Cao Wufang laughed soundlessly, “Why do you think Young Master Tang was captured? I told him ‘that little child should have been dead.’ Guess what he said? He said he would kill everyone who knew ‘that little child should have been dead,’ one by one. As long as they all died, no one would know that little child should have been dead—as if the child wouldn’t have died as long as everyone else died. Hahaha… But I told him you already knew the little child was fake…”

Then Young Master Tang looked proud but was actually deeply shaken. A’Shui could guess what happened, smiling bitterly, “So he lost the fight?”

“Not exactly.” Cao Wufang laughed, “After that, he surrendered and entered the iron prison cart.”

Hah… A’Shui also laughed. This was the false benevolence, hypocritical and arrogant Young Master Tang. She took a deep breath and walked quickly ahead. Fengfeng had been wailing, but halfway through crying, he suddenly stopped. A’Shui let go of Fengfeng, placed him on the ground, and gently touched his head.

In the distance, Xie Yaohuang, suffering from splitting headaches, asked coldly, “Are we there? If you’re talking nonsense, I’ll kill you immediately.”

“We’re here.” A’Shui raised her head, quickened her pace, and approached the cliff waterfall.

Cao Wufang was feeling pleased, while Xie Yaohuang’s head was splitting with pain and he was irritated. Both assumed she was revisiting an old place to scout the path and didn’t notice she had walked too close.

Suddenly, without warning, A’Shui leaped toward the waterfall.

It came so suddenly. While Cao Wufang was still immersed in “Tang Lici’s hypocrisy, arrogance, and false benevolence,” and Xie Yaohuang watched coldly, A’Shui successfully leaped out.

This leap was exceptionally resolute. As her sleeves flew, both Cao Wufang and Xie Yaohuang saw something flash in her sleeve pocket.

It was a book with a red cover. Both had excellent eyesight and could even see the three characters “Ning Buyi” on the cover.

Both leaped up simultaneously, reaching out to grab A’Shui in mid-air.

Neither understood why A’Shui would jump down the waterfall, nor had they figured out why “Ning Buyi” was on her person. But both felt that having a supreme martial arts manual hidden on one’s body made more sense than throwing it into a waterfall years ago. The opportunity was fleeting—if A’Shui jumped into the waterfall with the fragment manual, it wouldn’t matter if she died, but the book would be destroyed!

Though Yujing Mountain wasn’t tall, this waterfall wasn’t short. The waterfall plunged straight down into a gorge, with water vapor filling half the mountain.

A’Shui was lucid as she watched the two men pounce toward her.

This yellow-robed man called Qingshan held considerable weight in Tianqing Temple. She thought very rationally that Cao Wufang was inconsequential.

Xie Yaohuang’s martial arts were much higher than Cao Wufang’s. He jumped earlier and grabbed A’Shui first.

But by this time, A’Shui had already fallen below mid-mountain and into the gorge. Yujing Mountain’s waterfall struck multiple rock formations, creating dense water vapor below mid-mountain. When Xie Yaohuang grabbed A’Shui, both entered the water vapor.

Once in the vapor, everything became gray and nothing could be seen for an instant.

In that very instant—something in the water vapor invaded his eyes, causing severe pain. Xie Yaohuang screamed in agony as he and A’Shui fell through the air, crashing heavily into the pool at the bottom of the cliff.

With a thunderous crash, water waves surged half the sky high. Cao Wufang was a step slower and watched helplessly as the mid-mountain water vapor changed from gray-white to blood-red. He fell into the crimson vapor, covered his face with his sleeve robes, forcibly landed on mid-mountain rocks, and crawled back to the mid-mountain earthen house.

Waves rolled at the bottom of the pool. Cao Wufang fearfully lowered his sleeves—his hands and sleeve robes had been corroded into tatters by the poisonous substances in the water. Corrosion upon contact with water—what poison could be so powerful? He crawled out and looked down toward the waterfall, seeing that the mountain pool had turned crimson. Xie Yaohuang and A’Shui were crawling on a large rock in the pool, both their clothes corroded into tatters.

This crimson medicinal powder was a poison powder Liu Yan had once used. The red snake patterns on Shen Langhun’s face years ago were drawn by Liu Yan using this powder. As his maidservant, A’Shui had handled countless poisons and kept one or two types.

Xie Yaohuang was blind in both eyes, bleeding continuously—clearly he hadn’t closed his eyes when passing through the water vapor. Shocked, he had lost his guard when falling and suffered severe injuries. A’Shui also crashed into the pool and was equally severely injured, but she immediately got up.

