In Lin Sui’an’s memory, Hua Yitang was wild and beautiful.

Like the most magnificent peony blooming in the brightest sunlight during the most splendid season.

But right now, wasn’t Hua Yitang being just a bit too outrageous?

Dressed in the most resplendent clothes, standing at the most conspicuous position, shouting the most arrogant lines — wasn’t he just making himself a glaring target?

Sure enough, that one shout of his drew all the masked figures’ attention toward him. The masked figures tilted their heads in unison to gaze up at the white-robed young man on the rooftop ridge, their necks clicking and clacking as they moved. In the moonlight, their hideous tree-bark-textured skin gave off a piercing, frigid gleam.

Hua Yitang smiled. He spread his arms and snapped his fan open with a “crack.” The irregular officers hidden behind the rooftop ridge scrambled to raise their crossbows, and ten thousand arrows were loosed at once —

At that very moment, a sharp shriek tore through the night sky — an utterly horrible sound, like the cry of some wild beast. The masked figures shuddered violently, then abruptly launched themselves into the air, leaping down into the courtyard and landing on all fours. Heedless of everything else, they charged straight toward Lin Sui’an. Feathered arrows pierced their hands, feet, backs, and leg bones — to no effect. Not even the slightest hesitation slowed them. Within each pair of black hollow eye sockets, only Lin Sui’an’s silhouette existed.

“Good heavens!” Yun Zhong Yue swept up a broadsword lying on the ground and threw herself into the fight. “What in the world are these people?! They’re impossibly single-minded!”

“They’re probably brainless.” Blood continued to flow steadily from the wound on her shoulder; her hand was growing slick. Lin Sui’an tore off a strip of her sleeve and in a few quick motions bound her palm together with the sword hilt, then charged into battle.

Qian Jing’s blade grew ever sharper and brighter amid the spray of blood. With each mask it cleaved apart, the sword’s resonant hum deepened by another measure. The ceaseless ringing seemed to awaken a resonance with something inside her body. Her heartbeat first quickened, then grew slower and slower, heavier and heavier. The images before her eyes moved with increasing slowness.

Lin Sui’an found she could see the ripple of muscle as the masked figures moved, the direction of the grain lines when Qian Jing split a mask in two, the disturbance in the air as a feathered arrow tore through it. She could see Yun Zhong Yue treading across the moonlight, red lotus flowers blooming with blood beneath his feet. She could even distinguish which were his afterimages and which was his true body.

A stray arrow flew toward Yun Zhong Yue, screaming through the air as it split the darkness. Yun Zhong Yue was tangled up with four masked figures — there was no way to dodge. The arrow was a heartbeat from piercing through the silver mask when Lin Sui’an spun around and flew toward him, slashing backhanded to sever the arrow in flight. The arrowhead grazed the silver mask, leaving a mark like a deep tear.

“Who the hell is shooting without looking?!” Yun Zhong Yue roared furiously, casting a swift glance at Lin Sui’an, his heart sinking with dread.

Lin Sui’an’s breathing had grown ever deeper and more labored. Her pupils were black in a way that was frightening. Blood dripped steadily from her sleeve cuffs and hem onto the ground. The blood loss was greater than she had anticipated, and the speed she had just moved at exceeded the limits of human ability. She no longer seemed human — she was more like a wild beast driven into a corner with no way out.

Yun Zhong Yue had seen people like this before. On the battlefield, soldiers at death’s door with killing fury in their eyes would enter this state of complete self-abandonment.

“Lin Sui’an, are you alright?!” Yun Zhong Yue called urgently.

Lin Sui’an snapped her head up. Her pupils erupted with a terrifying red light. “Kill!” Her body became a spinning black whirlwind that swept forward — the light of the blade and the light of blood merged into a vision of hell.

Good lord!!

Yun Zhong Yue’s hair stood on end. He hacked through several masked figures in rapid succession, then suddenly noticed that the area around him had gone deathly quiet. That was when he realized the arrows had stopped, and the masked figures’ attacks had ceased. He looked around. Every masked figure in the courtyard had been annihilated. High atop the rooftop ridge, Hua Yitang stood tall, his surging killing intent and snow-white robes billowing wildly in the wind. The crossbowmen behind him had exhausted their arrows; they were pale-faced and somewhat at a loss.

