In the wake of the wild and impassioned whirling dance, even the musicians tucked in the corner were exhausted, lazily plucking at their strings. The background music was neither too loud nor too quiet — just enough to be drowned out by Su Yiyun’s voice.

With Hua Yitang and Su Yiyun already drawing all eyes in the room, this new spectacle forced Lin Sui’an to become the center of attention as well, whether she liked it or not.

Lin Sui’an was not pleased. “What did you just say?”

Su Yiyun furrowed his brow slightly, put on a performance of remorse, raised the wine cup even higher, and made his voice yet more carrying. “Lady Lin and my clan’s outer-branch disciple Su Chengxian broke off their engagement. The fault lay with Su Chengxian first, and when all is said and done, it was my Su Family’s failure to rein in our own disciple that caused Lady Lin to suffer this grievance. This is the first matter for which I offer my apology.”

With that, Su Yiyun tipped his head back and drained the cup.

The onlookers suddenly understood everything and immediately put their heads together to exchange gossip.

“I knew the name Lin Sui’an sounded familiar — so she’s the young woman whose engagement to the Su Family was broken off.”

“I heard that not long after Lady Lin’s engagement ended, she attached herself to the Hua Family of Yangdu. After that, she rose rapidly and has been doing quite well.”

“So that’s why the Su Family didn’t arrange a seat for her — makes perfect sense now.”

“A woman whose engagement was broken off by the Su Family, and the fourth son of the Hua Family still sees fit to bring her out? How bold of him.”

“And to bring her to a Su Family banquet of all places — that’s practically slapping the Su Family in the face.”

With Lin Sui’an’s hearing, she caught every single word with perfect clarity. She couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. She hadn’t expected that after all this time, Su Yiyun was still using the trifling nonsense of the broken engagement to take a jab at her. The man had not grown even slightly.

Jin Ruo slammed her palm on the table and shot to her feet — only to be pressed back down by Hua Yitang at her side.

Hua Yitang tapped his fan back and forth, watching Su Yiyun in silence, still as a bell. Ling Zhiyan and Fangke exchanged a glance and also did not move.

Among the group in the lower seats, only Liu Qingxi looked visibly uneasy. Although the customs of the Tang realm were open-minded and a broken engagement was no great shame for a woman, it was still deeply inappropriate for Su Yiyun to make such a public spectacle of Lin Sui’an’s history with the Su Family here, in a room packed with the noble and powerful of Yidu.

Yet Lin Sui’an sat there in perfect composure, not a trace of distress on her face. She even smiled slightly. “What Su the Tenth says is quite right — that Su Chengxian truly was not a decent person.”

Liu Qingxi’s eyes went wide. Lady Lin’s manner of speaking was also rather… forceful.

Su Yiyun seemed to have anticipated exactly that response. His expression did not change. He filled his cup a second time and raised it high. “At the Red Glamour House of Hao Liu in the eastern capital, Yiyun first encountered Lady Lin beneath the moonlight — and then had the misfortune of provoking her anger. That was entirely Yiyun’s failing. This is the second matter for which I offer my apology.”

He drained the cup in one go once more.

The eyes of the spectators immediately brightened.

“The Red Glamour House of Hao Liu in the eastern capital — isn’t that the famous pleasure house?”

“What would a young woman be doing at a pleasure house?”

“That’s not the point — did you hear the way Su the Tenth phrased that? A first encounter by moonlight, then angering the young lady — the things left unsaid between those lines… hmm, just think about it, really think about it.”

This time, Lin Sui’an was genuinely surprised. Su Yiyun’s phrasing carried considerable craft — he omitted every bit of context and mentioned only a few carefully chosen words with deliberately vague implications, strung together in a way that perfectly invited the imagination to run wild. Suddenly, Lin Sui’an gave a start and whipped around — she had just sensed a strange gaze on her. But when she scanned the room, she found nothing. Frowning, she turned back.

