“Oh, you don’t know where Yu the Sword King hides his medicine?” Tang Lici released Hua Wuyan’s fingers one by one. “The medicine is hidden somewhere, and only Miss Hong knows where? Then please trouble you to lead the way—I wish to meet Miss Hong face to face.” His words carried a smile, his expression gentle. Hua Wuyan also wore a smiling face, except Tang Lici’s five fingernails had deeply embedded into Hua Wuyan’s neck, leaving five wounds that seeped blood slightly. Hua Wuyan was a master of poison usage and naturally knew that Tang Lici’s fingers carried poison. Though this poison wasn’t a deadly one, it was still troublesome, and moreover, with injuries on his body, many toxins and poisonous powders that could be dispersed through the air were unusable. He believed this was Tang Lici’s true intention in leaving five bloody marks on his neck.
The fingers carried poison—they were naturally poisonous.
Not intentionally applied.
“Miss Hong lives in the dark red tower. If she doesn’t choose to come out herself, no one can see her.” Hua Wuyan sighed. “If you and I force our way in, she’ll pull the alarm bell in the tower, and Yu Qifeng will immediately know you’ve arrived. Though there aren’t many masters in the sword manor, once word gets out, your investigation into the pills will become far more difficult. Someone as intelligent as Young Master Tang surely understands this, don’t you?”
Tang Lici smiled slightly. “I wouldn’t dare to be presumptuous with a beauty. Since we crude men shouldn’t enter her door, we can only wait for Miss Hong to come out herself.” He looked at Hua Wuyan leisurely. “I don’t wish to disturb the Sword King’s reception of guests, nor do I have time to wait for a beauty’s favor. If Miss Hong doesn’t come out to see me in a moment, I’ll twist your neck. How does that sound?”
“This…” Hua Wuyan smiled. “This naturally wouldn’t be good, but even if you twist my neck, she still won’t come out.”
“Then it’s simple.” Tang Lici’s hand had already reached Hua Wuyan’s neck like a ghost. He felt severe pain in his neck, letting out a “click” sound, and closed his eyes. Just as he thought death was certain, a warm breath hit his face. Opening his eyes, he saw Tang Lici had gently blown a breath at him, sighing softly: “Someone like you actually doesn’t dare fight for survival. Could the secrets behind you really be that terrifying?”
Hua Wuyan gazed at that beautiful face. His neck still ached terribly—Tang Lici’s grip hadn’t loosened at all. Yet that lovely face smiled, eyes intoxicated like waves, carrying an enchanting allure that stirred the heart and soul. He couldn’t help but lean back, not answering Tang Lici’s question. Tang Lici didn’t ask again either. The two remained in this standoff for a while, when suddenly Tang Lici smiled gently and softly blew another warm breath onto Hua Wuyan’s lips.
What was he… doing? Hua Wuyan could only hear his own heart pounding. For an instant his mind went completely blank, then he saw Tang Lici release him and wave his sleeves. “You may go.”
Given his nature, he would normally have smiled and departed, but Hua Wuyan stood there stunned for a moment, then slowly left with a belly full of doubts and complete bewilderment.
Tang Lici—besides being scheming beyond measure and ruthlessly cruel—was truly a… very strange person.
After Hua Wuyan departed, Tang Lici smiled and looked around contentedly. Seeing a dark red tower not far away, he walked toward it with calm steps. After barely thirty steps, the breathing sounds around him suddenly increased, clearly indicating many hidden watchers. He paid no mind, walking gracefully to the tower entrance, when he suddenly noticed a white figure sleeping in the flower clusters, with snow-white hair, and couldn’t help but smile slightly.
“Ah, you came so quickly.” The person lying among the white butterfly flowers sighed and continued sleeping with closed eyes.
Tang Lici paid no attention, raising his head to see a slender figure flash briefly atop the dark red tower before disappearing. He bowed toward the upper floor, walked to the tower entrance, pushed open the great door, and simply walked in. However, no alarm bell rang. As he stepped onto the stairs leading to the second floor, a quietly dressed woman in white stood at the stairway entrance. This person was elegantly refined like a fairy, her eyebrows seemingly furrowed with worry. Even before seeing her full appearance, a thread of languid melancholy had already drifted over.
Like orchids.
