Shen Langhun carried Tang Lici on his back as they escaped from Wangting Manor. Almost simultaneously, Demonic Soul death warriors lined up in pursuit behind them. He was covered in wounds, his physical strength far below normal, and carrying Tang Lici made every step extremely difficult. After running several dozen zhang, he was already exhausted. His mind raced, but for a moment he couldn’t think of any escape method. In desperation, he whispered hoarsely, “What do we do?”
Tang Lici pressed his hand to his abdominal wound and coughed once, “Go straight, then turn toward the hill on the left.” Shen Langhun rallied his spirits and summoned his strength to run toward the left hill. Though the hill didn’t appear far, given his current physical condition, when leaping he felt his chest burning with unbearable pain. Every breath felt like dying once. With great difficulty, he used concealment techniques all the way to reach behind the hill. Shen Langhun suppressed the breath in his chest and crouched in the grass to look up.
Several people sat among the trees and grassland—two women, one scholar, and they were even holding a child. Shen Langhun couldn’t help coughing violently, spitting up blood foam. Were these men and women, who couldn’t even be considered third-rate martial artists, really Tang Lici’s saviors?
Hearing his violent coughing, the men and women on the hillside turned their heads. Shen Langhun staggered out carrying Tang Lici on his back. He recognized all the people on the hillside. Though he hadn’t met Lin Bu face to face, he had been tracking Liu Yan’s movements and had witnessed the encounter between Lin Bu and Liu Yan throughout.
Before A’Shui could clearly see who was emerging from the grass, she suddenly stood up. Yu Tuan’er cried out in shock, “Brother Shen… he… how did he become like this?” Shen Langhun gasped several times and said hoarsely, “The Pleasure House people are behind us. We must… escape immediately…”
A’Shui gripped Tang Lici tightly, “How badly is Master Tang injured?” Shen Langhun said in a low voice, “The wound… affects his internal organs…” A’Shui’s face turned deathly pale, “How could this happen?” Shen Langhun said deeply, “I was incited and provoked by Fu Cui… Bah! I stabbed him once. There’s no use saying more—how can so many of us escape?”
“Disguise…” Tang Lici slightly opened his eyes, pointing toward the many residential houses in Chengfeng Town, saying in a low voice, “Find the most… ordinary and unremarkable one, break in… tie up all the men, women, old and young, then we… move in…” He pointed at Yu Tuan’er. Yu Tuan’er wasn’t stupid and nodded repeatedly, turning to sprint away. In the martial world, the most unfamiliar face was hers. Even though the Pleasure House had long monitored the Scholarly Brow Residence, Yu Tuan’er’s appearance was gradually changing, becoming younger and younger, so at this moment she was least likely to be recognized.
“My wound… doesn’t matter.” Tang Lici said faintly, not looking at Shen Langhun with his eyes, leaning in A’Shui’s embrace with slightly closed eyelids. “It just pierced… that heart… that’s all…” He trembled once, his lips appearing pale while his cheeks still showed a red flush. “But it’s still beating.” A’Shui gripped his hand tightly. Tang Lici immediately pulled away, “We can’t escape the Pleasure House’s pursuit. We can only take the risk…”
When he was injured, he particularly rejected having people approach him. A’Shui sighed, “Let me handle everyone’s disguises.”
Before long, Yu Tuan’er quickly returned, pointing to a small house at the edge of town, “There.” Immediately, Shen Langhun carried Tang Lici on his back, hastily covering himself with Lin Bu’s long robe, and slipped into town like smoke. After they left, Lin Bu and A’Shui slowly followed. Since the two of them didn’t know martial arts and were carrying an infant, they were less likely to attract attention.
