The sword hall ruins were filled with broken walls and shattered tiles, black smoke and dust still rising in acrid plumes. Fierce flames burned everywhere, mixed with blood splattered across the ground—a scene torn straight from purgatory itself.
Xue Xianzi stood precariously on a collapsed eave, surveying the devastation with mild annoyance. "Looking for dead people is really troublesome. Sigh, but if I don't look, should I let those two become ghosts here? If they died and later blame me for not saving them when I could, coming to haunt me, that would be very bad indeed."
He broke off a tree branch and poked around in the rubble with the enthusiasm of someone hunting for misplaced keys, calling out in a drawn-out voice: "Little Chi Yun—Little Chi Yun—"
"Sigh, if you hadn't been busy sleeping and refusing to help, how could things have become so unmanageable?" Tang Lici arrived swiftly, his expression tightly controlled. "When you came, was it already like this?"
Xue Xianzi shrugged philosophically. "I'm not much faster than you. Once the explosives went off, naturally it became like this. If those two boys were really inside, well, those pieces scattered on the ground might be them."
Tang Lici's frown deepened as he pressed his hand to his abdomen, cold sweat appearing faintly on his forehead like morning dew. "Don't say anymore. Let's look for them. I believe Chi Yun and Shen Langhun wouldn't die so easily."
"Haha, if those two both died, there would be two fewer scoundrels harming the world—we should clap and celebrate," Xue Xianzi laughed with dark humor. "If you died too, I should go set off firecrackers."
Tang Lici managed a slight smile despite the pain. "A good name lasts only a hundred generations, but a bad reputation endures ten thousand years. Bad people are always hard to kill."
Xue Xianzi glanced sideways at his expression, noting the pallor beneath the composed facade. "You're uncomfortable?"
Tang Lici sighed heavily. "Mm… let's look for them."
The two searched through the ruins with increasing urgency. Initially there were still sounds of fighting at the Yu family sword manor—desperate men still fighting over those few scattered pill bottles. After a short while, perhaps the victor had been decided and Miss Hong and her people had already withdrawn into the shadows.
All around was quiet now, night gradually falling like a shroud, and everything from the day seemed like a fading nightmare.
"What are you two doing here?"
Suddenly someone in the air spoke with cold disdain. "Everyone's dead—why aren't you leaving?"
Xue Xianzi looked up sharply to see Chi Yun sitting coolly on a distant treetop, watching the two with the casual interest of a theater patron.
"Hey! We were worried about you two heartless little scoundrels. What happened in the sword hall just now? Are you both unharmed?"
Tang Lici stood up and looked at Chi Yun with a smile of genuine relief.
Chi Yun sat in the tree waving his hand dismissively. "Only third-rate mediocrities would be blown up by explosives, and only ninth-rate fools would look for people in ruins. That guy surnamed Shen left long ago. I kindly stayed to wait for you, otherwise I would have left too."
"What happened to Yu Qifeng?" Tang Lici held the bag of medicine bottles, asking with deceptive lightness. "Did you win?"
Chi Yun said coldly, "The outcome was undecided and never will be decided."
"He's dead?" Xue Xianzi asked with a laugh. "Did you kill him, or was he blown up by the explosives?"
Chi Yun said impatiently, "How would I know? He was shot with a needle by that guy surnamed Shen. Shen's needle was poisoned—how would I know if he was poisoned to death or blown up?"
Xue Xianzi made a thoughtful "mm" sound. "Shen Langhun's Shadow-Shooting Needle? With Yu Qifeng's skills, was he so easily ambushed?"
"Hehe, old Yu's 'West Wind Cuts Wild Fire' was truly formidable. Before his sword even moved, the sword energy had already shattered the roof beams. That guy surnamed Shen fell from above, giving him quite a shock, so I seized the chance to deliver my final strike. But the monk Puzhu recognized it was the guy surnamed Shen and swung his sword at him. Gu Xitan intervened to stop him, and the situation became completely chaotic. At the same time, Xiao Qilan inexplicably sent two spinning swords at old Yu. The guy surnamed Shen had long planned to shoot his poison needle at this moment, plus my strike—old Yu was struck by the needle and fell under the three-way assault."