Like weeping.
“Miss Hong?” Tang Lici’s footsteps didn’t pause as he climbed, ascending slowly. Cool breezes flowed through the tower, and he smiled as if riding those breezes.
Miss Hong nodded, her distant mountain-like long eyebrows furrowing deeper. “Who are you?”
“I am Tang Lici.” He smiled, having reached the last step but didn’t continue up, standing on the step before Miss Hong, slightly shorter than her as he looked up. His eyebrows were level with her eyes.
“You are Tang Weiqian’s sworn son, Consort Yun’s sworn brother, the master of ‘Wanqiao Studio’?” Miss Hong asked in a low voice. Though her name wasn’t known in the martial world, she seemed quite familiar with various people’s backgrounds and experiences.
“Correct.” Tang Lici stood in the downwind position as Miss Hong’s subtle fragrance drifted past his nose. “Tang has traveled from afar, having heard rumors that the recently circulated Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills in the martial world originated from the Yu family’s sword manor.”
“What Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills? I’ve never heard of such things.” Miss Hong said indifferently. “Young Master Tang holds a noble position—how could you challenge Yu the Sword King over hearsay?” Her delicate figure stood motionless at the stairway entrance. “Please return.”
Tang Lici looked Miss Hong up and down, smiling slightly. “Miss doesn’t know martial arts.”
Miss Hong nodded and smiled faintly. “However, I have hundreds of methods to make you die here.”
“Miss excels at mechanisms and hidden weapons.” Tang Lici smiled.
Miss Hong didn’t deny it, her gaze roaming over Tang Lici. “You have an abdominal injury.”
“Correct.” Tang Lici still smiled.
“Your purpose in coming to the Yu family sword manor isn’t for the Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills, but for something else.” Miss Hong spoke word by word.
“Also correct.”
“Can you tell me what purpose made you spend fifty thousand taels of gold to buy Shen Langhun, and even risk coming here personally?” She looked at Tang Lici. This person stood below her, and though she controlled seventy-one hidden weapons in the tower, weighing the situation, it seemed not one could be launched.
Tang Lici elegantly arranged his sleeves. “How about we exchange conditions? I’ll tell you the truth, and you tell me the truth.”
“Conditions? You want to negotiate conditions with me?” Miss Hong’s delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly.
“Is there no one in the world who has ever negotiated conditions with Miss?” He smiled warmly. “Miss is well-informed and extremely intelligent. I’ll give you what you want, you give me what I want. We each get what we need without hurting our harmony—wouldn’t that be excellent?”
“Besides the pills, what do you really want to know?” She stared intently at Tang Lici. “You’re a very strange person—what do you really want?”
“I want the whereabouts of two people, and the answer to one question.” Tang Lici said patiently.
“Two people? Which two people?” she pressed.
Tang Lici smiled without answering.
“What about the answer to that question? What do you want to ask?”
“I want to ask someone: If I died, would you shed tears for me?” Tang Lici said gently, then sighed softly.
Miss Hong was slightly stunned. “The people you’re looking for are related to the pills?”
“Perhaps related, perhaps not,” Tang Lici still spoke gently. “That is my purpose.”
“Your purpose is really so simple?” Miss Hong’s sleeves fluttered. “Tell me who you’re looking for and what relationship they have with you, and I might consider telling you where the pills are.”
“How about this?” Tang Lici smiled. “Asking about others’ relationships with me is nothing more than wanting to know my weaknesses. Why don’t I tell you my weakness, and you tell me where the pills are—moreover, I can tell you my weakness first. Very favorable terms. Will Miss accept?”
“Oh? I can agree to that.” Miss Hong said indifferently. “You speak first. After hearing it, I might turn hostile and refuse to acknowledge the deal.”
Tang Lici smiled. “My weakness… hmm, I have injuries, and though Miss doesn’t understand martial arts, you perhaps excel in medicine and can see the injuries on my body. Though my martial arts are high and my internal energy deep, I cannot fight with others too long, or my injuries will flare up—one corpse, two lives.”
Miss Hong’s delicate eyebrows furrowed. “You’re not a pregnant woman—what do you mean ‘one corpse, two lives’?”
