“Who are you?”

Ning Buyan frowned. Qin Wanwan had already changed her face in the tomb. Qin Wanwan directly began making up an identity: “I am Miao Cuihua, Nujun of Jishan.”

“Never heard of you.”

Ning Buyan quickly sealed the meridians throughout her body and raised his hand to sheath his sword.

“Drag her away.”

“Wait, Daojun Ning,” Qin Wanwan was rushed by people putting shackles on her. Watching Ning Buyan turn to leave, she shouted loudly, “Your Ning clan caused Lin Yanzhi’s death. Now that he’s come seeking revenge, don’t you care at all?”

Ning Buyan’s movements paused. He turned back with a cold expression: “Don’t speak nonsense. True Lord Ming Jing became demon-possessed and was slain by City Lord Hua—what does that have to do with my Ning clan?”

“Nothing to do with you?”

Qin Wanwan stared at Ning Buyan: “Then why, after Daojun Ming Jing died, did Yan Wushuang, who was Lin Yanzhi’s brother-in-law, forcibly break into the Ning clan? Why did the Ning clan’s ancestor suffer a curse? And why now does Ning Wenxu want to kill Jian Xingzhi the moment he sees someone who looks similar to Lin Yanzhi? Condemning someone based on a water jug—don’t you think that’s reckless?”

Ning Buyan didn’t speak. Qin Wanwan continued persuading him: “Ning Buyan, if the Evil God truly appears at the Ning clan, does your Ning clan have the capability to handle it? I’m afraid your entire clan would be annihilated before other sects could arrive to assist.”

“Why should I believe your one-sided words?”

“I have evidence.” Qin Wanwan spoke calmly. “As long as you help me buy time, I can prove it.”

“How will you prove it?”

“I have my methods. Ning Buyan, if you buy time for me and I’m lying, at most you’ll just find the real culprit a bit later. But if what I’m saying is true, cooperating with us can save many people.”

Ning Buyan stood in place. After a moment, he walked before Qin Wanwan and crouched down: “Until nightfall.”

He looked at her, his voice calm: “I’ll only protect you until nightfall.”

“Alright.”

Qin Wanwan gritted her teeth and accepted.

Ning Buyan waved his hand. The people beside immediately released her. Ning Buyan helped Qin Wanwan up with a gentle smile: “Miss, I’ve wronged you. Come, let’s have tea and talk.”

“You…” Qin Wanwan spoke with difficulty, “Isn’t your face-changing speed a bit too fast?”

Ning Buyan didn’t respond to this. He just supported her, smiling as he extended his hand toward a carriage: “Miss, shall we?”

Qin Wanwan didn’t dare say more and followed Ning Buyan onto the carriage.

Ning Buyan also invited Xie Gutang onto the carriage. He poured tea for both of them, his voice peaceful: “Why don’t you two tell me—where did you see the Divine Lord Ming Jing, and how did you learn about these past secrets?”

Hearing this, Qin Wanwan thought for a moment and exchanged glances with Xie Gutang.

Seeing they had reservations, Ning Buyan simply revealed Qin Wanwan’s identity: “Miss, why don’t you start from when you and your master disappeared together?”

“You recognized me?”

Qin Wanwan was surprised. Ning Buyan held his teacup and smiled: “Your temperament is too obvious.”

“Ahem,” Qin Wanwan nodded. “Then I’ll start from when we disappeared. After disappearing, we entered a large tomb. In the tomb’s murals, we saw the tomb owner’s life story.”

Qin Wanwan laid out Lin Yanzhi’s entire life story. Ning Buyan listened quietly the whole way, coughing occasionally.

When they were almost at the Ning manor, Ning Buyan finally looked up: “So, how did you encounter True Lord Ming Jing?”

“When we entered the main tomb, we saw a coffin. The coffin was empty,” Qin Wanwan spoke vividly. “Then we heard footsteps. My master told everyone to hide quickly! I immediately hid under the bed.”

“I hid behind the mirror.” Xie Gutang added, increasing authenticity.

“Then we saw him come in. He seemed a bit mad, kept saying that once he recovered his power, he’d go back for revenge. He wanted to kill all of you! After shouting for a while, he left, and we ran.”