Chi Yun recounted it all with cold detachment. "The others were fighting in complete chaos, not knowing what they were fighting about, so I left."
"Little Chi Yun, you truly understand my heart," Xue Xianzi praised with approval. "Shen Langhun was still in the house being chased and killed, and you just left?"
"If he would die from that, how would he be worth fifty thousand taels of gold? Is fifty thousand taels of gold so easy to earn?" Chi Yun rolled his eyes expressively. "I searched Yu's house from top to bottom but couldn't find any trace of my wife. Old ghost, where exactly did you see Bai Suche's carriage?"
"Maybe she withdrew with the others?" Xue Xianzi said, then launched into an elaborate critique. "Your wife is too tall, waist too thin, face too long, chest too small, distance between eyes and eyebrows too wide, distance between mouth and nose too long, ears too big, shoulders slanted, and her teeth aren't white enough…"
He continued eloquently, warming to his subject. "Not like that Miss Hong in the tower—oh my, that one with breath like orchids and person like chrysanthemums, absolutely flawless…"
"Old lecher!" Chi Yun trembled all over, grinding his teeth audibly. "How—do—you—know—her—so—well?"
Tang Lici smiled slightly, intervening before violence erupted. "That's the wonderful mystery of Snow Lord—not to be shared with outsiders." He patted Chi Yun's shoulder soothingly. "Let's go. As long as you're safe, that's good. We got the pills, the Yu family sword manor collapsed, Yu Qifeng is dead. Though not entirely satisfactory, today's affairs can be considered successful."
Chi Yun still pointed at Xue Xianzi accusingly, turning a deaf ear to Tang Lici's words. "Old lecher, if you don't explain clearly today, I absolutely won't let you off!"
Xue Xianzi cried "aiya" and laughed merrily. "Life's greatest love is ordinary things—appreciating flowers, moon, and beauties. Little Chi Yun, forget that ungrateful woman. Next time I'll introduce you to some truly virtuous and gentle girls who absolutely won't interfere when you travel the martial world, make friends, tour mountains and rivers, and enjoy romantic affairs, and who absolutely won't run away. How about that?"
He laughed and departed with practiced ease, his figure like a white beam flashing through the air before disappearing into the darkness.
Chi Yun jumped up and down in fury, cursing loudly at the empty air. "Who's infatuated with that woman? But she's nominally my woman—you can't touch my woman! To kill or beat her is my business, old lecher! Next time we meet, I'll serve you with One Ring Crossing Moon!"
Tang Lici patted his shoulder again, saying gently, "Alright, alright. Where did Shen Langhun go?"
"Back to the Cliff Well Manor inn," Chi Yun replied, still glowering in the direction Xue Xianzi had vanished. He glanced sideways at the package Tang Lici carried, suddenly snickering with dark amusement. "He said tonight he's going to burn down that broken temple at Cliff Well Manor."
Tang Lici's eyes lifted slightly in a half-smile. "Why?"
Chi Yun laughed loudly. "Because monks are the most detestable things in the world!"
Tang Lici smiled with casual acceptance. "Then let him burn it. After burning it, give the abbot fifty taels of gold to rebuild."
Chi Yun clicked his tongue in disbelief. "You're really strange. Sometimes you kill without blinking, sometimes you're hopelessly kind-hearted."
Tang Lici said gently, his voice carrying unexpected warmth, "Haven't seen Fengfeng all day—don't know how he is. Let's go back quickly."
The two returned to the Jingyun Inn at Cliff Well Manor. Shen Langhun was indeed already waiting in the room, as if he'd never left. That ordinary, unremarkable face was as usual, showing no sign of what thrilling battle he had just experienced—no dirt, no blood, no indication of having narrowly escaped death.
Two small dishes were placed on the table as he drank alone in contemplative silence.
