The brocade-clad man suddenly smiled.

Though beautiful in the past, his smile had always seemed somewhat empty and weary, but at this moment it was full of excitement, with a trace of faint mockery.

Jing Hengbo on the shore vaguely caught sight of this smile, and her heart skipped a beat.

This fellow’s expression didn’t look like someone about to become a hostage.

Rather, it was like someone who had finally met a worthy opponent and fought to his heart’s content, but still had a little secret hidden away for a counterattack, and was both satisfied and excited that this secret finally had someone capable of forcing him to use it.

It sounds complicated, but a woman’s intuition is often accurate. She no longer cared whether the ice could bear weight and flashed forward.

But it was all a step too late.

Suddenly a slender shadow shot out like lightning from the shore, coiling around the brocade-clad man’s waist. He grabbed onto that shadow, gave a “hey” sound, and pulled himself out of the ice.

Shattered ice flew everywhere across the lake surface. Master Mu’s sword pierced into the empty space of broken ice and snow mist, producing a series of crackling sounds.

Jing Hengbo’s body slid past beneath the brocade-clad man’s feet. She was just a bit short of grabbing his ankle, and was nearly knocked unconscious to the lake bottom by the stench of dung from the sole of his foot.

The brocade-clad man’s body flew through the air like a projectile. Broken ice fell like rain, and Jing Hengbo, pressed against the ice surface, had to close her eyes first and slide out of the lake.

By the time she reached the shore, she saw the brocade-clad man flying like a cannonball over her head, landing on the undamaged half of Ningxue Pavilion.

Having failed at the crucial moment, Jing Hengbo cursed loudly: “I’m going to kill the bastard who saved him!”

She had clearly felt that the brocade-clad man was trapped on the lake. What had rescued him?

There was something on the shore, lying limply on the ground, apparently the thing that had pulled up the brocade-clad man at the critical moment.

Both Jing Hengbo and Master Mu thought it must be some kind of black water marsh creature like a black dragon that had been tamed by the brocade-clad man to help him, so they both approached cautiously.

However, that thing lay limply without any movement, and seemed to be shrinking. The two exchanged glances, thinking how could this thing have made such a move, pulling the brocade-clad man and flinging him out, and then just lie there like this.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Jing Hengbo stepped forward and kicked it. The texture was wrong. Looking carefully, she couldn’t help but exclaim “Eh!”

The thing was half green, half grayish-brown, long and soft—it was actually a tree branch!

But this branch was extremely thick, nearly the size of a child’s arm. The front end was still green with several green leaves, but the back end was grayish-brown, and that grayish-brown color was visibly spreading toward the front end.

Jing Hengbo watched as the thick branch withered and decayed section by section, finally becoming a completely dead branch. Even those few green leaves instantly withered and fell from the branch.

It gave the impression that this branch had been instantly infused or catalyzed with life force, then had it drained away again.

Jing Hengbo turned to look at the shore. There were willow trees on the shore, which in this weather were naturally all dried up, identical to the branch on the ground.

“Mental catalysis,” she murmured.

“What?” Master Mu didn’t understand.

Jing Hengbo shook her head, unable to explain. This was a type of supernatural ability, very rare and advanced—the ability to instantly catalyze living organisms with mental power. Their research institute didn’t have this kind of ability, but she had heard of people who could command wheat seeds to sprout with their minds. But even that took several minutes or even hours, not like making willow branches bloom instantly in spring.

Then again, mental supernatural abilities belonged to the realm of psychic power, and ancient cultivation often followed the path of mental training. Many mental techniques were very clear and had effects on developing supernatural abilities that modern technology couldn’t achieve.

Jing Hengbo herself had only made breakthrough progress with her abilities after coming to Dahuang, learning the Bright Moon Mental Technique, and undergoing targeted training. Her object manipulation ability was also a type of psychic power, but she couldn’t achieve this kind of life form catalysis like the brocade-clad man.

This must be his trump card hidden at the bottom of the box, right? He might never have used it before.

Jing Hengbo had no choice but to follow back to that half of Ningxue Pavilion. The brocade-clad man had already changed his clothes. At such a critical moment, instead of immediately taking hostages to turn the tide, he hurried to tidy himself up first. Jing Hengbo smiled at him and pointed to his hair: “Your hair is uneven on both sides, isn’t that uncomfortable?”