After Qin Wanwan finished, she turned to look at Ning Buyan, speaking earnestly: “Daoist Ning, you can see that my master’s and my faces are both changed. We actually have no connection to Lin Yanzhi at all. Our goal is just the Exquisite Jade. We have no reason to kill your clan’s ancestor. So what’s more likely is that because we could save him, the culprit proactively killed him to frame us.”

Ning Buyan listened and nodded. He looked up at Xie Gutang: “Then you tell me—what kind of crown did Daojun Ming Jing wear?”

As soon as Qin Wanwan heard this, she was about to speak. Ning Buyan raised his hand to stop Qin Wanwan, pointing at Xie Gutang: “You tell me through voice transmission.”

Then Ning Buyan turned to look at Qin Wanwan: “You also use voice transmission.”

He was testing whether their stories matched.

Qin Wanwan nervously clenched her sleeve, thinking of Lin Yanzhi in the murals, and answered: “Green jade lotus crown.”

As she spoke, she stared intently at Ning Buyan. After hearing both transmissions, Ning Buyan nodded: “I’ll arrange for you to rest in the prison cells first. Wait a bit.”

The three returned to the Ning manor. Ning Buyan arranged the two into a woodshed, then went back to report to Ning Wenxu.

As soon as Ning Buyan left, Qin Wanwan quickly asked Xie Gutang: “What did you answer?”

“Green jade lotus crown.”

Xie Gutang spoke. Qin Wanwan breathed a sigh of relief and brightened up: “How did you know?”

“For you to answer the same as me, you’d naturally say something I knew. I’d never seen Lin Yanzhi before. The only time I saw him was in the murals, and in the murals he wore a green jade lotus crown.”

“Big Brother Xie, you’re so smart! I really brought the right person!”

Hearing Xie Gutang’s advanced comprehension ability, Qin Wanwan was deeply moved. It had been so long since she’d met someone this intelligent.

“If only Jian Xingzhi had half your brains!”

“Senior has a mind like a clear mirror,” Xie Gutang smiled. “He just doesn’t display it much.”

“Oh no,” Qin Wanwan immediately stopped Xie Gutang from praising him. “You have blind admiration as his fanboy. He really…” Qin Wanwan found a tactful word, “isn’t smart enough.”

“If Senior isn’t smart enough,” Xie Gutang shook his head, “it’s only with you.”

Hearing this, Qin Wanwan couldn’t help but be stunned.

She smoothed her hair, feeling a bit embarrassed to respond, only saying: “I hope it’s as you say, that he can be smarter and quickly find the medicinal agent. Since we’re bored anyway, let’s play cards.”

With that, Qin Wanwan pulled out a deck of leaf cards from her storage pouch and looked up at Xie Gutang: “Do you know how?”

“I do.”

Xie Gutang smiled slightly, taking the cards and shuffling them fluently like a casino dealer.

Qin Wanwan watched in shock. She suddenly became very curious about the Heavenly Sword Sect.

What kind of sect could raise a talent like Xie Gutang?

While Qin Wanwan and Xie Gutang were playing leaf cards intensely in the woodshed, Jian Xingzhi kicked open the door of the thirteenth medicine shop, slapped the prescription Cuilu had written for him onto the table, and spoke fiercely: “Do you have Fire Tongue Grass or not?”

“Sorry, customer,” the shopkeeper maintained a smile, “we’re out.”

“What about Gold-Silver Eggs?”

“Also out.”

“White Snake Fruit?”

“Customer,” the shopkeeper glanced at the prescription in his hand, “the medicinal ingredients you want were sold to extinction long ago.”

“Extinction?”

Jian Xingzhi was shocked. The shopkeeper nodded: “That’s right. For the past two hundred years, someone has been purchasing the medicinal ingredients on your prescription at high prices long-term. Throughout the entire Desolate City territory, these medicinal ingredients have been dug to extinction. You can’t buy them anymore.”

“You won’t even give me a chance to rob you?!”

Jian Xingzhi’s mentality collapsed.