Tang Lici lightly brushed his sleeves and sat beside him with practiced grace. "Brother Shen has fine spirits."
Shen Langhun said indifferently, "You flatter me."
He neither explained how he escaped from Master Puzhu's sword nor mentioned where he was during the explosion, as if nothing of consequence had happened.
Chi Yun rushed past them into the room where Fengfeng was crawling on the bed with determined baby energy. Seeing him enter, the baby opened his round eyes, pursed his mouth, and burst into loud crying—the wail of the truly abandoned and starving.
After not seeing him for most of the day, he was terribly hungry.
Chi Yun picked him up, and Fengfeng immediately bit down on his finger with impressive determination, tears in his eyes like peach blossoms with water droplets. "Wuu… wuu…"
Chi Yun winced and groaned quietly. He was used to being bitten by this little guy, who dared to bite anything despite having no teeth—truly worthy of being born in the year of the dog.
In the room, Tang Lici and Shen Langhun sat drinking together in companionable silence. Shen Langhun drank slowly with calm spirits, while Tang Lici's expression of pain between his brows grew progressively heavier, like storm clouds gathering.
After sitting quietly for a while, Shen Langhun suddenly asked with clinical detachment, "This is an old injury?"
Tang Lici closed his eyes and nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
Shen Langhun said, "May I try?"
Tang Lici smiled faintly and extended his hand. Shen Langhun placed three fingers of his left hand on his pulse point, paused briefly as he felt the rhythm, then frowned with genuine puzzlement.
Tang Lici smiled through the pain. "How is it?"
Shen Langhun said flatly, "Strange pulse—incomprehensible."
Chi Yun fed Fengfeng some sugar water and came out, collapsing into a chair and saying lazily, "Don't mind him. That guy surnamed Tang is probably just messing with you."
Shen Langhun took a measured sip of wine. "In a master's duel, having injuries is a fatal weakness. Since you've done today's deed, you should have plans. Don't you plan to heal your injury?"
"Have plans?" Tang Lici smiled enigmatically. "What plans?"
Shen Langhun said with perfect indifference, "Plans to be killed. In martial world careers, some claim to be of the dark path, some claim the righteous path—in the end it's nothing more than killing and being killed. Since you've done such great deeds as breaking the Yu family sword manor, forcing Yu Qifeng to death, and seizing the Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills, you should have plans for people to seek revenge, rob goods, frame and slander, or even silence witnesses."
Tang Lici said seriously, "Brother Shen's words are very reasonable."
He spoke these words with such unexpected gravity that Shen Langhun paused in surprise and fell silent, reassessing.
Chi Yun lay on the side saying coolly, "That guy surnamed Shen, just worry about yourself. In one year's time, following that Master Ali surnamed Tang, I think your fifty thousand taels of gold are in jeopardy—very likely to become compensation for your building master."
Shen Langhun closed his eyes without answering, neither confirming nor denying.
Tang Lici said gently, "Chi Yun, go get a cup of cold water."
Chi Yun lazily got up with exaggerated reluctance. "What for?"
Tang Lici took out two bottles of Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills from the seized package, pouring out one pill from each with deliberate care. Chi Yun brought a cup of cold water, watching with curious suspicion. Tang Lici put one pill into the cold water and one into his own wine cup.
After a moment, the pill in the wine cup dissolved completely while the one in cold water only slightly dissolved, the difference stark and telling.
Tang Lici lifted the cup and shook it until the pill dissolved fully. Shen Langhun opened his eyes, and both he and Chi Yun looked at Tang Lici in growing astonishment, wondering if this person was performing magic tricks.
Indeed…
Tang Lici stared intently at the wine cup with the dissolved pill for a long time, his expression unreadable—then suddenly picked it up and took a shallow sip.
Chi Yun and Shen Langhun were instantly shocked into action.
Both moved like wind—one intercepting his arm, one pressing his shoulder—but both missed as Tang Lici had already swallowed that mouthful of wine mixed with the pill, the liquid sliding down his throat with finality.
