Yun Ye watched with his heart in his throat. He hadn’t expected the fight between them would be this brutal. Duan Hong truly wasn’t holding back—he was treating the Bearded Guest as a mortal enemy. The Bearded Guest’s every move was also lethal, striking without the slightest courtesy.
Hong Fu had already closed her eyes. Though she knew Duan Hong had shown mercy, the combat being this brutal was truly beyond her expectations. Her sworn brother had a temperament like raging fire. Back then, after handing over his vast fortune, he’d taken his old servant and fled far away to the South Sea. She hadn’t expected that when they met again, everything had changed. She herself suffered from a strange illness, sometimes better, sometimes worse. She hadn’t expected her sworn brother to follow in her footsteps. Whether today’s arrangement would be effective still depended on Heaven’s favor.
Thinking of this, she knelt on the spot, pressing her palms together to pray to Heaven, begging for her sworn brother to escape this calamity. She would willingly take his place.
Duan Hong’s small knife was caught in the Bearded Guest’s mouth. With an explosive breath, he spat it back at Duan Hong. Seeing Duan Hong roll out of the pavilion, the Bearded Guest swung his thick arms, pushing aside the wooden beams falling from the pavilion, and chased out with reddened eyes.
Duan Hong’s feet moved lightly backward, but his eyes never left the Bearded Guest. The white blade behind his elbow flashed and disappeared. Just as the Bearded Guest was about to reach him, he curled his body into a ball and rushed into his opponent’s embrace. He couldn’t match the Bearded Guest in large, sweeping techniques—only close-quarters nimble skills were his strength.
The Bearded Guest paid no mind. His long arm reached out and grabbed one of Duan Hong’s arms. With a cold laugh, he twisted it backward, preparing to first dislocate one of Duan Hong’s arms.
Yun Ye widened his eyes to watch carefully. What exactly was this petty thief’s skill? This time the Bearded Guest should be in trouble.
Indeed, the Bearded Guest hadn’t anticipated that Duan Hong’s arm, which had been twisted nearly a full circle and obviously dislocated, could still hold a knife and stab toward his neck. Barely avoiding a vital point, that dagger stabbed into his shoulder. Roaring at Duan Hong, he disregarded the blade stuck in his shoulder. His shoulder moved, and his whole body charged toward Duan Hong. Duan Hong dodged behind a gallery pillar as thick as a thigh. The Bearded Guest neither dodged nor avoided, his shoulder crashing heavily into the pillar. The pillar as thick as a thigh snapped in two with a crack. The gallery instantly collapsed, and bricks, tiles and timber with rolling dust buried both men in an instant.
Hong Fu paid no attention to the battle situation. Her sworn brother had lived his life with pride. For him to live in confusion was worse than dying gloriously in battle—that would do right by him.
Yun Ye nearly stuffed his entire hand in his mouth in astonishment. Biting his finger, he craned his neck to watch this rare spectacle. So there truly were people in this world who transcended ordinary humans.
Before the smoke and dust had fully settled, a long howl came from the ruins. The giant Bearded Guest shook his arms, pushed away the bricks and timber pressing on him, and searched everywhere for Duan Hong, wishing he could tear this fellow who’d injured him into ten thousand pieces.
While the Bearded Guest searched, Duan Hong burst out from deep within the gallery. Passing the Bearded Guest, he inserted another dagger into his thigh, choosing the position very precisely—not injuring bone or tendon but rendering one leg useless.
Unfortunately, the Bearded Guest’s elbow also struck heavily into his abdomen. The force was so great it sent the slender Duan Hong flying more than ten feet. Rolling and climbing to his feet, Duan Hong spat a mouthful of blood on the ground.
The Bearded Guest, covered in blood and dust, shuffled out from the ruins step by step, his head and face gray and filthy. With one arm and one leg disabled, this fellow was still as fierce as a lion, his thick killing intent not diminished in the slightest.
“I can see you’re also a renowned martial arts master. To take my elbow and not die—you’re the first. That self-dislocating joints technique just now was truly remarkable. These two blade wounds I took aren’t unjust. Come, come, fight three hundred more rounds with me.”
Hong Fu raised her head in surprise to look at the Bearded Guest. These were the words he should say. Just as she was about to step forward to speak, she was stopped by Yun Ye. She saw him pull out a small bottle from his robe and toss it over, shouting, “What a good man! The great battle is at its height—how can there be no wine? Come, drink deeply of fine wine, then fight again!”
The Bearded Guest reached out his fan-sized hand to grasp the wine bottle. Pulling off the silk cloth on the bottle, he smelled an intoxicating wine fragrance rush toward him. He couldn’t help but laugh heartily and say to Yun Ye, “You’re not a bad lad either. Good wine!”
Watching the Bearded Guest tilt back his neck and drink down Yun Ye’s fine wine, all the strength scattered from Duan Hong’s body. He lay sprawled on the ground resting. He didn’t consider Yun Ye a good person. From the first time he’d seen Yun Ye, he hadn’t categorized this fellow into the list of people worth associating with.
The Bearded Guest only had time to say “good wine” before crashing to the ground, lying there snoring in deep sleep.
Hong Fu called servants to first help Duan Hong to a guest room to rest. Just as she was about to have someone help the Bearded Guest, she discovered Yun Ye squatting beside him. With the help of two servants, he was winding some kind of silk thread around her sworn brother’s body—very densely and very tightly. His hands and feet were especially bound densely.
