Earlier, Qian Baimei had clung to the hope that his little disciple hadn’t truly fallen for Shen Zaiye. Now, he realized he had been deceiving himself.
Taohua was dumbfounded. She opened her mouth to refute but found… there was nothing to refute.
She did care that Shen Zaiye now had someone irreplaceable in his heart. She did not mind that he would remember Lu Zhilan for life. Because…
There was no other reason. No matter how much she tried to avoid it, it was meaningless. She had fallen for Shen Zaiye, like a fool constantly reminding herself of the pitfall ahead, urging caution, yet still jumping in without hesitation when at the edge.
Her feelings for that man were perhaps more terrifying than she had imagined. She had been hiding, afraid to admit it, simply because she feared being too heartbroken if something like before happened again.
But what use was it to deny it verbally? Her heart would still ache anyway.
Heaving a long sigh, Taohua collapsed onto the soft couch, mumbling, “Thank you, Master. You’ve come to clear my meridians.”
Qian Baimei was stunned. He looked down at her, “What meridians?”
“I like him,” Taohua turned over, looking at him earnestly. “So I got jealous, I cared. It’s all because I fell for him first. That’s why I can’t do anything about this man.”
Qian Baimei’s hands tightened inside his sleeves, but his face remained smiling. He said softly, “It seems my trip wasn’t meaningless after all. At least it helped you see your feelings.”
“Thank you, Master!” Taohua exclaimed gratefully. “It’s fortunate you’re here. Otherwise, I don’t know how long I would have struggled with this.”
Qian Baimei fell silent, slowly turning to look out the window. His lips curved upward, but his eyes dimmed.
Would he and this little one always miss each other?
When she admired him most, he hadn’t seized the opportunity, nor had he understood his feelings. After she married, he realized that the reason he hadn’t wanted to marry all these years was because of her. When he finally finished his affairs and came after her, she had already fallen for someone else.
Was it because he was always a step too late, or was their fate not strong enough?
“Master?” Taohua looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing,” Qian Baimei smiled, turning back to look at her with gentle eyes. “I was just thinking, winter is coming soon. I wonder who will make me a robe this year.”
Taohua was startled. She slapped her thigh, “Oh! I almost forgot, I still owe Shen Zaiye a robe to embroider!”
Narrowing his eyes slightly, Qian Baimei looked at her, “You mean you’ll make one for him this year, but not for me?”
“Hehe,” Taohua said sheepishly. “How about letting Qing Tai make one for you? Her skills are much better than mine.”
“Forget it,” Qian Baimei snorted with a laugh. “A married disciple is like spilled water. I’ll just buy one myself.”
With that, he stood up and walked out.
“Master?” Taohua was surprised. “Are you going to buy one now?”
The person at the door paused but didn’t turn back. He spoke lightly, “I have nothing else to do anyway. You stay here. I’ll go look around the capital.”
“Alright,” Taohua responded, watching him leave. She didn’t think much of it and turned to find Qing Tai to prepare for embroidering the robe.
The streets of Great Wei were much wider than those of Zhao. People bustled about, coming and going. Qian Baimei dragged his peony robe, his eyes unfocused, walking aimlessly without watching where he was going.
The consequence of not watching his path was bumping into many people. When young women were bumped, they would look up at him, blush, and ask, “Are you hurt, young master?” When he bumped into men, he encountered a few hot-tempered ones who blocked his way and scolded, “Don’t you have eyes?”
Exuding a chilly aura, Qian Baimei waved his hand, brushing away the noisy voices in front of him. His eyes still vacant, he continued walking forward.
The people he brushed aside were thrown far away, shocking the crowd into retreat. The bustling street fell quiet. The crowd parted, making way for this extremely beautiful yet melancholic man.
Qian Baimei wasn’t thinking about anything. He just felt tired and wanted to take a walk. As he passed through the streets and reached the outskirts of the city, a murderous aura suddenly attacked from behind.
Without even looking, he waved his sleeve, as if swatting flies, and flung several people away. They crashed to the ground, spitting blood.
The smell of blood brought Qian Baimei back to his senses. He looked down at them and chuckled lightly, “Seeking death?”
“You attacked first. Can’t we seek justice?” One of the men on the ground frowned. “You threw our alliance leader earlier. Are you blind?”
Alliance leader? Qian Baimei looked innocent, “Which alliance leader?”
