“Enough talk—leave your silver and you may pass!” the man in black said, arms crossed over his sword, sounding utterly unconcerned.

“Open your eyes and see exactly where you are. You think you can act the bandit right at the Gu family’s front gate?” Jiang Chen snapped, brushing off the strange oppressive pressure in the air. He drew his sword at once and, without hesitation, slashed down—a blade of sword-wind erupting outward, surging toward the man in black like a tidal wave!

The man in black dodged at once, narrowly avoiding the strike. He landed off to the side, breathing hard. “Tch, tch, you’ve got some skill, haven’t you!”

A single move was enough to gauge a person’s ability. Jiang Chen sneered disdainfully. “If you don’t want to die, get out of my way. I’ve urgent business today—consider yourself lucky.”

But the man in black merely laughed. “In a hurry, are you? Then hurry up and hand over that silver.”

“You—!” Jiang Chen flared with anger and raised his sword again. “Then die!”

The moment those words left his mouth, a rapid flurry of strikes followed—vertical slashes, horizontal sweeps, cuts high and low, movements sharp and fluid, full of force, clearly meant to kill.

Yet though the man in black seemed to struggle hard to dodge, he somehow, every single time, managed to narrowly escape each blow!

Eventually Jiang Chen slowed his pace, suspicious. No matter how he looked at it, this man in black’s actual skill seemed rather ordinary—only his footwork and lightness technique were impressive enough to barely dodge the attacks.

But how could every single strike possibly be dodged with such perfect, fortunate timing?

This man seemed to be doing it on purpose—deliberately stalling him!

He passed through this stretch of forest almost every day and knew there were bandits lurking about, but even the leader of the local bandit den wouldn’t dare rob someone from the Gu family!

So why had he run into trouble today of all days?

Could it be that someone knew he was carrying medicine back, and had come after him deliberately?

The thought sent a shiver down Jiang Chen’s spine. He had to test this properly.

At once, he sheathed his sword and stared coldly at the man in black. The man in black clearly grew wary, backing away several steps, staring back at him just as coldly.

Jiang Chen wasted no more words. His long sword suddenly split into two—one blade in each hand, one slashing vertically, the other sweeping horizontally—wind-blades of sword-force coming faster than could be handled.

The man in black staggered back in alarm, dodging the downward vertical slash but failing to avoid the horizontal sweep. His arm was sliced open in a long gash, blood gushing out at once.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen’s lips curled into a cold smile, his twin blades growing even sharper, driving the man in black back again and again, unable to keep up, taking hit after hit.

Jiang Chen grew more and more pleased with himself, never noticing that despite all those strikes, not a single one had actually hit a vital point on the man in black.

The man in black kept retreating, Jiang Chen pressing forward step by step. It looked like a fierce, intense battle, with Jiang Chen gaining more and more ground, growing more thrilled by the moment. But to any onlooker with a discerning eye, it would have been obvious that this man in black was deliberately holding back—staying purely on the defensive the entire time, clearly the stronger fighter. If he’d chosen to actually fight back, what fate would have awaited Jiang Chen?

The battle raged on!

Jiang Chen thought to himself that he absolutely had to capture this man and interrogate him thoroughly—at a moment as critical as this, there could be no room for mistakes.

Meanwhile, back at the Gu residence, everyone was as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

In the guest room, Doctor Hua was drenched in sweat, no longer daring to apply any more needles. Madam Gu had already collapsed from grief, unconscious to one side. The Gu family head stood with his sword-shaped brows knit tight, staring silently at the door, saying nothing.

Gu Meiting had simply gone numb, collapsed and motionless to one side. Jiang Yuan was everything to her.

Without her son, even if she remained at the Gu residence, she’d be nothing more than an ordinary woman. What she’d been counting on all along was slowly wearing down the Gu family—since they had no male heir, they’d eventually have no choice but to turn to a grandson through the female line, letting Yuan’er one day inherit everything the Gu family had.

Without a son, what did she have left to raise her status through?

Gu Suying stood with her hands clasped behind her back, her fingernails digging into her own palms, her gaze fixed unwaveringly on Jiang Yuan’s fever-flushed face.

