As soon as these words were spoken, Chi Yun’s eyes widened and the blade light suddenly exploded. With a thunderous “clang,” it was like fireworks bursting. In Yu Furen’s eyes, he saw blade after blade like light and lightning, illuminating a spectacular brilliance like smoke and mist in this extremely dark cave. Tang Lici didn’t hold his copper flute but moved forward with his body, actually using the bare-handed technique of entering white blades. With a “pop” of fingers and palms meeting, followed by four consecutive “clang clang clang clang” sounds of weapons falling to the ground, the cave suddenly became deathly silent.

Yu Furen’s heart pounded wildly. He saw several drops of fresh blood splatter on the cave wall—someone had suffered light injuries. Chi Yun’s hands were both firmly restrained by Tang Lici. Just now Tang Lici had first seized the blade and thrown it to the ground, Chi Yun immediately switched blades to strike, Tang Lici seized the blade again, Chi Yun switched blades again—like this four times in succession until Chi Yun had no more blades to switch, then Tang Lici immediately restrained both his hands.

Chi Yun’s blade momentum was domineering. To restrain his blade momentum, the best method was not to let him draw his blade. Tang Lici’s move to subdue him was surprisingly smooth, accomplished in one move. In just a brief instant, Yu Furen felt dizzy and leaned against the stone wall, somewhat unsteady on his feet.

Chest sword wound not yet healed, rushing thirty li at night, fighting four great masters alone, killing one and injuring one, forcing two to retreat, saving his own life, then descending into the Camellia Prison to face Chi Yun who had become a poison person, subduing the enemy in just a few moves—was this—was this still human?

In a hundred years of martial world history, among thousands of legends, never had anyone been heard of being so fierce and brave, especially when this person had gentle features and didn’t seem like a desperado at all.

Where exactly was Tang Lici’s limit?

Was there anyone in the world who could make him reach his own limit?

“Yu Furen, help me bind him up with the red silk.” Tang Lici said gently, his voice still as gentle and calm as always, even very composed. “Be careful not to touch his skin. The poison on Chi Yun isn’t strong, but still be careful.” He clasped Chi Yun’s wrists. Chi Yun raised his knee to kick, but Tang Lici’s right foot hooked his ankle, pressed his knee and blocked him. With the remaining leg still needed for standing, he immediately couldn’t move.

Yu Furen picked up the red silk and carefully bound Chi Yun, then used Xiao Tao Hong’s scabbard to strike several of his major acupoints. “You can let go now.”

Tang Lici slowly released his hands. Chi Yun gritted his teeth and glared with furious eyes. Tang Lici looked at him with a smile, seeming to find it quite interesting, reaching out to stroke Chi Yun’s head. “Let’s go back. Tonight Haoyun Mountain will most likely have incidents.”

“Incidents?” Yu Furen suddenly understood. “Yes, someone captured Chi Yun alive and lured you to rescue him—it was to draw the tiger away from the mountain.”

Tang Lici nodded. “Let’s go back then. With Cheng Yunpao, Shao Yanping, and Puzhu in Shanfeng Hall, even if there are incidents, they should be able to handle them.”

Yu Furen’s mood relaxed slightly and he smiled faintly. “You have great confidence in Hero Cheng.”

Tang Lici smiled slightly. “He’s a cautious person, unlike certain people who have no schemes at all.”

Yu Furen felt ashamed hearing this. “I…”

Tang Lici supported Chi Yun under his ribs. “Let’s go.”

The two returned to the cave entrance and looked up at the opening that let down a thread of faint light. This funnel-shaped opening had trapped hundreds of lives below—how could they climb up? Tang Lici looked once at the opening, picked up a stone from the ground, tied it to the other end of the red silk, and threw it up. Yu Furen was startled, hearing a muffled “thud” from extremely far away. The stone passed through the cave and hit something outside, seeming to penetrate quite deep. “Let’s go up.”

This Floating Red Silkworm Silk was twenty to thirty zhang long. Even with Chi Yun bound, there were still more than twenty zhang remaining—perfect for use as rope. Yu Furen climbed up and soon reached the cave entrance, climbing onto the grass outside and taking a deep breath of the fresh night air. He felt this night had seemed very long, like a lifetime had passed.

Behind him Tang Lici lightly leaped up, then pulled Chi Yun up. Still supporting him, the three used lightness skills to return to Haoyun Mountain.