“Marquis Yun, why are you doing this? These silk threads of yours cannot bind my sworn brother. My sworn brother has the strength of a thousand jun. Even ox tendon rope has no effect on him. What you’re doing is too childish. Untie him, lest he get angry in a while and harm you.”
“You husband and wife both talk the same way. There should be some limit to bragging about your sworn brother. I don’t believe it. In a while, I’ll pile thirty thousand jin of rocks on him and see if he can overturn the rocks and escape by himself.”
Yun Ye was very annoyed by Hong Fu’s earlier cold-bloodedness. If your sworn brother wanted to die, slitting his throat, jumping in a river, hanging himself—all were fine choices. Being more extravagant, exploding his whole body to death would also work. Why did he have to drag Duan Hong into it? It had been agreed beforehand that Duan Hong was here to help, not as an enemy. If he hadn’t given the Bearded Guest Sun Simiao’s anesthetic just now, Duan Hong might have died.
Duan Hong was going to take over Wu She’s position in the future. This was his training period. If he died for no reason, where would they find such a master? Li Er secretly had countless masters, but on the surface there was currently only one Duan Hong. Getting one or two more was even harder than pulling teeth from a tiger’s mouth. To lose him here treating a fool would be too unworthy.
Hong Fu was choked speechless by Yun Ye’s words. She couldn’t understand where she’d offended Yun Ye. But Duan Hong, being carried to the guest room, understood clearly. The frost in his eyes receded slightly as he adjusted his breathing, preparing to rest.
The Bearded Guest’s wounds were also bandaged. Hong Fu even disregarded suspicion to personally wipe the Bearded Guest’s face. This made Yun Ye very suspicious about the relationship between these three people. Li Jing said he was the eldest, but listening to Hong Fu, it didn’t sound like that. Could it be that…
Driving away filthy thoughts, he first needed to give the Bearded Guest enough stimulation. From the great battle just now, his mind seemed to have improved somewhat. Perhaps Cheng Chumo’s stool blow had contributed to this too.
Just after pouring medicinal juice down the Bearded Guest’s throat, Yun Ye discovered the tendons on his wrists were twitching. Damn it, this was the best test subject—good resistance, strong drug tolerance, fierce will to survive. Most rare was that his body was large enough to test maximum drug dosages. If Sun Simiao saw him, he’d definitely be very happy. The problem was, bringing this fellow back to test medicines would get his whole family killed by Li Jing. Thinking about it, better forget it.
“Since you’re awake, speak. Don’t test me. Those two people who were good to you have already been killed by me. Now I’m going to operate on you. How about it? Want me to give you some time to recall the past? So you won’t be a confused ghost when you meet the King of Hell.”
“Despicable! You’re a disgrace to martial artists. Once I break free, I’ll definitely tear you into ten thousand pieces.” The Bearded Guest was bound like a dumpling. Even turning his head was difficult. He could only look at the ceiling and gnash his teeth. He’d just tried—he didn’t know what was binding him. Very thin but extremely tough. With the slightest force, the silk threads cut into his flesh. Very vicious.
“What, unwilling to think? If you just tell me where the White Jade Capital is, I’ll let go those people who care for you. Listen, they’re outside. Several women are quite attractive. Taking them back to the mountains to enjoy properly is the right course of action.”
“They’re just a bunch of servants, not worth considering human. You want to kill them, go ahead. What’s it to me?”
“You’re thinking wrong. It’s not just servants, but also the descendants of those two people who were good to you. I heard they’re your relatives. You don’t remember, but they remember you. With that one sentence, one of their children just died.” Just as Yun Ye’s words fell, crying and pleading from children could be heard outside. Before two sentences were spoken, the pleading abruptly stopped, and a thick bloody smell drifted in.
Yun Ye took a long breath, seeming to greatly enjoy the bloody smell. Smiling at the Bearded Guest’s miserable face, he said, “Where is the White Jade Capital? How do you know about it? Did Tian Xiangzi tell you?”
“My head suffered severe trauma in the wind and waves. I don’t remember,” the Bearded Guest said with difficulty to Yun Ye.
“Not remembering won’t do. You will remember.” Having spoken, he picked up an adorable little girl and waved her before the Bearded Guest’s eyes. Taking the three or four-year-old girl’s chubby hand, he had her stroke the Bearded Guest’s cheek, then carried the little girl out. The sound of the little girl’s loud crying came from outside the room.
“Beast! Stop! Beast, you stop right now!” The Bearded Guest struggled desperately. The silk threads cut into his muscles, blood flowing down the threads in rivulets. He himself had forgotten his past in confusion, but that feeling similar to kinship couldn’t deceive him. He must have connections with those two people—perhaps they really were his relatives. Now these people were the last concerns in his lonely heart. How could he not be anxious?
The Bearded Guest smelled blood again. Risking being cut by the silk threads, he turned his head to see a silver platter holding a section of lotus-root-white tender arm, blood dripping from it, the small hand seemingly still moving. And that young devil was lying over the plate carefully smelling it, drooling, looking like he wanted to eat it.
Yun Ye wiped his drool. Steamed lotus root boxes drizzled with syrup—the taste was indeed quite good. He hadn’t eaten anything for almost a whole day. But important business took priority. He didn’t believe this still couldn’t awaken the Bearded Guest’s memories. Of course, he still needed to add a bit more into it.