Tang Lici still smiled without answering. Miss Hong paused slightly. “Since you’ve candidly revealed your weakness, the pills’ location isn’t particularly important. It’s fine to tell you, but you must answer the previous question.” She was obviously very curious now, looking Tang Lici up and down. “The Yu family sword manor’s pills are buried beneath that patch of white butterfly flowers outside the door. If you dig in the soil, you’ll naturally see them.”
“Miss keeps her promises—truly trustworthy.” Tang Lici smiled. “Tang takes his leave now.” He turned leisurely and descended the steps. Miss Hong was startled. “Wait! That question from before…”
“Oh…” Tang Lici turned back with a smile. “Did I promise to answer just now?”
“You—” Miss Hong sighed quietly. “You’re truly cunning. However, though I’ve told you where the medicine is hidden, you may not necessarily get what you want. Since you captured Hua Wuyan alive, why didn’t you kill him?” She held a white silk cloth in her hand with something unknown wrapped inside, waving it toward the window. “With Hua Wuyan alive, heavy troops are already positioned outside the white butterfly flowers. Since Chi Yun and Shen Langhun aren’t here, they must be restraining Yu Qifeng. With only you alone, can you break through my Fengliu Shop’s Thirty-Three Assassins Formation? Truthfully, I hope you can.”
“Who should be worried? What are Yu the Sword King’s chances against Chi Yun and Shen Langhun?” Tang Lici said mildly. “Isn’t Miss Hong concerned?”
Miss Hong stood gracefully like jade at the stairway entrance, lowering her gaze and saying indifferently, “On the road to the Yellow Springs, having him accompany you—wouldn’t that be good?”
“Mm, a good companion.” Tang Lici had already stepped out of the tower door, pulling it shut gently behind him. “A lady’s private chambers should avoid bloodshed.”
Outside the tower, flowers and grass flourished luxuriantly, white butterflies bloomed everywhere in dancing profusion. Xue Xianzi still slept in the grass, several dragonflies flew about—a scene of complete tranquility with no visible signs of murderous intent. Tang Lici picked up the flower hoe Xue Xianzi had kicked away earlier and truly struck the soil with it.
Tang Lici—unfathomably profound.
Miss Hong stood behind the second-floor window silently observing the changing situation. If this person wasn’t eliminated, they might capsize in the gutter at the hands of this world’s richest man. He insisted on wanting those pills—what exactly did he want? No… he didn’t want those pills. What he wanted was “the location where the medicine is hidden”—what was he trying to prove?
What exactly was he trying to prove? What he said about wanting two people’s whereabouts and asking someone a question—was that true or false?
And also… this so-called “one corpse, two lives”… She leaned against the tower windowsill, watching intently as that person headed toward the white butterfly flowers. A person like this, half-real and half-false—she didn’t know why, but she believed everything he’d just said was true. But what kind of person could make Tang Lici search so persistently, and what kind of person could make him say words like “If I died, would you shed tears for me?”
Unexpectedly, she gently rubbed the half-section of short flute in her sleeve, thinking of someone—that person bent over the table playing qin and singing aloud. Though his qin skills weren’t excellent, he played so freely and desperately, as if… in this mundane world, only he remained, with his solitary inappropriateness and his solitary heartbreak.
Tang Lici struck the flower cluster with one hoe stroke. Xue Xianzi sat up with an “aiya,” but before he could speak, several extremely subtle string sounds were heard. He cried “aiya” again and fell back down. Tang Lici flicked his robes, and four hidden weapons from his sleeves quietly fell to the ground. He held the flower hoe, smiling as he faced the masked figures in azure who slowly emerged from all around.
Thirty-three of them, each holding a short flute.
Revealing that the pills were buried here was actually also to surround and kill Tang Lici, wasn’t it? He leaned on the flower hoe, standing outside the thirty-three assassins formation. The person casually leaning against the bamboo pavilion plucking grass was precisely Hua Wuyan, whom he’d released earlier. Seeing his gaze, Hua Wuyan smiled in return.
What kind of person could make Hua Wuyan prefer death over betrayal—and possess such courage that after being frightened, he could lead troops back and in moments become calm and composed again… Tang Lici’s eyes took on a deep, contemplative cast. The master of the Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills, the manipulator of Fengliu Shop—this was a formidable figure not to be underestimated.