Traveling Through the Grave Robbers' Chronicles: Starting from Meeting You

After Zhang Yecheng left, only Zhang Hanyan and Zhang Qiling were left in the courtyard. They did not slack off in their daily training because of Zhang Yecheng's departure.

A year passes in a flash, and in the blink of an eye, it is another snowy winter.

Zhang Qiling stood in the courtyard for a long time, his hair almost turned white by the fluttering snowflakes. A cold breeze blew, ruffling his hair and shaking off some snowflakes.

"Brother? Why are you standing in the snow? You'll catch a cold!"

Zhang Hanyan hurried over and pulled him back. He had no intention of resisting and let her drag him to a place without wind and snow.

"Look at yourself, your hair and clothes are covered with snowflakes. When the snowflakes melt, they will wet your clothes and hair, you know?"

As Zhang Hanyan muttered, she gently brushed away the snowflakes on his body.

"Alright! Don't run out again. You will really catch a cold. I'm not lying to you."

She raised her eyes, and their gazes met in the air. His expression was indifferent, with a smile in his eyes that she herself did not notice.

"understood."

He answered softly; his voice was cool and warm, calm and gentle, lingering in the ears, like the sound of water hitting rocks, clear and melodious.

After seeing that he agreed, Zhang Hanyan nodded with satisfaction and smiled at him faintly.

She turned and looked at the falling snow. The snowflakes fluttered and intertwined into a white curtain, dyeing the sky and the earth white.

"It's New Year's Day again, and I don't know when Master will be back. The old man has been gone for such a long time this time, I really miss him."

She turned to look at Zhang Qiling, "What about you, little brother, do you miss him?"

Zhang Qiling's eyes were fixed on a tree of blooming red plums in the corner of the wall. The bright red petals on the tree looked even more dazzling against the backdrop of the white snow.

Even the air is filled with the delicate fragrance of flowers.

Zhang Hanyan stared at him for a long time, and seeing that he had no intention of speaking, she simply stopped waiting for his reply and turned around to appreciate the beautiful scenery of the white snow and red plum blossoms with him.

Winter passed and spring came, but Zhang Yecheng still hadn't returned.

On the Qingming Festival, Zhang Hanyan went to inspect the mechanisms and formations in various parts of the Zhang family as usual after completing training.

Ever since Zhang Yecheng left, she has been doing this alone. She has done a great job, and even the people in the Council of Elders know her.

Knowing that she is Zhang Yecheng's last disciple.

"Han Yan!" Xi Liu called her at the door of the orphanage. "The Great Elder asked you to go to the Elders' Council. He said he wanted you to improve the mechanical formations in various places of the Zhang family."

Xi Liu, who is only twenty years old now, has already served the elders in the Council of Elders for sixteen years.

He was chosen by the Great Elder since he was a child, and followed the Great Elder and was very much loved by the Great Elder.

Because of this relationship, the rest of the Zhang family were very respectful to this young man who was only twenty years old and did not dare to offend him easily.

"Okay, I understand. I'll go with you."

Zhang Hanyan put back the mechanism that had been pulled out and followed him towards the Elders' Council.

Zhang Mo quietly poked his head out from the door of the orphanage and looked in the direction she left.

Xi Liu stood at the door of the Great Elder's room and raised his hand to knock three times, two heavy knocks and one light knock. This was a special code agreed upon by him and the Great Elder.

"Great Elder, I brought Han Yan here."

The two waited at the door for a moment before a deep and ancient voice came from the house.

"Well, come in."

Xiliu gently pushed the door open and took Zhang Hanyan into the slightly dim room. The room was very large, with a huge bookshelf and desk outside.

There was a faint smell of incense coming out of the copper stove, and the room was filled with the scent of cypress pine resin, which was very faint and almost imperceptible.

"Xi Liu, give her the blueprint and let her read it here before leaving."

The great elder's voice came from the inner room, sounding weak and vague, as if it were from another world.

"Yes!"

Xi Liu responded, turned around and walked to the desk to look through the drawings. He took out a drawing with a red seal from among the many drawings, walked back and handed it to Zhang Hanyan.

"Han Yan, these are the areas that the elders have discussed and want to improve. You can take a look at them first. If there are any parts that you don't understand, I can tell you.

You must read it carefully and remember it firmly in your mind. You cannot take this blueprint with you, and there must be no mistakes in the subsequent improvements to the mechanism."

Zhang Hanyan calmly unfolded the drawings. The drawings were huge, one after another, a total of twenty.

The mechanism array on the blueprint starts from the Elders' Courtyard and extends all the way to the stone tablet in the bamboo forest at the outermost part of the Zhang family.

Xiliu helped Zhang Hanyan spread the drawings one by one on the floor, and examined them carefully with the light coming in from the doors and windows.

As the light grew dimmer, Zhang Hanyan put away the last drawing and looked up at the sky outside.

The sky was dark and overcast, a sign of rain.

"Han Yan, you finished reading so quickly? Do you want some water? I'll pour you a glass."

Zhang Hanyan rolled up the blueprint and handed it to Xiliu. "No need. I have memorized all the information on the blueprint. It's getting late. I will go back first."

As she spoke, she walked to the door of the room, raised her hand and was about to open the door when she felt a strong dizziness.

The feeling came too suddenly, leaving her no time to react.

Before she fell into a coma, she saw Xiliu's eyes full of apology.

What Zhang Hanyan didn't know was that when she walked out of the training ground to check the mechanism array, a group of Zhang family members with high martial arts skills rushed into the courtyard and forcibly took Zhang Qiling away.

They tied Zhang Qiling's hands and feet, fed him drugs that made him weak and powerless and unable to resist, and then roughly threw him into the back of a large green truck.

The truck was packed with orphans from the Zhang Family Orphanage. Among them was someone both she and Zhang Qiling knew, Zhang Mo.

The moment she stepped into the door of the great elder's room, several large trucks filled with Zhang family children drove away from the Zhang family at a high speed and headed for the ancient city of Sizhou.

Xi Liu supported the staggering elder and slowly approached the unconscious Zhang Hanyan. He looked at her with a sneer on his face.

"Go put out the incense in the incense burner. I didn't expect that at such a young age, he could last so long under the incense. Zhang Yecheng didn't choose the wrong person."

His eyes narrowed slightly as he spoke, with an ambiguous gleam in his eyes.

"Xi Liu, keep an eye on this girl and don't let her ruin my plan. If you can't do it, you know what the consequences will be!"

Xi Liu knelt on the hard floor with a thud. "I know. I will definitely do this well and won't let you down."

The Great Elder looked at him deeply, a hint of mockery flashed across his face, and he walked slowly towards the inner room with his dragon-headed cane.