He smiled and said, “This morning your expression was very uneasy. Although you’re not particularly foolish, you tend to overthink some matters.”

I couldn’t help protesting. “No, I don’t!”

He laughed. “No? What are you thinking about right now?”

I was confused by him and said, “Nothing?”

He stroked my head and said softly, “Silly girl, I had planned to tell you tomorrow, but—” he tilted his head, looking quite troubled, “I can’t bear to see you upset, so—I’ve decided to return to Mount Mo Ye and abandon this matter.”

I was immediately dumbfounded, staring at him speechless.

He frowned at me, speaking in an infinitely aggrieved tone, “Now that you’ve gotten your wish, you should at least smile. My sacrifice is quite substantial.”

I came to my senses, still somewhat doubtful, and kept asking him if it was true. Things were going so smoothly that it seemed unbelievable.

He put on a stern face and pretended to be angry, “You’re the first person who dares to question my words.”

I let out a shrill cry and suddenly tackled him onto the bed, kissing him wildly. After a while, I finally released him and stood up.

He grabbed my hand and asked with a smile, “Where are you going?”

I said, “To pack our things. Aren’t we leaving tomorrow…”

“Good heavens,” he closed his eyes in defeat and exclaimed, “You must have been sent by heaven to torment me.”

As he spoke, he pulled me back to bed, and passionate kisses came like a deluge. My mind immediately went blank, unable to think clearly. The details of what followed simply cannot be narrated. Those interested may use their imagination to their heart’s content, envision scenes of spring pleasure, or supplement thousands of words on their own to satisfy their romantic feelings.

Requesting recommendation votes! They say recommendation votes are money, and I love beauties even more than money. I guarantee updates, but not word count…

The faint light of dawn filtered through the window lattice. Everything in the room was hazy, as if not quite real. My feelings were also hazy, as if in a dream. My body was extremely tired, but my mind was excited, yet I dared not move even slightly, afraid of disturbing Yan Shao. Just as I was about to gently turn over, a large hand pressed me down. He looked at me with bright eyes, his lips curving into an ambiguous smile: “Can’t sleep? Do you want another round?”

I smiled, looking at him without speaking.

After staring foolishly at each other for a while, I said softly, “Will Han Wang make things difficult for you if you don’t help him?”

He snorted with laughter and asked, “If I help him, wouldn’t he still make things difficult for me?”

I frowned, indicating my confusion.

He smiled and said, “Haven’t you heard this saying: When the birds are gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning hare is dead, the hunting dog is cooked.”

I exclaimed softly, “Ah, so you’ve thought that far ahead…”

He glared at me impatiently and said, “That’s why I said my sacrifice is great, the entire plan completely shattered… Hmph! Talking to you about these things is like playing a zither to a cow.”

I laughed. “You just play your zither. The cow has its way of interpreting. You’re not a cow, so how do you know the cow doesn’t understand?”

He laughed out loud. “You have so many twisted arguments.”

I thought for a moment and asked again, “That treasure map, did you give it to Han Wang?”

He rubbed his forehead and sighed, pretending to be angry, “Stupid! The day before yesterday, he just suspected I was hiding the map. If I suddenly went to offer it to him, wouldn’t he be even more…”

“Ah!” I cried out in surprise, interrupting his words.

He raised an eyebrow slightly and asked, “What is it?”

I thought carefully before hesitantly saying, “I’ve always felt something strange about this matter as if someone deliberately wanted to make Han Wang suspicious of you… Now that feeling is even stronger… Think about it, the contents of that iron box, we followed it all the way, but even we don’t know what’s inside. How did Han Wang know? Someone must have told him…?”

He smiled broadly, nodding repeatedly, “Not bad, not bad. You’ve become cleverer.”

I looked at him and asked curiously, “You already knew?”

He shook his head with a smile and said, “I also found it strange, so I sent someone to investigate. Yesterday morning, I received two pigeon letters confirming this suspicion.”

I sat up and asked, “Is it her?”

He nodded with a smile, then suddenly changed the subject, speaking in a tone full of admiration, “Remarkably, someone so young could have such deep schemes. She is truly brilliantly clever. I was almost deceived by her.”

It took me a moment before I said, “Why would she do this? Offending you doesn’t benefit her, does it?”

He said, “She truly had no choice. Once Yu Chi Mountain Manor was drawn into this matter, she had no way out. She had to choose between the Crown Prince and Han Wang.”

I suddenly understood. “The person behind her is the Crown Prince, so she schemed to drive a wedge between you and Han Wang… Ah, this is a plot within a plot. If Han Wang doesn’t fall for it and Yu Chi Mountain Manor serves Han Wang, then they become the Crown Prince’s inside agents… This move is formidable.”

