“Fire! Fire!”

A half-grown boy playing in the mud at the grassland on the outskirts of Shi Family Village suddenly spotted black smoke rising ahead. He vaguely heard a rumbling sound and someone shouting about fire. Then he saw black-red flames leaping up. The area in front of the village was all dry grassland, and the fire spread extremely fast. A line of fire rolled forward like a red dragon, reaching the vicinity of the village in the blink of an eye.

“Fire!”

The boy threw down his mud and screamed at the top of his lungs, then ran toward the village. The men from neighboring households immediately rushed out carrying water upon hearing the commotion.

The fire was quite far away, but the village was surrounded by open space on all sides. If they didn’t fight it, the houses might well be endangered. Besides, if all the grass burned up, where would their free-range chickens and ducks go to eat grass seeds and insects?

“Fight the fire! All able-bodied men from every household go fight the fire!” The village chief rang his bronze gong with clanging sounds and ran toward the fire scene.

A group of people fetched water from the small stream to extinguish the fire while discussing the strange situation.

“How could a fire start out of nowhere?”

“I saw two figures near here earlier. Where are they? Where did they go?”

“Could those two have set the fire?”

“Why would they set a fire? Our entire village combined doesn’t have ten taels of silver. They’re so far away setting fires—are they burning themselves?”

“Hey, there’s a strange stove here!”

As the fire gradually died down, a large area of ground was charred, revealing a furnace beyond recognition and already twisted golden cups and other objects.

“What are these things?” Someone poked at the stove and sniffed it. “Smells a bit like lamp oil. Could this thing have caught fire?”

“Those two people accidentally started a fire and just ran off without helping to put it out? How shameless!”

A group of people cursed angrily, but some with sharp eyes and good judgment crouched down to examine the scalding, deformed golden utensils, asking hesitantly, “Grandpa Shi, do these things look like gold to you? In our village, you’re the only one who’s seen such things.”

The elder called Grandpa squinted down to look, then lightly touched with his withered finger. He jerked back from the heat, but after examining what was under his hand carefully, his turbid old eyes under white brows suddenly brightened. Then he concealed it, coughing and spitting phlegm, saying breathlessly, “Old now, old now, eyesight’s no good. But it doesn’t look much like it to me. Think about it—who would carry around things made of gold? Rich people who can afford golden utensils, how would they come to our godforsaken place where there’s no village ahead and no inn behind?”

The villagers nodded repeatedly.

“Grandpa is so knowledgeable!”

“The fire’s out too. Let’s go. The wife’s still waiting for me to get on the kang!”

“Er Gouzi, you shameless one, you’ll die of excessive lust sooner or later!”

“You’re the shameless one! That mouse that climbs walls at our house every midnight—isn’t that you?”

…

The villagers left in groups of twos and threes, laughing and cursing as they carried their water buckets. Grandpa Shi, supported by his grandson, walked slowly at the rear. Suddenly he leaned over and quietly instructed his grandson a few words.

As if lost in thought, he looked back, and across his old face flashed a smile of unclear meaning.

…

“Hey! This isn’t right, is it?”

“Hmm?”

“We caused trouble and just walk away like this?”

“Did you leave? Did I leave?”

In the distant grass, a pair of charcoal pieces watching the fire from across the shore were whispering to each other.

“Um… the fire is quite big. Are you sure we don’t need to go help?”

“Need to. You go.”

“Oh.”

…

“Then why aren’t you moving?”

“I don’t want to be beaten to death.”

“…”

The premium charcoal branded by Xiao Jue seriously said to the hollow charcoal branded by Qin Chang Ge, “Chang Ge… I still think this isn’t right.”

The hollow charcoal replied, “I’d be delighted to see the dignified Emperor of Xiliang get beaten up by a group of village women.”

The premium charcoal replied, “Their little bit of strength wouldn’t hurt.”

