Bai Suche looked at him indifferently, her eyes seeming to flash with bright light, yet appearing cold from beginning to end. “I understand.”

Tang Lici smiled. “Very good.” His hand slowly left Bai Suche’s blade. “If I see this kind of thing again next time, I’ll kill whoever I see, leaving no one’s worthless life.”

Bai Suche sheathed her blade. Fu Cui’s expression showed both shock and unwillingness, unable to understand how someone could truly be omniscient and omnipotent to this degree. Tang Lici turned his face, glancing faintly at Fu Cui. “Do you want to die?”

Fu Cui spat out a mouthful of blood. “I’ll fight you to the death!” She leaped up again, attacking Tang Lici with three blades and thirty-three techniques. Tang Lici flicked his sleeve—with a “bang,” Fu Cui flew up from the ground, her back crashing into a large tree as she sprayed fresh blood wildly.

Seeing the situation was bad, Bai Suche shouted clearly, “Retreat!” She and the remaining personnel rapidly withdrew into Wangting Villa. With a “creak,” the villa’s main gate closed tightly, as if that thin layer of wooden boards could truly block the fierce god outside.

Fu Cui continuously spat blood. “You—truly—cough cough cough…”

Tang Lici lowered his sleeve, looking indifferently at Wangting Villa’s tightly closed gate, his expression ice-cold and full of killing intent, yet he stood motionless. Fu Cui laughed while spitting blood. “Haha… cough cough cough… With your abilities, charging in and killing everyone without leaving armor would be no difficult matter, but why don’t you go in? Are you feeling guilty? Hahahaha… You’re afraid. Wangting Villa has hidden dragons and crouching tigers—all kinds of people. You’re afraid…”

Suddenly, a muffled “thump” sounded. Fu Cui’s laughter suddenly stopped, her mouth gaping in a grotesque smile. A long sword shot from behind Tang Lici, piercing through her chest and nailing into the tree behind her.

Blood splattered, falling to the ground like water droplets returning to the sea. Fu Cui’s blood had already pooled in front of her body. While she was laughing strangely and harshly, Tang Lici had moved his right foot, his heel striking a sword hilt, thus killing Fu Cui.

He hadn’t even turned around.

Break in?

Tang Lici looked at Wangting Villa with ice-cold, murderous eyes, standing motionless.

“Young Master Tang.” A woman’s voice came from the woods. “You…” The voice stopped abruptly. Tang Lici turned slightly, catching sight from the corner of his eye of the woman standing in the woods—it was A’Shui.

A ground covered with fresh blood and… corpses.

A’Shui looked at Tang Lici in bewilderment. He stood again among fresh blood and corpses, turning back with eyes like a demon missing its soul, as if he would slaughter the world if he didn’t maintain control.

“Are you… all right?” she asked in a low voice. Perhaps it would be better if she didn’t ask, but she had always been just a puppet, doing what should be done when it should be done. So she asked like a puppet, without the slightest expectation of receiving an answer.

“What are you doing here?” Tang Lici asked softly, his voice gentle and elegant, his tone slightly floating, sounding very gorgeous.

“I came to find you,” she answered woodenly. “Your body hasn’t recovered yet. You haven’t eaten anything today, and you came here alone. Everyone is very worried.”

Tang Lici didn’t answer. His not answering was natural. Young Master Tang—whether the smiling Young Master Tang, the gentle Young Master Tang, the clear-headed Young Master Tang, or the mad Young Master Tang—was always so high above, with most people being like ants in his eyes. He would save when he wanted to save, kill when he wanted to kill, just as with others’ concern—he would acknowledge it when he wanted to, and ignore it when he didn’t.

A’Shui unconsciously sighed. Yu Tuan’er poked her head out from the woods. “Hey! You’re still not dead? How did you kill so many people again?” Lin Bu stood beside Yu Tuan’er, his expression also very concerned.

“What are you doing here?” Tang Lici said slowly. “This place is very dangerous.”