He’d originally planned that if the shop wouldn’t give them, he’d forcibly take them. But now he’d asked thirteen medicine shops—it wasn’t even a question of whether they’d give or not, but whether they had any at all.

These medicinal ingredients—over all these years—had actually all been dug up?!

“Ah, these ingredients of yours are all from the formula used to test for demonic seeds back in the day,” the shopkeeper glanced at the prescription and sighed. “Now that demonic seeds have disappeared for so many years, there’s not much market. That customer wants a batch every year, and they all have to include roots. Since no one cultivates them specially, everyone just digs them from the mountains—digging up the roots for nearly two hundred years. What would be left?”

“Who is your customer?”

Jian Xingzhi thought about it—he could only follow the one lead available. The shopkeeper maintained his smile: “How could I possibly reveal this customer’s identity…”

Before he finished speaking, Jian Xingzhi’s sword was already at his throat. The shopkeeper paused, then quickly answered: “Of course I can tell you.”

“Who?”

“Yan Wushuang.”

“That bastard!!”

Jian Xingzhi withdrew his sword, turned, and rushed out.

Cuilu was outside leaning against a pillar, filing her nails. She disdained joining Jian Xingzhi in robbery. Seeing Jian Xingzhi come out, she looked up: “Did you get any?”

“No,” Jian Xingzhi spoke irritably. “All these medicines were bought up to extinction by people Yan Wushuang hired.”

Cuilu was stunned, then spoke angrily: “I wondered why he was such a money-grubber. Does he waste Giant Sword Manor’s money like this—is it even enough?”

“Let’s go find him!”

Jian Xingzhi carried his sword and rushed toward the broken temple where Giant Sword Manor was gathering.

Cuilu followed him. The two arrived at the broken temple together with imposing momentum. Jian Xingzhi kicked open the door: “Yan Wushuang!”

There was no one else in the broken temple. Yan Wushuang sat alone in the courtyard. He seemed to have long anticipated Jian Xingzhi’s arrival—on the table was a pot of wine and two cups.

The sky grew darker, as if a light rain was coming. Yan Wushuang turned to look over: “Oh, you came?”

“You search the rooms.”

Jian Xingzhi directed Cuilu. He himself went forward and sat across from Yan Wushuang. Yan Wushuang watched Cuilu rush into the rooms, only saying: “Don’t mess things up. If you scatter the items, they’ll need to be organized again. Have some manners.”

“Your broken temple would look the same even if smashed.”

Jian Xingzhi scoffed: “Why care whether it’s messy or not?”

“You can’t say that,” Yan Wushuang smiled, pouring wine for Jian Xingzhi and pushing it before him. “Even a dog’s den is a den. A home, of course, should be well-maintained.”

Then Yan Wushuang looked up and smiled at him: “Huihe told me this.”

Jian Xingzhi didn’t speak. Yan Wushuang’s eyes held some warmth: “Before I met Huihe, I was as you said—living like a wild dog. I didn’t know how to tidy rooms, didn’t know clothes should be worn clean, didn’t know meals should be paired with what dishes. Every day was just fighting, fighting. I thought that was the most important thing in life.”

“Oh, me too.”

Jian Xingzhi nodded. Yan Wushuang picked up his wine cup: “Shall we drink?”

Jian Xingzhi generously picked up his wine cup. Yan Wushuang clinked glasses with him, his voice calm: “Then one day I got my hand broken in a fight. My junior brother forced me to go to a medical clinic. I thought, it’s just a broken hand—what’s there to treat? But after I went, I met Huihe. She so seriously bandaged me. After bandaging, she even tied it into a butterfly knot. That was the first time I felt—life could be lived this way. So I fought every day, getting bumps and bruises every day, going to the medical clinic to find her. I persisted for a long time,” Yan Wushuang smiled, drinking some wine. “She became my wife.”

“At that time, I was the foremost among Desolate City’s young generation. Even Ning Buyan was defeated by me. She was Desolate City’s premier medical cultivator, her medical skills renowned far and wide. Many people came from thousands of miles away to see her. We were always doing very well, until one day, her younger brother came to our home covered in blood to find her, saying he had to leave. Only then did I learn that that famous killer madman of the Ning clan was her younger brother. After this brother left, he changed his name. I accompanied her everywhere following traces of Lin Yanzhi. He truly was a monster. Though I prided myself on extraordinary talent, I’d never encountered anyone who could be this strong.”