Chi Yun angrily demanded, "What are you doing?"
Shen Langhun also changed color dramatically. If this medicine was poisonous after drinking, wouldn't life be worse than death?
Tang Lici set down the wine cup with careful precision, his tongue tip lightly licking his lips. "Indeed it's him."
"Who is it? Why did you drink that medicine?" Chi Yun grabbed his wrist with bruising force. "Are you seeking death?"
Tang Lici smiled slightly, almost peacefully. "I told you about this medicine's properties—haven't you ever found it strange, Chi Yun, why I'm so knowledgeable about this medicine?"
Chi Yun was stunned. "You…"
Shen Langhun's eyes moved, light flashing intensely like sparks catching. "Could it be you—"
Tang Lici said calmly, "I first took this medicine when I was eleven, and by thirteen I was sick of eating it."
Chi Yun said with dawning horror, "When you were thirteen? Damn it, Ali, what kind of place were you born in? How could there be such a hellish medicine?"
Shen Langhun's eyes blazed brighter with questions. Tang Lici's background was mysterious—why could he take Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills and still not die? Had he been taking them all along?
"When this medicine takes effect, it makes life worse than death, but if your life is hard enough and you're cruel enough to yourself, if you endure that period, three to five years later you're still a good person," Tang Lici said with the detachment of someone recounting another's story. "It's just that most people can't bear that kind of pain and would rather commit suicide. I…"
He paused and sighed heavily. "When I was eleven, I ate it for fun. By thirteen, I was deeply poisoned. To break free from this medicine's toxicity wasn't easy. But at that time I had three good friends, one of whom was skilled in neutralizing poisons. He helped me detoxify, and after a year, I was no longer controlled by this medicine."
Tang Lici's tone gradually changed from gentle to flat, like a pearl slowly turning to ash. "We had a very good relationship. He was a good person. In my youth I acted recklessly, doing countless despicable and shameless things. All my relatives and friends were disappointed in me, but he didn't give up on me… He said: 'Your desire for control is too strong, you don't distinguish between enemy and friend. You must change and become a good person.' Unfortunately, I still disappointed him. Tang Lici was born with a cruel heart and violent methods. Three years ago I had Fang Zhou practice the Merit Transfer Method, causing Fang Zhou's death in exchange for supreme martial arts for me. That incident disappointed him completely. He left in rage and has hated me to the bone ever since…"
Chi Yun snorted dismissively. "Those who should die will always die. Even if you hadn't made him practice the Merit Transfer Method, wouldn't he still have died?"
Shen Langhun said indifferently, "If it were your brother seriously ill and dying, could you really be heartless enough to teach him some fatal martial arts and profit from a dying person?"
Chi Yun closed his eyes, thought for a long while, and sighed with rare honesty. "I'd probably think that way too. But to actually do it, I couldn't—though I'm of the dark path, the dark path has its own sense of honor. I wouldn't do such a thing that destroys one's conscience."
Shen Langhun said quietly, "Neither would I."
Chi Yun snickered mockingly. "This shows Young Master Tang's exceptional cunning and sophistication, though it's not something that would bring down heavenly thunder."
Tang Lici smiled without offense. "Much obliged for the praise."
Shen Langhun took another sip of wine, his expression remaining carefully neutral. "This good friend who hates you to the bone knows how to neutralize Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills. You want to find this friend's whereabouts, so you investigate the Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills… But what Shen doesn't understand is—why are you investigating the enemy side rather than the friendly side?"
If the person who knew how to neutralize poison should be on the righteous side, why was Tang Lici desperately investigating Fengliu Shop, the poison-making side?
Shen Langhun's eyes shone extremely brightly with dawning comprehension. "Could it be you suspect—"
"Correct!" Tang Lici's tone suddenly became gentle, almost tender. "The Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills aren't exactly the same as the medicine I took back then, but I suspect they contain components of that medicine. Now it's confirmed to be so. In today's world, besides him, no one knows how to manufacture this poison."
