Changling’s body instinctively tensed.

Yue Rugou—that was indeed her grandfather’s name.

“After the Battle of Taixing, the two young masters of the Yue family died one after another. This secret should have been buried in the yellow earth, but who knew that not long after…” Jing Wuwei lowered his voice: “Fu Liujing met privately with the eight sect leaders and presented the half of the folding fan.”

Everyone present held their breath upon hearing this.

“He reached a certain agreement with the eight sect leaders, and from then on disappeared from the jianghu.” Jing Wuwei said: “Some time ago, those eight sect leaders fell into the Yan people’s ambush precisely because of that agreement.”

Having spoken to this point, everyone was still in the clouds. Wuma couldn’t help but ask: “Do you know what they agreed upon?”

“Publicly, the eight sect leaders’ explanation was to repay a debt of gratitude, but…” Jing Wuwei hummed twice and deliberately didn’t rush to continue. Island Master Xu twirled the fan handle in his hand twice, then suddenly understood: “I get it now. Fu Liujing only had half of the folding fan, which was useless to him. But he didn’t know where the other half was, so he thought to cooperate with the eight sect leaders, using their jianghu connections to track down its whereabouts. To prevent anyone from having impure intentions, he simply bound these eight people together on the same rope. This way, no matter who found the other half, if they wanted to exchange it with the one in Fu Liujing’s hands, the prerequisite would be that all eight must appear together. This would explain why a mere half of a fan could gather eight sect leaders from prestigious orthodox schools together in such a short time.”

As soon as these words came out, not only did the other several people look over with admiration, even Changling hidden atop the roof beam couldn’t help but silently express her approval.

Jing Wuwei had merely thrown out a brick to attract jade, yet this person surnamed Xu could deduce ten things from hearing one. She just didn’t know if his guess was close to the mark.

Jing Wuwei nodded: “Regarding this half of the folding fan and Fu Liujing’s intentions, Jing spent several months pondering before guessing some of the details. I didn’t expect Island Master Xu to make such an accurate prophecy just from hearing these few words, without even knowing Fu Liujing. Truly admirable. Unfortunately, that half of the folding fan was just a trap set by the Yan people. The eight sect leaders ultimately came up empty-handed.”

Having said this, his gaze swept over everyone. Helmsman Cen immediately understood: “Tonight the general has told us so much about Wu Run and the folding fan. Could it be that you want us to also search for the whereabouts of the other half of the folding fan?”

Chief Escort Tong said: “If this matter of the fan is true, any jianghu person would be tempted. But even with the combined power of eight sects searching for ten years they couldn’t find it. With just us few, I fear we’re willing but lack the ability?”

Wuma continued: “Moreover, that Fu Liujing has vanished without a trace. Even if we had dog-shit luck and found it, without his half, wouldn’t it still be wasted effort?”

Though the younger generation often dreamed of someday stumbling upon a martial arts manual and thus soaring to the sky overnight to dominate the martial world, when it came to actually following the previous generation’s example and wasting their prime years searching for something illusory, everyone thought: that time would be better spent practicing horse stance and punching sandbags.

Jing Wuwei waved his hand with a smile: “Chief Escort Tong misunderstands. If it were searching for a needle in the ocean, I naturally wouldn’t dare trouble you. Tonight I’ve invited you all because there is actually a new lead.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Jing Wuwei clapped his hands. An attendant entered the banquet hall carrying a tray, upon which were placed four folding fans, each with only half remaining. This aroused great curiosity in the several people. After they were distributed one by one to each person’s hand, Jing Wuwei smiled: “This is the folding fan that the eight sect leaders saw back then. Although these are just reproductions, in terms of fan shape, materials used, and the inscriptions and paintings on the fan surface, they can be said to be identical.”

The roof beam was too high. Looking down from above, one couldn’t see clearly what was written on the fan surface. But Wuma casually recited two lines: “Northern pavilion hears bells and chimes, southern neighbor smells pine and cypress fragrance… What does it mean?”

“This should only be the latter half. Only by finding the front half of the fan and piecing together a complete poem can one possibly decipher its meaning.” Island Master Xu’s eyes flashed keenly as he said: “However, since General Jing mentioned a new lead…”

“Jing is not particularly talented, but in my youth I followed the Yue family and was highly regarded by the eldest young master.” When Jing Wuwei said these words, his tone was full of loyal devotion. Changling suppressed a wave of nausea and continued listening. “Therefore, after the two young masters passed away, I personally handled all their posthumous affairs. The Yue family’s old residence and belongings were also properly preserved… After learning about this folding fan matter, I specially went through the old items again, and actually discovered…”

Before he could finish speaking, suddenly there was an alarmed cry from outside the hall: “There’s an assassin—”

Changling was startled, thinking her tracks had been discovered. But in the next moment, she heard the sound of combat from below. A black-clothed person leaped out from the crossbeam beneath the eaves and retreated into the courtyard outside the hall.