In the moment she had looked away, Su Yiyun had already filled himself a third cup. “Two days ago, Yiyun encountered Lady Lin again here in Yidu. Pressed by circumstances beyond my control, I was forced to oppose her, and she nearly came to harm as a result. Yiyun has felt deeply troubled over this matter. This is the third apology I offer.”

Su Yiyun drained the third cup. The onlookers’ appetite for gossip reached its peak.

“Did you hear that — from the eastern capital all the way to Yidu, a thousand li apart and they still cross paths again. This is what they call fate tying two people together across a thousand miles.”

“A chance moonlit glimpse of a beloved face, then a reunion that turns to opposition — look at the expression on Su the Tenth’s face, how helpless and tormented — oh, it breaks my heart just to listen.”

“What tangled webs of love and hate, what a tragically passionate affair.”

Su Yiyun lifted the fourth cup. His eyes had gone faintly pink at the rims, with the glimmer of unshed tears in their depths. “Lady Lin, Yiyun’s apology tonight comes from the sincerest depths of his heart — heaven itself may bear witness. Will you drink this cup with me? From this day forward, let all grievances between us be wiped clean.” He paused, then added in a gentle murmur, “Would you?”

Your great-uncle’s would!

Every hair on Lin Sui’an’s head stood on end. What on earth was this Su Yiyun trying to do? If he couldn’t beat her, was he determined to sicken her to death?

Prefect Chi and Chief Historian Xia, reading the atmosphere, began their customary smoothing-things-over routine.

Prefect Chi swayed unsteadily to his feet, raised his cup, and waved his hand. “Oh, now, now — what trouble can a young man and a young woman really get into? Why not drown it all in wine and let it go!”

Su Feizhang sighed loudly. “Very well, very well — it is all the fault of our Su Family. The plot of land on the Brocade Mile — consider it a gift from the Su Family to Lady Lin as our apology. We only hope Lady Lin will be magnanimous and not hold a grudge against this disappointing nephew of mine.”

Lin Sui’an thought: Oh, so — the Brocade Night Market she had fought tooth and nail to claim was now being reframed as charity from the Su Family?

Chief Historian Xia: “Prefect Chi is quite right. The Hua Family of Yangdu and the Su Family of Suizhou are both among the Five Surnames and Seven Clans — they share the same roots. This is the perfect opportunity to clear the air between them and prevent any lingering bad feeling.”

Su Yiyun pressed a step closer, bowing low, and held the raised wine cup practically in front of Lin Sui’an’s face. “If Lady Lin will not forgive Yiyun today, then Yiyun will remain bowed and will not rise!”

Voices from all around chimed in:

“Su the Tenth has already humbled himself this much — Lady Lin, be generous, just drink the cup.”

“The Su Family of Suizhou is a great noble clan — their face is worth a thousand gold pieces. For Su the Tenth to go this far shows the sincerity of a true heart.”

“Su the Tenth truly shows the conduct of a gentleman and worthy of his Su Family upbringing.”

“If Lady Lin still won’t accept this cup, isn’t that just being ungracious?”

Lin Sui’an looked down at the cup before her, and laughed coldly inside.

This moral pressure trap of Su Yiyun’s was skillfully laid. If she refused to drink, she would be the petty, small-minded villain — and Su Yiyun would be polished straight onto the pedestal of a gentleman. But if she drank it — she might as well crush the cup in her hand and stuff it down Su Yiyun’s throat to choke on.

Just as she was thinking this, Lin Sui’an slowly rose to her feet and stretched her fingertips toward the cup. Without warning, a pale and slender hand reached out from behind her and took hold of the cup.

Hua Yitang had come to stand at Lin Sui’an’s side. The snow-white folds of his robes, delicate as flower petals, brushed past the sachet ball at her waist, and the soft, unrelenting fragrance of fruit wood enveloped her, covering the wine-scent of the White Fragrance.

“Su the Tenth,” Hua Yitang said, one corner of his mouth curved up. Perhaps because of the wine, his lips were an exceptionally vivid color. “You really never learn, do you?”

