“Are you unharmed?” Shen Langhun breathed a sigh of relief. “Is A’Shui well? I truly didn’t expect she could actually find you in time.”

Tang Lici still wore that brown single robe, his silver-gray long hair hanging behind him uncombed. Hearing this, he frowned, “A’Shui? Where is she?”

Shen Langhun was shocked, “You didn’t come here because you saw her?”

Tang Lici said, “I heard you three came to storm Wangting Manor. I figured Zhu Yan couldn’t possibly travel with you two for long, so I came to see. As expected…”

Shen Langhun’s expression changed, “I don’t know if A’Shui escaped from Yu Konghou’s hands. I told her to go back alone to find you.”

Tang Lici smiled slightly, “No matter. I’ll search this place from top to bottom, from beginning to end, thoroughly. If she’s alive I want to see the person, if she’s dead I want to see the corpse.”

Shen Langhun let out a long breath, his face full of bitter smiles. This person, no matter when, was always like this.

After Yu Qifeng and Qingxuzi had retreated in alarm, the tunnels of Wangting Manor were once again empty. Shen Langhun looked around, “How did you get in?”

Tang Lici pointed behind him, “The garden above Wangting Manor was empty. There’s a layer of thin snow on the ground – some places the snow melted, some places it didn’t. Where the snow melted there should be warm air. I found an entrance, came down, and heard Yu Qifeng’s sword cry.”

Shen Langhun laughed heartily, “If his sword made no sound, wouldn’t my life have been wasted?”

Tang Lici suddenly clasped his hands behind his back with a whoosh, his eyes slightly raised, turned and walked back the way he came, “Let’s go. He’s still inside and can’t escape.”

There wasn’t a single person in the dark tunnel, yet the path ahead seemed filled with the eyes of evil spirits, full of killing intent and malice.

Yu Konghou wasn’t with Yu Qifeng and Qingxuzi now. He slowly searched for A’Shui’s tracks, but what he saw were corpse after corpse.

There were white-robed servants, and also one who specially guarded the passages – a swordsman. Some people had their hearts pierced by a sword, some were struck by deadly poison that sealed their throats upon contact with blood, and the hidden weapons shot out were very strange – they were dice.

The seventh corpse.

Yu Konghou sighed softly. Not far ahead there were very light footsteps – it sounded like a child running forward rapidly. “Guan’er.”

The footsteps suddenly stopped.

Yu Konghou walked over slowly with his hands behind his back. Under the weak lamplight in the passage, not far away was a little girl trembling all over like a mouse – it was Guan’er. He stared at her for quite a while, “You’re truly remarkable.”

“I… I…” Guan’er had already dropped the sword in her hand. She was covered in blood, looking utterly wretched, but she was still alive while those who had blocked her were already dead.

“Dozens of white-robed servants – Shao Yanping let more than half escape, leaving only thirteen. You alone killed six. Even in the battle at Haoyun Mountain, not so many died.” Yu Konghou said gently, “I should have rewarded you originally.”

Guan’er was deathly pale, staggering back several steps, “They wanted to kill me.”

Yu Konghou smiled charmingly, “I know. Little girl, at such a young age you’re not only ruthless but also ungrateful. If not for this, I wouldn’t want to kill you either.” He said softly, “You’re talented, truly talented. At only fourteen, you can kill seven people who are taller, stronger, and even better at martial arts than you. You have natural ability. Unfortunately – very unfortunately – you don’t obey.”

“If… if I obey now, can master spare my life?” Guan’er suddenly fell to her knees, desperately kowtowing, “I don’t want to die. I haven’t found my mother yet. I was wrong, I was possessed by ghosts. Master, please spare me! I’m so scared, don’t kill me.”

Yu Konghou laughed, “I can spare you. What about A’Shui? Where did you take her?”

Guan’er curled up in the corner, her whole body still trembling constantly, “I don’t know. I didn’t see her.”

Yu Konghou snorted, “You really didn’t see her?” He carefully looked at his neatly trimmed fingers, flexed his knuckles, as if thinking about how to strike a palm with more graceful posture.

Guan’er trembled more violently, “I… I saw her run in another direction, but we didn’t go the same way.”