On Haoyun Mountain.

In Shanfeng Hall.

Shao Yanping faced the unknown master in black clothes and hat, his heart in turmoil, completely without confidence.

That person moved slightly, seeming to quietly listen to movements left and right. Shao Yanping knew that once he confirmed no one was around, he would plan to kill with one move. Whether he could take that move was obviously a big problem.

Daring to kill while masked in the Sword Society, he must have great confidence in his martial power. Thinking of this, Shao Yanping’s heart went cold.

Suddenly the black-clothed man moved. His killing intent flashed briefly, then suddenly he retreated outward, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye. Shao Yanping was greatly puzzled—this person clearly held the complete advantage, so why would he suddenly retreat? Just as he was shocked, he heard a “thud” sound from the roof. He looked up sharply and saw under the clear wind and bright moon, Cheng Yunpao alone with his sword, sitting on Tang Lici’s roof, holding a wine gourd in his right hand, now pulling out the cork and raising his head to drink.

One person, one sword, one moon, one wine—cold and frosty, yet with heroic spirit reaching the clouds.

Shao Yanping was overjoyed. “Hero Cheng!”

Cheng Yunpao looked at him coldly. “Fortunately I’m not leaving until tomorrow.” He took another drink.

Shao Yanping leaped onto the roof, beaming. “If you hadn’t appeared in time, I’m afraid Old Shao would already have his brains splattered and turned into a bloody mess. How did you know someone wanted to kill me?”

“I just happened to pass by. To be honest, if he hadn’t been afraid of alarming others and charged up to attack, I wouldn’t have had the slightest confidence.” Cheng Yunpao said coldly. “I saw his back at the hall entrance. He’d been here so long before I crept over—you can imagine the difference between us.”

Shao Yanping laughed dryly. “If you’d followed too closely and he discovered you and killed you with one palm, that would have been even worse.”

Cheng Yunpao laughed coldly. “To kill Cheng Yunpao with one palm might not be so easy.”

Shao Yanping agreed submissively, but thought to himself that judging by that person’s killing intent just now, it seemed like he could kill anyone in the world with one palm.

Just then, three figures came floating over.

Cheng Yunpao made a sound of surprise. “Tang—”

Tang Lici and the other two had returned. Shao Yanping saw Chi Yun bound hand and foot and was shocked. “What happened? What occurred?”

Tang Lici supported Chi Yun and quickly headed toward Chi Yun’s residence. “Nothing serious. For the next few days, no matter who it is, no one may have contact with Chi Yun.”

Yu Furen stopped and exhaled deeply. “Chi Yun was captured alive and poisoned with the Scarlet Ghost Nine Hearts Pill.”

Cheng Yunpao and Shao Yanping looked at each other, both changing color. They both leaped down. “What exactly happened?”

Yu Furen then explained how someone had captured Chi Yun alive, set up the poison person trap, along with the plan to draw the tiger away from the mountain, and so forth. The more Shao Yanping heard, the more shocked he became. Cheng Yunpao’s face also gradually changed—the depth and far-reaching nature of this plotter’s conspiracy was truly heart-stopping.

Shao Yanping said with changed color, “Such a major matter—how could he not discuss it with anyone and go alone to rescue someone? He clearly knew it was a trap. If he couldn’t rescue Chi Yun tonight but instead died in that Camellia Prison, where would that leave the martial world situation and the world’s people? Really… really…”

Yu Furen smiled bitterly. “But… but he did indeed rescue Chi Yun.”

Shao Yanping and Cheng Yunpao looked at each other, shocked in their hearts—Tang Lici could actually face Lin Shuangshuang, Yu Qifeng, Wei Beiyin, and that black-clothed man working together, kill one and injure one, force two to retreat while remaining completely unharmed. This level was truly like a myth.

If Tang Lici had been present, that black-clothed man would never have dared wander around the Sword Society! Shao Yanping gradually felt at ease, exhaled deeply, and smiled bitterly. “This young master has vast supernatural powers and acts arbitrarily, yet everything he does happens to be right. I really don’t know whether to admire him or fear him.”

Cheng Yunpao said indifferently, “You just need to trust him.”

Trust? It was difficult to trust someone mysterious and unpredictable, with complex thoughts, who acted arbitrarily! Shao Yanping smiled even more bitterly, looking in the direction Tang Lici had gone. Trust…

In Chi Yun’s room.

