Behind her stood a tall, slender young man in red, carrying the bloodline of a divine beast, yet bowing and scraping before a human cultivator.
Sang Dai hadn’t seen Shi Yao for a long time. The last time they met was during that great battle, which had been over four months ago.
The sword cultivator’s face was cold as ever, while Shi Yao covered her mouth, softly coughing twice, yet still maintained her smile.
“Sister Sang, I’ve been waiting for you for so long.”
—
The City Lord’s Manor was silent and still. Tonight, the moonlight was sparse and dim. After parting ways with Sang Dai, Su Xuan quickly made his way to the manor.
The nine-tailed fox stood high above, lowering his gaze to look at the dimly lit and silent City Lord’s Manor.
His silver hair danced in the night breeze, the wind making his black robes flutter noisily.
To him, the guards of the manor posed no challenge. Su Xuan had a rough idea of where Wu Hanshu might be. Without exploring elsewhere, he headed directly southeast.
The bamboo forest was pitch black. Su Xuan moved swiftly through it, arriving at the stone chamber at the end of the grove, where the formation had already been destroyed by Sang Dai.
Without needing to break any array, Su Xuan stood outside the stone chamber.
The stone chamber was small, and from the doorway, Su Xuan could see everything inside. Three murals hung on the walls, and apart from the paintings, there was only one person in the room.
He was seated on the ground, looking up at the murals. Scattered around him were more than ten empty wine bottles, evidence that he had been drinking for two days. Even from outside, Su Xuan could smell the alcohol on him.
Su Xuan did not enter but stood with his hands behind his back, waiting outside the stone chamber.
He knew that Wu Hanshu was already aware of his presence.
The man inside continued drinking. Su Xuan leaned slightly against the stone doorway, tilting his head to observe the three murals.
Besides Wu Hanshu, Su Xuan had never met the other five people in the paintings—Sang Dai’s parents, Tan Huai’s parents, and Ying Heng. They were figures he had only heard about in the stories of others.
His gaze landed on the purple-clad youth and the green-robed woman. Sang Dai resembled both of them greatly, while the aura around her was similar to that of Ying Heng.
“Do you recognize them?”
The voice of the man seated inside, long steeped in alcohol, sounded slowly.
Su Xuan replied coldly, “No.”
“And the woman who came here that night—does she know them?”
“Yes.” Su Xuan’s voice was succinct.
So, he remembered that night. He remembered Sang Dai had been here.
Wu Hanshu was silent for a while, finishing the wine in his hands and setting the bottle on the ground.
He looked up at the purple-clad youth and green-robed woman in the mural, letting out a soft laugh. “She really does look like them…”
“Her eyes and brows resemble Ah Xuan, but her facial contours are like Bai Yu. Particularly so—she has Ah Xuan’s gentleness and Bai Yu’s resilience.”
Su Xuan’s tone remained indifferent. “What is your relationship with the two people in the mural?”
Wu Hanshu opened another bottle of wine and answered softly, “Just ordinary friends.”
Su Xuan laughed instead. “Ordinary friends wouldn’t enshrine each other’s portraits like this, wouldn’t create a stone chamber in the City Lord’s Manor and set up a formation just to protect a few murals.”
Wu Hanshu didn’t turn to look at Su Xuan, replying in a low voice, “That’s right… I don’t even dare to tell others we were friends.”
Su Xuan folded his arms and leaned against the doorway. The stone chamber was dimly lit by a few candles, their light casting flickering shadows.
He was in a hurry to find Sang Dai and had no patience for Wu Hanshu’s musings. “Speak—about the disappearance of rogue cultivators in Linglong Town, the identity of the one behind it, and the events of the Heroes Conference back then.”
He fired off several questions at once. Wu Hanshu froze, lowering his head as though lost in thought.
Su Xuan waited nearly a quarter-hour, yet Wu Hanshu still hadn’t spoken. The small fox frowned, his impatience evident.
“Wu Hanshu, this lord doesn’t want to waste words with you. You’d better speak up honestly.”
“And if I don’t?”
“This lord will beat it out of you.”
The six people in the mural—Su Xuan respected Ying Heng Immortal Lord because he was Sang Dai’s master. He respected Weisheng Xuan and Bai Yu Immortal Lord because they were Sang Dai’s parents.