“Mm,” the hollow charcoal nodded in complete agreement, casually adding, “I hear village women love attacking men’s lower regions. One strike hits the mark, a hundred squeezes result in a hundred castrations.”

“…”

“Let me tell you,” Qin Chang Ge sighed, “with just the two of us and no tools, we can’t put out the fire. There’s ready-made labor available—why not use it? Since they came to fight it, we’re not missing much by not being there. Why rush out and confess unnecessarily to find trouble? If you feel bad about it, when we get back, have the Magistrate of Ying Prefecture order the local security chief to investigate the village’s losses and allocate silver for compensation. I see only profit in the end.”

“Mm…” Xiao Jue stared at the eloquent Qin Chang Ge, his mind already wandering far away. His gaze looked tenderly at the charcoal version of Qin Chang Ge with disheveled hair and a completely black face, saying, “Chang Ge… you’re so beautiful…”

Smiling as she wiped the ash and smoke from her face, Qin Chang Ge gently replied, “Xiao Jue, you’re so corny.”

The conversation in the grass continued.

“Why are we still crouching in the grass?”

“Because we’re watching a show.”

“Watching a show?” Xiao Jue frowned and thought. He naturally wasn’t stupid, just not as cunning as Qin Chang Ge. He suddenly understood, “That old man is a bit strange.”

“More than just him,” Qin Chang Ge smiled mysteriously. “More than just this old man having ulterior motives? Among those people just now, I saw that only about half believed him. There were also half-believers and complete non-believers. In the end, all these people will quietly return. People die for wealth, birds die for food. These golden objects will apparently trigger quite a disturbance.”

“Rural folk are mostly simple and honest. How are the people here so cunning?”

“Your Majesty, you’re believing the nonsense from unofficial histories and story books again. Who told you that villagers must be simple and honest, ready to meekly sell themselves when deceived?” Qin Chang Ge sneered coldly. “Human hearts are inherently greedy—who can be exempt? Besides, you’ve forgotten the history of this place.”

Xiao Jue suddenly understood and immediately frowned, “The villagers in settlements around Ying Prefecture are all descendants of people who fled here from various places during the late Yuan period. Some were directly bandits who murdered and robbed around Ying Prefecture in the late Yuan. When the new dynasty was established and the chaotic times ended, they couldn’t make a living anymore and became farmers. The descendants of such people—it’s really hard to say what kind of character they have.”

“So we can’t leave,” Qin Chang Ge sighed. “If people really die, it would be our fault for having this outdoor meal. How could we just walk away?”

“Chang Ge, you’re still cold on the surface but warm at heart,” Xiao Jue’s gaze shone bright as newly risen starlight in the gradually darkening twilight. “I knew you wouldn’t leave.”

Rolling her eyes at the sky, Qin Chang Ge was too lazy to explain. Actually, if these people became greedy and deceived each other, they deserved to die. But knowing this guy had an extremely strong sense of responsibility as an emperor, she was just humoring him.

“Since we can’t leave anyway,” Qin Chang Ge straightened up from the grass and looked carefully at the sky, “we might as well find a farm family to lodge with. I’m just worried that if I don’t return today, Rong’er and the others will worry.”

“No problem,” Xiao Jue smiled. “Before I came to get you, Rong’er knew. He’ll notify Teacher Chu and the others.”

Glancing at Xiao Jue, Qin Chang Ge didn’t want to expose his little scheming about creating public opinion tactics and establishing fait accompli. But she was a bit annoyed by the excitement flashing in his eyes that said ‘A man and woman alone spending the night in an isolated village might have opportunities for hanky-panky!’ So she needled him, “If you don’t return to the palace and they can’t find you, aren’t you afraid of chaos at the Nine Gates?”

“I snuck out through the secret passage, but I instructed Yu Hai at Longzhang Palace to say I’m feeling unwell and won’t see anyone.” Xiao Jue smiled. “This is all thanks to your extremely secret passage. Even now, every time I sneak out, the Shadow Guards can’t detect it.”

