It was still early summer, and the night wind remained piercingly cold. Walking back from the dining hall, I thought about checking if the windows in the waterside pavilion were closed. Being close to the water made it even colder there, and in Xiao Huan’s current condition, he shouldn’t be exposed to such weather.

When I entered the courtyard, I unexpectedly encountered Xiao Huan and Su Qian by the waterside pavilion. Xiao Huan was still wearing his simple blue cotton robe with a dark cloak draped over it. Against the night sky, his face appeared even more pale, his thin lips completely devoid of color. Yet his attire suggested he was preparing to go out.

I blocked the path. “What are you doing?”

Xiao Huan frowned slightly. “Aren’t you being rather discourteous?”

He speaks of courtesy. This morning he could barely stand, and now he wants to brave the night wind. Suppressing my anger, I smiled and cupped my hands: “This subordinate saw the Pavilion Master in a hurry and spoke hastily. May I ask where the Pavilion Master is heading? Does he not require this subordinate’s accompaniment?”

He frowned again, his voice cold and firm: “Not necessary.”

I continued with my polite smile: “This subordinate is the Pavilion Master’s disciple. If the Pavilion Master is going out on business, shouldn’t he take his disciple along for the experience?”

He remained frowning, a flash of impatience crossing his eyes. Behind him, Su Qian suddenly called out softly, “Pavilion Master.”

Xiao Huan stopped speaking and walked past me quickly, continuing outward.

They brushed past me, one in front and one behind, their steps in perfect harmony. The cool night wind swirled emptily around my hand.

“Pavilion Master.” I caught up and grabbed his sleeve, looking up with a maintained smile. “Pavilion Master, let me come along. I won’t cause any trouble.”

He paused, turned back to give me a bland look, and seemingly pressed for time, finally agreed: “Come then.” He gently shook his arm, dislodging my hand from his sleeve.

I hurried to follow two steps behind him. He walked quickly, reaching the gate in no time.

Horses had already been prepared. Without delay, he mounted his horse, and I quickly leaped onto mine.

Under the night sky, Xuanwu Avenue remained bustling. Xiao Huan spurred his jet-black steed forward, cutting straight through the crowd, and I urged my horse to follow.

Our party numbered nine in total: besides Xiao Huan, Su Qian, and myself, there were six disciples from Fenglai Pavilion dressed in black-fitted clothing.

Hoofbeats echoed through the streets of Jinling, and in the blink of an eye, we reached the East Gate. The city gate had already been lowered, but Su Qian dismounted and spoke briefly with the gate guards, who opened a small gap.

Our group passed through the gap one by one. By the torchlight under the gate, I studied Xiao Huan. His lips were tightly pressed together, his complexion pale to the point of translucency, yet his hands gripped the reins steadily and powerfully, his back ramrod straight.

After leaving the city, we continued without pause. The cold wind whipped against our skin. After riding for a while, our horses entered a dense forest. The drooping branches of five-needled pines occasionally swept across our faces. I didn’t dare slow down, lying low on my horse to avoid the pine needles.

Before we’d gone far, a sharp sound suddenly came from the darkness ahead. The horse to my left front stumbled and fell. The massive forward momentum sent its rider, one of our members, flying through the air. Fortunately, he reacted quickly, pushing off against a tree trunk beside the path.

With a crack, the sturdy pine tree split from his kick. As the crown of the tree tilted and broke, the member was falling through the air. At that moment, a flash of gleaming blade light appeared, and blood burst forth like a huge, strangely-shaped red flower from the member’s body. In an instant, the air was filled with the scent of blood.

My horse continued charging forward, passing right by the member’s corpse. Blood mist suddenly sprayed across my face and head.

The gleaming blade flashed again, and my horse’s front legs suddenly weakened. It let out a cry of anguish as its body tilted to one side.

Learning from the previous incident, I quickly sprung from the horse’s back, kicking against its belly to leap toward the roadside.

The bright light before my eyes moved like a phantom, following closely. At that critical moment, I realized I had rushed out with Xiao Huan without bringing even a weapon.

In that split second of distraction, the cold gleam of the steel blade was already before my eyes.

Dodging would be futile. In this crisis, I quickly adapted, meeting the blade head-on, extending my arm to deflect it, fingers closing with force. The blade light was trapped against my arm, and with a “crack,” I crushed the attacker’s arm bone.

Only then did my inner arm begin to feel the piercing pain – the blade had still cut into my arm. I pressed my advantage, striking out with my elbow, forcing the attacker’s blade away. He stepped back several paces, clutching his arm and cursing.

I reversed the blade handle into my grip, holding this hard-won weapon tightly, and turned to strike at him.