He sighed and said, “Yes, by withdrawing now, I’m doing her a huge favor.”

I snorted and deliberately said, “Oh, you’re unwilling! Then go ahead and continue helping Han Wang, compete with her…”

He glared at me in feigned anger and snorted, “Don’t try to provoke me with your words. If I fought with her over this trifle, I wouldn’t be Chu Tian Yao, and you wouldn’t be Rong Shu Kuang.”

I was stunned.

He laughed mockingly and said, “I love the kingdom but I love beauty more.”

I sneered.

He continued, “Besides, I’ve found something more interesting than plotting rebellion…”

I asked curiously, “What is it?”

He didn’t answer but slightly crooked his finger. I immediately leaned over, and he kissed my face, grinning, “Having children, of course.” As he spoke, his hands were already becoming mischievous.

So it was that we didn’t get out of bed until noon. In a traditional household with strict moral codes, I would be considered a wanton woman, worse than Pan Jin Lian, and would likely be drowned in a pig cage.

We had just finished washing up when Feng Ming came to say that Han Wang had sent someone early in the morning to invite him, and they were still waiting in the front hall. Yan Shao smiled at me, then went with Feng Ming to the front hall.

I walked around the room; everything here had been personally chosen by Yan Shao when he took me shopping in the streets. I felt like I wanted to take everything with me, and couldn’t bear to leave anything behind. Not knowing where to start, I first folded and packed our clothes. I was about to call a maid to help pack the remaining items when I nearly bumped into Feng Ming at the door.

I asked, “What is it?”

He said, “The master has gone to Han Wang’s residence and might return late tonight. He asks Madam not to wait for him and to rest early…”

I hurriedly asked, “Has something else happened? Is Han Wang preventing him from leaving?”

“It’s said that Han Wang wants to hold a farewell banquet for the master.” He smiled, paused, and then added, “However, there must be other matters. This whole scheme was planned by the master from beginning to end, and now the master is abandoning it… Hehe… I imagine Han Wang must be like an ant on a hot pan, anxiously pacing in circles…”

He spoke with a constant smile, looking quite relaxed. In my memory, this was the first time he had spoken so much at once. Well, it seems that abandoning the rebellion was also a pressure-relieving and correct decision for him.

I smiled, but still asked with some concern, “Han Wang won’t make things difficult for him, will he?”

He dismissed this with contempt, snorting, “If he dares to harbor any malicious thoughts, he’d be courting death.”

That’s what he said. But all afternoon, I harbored a vague uneasiness. While packing, I broke two blue porcelain vases in succession. Finally enduring until dusk, after dinner, I returned to my room to organize clothes when I suddenly found a slender, exquisite white porcelain bottle. I was stunned for a moment before remembering it was the antidote for Shen Zui Tian.

Counting the days, today was exactly the third day. He hadn’t come for the antidote? If he doesn’t come tonight, I won’t have extra time for him.

Although Yan Shao told me not to wait for him, tonight was destined to be a sleepless night. I was both excited and uneasy about the place we were going, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Finally, I got up to find a book to read, but I couldn’t recognize most of those traditional characters, despite calling myself an intellectual. However, this kind of book was truly a sleeping aid; as I read, I became increasingly drowsy. My consciousness seemed to drift on the edge between dream and wakefulness. In this hazy state, I sensed someone standing by my bed, but in my drowsy state couldn’t see clearly. The next second, I felt my entire body go numb. I couldn’t move, and then a huge blackness descended over me.

A long wind swept past my ears as I slightly composed myself, questions following one after another.

Who was this person? Why had he captured me? How did he get in? I hadn’t heard any sound—had Feng Ming simply not discovered this person, or had he been immobilized like me? Or was he dead? There weren’t many people in the world with such martial arts skills… Could it be a hidden expert from Han Wang’s side? If that were the case, wouldn’t Yan Shao be in danger?

This matter had gone smoothly to the point of disbelief. So this was their next move.

In the darkness, I didn’t know where this person was headed, but the further we went, the more I realized his exceptional martial arts. His movements were like phantom lightning and swift wind. His breathing remained steady and unperturbed—maintaining such a pace for a short distance was one thing, but running for more than three hours and still being this way was extraordinary. I doubted I could do it myself.

Suddenly, the person stopped and stood motionless. He neither put me down nor showed any intention of continuing.

All around was silence.

Finally, I heard footsteps, very light, very slow, as if each step was taken with great caution.

The newcomer took exactly seven steps and then stopped.

At this moment, the person spoke. “Who are you? Why have you been following this old man? What do you want?”

The newcomer laughed loudly. This voice was clear and cold, with a kind of caution that lay between boldness and profundity.