“My signature skill—how could irrelevant people discover it?” Qin Chang Ge smiled proudly. “By the way, what about that zombie-like guard? I haven’t seen him by your side for a long time.”

“You mean Qing Sha?” Xiao Jue said helplessly, “You really hold grudges. That sword from that old man last time pierced through his collarbone, and he lost most of his martial arts. I told him to go recuperate, but he said he was a useless person unworthy of staying by my side. If he could practice back his martial arts someday, he might return. Then he left.”

“Mm…” Qin Chang Ge thought slowly. “What’s his background? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before.”

“In the first year of Qianyuan, when I was touring the border, I was assassinated in Youzhou, and he saved me.” Xiao Jue’s expression was a bit strange as he explained simply, “This man was originally a knight-errant, studying under the great hero Fang Yi in Youzhou. But because of his solitary and cold personality and poor social skills, Fang Yi didn’t favor him. He also refused to do things that required compromising his principles but paid well, so his life was very difficult. His wife and children had nothing to eat or wear and cried from hunger in the middle of the night. That night he really couldn’t bear to hear his family’s cries of hunger and cold, so he quietly got up to look for food in the slop buckets behind the tavern—a hero’s end, so wretched it was truly heartbreaking.”

“Now that he’s lost his martial arts,” Qin Chang Ge spoke slowly, as if thinking about something, “won’t his life be even harder?”

“I’ve ordered the local officials in Youzhou to watch for his return and report immediately, and to take care of the Fang family’s old and young,” Xiao Jue said. “I think it should be fine.”

“Hard to say—” Qin Chang Ge suddenly smiled mockingly but immediately changed the subject. “You were assassinated? How were you assassinated? Who tried to kill you?”

“Ah… that… it’s nothing really…” Xiao Jue’s eyes immediately began to dodge, looking left and right. “Probably Northern Wei spies. Anyway, it’s in the past…”

Grinning as she stared at Xiao Jue, Qin Chang Ge didn’t ask further. Want to hide it? Go ahead and hide it. Be careful I don’t eventually strip away all your fig leaves.

“Then let’s go find lodging. Let’s go to that old man’s house,” Qin Chang Ge looked at the village houses and pointed to the courtyard with the best buildings—several blue-brick, big-tile houses. “That one. Oh, and do you have any silver?”

His Imperial Majesty very innocently turned his sleeve pouch inside out to show her, indicating, “My deepest apologies. I don’t have the habit of carrying money.”

Sighing resentfully, Qin Chang Ge slowly pulled out several silver coins from her sleeve, picking and choosing to select the smallest one, muttering, “Can’t go out with this person next time. He’s just a gigolo…”

Xiao Jue, who had already started walking ahead, immediately turned back and asked, “What does ‘gigolo’ mean?”

“Oh, it’s a man who doesn’t engage in production and relies on others to pay for his living. Simply put, you emperors are in this profession.”

“It does sound like it,” Xiao Jue said thoughtfully, “but somehow I feel there’s something not quite right about what you’re saying…”

Taking out the silver, Qin Chang Ge told the family eating dinner that she and her brother had come out for an excursion, accidentally lost their way, and missed returning to the city, so they were asking to stay the night. She received enthusiastic and simple hospitality from the old man’s family.

This appeared to be a fairly well-off farming family with many people—seven or eight in total. There was Grandpa Shi and several sons, with the eldest son about to marry and have children, though they hadn’t split the household yet.

Looking at the full table of various mountain and wild vegetarian dishes on the mud-covered wooden table, then at the eager son and daughter-in-law of the Shi family urging them to eat more, Xiao Jue asked Qin Chang Ge suspiciously in a low voice, “Are we thinking too badly of these people?”

“We might be thinking too well of them,” Qin Chang Ge put a chopstick full of vegetables on his bowl. “But this is green food without knockout drugs that you can’t get in the palace. Come, eat more.”