Before the blade could fall, it met another blade. Both weapons rang out simultaneously, and my large blade nearly left my hand.

The new black-clad attacker gave me no time to breathe, flicking his wrist to slide his blade across the back of mine, drawing sparks.

Under the powerful impact, the wound on my arm felt like it was being torn open. I could no longer hold the blade handle, and the weapon flew from my grip.

The black-clad man immediately brought his blade back around, chopping down toward my head.

In this critical moment, the blade descending toward my eyes suddenly split in two. The gentle, warm light that cut through the blade gleam was like flowing clouds or a cascading waterfall, moving without the slightest hesitation, effortlessly sliding into the black-clad man’s throat.

Blood sprayed everywhere as Xiao Huan pulled me behind him, his voice somewhat hoarse: “Stand behind me.”

As he spoke, he stood motionless, the clear light of his short sword expanding. Within a foot around him, no one could approach. Only blood flowers continuously bloom in the night, coldly reflecting the sharp gleam of his short sword.

After the initial chaos of the sudden attack, the situation was quickly brought under control.

Su Qian’s white clothes danced as she moved freely, engaging several black-clad men. The remaining five disciples stood back-to-back, forming an impenetrable sword formation. Apart from the disciple killed in the initial surprise attack, there were no losses.

The black-clad men struggled for a while, but seeing no hope of victory, they quickly retreated.

Clearing the battlefield, we had lost one person and three horses were injured. Because we needed to hurry onward, we left one disciple to handle the corpse while the rest quickly mounted and continued the journey.

My horse could no longer be ridden, so I had to share with someone else.

Before Xiao Huan could speak, I quickly said: “I don’t want to ride with Hall Master Su.”

Xiao Huan paused briefly: “Then ride with me.”

I immediately jumped onto his horse, having forgotten about the wound on my arm. I reached for the reins with a bright smile, but unexpectedly, the movement pulled at the wound, causing a sharp pain that made me cry out “Ah!”

“What’s wrong?” Xiao Huan asked flatly as he reached for my hand, touching the fresh blood there. His hand paused.

I smiled: “Just a cut on my arm. It doesn’t hurt much, it’s nothing.”

Suddenly there was light as Xiao Huan struck a fire steel. He raised my hand, his voice suddenly carrying traces of anger: “This is nothing?”

Looking down, I was also startled. A wound over three inches long cut diagonally across my arm, blood had already dyed that sleeve red, and the flesh at the wound had slightly turned outward, still continuously seeping blood.

I felt a coolness on my face – it was Xiao Huan suddenly cupping my face. His fingers trembled slightly as he urgently wiped the blood from my face.

Only then did I remember that earlier I had been sprayed with blood – I must look like a blood-covered person now, quite frightening.

I wasn’t sure if I should smile at him, but he had already stopped.

His hand remained on my face, those deep pupils surging with light and shadow. He suddenly lowered his eyes, released his hand, pressed his fingers against the acupoint on my arm to stop the bleeding, handed me the fire steel, and then took out a handkerchief from his chest to bandage my wound.

His fingers were very gentle, carefully avoiding the tender flesh of the wound. He worked quickly, speaking softly as he wrapped: “Don’t move this arm carelessly anymore. We’ll properly dress it when we return.”

I nodded slightly, stealing glances at his lowered eyes, but his expression remained bland, revealing nothing.

After finishing the bandaging, he extinguished the fire steel. To prevent the horse’s jolting from affecting my wound, he wrapped his arm around my waist, letting me lean against his shoulder before spurring the horse forward.

His breath gently touched my neck, that familiar slightly herbal, bitter scent lingering at my nose.

I sat up slightly to block the oncoming night wind.

The rest of the journey was very smooth. I had thought that after failing the first ambush, our opponents would surely arrange second and third ambushes, but there were none. The fine horse galloped like lightning, following the official road straight toward the east.

After losing blood, I felt somewhat dizzy. During the monotonous journey, I gradually leaned against Xiao Huan’s shoulder, closing my eyes and nearly falling asleep.

Just as I was half-asleep, there was suddenly light ahead, and a clear, laughing voice carried over: “To have Master Bai personally visit, I am deeply honored.”

I opened my eyes to see a middle-aged man in a scholar’s cap and light clothes standing on a wooden bridge not far ahead, bowing courteously with cupped hands.

Behind him stood a row of lantern-holding young women, all with their hair in buns and wearing gauze robes, their elegant fragrance wafting through the night.

Xiao Huan remained mounted, bowing with cupped hands to the middle-aged man: “Thank you for your welcome, Manor Lord Wen.”