Xie Yaohuang had broken his right foot and left hand, was blind in both eyes, but these were all external injuries. His rage burned wildly—actually—actually falling to a martial-arts-less female servant! How dare this lowly woman!

He was the previous emperor’s spirit!

He was destined to become emperor, restore Great Zhou, conquer the world, and establish a dynasty for ten thousand generations!

A mere commoner woman dared to attack him!

She was just a lowly commoner!

Tang Lici’s maidservant! A fallen flower and defeated willow! An ignorant commoner!

How was she worthy…

A’Shui had also injured both feet in the fall. Her hands weren’t broken, her eyes weren’t blind, but her face had been corroded beyond recognition by the red mist, exposing crimson flesh. She crawled over using her hands as feet and grabbed Xie Yaohuang’s saber.

In the thunderous water sound, Xie Yaohuang was terrified and at a complete loss. Only when A’Shui grabbed his saber did he realize and retreat backward.

The blade was thus drawn.

A’Shui stared at him intently. This man was the villain behind Fengliu Store.

In Fengliu Store… those inhuman and unrestrained good and evil, those white-robed and red-robed female attendants gradually losing themselves… those heart-tempting Nine Heart Pills…

She raised the blade, aimed at Xie Yaohuang’s chest, and thrust down forcefully.

In the rumbling water sound, Xie Yaohuang tried his best to locate by sound. Though his external injuries were severe, his internal injuries weren’t serious. Hearing A’Shui’s heavy breathing as she raised the blade and struck down, he palmed toward A’Shui’s chest.

If facing other masters, one would have to dodge—Xie Yaohuang’s martial arts weren’t weak and his palm force was heavy. Anyone who took this palm directly would find it hard to bear.

But A’Shui knew no martial arts.

She pounced through the splashing water toward Xie Yaohuang’s palm. That palm left a pitch-black palm print on her chest, nearly shattering her five internal organs.

But so what?

A’Shui still pounced forward and thrust the blade down.

Xie Yaohuang’s saber was also a famous blade of the current age, named “Soaring Serpent.”

Soaring Serpents were good with water and could fly, cultivating for millions of years to become dragons.

But Xie Yaohuang was pinned to the mountain rock by this blade, bleeding continuously, unable to fly even with wings. His throat made rattling sounds, still incredulous. Unable to see, he pointed at A’Shui in empty space, “You… you… how are you worthy of killing me?”

A’Shui released “Soaring Serpent” and vomited much blood with a “wa” sound. She covered her chest and looked up toward the mountaintop where Fengfeng was, then fell backward. As she fell, she could still faintly hear Fengfeng’s heart-rending cries.

With a “thud,” A’Shui sank into the deep pool, leaving a shallow whirlpool.

Cao Wufang crawled on the mountainside and watched from beginning to end—watching A’Shui release poison in mid-air, watching her counter-kill Xie Yaohuang, then watching her sink into the water. He sucked in a cold breath, asking himself honestly that if it were him, he absolutely couldn’t have been so ruthless.

He waited fearfully for quite a while until the crimson in the water vapor dissipated and A’Shui had long disappeared without a trace, before slowly climbing down and carrying away Xie Yaohuang who had been pinned to death on the mountain rock by the blade.

Xie Yaohuang was a master of the current age—even with a blade piercing his chest, he might not die.

But listening to his chaotic heartbeat and seeing his terrified expression, Cao Wufang feared it wouldn’t be easy for Xie Yaohuang to survive even if he wanted to.

He carried away Xie Yaohuang, leaving behind Fengfeng.

Fengfeng also carefully lay at the cliff edge, gazing at the waterfall in mid-air and A’Shui who had disappeared in the water. He was so small that when Cao Wufang left, his eyes simply didn’t register him.

Fu Zhumei supported Tang Lici as the two slowly walked up from the bottom of Yujing Mountain.

Fu Zhumei had an earthen house here, but hadn’t visited in a long time and didn’t know if it still stood. Both were severely injured inside and out, desperately needing a place to rest and heal. So Fu Zhumei brought Tang Lici to Yujing Mountain.

Just as they returned to the earthen house, Fu Zhumei and Tang Lici suddenly saw chaos in front of the cliff, with various crawling traces left behind.

Fengfeng sat beside the cliff, gazing at the pool below and sobbing blankly.

“Fengfeng?” Tang Lici was startled.