Grandpa Shi kept smiling as he watched them eat, then loudly instructed his grandson while knocking his pipe, “Ah Liu, remember to save food for your Fifth Uncle!”

The honest-looking child agreed and went to the kitchen to get rice. Qin Chang Ge watched his retreating figure, mumbled with rice in her mouth, “Grandpa, you still have guests coming this late?”

“Yes.” Grandpa Shi answered with some pride and satisfaction, “My fifth son is working in the city. He sent word that he’s coming home tonight and bringing an official with him.”

“An official?”

“Yes,” the old man’s beard twitched with great pride. “I heard he works in the government office with great prestige. Somehow he took a liking to my fifth son, said he was clever, and introduced him to work as a servant in the office. Little work, good pay—what a good person!”

Ah Liu brought over a bowl of rice with an honest smile, “Guests, please eat more… Actually, everyone in the village has made a little money lately, though not much to speak of.”

“What do you know!” The old man glared. “Their lodgers are short-term, gone in a few days. Though the silver isn’t little, it’s only temporary. How can it compare to your Fifth Uncle working in the government office—steady income, respectable and glorious!”

Ah Liu smiled and didn’t argue with the old man. Qin Chang Ge smiled and said, “There are outside guests staying in the village? We brothers didn’t see any just now.”

“Don’t mention you—even I, the old man, haven’t seen them many times. Very mysterious,” the old man took a hard puff on his pipe and said contentedly with narrowed eyes, “Men and women, all covering their faces, walking like ghosts, not talking. The way they look at people makes your hair stand on end!”

“Grandpa, don’t scare the guests,” Ah Liu suddenly interjected. “Not everyone is like that. Last time when I was drawing water, I saw the pair of female guests staying at Aunt Liu’s house in the west of the village. One of them seemed ill. That day the wind blew open her veil…”

He suddenly stopped talking, his dark face flushing red as he rubbed his hands and lowered his head.

Qin Chang Ge and Xiao Jue exchanged glances, the same name flashing in both their eyes.

“Yunhua!”

Mysterious movements, peculiar gait, an ill (injured?) but beautiful woman… it sounded exactly like someone from the Colorful Gu Sect.

They’d been pursuing them recently, not expecting they’d hidden here.

Taking a bite of rice, Qin Chang Ge continued to ask casually, “So many people in the village—besides Grandpa’s family, every household is hosting many guests. That must be quite an income.”

That deliberate phrase “besides Grandpa’s family” immediately provoked the old man’s vanity and competitiveness. He slapped his thigh and said with a hey, “Where would there be so many! At most ten households each in the east and west of the village, one or two people per household. How could there be that many!”

Twenty households, one or two people each. Their eyes showed slight worry.

Setting down her chopsticks, Qin Chang Ge smiled, “Grandpa, you’re a wise man. Those people stay a few days then leave—how could that compare to the long-term benefits of working in the government office?… It’s getting late. We brothers have traveled all day. Please just arrange a pile of straw for us to rest on.”

“How could I treat guests so poorly? People would laugh at this old man for not knowing proper etiquette!” Grandpa Shi smiled until his eyes crinkled. “Ah Liu, arrange something for our two guests.”

Looking at Xiao Jue again, he stroked his beard and smiled, “Young man, your brother is quite the quiet type.”

“Him?” Qin Chang Ge quietly leaned toward the old man and pointed at her own head. “He hit his head when he was young and damaged his brain. He hasn’t seen much of the world. Please forgive him.”

“Oh—”

Xiao Jue was both amused and annoyed as he pinched Qin Chang Ge’s palm, intending to warn her, but the touch was warm, soft, and smooth. His heart fluttered first, and he forgot what he wanted to say.

Following Ah Liu outside, the young man wanted to take them to sleep in his small room, but Qin Chang Ge stopped him and pointed to the woodshed in the courtyard, smiling, “This is fine. No need to trouble you.”