The middle-aged man addressed as “Manor Lord Wen” smiled with refined courtesy: “Master Bai’s presence brings great honor to my Shu Shui Manor. It’s still over a li to my humble manor, please allow Master Bai and your companions to take the carriages forward.” With these words, he stepped aside and made a polite gesture of invitation.

At the other end of the wooden bridge stood two tall, luxurious carriages. From his meaning, he wanted us to abandon our horses and proceed from there.

Through the sound of water, I could already hear the rapid river flowing beneath the wooden bridge. This Manor Lord Wen wanted us to give up our mounts – if anything unexpected happened at their manor later, I feared we might not be able to leave quickly.

However, Xiao Huan just smiled slightly, dismounted, crossed the wooden bridge, and entered one of the carriages. Manor Lord Wen accompanied him in the other carriage.

No one spoke during the journey. We traveled for a while before stopping at the entrance of a brightly lit manor. The entrance was lined with servants and maids waiting to receive guests.

Manor Lord Wen alighted and eagerly escorted us from the courtyard into the main hall.

The hall was lit by countless candles, bright as day. Two rows of tall chairs were arranged, but only the rightmost seat at the front was occupied by a person in purple robes. He appeared to be in his thirties, wearing purple brocade robes embroidered with golden clouds, his bearing scholarly and refined. Behind him stood a row of black-clad men, all masked and standing with hands behind their backs, forming a protective formation around the man in purple.

As we entered, the purple-robed man stroked the jade ring on his finger and raised his head. Upon seeing Xiao Huan, his gaze flickered with a hint of surprise.

Manor Lord Wen hurried forward to invite Xiao Huan to sit.

Both sides took their seats as host and guest, with Su Qian standing beside Xiao Huan’s chair, while I and the other members stood in line behind Su Qian.

“Having two honored guests visit fills everyone at Shu Shui Manor with trepidation,” Manor Lord Wen said diplomatically. He looked from the man in purple to Xiao Huan, his refined face showing a somewhat strange expression. “Both of you are unparalleled heroes in today’s martial world, putting me in quite a difficult position.”

The purple-robed man gave a cold laugh, his voice languid yet elegant, concealing sharp edges: “Now that everyone is here, Manor Lord need not beat around the bush. Please quickly make clear what should be done next.”

Manor Lord Wen’s worried expression deepened: “Master Bai is the leader of Fenglai Pavilion, and Master Xing is the master of Seven Negations Fort. How could I provoke conflict between you two? Ah, what should be done about this?”

The purple-robed man showed impatience: “Regardless, there is only one canal and one shipment of goods, and the Manor Lord will only entrust one party with transportation. I don’t have time to waste here. Manor Lord, make your decision!”

Though he said “Make your decision,” his tone was forcefully demanding.

They say the Fort Master of Seven Negations, Xing Liulan, has a bad temper – it seems the rumors are true.

Like the Twelve Linked Forts, Seven Negations Fort is also a major transport group on the Yangtze River. While the Twelve Linked Forts have a long history, Seven Negations Fort is a rising power, currently at its peak of influence. Fort Master Xing Liulan commands twenty-eight shadow-like assassins who terrorize the Jianghuai region.

These twenty-eight men’s martial arts aren’t particularly exceptional, but when they join forces, they form the Four Aspects Heaven-Illuminating Formation that strikes fear into the hearts of all in the martial world.

Three years ago, Cloud Snow the Remnant, known as the world’s greatest blade master, relied on his superior martial arts to storm Seven Negations Fort’s headquarters alone and encountered this formation. In an instant, this swordsman who had become famous at fifteen and unrivaled at twenty-five was reduced to chunks of flesh under twenty-eight swift swords. Since then, no one on the Yangtze has dared to challenge Seven Negations Fort directly.

From the current situation, it seems Fenglai Pavilion and Seven Negations Fort are competing for a shipment of goods. Meeting on this narrow path, a fierce battle seems inevitable.

Manor Lord Wen laughed nervously: “Master Xing speaks truly, speaks truly…”

“You indeed don’t have much time to waste here,” Xiao Huan, who had been silent since entering, suddenly spoke softly, “Dead men have no time.”

Xing Liulan’s expression changed slightly, the veins on his hand gripping the chair back and standing out. He paused several times before finally just snorting coldly: “Master Bai speaks boldly. It’s just a business matter, not worth both sides suffering losses.”

His words carried both softness and hardness – though there was a threatening intent, he still feared Fenglai Pavilion’s power and was trying to avoid conflict with Xiao Huan.

Xiao Huan gave a cold laugh: “Just a business matter? How shall we settle the account of Fort Master Xing’s men ambushing my Fenglai Pavilion’s branch? And tonight’s ambush outside Jinling city, how shall we settle that account? Fort Master Xing, since you could go to such lengths for this business, how could I not reciprocate fully?”