“Yes.” The brocade-clad man actually admitted it, then took a dagger from a guard’s hand and in a few strokes cut away the long and short singed hair. While cutting, he still used a ruler to measure, trimming a bit here and there, and after great effort to even it out, his hair was only shoulder-length.

Jing Hengbo laughed heartily: “What a nice bob cut!”

The brocade-clad man touched it himself and felt he couldn’t adapt to it. Since it couldn’t be tied up, with a flash of the blade, he simply shaved off all his black hair.

“Amitabha Buddha,” Jing Hengbo laughed so hard she hugged her stomach. “Hello there, baldy. Are you feeling cool, baldy?”

The bald brocade-clad man ignored her, touched his smooth head, stretched out his hand, and a guard conjured up a wig like magic for him to wear. Instantly he was once again a noble and refined young master.

Jing Hengbo was dumbstruck… This was possible too?

Looking at the speed with which he had cleaned himself up in the blink of an eye, this kind of emergency situation must happen often, and each time required a change. The guards were used to it and kept complete sets of equipment ready at all times.

Jing Hengbo looked at those guards and sighed. People really were cheap. The brocade-clad man was so troublesome, yet these guards remained utterly loyal. Just now when Ningxue Pavilion was destroyed into a complete mess by the brocade-clad man, these people dodged flying bricks and tiles while dragging away their precious bundles, all while keeping close watch on the hostages, never letting their swords move more than three inches from the hostages’ throats. Once Jing Hengbo saw a tile about to smash a guard’s head. She calculated that if this guy just dodged, she’d have a chance to rescue Pei Shu, but that fellow stubbornly took a head wound with blood streaming down rather than move a single step, leaving the two masters with no opportunity to save anyone.

Of course, if she had known that while the brocade-clad man was troublesome, his treatment of subordinates was also exceptionally generous—something rare in the world—she probably would have understood why things were this way. The brocade-clad man didn’t require his guards to be particularly clever; he himself was one of the world’s rare geniuses and didn’t value intelligence. He only selected people with excellent patience, temperament, tenacity, and attention to detail. Once someone became his guard, they immediately got their own house in the capital of Dong Tang where every inch of land was worth gold, could bring their entire family to live there, earned an annual salary exceeding that of first-rank officials, and their families enjoyed countless conveniences of capital life. The Third Prince could even help with the imperial examinations to bring glory to the family. The most famous incident was when one of his guards’ younger brothers got carbuncles, and he actually dragged the Imperial Medical Academy judge who only treated the emperor out of bed to treat his guard’s brother’s illness, for which he was docked a year’s salary by the emperor.

With such generous treatment and transparent conduct, how could his guards not risk their lives for him?

Of course, there would also be some restraining measures. Someone like the brocade-clad man wouldn’t easily trust anyone. His guards were divided into several types, and this group before them might not even be the most important.

Now the situation remained the same as before, except for the added ruins and the brocade-clad man’s loss of his previous freshness, with a rather bright bruise on his face.

His complexion also didn’t look good—his lower body still hadn’t recovered, remaining stiff and cold. He somewhat suspected that the ice earlier wasn’t ordinary ice, and hoped it wouldn’t damage certain important functions. He needed to fight quickly and get treatment soon.

Therefore he said directly: “There’s one more challenge. If you solve it, I’ll release everyone—all three people. But the condition is, you solve it alone.”

Facing two or three people, he’d definitely have to sacrifice his life here. Even games had to have limits, right?

“Fine.” Seeing that he was finally being straightforward, Jing Hengbo agreed just as readily.

No matter what, she’d get the people first, then beat him up later.

The brocade-clad man waved his hand, and the guards brought over a cabinet-like contraption—round, with three panels as partitions that could hold three people, with turntables above and below that could rotate. This was the death roulette wheel the brocade-clad man had designed himself.

There was a well in the courtyard, a dry well that had probably seen deaths before. The wellhead was already sealed. Guards removed the well cover and one of them went down with a large bag of steel spikes. Each spike was a full foot long with tips glowing an eerie blue—clearly poisoned. That ghastly color and gleam made Jing Hengbo’s heart run cold.

Did this brocade-clad man live his entire life just thinking about how to harm people?

Jing Hengbo was very worried that someone might tamper with things at the bottom of the well, though all eight of the brocade-clad man’s guards were currently on the surface.

One guard went down with the steel spikes and planted them in the bottom of the well with points facing upward. Anyone who fell down would be impaled.