Su Yiyun bent low in another deep bow. “Fourth Young Master, please do not be angry. Yiyun’s feelings toward Lady Lin are nothing but respect — there is not the slightest impropriety intended.”

A collective gasp rose from the crowd. Everyone congratulated themselves on reading the situation correctly.

“So these three really are a love triangle — no wonder the fourth son of the Hua Family has been targeting the Su Family at every turn. He was just jealous over a woman all along.”

“What’s surprising about that? The fourth son of the Hua Family is Yangdu’s most celebrated dissolute young noble — spending extravagant sums for the sake of a beautiful woman is perfectly ordinary for him.”

“That said, to offend the Su Family of Suizhou over a commoner woman — the Hua Family really has produced a genuinely besotted fool.”

“But looking at her — she’s fairly ordinary in looks and figure. What is it about her that’s made two great noble clans’ favored sons both fall for her?”

“Heh, you don’t know, do you? I’ve heard this woman has certain quite extraordinary skills — the kind that can make a man feel as though he’s touched heaven—”

“That’s not something you should go around saying — ahem, where did you hear this?”

“Naturally, it came from the Su Family’s side.”

“Oh my!”

“He he he—”

Idle chatter and whispered innuendo rose and fell on all sides. Lin Sui’an noticed that Su Yiyun was actually smiling secretly to himself. She was genuinely baffled. She had thought Su Yiyun would pull some impressive move today, but after all this buildup, what he’d come up with was nothing more than vague, insinuating gossip and a fabricated scandal — and on top of that, deliberately smearing her reputation with crude implications.

What a hackneyed, tiresome script!

Yet at that very moment, Hua Yitang gave his wrist a flick, and the entire cup of wine splashed straight onto Su Yiyun’s face and head.

The hall erupted in uproar. Prefect Chi and Chief Historian Xia lurched to their feet in alarm. Su Feizhang sat bolt upright.

Su Yiyun stood perfectly rigid, seemingly stunned by the dousing.

Lin Sui’an’s eyes went wide. She saw Ling Zhiyan, Jin Ruo, and even Fangke step up to stand at her back, all of them stone-faced and radiating an unmistakable readiness to fight. Liu Qingxi flew to her side and grabbed her elbow, her expression burning with outrage.

In a flash of understanding, Lin Sui’an realized — Su Yiyun had been trying to provoke them.

But why?

“Prefect Chi! Chief Historian Xia!” Hua Yitang’s voice rang out, bright as a clear sky, cutting through all the crawling, ingratiating noise of the room. “Please forgive the Fourth Young Master of the Hua Family for his disrespect!”

Prefect Chi and Chief Historian Xia were taken aback. “Adjutant Hua, what do you mean by this?”

Hua Yitang’s brow creased slightly, his expression one of visible difficulty. “Because the words I am about to say may be somewhat unsavory. But Hua is a person of blunt character, and there are things I simply cannot leave unspoken.” He then clasped his hands toward the assembled guests on all sides. “Should any of the honored guests find themselves uncomfortable by what follows, I beg your pardon in advance.”

At these words, everyone in the room felt roughly thirty percent confused and seventy percent excited.

Lin Sui’an’s instincts told her Hua Yitang was about to do something outrageous. To be safe, she took half a step back — better not to catch any of the splashback.

Hua Yitang adjusted his sleeves and turned to face Su Yiyun. Su Yiyun jolted, then rapidly launched into speech: “Fourth Young Master Hua, what are you going to— I mean— Lady Lin and I truly are perfectly—”

“You shameless, two-faced wretch! Su Yiyun, you disgusting scoundrel — wasn’t it simply that you happened to be caught in the act when you’d taken up a position as a male entertainer at Hao Liu’s Red Glamour House in the eastern capital, and our Lin Sui’an stumbled upon you? Do you really have to be this petty and vindictive, filling your mouth with filth and making up lies to slander my Lin Sui’an over something like that?!”