New masked figures climbed up onto all four walls once more, crawling on all fours — all but one, who stood upright, wearing no mask. He was gaunt as a dried corpse. Yun Zhong Yue never forgot a face, and he recognized the man at a glance: it was Shen Xun, the Grand Elder of Jing Men in the Eastern Capital.

Cold sweat trickled down the skin beneath the silver mask. Is this ever going to end? Yun Zhong Yue thought to himself.

Lin Sui’an suddenly let out a laugh. “The real show is beginning!”

With her words, Hua Yitang up on the roof abruptly produced a large drawstring pouch and flung his arm wide, scattering its contents. A dazzling rain of gold leaf coins fell like a shower.

“Kill a masked figure, earn one tael of gold!” Hua Yitang’s voice rang out to the heavens. “Kill the leader, earn a hundred taels of gold!”

Yun Zhong Yue: Wait, what?!

In the next instant, earth-shaking battle cries erupted from all directions. The ground rumbled. Dozens of figures launched themselves into the air behind Hua Yitang. Leading them was Jin Ruo; behind her came Jing Men’s Gan Hongying, Bai Shan, Five Ridges Alliance Master Wu Chun, Crane Immortal Sect Master Che Song, Ascending Immortals Cult Master Ximen Yang, Duck Trade Guild Master Feng Qiao, Huang Jiu Family’s patriarch, and the disciples of Jing Men and the five major sects. Ling Zhiyan led a squad of yamen officers charging through the courtyard gate, and with the speed of thunder merged with Yi Ta’s forces to shield Hua Yimeng and the others.

Too many people poured in, and every single one was a seasoned martial expert. Even with their formidable combat strength, the masked figures faced a crushing tide of humanity and could only be utterly slaughtered. With the exception of the squad Ling Zhiyan led, which fought with relative composure, the rest of the martial world fighters had their own peculiar style — they killed while counting aloud: “One tael of gold, two taels of gold, three taels of gold —”

“Brothers, fortune favors the bold! Our second half of life starts today!”

“Ten taels of gold!”

“Five taels of gold!”

“Seventeen taels of gold!”

“We’re rich — keep killing!”

“Master, you rest — leave the rest to me!” Jin Ruo shot toward Shen Xun like a gust of wind. “Everyone step aside — that hundred taels of gold is mine!” She still found time to toss a jab behind her: “Yun Zhong Yue, why are you standing there gaping? Only an idiot turns down free money!”

“I’m not short of cash!” Yun Zhong Yue snapped back.

Jin Ruo was already locked in combat with Shen Xun and had no time to respond.

Lin Sui’an laughed out loud — but then joy turned to grief, for that laugh released her core energy and she vomited a mouthful of blood.

“Lin Sui’an!” Yun Zhong Yue caught her with one arm. From somewhere unknown he produced four bandages and in a few swift, deft motions — more professional than any physician — bound her wounds. “You’ve lost too much blood. You can’t move anymore.”

Lin Sui’an smiled. “I’m not short of cash either.”

Yun Zhong Yue tilted his head. Lin Sui’an had the sense that the face beneath the silver mask was smiling. Then suddenly, a rope flew from Yun Zhong Yue’s hand, and a dark, shapeless bundle scraped along the ground and was hauled back. The other end of the rope was tied to Su Feichang. Nobody knew where Yun Zhong Yue had stashed him during the chaotic battle — somehow the man hadn’t died, only been frightened unconscious, with a feathered arrow stuck in his topknot.

Yun Zhong Yue pressed the rope into Lin Sui’an’s hand and leaned close to her ear. Lin Sui’an’s earlobe actually brushed against the ice-cold silver mask.

“You owe me another favor.”

Yun Zhong Yue’s voice fell like a dewdrop, a single clear chime. Lin Sui’an lurched back half a step and spun around sharply — only to see the chaotic, gruesome spectacle of masked figures crumpling everywhere. True to form, the number-one thief under heaven had come and gone without a trace.

Lin Sui’an scratched her ear uneasily. Had Yun Zhong Yue come specifically to save someone?

The number-one thief under heaven was actually the helpful and altruistic type?

Nonsense. She refused to believe it!

Jin Ruo roared “Break the lock!” and cut Shen Xun down. The man twitched a few times on the ground. Jin Ruo had apparently gone soft — she left Shen Xun one breath of life. Ling Zhiyan led the cleanup of the aftermath. Wu Chun and the other martial world figures cheerfully sorted through the masked figures’ corpses, as giddy as mice that had tumbled into a grain jar.