Then the others set up the roulette wheel over the well opening, placed the three hostages inside the wheel with their hands and feet locked, and surrounded them with swords on all sides.

Looking at this design, Jing Hengbo’s face went pale.

“Simple,” the brocade-clad man said with a smile. “The wooden boards at the bottom are trap doors. Soon the wheel will start spinning, and one person falls with each rotation. And it spins faster and faster. What you need to do is prevent them from falling.”

“You pervert!” Jing Hengbo cursed loudly. “One person per rotation—how can I save all three in time!”

Jing Hengbo could attack multiple targets simultaneously in a flat plane, but the turntable was different. There would necessarily be one person on the back side, and it was moving, so she couldn’t control the situation on the back side and had no confidence in solving both front and back instantaneously.

“This challenge teaches you,” the brocade-clad man said unmoved, “that in life, there are always many difficult choices. You can indeed only save two of the three people. Who to take, who to abandon—you must face these decisions.”

“I won’t do this challenge!” Jing Hengbo said angrily. “Let’s just fight to the death!”

“Fine.” The brocade-clad man immediately waved his hand. “Kill them.”

The guards unhesitatingly thrust their sword points forward. Jing Hengbo waved her hand to knock away their swords, but they had learned their lesson—the swords were now tied to their arms. Seeing the sword points about to graze Zirui’s throat, Jing Hengbo had to shout: “Stop!”

The brocade-clad man didn’t even look, having already predicted this would happen.

Meng Potian was tied to the roulette wheel in the position facing away from Jing Hengbo. If nothing unexpected happened, it should be Zirui and Pei Shu who would rotate to face Jing Hengbo first.

Meng Potian looked up at the sky bleakly and sighed deeply: “Farewell, blue sky.”

Then looked at the ground and said with deep feeling: “Farewell, great earth.”

Then gazed into the distance and said helplessly: “Farewell, my empty basket.”

Finally said sorrowfully: “Farewell, my foolish old dad. From now on, your Frenzied Blade Alliance won’t have anyone to keep the books for you. Be careful not to let those shrewd people cheat you out of your money. And even if you pass the Frenzied Blade Alliance to outsiders, never pass it to Seventh Brother—he’ll definitely squander all your foundation…”

“What are you babbling about, it’s annoying me to death,” Pei Shu said angrily. “Can’t you be quiet?”

“I’m about to die,” Meng Potian said without backing down. “Can’t you let me have some final words?”

“Who said you’re going to die?” Pei Shu said sullenly.

“Hehe.” Meng Potian laughed coldly. “I’m not an idiot. Three hostages—you and the female official are both the Queen’s people, but I’m her enemy. She’s not pig-brained, doesn’t she know who to save?”

“Sometimes she is pig-brained,” Pei Shu snorted.

“Come on,” Meng Potian said. “I won’t beg her to save me either—can’t afford to lose that face. In this situation, I can’t blame her for saving you two and not me. I accept my fate. I just have one request—take my basket back to my dad and tell him I heard there were treasures in Pugan, so I went treasure hunting and might be gone for a year or two.”

“If you’re dead, you’re dead. Why lie to your father?”

“You don’t understand. My dad seems like a rough man, but he’s actually very fragile. Sometimes he even chants sutras when killing a pig. Don’t tell him I died—maybe in a year or two he’ll make me another little brother, and then he won’t be so heartbroken.”

“You worry too much!” Pei Shu scoffed. “You won’t die.”

“I know I will…”

“Shut up.”

“Hmph!” Meng Potian spat toward the next compartment. “I’m about to die and you won’t even let me talk? What’s your heart made of? Iron? Steel? I even helped you in that coffin earlier…”

“Shut up!”

…

“Do you have confidence?” Master Mu asked Jing Hengbo.

“No. They’re locked with four chains each, hands and feet bound. For the ones facing me, I can simultaneously control cutting the chains, but for the one on the back side…” Jing Hengbo smiled bitterly. “I might accidentally injure them. What if the knife meant to cut chains slips and cuts a throat?”

“You can’t think like that at a time like this,” Master Mu said gently. “Confidence is also an important factor supporting ability. You have to think: I can do it, I definitely can do it.”

“All right,” Jing Hengbo took a deep breath. “I can do it, I definitely can do it…” Her voice got lower as she spoke, and finally she couldn’t help but say hatefully: “I’m definitely going to castrate him later!”