Her tone was insistent, so the young man looked around. Thinking his small bed wouldn’t fit two men anyway, he quietly piled a large mound of straw in the woodshed, spreading it neat and tidy. In the small, quiet space, it gave off the fresh fragrance of sunshine and the natural smell of grass and wood.

After Ah Liu left, Qin Chang Ge sat on the straw bed and looked up with a smile, “It’s been a long time. Do you want to experience this too?”

Xiao Jue smiled and sat beside her. The straw was warm and smooth, and they sank deeply into it as soon as they sat down. Their bodies pressed tightly together in an extremely intimate posture.

But this was not the time for intimacy.

Moonlight streamed through a small window in the plank wall. The small, lonely village was silent, with solitary wolves howling at the moon on distant barren mountains. The howls were desolate and far-reaching, undisturbed by floating dust. In this moment of silence, the wind sounded particularly fierce, one gust following another, like war drums before battle.

On the snow-white ground outlined by moonlight beneath the plank wall, two figures were reflected leaning their heads together… gradually closer… after a while… then slowly separating.

Actually, they were just lowering their voices for tense conversation.

“Thirty to forty people—we absolutely cannot fight.”

“Then leave immediately?”

“We can’t—strangers came to the village, they must have noticed. We’re probably already being watched. If we leave now, the two of us against forty elite members of the Colorful Gu Sect, possibly including semi-masters, that’s a dead end.”

“…Chang Ge, if something happens, remember to run by yourself.”

“I’ll remember to collect your corpse.”

“…Fine. I know saying anything is pointless. You chose this woodshed because this position is right between the three main rooms and near the courtyard wall, convenient for observation and escape?”

“Yes, and Xiao Jue, I think this family’s fifth son’s work situation is also very strange. Why would the person who introduced him to work take a liking to a boy from the remote countryside? And what’s this about returning home with someone in the middle of the night?”

“I don’t think it’s that simple. Could they be in cahoots with the Colorful Gu Sect?”

“Hard to say. I’d rather they were—if another force gets involved, we’re doomed. In any case, tonight definitely won’t be peaceful. Let’s observe first. No matter what, saving our lives comes first.”

“You mean if the villagers get in trouble while fighting over the gold, we can’t intervene.”

“Xiao Jue, people will die tonight, for certain. Right now I just hope we can take care of our own lives.”

The first and second halves of rural nights are much the same—equally quiet. Every household had extinguished their lights early, with only the footsteps of wind monotonously lingering and echoing above the village.

The faint smoky smell from the day’s fire occasionally drifted over, mixed with something like the stench of rotting corpses, making one’s heart tighten upon smelling it.

A cold, curved moon cast its pale light on the quiet village and the dirt road leading out of the village. The moonlight was bright, and black shadows could be seen flashing vaguely.

The speed was extremely fast. Ordinary people seeing it would either think it was ghosts or that their eyes were playing tricks on them.

For some reason, the dogs that usually loved to bark all cowered in corners tonight, keeping silent.

Tonight was destined to be unusual.

In the second half of the night, there were some vague sounds in the village. Some slow-moving black shadows appeared one by one on that dirt road—quite a few people left their warm beds, threw on clothes, and quietly left their homes.

“Creak” went a door, and someone from the Shi family also moved out. It was Ah Liu, looking somewhat reluctant. A walking stick suddenly emerged from behind him, viciously prodding him out.

The young man helplessly tucked his hands in his sleeves, found a piece of cloth in the courtyard to stuff in his bosom, and left in the night wind.

Not long after he left, someone knocked at the courtyard gate. Grandpa Shi, who had been waiting a long time, came out trembling and opened the door, bowing and scraping as he welcomed two people inside.

A candle flame flickered unsteadily in his hand, illuminating the visitors’ forms. One was a rather tall middle-aged man. The candlelight showed his profile with a vague beard, but his features couldn’t be seen clearly. Beside him was a sturdy fellow who looked somewhat like Grandpa Shi—this should be the fifth son.