Arriving at that residential house, Shen Langhun secretly praised the little girl’s cleverness. This small house was at the edge of Chengfeng Town, at some distance from other households, very inconspicuous, yet the house was not small, indicating the family circumstances weren’t too poor. Yu Tuan’er had already acupointed and tied up the family of five living in this house under the bed. She was accustomed to breaking into residential houses—such things didn’t faze her at all. Shen Langhun placed Tang Lici on the bed inside the house, exhaled a long breath, and sat down on the ground himself, unable to stand up for quite a while.
A’Shui quickly searched through the family’s wardrobe, taking out two women’s dresses for herself and Yu Tuan’er to change into first, then found two men’s outfits for Shen Langhun and Lin Bu to change into. This household was a farming family, so all the clothes were quite crude. A’Shui knocked some coal ash from the stove and patted it on her own and Yu Tuan’er’s faces. Lin Bu had a scholarly air and looked younger than his age. Only the red snake mark on Shen Langhun’s face couldn’t be removed. Yu Tuan’er picked up a glowing piece of charcoal from the stove with tongs, “I’ll burn it ugly so no one can tell what it is.” A’Shui was startled and quickly stopped her, but Yu Tuan’er’s suggestion gave her another idea. She tore her white handkerchief into several strips of white cloth, soaked them with blood from Shen Langhun’s body, and wrapped half his head, pretending he had a head injury, covering the cheek with the red snake tattoo as well.
Yu Tuan’er clapped in approval, but A’Shui knew in her heart that such crude disguises would definitely be exposed on the spot if they encountered Bai Suche or Fu Cui. At this moment, they could only hope these people wouldn’t come. The four hurriedly finished preparing themselves and all looked toward Tang Lici on the bed.
What should they disguise him as? If they disguised him as a farmer, Tang Lici’s elegant features and fair skin really didn’t match. If not a farmer, then what? He had an abdominal wound and couldn’t walk. The Pleasure House would definitely search specifically for people with abdominal injuries. A’Shui stamped her foot, “Master Tang, I think we can only hide you. Even if you disguise yourself as a farmer, you’ll definitely be exposed.”
Tang Lici pressed his hand to his abdomen. That blade had pierced Fang Zhou’s heart, but the muscles around the human heart are particularly tight. Shen Langhun’s blade had penetrated but not pierced through, so the blood loss wasn’t too severe and had gradually stopped by now. Seeing the four people’s hasty disguises, Tang Lici shook his head and raised his hand, “Who has rouge… face powder…”
Yu Tuan’er reached into her bosom, her face reddening, “I do.” A’Shui didn’t use cosmetics and never carried rouge. Tang Lici accepted the box of rouge, piece of face powder, and eyebrow pencil that Yu Tuan’er handed him, and gestured for A’Shui to bring an egg from the stove. Though his abdominal blade wound was deep, it hadn’t injured his actual organs. He immediately sat up, slightly closing his eyelids then slowly opening them, “Shen Langhun.”
Shen Langhun looked up, exhaled, and said indifferently, “Do you know disguise techniques?” Though he was an assassin, he rarely encountered worthy opponents and wasn’t skilled in costume and disguise arts. Tang Lici smiled faintly—Shen Langhun had seen this expression of forcing himself to stay conscious several times before, “I don’t know disguise…” He pulled off the white cloth wrapping Shen Langhun’s head and had him sit in the chair in front of him, “I only know how to apply makeup…”
Lin Bu and Yu Tuan’er looked at each other, not knowing what Tang Lici intended to do with Shen Langhun. They saw him crack the egg, mix the egg white with face powder, dip his finger in the powder, and slowly apply it to Shen Langhun’s cheek with the red tattoo. The powder’s color originally couldn’t cover the red from the tattoo, but after Tang Lici let the powder dry, he applied another layer. Repeating this process, when he applied the fourth layer, the red snake on Shen Langhun’s cheek was completely invisible, leaving only a patch of mask-like deathly white.