She hadn’t expected that in the dead of night, she wasn’t the only one eavesdropping. Changling bent down, about to continue lying flat to watch the excitement, when unexpectedly that “fellow practitioner” leaped up, heading straight in her direction. At this moment, someone below shouted loudly: “There’s another one, on the roof—”

Changling: “…”

The black-clothed person was also stunned to see the “masked hero” on the roof. Just as they encountered each other, Jing Wuwei below the eaves cried out in shock and anger: “Stop them!”

Changling glared at that person, calculating whether to kick this fool who dragged others into trouble off the roof, when suddenly she heard him say “watch out.” A “whoosh” sounded from behind her. She leaped away, but a long halberd pierced straight through the tile roof, smashing out a large deep crater.

She stood firm and looked around. Four people stood at the four “wing corners” of the roof—precisely the four “guests” from the hall earlier. Chief Escort Tong still gripped a long halberd in his left hand and spoke first: “To dodge even my halberd, it seems this assassin has good skills.”

Wuma covered his mouth with a laugh: “Rarely do people deliver themselves to our door. Not practicing our skills would be letting down their kind intentions, wouldn’t it?”

With matters having reached this point, Changling knew this fight was unavoidable. She thought: I need to escape quickly. If I stay longer and Jing Wuwei sees through me, I won’t be able to explain myself.

At this moment, Chief Escort Tong and Wuma simultaneously leaped through the air from the east and south. She pulled out the short sword from her waist, about to strike, when a black shadow timely jumped in front of her. With a “clang,” it blocked this fierce attack. The black-clothed person had his back to her and said in a low voice: “Go.”

Seeing the black-clothed person repeatedly helping her, Changling felt somewhat surprised and glanced at him. In the next moment, Helmsman Cen standing at the west position swooped down like a hawk with his blade. Changling looked back, her shoulder moved, and the short sword in her hand lifted lightly from bottom to top with an understated motion, actually blocking Helmsman Cen’s crushing blade strike in one move. Before he could show his shock, the person before him vanished like a ghost. The short sword flicked upward from below, scraping straight toward his wrist pulse.

Helmsman Cen immediately withdrew his blade and leaned back. When he straightened up again, Changling had already leaped several zhang away, her feet flashing like lightning and disappearing in an instant.

“This… this person…” Helmsman Cen had dominated Hedong for many years. This was the first time he encountered an opponent who forced him back several steps with one move. He stood there dumbfounded.

Island Master Xu, who had been watching from the sidelines all along, saw this scene of Helmsman Cen being forced back—excitement immediately rose in his eyes. With a sidestep, he too disappeared from the rooftop.

Seeing that Chief Escort Tong and Wuma couldn’t take down the black-clothed man, Helmsman Cen immediately jumped into the battle circle. Chief Escort Tong shouted while parrying: “Cen Fei, why aren’t you chasing that assassin?”

“If Xu Laifeng can’t catch them personally, what use would it be for me to go?” Cen Feng stared at the black-clothed person before him and sneered coldly: “Might as well the three of us take down one together, then won’t we know what their background is?”

Having left the general’s residence, Changling traveled along using her qinggong at high speed, thinking to lose her pursuer and then find a place to shed the night-traveling clothes, then pretend to be a student leaving class and return as if nothing happened. Who knew the person behind kept following more and more closely. No matter how she quickened her pace, after throwing him off briefly, once she caught her breath, he would relentlessly pursue again.

After this back and forth, Changling knew this person had abundant internal energy, and ultimately she would be at a disadvantage. She immediately stopped and turned around, short sword in hand, a thread of killing intent spreading without words. That person leaped down from the roof and stopped five steps away.

The moon was bright. This “Island Master Xu” was quite tall and slender. His wide robes and long gown made him appear somewhat thin. Though he couldn’t quite be called handsome, he was at least clear-browed and bright-eyed. Only his half-drooping eyelids as he looked over were full of lazy drowsiness, as if given a bed he could lie down and sleep at any moment.

“I am Xu Laifeng, Island Master of East Sea Island.” He slowly waved his fan. “May I know your esteemed name?”