The middle-aged man walked forward a few steps, then suddenly stopped and tilted his head slightly, saying slowly, “Grandpa has guests tonight?”

The wind suddenly grew stronger, the candle flame tilted to one side and nearly singed the old man’s beard. Startled, he protected the flame while answering, “Yes, there are two staying over, though they’re hardly guests now. A pair of brothers who got lost, and this old man thought, who carries their house when traveling? It’s only right to offer convenience. I’ve arranged for them to rest in the woodshed, keeping the main room for you, sir.”

“Mm,” the man smiled slightly. His smile was as faint as pear blossoms, ethereal and distant. His ordinary features suddenly gained an air of transcendent refinement, but it dissipated immediately, and he was again an ordinary middle-aged man. He walked toward the woodshed, saying, “Meeting is fate. I’ll go say hello.”

The old man quickly ordered his son to light the way for the honored guest. Fifth Son carefully pushed open the door.

“Eh?”

The woodshed was empty and still, the straw pile flat and smooth, not looking like anyone had stayed there. Grandpa Shi said in surprise, “Where are they? Where did they go? Why did they leave without saying anything?”

“Perhaps they went to relieve themselves?” Fifth Son guessed.

“Who goes to relieve themselves together?” The old man gave him a look and muttered, “Could it be that those brothers also saw it and went after that thing?…”

He thought his voice was very low, but the man behind him lightly picked up the conversation, “What thing?”

“Ah!” The old man jumped, startled. How could this honored guest have such good hearing? He quickly replied, “No, this old man was thinking those guests might be thieves wanting to steal things from the house.”

Glancing at him lightly, the guest smiled, “You’re so shrewd, you definitely wouldn’t let anyone take advantage of you.”

“You flatter me…” The old man didn’t know how to respond to this seemingly complimentary yet mocking remark. He just smiled obsequiously as he closed the woodshed door, saying, “It’s just as well they left—saves disturbing your peace. Please go to the main room to rest.”

“Mm.” The guest nodded and followed the father and son up the steps.

Grandpa Shi was getting on in years, and his footing was unsteady on the steps. He stumbled, and both Fifth Son and the guest reached out to steady him simultaneously.

Cold light flashed, swift as lightning.

“Swish!”

The old man, about to express his thanks, suddenly opened his mouth wide, his face contorting horribly. From his throat came a hissing, broken sound like a damaged bellows still being forced to work.

Something slowly twisted, twisting down from his shirt, then to the ground, then becoming writhing motion, splitting into countless thin snake-like forms, bright red and sinister, continuously crawling in the moonlight.

In the quiet night, the sound of dripping liquid was so clear.

Fifth Son turned around in horror.

Across the old man’s body, the middle-aged man smiled gently at him, his expression pure as snow.

With a reverse thrust.

A brilliant arc of light!

An extremely brief “ah”—as brief as Fifth Son’s life. He stared wide-eyed with absolute disbelief, with incomprehension at his “benefactor’s” sudden deadly strike, and fell down with a thud.

He fell into Grandpa Shi’s pool of blood, a bright blade through his heart, its blood dark. Father and son’s blood mingled together, quietly flowing down the three steps, spreading in the moonlight.

On the steps, the middle-aged man slowly released his grip in an extremely elegant gesture. Grandpa Shi, whom he had been supporting, also fell like rotten wood.

Black shadows flashed, robes fluttering, as black-clad figures streamed into the small courtyard.

The middle-aged man stepped lightly up the stairs without touching dust, his straight back like a bright jade tree. Without looking back, he made a gesture to the black-clad men.

They bowed silently. The black-clad figures had sturdy, agile forms, with the cold gleam of weapons faintly visible beneath their robes. They leaped up again, flashing over the courtyard wall in an instant, dispersing toward the target households in the west and north of the village.