“The martial arts alliance leader of our Great Wei!” An angry shout came from afar. Qian Baimei turned around, surprised to find over a hundred people behind him, all wielding swords and looking fierce. “Where did this ignorant fool come from, causing trouble in our territory!”
Beside them, people were carrying a stretcher with a blood-covered man on it. Qian Baimei looked at him, having no recollection at all. “You must have the wrong person.”
“With that ambiguous robe of yours, who could mistake you?” The leader raised his sword. “Don’t you dare deny it!”
Qian Baimei’s eyes darkened. He moved swiftly, giving no one time to react. He flew over and slapped the speaker hard, sending him spinning to the ground. Then his long sleeve lashed out, wrapping around ten people and flinging them high into the air!
The atmosphere suddenly became tense. The people in front had no idea what happened before they were knocked unconscious. Originally confident in their numbers, they never expected this man to be so formidable.
“What are you all standing there for?” The martial arts alliance leader on the stretcher couldn’t bear it anymore. “Attack together! Capture him!”
“Yes!” Everyone responded, rushing towards Qian Baimei.
Smirking coldly, Qian Baimei snatched a long sword from someone, slitting throats and slashing waists with quick, merciless strokes, his killing intent heavy. He moved through the hundred-strong crowd like a knife through vegetables, showing no mercy.
Those standing further back were so frightened their legs went weak. Watching their comrades fall one by one, the air thick with the smell of blood, they finally couldn’t stand it anymore and ran for their lives!
Qian Baimei had gotten into a killing frenzy, his eyes turning red. Seeing people trying to escape, he was about to give chase when someone appeared out of nowhere to block his path.
“Lord Qian!” Yang Wanqing’s face looked grim as she parried his sword with her own, and forcefully pushed back several steps.
“This is Great Wei. Please stop the killing!”
Some clarity returned to his eyes. Qian Baimei looked at her coldly, “You’re annoying enough as the guard captain in Zhao. Are you trying to be one in Great Wei too?”
Yang Wanqing gritted her teeth. Looking at the scene of corpses strewn everywhere, she pushed him away, “We can’t stay here. Let’s go somewhere else to talk!”
Qian Baimei frowned in displeasure. He ran with her for a few steps before stopping, “My love for killing is my own business. If they have the ability, they can kill me back. If not, they’re just here to die for me. What does it have to do with you?”
Yang Wanqing stomped her foot in frustration, “Fine, it has nothing to do with me. Then I’ll go tell Jiang Taohua!”
“Stop right there,” Qian Baimei narrowed his eyes. “Tired of living?”
“Either kill me too or tell me why you’re killing people,” Yang Wanqing frowned. “I thought you’d be happy seeing the Second Princess after coming to Great Wei. Why are you so irritable?”
Brushing the blood off his robe, Qian Baimei said flatly, “I’m not irritable. They attacked first.”
Yang Wanqing’s frown deepened. She noticed a cut on the back of his hand and quickly said, “Let’s go back to the inn first. Li Jin is there too. We can discuss some matters and bandage your wound.”
Li Jin? Hearing this name reminded him of a hopeless matter. Qian Baimei waved his hand, “I’m not going. I’ll treat this wound myself.”
Not going? Yang Wanqing was surprised, “It’s about Taohua. You’re not going even for that?”
“There’s no need,” Qian Baimei tossed the long sword away, turned, and walked away, his robe fluttering. Yang Wanqing watched his retreating figure in shock. After a while, she remembered to follow, asking, “What do you mean there’s no need? Weren’t you working with Li Jin before to get the antidote from Lady Lü? We’ve only been gone a few months. Why is there no need now? Did you get it?”
“No.”
“If you didn’t get it, why not continue working together to try?”
Irritably shaking his sleeve, Qian Baimei didn’t want to explain further. He simply flew away, disappearing without a trace.
Lady Lü didn’t have the antidote. This was the conclusion he had reached after searching for so long. That woman only had the recipe for a medicine to suppress the poison, but it couldn’t completely remove it. After five years, Jiang Taohua would inevitably die. She had been lying about having an antidote just to stall those trying to find a cure for Jiang Taohua. If he hadn’t stormed the palace after Taohua left, they might not have known this until she died.
There was no cure for the poison, and only three years remained. He had rushed over, wanting to take her to Mount Kunlun to extend her life by a few years.