“Absolutely,” Master Mu replied, his usually gentle tone also unable to suppress his disgust.

No matter how uneasy she felt, she had to face the challenge. After a second of resentment, Jing Hengbo started hating herself again—why did she have to transmigrate?

She stepped forward. The brocade-clad man had already prepared throwing knives for her.

“Begin!”

A guard grabbed a protruding long handle and turned it. The roulette wheel whooshed into motion, spinning faster than Jing Hengbo had imagined—she had thought that bearing the weight of three people, it would have to start slowly, giving her time to react.

But now it was immediately flying like the wind!

The three people whirled around like figures in a revolving lantern, creating indistinguishable streaks of light and shadow before her!

In this situation, being able to accurately cut the chains from the front would be good enough, never mind managing the one on the back side too!

She almost panicked but immediately steadied her mind. With a raised hand, nine throwing knives flashed out.

Eight aimed at the front and side positions, and one toward the bottom turntable.

She wanted to jam the roulette wheel—this was the only way.

However, almost immediately came a “crack” sound as a throwing knife shot back, knocked away by the rapidly spinning roulette wheel.

The roulette wheel didn’t slow at all. After a series of rapid clangs, Zirui fell out first, and Master Mu flew over to catch her.

Then Pei Shu’s body tilted outward but didn’t fall completely—the roulette wheel was spinning too fast, and one throwing knife had missed its mark, leaving his right foot still locked to the wheel.

By now it was almost a full rotation. Jing Hengbo had time to give him one more strike to save him, but then there would definitely be no time for Meng Potian.

Meng Potian had already closed her eyes and was singing little songs in her heart.

She had decided to die happily and without resentment, so she could continue being a happy person in her next life.

As Pei Shu’s body tilted and failed to fall, he opened his eyes, gritted his teeth, and suddenly punched through the wooden board above his head, grabbing the broken board and jamming his arm upward.

Jing Hengbo’s eyes widened in shock.

He was actually using his arm to block the upper roulette wheel!

Though the roulette wheel was round, it was also polished smooth, sharper than a blade, and because of the rapid rotation, the centrifugal force was enormous. When her throwing knife hit it earlier, it was immediately flung away!

With his flesh and blood body, he was directly challenging the roulette wheel—he would be crippled!

Even the brocade-clad man on the roof showed a trace of shock—there was actually such a brave man in the world!

A horrifying “screech” sound, like a plane shaving wood, with Pei Shu’s arm as that piece of wood. Almost instantly, his arm revealed white bone, and a large chunk of flesh was shaved off in one stroke, splattering Meng Potian’s face with blood.

Meng Potian snapped her eyes open, but they were covered with blood and flesh so she couldn’t see. Her expression was terrified beyond measure as she cried out: “Pei Shu!”

The roulette wheel suddenly slowed.

This slowdown was almost imperceptible to the naked eye. At the same time, Pei Shu let out a great roar: “Save her!”

He had literally used flesh and blood to jam the roulette wheel, giving the frontal opportunity to Meng Potian.

Now he would rotate to the back side, while Meng Potian had reached Jing Hengbo’s front.

Meng Potian was instantly in tears.

Jing Hengbo forced her eyes wide open. At this moment, her heart was shocked and anxious, but she dared not cry—she was afraid tears would blur her vision, affect her judgment, and leave lifelong regrets.

At this moment, she could still see a corner of Pei Shu’s garment and the chain binding him, but in a moment it would be gone.

At this speed, she could at most catch up to Pei Shu and break that last chain. Even this she wasn’t confident about because of potential angular deviation.

The one who had rotated to the front was Meng Potian. Actually, saving Meng Potian now would be more convenient than saving Pei Shu, who had already reached the back side.

Soon the roulette wheel would drop someone.

She only had time to save one.

Both were lives.

There wasn’t even time to think.

“Save her!” Pei Shu’s roar seemed to pierce her brain, giving her a splitting headache.

No time. No time.

She closed her eyes and scattered her hand.

Five throwing knives shot out like lightning splitting heaven and earth.

Four rushed toward Meng Potian, and one charged toward the back side, but due to the angle problem, the knife meant to save Pei Shu collided with one of the other four knives aimed at Meng Potian, deflecting slightly.

By this time Pei Shu had completely rotated to the back. The throwing knife grazed past the chain.