Good heavens — that single outburst from Hua Yitang landed with the force of a bolt of lightning, reducing everyone present to a thoroughly scorched crisp inside and out.

Su Yiyun went white as a sheet. “Hua Yitang, you — you’re talking absolute nonsense, this is a baseless slander—”

“Which word of mine is nonsense?” Hua Yitang’s fan tapped sharply against Su Yiyun’s shoulder, rat-a-tat-tat. “Is the Red Glamour House of Hao Liu or is it not a pleasure house catering exclusively to women? Were you or were you not in Hao Liu’s room when Lady Lin was there to capture a fugitive? Were there or were there not bedroom-arts drugs found on your person at the time? Were those drugs or were they not purchased by you?!”

The rapid-fire questions drove Su Yiyun stumbling back several large steps. His face cycled through white to green, from green to black, and from black back to white as he shook his head frantically. “I — I — I never, I’m not — I’m not!”

The crowd stood gaping, speechless to a person. No one had imagined they would witness two great noble families’ figureheads trading insults and slinging mud at each other at a refined evening banquet. It was unprecedented — utterly and completely absurd.

Jin Ruo stuck her thumb up. “Well done. That’s the Hua the Fourth I know!”

Fangke and Ling Zhiyan both pressed a hand to their foreheads simultaneously.

Liu Qingxi was so shocked she couldn’t get a word out. Lin Sui’an patted her arm, then gestured to Jin Ruo to look after Liu Qingxi, and herself stepped forward half a pace and lowered her voice. “It’s gotten this bad — how do we end this?”

Hua Yitang snorted. “End it? Not a chance. If they want to shove filth at us, I’ll tip the whole bucket right back onto their faces. It’s not for nothing that my title of Yangdu’s number one brawler was earned — let these people today see what we’re truly capable of.”

Lin Sui’an: “…”

It was over. That reckless streak of his was running hot again.

“Prefect Chi! Chief Historian Xia! My Su Family of Suizhou has stood for a hundred years! Have we ever suffered such an insult?!” Su Feizhang’s whole body shook. “There are limits to what can be endured!”

Hua Yitang let out a contemptuous chuckle. “And who doesn’t have a hundred-year heritage? Is my Hua Family of Yangdu afraid of you?!”

Prefect Chi rolled his eyes back and went straight down. Chief Historian Xia panicked and propped him up, crying out over and over, “Both parties, please say no more — harmony is paramount, harmony is paramount!”

“Hua Yitang! I’ll kill you!” Su Yiyun suddenly screamed, leaping toward Hua Yitang like a wild animal. This kind of opponent didn’t even need Lin Sui’an to get involved — Hua Yitang simply sent a kick flying and launched Su Yiyun across the room. At that exact moment, a fierce surge of inner force came slicing toward Hua Yitang’s legs. Lin Sui’an grabbed Hua Yitang by the collar with her left hand and flung him backward, threw herself forward in his place, spun her arm and slammed out with the flat of her scabbard, and with a thunderous crack, deflected the strike back the way it came.

One figure tucked into a midair roll and landed on the floor. A flick of the wrist revealed a weapon — a slender, long-bladed miao-dao, stretching over five feet in length.

Wu Chun, leader of the Five Mounds Alliance, had made his move.

“Lin Sui’an, master of Qian Jing — your strength is indeed something to behold.” Wu Chun smiled. “I am Wu Chun. I would like to spar with Lady Lin this evening, if you are willing.”

Lin Sui’an rolled her wrist. Her palm was still faintly aching from the impact — Wu Chun’s strength was no small thing.

Jin Ruo drew Ruo Jing. “Master, let me take him!”

“No need!” Lin Sui’an stopped Jin Ruo, and thought: the mood has already built to this point — there was no getting out of it. She raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Since Alliance Leader Wu is in the mood, I would be happy to oblige.”

“Excellent!” Wu Chun swung his miao-dao in a figure-eight arc and came at her with a killing gust of force. Lin Sui’an shook her wrist. Qian Jing flew from its sheath, drawing a streak of electric green through the air. The long blade and the short one flew into battle.