Jian Xingzhi didn’t speak. He drank some wine, listening to Yan Wushuang talk about the Lin Yanzhi he saw: “He saved many people, offended many people. Afraid of bringing disaster to Huihe, he refused to return until his merit filled his body and no one in the world could do anything to him—only then did he finally come back. After he returned, Huihe finally smiled. He and I had a good relationship. At that time we often sat in the courtyard, just like you and me,” Yan Wushuang turned to look at him and smiled, “drinking like this.”

Jian Xingzhi listened, raising his hand to clink glasses with him. Both drained their cups. Yan Wushuang continued reminiscing: “He held nothing back, teaching me the mental cultivation method he’d comprehended himself. He learned some spells from two immortals and taught them all to me too. Huihe was very happy then. One night, she chatted with me idly. She said, ‘Wushuang, I want to have a child.'”

As Yan Wushuang spoke, his eyes reddened: “We’d drifted for many years. Only after seeing Lin Yanzhi settle down did we finally settle down. Then we had a child. My master was nearing the end of his natural lifespan, and I was about to inherit Giant Sword Manor. That time was probably the best period of my life. But then one day, I suddenly sensed demonic energy in Desolate City. Even though it was just an instant, I knew—something had happened.”

“Lin Yanzhi came back?”

Jian Xingzhi drank, seemingly casual. Yan Wushuang smiled bitterly: “Yes. He came to Desolate City with the Evil God. Desolate City had a tomb he’d personally built. That tomb had the world’s strongest formation array. With slight modifications, it could trap him to death inside. At the time I didn’t know. I only followed my master’s orders to lock down Giant Sword Manor. But then one day when I came back, Huihe was gone.”

“She was…” Jian Xingzhi found it somewhat hard to say, “pregnant with the child?”

“That’s right,” Yan Wushuang said with tears, drinking some wine. “Pregnant with the child. I found out she was taken by the Ning family. I killed my way into the Ning home and had a great battle with the Ning clan. My master broke out of seclusion to save me. In the end, I finally got Huihe back from the Ning clan, but she was actually already nearly dead, with only one soul and one spirit remaining in her body. She couldn’t survive at all.”

“They told me,” Yan Wushuang seemed to find it absurd, raising his hand to support his forehead, laughing aloud, “that she was accidentally killed by Lin Yanzhi. But I’m a sword cultivator—how could I not see that the wound on her neck was completely self-inflicted?”

“She wasn’t killed by someone,” Yan Wushuang looked up at Jian Xingzhi. “She was driven to death by someone.”

Jian Xingzhi’s movements paused. Yan Wushuang’s expression was clear: “Later, because my master saved me, he failed to ascend and was bedridden for fifty years, finally dying with resentment. And I nourished her one soul and one spirit, but ultimately couldn’t sustain her. Before me, her body rotted and her white bones turned to ash. My child also couldn’t be saved—stillborn in the womb. My dao heart shattered. Giant Sword Manor has been on the verge of collapse ever since. Jian Xingzhi, tell me—should I hate?”

“You should. So,” Jian Xingzhi stared into his eyes, “the Ning clan’s ancestor was cursed by you?”

“That’s right,” Yan Wushuang laughed lightly. “I didn’t have the ability to kill him, so I used my life to curse him. I cursed him to see Huihe’s dying appearance every day and night. He has to repent for this, suffer for this.”

“Since you didn’t have the ability to kill him, how did you curse him?”

Yan Wushuang didn’t speak. Jian Xingzhi’s gaze fell on the runes faintly visible on his chest: “You met the Evil God and planted a demonic seed.”

After planting a demonic seed, cultivation would greatly increase. The price paid was that every bit of evil thought would be magnified exponentially, ultimately producing evil thoughts, then blooming and bearing fruit, with all cultivation, all life, all energy ultimately belonging to the Evil God.