Yu Tuan’er rolled her eyes at him. “Yes, this place is very dangerous. You’re the one who quietly snuck here, making people search everywhere for you! If you weren’t injured, I wouldn’t care about you at all! Strange, weird person—one moment lying in bed unable to get up, the next moment running here to kill people. Monster! Big monster!” She stuck her tongue out at Tang Lici and glared at him, looking very disdainful.

Tang Lici looked at her for quite a while, then suddenly laughed. “Heh…”

Yu Tuan’er asked, “What are you laughing at? What’s so funny?”

Tang Lici reached up to catch his long hair blown by the cold wind. “I haven’t… heard words like that in a long time.” A’Shui looked at him in puzzlement. He leisurely turned and walked back. “Let’s go. It’s very cold.”

Yu Tuan’er and A’Shui looked at each other. This person always liked saying things people couldn’t understand. Tang Lici walked past A’Shui, suddenly reaching out to grasp her wrist and leading her back. A’Shui silently followed him. Being manipulated according to his moods was Tang Lici’s pleasure, and moreover… if she refused to obey, he would seem like he was about to die.

It had been a long time since anyone called him a “monster.” When he was small, because he wasn’t afraid of getting hurt, he was often called a “monster.” Only one person didn’t think he was a monster, helped him when fighting, and accompanied him through very, very long periods of time…

Tang Lici held A’Shui’s wrist, walking ahead with a smile. The little girl who now called him a monster was, in some ways, very similar to the person who had insisted long ago that he wasn’t a monster.

Suddenly, Tang Lici seemed to be in a very good mood. A’Shui tried not to think about his hand holding her wrist. Since he had the ability to charge in and rescue people, why didn’t he leave Chengfeng Town? This was Fengliu Shop’s stronghold—wasn’t it still very dangerous? Just as she was puzzled, she suddenly felt weight on her hand. Tang Lici leaned on her shoulder, and his whole body collapsed.

“Tang…” A’Shui hurriedly supported him, seeing his eyelashes lowered and breathing shallow. She didn’t know if he had fallen asleep or fainted—in any case, his whole body had collapsed.

Yu Tuan’er reached out to help carry him. “What’s wrong?”

A’Shui shook her head. “I don’t know…”

Yu Tuan’er touched Tang Lici’s forehead. “Wow! Very hot.”

A’Shui also felt it. “He’s been running a fever from just now until now, hasn’t he? He vomited so much, hasn’t eaten anything today, and in this cold winter wearing only a single garment, running so far… sigh…” She sighed softly.

Yu Tuan’er carried Tang Lici, walking quickly ahead. “But he really saved many people! Not one villager from Chengfeng Town was killed—they all escaped.”

A’Shui smiled slightly. Yes, he always saved many people, yet everyone always suspected him, feared him, called him a monster—including herself.

After bringing Tang Lici back to the house, his high fever couldn’t subside for a while. A’Shui prepared food, and everyone ate a little, then cooked more rice soup—half for Fengfeng to drink, half to wait for Tang Lici to wake up.

“If those bad people at Wangting Villa knew he had fainted again, they’d definitely come to kill us,” Yu Tuan’er said while poking at vegetables on her plate with chopsticks. “What should we do?”

A’Shui shook her head. “Wangting Villa probably won’t dare come now. If they want to test Young Master Tang’s condition, it probably won’t be until tomorrow, and Young Master Tang will wake up tomorrow.”

Lin Bu interjected, “I have an idea—I don’t know if I should say it.”

A’Shui was slightly startled, then said gently, “Young Master Lin needn’t be so polite with this humble woman. Please speak freely.”

Lin Bu said, “I think Young Master Tang’s staying in Chengfeng Town and not leaving is half because of his severe injuries, and half because he might have plans regarding Wangting Villa. Perhaps he intends to probe Wangting Villa. So regardless of whether Young Master Tang wakes up or not, we still can’t leave here. Maybe we can help Young Master Tang figure out the secrets within Wangting Villa.”