The onlookers in the hall scrambled for cover and pressed themselves to the edges, internally lamenting: what deep and undying grudge must these two parties bear toward each other, that trading insults wasn’t enough and now it had come to an actual fight?

Su Feizhang was seated farthest from the action and therefore safest. He stood with his arms akimbo, glaring furiously. “Prefect Chi, Chief Historian Xia — you are both witnesses! It was Hua the Fourth who forced this upon me!”

Hua Yitang was not about to be outdone. “Ha! Everyone heard, didn’t they? If blood is shed here tonight, it is entirely their own doing!”

The just-revived Prefect Chi cracked one eyelid open, took in the scene, and his eyes rolled back as he fainted again. Chief Historian Xia howled and cried out a few times, tilted his head, and passed out as well.

With the two highest-ranking officials thoroughly out of commission, the entire hall descended into utter chaos.

Su Yiyun crawled and rolled his way to a corner and directed the Su Family’s disciples to chant together in support: “The Hua Family has gone too far! A gentleman may be killed but never humiliated!”

Hua Ermu waved his arms to rally the other side: “Lady Lin, beat them down! Let them see the true might of the master of Qian Jing!”

The onlookers, seeing how things had developed, caught the spirit and took sides themselves. The supporters of the Su Family were numerous — nearly nine-tenths of the entire room. The Hua Family’s supporters were pitifully few: Jin Ruo (who could only shout incoherently), Hua Ermu (a lone voice against the crowd), Ling Zhiyan (too image-conscious to yell crudely), Fangke (a sealed jar that refused to make a sound), and Liu Qingxi (who had never argued with anyone in her life and had no vocabulary for it). The only thing keeping them competitive at all was Hua Yitang’s own ferocious verbal fighting power — only that barely managed to hold even.

The cheering factions were fiercely matched. Lin Sui’an’s side was no easier.

The moment she crossed blades, Lin Sui’an felt a jolt of alarm. Wu Chun’s miao-dao was heavy, fast, and far beyond what she had anticipated. On top of that, the miao-dao was a type of long weapon she had never faced before — something between a saber and a spear, with a versatile, unpredictable fighting style. Wu Chun’s blade technique was practiced and ferociously sharp. One moment he held the weapon single-handed; the next he shifted to a two-handed grip, unleashing rolling combinations of strikes — relentless, forceful, with the blade following the body and the body driving the blade, cleaving forward like bamboo splitting before a knife.

After five or six exchanges, Lin Sui’an found that neither her speed nor her strength had gained her any advantage. She understood after a moment’s thought: as the saying goes, the longer the weapon the stronger the reach — Qian Jing was only two feet long, and compared to the miao-dao’s wide-sweeping attack range, high-speed close-quarters fighting was her true advantage.

Lin Sui’an made up her mind instantly. She abandoned the open, trading-blow approach and switched to darting charges, pushing her footwork technique — the one called “Swift Wind Shaking Autumn Leaves” — to its absolute limit. Yet every attempt to close in was met by Wu Chun’s blade — a downward deflecting cut blocked “Throat-Cut Blood Ten Feet,” rolling left-and-right sweeps stopped “Waiting Blade Like a Sacrificial Beast,” and a pressing-then-intercepting combination shut down “Blade Cauldron Severing Sorrow.”

With every exchange, Lin Sui’an felt a growing alarm. Something was deeply wrong. Every one of his moves seemed precisely calibrated to counter the techniques in the Qian Jing manual — as though Wu Chun had foreseen what she would do. No — it felt less like foresight and more like “breaking a predetermined pattern.”

So the Five Mounds Alliance had someone offering expert guidance behind the scenes. Could it have something to do with that “Third Master”…

“Sss!” A flash of red grazed past her neck. Lin Sui’an’s pupils contracted sharply. She spun and swung Qian Jing, forcing the blade-light back, touched the ground with her toes, and in a blur shot back out of the fighting circle.