Had Jiang Chen actually gotten the medicine or not? What exactly was delaying him?

What should she do?

Should she keep waiting, keep dragging this out?

Or should she go herself? If she went and begged, surely that man would just hand it over, wouldn’t he?

But she didn’t want to show her face in this!

By now, not a single shop in every pharmacy across the whole of Liuxian Isle, large or small, had this particular herb left. If word ever got out that the medicine had come through her hands, then no matter how deep anyone dug into this matter later, she would never be able to escape implication.

She looked at Jiang Yuan, finally gritting her teeth, forcing down the urge.

Yuan’er, it’s not that your auntie won’t save you. Your auntie has already sent your father to search. This is the greatest concession your auntie can make.

Yuan’er, your father and I have come this far—we absolutely cannot let Jun Beiyue wake up, cannot allow the slightest mistake in this matter. Whether you live or die now depends entirely on your father’s fortune.

Ziqing had just arrived alongside the family head. Her gaze drifted, without meaning to, over Gu Suying’s silent, tense face, and she thought to herself that, so far, this Second Miss didn’t seem to be much of a suspect.

Given how much she doted on Jiang Yuan, she surely couldn’t have held out and stayed silent this long.

Of course, Ziqing had no idea yet whether Jiang Chen would manage to bring the medicine back at all. For now, she only had suspects in mind—who exactly was responsible, she had no solid proof yet. In a household this complicated, one couldn’t simply jump to conclusions.

Wronging an innocent person would be bad; letting the real culprit slip away would be worse.

Time slipped away, minute by minute. It was already noon.

Finally, Doctor Hua could bear it no longer and said gravely, “My lord, if the son-in-law doesn’t return soon, he won’t be able to hold on much longer!”

The family head’s body trembled visibly. For a long, long moment, he said nothing at all.

“Family Head Gu, why not send more people out to search? Perhaps the medicine simply isn’t easy to find,” Ziqing finally spoke up, her tone flat.

“How could that medicine possibly be hard to find—that useless, spineless fool!” Gu Suying suddenly snapped furiously.

A flicker of suspicion crossed Ziqing’s eyes. She gave a cold snort. “Then perhaps, since he still hasn’t returned, you should send more people to help.”

Just as the family head was about to speak, Gu Suying cut in quickly, “A group already left last night, and another went out again this morning—all of them useless! Taking this long just to find one herb! Might as well have sent them off to find a thousand-year ginseng essence!”

Ziqing sneered inwardly, rising at her leisure, continuing to probe. “Very well then—I’ll go down the mountain myself.”

The moment those words left her mouth, Gu Suying’s face instantly turned deathly pale.

Given how sharp-eyed Han Ziqing was, if she went down and discovered there was no medicine anywhere on the whole island, and started to suspect something—that would be disastrous!

“No need. If you bring the medicine, our Yuan’er won’t take it!” Gu Suying said coldly, and immediately bolted for the door. “I’ll go!”

Ziqing didn’t mind the rudeness one bit. She simply smiled and sat back down. The moment Gu Suying was out the door, she headed straight for the back of the mountain—the back mountain path was, after all, the fastest route to find that man.

Meanwhile, in the forest before the Gu family’s front gate, the man in black now lay collapsed on the ground, covered in wounds. Jiang Chen held his sword directly at the man’s throat, sneering coldly, “Talk. Who exactly are you? Who sent you?”

The man in black lay sprawled on his side, one hand braced against the ground, the other gripping his sword tightly, a dark, sinister flicker crossing his eyes. He said nothing at all—then suddenly kicked up a spray of dirt, flinging it straight into Jiang Chen’s eyes, forcing him to instinctively shut them.

But in that very instant, the man in black vanished into thin air. By the time Jiang Chen opened his eyes again, the space before him was already empty.

Jiang Chen’s heart lurched with alarm—this man, it seemed… it seemed he had been deliberately stalling him all along! There was definitely something suspicious going on here!

But when he spotted a single bird’s feather lying on the ground, he immediately abandoned that line of thought. “It’s someone from the Yu Shi… damn it!”