Fu Zhumei said nothing more. The iron prison cart stopped, and someone lifted the entire iron prison cage, struggling to move it inside. He silently counted the number of people—a total of eighteen were moving this iron box. With a shout, there was a thunderous crash, the torture instruments inside the cart shook with a tremendous noise, and the prison cage crashed heavily to the ground. The eighteen people stepped back several paces, drew their weapons, and formed a circle around the iron prison cage.
A’Li was seriously injured and he himself was bound in shackles, yet these people were still so cautious.
Oh right, A’Li was seriously injured—how could he be seriously injured? Logically, any wound should heal quickly on him! Fu Zhumei suddenly realized he had been completely led astray and had lost the main point, only speaking of his own experiences while saying not a word about A’Li’s encounters.
Just as Fu Zhumei was trying to peer at Tang Lici, attempting to stare through the darkness to see clearly what had happened to Tang Lici, with a creak, the iron prison cage opened on all four sides.
The four iron walls of their prison cage all slowly opened outward.
Light poured in from all directions, making the bloodstains on the iron supports and the hair and fibers on their bodies clearly visible.
Fu Zhumei squinted in the strong light and finally saw clearly—Tang Lici wore red robes.
He wore red robes, and though it was impossible to see where his wounds were, one could only see layer upon layer of scabbed blood that had dyed his red robes into half-black robes.
Like himself, he was suspended from supports by shackles, with both hands and feet locked by poisoned spiked shackles, and several major acupoints had long needles inserted to block true energy.
But A’Li raised his head, looking with a half-smile at the person walking toward the iron cage.
“Abbot Chunhui, I trust you have been well.”
The thin old man walking slowly wore cloth shoes and monk’s robes, with dark skin and bright, piercing eyes—it was indeed Abbot Chunhui of Tianqing Temple. Beside him stood a bald man in yellow robes whom Fu Zhumei recognized.
This was the person who had made cold, sarcastic remarks when he was fighting desperately to save Xue Xianzi, causing Xue Xianzi to shatter his own skull and Fu Zhumei to suffer a great shock and be captured.
Beside the yellow-robed man, a woman in blue robes with a black veil covering her face stood silently.
Though she said nothing, Fu Zhumei recognized her at a glance—this was Zhong Chunji.
This was Xue Xianzi’s biological daughter, the renowned heroine Zhong Chunji.
Abbot Chunhui put his palms together toward the blood-covered Tang Lici. “Amitabha, this old monk resigned from the abbot position several years ago and is no longer a person of Buddha’s gate.” He claimed to have returned to secular life for years, yet still wore monk’s robes with a shaved head and still chanted Buddha’s name—who knew whether he was deceiving others or himself.
“Oh? Abbot Chunhui returned to secular life years ago? I wonder who the new abbot of Tianqing Temple might be?” Tang Lici asked gently.
Chunhui sighed. “There is no new abbot.” He looked at Tang Lici with eyes that could be called benevolent and peaceful. “Young Master Tang, do you know what year and day this old monk returned to secular life?”
Tang Lici’s shackles jingled softly as he sighed. “It was the day Liu Yan brought the ‘Past Life Chronicle’ and broke into Tianqing Temple.”
Chunhui smiled slightly. “Young Master Tang is wise.” He looked toward the yellow-robed man. “This person is…” He paused slightly, and the yellow-robed man spoke for himself. “This humble one is surnamed Huang, called both Xie Yaohuang and Huang Yaoxie.” He bowed to Tang Lici. “If not for Young Master Tang forcing Young Master Fang to study the ‘Past Life Chronicle,’ how could we dregs and chaff, we dull blades and lame horses, ever have thought we could rely on such heaven-shaking miraculous arts to gain the power of revenge?”
Tang Lici slowly asked, “Revenge? Revenge for whom?” He stared at “Xie Yaohuang.” “If it’s for the former Chai dynasty, then why did you sow discord and slaughter Baiyun Ravine? Didn’t the gentlemen of Baiyun Ravine remain loyal to the Chai clan and desire restoration?”
