Unconventional [Rebirth] - Chapter 51

“Dad, you should take Mom and leave first,” Wei Ruize said, looking at Madam Wei’s pale, indignant face.

“What?” Madam Wei couldn’t believe those words had come from her own son, whom she had always doted upon.

Wei Ruize frowned. “Mom, this is someone else’s home. It was already rude of us to show up uninvited. We wanted to offer an apology, and Master Jiang accepted. We asked him to treat Grandfather, and Master Jiang accepted. What more do you want?”

Madam Wei froze. He accepted? When did he accept? As far as she could tell, he hadn’t agreed to a single thing!

Secretary Wei, however, felt a sudden flash of clarity upon hearing his son’s words. He looked back at Jiang Rui, who remained entirely focused on his Go board, as if the arrangement of stones was the most vital matter in existence.

Secretary Wei bowed slightly toward Jiang Rui. “Thank you, Master Jiang. We shall take our leave and trouble you no further.”

He then took Madam Wei’s arm and led her toward the door. She tried to pull away, but the Secretary silenced her with a cold look.

“Cheng Qiuxian, don’t forget whose ground you are standing on,” he whispered. “Neither Master Jiang nor Mr. Xiao are people we can afford to offend. They weren’t even afraid to humiliate the Zhang family; they certainly won’t care about the Wei family’s face. Do you truly want to stay here alone?”

Jiang Rui’s mystical abilities were far too unpredictable for the Secretary to risk provocation. And while Xiao Jinnan had previously sought his favor, he had heard enough about the man’s ruthlessness to remain cautious.

Madam Wei’s expression changed instantly. “What do you mean by that? Are you saying someone here would dare harm me? I am the wife of the Party Secretary! Even if someone were bold enough to strike, you—as my husband and the father of my son—would never sit idly by.”

She subconsciously glanced down at her feet.

“This isn’t ‘someone’s ground.’ This is Jinlin. This is the Wei family’s territory,” she added coldly.

“No, that’s not right,” Wei Ruize countered. “This is Master Jiang’s territory.”

Madam Wei glared at her son. It was one thing for him to be socially awkward, but how could he be so senseless as to take an outsider’s side against his own mother?

“We are guests—uninvited guests at that. Whether we stay or leave, and how we leave, depends entirely on the host’s will. You should understand this principle better than I do, Mom. Why are you acting so muddled?”

Perhaps hearing Ruize’s words, a faint smile played on Jiang Rui’s lips. He looked up, his warm and refined gaze meeting Madam Wei’s. “It is time for you to go.”

Madam Wei, who had been about to speak, suddenly felt her mind go blank. She could only murmur in a daze, “Yes… it’s time to go.” Without waiting for her husband or son, she walked straight out the door.

Jiang Rui waited until the family was halfway home in their car before withdrawing the thread of spiritual sense he had placed on her.

Mo Zhao only knew that Jiang Rui was a Metaphysics Master with extraordinary means, but Xiao Jinnan understood him better. He knew Jiang Rui was a legendary cultivator; at a certain level, such beings could do more than just control minds—they could move mountains, part seas, or even ascend to immortality.

“What’s the next move?” Xiao Jinnan asked.

Now that the outsiders were gone, Jiang Rui dropped his “lofty master” persona. He lazily toyed with a Go stone and said, “Tomorrow at noon, when the Yang energy is at its peak, will be the best time to break the Absolute Death-Fiend Formation at the Wei manor. I’ll go alone. You two just wait here for the family to come knocking.”

Xiao Jinnan caught the implication and frowned. “Leaving so soon? Why not stay a few more days?”

Jiang Rui teased with a smile, “How could I stay and interrupt the private world you’re building with my sister-in-law?”

Xiao Jinnan immediately nodded in agreement. Jiang Rui was exactly the kind of refined, gentle scholar Mo Zhao liked; if he stayed, she wouldn’t give her “rugged” husband a second glance.

At noon the following day, a young man in a blue Taoist robe arrived at the gates of the Wei ancestral manor.

Jiang Rui glanced at the small patch of “Fiend Qi” (煞氣) gathering above the entrance. With a flick of his wide sleeve, the unformed malevolence dissipated instantly.

Ever since Old Master Wei fell ill, the manor had been under 24-hour guard by soldiers. Jiang Rui presented the invitation sent by the fifth Wei brother, Wei Kerang. After several rounds of security checks and body searches, he was finally allowed inside.

The men of the Wei family were all handsome and well-featured. Wei Kerang, who lived life according to his own whims, possessed a rebellious streak that made him quite similar to Xiao Jinnan—it was no wonder the two were close friends.

Since Kerang held no political office, Jiang Rui addressed him as “Fifth Master.”

Wei Kerang quickly brushed off the title. “Master Jiang, you’re Jinnan’s brother, which makes you my brother. If you think well of me, just call me Fifth Brother.”

“Fifth Brother,” Jiang Rui complied smoothly.

Kerang took an immediate liking to him. Despite it being their first meeting, he threw an arm around Jiang Rui’s shoulder as they walked. “I say, little brother Jiang, I heard you gave my Eldest Brother and Sister-in-law a hard time yesterday? Don’t misunderstand—I’m not looking for trouble. I’m just curious. My brother is one thing, but my sister-in-law doesn’t tolerate slights easily. Yet, she hasn’t made a sound since yesterday. Tell me, how did you handle her? I need to learn a few tricks so I don’t have to run away the next time I face her…” He gave Jiang Rui a conspiratorial wink.

Jiang Rui: “…”

I was wrong, Jiang Rui thought. Thinking he was like Xiao Jinnan was a mistake. Xiao Jinnan would never be this ridiculous.

Aside from the Secretary, the other brothers—Wei Keyi (Second), Wei Kegong (Third), and Wei Kejian (Fourth)—were all at the manor. Keyi and Kejian treated Jiang Rui with cool indifference, while only Kegong showed a modicum of warmth.

Jiang Rui ignored their opinions. He spread his spiritual sense to every corner of the residence. He found the layout of this “Fiend Formation” strangely familiar; it reminded him of the Spirit-Muddling Formation he had encountered at the Rong manor.

While the formation at the Rong house was meant to slowly harm those who stayed there long-term, this Absolute Death-Fiend Formation at the Wei house was far more lethal. It was designed to use Fiend Qi to sever the “Life Qi” of the entire family and claim the Old Master’s life. The cruelty of the person who set this was self-evident.

However, one thing bothered Jiang Rui. Despite the presence of such a formation, the Wei family had still emerged as the winners in his previous life. Either the Wei family’s fortune was so immense that it simply couldn’t be blocked, or they had found a master back then to deal with it.

Jiang Rui suspected that the “master” they had found in the previous life might very well have been the same person who set the formation in the first place.