This deathly white face would probably attract even more attention than the cheek with the red snake tattoo. Yu Tuan’er’s heart pounded, fearing the Pleasure House people would suddenly burst in. Fortunately, the commotion gradually moved into the distance. Bai Suche ordered the Demonic Soul death warriors to pursue in four directions, getting farther and farther away—they wouldn’t return anytime soon. After Tang Lici painted Shen Langhun’s face into a patch of deathly white, he lightly dabbed some rouge and pressed it from both sides of his cheeks toward his nose. The rouge was originally bright red, but he used very little. When pressed on the face, it only showed a faint dark color, and that patch of deathly white immediately became subdued. Lin Bu watched Tang Lici’s technique with amazement. After this application and pressing, Shen Langhun’s cheeks seemed to have thinned, and his chin had sharpened. Tang Lici smeared red rouge on his finger and gently pressed it at the corners of Shen Langhun’s eyes, then lightly drew with the eyebrow pencil on his eyelids.
Shen Langhun felt his whole body stiffen. Tang Lici’s fingertips were warm and smooth, and the feeling of the eyebrow pencil drawing on his eyes was extremely painful. When Tang Lici’s eyebrow pencil left, he breathed a sigh of relief. The three people opposite all exclaimed “Ah” in low voices, their faces full of amazement.
Yu Tuan’er stared speechless at Shen Langhun. Shen Langhun’s appearance was extremely ordinary, but after Tang Lici’s work, he seemed to have become a completely different person. Tang Lici had painted his cheeks thinner, making his nose appear more sharp and prominent, his eyes suddenly much more spirited, suddenly allowing people to recognize that Shen Langhun’s pupils were actually very beautiful. When he looked at someone, it was like the light from inside and outside windows was flickering in his eyes. “Heavens… you’ve painted Brother Shen into… a demon…” Yu Tuan’er said quietly, “How could he become like this…”
Fine cold sweat had appeared on Tang Lici’s forehead. He rubbed a little egg white between his hands and patted it on Shen Langhun’s face. The traces of powder suddenly disappeared, as if Shen Langhun had naturally been born with such a handsome face. Tang Lici drew with his index finger, creating a long wound on his right cheek. Fresh blood seeped out and quickly scabbed over. After Tang Lici’s arrangement, Shen Langhun was completely unrecognizable, like a different person, especially with that blood scar on his cheek drawing attention. Tang Lici exhaled lightly and smiled slightly, pointing to the scholarly robe Lin Bu had just changed out of, “You… you can go… Make up a name for yourself. Even if you use martial arts, it won’t matter.”
Lin Bu looked in shock at the completely transformed Shen Langhun. Yu Tuan’er giggled, “I’ll give Brother Shen a name—how about calling him ‘Scar Scholar’ Pan Ruoan?” Shen Langhun smiled bitterly and picked up Lin Bu’s scholarly robe to put on. When he was fully dressed, he truly drew everyone’s attention—no one could imagine this handsome scholar was Shen Langhun. A’Shui adjusted his hair knot for him, “Brother Shen, go ahead.” Shen Langhun nodded. Tang Lici raised his hand and spoke with him in whispered secrets for a while, taking something from his robes and giving it to Shen Langhun. He nodded repeatedly and strode outside.
This place was very close to Wangting Manor and extremely dangerous. If anyone could leave, they should. Tang Lici couldn’t move and had to stay, while Shen Langhun’s departure was essential to find a method to resolve their predicament.
He had to think of a way to draw all the Pleasure House people away, or find unparalleled masters who could take Tang Lici away from this place without alerting the Pleasure House.
Was it possible? The Central Plains Sword Society’s situation was complex and unpredictable. He could only seek help from Biluo Palace. Shen Langhun walked calmly through the streets of Chengfeng Town, first finding a tavern where he ate his fill, then headed north.
Would Wanyu Yuedan offer assistance? Shen Langhun wasn’t really confident, and he found himself indescribably hoping that everyone in Wangting Manor would suddenly drop dead, leaving not one alive.