“After planting the demonic seed, you used the immortal realm spells Lin Yanzhi taught you to curse the Ning clan’s ancestor. After that, you also killed the Ning clan’s ancestor, right?”

“That’s right. The Ning clan’s ancestor,” Yan Wushuang smiled, “shouldn’t he be killed?”

“He should.”

“Then why won’t you leave?”

Yan Wushuang clenched his fists: “I told you to leave long ago. Why won’t you leave?!”

Jian Xingzhi calmly drank the last sip of wine and looked up at him: “If today you’d killed him with a sword, I would stand with you. But if you harm the innocent because of hatred,” Jian Xingzhi’s gaze was clear, “what you’ve lost is far more than your dao heart. Everyone in this world suffers—who doesn’t have a reason to do evil? But cause and effect beget each other, grievances have their owners. What I’m stopping isn’t you—it’s evil.”

“That is to say,” Yan Wushuang lowered his head and smiled bitterly, “even knowing the past, you’re still going to interfere?”

“I’m the type of person who never likes looking back at the road I’ve walked.”

Jian Xingzhi drank: “I only know to keep moving forward.”

The instant those words fell, a soft sword split the tabletop from top to bottom. Jian Xingzhi raised his hand and threw the wine cup flying. The cup and sword collided, producing a clear “ding.”

Fine rain fell densely. Jian Xingzhi swiftly retreated, landing on high ground.

Cuilu rushed out from the last room, looking up and shouting at Jian Xingzhi on high: “Jian Xingzhi, there’s nothing! Capture him for interrogation!”

Jian Xingzhi didn’t speak. He looked at the sword-wielding youth in the courtyard.

Yan Wushuang stood in the rain, looking up at him.

“You’re not someone who uses soft swords.” Jian Xingzhi spoke calmly.

Yan Wushuang’s voice was flat: “Excessive rigidity is easily broken. As long as it can stab someone, any method works.”

“If Ning Huihe were here and saw you like this, she’d be sad.”

“But she’s not here anymore.” Yan Wushuang looked up at him. “No one will be sad about this.”

“What if she were still here?”

Jian Xingzhi spoke. Yan Wushuang was stunned. In that brief moment of distraction, Jian Xingzhi flicked a drop of blood from his hand. Before Yan Wushuang could react, the blood drop landed on his forehead.

Jian Xingzhi raised his hand and slashed. A talisman urgently struck toward Yan Wushuang. Yan Wushuang dodged to the side but was still slashed by the rune, leaving a wound. Green light immediately burst from Yan Wushuang’s chest. Jian Xingzhi’s form was like a ghost—he directly thrust his bare hand into Yan Wushuang’s chest.

Yan Wushuang’s eyes widened. Jian Xingzhi grasped the demonic seed at his heart and pulled it straight out.

A shocked cry came from the distance: “Senior Brother!”

“Don’t move, little bald head!”

Cuilu raised her hand to grab the Golden Sword Boy who rushed over. Yan Wushuang lowered his head, staring blankly at the black demonic seed emitting green light that Jian Xingzhi held in his blood-covered hands.

“You have the Spring Life mental cultivation method. You can recover on your own.”

Jian Xingzhi crushed the demonic seed. With his other clean hand, he handed Yan Wushuang the talisman paper Ning Huihe had given them: “Ning Huihe’s other soul and spirit are still in Lin Yanzhi’s tomb. Take her one soul and one spirit. After you crush the talisman, she’ll come to receive you. She’s very lonely down there—go keep her company. In the future, when I recover my cultivation, I’ll reshape her body and let her be reborn.”

Yan Wushuang stared blankly at the talisman paper. Trembling, he reached out and took that clean piece of paper written in Ning Huihe’s distinctive handwriting.

“Boundaries cannot be crossed, dao heart cannot be lost. Use your own sword to kill those you want to kill.”

Jian Xingzhi looked up at him: “There’s no sword cultivator who abandons his own sword. Yan Wushuang, don’t forget what your sword is called.”

After finishing, Jian Xingzhi said no more. He turned to call Cuilu: “Cuilu, let’s go. Time to save people.”

“We’re just leaving like this?”