The cheering in the room cut off abruptly. All that could be heard was the unending, overlapping ring of the miao-dao and Qian Jing reverberating through the air.

Wu Chun planted his miao-dao and let out a cold laugh. “Master of Qian Jing — nothing special after all.”

Lin Sui’an touched the blood on her neck — fortunately only a surface wound. But Qian Jing’s resonant humming seemed to be affecting her state of mind; she was growing faintly, inexplicably irritable.

Ling Zhiyan and Jin Ruo looked tense with anxiety. Fangke gripped his large wooden case. Liu Qingxi had sat down on the floor. Hua Ermu cupped his face in both hands with his mouth hanging open, looking like a startled hamster. Hua Yitang had gone pale, staring over steadily — his expression uncertain but his eyes shining with a clear, unwavering brightness.

Seeing Hua Yitang’s face, something in Lin Sui’an’s mind went ding, and she remembered.

Tonight was supposed to be a day for tending to Qian Jing. Hua Yimeng had drunk all the Man Bi tonic in her room, and with the chaos of the past few days, she had completely forgotten about it.

No wonder this fight had been going wrong at every turn.

Lin Sui’an let out a short, derisive laugh, shook her arm to settle the blade, and called out: “Wine!”

The crowd: What does that mean? She’s losing and she wants to fortify herself with a drink? Nobody ever said Lady Lin was a drunkard.

Ling Zhiyan was the first to catch on. He snatched up a cup of White Fragrance and sent it flying toward Lin Sui’an. Lin Sui’an reached out and caught it cleanly, without spilling a single drop, then upended the wine directly onto Qian Jing — which drank it down instantly.

The crowd: So the drunkard is the sword?!

“Zheng — zheng — zheng—”

Qian Jing’s blade gave off a ghostly green glow, radiating outward in rings like ripples on a lake, sending every piece of furniture and every vessel in the room into sympathetic vibration. Wu Chun’s miao-dao seemed to respond to some summons, shuddering violently.

Wu Chun gave a cold laugh. “Parlor tricks!” He charged forward with his blade.

Lin Sui’an raised her eyes in a sudden flash. Her twin pupils reflected the eerie green light — like the eyes of a ghost. Wu Chun’s heart lurched, and he swung downward regardless — only to cleave Lin Sui’an in two, or so it seemed. In the next instant, Lin Sui’an’s shadow simply vanished. A blink later, she came at him from the right. Wu Chun spun and swung again — she vanished once more, then struck from behind. Wu Chun had no time to dodge. A patch of skin was sliced from his cheekbone, blood streaming freely at once.

Wu Chun hurriedly retreated half a step. He steadied his gaze — and to his horror, he saw two Lin Sui’an silhouettes, in two different directions simultaneously. His face went ashen.

This was — a lightness technique!

She was moving so fast she had created visual afterimages from the speed!

Both shadows were illusions!

Wu Chun swept a horizontal cut — the first shadow dissolved. But the second shadow caught his blade. He had assumed both figures were mirages and had not committed full strength; with his technique now overextended, there was no room to adjust. Then — the green light erupted before his eyes and slammed toward his face. Wu Chun only barely managed to pull his blade up to block, but the enormous force of impact sent him flying through the air. Before he could recover, Lin Sui’an leapt upward in pursuit. Again the twin afterimages — Wu Chun’s mind went completely blank. In the instant before he lost his balance, he managed to chop downward in desperation — and hit nothing.

The afterimages dispersed. The real Lin Sui’an, with the flat of her blade, drove a full-force “Blade Cauldron Severing Sorrow” directly into Wu Chun’s abdomen. Wu Chun coughed up blood and dropped in a straight line. Just before he hit the ground, Lin Sui’an’s voice reached his ear. “So it turns out you only studied the Qian Jing manual’s techniques—”

Wu Chun: “!!”