He smiled with strange lightness. "Those who knew how to manufacture this poison all died completely in my thirteenth year. When I say this, you should believe there's absolutely no doubt."
When Tang Lici spoke the words "died completely," who would dare say it wasn't so? Unless he had ground people's bones to dust and made them die miserably, he wouldn't speak these four words with such certainty.
Chi Yun and Shen Langhun looked at each other, a silent understanding passing between them.
Chi Yun spat with disgust. "You mean the mastermind now manufacturing Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills and harming countless people is that good friend who told you to be a good person? What the hell is that?"
"Yes…" Tang Lici's eyelids drooped slightly, a half-smiling, half-joyful expression showing through—something almost like pain masked as pleasure. "Though based on the him I knew, it's impossible, but Tang Lici acts only on possibilities, not reason—worldly affairs have infinite possibilities, and human nature is even more elusive and hard to believe."
Shen Langhun frowned deeply. "What's your good friend's name?"
Tang Lici pushed away the poisoned wine and lifted the wine bottle to take a large gulp, smiling shallowly. "I don't know what name he goes by—he changed his name years ago."
Shen Langhun asked with studied indifference, "Since he hates you to the bone, what are you looking for him for?"
Tang Lici closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, the picture of exhausted elegance. "I want to tell him something, hoping he won't hate me anymore in the future."
"What thing?" Chi Yun asked lazily. "Are you going to give him Wanqiao Studio's tens of millions in gold? Money can make ghosts push millstones…"
Tang Lici said quietly, "No, I want to tell him Fang Zhou isn't dead."
At these words, Shen Langhun's color changed dramatically. "How is that possible? Under the Merit Transfer Method, how could the person not die? After transferring power, when dispersing energy, the remaining true energy from the Rebirth Manual rushes back to the heart—the heart vessels must shatter and cause death. How could he not be dead?"
Tang Lici's lips curved slightly, still with that half-smiling, half-joyful expression that didn't reach his eyes. "Yes… but Fang Zhou originally had a heart injury with damage above his left heart that couldn't heal, which caused his critical condition. When dispersing energy, the true energy rushed out through the damaged wound without exploding his heart, and I… and I…"
He pressed his hand to his abdomen and smiled with terrible gentleness. "I dug out his heart and buried it in my abdomen, connecting it to my blood vessels to keep his damaged heart alive, while Fang Zhou's heartless body was immersed in ice springs. When his heart healed, I would return his heart to him, and he wouldn't die."
His expression was gentle, looking at his fingers with extreme attachment, as if seeing something precious there. "If Fang Zhou hadn't practiced the Merit Transfer Method, there wouldn't have been this thread of hope. The remaining true energy from the Rebirth Manual was strong and fierce, replacing the heart to pump blood and delaying his death time, allowing me to perform the heart burial. As for the ice springs, I had prepared them long ago. After immersion in ice springs, blood and breath instantly stopped. As long as we found a good doctor and waited for the heart to heal, there was hope of saving his life."
Chi Yun and Shen Langhun looked at each other in stunned disbelief.
Digging out a person's heart, burying it in one's own abdomen, providing blood and breath for it to heal itself, then using ice springs to save the person—it was simply incredible, almost like crazy talk, complete nonsense!
Chi Yun said bluntly, "You're insane!"
Though Shen Langhun said nothing, his expression clearly conveyed: You're insane.
Tang Lici's left hand moved with hypnotic grace, slowly sliding along his cheek into his hair. The jade-like fingers and ash-bright hair color created an elegant and gentle beauty, but also an otherworldly and enchanting charm that felt distinctly inhuman.
"I just wanted to save someone. Even if heaven destined him to die, I wouldn't allow it… If I don't allow it, gods are powerless, ghosts are powerless… I can do anything."
He spoke sentence by sentence in gentle tones, making listeners' hair stand on end inch by inch.
Shen Langhun said quietly, "You—" He paused and didn't continue, uncertain what words could possibly suffice.