“Bullshit!” Yu Konghou burst out cursing, his voice shaking heaven and earth. Guan’er’s face was deathly pale, but she heard him say gently, “If you hadn’t seen her, if you weren’t traveling together, if you weren’t covering for her, would you need to kill seven people in a row? Are you crazy? Stop talking nonsense. Where did she go?”

Guan’er gritted her teeth, “I don’t know.”

Yu Konghou raised his palm, “Say ‘I don’t know’ one more time and I won’t spare you. Think about it – you’re still so young, so smart and pretty, and so afraid of death… Life still has many possibilities. You haven’t married or had children yet. If you die like this, won’t you feel regret? I’ll ask you one more time – where did she go?”

Instead, Guan’er raised her neck high and shouted loudly, “I don’t know! Even if you kill me, I don’t know!”

“You truly exceed my expectations.” Yu Konghou giggled and shook his head, “Very unfortunate. When I adopted you, if I had discovered you were this kind of seedling, I should have killed you early!” With these words, he struck with his palm. With a “crack,” Guan’er’s brain matter splattered and she died miserably on the spot. Even at death, she still tightly pressed her lips together, truly dying without opening her mouth.

There was actually a little girl in the brothel who showed loyalty to A’Shui – this was truly an inconceivable strange thing. Guan’er’s blood splattered on Yu Konghou’s shoes. He took out an embroidered handkerchief from his bosom and slowly wiped them, methodically and very carefully.

Just as he struck the palm to kill Guan’er, Yu Qifeng and Qingxuzi simultaneously retreated, and Tang Lici broke into the tunnel. Everything seemed to have just begun, but for Guan’er it was already too late.

She never did get to grow up.

Cries and running sounds came from the distant passage. Yu Konghou’s expression suddenly changed, instantly filled with violent and vicious color. Gripping that short sword, he retreated along the path he came.

In the passage, Bai Suche and Yu Qifeng were running rapidly toward him, while Qingxuzi floated over from another corner. Yu Konghou glanced over, “Truly useless.”

Bai Suche’s expression was solemn as she bowed, “Tang Lici came prepared. We are no match for him alone.”

Yu Konghou snorted, “Open the water dungeon and check if anyone passed through the gap.” Bai Suche responded and left.

Yu Konghou’s eyes moved as he looked at Yu Qifeng and Qingxuzi, smiling lightly. This smile made Yu Qifeng and Qingxuzi lower their heads speechlessly. Both were master-level fighters, yet they were so frightened by Tang Lici that they turned and ran.

“Actually, you two could have lasted two hundred moves against Tang Lici…” Yu Konghou said softly, “He’s just recovered from serious injury. Perhaps within those two hundred moves he would exhaust his strength. Perhaps you actually would have won.” He paused and said coldly, “Do you feel any regret now?”

Yu Qifeng kept a gloomy face and said nothing. Qingxuzi wore black gauze over his face so his expression couldn’t be seen, but obviously his complexion wasn’t good either.

Yu Konghou stood in the passage with hands behind his back, Yu Qifeng and Qingxuzi standing on either side. There were no sounds from the dark distance, but everyone knew Tang Lici and Shen Langhun were coming along the path.

Though Tang Lici’s martial arts were strong and Shen Langhun was no weakling either, in terms of strength they definitely couldn’t match Yu Konghou, Yu Qifeng, and Qingxuzi. But Tang Lici had the art of sonic killing – an art that shocked the world, which few could resist. Even Yu Konghou couldn’t handle it.

Yet Yu Konghou didn’t retreat. His reason for not retreating was simple – besides Yu Qifeng and Qingxuzi, there was also Gui Mudan in Wangting Manor. No matter how powerful Tang Lici’s sonic killing art was, he needed leisure time to play. With several masters of superb martial arts, they could absolutely ensure Tang Lici had no time to employ his sonic killing art.

A ball of lamplight lit up in the distance of the long tunnel, then extinguished. Moving forward, another ball of light appeared and extinguished again. Those were the lights from oil lamps embedded on both sides of the tunnel before being blown out. The lamplight was very dim, only making the tunnel seem especially dark. The oil lamps extinguished section by section, as if the long tunnel was shortening section by section.

Tang Lici was coming.

Yu Konghou’s hands behind his back turned leisurely several times, seemingly not caring at all about the thick darkness approaching before him.