Xing Liulan finally changed color and left his seat: “Master Bai, what exactly do you want?”

“Simple,” Xiao Huan smiled coldly, though his tone remained mild, “That ambush cost me nineteen lives. Return them to me.”

“Fine!” Xing Liulan agreed without hesitation, “If it can resolve this grievance with Master Bai, I will immediately identify those subordinates who led the attack on your branch and send their nineteen heads to Master Bai.”

But Xiao Huan didn’t respond to his words, instead slowly standing and taking two steps into the hall, his tone still mild: “Also… besides those nineteen lives that day, I lost another disciple tonight. For this disciple’s life, I want Fort Master Xing’s head in return.”

Xing Liulan’s gaze flickered, and he suddenly laughed coldly: “Bai, don’t push too far! You think I have no chance of victory?” With his laughter, ghost-like black shadows appeared throughout the hall, while the black-clad men behind Xing Liulan silently spread out, like a great net descending, instantly occupying every position in the hall.

“Four Aspects Heaven-Illuminating Formation,” Xiao Huan raised the corner of his lip, pronouncing each word slowly.

“Correct, Four Aspects Heaven-Illuminating Formation.” Xing Liulan’s voice carried a hint of bloodthirsty cruelty. “You didn’t expect I’d bring them all, did you? Bai Chifan, I know your swordsmanship is peerless under heaven, but in this god-slaying, buddha-destroying Four Aspects Heaven-Illuminating Formation, leave your life here!”

With a cold laugh, he stepped back and lightly waved his hand.

Xiao Huan still kept his head lowered, his bland expression unchanged.

At this moment, the twenty-eight black shadows in the hall suddenly moved. One shadow flashed like lightning, followed by hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands – countless black shadows like storm clouds pressing down, chaotically striking at Xiao Huan standing in the hall, about to engulf his figure in the blink of an eye.

Under the black clouds, that blue-clad figure suddenly moved. Just at the moment when the darkness was heaviest, that figure that had seemed too slow to react suddenly moved!

Once he moved, it was at an indescribable speed. Light and shadow flickered past each other, and clear light broke through the clouds, like the blazing sun rising at dawn, breaking through the cliffs above the deep sea, or like the faint smile on the lips of a messenger silently offering flowers before Buddha in a moment of pure enlightenment. The sword energy within the clear light was fierce as scorching fire yet gentle as a spring wind, instantly filling every crevice in the hall.

The scorching wind swept past faces, blood droplets rose in the formation, and a hand still connected to a sword flew out at an unspeakable speed, violently striking the snow-white wall, and spinning powerlessly before stopping under a chair.

Only then did the airborne blood droplets spray open, a tragic red beauty like flowers blooming in mid-air.

Just a moment after this blood flower burst open, more demonic red flowers bloomed one after another. Within the great hall, there appeared a garden full of bewitching flowers – no, this was more like purgatory, this was a god of killing that could only be seen in hell.

That freely flowing sword light pierced throats, severed limbs, split chests, and cleaved skulls. The blade, coated with sticky fresh blood and white brain matter, would be flicked clean in an instant before piercing the next body. The man wielding the sword had a cruel light in his eyes, letting blood and filth rain onto his pale cheeks, his blue cloth robe stained with grime as he moved among the corpses and severed limbs.

This was the first time I had seen Xiao Huan kill like this. Although I had traveled the martial world with him, I had never seen him kill like this before. He rarely killed at all – except for that time when he took our master’s head with one sword stroke, I couldn’t remember seeing him kill anyone else.

Back then, he disliked using weapons, always holding back when fighting others, and his King’s Wind sword rarely left its scabbard.

But now he seemed to have walked out of the asura realm, a faint cold smile at his lips, his gaze deep as an abyss, without the slightest ripple – a gaze that regarded human life as worthless as grass.

With dismembered limbs and corpses strewn about, Xiao Huan placed his sword edge against Xing Liulan’s throat, cold as water: “Fort Master Xing, nineteen dead, nine with severed meridians. As I said, not counting you, I want nineteen lives.”

The cold clear light drew across without hindrance, blood tracing a tragically beautiful arc. Xing Liulan didn’t even have time to speak a word before his heavy body collapsed to the ground.

Xiao Huan turned around, shifting his gaze to Manor Lord Wen. By now, this old fox was also staring in horror at the scene of carnage before him, his legs trembling involuntarily.

“Manor Lord, you’ll be doing this business with us.” Xiao Huan spoke mildly, his tone is still as courteous as moments before, yet brooking no refusal.