Throwing knives couldn’t change direction.

With rapid “clangs,” Meng Potian tumbled out. Even in midair she twisted to look back, but her face was covered with blood and she couldn’t open her eyes. Master Mu caught her and threw her aside, then quickly rushed toward the roulette wheel.

Jing Hengbo also flashed over, and the guards had already withdrawn their swords and stepped back.

But it was too late.

With a “crack,” the board under Pei Shu’s feet opened, and he fell into the well with the last long chain still attached.

“Pei Shu!”

There was a faint thud, seemingly accompanied by the sound of heavy objects falling and steel spikes piercing flesh, but no human screams. Yet just this sound was enough to terrify one out of their wits.

Jing Hengbo’s vision went black, cold sweat covering her back. She wanted to rush forward but couldn’t move her feet at all.

A figure flashed as Master Mu leaped onto the roulette wheel, bombarded it fiercely, smashing the bottom of this death wheel, knocking away the still-turning base, and quickly looked down into the well.

He immediately saw the mangled corpse at the bottom of the well, steel spikes glowing with eerie blue light protruding from the body’s back.

He immediately pushed away Jing Hengbo, who was rushing over to look.

“How is it… how is it…” Jing Hengbo asked in a trembling voice.

If Pei Shu really… she didn’t know how she could ever forgive herself.

Master Mu took a deep breath and said calmly: “Can’t see clearly… let me go down and check…”

Jing Hengbo looked at him hopefully and said urgently: “Yes, go down and check. He wouldn’t die that easily.”

Even as she said this, despair filled her heart—with Pei Shu’s temperament, if he really was okay, he would definitely be cursing from down there…

Master Mu went down the well. Jing Hengbo didn’t dare look, leaning limply against the well wall. Across from her, Zirui was in tears, supporting Meng Potian who sat collapsed on the ground. That once vibrant woman now had a face covered in blood and flesh, even her eyelashes hung with bits of meat. She didn’t wipe it away, half-opening her blood-red eyes, staring vacantly at the well.

Jing Hengbo felt her heart aching like knife cuts. She scrambled up and wanted to find the brocade-clad man.

She hadn’t hated anyone this intensely in a long time—this was a true demon who understood human hearts and nature, who knew how to strike once and wound someone to their very core!

This move of his made her feel worse than if he had killed Pei Shu right in front of her!

But as she looked around, where was the brocade-clad man on the rooftop? Even his guards had all disappeared.

He seemed satisfied with today’s results—having played three challenges to his heart’s content, being tormented by Jing Hengbo, then viciously retaliating against her. Now he was making his successful retreat.

…

Master Mu went down the well.

The heavy smell of blood in the narrow space made his ominous feeling grow stronger.

At the bottom of the well, on the steel spikes, lay a corpse with blood pooled everywhere.

Master Mu immediately saw the corpse’s left arm, scraped nearly to white bone, and his heart went cold.

Still unwilling to give up, he carefully landed in the gaps between steel spikes and turned over the corpse. The well was quite deep, so the impact from falling was severe, causing the corpse to be deeply impaled on the foot-long spikes. He had to struggle to pull the corpse out, fresh blood dripping all over him.

The corpse’s face was also pierced by spikes, blurred beyond recognition. In the dark well with poor lighting, Master Mu could vaguely make out what seemed to be Pei Shu, and his heart grew colder.

As for the clothing and height, they all matched Pei Shu. Master Mu stared in disbelief for a long while, then began feeling around the well walls with his hands.

He felt slippery moss, wet and cold well walls that were intact, with slightly protruding stone blocks—nothing unusual.

He also tried pushing against the stone walls. Some wells in palaces were secret passage exits for the royal family to escape in dangerous times, but since they were for royal use, the mechanisms wouldn’t be too complex—usually you could tell by pushing.

He pushed every stone, but none moved. He tried other common tricks, but still nothing stirred—these were just stone walls.

Actually, with his experience, this well’s bottom layout made secret passages very difficult. Even if there were secret passages, due to positional limitations, they could at most be half a person’s height—who could walk through such passages? Even bone-shrinking techniques wouldn’t work.

Moreover, Pei Shu was injured and bound. From the moment he fell from the roulette wheel, they had rushed over. In such a brief time, breaking free from bonds would be impossible, let alone escaping.

Master Mu exhausted all methods but finally had to reluctantly admit that this corpse was indeed Pei Shu.