Cuilu was confused. She pushed away the Golden Sword Boy and chased after him: “Jian Xingzhi, what do we do without the medicinal agent?”

“I found a way,” Jian Xingzhi spoke with certainty. “Let’s go back.”

With that, he pulled Nanfeng from his embrace and tapped him: “Stop sleeping. Where’s your master?”

“Tapping me like this makes me unhappy.”

Nanfeng snorted coldly but still responded: “At the Ning manor.”

“Let’s go!”

Jian Xingzhi threw Nanfeng to the ground: “Lead the way!”

While Jian Xingzhi searched everywhere for medicinal ingredients, Qin Wanwan and Xie Gutang played cards in boredom.

Thunder rumbled outside. Qin Wanwan turned to glance out the window and frowned: “This rain is coming too early.”

Before she finished speaking, the sound of the door opening came from outside. Qin Wanwan and Xie Gutang exchanged glances, quickly put on their shackles, and leaned against the wall, pretending to look miserable.

The door was quietly opened. Qin Wanwan opened her eyes to look and saw Wuming sneaking in. Seeing Qin Wanwan, his eyes brightened. He quickly rushed over: “Miss Qin, I finally found you!”

“You…” Qin Wanwan was surprised. “How are you here?”

“I heard you were captured and brought back.” Hearing Qin Wanwan’s concern for him, Jun Shu was very moved. “Just now I also heard that Ning Wenxu and Ning Buyan were arguing—they want to capture you as a hostage to force Jian Xingzhi out. Miss Qin, I told you that Jian Xingzhi is completely unreliable. If you become a hostage, how could you survive?”

As he spoke, Jun Shu took out keys to unlock Qin Wanwan’s shackles: “Listen to me. Let’s leave quickly. I’ll take you and run.”

“Wait.”

Qin Wanwan grabbed him: “I’m asking how, when you’re suspected of killing the Ning clan’s ancestor, you’re still alive?”

“Wan… Wanwan, Miss!” Not expecting Qin Wanwan to still care so much about him at this time, Jun Shu’s tone became gentler. “Don’t worry about me. I have many methods. They locked me in the dungeon, so I secretly escaped. Every day I hide in empty rooms to live. I knew you’d come back, so I kept waiting for you, until now! Now you’ve finally come. I’ll save you and leave right now. We’ll flee to the ends of the earth together!”

“Uh…” Hearing this, Qin Wanwan hesitated. Just then, voices came from outside: “The family head orders Xie Gutang executed, and bring the woman!”

Hearing “execute Xie Gutang,” Qin Wanwan immediately realized what this old man said might be true. She firmly shook her head at Wuming: “No. I can’t abandon Daojun Xie and leave. I want to stay here and live or die with him.”

“You!”

Hearing this, Jun Shu was furious, but after thinking about it, he had no choice. Hearing the pursuers approaching, Jun Shu gritted his teeth: “Fine, let’s all go together.”

With that, Jun Shu quickly unlocked Xie Gutang’s shackles.

As soon as Xie Gutang’s shackles were released, the three immediately jumped out the window. Just as they jumped from the corridor, they saw pursuers everywhere.

Jun Shu gritted his teeth and thought—following them would probably be more dangerous. Better to retreat now and leave Qin Wanwan with a good impression.

He immediately turned back: “You two run first. I’ll hold them off.”

Qin Wanwan and Jun Shu locked eyes. There was no time to say more. Anyway, the guards’ target was them—they wouldn’t do much to stop a mere mortal.

The two touched their toes and rushed up the wall. Jun Shu turned and grabbed a nearby broom, shouting loudly at the pursuers: “I’ll fight you!”

Then he closed his eyes and swung wildly at the air, shouting: “Wan’er, run quickly! I’m willing to die for you! Don’t worry about me! Don’t look back! Run!!”

He swung with eyes closed all the way to the end of the corridor, feeling like he was absolutely throwing himself into danger for love.

Who else in this world loved Qin Wan more than him? Who else could compete with him? Who?!

His broom, carrying his full indignation, slapped against the wall. He opened his eyes and only then discovered—

They were gone.

The corridor was completely empty. There was no one at all.