Hua Yitang still stood tall on the rooftop ridge, his white robes billowing like snow, his gaze sweeping over all those assembled below. His reddened pupils cut through the surging crowd and fixed on Lin Sui’an, filled with a thousand tangled emotions and ten thousand unsaid words.

Surely this fellow hadn’t been so frightened his legs had gone weak and he couldn’t climb down?

Lin Sui’an blinked, then launched herself up through empty air and onto the rooftop ridge, landing in front of Hua Yitang.

Hua Yitang stared at her in silence, his hands trembling, his legs trembling, his lips white as a ghost. Only then did Lin Sui’an notice that Hua Yitang’s hair was in disarray, his hairpin snapped in half, and his cuffs and fingernails caked with mud. Whatever he had encountered on his way here, it had left him in quite a sorry state.

Lin Sui’an gave a dry cough. “Your clothes are dirty. Not so pretty anymore.”

Hua Yitang continued to stare at her.

Lin Sui’an scratched her head. “Yun Zhong Yue bandaged me up. I’m fine.”

Hua Yitang’s eyes flickered. He reached out to touch Lin Sui’an’s bandages, raised his hand halfway — then forced it back down, clenching his fist, his eyes brimming with moisture.

Lin Sui’an hated this expression of his most. “I am the master of Qian Jing — I can hold my own against a hundred enemies. I’m truly fine.”

Hua Yitang looked away, drew in a long, slow breath, then stepped forward — one step, then another — until barely half a foot separated them. Lin Sui’an caught the familiar scent of fruit wood, faint and gentle.

Lin Sui’an exhaled softly. Her head tilted and rested lightly against Hua Yitang’s chest. The tension in her body gradually released.

Hua Yitang said quietly, “Don’t worry. I’m here now. Rest.”

Lin Sui’an closed her eyes. “Alright.”

Lin Sui’an could face three waves of enemy assaults without flinching, yet when confronted with Fang Ke’s cold expression, her legs turned to jelly.

Fang Ke was currently holding a needle, stitching her wound. Thanks to the numbing powder he had used, it didn’t hurt — but watching that needle pull the thread through skin and flesh, hearing the rasping sound of thread against skin with each stitch, combined with Fang Ke’s unfathomably deep gaze, was simply terrifying.

Lin Sui’an forced down the urge to flee and endured until the treatment was finished. As the numbing powder wore off, a tingling ache crept through several of her wounds. Fang Ke produced some wound-healing medicine and, with his ancestral pepper-scattering technique, swept it liberally across the wounds. The pain nearly made Lin Sui’an cry out — she held it back and swallowed it down.

Beside her, Hua Yimeng repeatedly sucked in sharp breaths just watching.

Fang Ke discarded Yun Zhong Yue’s bandages and — whether intentionally or not — even stamped on them twice before kicking them aside. He carefully re-bandaged Lin Sui’an’s wounds, and when he was done, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as though her limbs had been reassembled.

“Thank you, Doctor Fang,” Lin Sui’an said.

Fang Ke lifted an eyelid and handed Lin Sui’an a medicinal pill. “Next time —”

“Next time I will absolutely be careful, careful, and more careful!” Lin Sui’an didn’t dare even ask what the pill was made of. She chewed it up and swallowed it — extraordinarily bitter — and hiccupped.

Only then did Fang Ke’s expression soften somewhat. “Hmph. I’d like to see if you dare do this again!”

Lin Sui’an managed a strained smile. Hua Yimeng helped Lin Sui’an into her outer robe and thoughtfully tied her sash. Her luminous gaze rested on Lin Sui’an’s face with tender warmth. “This time, Lin Niangzi risked her life to save me. Hua San Niang is infinitely grateful and at a loss for how to repay you. The only thing I can offer is —”

“Don’t offer anything — just pay in cash!” Lin Sui’an yelped in alarm. These days, whenever she heard the phrase “at a loss for how to repay,” her liver trembled — especially when it came from the mouth of such a great beauty. It was truly a severe test of her willpower.

Hua Yimeng paused. “Could it be that Fourth Brother has said something similar?”

Lin Sui’an: “…”

Hua Yimeng covered her mouth with a giggle.