The owner of this voice was Shen Zui Tian.

He chuckled without answering the question and asked instead, “What is Sir carrying on his back?”

“Step aside. Don’t force this old man to take action.”

His voice was extremely coarse, his speech slow, as if he rarely spoke, or as if he had just learned to speak. However, each of his words exuded thick killing intent.

“I truly can’t tell! Sir, at your advanced age, your thieving heart still doesn’t die, breaking into homes… Haha…”

Shen Zui Tian said and laughed loudly again. His laughter was fine, but once he laughed, I felt something was wrong. His laughter was like whistling while passing through a graveyard at night, with a sense of inadequate confidence.

Who exactly was this person? Even Shen Zui Tian wasn’t confident against him.

I grew even more worried.

Was he Han Wang’s man? What had happened to Yan Shao?

Before Shen Zui Tian’s laughter ended, the man had already made his move.

I couldn’t see, but I could feel the night wind changing direction. The oxygen molecules in the air seemed to be compressed and crushed into another substance—because I was suffocating, finding it difficult to breathe.

Immediately, a greater current of air surged forward, bone-chillingly cold—this should be Shen Zui Tian’s Mystic Ice Cold Jade Palm.

It was as if two types of gas, ice, and fire, were expanding and contracting against each other, creating an extremely bizarre atmosphere that filled those within it with a mixture of feelings, a bitterness indescribable to outsiders.

Suddenly, with a “hiss,” I fell heavily to the ground, and everything before me brightened.

The sack had been sliced open by internal energy.

I raised my head, and the first thing I saw was Shen Zui Tian’s entire body flying backward, landing far away on the ground, blood spurting from his mouth, splattering on his snow-white collar, slowly blooming like a plum blossom.

A thin, gray-robed old man with a face full of wrinkles and eyes emitting a sharp light from within layers of folds looked to be about a hundred years old.

I first asked Shen Zui Tian, “Shen, are you alright?”

He laughed heartily and said, “I won’t die.”

Still able to laugh—indeed, he wouldn’t die.

I turned to look at the old man, who was also looking at me, his eyes bright as phosphorescent fire in the moonlight. Being so old yet not dead, he carried an unnatural ghostly air.

I felt chilled to the bone under his gaze. “Who are you? What do you want?”

He said word by word, “Betraying your master and ancestors deserves death.”

I was stunned. Betraying my master and ancestors? How had I done that? According to Qiu Zhen Pavilion’s information, Rong Shu Kuang was trained on Dream Parasol Island. Could this person be the master of Dream Parasol Island?

I hastily apologized with a smile, “Venerable elder, you must have misunderstood. How can you speak of betraying my master and ancestors?”

He stared at me steadily, his aged face showing no emotion besides wrinkles.

He suddenly nodded and said, “This pressure point release technique is very skillful…”

I had been secretly using the internal energy method Yan Shao taught me to release my pressure points and was shocked when he pointed it out.

“You cannot escape this old man’s grasp.”

Before his words faded, a hand as withered as bamboo had swiftly reached out.

I reflexively closed my eyes, the sound of wind whistling in my ears. Then came a brief silence.

I heard Shen Zui Tian’s laughter, short and forced. I opened my eyes to see his face, white as paper.

Three fingers of the gray-robed elder’s hand were broken, and the remaining two had grazed Shen Zui Tian’s left abdomen at the Qimen and Riyue acupoints, blood flowing profusely.

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The dungeon was very dark and damp, with the smell of rust. Shen Zui Tian lay on the ground motionless, not knowing whether he was dead or alive.

I called him twice with no response, went over to feel his breath, and was immediately scared into a cold sweat, trembling uncontrollably. A familiar feeling took over my body—I couldn’t help but remember the day Feng Ting Xie died… Xiao Xie protected me because he was on a mission, but Shen Zui Tian, why did he block that palm strike for me? Weren’t we mortal enemies? Wouldn’t he be happier if I died?

I felt something warm slowly trickling down my face.

After about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, I heard a hoarse voice say, “What are you crying for?”

I was startled: “You’re not dead?”

He sighed and said, “If I were dead, could I still talk to you? You’re truly hopelessly stupid.”

I wiped away my tears, stood up, took out the bottle, and threw it to him, saying, “This is the antidote.”

He sighed again and said, “Calling you stupid isn’t unjustified.”

“What do you mean?”

“How could a little poison like that stump me, Shen Zui Tian?”

I retorted impatiently, “If your poison is already cured, then why did you come looking for me?”

He countered, “Who told you I came looking for you?”

I didn’t speak. The atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

After a long while, I asked, “Who was that old man?”

He said, “He came looking for trouble with you. How would I know?”