Tang Lici lit an oil lamp and bound Chi Yun firmly to the bed. Chi Yun’s face was full of malice—from his eyes you could tell he very much wanted to struggle, but couldn’t.

Tang Lici sat down on the chair by his bed, resting his chin in his hand as he looked at Chi Yun. Chi Yun became even more enraged, his eyes seeming ready to boil.

“If I killed you, you’d probably be very grateful to me when you woke up…” After looking at Chi Yun for a long time, Tang Lici suddenly said gently, “But if I killed you, how would you wake up? Having fallen to this step, you don’t want to live—I know.” His red lips were especially rosy under the lamplight. Chi Yun stared at him, seeing his lips open and close. “The magnificent ‘Sky Cloud,’ who had never done any bad deed worse than robbery or cursing in his life, yet must end up like this… You don’t want to live, but I’m not resigned to it…”

His tone was very strange, floating dreamily yet with a thread of bone-deep hatred that was painful to hear like needle pricks. Tang Lici reached out and stroked Chi Yun’s head again, saying gently, “Be strong. Failure is nothing serious, killing a hundred people is nothing serious, being poisoned is even less worth mentioning. Only if you live can things change. So what if you’re utterly evil? Even if utterly evil… you’re still human, still able to live on. Besides, you’re not utterly evil yet. You just…” His gaze became gentle, like rippling with a layer of dark waves. “You just followed instinct. As long as you’re still alive now, you haven’t lost.”

Chi Yun on the bed suddenly cried out “Ah—” in anguish. Tang Lici pressed his hand on his abdomen and lightly patted his cheek. “Hold on until I think of antidotes for the poison spider and Scarlet Ghost Nine Hearts Pill.”

He had rushed about all night, fighting strong enemies and poison creatures, never showing fatigue. Now his brow showed slight pain. He stood up. “Rest well… ugh…” He suddenly covered his mouth and bent over vomiting. In moments, he had vomited everything in his stomach clean.

Chi Yun on the bed looked stunned and stopped crying out. Tang Lici slowly straightened up, supporting himself on the table, feeling his whole body weak and sore. When he tried to regulate his true energy, his breathing was unsteady. Leaning on the table for quite a while, he found a cloth to first clean up and wash away the filth on the floor before turning to leave.

Chi Yun watched his actions unblinkingly. His pair of vacant, lifeless eyes opened very wide—whether he saw or didn’t see at all was unclear.

Tang Lici returned to his own room to bathe and change clothes. With hot water steaming, his body felt more comfortable but his head grew more dizzy. His constitution was special—he almost never got sick, and even when injured could heal quickly. The chest sword wound that would take an ordinary person a month or two to heal had already healed in just seven or eight days. He had once gone five days and nights without sleep or rest, feeling no fatigue at all. But tonight after consecutive battles, his body wasn’t in good condition to begin with. With excessive consumption of true power, Fang Zhou’s heart that he protected with internal force and its connected blood vessels had some poor blood circulation.

Pressing his hand on his abdomen, Fang Zhou’s heart in his belly was still beating slowly, but he vaguely felt it was somewhat different from usual, though he couldn’t say how it differed. Soaking longer in the hot water made him dizzier. His usually clear-thinking mind gradually became muddled. He truly had no awareness of when he lost consciousness.

The lamp in Tang Lici’s room burned all night. Shao Yanping, worried the black-clothed man might return, sent people to patrol and guard everywhere. After most of the night passed, a disciple hesitantly reported that Young Master Tang had hot water sent to his room but never had it sent out. Shao Yanping initially paid no attention and casually instructed a maid to go check.

At dawn.

“Young Master Tang?” The maid Zi Yun knocked on Tang Lici’s door.

The door was bolted and there was no sound inside.

“Young Master Tang?” Zi Yun felt slightly puzzled. Tang Lici had always been gentle and polite with maids and would never fail to respond after hearing voices. She smelled the scent of soap pods from inside the room—was he still bathing? How could someone bathe all night and still be bathing? What was he washing? “Young Master Tang? Young Master Tang! Are you still in the room?”

The room remained completely unresponsive.

Zi Yun went around to the window and hesitated for a long time before lightly knocking on the window. “Young Master Tang?”