The middle-aged man pushed open the door in the moonlight with leisurely grace and walked in unhurriedly.

His shadow projected onto the floor of the main hall, strangely long and twisted like a death god floating in.

The members of the Shi family sleeping in the night, in dreams as sweet as all those previous nights, didn’t know that mortal danger was quietly approaching.

The middle-aged man walked inside.

A deep, rich, and strange aura floated up in the darkness—rusty, raw, and cold, choking and suffocating.

That was the smell of blood, the concentrated, lingering smell of large amounts of blood flowing and coagulating.

Silent slaughter, quiet death.

After a while, another “creak.”

The middle-aged man walked out again, still spotless. He walked to the front of the steps, stopped, and looked back once.

Then slowly turned around.

In the woodshed, two people with their backs pressed tightly against the roof to conceal their forms had been watching the courtyard through the skylight.

Qin Chang Ge gripped Xiao Jue’s hand tightly, feeling his palm burning hot and slightly damp with sweat.

But she knew this wasn’t nervous perspiration—it was anger. The anger of a sovereign who personally witnessed his subjects suffering massacre and extermination on his own land but was powerless to stop it.

It was the anger of supreme honor being challenged and despised.

When Grandpa Shi and his son were killed, both had seen it clearly. Qin Chang Ge had already seen the middle-aged man’s impending action and immediately reached out just as he was about to strike—even before he had acted—grabbing Xiao Jue desperately.

Her fingers dug deep into Xiao Jue’s palm, feeling the pulse beneath throbbing violently. That rage and killing intent erupting from the depths of his heart was like something about to burst into the ninth heaven, passionate and unrestrained. Her strength could not suppress it at all.

The emperor’s wrath responds to celestial phenomena.

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

Violent winds rose, and heavy clouds threatened rain.

In desperation, Qin Chang Ge suddenly raised her finger and made a throat-cutting gesture.

Xiao Jue shuddered.

In the darkness, his eyes flashed with profound light, looking strange and cold.

Qin Chang Ge quickly wrote on the dusty small skylight: “Remember how I died? My revenge isn’t settled yet, and you want to throw away your life? A commoner’s rage spatters blood three feet, but you’re an emperor, not a commoner. But if you give others a chance to make you spatter blood, you’ll die as quickly as a commoner!”

Under her palm, those constantly trembling fingers gradually calmed, and the rapidly jumping pulse also gradually steadied. Xiao Jue almost immediately grew calm. Qin Chang Ge turned to look at him—his handsome features hidden in the dim light, somber and hard as steel and iron.

After his rage, his sharp edges were gradually restrained, and his killing intent transformed into stern gaze, temporarily deeply hidden.

Vaguely, he was again the cold, gloomy, violent Emperor Qianyuan that the little palace maid Ming Shuang had first encountered after her rebirth.

Qin Chang Ge sighed silently and turned to see the middle-aged man standing quietly at the bottom of the steps for a while before leaving without looking back, exiting the courtyard gate.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Qin Chang Ge released Xiao Jue’s hand. After waiting a while with no movement, just as she was about to say something to Xiao Jue and climb down from the roof together.

Alarm bells rang in her heart—

The middle-aged man walked out of the courtyard without hurry.

Moonlight painted the courtyard walls in black and white. He followed the white strip, slowly walking a full circle.

Looking up, he examined the part of the woodshed that protruded beyond the courtyard wall.

Suddenly lifting his leg, he lightly stepped and flew backward!

His posture was like a leisurely and elegant great bird, yet his speed was incredibly swift, cutting through air and chasing light. With a swish, he flipped backward over the courtyard wall.

In just an instant, he had silently leaped onto the woodshed roof. Almost without thinking, cold light flashed as a sword bright as moonlight thrust ghostlike from behind and below!

The long river hung inverted, silver light like silk!

Deeply piercing the woodshed roof, the blade disappeared to its hilt!