“When the late emperor suffered and ascended to heaven, all who were loyal to the Chai clan thought of nothing but revenge and restoration.” The yellow-robed man who called himself “Xie Yaohuang” or “Huang Yaoxie” spoke slowly. “And none cannot restore the country. Baiyun Ravine stubbornly supported the Sixth Prince, but the Sixth Prince has a wolf’s heart and dog’s lungs, with no thoughts of the old country. When we wish to accomplish great things, Baiyun Ravine, bound by Chai bloodline, would inevitably oppose us. Kill Baiyun Ravine first, and Chai Xijin can be used by us. Doesn’t Young Master Tang understand?” He stared at Tang Lici. “With Young Master Tang’s intelligence and talent, you should be my kindred spirit in this world.”
Fu Zhumei stared blankly at this enemy, completely unable to understand what he was saying. He actually said A’Li was his kindred spirit? He understood nothing at all! A’Li… he wasn’t like this.
“With Master Xie’s intelligence and talent, ‘inviting’ Tang here for a meeting—surely it’s not just to acknowledge a kindred spirit?” Tang Lici smiled slightly. “Your excellency has great ambitions for restoration, wielding strange poisons and divine arts. Why not raise armies and rebel instead of lurking behind Fengliu Store and Shaolin Temple?”
“I wish to invite Young Master Tang to undertake this together. I wonder what Young Master Tang thinks?” The yellow-robed man said calmly. “Weapons are inauspicious instruments, to be used only when unavoidable. Young Master Tang is nobility of the current dynasty, supremely intelligent, understanding and tactful—you should be my kindred spirit.”
When he said “my kindred spirit,” if Tang Lici weren’t shackled in an iron prison cage, dripping with blood, if he hadn’t glanced at Fu Zhumei with unknown poison placed in his back, it would have seemed quite sincere.
Tang Lici pondered for a moment and coughed lightly. Fu Zhumei could hear the blood in his lungs and was extremely frightened.
This person in front of them… who didn’t know what he was talking about, what exactly did he want? He could vaguely sense he was forcing A’Li to do some earth-shaking great deed, but he didn’t know what it was.
“Your excellency lurks at Shaolin Temple, controlling Abbot Puzhu, because Shaolin Temple is extremely close to the capital and has always been the nation-protecting temple—’Hu Deng Order’s Wang Lingqiu lurked at Shaolin for over twenty years, removing Shaolin’s concerns for you.” Tang Lici said slowly. “But this dynasty has just pacified its wars, the troops have not yet rested, and the people are all weary of war—to restore the country—you have neither military strength nor popular support. Even if the ‘Past Life Chronicle’ could foster a strange martial army, compared to the capital’s two hundred thousand imperial guards, it would be like throwing eggs at rocks. Just the tens of thousands of spies under the Imperial City Department, you couldn’t resist—even if you spread Nine Heart Pills poison among the imperial guards and Imperial City Department, without extraordinary strategies, it would be a drop in the bucket, useless.” He finally raised his head, straightened his back, and stared at this yellow-robed man of unknown origin. “So you—”
“Young Master Tang truly deserves to be my kindred spirit.” The yellow-robed man laughed. “Hahahaha…” He strode over, grabbed Tang Lici’s jaw, and lifted his face from the torture device. “So I need a great war—the greater the war, the better. Who wins or loses doesn’t matter—I need a great war! A plague! I need many people to die—preferably many good people!” He gripped Tang Lici’s neck. “When so many die that the prefectural armies can’t control the situation, the capital will have to dispatch imperial guards to quell the rebellion. Tell me, where exactly are the ‘Bee Mother Frost’ poison and ‘Nine Heart Pills’ poison to be used?”
Tang Lici licked the fresh blood in his mouth, struggled backward slightly, and because of the slippery blood, his neck slipped free from the yellow-robed man’s hand. He asked calmly, “Where are they to be used?”
The yellow-robed man looked at Tang Lici, whose face was covered in blood from his hands, felt infinite satisfaction, and sneered, “Naturally they’re used on the people they should be used on… Tell me, are thousands of monsters who’ve lost their reason and chase living people to bite them, corpses writhing all over the ground, including mad martial arts masters among them, perhaps even the princess he’s currently doting on—are they worth His Majesty dispatching the Military Commissioner or Infantry Commissioner to quell the rebellion?”
“An unprecedented natural disaster.” Tang Lici said. “After the capital’s defenses change and stationed troops decrease, new faces won’t be surprising. And you only need an opportunity.”
Using natural disaster as bait, forcing the capital to transfer troops and change defenses, during the great chaos of imperial guards, infiltrate the palace, use Chai Xijin as a banner, rely on the strange poisons and mysterious arts of the ‘Past Life Chronicle’ to force the current emperor to restore the throne to the Chai clan. If unsuccessful, the many masters cultivated by Tianqing Temple and Fengliu Store over the years could still fight in the capital.