Lin Sui’an: What in the world is the Hua Family’s idea of entertainment?!

Wu Da pushed the door open and invited Fang Ke out to examine the masked figures’ corpses — one hundred and twenty-eight in total. Fang Ke finally cheered up, his eyes lighting with enthusiasm as he went out.

Ling Zhiyan carefully poked his head in, and upon seeing Lin Sui’an unharmed, let out a breath of relief. “Lin Niangzi, how are you feeling?”

“Fine.” Lin Sui’an picked up Qian Jing and stood. “Is it Hua Yitang who wants to see me?”

Ling Zhiyan gave a nod. “There are some findings — he requests Lin Niangzi examine them together.”

Lin Sui’an walked quickly out of the room, but noticed Ling Zhiyan had not followed. She looked back. Ling Zhiyan was standing in the doorway, rigid as a boiled shrimp, and after a long silence, squeezed out a single question: “Has the Third Lady of the Hua Family been injured?”

Hua Yimeng’s eyes went wide. After a long pause, she replied with one word: “No.”

Ling Zhiyan gave a rapid nod, turned around, and swept past Lin Sui’an like a gust of wind. With Lin Sui’an’s sharp eyesight, she could clearly see that Ling Zhiyan had flushed red from the tips of his ears all the way down to the base of his neck.

Lin Sui’an: Oho!

The main hall of the guest compound had been cleared out and converted into Hua Yitang’s makeshift interrogation room. Kneeling on the floor below were Ma Kaicheng and Su Feichang. Both men were drenched from head to toe — apparently just roused from unconsciousness with a bucket of cold water — and trembling uncontrollably.

Hua Yitang reclined lazily against the armrest, unhurriedly leafing through an account ledger. Despite the spartan conditions, he had somehow managed to wash his face, comb his hair, and replace the broken hairpin — from where, no one knew.

Lin Sui’an glanced at the ledger in Hua Yitang’s hand. She couldn’t quite make it out — the entries recorded items like “polished rice” and “millet.” It seemed to be a rice shop account book.

Hua Yitang placed the large cushion from behind him onto Lin Sui’an’s couch and patted it briskly, then poured a steaming cup of hundred-flower tea and handed it to her, looking her up and down. “Doctor Fang is truly skilled — your color is much better already.”

Small wonder, given that the pill Doctor Fang had given her was bitter beyond all measure — it must have been packed with the finest restorative ingredients.

Lin Sui’an inwardly sighed and changed the subject. “What have you found?”

Hua Yitang looked somewhat exasperated. “The Su family patriarch is a stubborn fool — he’s likely planning to stay silent to the end. As for this Master Ma here —”

Ma Kaicheng flinched violently. “I confess! I confess everything! The hundred-flower tea sold by the Ma family was all counterfeit. I am willing to turn over all the counterfeit tea and the money it earned, and I beg General Hua to spare my life and spare the Ma family!”

With that, he knocked his head against the floor in a series of rapid, desperate bows.

Hua Yitang: “What Hua finds strange is this: why was the Ma family’s counterfeit tea warehouse located inside the Su family’s guest compound?”

Ma Kaicheng and Su Feichang both shuddered simultaneously, staring at Hua Yitang with wide eyes.

Hua Yitang smiled slightly. “Yes. That warehouse has already been found.”

Ma Kaicheng turned deathly pale. Su Feichang’s face went iron-gray, and he clenched his teeth. “It was a business partnership between our two families.”

“I see.” Hua Yitang gave a nod. “Second question: whose are the masked assassins in the courtyard?”

Ma Kaicheng: “I don’t know — I truly don’t know!”

Hua Yitang’s gaze shifted to Su Feichang’s face. “Could it be that they are the Su family’s private death warriors?”

Su Feichang’s throat worked up and down several times. “Yes!”

Hua Yitang blinked and leaned slightly forward. “Could it be that you are the Third Master?”

Su Feichang closed his eyes. “Yes!”

Hua Yitang exchanged a glance with Lin Sui’an and Ling Zhiyan.

Ling Zhiyan: He’s lying.

Lin Sui’an rolled her eyes: Obviously. Those masked figures didn’t take orders from Su Feichang at all. If he were the Third Master, I’d eat Qian Jing.