In the darkness, he held his forehead, sighing with infinite frustration.

Pei Shu had argued with Jing Hengbo and in a fit of anger snuck into Shangyuan, wanting to single-handedly rescue Zirui. Who knew he would encounter the pervert in brocade.

And Jing Hengbo had had a chance to save him but ultimately hadn’t. Though she was moved by Pei Shu’s sacrifice and felt compelled to respect his wishes, and held onto hope that he wouldn’t die, that split-second decision had led to tragic consequences no one had anticipated.

How could Jing Hengbo bear this?

She would live in guilt for the rest of her life!

…

After a long while, Master Mu climbed up. He had gone down quickly but came up slowly.

Before he reached the well opening, Jing Hengbo’s face was already peering over, asking eagerly: “How is it? He’s fine, right? He’s fine, right?” She looked behind him: “He’s injured, why didn’t you bring him up? Is it hard to carry him? Do you need help?”

Master Mu raised a hand to stop her. “Hengbo,” he said.

Just those two short words.

She looked at him, reading the answer in his eyes. He watched painfully as the light in her eyes suddenly dimmed like an extinguished lamp, and just as crystalline liquid was about to spill across her face, he was about to step forward and embrace her for comfort when she suddenly turned away, pressing against the well opening, and smiled at the two women who looked up at her: “Haha, it’s fine, it’s fine. He’s injured, not lightly, can’t be pulled out right now. Mu and I will think of another way. Meng Potian, we can’t stay here long. Please take Zirui out of the palace. I think news of me rescuing you hasn’t spread yet. Right now Ming Yan’an is still deliberately holding back, not letting guards mobilize. You taking this opportunity to leave would be safest. Go, go, go.”

She said all this in one breath at breakneck speed, giving herself no chance to break down and giving Zirui and Meng Potian no chance to react. Like herding ducks, she went over and got them up, shoving Zirui into Meng Potian’s hands without allowing discussion: “Your life was saved by me, you have to repay me, otherwise you’d be lacking in martial world honor, right? You help me get Zirui out of Shangyuan. I know you have a way.”

Meng Potian sat there dazed, her eyes lacking vitality, but she still responded to the words “martial world honor.” Without her former brightness and swagger, she took Zirui’s hand and walked out. Zirui also said nothing, afraid to disturb Jing Hengbo, only looking back at her once before leaving with Meng Potian.

Watching them leave, indeed no commotion arose from within the palace. She had guessed right—Ming Yan’an still didn’t know of the brocade-clad man’s failure here and was still restraining the guards, waiting for the dust to settle.

After things quieted down, she slid down against the well wall, drew up her knees, supported her head with her hands, and messed up her hair with her fingers.

Master Mu stood by the well, looking at her cascading black hair and slightly trembling shoulders, feeling sharp pain in his heart.

The pain wasn’t from her finally exposed vulnerability, but from how late this vulnerability came.

After learning the terrible news, despite her normally unrestrained nature, she had actually been able to immediately control her emotions and send the two women away.

She even thought that Meng Potian staying might cause trouble, so she simply used obligation and honor to compel this woman who valued martial world honor most to protect Zirui and leave first.

She also considered that Ming Yan’an was deliberately holding back right now, making this the safest time to leave.

Under such emotional turmoil, in such haste, to maintain such clear thinking and thorough planning—even he couldn’t guarantee he could do so much under such circumstances.

But precisely because of this, he felt heartache.

For someone like her to grow to this point, what heart-crushing price had she paid?

Had she grown wings, or in long, harsh tribulation, had her original bright wings been broken and replaced with iron ones through separate training?

What made him feel even more anguished was that among those who had broken her bright original wings, he seemed to be one of them…

He took a deep breath and stepped forward, wanting to put his arm around her shoulders.

But she suddenly stood up again, gritting her teeth: “No, I don’t believe in this evil! Pei Shu is so wicked that even Heaven wouldn’t dare take him. How could he just…”

She turned to go down the well.

Master Mu didn’t dare let her see that horrible scene—she might truly not be able to bear it. He hurried to stop her but in his emotional state forgot about Jing Hengbo’s teleportation ability.

In a flash, she vanished from his arms, leaving only a trace of faint fragrance.

He stared at his empty embrace, lost and bewildered, as if from this moment of missing each other he foresaw more helpless futures to come.

…