As for the others, they had no connection to Sang Dai, and Su Xuan himself wasn’t particularly polite by nature.
Wu Hanshu chuckled a few times and propped himself up. Having drunk too much, his steps were unsteady as he turned around.
Su Xuan had not disguised himself. He still looked the same as when Wu Hanshu saw him during the day, except his black hair had returned to its original silver color.
From that head of silver hair, Wu Hanshu immediately recognized Su Xuan’s identity.
His face was flushed, his gaze somewhat unfocused. When he saw Su Xuan, he raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly. “What brings the Beast King himself to my humble abode?”
He hiccupped, and Su Xuan immediately took a few steps back, frowning with a look of utter disdain.
Wu Hanshu covered his mouth. “Apologies, I drank too much…”
Su Xuan grew more impatient. “Wu Hanshu, are you going to speak or not?”
Wu Hanshu smiled lazily. “You’re the Beast King… so the woman who came that night must have been the Sword Sect’s Sang Dai. It’s now known across the Four Realms that Beast King Su Xuan has married Sword Sect’s Sang Dai, the two Heaven-grade spiritual root awakeners becoming Dao companions.”
Su Xuan didn’t respond, his silence signaling confirmation.
Wu Hanshu’s expression turned dazed, and his voice softened. “Sang Dai… she’s Ying Heng Immortal Lord’s disciple. Ying Heng never took disciples, and she looks so much like Ah Xuan and Bai Yu. So she… she really is Ah Xuan and Bai Yu’s child…”
Ying Heng, who had never taken a disciple, had willingly taken Sang Dai under his wing—a three-year-old toddler—and personally raised her.
Wu Hanshu covered his eyes, letting out a muffled laugh. “So they did leave behind a bloodline… I never knew. I was there during the great battle, yet I abandoned Sang Dai… I thought she was just a disciple of the Sword Sect…”
“I didn’t know. I really didn’t know she was Ah Xuan and Bai Yu’s child… If I had known, how could I have abandoned her?”
Su Xuan asked coldly, “Do you regret it? Do you feel guilty?”
Wu Hanshu murmured, “I regret it… I wronged her… She’s Ah Xuan and Bai Yu’s child. How could I have abandoned her like everyone else…”
Su Xuan sneered. To him, Wu Hanshu’s remorse seemed nothing more than posturing. He had no patience left for the man’s theatrics. In a cold voice, he said, “She came to investigate the events of the past. If you feel guilty, then tell this lord everything. If you don’t, this lord will dismantle the City Lord’s Manor and beat it out of you.”
Wu Hanshu sighed. “The Beast King truly lives up to his reputation—hot-tempered and fond of fighting.”
Su Xuan looked visibly irritated. Before coming, Sang Dai had already told him not to concern himself with pleasantries. Wu Hanshu might have been Ying Heng and her parents’ friend, but he had no connection to her. If he refused to speak, Su Xuan could use harsher methods.
Noticing that the fox’s Hellfire was already flickering around him, Wu Hanshu laughed loudly, picking up an unopened jug of wine from the ground and offering it to Su Xuan.
“Why not have a few drinks, Beast King? Let’s sit down and talk properly.”
Su Xuan didn’t even glance at the wine jug. “No need. This lord doesn’t drink.”
Of course, this was a lie, and Wu Hanshu didn’t believe it for a second.
He sat cross-legged on the ground and casually uncorked the wine. “What do you want to know? Where should I start? From how we met at the Heroes Conference back then? From my cultivation progress? Or from the disappearances of rogue cultivators in Linglong Town?”
Su Xuan said coldly, “From the beginning to the end. Every word, without leaving a single detail.”
Wu Hanshu held the wine bottle, his gaze unfocused. “…You’re here, so where has Sang Dai gone?”
Before Su Xuan could answer, Wu Hanshu laughed to himself, “I’m speaking nonsense. If you’re here, Sang Dai must have gone to investigate the Chunying Sword… but that Chunying Sword is fake. Where is the real Chunying Sword, and who planted the fake one?”
Su Xuan pieced together something important. “You don’t know the person behind the Chunying Sword?”
“I don’t know more than you do.” Wu Hanshu raised his eyes to meet Su Xuan’s. One sitting, the other standing. “I only recently found out that the Chunying Sword was in the Ghost Market. When I arrived, I realized it was fake. As for the real Chunying Sword, I have no idea.”