If successful, this Master Xie who claimed “revenge” would have the power to rule the world.
This was the shadow behind Fengliu Store.
So shallow, malicious, cowardly, mad, and self-righteous.
Fu Zhumei finally understood, but he just didn’t comprehend—so many people died for this mad delusion, and no one knew why? This madman never considered that everyone has their own choices, and no one would act according to his logic because of one madman’s wild fantasy.
This person had merely started a nightmare… that no one could stop.
Fengliu Store wouldn’t act according to his vision—neither Yu Konghou nor Bai Suche would. They just borrowed power from this madman to walk their own paths.
Neither would the Central Plains Sword Association. Anyone firm and faithful would find it hard to make choices according to someone’s “schemes,” because they all had their own ideas.
He watched Tang Lici finish listening to this madman’s grandiose plan, the corner of his eye slightly curved. “Your excellency’s calculations are flawless. What exactly do you want to cooperate with Tang on?”
“You and I cooperate to make the battle at Qihun Mountain littered with corpses and filled with demons. When the imperial guards of the capital move… I’ll help you kill everyone in Fengliu Store inside and out, clearing your name of being an evil demon, making you the foremost person in the martial world.” The yellow-robed man said. “Young Master Tang spent his fortune and traveled thousands of miles—wasn’t it all to reach the pinnacle and be revered by ten thousand people? I’ll help you reach the peak, you help me achieve great undertakings. And you—need only send more people from the Central Plains Sword Association to Piaoli Mei Garden while withdrawing the antidote Liu Yan made.”
“No need for me to persuade my father to assist your excellency in restoration?” Tang Lici coughed again, still with that half-smile.
“Persuade? Assist?” The yellow-robed man laughed heartily. “Is he worthy?”
“Qingshan.” When Xie Yaohuang’s emotions were running high, Abbot Chunhui called his dharma name and pressed several acupoints on his back. Xie Yaohuang suddenly awakened, exhaled a long breath, paused, seemed ashamed and angry at having said so much, and suddenly turned around.
Chunhui sighed. “Your true energy is agitated. Return to your room to take medicine and rest for a while.”
Xie Yaohuang snorted, glanced at Tang Lici, “If you don’t know what’s good for you, I’ll kill you immediately.” With that, he strode away.
Tang Lici closed his eyes.
“Excessive killing karma, death by madness.”
This madman hadn’t practiced the ‘Past Life Chronicle’ very well, but his sanity was already near madness.
“Amitabha.” Abbot Chunhui sighed. “He too is a pitiful person.”
“Who is he?” Fu Zhumei was very confused.
“Xie Yaohuang, Huang Yaoxie.” Tang Lici said softly. “Yaohuang is the king of peonies. Xie Yaohuang is Gui Mudan (Ghost Peony).” Then he raised an eyebrow and looked at Zhong Chunji, who stood aside as if her soul had left her body, neither speaking nor moving. “Miss Zhong, I trust you have been well?”
The black-veiled Zhong Chunji suddenly trembled.
Abbot Chunhui said gently, “Miss Zhong, begin.”
Zhong Chunji stepped forward step by step. Her left hand grabbed Tang Lici’s iron shackles, her right hand suddenly drew a sharp knife, and she pulled him forcefully. Tang Lici swayed on the iron shackles, exposing half his back. Zhong Chunji’s right hand struck down without hesitation, just like with Fu Zhumei, intending to cut a large opening in his back.
“A’Li!” Fu Zhumei cried out.
Tang Lici swayed with the iron shackles and lightly spun in a circle.
With a soft “ding,” the iron shackles broke in the wind. The first section of shackles flew up, striking the unprepared Abbot Chunhui’s acupoint. Simultaneously, dozens of cold lights flew up—those poisonous needles piercing his acupoints and the broken fragments he had twisted off shot in all directions, piercing the chests of the eighteen guards surrounding them.
The eighteen fell with cries. These men were strong and powerful but not masters. Tianqing Temple was overconfident in the iron prison cage, not knowing that Tang Lici first wasn’t afraid of severe poison, and second… wasn’t afraid of injury.
