A slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. However, sitting beside this unbearable woman, his mood became extraordinarily free, with a wild joy of being able to reveal his true nature without reservation.

He drew “Kill Liu” from A’Shui’s embrace. With this precious blade’s strike, the dark iron net finally showed an extremely fine crack. Tang Lici applied force with his hands, breaking the iron wires one by one, finally dragging the three people out of the dark iron net by dawn. All three were still alive, all unconscious. Tang Lici was in no hurry—as long as this poison wasn’t meant for killing, he didn’t care if the enemy had three more hostages.

When dawn broke and dispelled the shadows in the forest, he saw a white paper nailed to the carriage wall with a throwing dart. Last night the forest had been pitch black with extremely dim firelight—Tang Lici naturally wouldn’t have thought to add charcoal to the campfire himself, so he hadn’t seen that white paper.

But he knew in his heart this must be there. Halfway ambush, setting traps—it was impossible to take people away and ask for nothing, there would definitely be explanatory items left behind. He stood and pulled out the dart. Under the dart was a piece of worn white paper with three characters written on it: “Fire Scale Temple.”

These three characters were extremely ordinary, hardly deserving to be called calligraphy. Tang Lici looked up at the sky, moved the three people into the carriage, cracked his whip, and drove straight back along the main road.

Fire Scale Temple was on a small hillside at this mountain’s pass—a Taoist temple with dim incense offerings.

His navigation skills were exceptional. Though the mountain roads were rugged and uneven, the carriage bumping and swaying, he still reached Fire Scale Temple’s entrance within two incense sticks’ time.

The unremarkable Fire Scale Temple on the hillside had only several small rooms for worshipping patriarchs. Inside was completely silent, the main gate tightly closed, with a white paper pasted on the door: “Stab yourself once to enter this gate.”

Tang Lici drove slowly toward the temple gate. When the horses reached the door, he rolled his whip tip, tearing down that white paper, then with whip and paper together swept and pulled at the door. The temple’s wooden gate crashed open with a thunderous crack, creaking backward. His expression showed little emotion. With a crack of the whip, the carriage with its simple compartment walked step by step into the temple.

That paper reading “Stab yourself once to enter this gate” flew up in the air, then shattered into countless butterflies, scattering in all directions.

Seven or eight young men stood in the temple courtyard. In the morning light, their upright and vigorous postures were full of strength and determination. Two people lay on the ground—one was Se Lin, one was Liu Yan. Both lay on their backs, obviously having their pressure points sealed, motionless. Fengfeng was carefully held in one young man’s arms, quietly watching Tang Lici who had broken through the gate.

Tang Lici stepped down from the carriage one step at a time. The seven or eight young men hadn’t expected him to dare break through the gate and were somewhat stunned, but their swords and blades all unanimously positioned themselves at Se Lin and Liu Yan’s necks. One of them shouted, “Stop! If you take one more step forward, I’ll chop off his head!”

Tang Lici stopped as instructed. Under the morning light, his clothes were spotless, his hair undisturbed—he didn’t look like someone who had traveled in the mountains for many days. Standing thus in the clear morning light, he was like a figure from a painting.

Those seven or eight young men wore identical clothing—all white backgrounds embroidered with fire cloud patterns. Tang Lici’s gaze slowly swept from the first person to the eighth, then he smiled slightly. “Fire Cloud Stronghold?”

The leading young man’s spine was extremely straight, his expression frosty as he said coldly, “So you still remember Fire Cloud Stronghold?”

“I remember.” He answered softly, though he had never truly set foot on Plum Blossom Mountain, never seen Fire Cloud Stronghold’s prosperous period with his own eyes, and would never have connection with Plum Blossom Mountain for the rest of his life.

“The Stronghold Master’s life! Brother Xuanyuan’s life! And thirty-three lives of our Fire Cloud brothers—today we demand you pay with your life!” The young man said fiercely, “You sinister, despicable poisonous dog! Spy of Fengliu Shop! Clear skies and bright days cannot tolerate you! I, Chi Xin, even more cannot tolerate you!”

Tang Lici stared at him. The young man was tall, holding not an ordinary sword or blade, but a throwing knife one foot, three inches, and three parts long. “What relation are you to Chi Yun?” he asked slowly, his tone neither hurried nor slow, without sorrow or joy.

