In moments, the Go board was covered with stones, and the pace of their game gradually slowed.

The middle-aged man sighed softly, “Your answers always surprise people, yet coming from you, they seem so natural as if everything is exactly as it should be.”

“I spent nearly twenty years with the Su family. The Old Master pulled me from the river, and Chang He and I emerged from the same Crucible as sworn brothers. To be precise, we’re all family,” Su Muyu said quietly.

The middle-aged man shook his head, “Someone like Chang He would never consider the Old Master and others as family, nor would he consider me family. You’re the only one he sees as family.”

“But now I am a Puppet, and as a Puppet, I must protect the Patriarch’s life,” Su Muyu said gravely.

“Is that all?” The middle-aged man frowned slightly, “I always thought there would be other reasons.”

“Teacher, you taught me that promises are the most important things in our lives. Without promises, assassins who take money would turn around and kill their clients for more money. In the end, the order would collapse, assassins would lose their purpose, and Dark River would have no reason to exist,” Su Muyu replied.

The middle-aged man smiled bitterly, “You’re clever, but sometimes too stubborn.”

“Having become a tool for killing, if one doesn’t maintain some stubbornness in their heart, then living is the same as being dead.” Su Muyu placed the final stone, “Teacher, you’ve lost.”

The middle-aged man swept his sleeve, reducing the Go stones to powder, then gripped the handle of the short sword beside him. “Chang He knows my martial arts are poor, but since I have some bond with you, he sent me here to persuade you, knowing that even if you wouldn’t listen, you’d at least waste the time of one Go game.”

“Given our bond, Teacher, could you not draw your sword?” Su Muyu asked slowly.

The middle-aged man pondered for a long while before saying, “You can’t win. The three family heads have endured for so long; they won’t miss this opportunity. Even if the Patriarch could be healed, they would do anything to kill him. You have no chance. This is a death trap.”

“This time it’s a death trap for all three families. Whoever enters this situation, there will be no winners,” Su Muyu stood up. “The three family heads will soon realize they’ve made a grave mistake.”

The middle-aged man drew his sword, but instead of pointing it at Su Muyu, he held it against his neck. He smiled bitterly, “I’m sorry.”

Su Muyu clenched his fists, “Did Su Chang He make you do this?”

The middle-aged man flicked his left hand, lighting an incense stick on the stone table. He lowered his head slightly, “Could you wait the length of one incense stick?”

“Years ago, when Chang He and I were training in the Crucible, we were tricked into falling off a cliff. You saved us, Teacher. I’ve remembered that debt for many years. Is it worth spending it on the time of one incense stick?” Su Muyu asked.

The middle-aged man shook his head, “It’s not worth it. But as you said earlier, it must be done.”

Su Muyu nodded and sat down again, placing his oil-paper umbrella beside him before closing his eyes.

They sat in silence until the incense burned out. When Su Muyu opened his eyes, the short sword across the middle-aged man’s neck instantly split in two. He smiled bitterly, tossed aside the sword handle, and said to Su Muyu, “The path ahead is long and difficult.”

Su Muyu stood, pulled his paper umbrella from the ground, and walked past the middle-aged man: “Keep walking and you shall arrive.” He continued forward into the forest where mist gathered thickly, growing denser with each step. Occasional lantern lights flickered eerily through the trees.

“Child lantern-bearers guide the way, while ghost souls claim their prey,” Su Muyu stopped and spoke slowly.

“Hee hee hee.” Children’s laughter echoed behind Su Muyu as lantern light flashed past him.

“Your dear brother Su Chang He was once such a lantern-bearing child.” An effeminate voice came from the distance as four strong men emerged from the mist carrying a white sedan chair. A long-haired man sat in it, gently waving a folding fan. He wore white robes and had a pale, gaunt face that gave off an eerie air.

Su Muyu thrust his paper umbrella into the ground again, then gripped its handle and swept upward, drawing out an extremely thin sword.

“It seems I’m not worthy to witness the Umbrella Ghost’s Eighteen Sword Formation.” The long-haired man grinned.

Su Muyu spoke gravely, “In all of Dark River, you are one of the few I truly want to kill.”

The long-haired man brushed his temples with his finger, “Is that so? I’m honored.”

Su Muyu leaped forward, thrusting his sword at the long-haired man. The man slapped the sedan chair heavily, and the four strongmen retreated simultaneously, the white sedan chair dissolving into the mist. As Su Muyu’s sword struck empty air, a child appeared before him, lightly flicking a red lantern that entangled his sword.

“It should have been you back then, but Su Chang He took your place as a lantern-bearer. The mission succeeded, but of the seven who went, only he survived,” the long-haired man’s voice came from all directions.

Su Muyu’s best option would have been to swing his sword and instantly behead the child before him, but instead, he chose to retreat with his sword. The child smiled and vanished back into the thick mist. A flying sword shot out from the fog, and Su Muyu rapidly retreated, the blade barely grazing his temple. In the mist formation, the formation master hid within, using the lantern-bearing children to draw out his prey’s location. The children-bait rarely survived, and the formation master, that ghost-like figure, had been infamous even before Su Muyu became an assassin.

“Hahaha, I finally understand why Su Chang He took your place back then. If you had been the lantern-bearer, you would have died long ago,” the long-haired man laughed loudly.

Su Muyu closed his eyes and lowered his head slightly, trying to sense the long-haired man’s position.

“It’s hard to imagine that the Su family’s famous Umbrella Ghost, the nameless one who crawled out of the corpse-filled Crucible, now the Spider Shadow’s Lead Puppet, actually harbors kindness in his heart,” the long-haired man sneered. “Unable to harm a child?”

Su Muyu’s eyes snapped open as he turned to his left, lightly flicking his sword.

“Attack!” The long-haired man sensed an overwhelming killing intent and shouted sharply.

Suddenly, more than a dozen lantern-bearing children burst from the mist, leaping up and swinging their lanterns down at Su Muyu. They had him surrounded – if he wanted to escape, he would have to cut a bloody path through them!