He had indeed been strung up on the torture devices and iron shackles, but those torture devices and shackles weren’t nailed firmly to the supports. Earlier in the darkness, while Fu Zhumei was emotionally agitated and focused only on telling how Xue Xianzi died, he didn’t know when Tang Lici had broken most of the shackle joints, leaving only shallow connections.
A’Li was hung with so many torture devices and suffered so many wounds, yet could still fight? Had he just now endured Gui Mudan’s humiliation because he was powerless to resist, or was he deliberately showing weakness?
Seeing Tang Lici suddenly attack, Zhong Chunji cried out, threw down her long knife without thinking, and fled outside. However, after one step, she was grabbed back by Tang Lici.
Tang Lici’s face was half-covered in blood, with slightly cracked lips, which should have looked ghastly and terrifying, yet wasn’t ugly. He licked a bit of the wound at the corner of his lips, his tongue tip stained with a little blood like a touch of light pink. Zhong Chunji stared at his tongue tip, her heart filled with despair.
Young Master Tang… knew the delusional thoughts in her heart.
He could easily use those delusions to seduce her into submission.
The reason she had no way out and became a criminal was all because she had been seduced by him.
“Miss Zhong.” Tang Lici’s voice was gentle, but his hands showed no mercy. With a tearing sound, he ripped open her sleeve—hidden in her sleeve was a box. If that strike had succeeded, the contents of this box would probably have been sent into Tang Lici’s back.
“How has Xue Xianzi been?” He held the box from her sleeve and asked with a smile.
Zhong Chunji trembled. “I… I… he…”
Tang Lici slowly opened the box. Inside, a huge spider raised its head, the brilliant pale golden light on its back shocking to behold. He trembled slightly and nearly dropped the box.
Venomous spider.
So the foreign object bred in Fu Zhumei’s back was most likely also a venomous spider.
So… he would be like Chi Yun…
He would be exactly like Chi Yun.
Tang Lici coughed lightly. Both Zhong Chunji and Fu Zhumei saw blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, yet Tang Lici’s expression became even gentler. “Venomous spider?”
Zhong Chunji said nothing.
“Where’s the antidote?” Tang Lici coughed again.
“Venomous spiders… venomous spiders have no antidote.” Zhong Chunji’s voice sounded like someone was strangling her throat. She certainly knew how Chi Yun had died. “But venomous spiders have a spider king. They obey the spider king’s commands…”
“Oh? Then where is this spider king?” Tang Lici asked softly.
Zhong Chunji shook her head violently, causing the black veil covering her face to fall. The face beneath the veil was swollen and red from crying, pale as a ghost, as if she too had been having a very difficult time these past few days. “I don’t know… don’t… don’t kill me…” She trembled. “I… I didn’t mean to… didn’t mean to cause master’s death… I didn’t want him to die…”
Tang Lici tilted his head, seeming very curious. “You didn’t want him to die—then did you want him to live?” With a reverse stroke, he severed the shackles on Fu Zhumei. As Fu Zhumei fell forward, Tang Lici caught him with his left hand while his right hand knife scraped a living venomous spider from the wound on his back.
This venomous spider was slightly different from the one in the box—it was pale pink, as if it had eaten much human blood and flesh.
Zhong Chunji looked at Tang Lici in horror. She opened her mouth. “You can’t kill me, A—” Before she could finish, with a scraping sound, Tang Lici thrust the pink venomous spider along with the knife into her mouth.
His movement was too fast. Zhong Chunji couldn’t dodge at all—her meager martial arts were worthless before Tang Lici. The venomous spider and sharp knife entered her throat, blood spurted out, and only when her throat tasted the warmth of blood did Zhong Chunji react. She wanted to say something more, but Tang Lici had already lost interest, supporting Fu Zhumei and walking toward Chunhui.
Zhong Chunji fell backward looking skyward. The dying venomous spider bit once in her throat. Her eyes bulged out, her face turned blue-purple, her entire face swelled and cracked, oozing strange fluids. After a long time, she finally lay still.
You didn’t want Xue Xianzi to die, but you also didn’t leave him any room to live.
So-called innocence was just self-deceptive rhetoric.
The surrounding guards struck in vital points by Tang Lici hadn’t fainted—they were just seriously injured and paralyzed. They watched helplessly as Tang Lici released Fu Zhumei’s acupoints, pulled out the long needles from Fu Zhumei’s body, and the two together abducted Abbot Chunhui. They also watched helplessly as Zhong Chunji died violently, everyone’s face pale as if they had seen a ghost.