Hua Yitang: “At this point, Hua is actually rather curious — just what kind of person is this Third Master, that the patriarch of the Suzhou Su family would follow him so wholeheartedly?”

Su Feichang opened his eyes and fixed them on Hua Yitang. “I am the Third Master. All of these death warriors were raised by me. I did this alone. It has nothing to do with the Su family!”

Hua Yitang let out a low laugh, slowly rose to his feet, smoothed his sleeves, snapped his fan open with a crack, and struck a debonair pose. “Oh — eat — dog — droppings! I — don’t — believe — you — for — a — second!”

Su Feichang’s face turned green — from fury.

Jin Ruo came striding in hurriedly, her expression grim. “The secret warehouse in the Wang family’s guest compound has been found, and the Wang family members have been taken into custody.”

Hua Yitang’s expression darkened. “Let’s go.”

The Wang family’s guest compound was built against a hillside, in a secluded location. Taking advantage of the natural terrain, they had constructed a secret warehouse inside a natural cave. By the time the group arrived, irregular officers had already cordoned off the entire area within a five-li radius around the cave entrance.

Wang Jinglu and several Wang family elders were being held under guard by yamen officers, kneeling in front of the cave entrance, their expressions outraged. At the sight of Hua Yitang, they immediately launched into a torrent of abuse.

“Hua Family’s Fourth Son, have you lost your mind?! Dragging us out to this ravine in the dead of night — what is the meaning of this?!”

“Though our Wang family may not rival the roots of the Five Clans and Seven Lineages, we are still a prominent distinguished family in Yidu! How dare a worthless libertine like you lord over us and do as you please?!”

“A mere seventh-rank adjunct officer dares to trample on the law, carry out a private arrest — you know the law and break it. This is utterly outrageous!”

Hua Yitang seemed not to hear their shouting at all. He tossed the account ledger in his hand onto the ground before Wang Jinglu. Wang Jinglu started. “What is this?”

“The Wang family’s hidden accounts,” Hua Yitang said coldly, “found concealed right inside this abandoned compound.”

“What?!” Wang Jinglu snatched up the ledger and rapidly flipped through it. “These — these accounts don’t look right…”

“On the surface, the ledger records the Wang family rice shop’s business dealings. But the figures are wrong — the quantities, the varieties of grain, the sourcing locations, the distribution destinations, the buying and selling prices, all of them are wrong. The purchase quantities are far too small. The grain varieties are too limited. The sourcing locations are all from scattered, impoverished rural counties — none of them are grain-producing areas. The buying prices are absurdly low — some items were even acquired for nothing. Yet the selling prices are astoundingly high,” Hua Yitang said. “It is self-evident that what is being bought and sold here is not grain.”

Wang Jinglu looked in bewilderment at the Wang family elders. The elders who had been so imperious just moments ago had all fallen silent, heads bowed, bodies trembling.

Lin Sui’an’s heart sank, slowly and steadily.

Hua Yitang stared straight into the pitch-black depths of the cave entrance. Gradually, light appeared from within. Jin Ruo and Gan Hongying came out holding torches, a number of Jing Men disciples following behind them — all of their faces a harrowing sight.

The night was terrifyingly still. The moonlight was terrifyingly cold.

Jing Men disciples came out in small clusters, carrying one body after another and laying them on the ground. The bodies were terribly thin, scarcely clothed, faces hidden by tangled hair. Their small hands lay limp against the ground. Some had already begun to decompose, putrid flesh crawling with maggots.

All of them were children no older than ten.

Lin Sui’an clenched Qian Jing so hard her knuckles went white. A bone-deep cold swept over her like a wave. Hua Yitang suddenly stepped back half a pace, blocking her line of sight.

“Don’t look,” he said softly. His hand reached back and gripped the sleeve of her robe, holding fast, his knuckles going white.

Then, from deep inside the cave, a voice cried out: “Found them — there are survivors!”

Immediately, a clamor of footsteps followed, and more people emerged. Lin Sui’an heard low weeping — the weak cries of children — the weeping growing louder and louder, gradually mingling with the suppressed sobs of the irregular officers and Jing Men disciples.

Lin Sui’an knew her body could not endure any golden finger techniques right now. She forced herself to keep her gaze fixed on Hua Yitang’s profile.

Through blurred vision, she watched a single tear fall from Hua Yitang’s chin, and scatter in the night wind.