Chi Xin sneered, “The Stronghold Master is my sworn brother. My name was given by the Stronghold Master, my martial arts were personally taught by the Stronghold Master. The Stronghold Master roamed the jianghu and saved countless people. You—you ungrateful, despicable, shameless poisonous dog—” He roared with overwhelming grief and anger, “How could you bring yourself to kill him? To help you, he left Fire Cloud Stronghold alone, yet you set a poisonous trap to kill him! How could you bring yourself to do it? How could you bring yourself to do it?”

How could you bring yourself to do it? Tang Lici stared at this young man. The youth was only sixteen or seventeen, tall in stature but still childish in appearance. The group of young men beside him all seemed similar in age. After watching for a while, he slightly moved his lips. “Who told you to set an ambush here to intercept me?”

He actually completely ignored Chi Xin’s questioning just now. Chi Xin was extremely furious. “Tang Lici! Your hands are bloody and you bully people too much!” He raised the throwing knife in his hand, striking down toward Se Lin. “From now on, you’ll do whatever I tell you to do. Disobey once, and I’ll cut her once!” Having spent years at Fire Cloud Stronghold, his skills were not lacking. With a swish, the throwing knife carried wind sounds, striking down straight.

With a crisp “clang,” the throwing knife, just as it touched Se Lin’s clothing, suddenly broke in half. Half the knife rebounded and shot back, grazing past Chi Xin’s forehead, leaving a bloody mark. Chi Xin was instantly stunned, seeing something fall into the folds of Se Lin’s clothing—a smooth, gentle pearl.

The person across who had broken the throwing knife with a pearl coughed lightly, swayed slightly, raised his sleeve to slowly wipe blood from his lips, and said, “Who told you to set an ambush here to intercept me?”

Chi Xin and the others looked at each other, all showing some terror. A young man with a long sword at Liu Yan’s neck gritted his teeth, applied force to his sword, about to kill him immediately. Unexpectedly, as soon as his wrist exerted force, his fingers and long sword broke with a “clang,” half the blade rebounding upward, grazing his neck and opening a shallow bloody mark.

Another pearl fell to the ground, clean as before, completely undamaged. The person across slowly asked, “Who—told you to set an ambush here to intercept me?”

Chi Xin reached to press the second throwing knife at his waist, but his fingers began to tremble—this person’s abilities were far beyond their plans. His group’s skills were like clowns in this person’s eyes. He began to realize that if Tang Lici hadn’t shown mercy, with just the pearls in his hands he could kill them all cleanly, leaving none. “You—”

“Who. Told. You. To. Set. An. Ambush. Here. To. Intercept. Me?” His tone was low and gentle, somewhat weak, but asking word by word like this, Chi Xin couldn’t help blurting out, “It was… a letter issued by the Sword Assembly, saying you were heading to Mount Song, so we…”

Tang Lici looked at him blandly and extended his hand. “Return the child.”

The young man holding the child looked at him in terror, his whole body suddenly shaking violently.

Tang Lici closed his eyes slightly, then opened them, saying with great patience, “Return her.”

That person, after being looked at this way, suddenly handed Fengfeng back to him as if he’d seen a ghost. Several young men who had held swords and blades to Se Lin and Liu Yan also withdrew their weapons, all with faces like death—this person was so formidable, like a ghost. They didn’t know how he would treat them.

Tang Lici embraced Fengfeng. Fengfeng gripped his clothes tightly with both hands, eyes wide open but not crying, just pressing her chin against his shoulder, holding very tight. He held Fengfeng, still extending his hand to Chi Xin. “Antidote.”

Chi Xin’s lips began to tremble. “I won’t give you the antidote.” He had gone behind the two Stronghold Masters’ backs, bringing several brothers down the mountain to seek revenge. He had hated Tang Lici for so long—how could he just inexplicably suffer complete defeat?

Tang Lici coughed again, paused, then said, “If Chi Yun knew about today’s events from underground, he would surely feel ashamed.” He looked blandly at this group of young men. “Do you hope Fire Cloud Stronghold will be proud of you, or ashamed of you? I killed Chi Yun, but using such methods to harm innocents—is this Fire Cloud Stronghold’s usual carefree jianghu way?”

His voice was low, gentle, and peaceful, not loud, not even containing much emotion—neither heartbroken nor frustrated at their failure to meet expectations, just wearily repeating well-known common sense, utterly tasteless.

Chi Xin was stunned for quite a while. Several people lowered their swords and blades. One suddenly called out, “Big Brother!” Chi Xin waved his hand, took out a small bottle from his bosom, threw it to Tang Lici with a gloomy face. “Catch.”