Su Xuan’s brows furrowed tightly.
If Wu Hanshu had collaborated with the figure in black yet knew nothing about the Chunying Sword, then the fake sword wasn’t planted by that figure. This meant that another group was trying to lure Sang Dai to the Ghost Market.
Could it be…
The small fox’s face darkened instantly.
It was Shi Yao.
The one who used the Chunying Sword to lure Sang Dai to Manxiang Pavilion was Shi Yao. He should have guessed earlier.
Rumors said that the Ghost Market was controlled by a certain family in the Youyun region, and Madam Shi’s family was precisely the largest family in Youyun. The Shi family’s influence was immense yet concealed. Even though Madam Shi was involved in the disciple sacrifice incident and had been convicted by the Immortal Alliance, the Shi family still managed to protect her. Who knew how many spirit stones they had slipped into the hands of certain elders in the Immortal Alliance behind the scenes.
Su Xuan instinctively wanted to rush off to find Sang Dai. Just as he turned, Wu Hanshu’s voice stopped him.
“Beast King, even if there are ambushes in the Ghost Market, your wife can handle herself for a while. But what I’m about to say, I might not be able to say later.”
Su Xuan turned sharply, looking back.
Black blood seeped from Wu Hanshu’s lips, and dark veins climbed up his neck.
His life force was draining rapidly, yet he still smiled. “Beast King, do you know what the Four Sufferings truly are?”
“The Four Sufferings poison, Guixu’s destruction.”
“The poison of the Four Sufferings can kill all of us—everyone except Sang Dai.”
—
Huiqing Mountain was a hundred miles away from Linglong Town. Its terrain wasn’t high but was treacherous.
Once again, Ying Heng rolled down the mountain path, thorns piercing through his legs. Blood soaked his white robes, but he felt no pain, as if it didn’t matter.
Chunying told him there was a vine to his left. If he grabbed onto it, he could climb back up.
Ying Heng painstakingly crawled back up, groping for the branch he used to probe his way forward.
The white-robed sword cultivator was utterly disheveled, without a trace of his former neatness.
He conversed with Chunying within his spiritual sea.
At first, Chunying simply guided him, speaking sparingly, much like Zhiyu.
But when Ying Heng fell into the gorge once again, this time without any footholds to climb, he attempted to ascend multiple times, only to fall back down.
Exhausted, he sat on a boulder to gather his strength.
Suddenly, the Chunying Sword spoke. “Master.”
Ying Heng responded blankly, “Chunying, is there still a path nearby?”
Chunying didn’t answer his question.
It seemed to have sensed something, falling silent for a long while.
Ying Heng, familiar with Chunying’s temperament, seemed to realize something. The hand resting on his knee unconsciously tightened.
“Chunying… what did you sense?”
Ying Heng couldn’t hear anything—no wind, no chirping cicadas, no rustling leaves. To him, it was all an endless void of silence.
He could only communicate with the outside world through his spiritual sea.
The sword spirit within his spiritual sea told him, “Dai Dai has come.”
At first, Ying Heng was utterly confused.
His voice was hoarse. “…What did you say?”
“Dai Dai has come. I can sense the Zhiyu Sword. Zhiyu’s sword spirit is trying to contact me, but I am currently trapped within a barrier and cannot reach it.”
Chunying, bound to Ying Heng through their master-servant contract, could communicate with him across vast distances. However, it could not directly connect with Zhiyu, with which it shared no such contract.
It could receive Zhiyu’s messages but could not respond to them.
Ying Heng’s voice trembled. “Dai Dai… where is Dai Dai?”
“We are currently in Youyun City. Dai Dai is… surrounded and under attack.”
Ying Heng suddenly stood, scrambling upward.
It was as if a surge of strength had overtaken him. Grabbing the rocks nearby, he climbed upward with all his might.
He fell several times but finally, with great effort, reached the top.
Standing, Ying Heng hurried down the mountain.
He couldn’t see anything and could only rely on Chunying’s guidance.
Chunying said, “Dai Dai has come looking for me.”
Ying Heng’s breath quivered. “I’ll go find you.”
“I’ll go find Dai Dai.”
“Chunying, I’ll come for you both.”