In the forest outside Shanfeng Hall.

Fu Cui led Shao Yanping toward the pre-arranged ambush site. However, after running fifty or sixty zhang, Fu Cui became alert. “Hmm?” Looking back, Shao Yanping and Dong Hubi had somehow quietly disappeared and weren’t following behind her. Fu Cui stopped and concentrated—she felt the surroundings were completely quiet. Not only were Shao Yanping and Dong Hubi nowhere to be found, even Yu Qifeng and that black-clothed man had vanished without a trace. Her heart shook: Not good! Luring the snake from its hole had instead become drawing the tiger from the mountain. Unable to lure people into the ambush, perhaps Shao Yanping had some other trick! Her thoughts turning again, even if Shao Yanping had seen through the snake-luring plan, once she found him, she might as well abandon the plan and simply chop him down in a few moves—wouldn’t that be clean and efficient? She immediately laughed heartily and turned back to search for Shao Yanping’s traces.

Yu Qifeng and Cheng Yunpao fought while moving farther away. Originally, after Yu Qifeng had taken the Scarlet Ghost Nine Heart Pills, his strength naturally far exceeded Cheng Yunpao’s. However, he hadn’t fully recovered from his severe injuries, while Cheng Yunpao was extremely experienced in facing enemies, wielding his sword with utmost caution. Within a thousand moves, Yu Qifeng couldn’t defeat him. Having fought nearly five hundred moves, Yu Qifeng suddenly awakened, his throat making hissing sounds as he said hoarsely, “You—”

Cheng Yunpao said coldly, “Me what?” His sword followed the wind, thrusting toward Yu Qifeng’s throat. This move “Subtle Insinuation” was an extremely common sword technique. Yu Qifeng was forced back by his sword wind, unable to say another word. Furious, his blade trembled, sword light burst forth and true qi surged out—it was that move “West Wind Cuts Desolate Fire” slashing toward a vital point on Cheng Yunpao’s chest.

Sharp arrows whistled continuously. Shangguan Fei shot arrow after arrow at the black-clothed man. The black-clothed man dodged left and right in the forest. When he shot the twelfth arrow, that black-clothed man suddenly lost all trace. Shangguan Fei stopped shooting, puzzled. This position didn’t match what Shao Yanping had said beforehand. How could this be? Could Shao Yanping’s prediction be wrong?

Just as he hesitated, he saw figures moving in the forest—indeed black clothing. With a “click,” he nocked a long arrow and shot it out. A black sleeve fluttered in the forest, and the newcomer caught his long arrow with a sleeve sweep. Shangguan Fei was greatly surprised: This was the Shaolin Tattered Robe technique—who was this person?

From the forest emerged two people—one in black clothes with long hair, one in a pink dress with white gauze covering her face. Shangguan Fei was delighted. “Little monk Puzhu…” Then his gaze shifted. Beside Master Puzhu followed a young woman wearing a pink dress embroidered with peach blossom patterns. “Who is this young lady?”

Puzhu held Shangguan Fei’s long arrow, saluted the senior, and returned the arrow to Shangguan Fei. “This is Benefactor Tao, who has been undercover in Fengliu Shop for three years.” Shangguan Fei was even more astonished. “This delicate little girl could be undercover in Fengliu Shop?”

Puzhu pressed his palms together. “Amitabha, Senior Shangguan, we must rush to Shanfeng Hall. Tonight Fengliu Shop has poisoned the well water. Fengliu Shop has recruited a very formidable poison master, ‘Thousand Forms Shadow Transformation’ Lady Hongchan. This person was originally in Bingzhu Temple and had left the jianghu for decades. Her reemergence will surely bring bloody storms.” Shangguan Fei was startled. “That old demon woman Hongchan isn’t dead yet?”

Puzhu nodded. “Benefactor Tao recognizes this person’s face. We must quickly go save people.” Shangguan Fei waved repeatedly. “You go ahead. I’ll sweep clean the small troops Fengliu Shop has ambushed on the mountainside, then return immediately.” The two from Puzhu hurriedly took their leave and rushed toward Shanfeng Hall.