Chi Yun snorted with grudging respect. "You're just more sinister, vicious, and unscrupulous than all the big and small demons in the martial world. Congratulations—you're the world's number one schemer, the world's number one evil, the world's number one cruel!"
Tang Lici smiled slightly with evident satisfaction. "Much obliged, much obliged. I'm telling you this so that in the future, if the Central Plains Sword Association comes seeking revenge, Fengliu Shop comes to silence witnesses, and so on, you two must keep me safe and sound."
Chi Yun looked up at the sky with exasperation. "Doesn't a certain someone claim to have supreme martial arts, the world's number one? Why need my protection?"
Tang Lici refined and elegantly brushed his sleeves, lifted the wine pot for another drink, and said with perfect leisure, "Because you each have one life on your bodies, while I have two lives on mine."
The two looked at each other in dawning comprehension.
Chi Yun spat forcefully. "Damn it, I won't do it!"
"After the Yu family sword manor affair, what do you plan to do?" Shen Langhun's cup was empty, but the wine pot was in Tang Lici's hands, so he had to stop drinking and wait. "Do you only want to find your old friend and renew old feelings, or do you truly want to annihilate Fengliu Shop and destroy this harmful medicine for the martial world's people?"
Tang Lici poured him a cup of wine with careful attention and smiled slightly. "At this point, I'm for martial world justice and people's peace. My old friend and old feelings are part of people's peace."
He spoke grandly, with the conviction of a righteous hero.
Shen Langhun frowned slightly, and Chi Yun immediately exposed him with brutal honesty. "Hmph, old friends and old feelings are people's peace—in the end you're still doing it for your own affairs, not for any martial world justice."
Tang Lici said with mock indignation, "You're extremely clever, but not everyone is as without aspirations as you. Don't use a petty person's heart to judge a gentleman's stomach."
Chi Yun choked. "Cough cough… you're a gentleman…"
Tang Lici smiled serenely. "Naturally. Sitting unmoved before Miss Hong's beauty—naturally a gentleman."
Chi Yun jumped up to punch Tang Lici with genuine intent. Tang Lici didn't dodge or avoid, simply waiting. Chi Yun's fist stopped mid-way, trembling with restraint. "I'm going to feed Fengfeng rice soup!"
He turned and left abruptly.
Tang Lici remained calm, drinking wine as if nothing had happened.
Shen Langhun asked with studied indifference, "Why didn't he hit?"
The meaning of this question was clear: Tang Lici indeed deserved hitting.
Tang Lici lay down comfortably and gently blew out a breath of wine vapor to the air. "After today's battle, Chi Yun searched the entire Yu family sword manor and his hands are too dirty. If he hit me, he'd still have to wash the clothes."
Shen Langhun stared for a long while, said nothing more, and closed his eyes to rest, giving up on understanding Tang Lici's logic.
After a moment, the inn's servant brought wine and dishes. Several people chewed slowly, carefully tasting the dishes' flavors with the appreciation of connoisseurs.
Before the wine had gone three rounds, Shen Langhun's right ear twitched subtly. "Someone's coming."
Chi Yun stopped his chopsticks to listen carefully. After a while, he heard faint footsteps and grinned with anticipation. "Assassins are indeed assassins."
Tang Lici picked up a piece of tofu with delicate precision. "Guess who's coming?"
Chi Yun lazily opened the wine pot lid to drink. "Such light footsteps—definitely a martial artist."
Shen Langhun said with certainty, "A woman!"
Tang Lici's bone-washing silver bracelet gleamed in the lamplight as his right fingertip lightly rubbed the bracelet's surface patterns. "It's Miss Zhong."
As soon as he spoke, someone knocked gently at the door with perfect timing.
Tang Lici smiled. "Please enter, Miss Zhong."
The door opened, and the person outside was indeed Zhong Chunji. Hearing this, she was visibly surprised. "How did Young Master Tang know it was me?"
Tang Lici said simply, "Because of your master Xue Xianzi."
He said only seven words, and Zhong Chunji's face reddened with embarrassment. "Young Master Tang is truly master's intimate friend."
