

Chu Yao, who practiced his boxing in the morning, didn’t disturb his master still in the study and continued practicing yesterday’s routine quietly.

He was a country boy unafraid of hardship, troubled by reading but fearless of sweating, having been working to earn money for years.

Knowing his master treated him well, he occasionally dared to indulge whims and playful inclinations.

Whether or not Wu’an Marquis Mansion is quiet doesn’t really affect Jiang Wang at this moment, as he is completely immersed in the world of Mind Dust Technique.

Initially just a sudden thought, wondering if mastering "Mind Dust" could, through this secret technique, trace Lin Youxie’s remains.

He roughly understood the principle behind Mind Dust Technique. It starts from one’s "thoughts," leaving a mark on the tracked target through "sub-thoughts," invisible, intangible, traceless.

And starting from one’s own main thought, can sense at any time the sub-thought, thus capturing traces.

The Mind Dust can not only remain in the target’s thoughts but also be attached to objects. Back then, he and Lin Youxie teamed up to capture Wu Yiyu, relying on Lin Youxie’s Mind Dust attached to Cuifang Luo.

If he mastered Mind Dust Technique himself, could Mind Dusts connect with each other? Could his main thought sense Lin Youxie’s main thought?

Flipping through this Nameless book to the end, Jiang Wang faintly felt that Mind Dust Technique might be the overlooked key.

Once truly invested in the research of this secret technique, it became more apparent the preciousness of Mind Dust Technique.

Lin Kuang lived up to his reputation; his unique secret technique truly is brilliant. In Jiang Wang’s perception, it was not inferior to Flame Flower Burning City. The development of "thoughts" is profoundly significant.

If Zuo Guanglie’s [Flame Flower] revolutionized the highest standard of Fire Element Dao Techniques and established the foundation of his own Dao Technique system. Lin Kuang’s [Mind Dust] nearly paved a new path.

In one’s heart, countless thoughts arise in an instant. From ancient times until now, many cultivators have started with emotions and thoughts. Yet Lin Kuang’s Mind Dust is the first to dissect thoughts and apply them.

Such a figure, if not entangled in Concubine Lei’s case back then, what could have been the spectacle!

In the eternally flowing history’s Long River, how many stories destined for greatness are cut short, never continuing. History’s cruelty lies herein. History’s weightiness is here also.

Immersed in the world of Dao Techniques, time always seems to pass rapidly. As the sun shifted, it was unknowingly already dusk. The plump and portly newly appointed Marquis of Bowang of Daqi hurried into the mansion, pushing the door open, instantly making the study feel less spacious.

He was still wearing the luxurious national marquis attire and a specially-made jade crown for marquises—merely from his attire, with the same rank, he could earn more prime stones from the court than others.

Following closely behind, taking small hurried steps, was Yi Shisi adorned in a robe for entitled women.

She, wrapped in heavy armor, was as hard and solid as a sculpture. Yet without it, she appeared slender, fragile, and timid. Now, her name was inscribed in the family genealogy of the Imperial Court Adviser’s family and married into the State Marquis’s family, having finally cultivated two measures of grace.