Shangguan Fei turned to rush toward several locations Shao Yanping had previously marked as suitable for ambushes. According to their deduction, this wasn’t Fengliu Shop’s main ambush force—the main force should be on Fu Cui’s side. Just as he gathered his qi to leap up, he suddenly heard a muffled “thud.” A line of blood suddenly spurted before his eyes. Shangguan Fei looked in horror at a tree branch now protruding from his chest, filled with countless doubts and disbelief as he slowly collapsed.

A tree branch… shot from the direction Puzhu had left.

Though just a tree branch, it was better than ten thousand sharp arrows—shot from afar silently, even making little sound when killing.

“Good shot…” Shangguan Fei lay on the ground, blood forming a pool. As he forced out these two words through his lips, he finally felt the fatal agony in his chest…

Inside Shanfeng Hall.

Liu Yan searched room by room alone. All rooms were empty. Occasionally there were small birds in the rooms, which Liu Yan strangled with his bare hands. Such concentrated resentment naturally meant he was searching for Tang Lici.

There were sounds of fighting in the back courtyard, mixed with a woman’s soft, charming laughter. Liu Yan walked closer and closer—the fighting was in the adjacent room where three people were engaged in combat. From the wind sounds, it seemed that woman held the complete advantage. In the room next to where those three were fighting, he heard faint breathing sounds. That breathing was very familiar—it was Tang Lici’s breathing.

With a thunderous crash, the guest room’s window frame shattered, walls collapsed, bricks and timber scattered everywhere. “Wah!” came a baby’s cry. Tang Lici reclined on the bed with an outer garment draped over his shoulders, holding Fengfeng. Fengfeng had been frightened by the thunderous sound and was crying loudly, tightly gripping Tang Lici’s shoulder while glaring with tearful yet fierce eyes at the uninvited guest who had burst through the wall.

Liu Yan had smashed through the wall, his face completely expressionless. He walked to Tang Lici’s bedside, raised his palm, and was about to strike both of them into mincemeat with one blow.

“On Cat Sprout Mountain, the taste of the eight hundred and sixty-eighth move—do you still remember?” Tang Lici gently stroked Fengfeng’s head, slowly looking up at Liu Yan. With this upward glance, the hairpin holding up his hair suddenly slipped, and his full head of silver hair cascaded down. Liu Yan’s palm force paused slightly, then he pressed down with increased force. Tang Lici raised his left wrist—the bone-washing silver bracelet made a soft “ding” as it struck squarely against a black jade ring on Liu Yan’s finger. Liu Yan’s killing blow was lightly deflected by Tang Lici. Both their sleeves fluttered—evenly matched.

“You—” Liu Yan’s eyes showed both shock and rage as he said harshly, “Since coming to Shanfeng Hall, you’ve been pretending to be crazy and playing the fool. Your injuries healed long ago, yet you’re still pretending to be ill! You’re good, you’re good… you’re very good!” Tang Lici held Fengfeng with his right hand. While on the bed, his right foot lightly kicked toward a vital point at Liu Yan’s waist, then with a turn he swept out through the wall hole he had broken. Liu Yan was forced back one step. Seeing Tang Lici actually not looking back as he rushed forward, Liu Yan pursued. Both their martial arts were of the same school—specializing in swift, vicious techniques. In the blink of an eye, they had run to who knows where.

The three people fighting outside the door all turned back. The red-clothed woman was surprised that Liu Yan had failed to kill Tang Lici in one strike. Chi Yun wondered where Tang Lici was trying to escape to while holding Fengfeng. Shen Langhun, seeing the two had gone far, suddenly retreated, withdrew, grabbed Chi Yun’s back, and swept toward the wall. The red-clothed woman was caught off guard and called out charmingly, “Where are you going!” Red silk fluttered out, striking directly at Shen Langhun’s back. Though Chi Yun was startled, he was an old hand in jianghu after all. His blade flew toward the red silk, and the two escaped. The red-clothed woman was a step too late and stamped her foot saying “not good.” Seeing the time had arrived, smoke and fire signals lit up in the distance—the pre-arranged attack signal.