Tang Lici caught the antidote, first placed Fengfeng in the carriage, then picked up Se Lin and Liu Yan one in each hand, sending them to the carriage. After Chi Xin handed over the antidote, in his eyes these few people seemed to no longer exist.

Chi Xin and the others stood to one side in a daze, watching him about to drive away. Mysteriously, Chi Xin called out, “Wait!” He looked strangely at Tang Lici. “You… you’re just… letting us go like this?”

Tang Lici mounted the carriage, turned the horse’s head, didn’t answer his question. He didn’t immediately leave but slightly raised his head, looking at the vast colors of the deep mountain forests in the morning light, suddenly saying, “You asked me how I could bring myself to do it?”

Chi Xin was stunned, hearing him say very blandly, “Because I’d rather have all under heaven hate me than have all under heaven hate him.” He said faintly, “Go back.”

Horse hooves sounded. That simple carriage quickly went into the mountains. Chi Xin stood in the temple courtyard looking at each other with several brothers. After being dazed for quite a while, suddenly he beckoned and said in a low voice, “We… follow.”

Tang Lici drove away, returned to last night’s campfire to rest briefly, gave everyone the antidote, and released their sealed pressure points. Several people had all been poisoned. After taking the antidote, they didn’t wake immediately. He held Fengfeng, sitting quietly in the carriage, one hand tucked in his sleeve, motionless.

Fengfeng held him tightly, also making no sound.

After a while, Tang Lici’s fingers holding him moved slightly, gently stroking his back. With a “wah,” Fengfeng suddenly turned and began crying loudly, hugging him tightly, looking at Tang Lici with wet, pitiful eyes, crying with gasping sobs as if suffering great grievances.

The corner of his mouth moved slightly, as if wanting to smile faintly, but ultimately didn’t smile. Fengfeng’s tears smeared his cheeks and chest in chaos. He didn’t move, so the little baby became even bolder, biting down hard on his motionless right hand, then crying even louder, as if he himself had been bitten.

He raised his right hand, using both hands to lift Fengfeng up, holding him properly in his arms. The little thing crying hoarsely seemed somewhat satisfied, his voice becoming smaller, nuzzling around in his embrace, preparing a sleeping position, wanting everything to be exactly like before. Tang Lici held him, still somewhat stiff at first, but finally slowly relaxed his body, quietly holding Fengfeng, like before.

After all the twists and turns, only this little thing in his arms still hoped to be with him exactly like before. He closed his eyes, quietly listening to changes around him. No one knew—just now he only had those two pearls in his sleeve.

Where had the other pearls been lost and when? He had no idea at all.

Fengfeng had already fallen asleep in his arms with tears still on his face. He listened to many people’s breathing in the carriage. Many things rooted in his heart became ethereal. A strange clarity swept over him. Some burdens had rotted so much that he could no longer carry them. What he could carry now was only the life and death of these few people beside him.

He had never cared about the life and death of a few people, or hundreds of people. Anyway, these people were already dead. Anyway, with just his smile or offering a priceless treasure, more people would follow him. What was there to regret? Why care?

But… perhaps it wasn’t like that at all.

He was already too weary to think about how to control and torment. Now the only thing he could do was protect.

There was some sound nearby. Tang Lici looked up and surprisingly saw A’Shui was the first to wake. She opened her eyes slightly, then got up, not even having the thought of resting briefly. After sitting up, she briefly held her forehead, raised her head, and saw Tang Lici looking at her.

He only looked that once before turning his head away. She sighed softly, helped Yu Tuan’er and the driver beside her into proper positions, got up to check on Liu Yan and Se Lin. For some reason, the poison in her body had retreated quite quickly, while the other four remained unconscious. Looking at Fengfeng in Tang Lici’s arms, she lifted the carriage curtain, got out to rekindle last night’s remaining campfire, then put on the iron pot and began boiling water.

He watched her laborious busyness through the lifted curtain, watched her stagger to the stream to fetch water, watched her struggle to drag that heavy iron pot. She didn’t complain, and he didn’t help, but the campfire still slowly burned, and the water in the pot still gradually boiled.

“Mm…” Liu Yan in the carriage struggled to sit up, holding his forehead, his expression still confused. Tang Lici instinctively smiled slightly, but Liu Yan didn’t see it. When he raised his head, Tang Lici’s smile had long since disappeared without a trace. Liu Yan rarely saw his completely expressionless face. Seeing Fengfeng in his arms, he was naturally surprised but didn’t know what to say to him. Yu Tuan’er let out a long breath, suddenly sat up, cried out in dizziness, and was about to fall again. Liu Yan quickly supported her. Yu Tuan’er blinked. Though the dizziness hadn’t faded, she asked, “Did you rescue us and bring us back?”

