A’Shui knew he was going to fight desperately to cover her retreat. Her delicate cheeks turned deathly pale. She handed the “Kill Willow” she gripped tightly to Shen Langhun and bit her teeth, “I’ll leave immediately! I… I will definitely save you!” With these words, she turned and fled wildly, disappearing into the dark passage.

Yu Konghou was unconcerned. Wangting Manor, above and below ground, was all his domain, all within his grasp. A’Shui knew no martial arts – no matter where she ran, he was confident he could capture her. Before him, Shen Langhun held “Kill Willow” in his left hand and a short blade in his right, murderously blocking his path. He smiled charmingly, “Qingxuzi, Yu Qifeng, within thirty moves, I want Shen Langhun captured.”

The masked man in black moved slightly. Yu Qifeng changed to a different sword – a strange sword with a blade black as ink. The two slowly stepped forward. Yu Konghou leisurely circled around Shen Langhun. Shen Langhun roared and thrust out his short blade. In an instant, the black-clothed man’s palm had struck his shoulder. Shen Langhun sank his shoulder to dodge while Yu Qifeng’s long sword thrust forward. Strong winds suddenly arose in the tunnel. Shen Langhun had no choice but to withdraw his short blade and become entangled in combat with the two men.

Yu Konghou still leisurely circled around Shen Langhun and disappeared into the passage. At this moment, his delighted mood was like a cat catching a mouse, anticipating that the mouse would provide him with some fresh amusement.

A’Shui ran wildly along the tunnel. The passages here were exactly the same as those at Haoyun Mountain. The brothel actually had no talent for mechanism design – all the ingenious designs were plagiarized from the secret manuals of the City-Breaking Strange Guest, and the City-Breaking Strange Guest had long been killed by Kuanglan Wuxing, making it impossible to modify these mechanisms. She quickly passed through several doors, fleeing toward that dark and terrifying water dungeon. She had to be fast – she must get Tang Lici to come save him before Shen Langhun died in battle! She had to save him! She couldn’t let Shen Langhun die here again! Absolutely not…

Soon there were people moving in all directions through the passages. She knew Yu Konghou had issued orders to hunt her down. Kuanglan Wuxing had gone somewhere unknown – perhaps he had already taken Xue Tao away, but he completely disregarded her and Shen Langhun’s safety. To Kuanglan Wuxing, only Xue Tao mattered in this world. Other people’s lives were like ants – he didn’t care at all. She wasn’t disappointed in Kuanglan Wuxing. Perhaps there were one or two such men in the world whose eyes held nothing but the vast sky and stars, and only one person? For Xue Tao, how fortunate, but for others, how unfortunate.

Footsteps came from a section of the tunnel. She held her rapid breathing and hid behind a door. Two white-robed servants rushed past through the passage, all heading to the exit leading to the garden to look for her. She quietly counted the sound of wind, stood up, and continued running toward the depths below.

“She’s here!” Someone suddenly emerged from one side of the passage, reaching for her swift as the wind. A’Shui was startled. Someone behind her pulled her back. With a clang of metal against metal, the person behind her shouted delicately, “Seeking death!” A sword pierced through that person’s chest. The person screamed miserably. Only then did A’Shui see clearly it was a swordsman guarding the passage. The person who had saved her life pulled her hand and swept forward – small in stature but ruthless in action, it was Guan’er.

“Why didn’t you leave?” A’Shui asked in a low voice. Guan’er bit her bright, lovely lower lip tightly, “My… my mother actually died long ago, when I was born. I just… I just kept imagining she was still alive, imagining that if I could find her, someone would care about me and take care of me, but…” She suddenly began crying, “But she died long ago. I’ve always been a bad child, but no matter how many people I kill, my master doesn’t care about me. He could kill me at any time. Only Sister A’Shui loves me. I don’t want you to die here.” She ran while crying, “I actually could have escaped long ago, but I didn’t know what to do after escaping, so I never dared to escape…”

“Silly child!” A’Shui gripped her hand tightly, “Don’t cry. When you grow up, when you learn to cherish yourself, someone will definitely care about you. You’ll marry, have children, you’ll grow up. When you think of these things again, you won’t feel hurt anymore.”

Guan’er cried, “How can I grow up?” A’Shui’s eyes filled with tears, “Escape with me. As long as you get out, as long as you stop killing people and become a good child, you’ll grow up.”

The two turned onto the path leading to the water dungeon. Guan’er wiped her tears, “Sister A’Shui, if you want to save Shen Langhun, go quickly. I… I still have something to get.”

A’Shui turned back, saying tremblingly, “You—”

Guan’er’s face was covered with tear tracks as she cried, “Go quickly! Aren’t you afraid he’ll die soon? You want to save him, don’t you? Go quickly!”

A’Shui’s whole body trembled, “You… after you get your things, you must catch up!”

Guan’er nodded forcefully, gripping the sword in her hand tightly.

A’Shui’s figure disappeared through the copper door of the water dungeon. Guan’er locked the copper lock, restoring everything to look as if no one had been there, then ran down another path.

There was nothing she actually needed to get. It was just… for one person to leave safely, another person had to stay behind. They both understood this clearly in their hearts, but whether it was the one determined to die or the one resolutely leaving, they both possessed courage beyond ordinary people, even though everything was so heavy – so heavy that these two fragile women shouldn’t have to bear it.

Guan’er covered her face and ran wildly down another path. Suddenly figures flashed before her – two white-robed servants pursuing along the road, shouting, “Little girl! You killed the Daoist just now, didn’t you?”

Guan’er looked up, “I didn’t!” The white-robed woman sneered, “Your sword still has blood traces on it. Little girl, master raised you for several years, never expecting to raise an ungrateful cur! Where did A’Shui go?”

Guan’er screamed, “I don’t know!” With a swish of her sword, the white-robed woman drew her blade and stabbed at her, “I’ll hack you ten or eight times and see if you’ll talk!”

A’Shui jumped down into the pitch-black water dungeon. The heavy door closed behind her. Unknown creatures swam in the water, making splashing sounds. Everything was so familiar and terrifying. Her heart beat wildly. She reached down into the water to grope around, gradually finding a small cavity. Gritting her teeth, she squeezed through toward that opening.

Beyond the cavity was complete blackness. All around were damp, cold rock walls. She didn’t know if there was a way out ahead and could only struggle forward. Water flowed toward her from ahead, constantly choking into her mouth and nose. She coughed while crawling. The surroundings were extremely narrow – lifting her head would hit the stone wall, as if she might suffocate to death in this desperate passage at any moment.

But she had to struggle forward. Shen Langhun couldn’t hold out much longer. Guan’er was in danger at any time. And she had heard… heard that a woman with mobility problems had once walked this path to escape hell, proving that this path shouldn’t be considered difficult for her with her intact limbs.

She had to go faster, faster, faster!

It seemed she had only crawled for a short time, yet she didn’t know how much time had actually passed. Light suddenly appeared ahead. A’Shui had no idea how she had crawled out of that stream’s cave, but she quickly emerged. Outside, the cold wind was bone-piercing. A very thin layer of ice had formed on this stream. Light snow fell from the night sky. A’Shui struggled to her feet in a wretched state. This place was actually not far from their lodgings in Chengfeng Town! Just as she was delighted, she suddenly saw a person lying on the muddy, snow-mixed ground not far from her. She staggered toward the house, and when passing by that person, she still glanced over – with just this one glance, she was suddenly stunned!