Changling: “…”

This fellow not only announced his own identity but asked a masked person in black for their name. Was his brain working properly?

Seeing Changling remain silent, Xu Laifeng said politely: “You are a master, so I naturally should treat you with a master’s courtesy. Otherwise, after fighting, if one person’s soul falls to the other’s hand without even knowing the other’s name, wouldn’t that be dying unjustly?”

Changling pondered this and felt this statement was roughly the same meaning as her youthful saying “I don’t kill nameless ghosts,” just much more modest—she lowered her voice to a male tone and replied: “Dying by my hand would not be unjust.”

Xu Laifeng made a soft sound of surprise. Before his next words could emerge from his mouth, he saw Changling vanish into thin air before his eyes. His hand waving the fan suddenly paused. He only felt that the space beside him seemed surrounded by a light breeze. The opponent’s movements were so fast, he couldn’t even see a solid shadow. He closed the fan in his hand. His eyeballs rolled twice, and on the third rotation, he suddenly protected his back with his rear hand. The fan handle solidly blocked the fierce thrust of the short sword.

Changling behind him was stunned. Just now, her move “Wind Sweeps残云” was the fastest technique in her self-created sword style. It emphasized striking like wind. Though the final thrust only used thirty percent of her internal breath—in the past when she used this move, she had never exceeded thirty percent against anyone and had never failed.

Xu Laifeng suddenly spun around. The folding fan in his hand opened with a “whoosh,” suddenly sweeping out a hurricane, like a great river surging forth and breaking through mountain dikes. Changling leaped back to avoid it, floating several zhang away. Where she had just stood—the stone slabs on the ground had shattered into a long expanse, earth bursting forth.

“I treat you with a master’s courtesy, yet you still held back…” Xu Laifeng’s lips curved into a smile. “Wouldn’t that be rather inappropriate.”

After just a brief exchange of one move, he could tell whether she held back. It seemed this person’s discernment was even more astonishing than his internal energy.

Never mind after her revival—even during those years when she roamed the jianghu, she had rarely encountered masters of this caliber.

Changling’s eyes narrowed slightly. A long-absent eagerness to try arose in her heart. She swung her long arm, and the short sword “whooshed” as it embedded in the wooden door of a side shop. She said in a deep voice: “Then let’s exchange a few moves.”

Xu Laifeng trembled, then also tossed aside the folding fan in his hand and laughed heartily: “Straightforward!”

In an instant, countless clouds of dust rose in the spacious narrow street. Two blurred figures moved and dodged. Though neither person touched the ground, the entire street’s surface trembled ceaselessly in the roaring sounds. Xu Laifeng’s palm wind seemed to hide clumsiness in skill, but actually concealed needles in cotton, setting traps everywhere. As for Changling… her entire being seemed to carry an unyielding spirit. No matter what strange moves the opponent used, she naturally formed the momentum of wind and rain.

Encountering such an opponent, Xu Laifeng was truly both shocked and delighted, only thinking that the two should each display their supreme skills and fight to their heart’s content. Who knew that the further they fought, no matter how he attacked, the opponent handled everything with ease, difficult to shake. Yet the opponent’s offensive was like the unpredictable ocean, utterly impossible to block.

However, Changling at this moment wasn’t as effortless as he perceived. The three killing moves she attempted were all dismantled by Xu Laifeng one by one. She had almost fully used fifty percent of her internal energy—already feeling somewhat fatigued. If she couldn’t knock down this youngster soon, the tables would turn in an instant.

At this critical juncture, she could no longer worry about concealing anything. Her figure suddenly soared, as if crossing the Heavenly River, spiraling in the air and swiftly circling half a round. Her fingertips suddenly generated fierce sword qi, containing all things within, pointing downward—

As Xu Laifeng looked up, he felt the world and sky descend like frost. Even with Guanyin’s thousand hands, there was nowhere to hide.

The fifth level of the Shemo technique, called “Ferry Soul.” When Ferry Soul emerges, death is certain with no survival.

Changling landed. Watching this young man crash through a stone pillar, an entire wall collapsed with a thunderous crash, burying that mortal body.

The narrow alley returned to deathly silence, quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Changling showed neither sorrow nor joy as she turned around, about to step away.

Suddenly, she heard a “crack”—the sound of broken stones rolling.

Changling turned her head. From within that collapsed brick wall, that person slowly stood up, staggered out a few steps, lifted his hand to wipe the fresh blood from the corner of his lips, looked up with a toothy smile: “Interesting. It seems I was careless. This time, it’s my turn to use my full strength.”