Tang Lici didn’t answer, didn’t move. If it were normal times, he would surely smile slightly, pretending that saving people was just an effortless favor, but now he neither spoke nor moved. Yu Tuan’er was baffled. Seeing Se Lin and Uncle Ma still unconscious, she was startled and quickly went to feel what was wrong with them. After feeling around, Se Lin’s delicate constitution had never suffered such hardship—she had developed a high fever. The driver Uncle Ma was just sleeping.

“A’Li…” Liu Yan hesitated about how to speak to him. Since their reunion after chatting about past events, he absolutely refused to mention that night, then spoke less and less, somehow becoming like this. “You saved us… thank you…” He somehow blurted out this sentence.

Tang Lici looked at him once and nodded. Liu Yan felt even more strange but couldn’t say anything more. Yu Tuan’er looked at him strangely. “Why aren’t you talking? Is your voice broken? Are you mute?” Tang Lici ignored her. Looking at Se Lin once, he took out a pale green porcelain bottle from his bosom, pulled out the cork. Inside was only one pill, purple-black in color, with a strange smell.

Someone outside the carriage lightly knocked three times. Liu Yan looked up to see A’Shui, pale-faced with slightly reddened cheeks, but smiling as she carried over a tea tray with two cups of clear tea. “Everyone was frightened. Please drink some hot tea.”

Tang Lici gently placed Fengfeng on the cushion, helped Se Lin up, and took the clear tea to let Se Lin swallow that pill. But Liu Yan grabbed A’Shui’s hand and cried out, “Why are you still making tea? Don’t you know you’re sick?” The hand carrying tea was burning hot, its temperature even higher than Se Lin’s. Yu Tuan’er was startled, quickly crawled up to support her. A’Shui was mentally clear, smiling shallowly. “It’s nothing…”

“Come back and rest!” Liu Yan said sternly. “Don’t mess with those things anymore, come back!” He pulled her into the carriage, struggling to crawl up himself. “I’ll do the chores, you lie down!” A’Shui was somewhat flustered, glanced at Tang Lici who was holding Se Lin, bit her lip slightly, and obediently sat in a corner of the carriage, trying to stay as far from Tang Lici as possible, taking Fengfeng into her arms and sitting quietly.

She didn’t sleep and didn’t want to sleep.

Uncle Ma was finally awakened by Liu Yan’s voice. He quickly got out of the carriage to help with lighting fires and preparing food and water. Yu Tuan’er had already jumped out, arguing with Liu Yan about something. Only Tang Lici and Se Lin, A’Shui and Fengfeng remained in the carriage.

She sat quietly. Se Lin somewhat regained consciousness, discovered herself in Tang Lici’s arms, raised herself to give him a kiss, then went back to sleep. She saw this but acted as if she hadn’t seen it.

There was a silence in the carriage. Her chest ached, her whole body was cold, but she couldn’t fall asleep. Before long, her whole body began trembling slightly. Fengfeng woke up, opened his eyes and stared at her, seeming not to understand why she was shaking. She smiled and gently caressed his tender cheek.

A hand suddenly reached over. Her whole body tensed, instinctively backing away. She dodged so violently that her back even shook the carriage—that hand had originally meant to press her forehead but only caught her hand.

Then he pressed her pulse point. She heard him cough once, and a gentle warmth passed through the pulse point, quickly warming her whole body. Her chest seemed less painful, and her body stopped shaking. She caught her breath, regained some strength, and said softly, “A’Shui is merely a servant, really doesn’t need Young Master Tang to exert such effort…”

“Aren’t you afraid of death?” he said faintly.

She closed her mouth, her pressed lips showing slight traces of endurance.

“Fengfeng is still small.”

He said it so simply, as if there had never been any connection between them, and his healing her was entirely out of righteousness. In a trance, she almost forgot how he had carelessly thrown her out to die, and how she had willingly gone to her death… So she smiled shallowly. “In that case… A’Shui thanks Young Master Tang for his life-saving grace…”

Tang Lici finally raised his head to look at her once more.

She said, “I will surely repay this with a spring of gratitude.”

He suddenly coughed lightly. The transmitted warmth became slightly unstable, causing her chest to ache. She frowned slightly, sighed softly, and said in a low voice, “Tying grass rings, going through fire and water, spare no effort… is that enough?” She looked at Tang Lici and asked quietly, “Is that enough?”

He made no sound at all, didn’t answer a single word.