“Fengfeng?” Fu Zhumei was even more surprised. How could this infant be here?

In an instant, Tang Lici had figured it out—he had originally planned to use his severe injuries as bait, going with the flow into Tianqing Temple, then exploring the details of Chunhui and his “evidence.” But things went wrong step by step from when Xue Xianzi was taken away by Zhong Chunji. Xue Xianzi was unexpectedly controlled by Zhong Chunji and revealed Shui Duopo’s secrets. This led to the fall of Jiang family garden, the deaths of Mo Ziru and Shui Duopo in battle, and Tang Lici’s thousand-mile rush to Jiang family garden—though he still used his severe injuries as bait to enter Tianqing Temple, it was a step later than planned.

This delayed step led to A’Shui’s accident.

In Tang Lici’s interlocking schemes, whether Fengliu Store or its behind-the-scenes orchestrators should have been overwhelmed by multiple dilemmas: the great battle at Floating Brow Garden on Qihun Mountain, the secret location of Nine Heart Pills antidote guarded by Mo and Shui, the Central Plains Sword Society’s base at Haoyun Mountain, and where Tang Lici was lurking. They should have had no time or need to track A’Shui’s whereabouts.

And he only needed to naturally bear severe injuries to be easily captured by those behind Fengliu Store, entering directly into the deepest part of this scheme.

But he didn’t know A’Shui had once seen the remaining two volumes of the “Book of Rebirth.” A’Shui’s favor with Hao Wenhou wasn’t merely because she was naturally beautiful and different from others.

To Tang Lici, she was a special woman.

To Hao Wenhou, she was too.

To Liu Yan, she was as well.

But these three types of “special” were not the same.

His mistake might have been thinking they were the same.

Fengfeng looked up and saw Tang Lici, immediately bursting into wails, pointing at the pool below, “Mother, bad man, big water… big water… knife…”

Tang Lici glanced down at him, then leaped directly down the waterfall. Fu Zhumei held Fengfeng and followed closely.

The two stood on the mountain rock where A’Shui and Xie Yaohuang had fought to the death, seeing traces of sharp weapons piercing the stone. The pool still carried a faint red color and pungent acidic smell—some kind of corrosive poison. Tang Lici reached out to support the cold cliff wall, and for a moment, all he saw was crimson.

There was no human figure in the deep pool.

A water-soaked, blurred book spun in the pool.

Fu Zhumei picked up the book.

It was a recently written, unfinished personal poetry collection.

Most of the writing was blurred, but a few characters were still legible: “…alone withered, would I not doubt.”

Tang Lici looked at those characters—they were A’Shui’s handwriting.

When they first met, she came holding an infant, her eyes full of tenderness.

Later she came in the night, willing to get drunk with him under the moon. She said, “The wind fills yet white jade, this night flowers on branches. Meeting you beneath the moon, you give me azure silk.”

Finally she said, “Thank you, Young Master Tang, for saving my life… I will surely repay this spring-like kindness. Binding grass and carrying rings, going through fire and water, I spare no effort… is this acceptable?”

And in the end, he never answered, never said anything.

What had he done? He had given her someone else’s child, planning to deceive her into lifelong gratitude, and felt no regret.

He had thrown her out as a human shield, and until now… had never said a word of apology.

Their final relationship was just a bank note.

He gave favors expecting return, expecting her to go through fire and water, to bind grass and carry rings, preferably remembering him for life, suffering for him constantly, being forever unforgettable and regretful that she hadn’t been willing from the start, hadn’t been convinced and willing to die for him.

Tang Lici… for A’Shui, from beginning to end, was a hell.

She had always been clear-minded.

And he had always… thought himself clear-minded.

But A’Shui wasn’t someone who could only die for Tang Lici. The one she could die for wasn’t only Tang Lici.

Looking up, he saw Fu Zhumei’s face full of panic, running downstream, searching everywhere for A’Shui’s traces.

Fengfeng was crying.

The blood in the pool had long since faded, with only a little remaining in the stone cracks.

Tang Lici smiled and sat down on the bloodstained boulder.

Beside him, the waterfall’s rumbling sound was like a lion’s roar, like a questioning bell, soul-shaking and heart-stirring.

Under his hand, he pressed the trace where a blade had penetrated deep into the giant rock.

The blood was not yet exhausted.

The blood… was not yet exhausted.

He had many words he’d never spoken.

He wondered if she would believe them.

Probably… she wouldn’t.