Shen Langhun and Chi Yun naturally didn't understand the subtext. They didn't know that Xue Xianzi's greatest love in life was appreciating flowers and beauties, and Zhong Chunji happened to be a great beauty. If he brought this well-behaved disciple along, what beauty would be willing to chat intimately with Xue Xianzi and engage in romantic affairs? So Xue Xianzi always avoided this disciple like the plague.
After escaping from the Yu family sword manor and encountering Zhong Chunji who had come looking for her master, he quickly directed her to the Jingyun Inn at Cliff Well Manor, saying the culprit who blew up the Yu family sword manor and killed Yu Qifeng was here, telling her to bring Gu Xitan to enforce heavenly justice—anything so long as Zhong Chunji didn't follow him.
"I heard Young Master Tang broke the Yu family sword manor?" Zhong Chunji heard of this earth-shaking event but showed little shock, instead looking somewhat worried. "Actually, I came with Brother Gu Xitan, but we encountered some delays on the road. Brother Gu and Master Puzhu also felt Yu the Sword King was suspicious, but Young Master Tang blew up the Yu family sword manor and killed Yu Qifeng—hasn't this cut off the clues and left no evidence? How can we convince the world's heroes that the Central Plains Sword Association's Sword King was the villain selling Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills? How can the Central Plains Sword Association let this go? The lives of Shi Tinghe and Yu Qifeng, both heroes, will surely cause a great uproar. Who knows how many will come seeking revenge."
Tang Lici smiled slightly, unbothered. "So what if we convince the world's heroes that Yu Qifeng sold forbidden medicine?"
Zhong Chunji was stunned by this casual dismissal.
Chi Yun tossed a piece of mutton in his mouth and said coolly, "Whether the world's bastards believe it or not, to eliminate the Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills, we just need to kill, kill, kill, kill, kill. Kill whoever sells it, keep killing until we reach the bastard who makes the medicine, and the matter will be settled. Of course, the faster we kill, the better—the faster we kill, the fewer people get harmed."
Zhong Chunji's delicate brows furrowed with distress. "But how do you know you won't wrongly kill innocents?"
Chi Yun said with perfect cold logic, "Little girl, if we're slow, more people will take this medicine—aren't they innocent?"
Zhong Chunji was stunned again into silence. Clearly Chi Yun was speaking nonsense, but she didn't know how to refute it.
"Brother Gu and Master Puzhu are at Luan Meigang three li away. Brother Xiao helped you and was severely injured by Yu Qifeng."
Chi Yun said coldly, "Who told him to overestimate himself? Who asked him to help?"
Zhong Chunji showed genuine anger. "You—"
Tang Lici intervened smoothly, "Hero Xiao probably helped because his family's disciples privately took forbidden medicine, causing bad influence. Seeing you challenge Yu the Sword King, he helped you. Chi Yun, you should visit to express thanks."
Ignoring Chi Yun's disdainful expression, he smiled slightly at Zhong Chunji. "Since everyone's at Luan Meigang, let's go meet them and see if we can help with Hero Xiao's injuries."
Zhong Chunji thought Tang Lici was much more refined and reasonable than his book boy, and couldn't help smiling at him with warmth. "If we could have Young Master Tang's help, it would truly be a blessing for the martial world."
Tang Lici said gently, "Miss is too kind."
Shen Langhun remained silent throughout the exchange. Hearing Tang Lici say they were going to Luan Meigang, he suddenly moved like a shadow given substance. Zhong Chunji only felt wind brush her face as Shen Langhun entered and exited the room in a blur, carrying Fengfeng out with practiced efficiency.
He said indifferently, "Let's go."
Zhong Chunji glanced at Tang Lici, her face inexplicably reddening, thinking how this person could make the martial world's strongest assassin carry a child. If it were Yuedan… sigh, if it were Yuedan, he would probably keep the child in his arms at all times…
Her thoughts scattered for a moment before she sighed softly. "Let's go, I'll lead the way."
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