Outside the gate, ten thousand snakes stirred, climbing along walls and through window cracks. The red and white-clothed women all drew their weapons and attacked through the gate. Aside from two corpses at the entrance, Shanfeng Hall was completely empty. Not a single Sword Society disciple, cook, or servant remained. Such a large courtyard was truly an empty city. Not only was there no one inside the gate, even Liu Yan was nowhere to be found. White-clothed women ran to Tang Lici’s room where the thunderous sound had come from earlier, only to see bricks and tiles scattered on the ground but no people. Everyone looked at each other, puzzled and confused.

According to the original plan, Fu Cui would lure Shanfeng Hall’s main force into an ambush. After Liu Yan killed Tang Lici, it should be near dawn. At that time, everyone in Shanfeng Hall should be overly tense. If they had eaten, they would certainly be poisoned; if they hadn’t eaten, their strength would certainly be weakened. When the women attacked at dawn when human bodies are most weary, they would surely be able to kill everyone in Shanfeng Hall clean. Yet the attack fireworks had been lit before dawn arrived, and rushing inside the gate revealed not a single person. In this situation, everyone thought: We’ve been tricked.

We’ve been tricked! Fu Cui thought to herself. She had already circled Haoyun Mountain three times and hadn’t found any trace of Shao Yanping. Not only had she not found Shao Yanping’s traces, when she returned to Fengliu Shop’s ambush site, she saw only blood and corpses everywhere. Many red-clothed women were dead or wounded, and most of the rest had fled to who knows where. Whether Shao Yanping was leading her in circles or the Central Plains Sword Society had other ambush troops playing a trick within a trick was unclear. But she hadn’t given up. No matter where that old fox Shao Yanping had circled to, he couldn’t be too far away. Even if Haoyun Mountain was his territory with secret passages and caves, she would eventually discover them.

Once she discovered them, that old fox would surely die.

She kept circling Haoyun Mountain, circling until the tenth round when she finally understood that there really were no secret passages or caves on Haoyun Mountain. Shao Yanping truly wasn’t on this mountain peak. In other words, he had left behind an empty city and escaped to who knows where. If Shao Yanping could escape, even kill her ambush troops and then escape, it showed he had seen through tonight’s mountain attack plan early on. If he had seen through it early, then his panic and confusion at Shanfeng Hall was fake. Since it was fake, there must be an ambush in Shanfeng Hall. Thinking of this, Fu Cui turned back and rushed toward the mountain peak.

The sound of clashing swords continued. Cheng Yunpao and Yu Qifeng had fought to about eight hundred moves. Cheng Yunpao defended strictly, and Yu Qifeng’s repeated strong attacks were all ineffective. Though each strike of “West Wind Cuts Desolate Fire” injured Cheng Yunpao, they were always shallow wounds that couldn’t defeat the enemy. In such combat, Yu Qifeng clearly understood that Cheng Yunpao was leading him away to restrain him, certainly for some plan of Tang Lici’s. Suffering from incomplete recovery of his vital energy, prolonged fighting exhausted his strength, preventing him from executing many powerful moves. He couldn’t help being extremely hateful and angry.

Just as he was furious, Cheng Yunpao’s sword light flowed in sweeps, like cutting a dragon riding waves. After several spins, it struck directly at Yu Qifeng’s blind left eye. Yu Qifeng was enraged and pointed his sword at Cheng Yunpao’s sword-holding right hand. But with a crisp “clang,” his sword tip clearly was about to pierce through his opponent’s right hand, yet somehow struck his sword hilt instead. Cheng Yunpao’s long sword flew from his grip. Yu Qifeng was caught off guard and hurriedly turned his head to dodge. He heard the fierce sword wind bringing a whistling sound into his ears, followed by sharp pain as something hot and wet filled his ear cavity. He touched his ear and found his left ear had been sliced off by Cheng Yunpao’s sword. Having lost one eye, though his martial arts were strong, his vision inevitably had deviations in prolonged combat. Cheng Yunpao had spotted the opportunity and thrown his sword to wound the enemy.