I was speechless. After a moment I asked, “Is your wound alright?”

He chuckled lightly and asked, “If I died, would you be heartbroken?”

I was immediately at a loss for words, dumbfounded, my mind blank, feeling unprecedented confusion.

At this moment, footsteps came from above, and a water-green long dress gradually appeared from the dim light, from shoes to legs, waist, chest, to face—it was actually Liu An.

At that moment, I suddenly calmed down.

“So it’s you?”

“It’s me.”

“Did Lin Wan Ci tell you to do this?”

“I did it myself, it has nothing to do with Miss…”

I gave a cold laugh.

She smiled and said, “Whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter. After all, no one cares about a dead person’s feelings.”

“You want to kill me, why?”

“Because you deserve to die.”

“What crime have I committed?”

“You betrayed the manor, which is already a capital offense. Moreover, back in Taiyuan, what you did to the old manor master…”

“Even so—” I interrupted her, saying coldly, “Even if I am guilty, by what right do you judge me? Who do you think you are? You’re nothing but Lin Wan Ci’s dog. Since when does Yu Chi Mountain Manor take orders from you?”

Her face turned ashen, her lips trembling, but she immediately smiled, “I don’t have that right, but don’t forget, there’s still one living third-generation Shadow from Yu Chi Mountain Manor’s Heaven Division. The old master has this right.”

I sneered, “Unfortunately, I’m no longer a member of Yu Chi Mountain Manor. No one can do anything to me. I advise you to release us immediately…”

She raised her sword to her eyebrows and coldly interrupted me, “Rong Shu Kuang, I don’t want to waste words with you. Shen Zui Tian fears Chu Tian Yao and doesn’t dare kill you. Miss Wan Ci considers the bigger picture and can’t kill you, but I don’t have so many concerns…”

As she spoke, she slowly drew out her sword and approached step by step.

I remained calm and said, “So, Lin Wan Ci has always intended to kill me? Is it to avenge her father?”

Liu An sneered without answering. The bright blade of her sword slowly advanced, tracing from my face to my jaw and stopping at my throat, with the expression of a cat toying with a mouse.

I wanted to ask her if she was sick. If you want to kill someone, your movements should be swift enough. Don’t play with so many empty, useless flourishes.

When I seized her sword, her dumbfounded face was truly laughable. I think she must have placed too much trust in that Shadow elder.

I swear, I’ve never treated a woman so maliciously, but I did shave her head bald. Since it was my first time, my skill was rough, and I cut her scalp several times. Then, imitating her style, I slowly traced the sword along her face, watching her face turn pale inch by inch. It felt really good, no wonder the villains in TV shows like to do this.

At this point, Shen Zui Tian stood up and walked over, looking at me as if discovering a new continent, and said, “You’re quite cruel.”

I coldly replied to him, “So, you’d better not offend me.”

He smiled without speaking.

Liu An sneered, “If you have the guts, kill me.”

With a flick of my wrist, the sword tip pierced straight into her shoulder. I slowly twisted the sword hilt twice and smiled, saying, “If you have the guts, provoke me again.”

Her face had lost all color, her lips beginning to turn white, cold sweat dripping down her forehead.

Pain silenced her.

Suddenly, in this dark, moldy dungeon, I smelled a faint fragrance, followed by an urgent voice saying, “Shu Kuang, show mercy.”

Lin Wan Ci quickly came down the narrow stairway, with the gray-robed elder following behind her.

I looked at her without speaking, slowly withdrawing the sword.

Liu An immediately collapsed to the ground.

Lin Wan Ci stepped forward to open the dungeon door and said solemnly, “I’m sorry, Shu Kuang. I will give you an explanation for this matter.”

This was Biyu Peak, the headquarters of Yu Chi Mountain Manor.

It was only after leaving the dungeon that I learned I was on Biyu Peak. This was my second time on Biyu Peak. In the past, I was the manor master of Yu Chi Mountain Manor, how glorious. Today, I am Yu Chi Mountain Manor’s prisoner. You see, how wonderfully strange are life’s twists and turns?

In the Hall of Discipline, Lin Wan Ci and the gray-robed elder stood in the center. Liu An knelt before the memorial tablets of past manor masters, like a wooden statue.

Lin Wan Ci looked at her with cold eyes, enumerating her crimes word by word.

“First, you should not have been so presumptuous as to fabricate facts and deceive the Shadow Elder into coming out of seclusion. Second, Shu Kuang is our manor’s former master, and you have no reason to disrespect her. Third, even if Shu Kuang has done wrong, that is a matter for our Lin family and has nothing to do with Yu-Chi Mountain Manor. How dare you overstep your authority?”

Liu An bowed her head low, saying nothing.