A hand shot out from midair, seized him hard by the shoulder, twisted and spun and released — and flung Wu Chun back into the air. Wu Chun felt his eyeballs nearly burst from his skull. That last move hadn’t been a blade technique at all — it was a grappling hold!

Wu Chun used his body as an axis and spun the miao-dao in a violent rotation, the blade-light wrapping around him like a whirlwind as a full-body defense, ringing and clanging as it beat back Qian Jing’s glow. He staggered to the ground. “What kind of footwork is that?!”

Lin Sui’an clicked her tongue against her teeth. “The kind not fit for polite company.”

Onlookers: This has to be some kind of sorcery!

Jin Ruo’s jaw dropped. “That that that’s the — the —” She clapped her hand over her mouth and whispered, “That’s Yun Zhong Yue’s Lotus Flower Step.”

Ling Zhiyan: “Not quite right — Lady Lin isn’t using the complete Lotus Flower Step. Yun Zhong Yue’s Lotus Flower Step can generate five or even six afterimages. So what this is — is only—”

A half-mastered knockoff… wait?

Hua Yitang made a dismissive sound. “Indeed — not fit for polite company.”

Wu Chun naturally could not hear Jin Ruo’s commentary. His mind was already thrown into total disarray. He had labored painstakingly over this miao-dao technique, developing it specifically to counter the Qian Jing manual — and yet this Lin Sui’an had abandoned the Qian Jing manual’s techniques entirely.

Lin Sui’an’s two afterimages came at him again. Wu Chun was nearly at his wit’s end. He spun the miao-dao into an impenetrable iron curtain and pressed forward to crush her — since he could no longer tell real from shadow, he would simply cut them all. As expected, one slash and one image dissolved. But the second slash felt like striking cotton — no resistance at all. Qian Jing’s glow transformed into a single thread, wrapped once around the miao-dao, and drew away every iota of force and killing intent behind it. Lin Sui’an glided like a ghost, spinning deftly, steering the miao-dao aside, and lightly turned her left palm upward. With a gentle-seeming slap, she pressed it against Wu Chun’s chest — but beneath that tranquil-looking palm was a force of a thousand catties. Wu Chun was pushed back a full ten feet, barely managing to stop himself by driving the miao-dao into the floor.

Wu Chun coughed up a second mouthful of blood. “That last move — was that the Entangling Silk Sword technique of Dengxian Sect’s sect master, Ximen Yang!”

Lin Sui’an raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Guess what’s coming next.”

She spoke eight words, but her hands had already unleashed nine moves. Cleave, slash, sweep, push, thrust, intercept, deflect, chop, and break — Wu Chun scrambled frantically to hold off the onslaught, his mind utterly overwhelmed. This was unmistakably miao-dao technique — how was this possible?!

“Where did you learn this blade style?!” Wu Chun roared.

“I learned it from you, of course,” Lin Sui’an replied pleasantly.

Wu Chun’s face changed color in horror. “What?!”

Now!

Lin Sui’an’s eyes flashed. Qian Jing plunged into the floor, using the blade as a pivot. She spun in a full circle and swept low to the ground, sliding into the gap in Wu Chun’s attack — using Jin Ruo’s shameless ground-hugging technique — and in an instant arrived behind him. She grabbed his ankle with both hands, and with a sharp crack, Wu Chun’s foot was broken. The entire man was swung like a sack of grain and flung to the side. His head scraped a long bloody trail across the floor. The miao-dao flew from his grip and buried itself in one of the great crimson pillars of the hall, still humming and vibrating.

Lin Sui’an vaulted upward, caught the scabbard Jin Ruo tossed to her, and with a clean rasp, sheathed the blade.

“That last move — Breaking the Pattern.”

Silence fell over the entire hall. Those who had just moments ago been cheering for the Su Family turned white-faced and drenched in cold sweat, wishing desperately for a crack in the floor to hide in.

This Lin Sui’an was terrifying. Simply inhuman.

Was she going to go mad and start chopping all of them down next?

