On the round table before Miss Hong sat a clay model of Qihun Mountain’s topography and terrain, crafted with exquisite detail, complete with every peak, ridge, and valley. She stared intently at the mountain’s formation, her mind racing with countless calculations, wondering where the person who had sent this clay mountain model was now and what exactly they were doing.

As she pondered, Bi Lianyi entered the tent, bringing her a plate of pastries.

It was a serving of pale green mung bean cakes. Miss Hong picked one up and held it in her hand. The pastries were very fresh. She stared at the pastry and said, “You say Piapling Mei Garden has sunk underground—where do their provisions come from?”

Bi Lianyi frowned slightly. “Brother Meng and Brother Gu have been working on this matter, but after investigating for over a month, they still haven’t found anyone transporting food and water into Piapling Mei Garden.”

“Water…” Miss Hong said. “There are underground rivers within Qihun Mountain, but as for food—could they have hidden it in the mountain beforehand? Qihun Mountain is so vast. If they had hidden food early on, how much could they have concealed? We are in the open while transporting provisions through the mountain forests is also difficult. If we try to wear them down by waiting comfortably, we might not gain the upper hand.” She shook her head. “We cannot wait. If we wait any longer, the Sword Society will collapse first.”

“But the yellow powder around that skywell…” Someone approached the tent with slow steps. Though Miss Hong spoke softly, he had heard her. The newcomer spoke in gentle, refined tones—it was Wanyu Yuedan. “That powder is no ordinary substance. My palace has tested it. This powder causes flesh to rot on contact and iron to rust, though it’s not deadly poison, it’s very troublesome. To enter the skywell, we must first remove the poisonous powder.”

“Can it be burned?” Bi Lianyi asked.

“After burning, the yellow powder becomes toxic smoke.” Wanyu Yuedan shook his head. “Fengliu Shop has set this poisonous powder primarily for defense—the interior must be hollow.”

Miss Hong said coolly, “How could I not know this? But Piapling Mei Garden has many mechanisms, and the dangers within are probably beyond what human strength can match. How shall we enter?” She watched as Wanyu Yuedan lifted the tent flap and walked in like an ordinary person. “What thoughts does Palace Master Wanyu have?”

“If Piapling Mei Garden can burrow into earth, why can’t I split open the mountain?” Wanyu Yuedan had a delicate, youthful face, but his words carried no weakness. “My Biluo Palace can strike from this side of Qihun Mountain’s cliff face—” He extended his hand, his five fingers encompassing the skywell where Piapling Mei Garden had fallen in the model mountain, then drew his index finger straight across the middle, pointing to the cliff face outside the skywell. “We’ll strike from here, split open the mountain and enter!”

Miss Hong’s eyebrows rose, infected by his heroic spirit. She suddenly stood up. “If we can truly split open the mountain and enter, we’ll fight to the death to—we must eliminate these treacherous villains of Fengliu Shop! To restore… to restore righteousness to the world!” Yet her heart was desolate—if there were no Fengliu Shop in this world, if there were no Liu Yan who could play the qin, if there were no those harmful poisons, perhaps Little Red would have been… perhaps merely an arrogant young genius, perhaps merely a girl who prided herself on being aloof, rather than a strategist who stained her hands with blood without questioning right from wrong. Blinded by emotion, she harmed others and herself, so… so even though Bi Lianyi treated her thus, even though she was noble as a princess, even though she shouldered the great task of punishing evil and promoting righteousness, she knew her life had long been buried at that time. What qualification did she have for peace and fortune? And within Fengliu Shop, how many young men and women like her had so easily buried their lives? The evil of this place was truly evil among evils, far beyond the simple matter of killing a few people or poisoning a few heroes.

Fengliu Shop… it led people to desire, seduced their inner demons, and then…

It watched you sink into depravity, watched you go mad, watched you die.

That was not merely “death”—that was destruction.

In one destruction after another, it gradually bloomed the most evil flowers, yet you didn’t know what the ultimate end of that supreme evil was.

I sink into depravity together with the gentleman.

The gentleman and I—flowers upon bones.

What Miss Hong thought, Wanyu Yuedan didn’t care about. When his Biluo Palace built their palace on Maoya Peak, they excelled at transporting materials up high mountains and splitting mountains to quarry stone. Qihun Mountain was not high, and Piapling Mei Garden was sunk within the mountain. Judging by the mountain’s shape, it wasn’t too far from the outer cliff face.

Though not far, it was still at least one or two li. Even with divine weapons and sharp tools, it would be very difficult to silently infiltrate Piapling Mei Garden in a short time.

But if Wanyu Yuedan said he could do it, then he could.

Miss Hong made an immediate decision, entrusting the mountain-splitting task to Biluo Palace. She resolved to organize a team and, taking advantage of the fact that Piapling Mei Garden was now adopting a defensive stance for unknown reasons and that Yu Konghou was very likely severely injured, launch a surprise attack on Piapling Mei Garden sunk within the mountain.

This matter had to be done secretly. Those breaking into Piapling Mei Garden had to be highly skilled in martial arts with no ulterior motives, able to advance and protect themselves. Miss Hong’s beautiful eyes turned toward Bi Lianyi. “In the Sword Society, how many could last several dozen moves against Yu Konghou?”

Bi Lianyi was slightly stunned. “Apart from Young Master Tang, I’m afraid few in the Sword Society have truly fought Miss Tao, and even those who did fight wouldn’t have seen her use her full power.”

“Then… in the Sword Society, how many could last several dozen moves against Young Master Tang?” Miss Hong didn’t blink. “There are probably quite a few in the Sword Society who have sparred with Young Master Tang with full effort.”

Bi Lianyi pondered for a moment. “I should investigate this matter. The day Young Master Tang escaped from the Sword Society, I wasn’t in the mountains and didn’t see the situation of one sword against the entire sect, but… being able to last ten moves against Young Master Tang is already difficult.” He shook his head. “Unless Young Master Tang deliberately held back and didn’t want to fight seriously. Otherwise, few people in the world could last several dozen moves against Young Master Tang—given Young Master Tang’s patience and temperament, if he couldn’t win in several dozen moves, he definitely couldn’t win at all.”

Miss Hong knew no martial arts and was stunned upon hearing this. “Has Young Master Tang ever been defeated?”

Bi Lianyi wasn’t certain. “For those who practice martial arts, victory and defeat are common occurrences.” After a slight pause, he added, “But indeed, I’ve never heard of Young Master Tang suffering a single defeat.”

Miss Hong’s eyes flashed slightly. “He has never been defeated?”

“Never heard of it.”