Having lost his left ear, Yu Qifeng became so angry he laughed instead, throwing back his head in hearty laughter. “You’ve lost your sword, and I don’t need a sword to defeat you!” He immediately raised his hand and threw his long sword far into the air, where it fell into grass dozens of zhang away. He pushed out with one palm, palm force enveloping the square inch around Cheng Yunpao. Cheng Yunpao was forced to meet his palm. With a “bang,” Yu Qifeng advanced another step and pushed out a second palm. Cheng Yunpao raised his palm to meet it again—another thunderous sound, and blood appeared at the corner of his mouth. Yu Qifeng laughed harshly and struck out a third palm. But then someone not far away shouted “Thunder Fire Projectile!” and immediately a small object shot over.

Hearing this, Yu Qifeng changed his palm technique. He still had lingering fears about the taste of explosives. Without looking back, he quickly retreated. In his mind, killing Cheng Yunpao was just a matter of time, and Cheng Yunpao’s life naturally wasn’t worth as much as one of his own hairs.

The person in the grass breathed a sigh of relief, clicking his tongue. “Yu Qifeng’s martial arts are truly amazing. If he hadn’t suffered from explosives and continued attacking, I’m afraid we’d both die at his hands.” This person emerging from the grass was naturally Shao Yanping. Cheng Yunpao stood still, regulating his true qi, picked up his long sword, and without mentioning the dangerous battle just now, asked indifferently, “Where’s Dong Hubi?”

Shao Yanping shrank his head. “Once the fighting started, I don’t know where he went. Anyway, we agreed to meet here—he won’t have escaped to the ends of the earth.” Cheng Yunpao sneered. “He abandoned you to deal with Fu Cui and ran away himself?” Shao Yanping laughed dryly. “Hard to say. Anyway, you didn’t see him, and I didn’t see him either. How are your injuries?”

Cheng Yunpao said indifferently, “Nothing serious. What time is it?” Shao Yanping looked around. “About time. Here they come!” He looked east and saw two figures swift as lightning racing toward them. In several leaps, they reached this mountainside. The person in front had robes fluttering in the wind, holding a baby—it was Tang Lici. The person behind had handsome features and wore black clothes.

Cheng Yunpao’s expression changed slightly. This handsome black-clothed man was precisely the black-clothed masked guest who had severely injured him with one string melody in the northern snowy region. Though he didn’t have a pipa in his hands now, it was still shocking to see. Tang Lici ran near and turned back with a smile. Liu Yan followed and stood still, his gaze flowing over the three men’s faces one by one. “Ha!” He laughed coldly, as if he had wanted to say something but ultimately didn’t.

Shao Yanping followed with hearty laughter. “This is called inviting you into the trap.” Cheng Yunpao’s expression was solemn—he intended to recover from that string defeat today. Just as they paused, two more figures rushed over quickly. After standing still, five people completely surrounded Liu Yan in an encircling formation. Liu Yan’s gaze moved around—the people who had arrived from behind were Chi Yun and Shen Langhun. He slowly took out a copper flute from his bosom.

As he took out the copper flute, Cheng Yunpao and the others all became alert, everyone gathering qi and concentrating, highly vigilant. Seeing that copper flute, Tang Lici was slightly shaken. It was a copper flute broken into two pieces and reassembled. The copper flute had delicate, curving vine and flower patterns, and below those patterns was a line of signature. Though Liu Yan held it in his hand so no one else could see, he remembered it clearly—below the patterns was the signature “Lavender,” the combined abbreviation of their four English names. Years ago, this copper flute represented a beautiful period of youth, but now… there was no point in saying more. It was now Liu Yan’s weapon, a thing for killing.

Liu Yan slowly brought the copper flute to his lips. His flute-holding posture was elegant, his snow-white fingers had few wrinkles, pressing on the flute holes truly like white jade. Seeing him raise it thus, Cheng Yunpao swung his long sword, bringing a whistling sound as he slashed toward Liu Yan’s wrist. Shao Yanping didn’t dare be careless—his sword took the middle path, thrusting toward a vital point on Liu Yan’s chest. Shen Langhun flanked while Chi Yun’s “One Ring Crosses Moon” struck, bringing up a sheet of white light. Three people attacking together with stunning power.