Hua Yitang snapped his fan open with a flourish and sauntered over to Lin Sui’an’s side, his footsteps unhurried. “Su Family patriarch — after all this time, the insults traded and the blows exchanged — are you finally willing to speak truthfully?”

Su Feizhang’s face had gone from ashen to greenish. It took a long moment for him to process that Hua Yitang had asked him something entirely incomprehensible. “What… did you say?”

“Why don’t you let me guess — you expended every effort tonight to lure all of Yidu’s noble families to this one place. What exactly were you after?”

“What?!”

“Allow me to venture a guess.” Hua Yitang turned his fan lazily as he began to pace. “Step one: provoke us, stir up chaos. Step two: have Wu Chun use the disorder as cover to kill us. Step three: close the doors and trap everyone inside — slaughter every noble family scion in Yidu in one fell swoop, and pin the blame for the killing on me. With that, the Su Family of Suizhou would stand alone and unchallenged in Yidu, supreme above all others.”

The moment those words left his mouth, the entire hall went pale with shock.

Lin Sui’an stared at Hua Yitang. Does this man know what he’s saying? Su Feizhang might be many things, but even he wouldn’t be that deranged, surely?

Su Feizhang let out a scream and leapt to his feet. “Hua Yitang, you — you — you — this is brazen slander! Utter nonsense!”

Su Yiyun’s voice cracked: “Everyone, don’t listen to his ravings — our Su Family has never—”

Hua Yitang smiled brilliantly. “You’re right, I made that all up!”

Su Feizhang nearly choked on his own fury. Su Yiyun simply went ahead and spat up blood.

Hua Yitang dropped the smile and looked out over the assembled noble families. “There is one thing Hua wishes to remind everyone here. Today it was Lady Lin who won, and I am still able to stand here and say these two words. Had Lady Lin lost, what do you all imagine my situation would be at this moment? If the Su Family of Suizhou is willing to treat me this way today, in time — how will they treat others? Hua has said all that needs to be said. I leave everyone to draw their own conclusions.”

When those words were done, the looks on every face as they regarded the Su Family had changed.

Hua the Fourth of the Hua Family, whose lineage was the Hua Family of Yangdu and whose title was Adjutant of the Law Court of Yidu — and yet Su Feizhang had dared to curse him and strike at him as though it cost nothing. If it had been any of them, with far less standing than that, the consequences would be several times worse than what Hua the Fourth had endured.

Lin Sui’an watched the face of Hua Yitang, beautiful as a flower in full bloom, and silently marveled.

What a masterful stroke of estrangement. Killing with words alone.

“Su Family patriarch, my household has pressing matters to attend to — I shall take my leave.” Liu Qingxi was the first to stand and excuse herself.

This became a signal. More and more people followed suit.

“My family also has a bit of business — I’ll be taking my leave first.”

“I just remembered I left something heating at home.”

“My wife is about to give birth — she’s waiting for me to come home and rub her feet.”

“I have trouble sleeping — I need to go to bed early.”

“My dog has trouble sleeping — it can’t fall asleep until I’m home.”

Su Feizhang shook all over with fury. Su Yiyun clutched his chest — from the look of him, he was about to join Prefect Chi and Chief Historian Xia on the floor.

Lin Sui’an swept her gaze around the room, and suddenly went rigid.

Wu Chengqing was gone!

And as if things couldn’t get worse — at that exact moment, a half-naked male dancer came sprinting in, screaming at the top of his lungs: “Blood! So much blood! Blood is flowing out of Minina’s room!”

Side story:

The-pretending-to-be-fainted Chief Historian Xia pokes Prefect Chi: “My lord, things have taken a terrible turn — what do we do?!”

Prefect Chi cracks one eye open a sliver: “Stay calm. With Adjutant Hua here, all shall be well! The two of us will just keep lying here.”

Chief Historian Xia: “My lord, you are truly wise!”

Author’s note: This Ni You Qian Wo You Dao – Chapter was so hard to write — aaaaaaaah! Prairie dog scream!