However… she had fallen for someone here, so she wouldn’t be content staying in that ice cave with him.
Covering his eyes with his hand, Qian Baimei sighed, his heart heavy. He didn’t know if it was because he knew the little one’s life was short, or because she had fallen in love with someone else.
In his distracted state, he didn’t realize he had gotten into big trouble.
There’s an old saying that even a strong dragon can’t suppress local snakes. The martial arts world of Great Wei had many people after all. How could they swallow their pride after an outsider came and caused such havoc? So Qian Baimei was followed to the inn, and as night fell, killing intent arose from all directions.
When Shen Zaiye received the news, Yang Wanqing had already informed Jiang Taohua. Both wanted to check on the situation and ran into each other at the door.
“My lord,” Taohua frowned. “I need to go out for a while.”
“I can go. You should stay here,” Shen Zaiye said. “I heard the fighting is fierce. Swords are blind. You’ll do more harm than good if you go.”
Taohua shook her head, “It’s my master who’s in trouble. I can’t possibly stay in the courtyard. If you don’t allow it, I’ll climb over the wall later.”
“…” Shen Zaiye frowned. “Is he that important to you?”
“A teacher for a day is a father for life!” Taohua retorted. “Isn’t your father important to you?”
His face darkened, and Shen Zaiye said coldly, “No.”
Who cares about that? Taohua rushed out, grabbed her skirt, jumped into the carriage, and held onto the side tightly.
Shen Zaiye pressed his lips together and could only follow, ordering people to head to Tianxiang Inn.
A gust of wind brought the stench of blood. Before arriving, Shen Zaiye had imagined it might be like hell, but he didn’t expect the actual scene to be even more horrifying than he had imagined.
Corpses and remains were everywhere, causing Jiang Taohua to cover her mouth and retch continuously. Shen Zaiye frowned, pulled her into his arms, buried her head in his chest, and said softly, “I’ll give you two choices. One, go back to the carriage. Two, hold me tight and come in with me.”
Without a word, Taohua wrapped her arms tightly around him.
Shen Zaiye gritted his teeth, ordered the officials to guard outside and clean up the bodies, then carried her inside.
Every part of the inn was stained with blood, the smell in the air making it almost impossible to breathe. Shen Zaiye searched for a long time before finally finding Qian Baimei, who was still fighting – or rather, one-sidedly killing – people.
He had taken off his peony robe, his silver hair mixed with blood, looking nothing like his former gentle self. He resembled the King of Hell who had just crawled out of the underworld, inspiring fear in all who saw him. However, when he turned his head after cutting down the last person and saw them, Qian Baimei was stunned. The redness in his eyes slowly faded away.
Shen Zaiye stepped forward, about to tell Taohua they had found him when Qian Baimei vanished from the rooftop like a ghost.
“My lord, don’t worry,” Taohua, still buried in his embrace, said. “Give Master some time. Let him clean up. He’ll come find us on his own.”
“How do you know it’s him?” Shen Zaiye frowned. She hadn’t looked up at all.
“I can tell by the sound,” Taohua said in a muffled voice. “He kills most efficiently. One sword stroke and there’s only the sound of flesh and bone tearing, no other noise.”
Hearing this made his skin crawl. Shen Zaiye frowned, scanning the surroundings, and said, “Your master killing like this, he probably can’t escape. He’ll be severely punished.”
“Oh,” Taohua said. “Master has hundreds or thousands of lives on his hands. He should indeed be punished severely, but that’s assuming you can catch him.”
What was with this attitude of not being ashamed but rather proud? Shen Zaiye said displeased, “You don’t care that your master is a murderous demon?”
“It’s not that I don’t care,” Taohua said. “But he is my master after all. Besides, he doesn’t kill indiscriminately. These people must have come looking for trouble, so it’s not his fault.”
She understands him well, Shen Zaiye thought coldly. Hearing some movement in the air, he looked up and saw Qian Baimei had indeed returned.
“Bringing her to a place like this, aren’t you afraid it will traumatize her?” He snatched Taohua away and turned to leave. “If we need to talk, let’s change locations.”
Feeling his arms suddenly empty, Shen Zaiye frowned and immediately flew after them.
The Tianxiang Inn was filled with the stench of blood, and the entire capital was shrouded in fear that night. However, the culprit was extremely gentle, holding Taohua and asking softly, “Are you worried about your master?”
(End of Chapter)