The room still didn’t respond, but the window opened a slight crack. Zi Yun boldly leaned over to peek inside. The candlelight flickered in the room. She saw the bathtub, saw clothes, saw silver hair still hanging outside the bathtub, and was immediately startled. “Master Shao, Master Shao…” She hurried toward Shao Yanping’s study.

Shao Yanping was sighing at a roomful of books. The mysterious black-clothed masked person appearing and prowling in the Sword Society, moving at night to eavesdrop—even with Tang Lici here to suppress him and make him afraid to act rashly, that wasn’t a fundamental solution. Who exactly was that person? Who wanted Shao Yanping dead?

“Master Shao, Master Shao, I can’t get Young Master Tang’s door open. He… he seems not quite right, like he’s still in the bathtub.” Zi Yun’s face was pale. “Master Shao, please go quickly and look. I think something might have happened.”

“Hmm?” Shao Yanping strode toward Tang Lici’s wing room. The door was bolted, so he shattered it with one palm. With a “crack,” Shao Yanping pushed the door open.

Then, not knowing how much time passed.

“Young Master Tang? Young Master Tang?” There were soft calling voices by his ear, very careful and cautious. Tang Lici’s heart stirred slightly, a point of spiritual awareness was suddenly aroused, then like flowing light and lightning, in an instant he had thought of what had happened. Opening his eyes, he saw Shao Yanping, Yu Furen, and Cheng Yunpao standing by his bedside. He could only smile slightly. “I lost composure.”

The several people by the bed all looked worried, staring at him blankly. They had never seen anyone wake from unconsciousness so clearly, opening their eyes and calmly saying “I lost composure,” leaving them not knowing what to say. After a pause, Shao Yanping said, “Young Master Tang, what exactly happened while you were bathing yesterday? You collapsed in the bathtub. We and the doctor all took your pulse. Except for slight irregular heartbeat, we found no injuries or illness. Do you know where the problem lies?”

Tang Lici’s pulse was stable with no abnormalities. For martial artists with strong physiques, slight irregular heartbeat was very normal. The sudden fainting was truly worrying.

The irregular heartbeat was because he had Fang Zhou’s heart in his body. Two hearts beating together naturally wouldn’t always be perfectly synchronized. As for why he had fainted… Tang Lici sat up. Yu Furen urged him to lie down and rest. Tang Lici sat quietly for a while, then said gently, “Yesterday I was probably somewhat fatigued. The water in the bathtub was too hot, and I forgot myself and soaked too long, so I suddenly fainted.”

The three looked at each other. With Tang Lici’s martial arts level, saying he would faint from soaking in water that was too hot was really hard to believe.

Tang Lici only sat for that moment, then looked at the sky and smiled slightly. “Consider it that I slept in the bathtub for one night—it doesn’t matter.” With that, he got up and stood.

Sleeping for a night and being unconscious for a night were very different, but after he had rushed dozens of li last night and fought four great masters consecutively, excessive consumption of true power leading to physical weakness was reasonable. Shao Yanping exhaled deeply. “Young Master Tang, please quickly meditate and regulate your breathing. Your single body bears the lives of thousands upon thousands. Please take great care of yourself. This morning truly frightened everyone.”

Tang Lici nodded in thanks. “Making everyone worry—I’m very sorry.”

The three made several more concerned remarks, then all left together, closing the door to let Tang Lici rest quietly.

Seeing the three leave, Tang Lici frowned. Why he had fainted in the bathtub—actually he himself didn’t understand clearly either. But he could vaguely feel it was because of pressure… Fang Zhou’s death, Liu Yan’s whereabouts, Chi Yun’s tragic state, the complex situation before him, Xifang Tao lurking behind, A’Shui going far to Luoyang, even the state of the capital after his letter was sent to the Prime Minister’s residence… One difficult problem after another, one predicament after another, layer upon layer, tangled and repetitive, plus his obsession that he must win, gave him enormous pressure. His mind was still sufficient, but psychologically he was already near the limit. Moreover… Fang Zhou’s death—he still couldn’t let it go.

No one forced him to completely win everything. No one forced him to always have the complete upper hand in everything. He was forcing himself.

Leaning against the door looking into the distance, far away in the courtyard, amid the floating white mist, a peach-colored shadow flashed, seeming to smile winningly at him. He smiled back. Yi Tao San Se of the Seven Flowers Cloud Wanderers was the best opponent he had encountered in his life.