“…”
Xu Songhe looked up in disbelief, her mind replaying his words.
Good heavens, why does the plot keep taking such a wild turn? she wondered.
Can I not have a single day of peace?
She pulled Qi Wuyang’s hand and stepped back, glaring warily at A-Fang. “Don’t you go spreading lies. Young Master Qi and I were only helping Shopkeeper Yu tidy up the pharmacy. We didn’t touch anything else!”
A-Fang’s expression turned strangely bewildered. “I only told the Shopkeeper the medicine was missing. I never said you stole it.”
Yu Baisui’s expression darkened. He strode toward the counter, his hand sweeping through the air. A glowing disc materialized, floating before them.
“No one is to be accused until we have the facts,” he said, slowly turning his wrist.
A notch appeared in the center of the disc. “A-Fang, go and summon everyone from town who visited the pharmacy today. We’ll see who touched this.”
“Yes, sir,” A-Fang replied, and immediately set off.
As A-Fang’s figure quickly vanished, Xu Songhe’s heart gave a heavy thud. She glanced up at the young man beside her.
His expression remained impassive, as if facing a trivial matter, and her unease subsided slightly.
What was that thing Yu Baisui just conjured? Why is he summoning everyone who visited today?
“Young Master,” she asked tentatively, “what was that object he was holding?”
“Perhaps a formation designed to capture residual auras,” Qi Wuyang replied, his gaze dropping to her, his tone lazy. “What’s the matter? Are you afraid?”
“It’s not like I did it,” she countered. “Why should I be afraid?”
After a moment’s thought, she added, “Of course, I know you didn’t do it either. We have nothing to hide. If he wants to investigate, let him.”
In truth, she was still uneasy. Though the missing medicine had nothing to do with them, what were the odds of such a coincidence? She and Yu Baisui had no grudge—surely he wouldn’t stoop to such a frame-up?
Still, I’m glad to have a powerhouse by my side, she thought. The system described him as being able to take on a hundred foes alone. Why should I fear a mere Yu Baisui?
Xu Songhe felt more at ease now. After calming herself down, she looked up only to meet the young man’s dark eyes, which were studying her with curiosity.
“What… What are you looking at me like that for?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he simply let his gaze drift away from her face, settling on something else.
What a strange person, she thought. How did he recover from his fear so quickly? And here I was, trying to comfort him when I was the one who had been scared.
Qi Wuyang narrowed his eyes slightly, sizing her up.
He had never met anyone so bad at hiding their emotions. It was as if he could read every one of her thoughts just by watching the slightest change in her expression.
“Shopkeeper, I’m back—”
A-Fang’s breathless voice broke the subtle tension between them.
Xu Songhe turned around to see a massive crowd approaching like a dark cloud. There was no need to count them—this was clearly far more people than the small group that had come seeking medical help earlier.
Good lord, has practically the whole town turned out?
The winter sun cast a weak glow on the crowd’s faces, offering no warmth. Instead, their features were twisted with rage.
Some shook their fists, screaming at the top of their lungs, “Who has the guts to steal from the Shopkeeper? Drag him out! I’ll skin him alive!”
These words instantly ignited the crowd. A wave of curses and angry shouts surged toward them like a tide.
Xu Songhe rubbed her temples, her head throbbing.
Yu Baisui, who had just entered the pharmacy, returned to the steps after hearing the commotion. His expression was one of profound grief. He stood there, his gaze sweeping over the incensed crowd below.
After several heavy sighs, he finally parted his thick lips to speak under the scrutiny of a hundred eyes.
The crowd fell silent, holding their breath.
Xu Songhe turned toward him, watching intently to see what he would say.
“We’ve all known each other for a long time,” Yu Baisui began, his voice laced with a carefully crafted weariness. “As a physician dedicated to healing the world, I never cared for material possessions. I could have simply worked a few more sleepless nights; there is no medicine I cannot brew.”
He broke into a violent coughing fit, the wrinkles on his face bunching together in a mask of indignation and grief.
His voice trembled as he continued, “But what I never expected… what I never could have imagined… was that someone would be so malicious, so vile, as to put poison—poison into those life-saving medicines!”
“Poison?!”
The word struck the crowd like a thunderclap. Faces paled, and people exchanged stunned glances. A wave of panic swept through the air, followed by a dead silence so profound that even the sound of breathing was audible.
Xu Songhe’s eyes widened as she looked up at him, her eyelid twitching uncontrollably. A chill raced up her spine, from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head.
How did this turn into a poisoning case? she thought. You can’t just throw around accusations about life and death like that!
The brief silence shattered. The crowd erupted like a firework, their faces a kaleidoscope of disbelief, suspicion, and, most of all, the primal, deep-seated fear of death.
“We’ve always gotten along peacefully, never causing trouble for anyone! Who could be so vicious as to destroy this peace and try to kill us all?” a woman cried out, her voice choked with sobs as she clung to her child, as if seeking some shred of security.
Others looked at Yu Baisui as if he were their last hope, their faces etched with desperate pleading. “Shopkeeper, is the poison hard to cure? You’re our only hope now… we… we don’t want to die!”
“Everyone, please, calm down. There is no need to panic,” Yu Baisui said, raising his hands and pressing them down to signal for silence.
His gaze flickered casually toward Xu Songhe and Qi Wuyang, who were standing isolated to the side.
“I, Yu Baisui, will never stand by and watch you all lose your lives,” he continued, his tone turning suddenly grave. “But… someone with an evil heart and ruthless methods has infiltrated our ranks. If we don’t root this person out, they will be a constant threat to us all. We won’t be able to sleep or eat in peace!”
“He’s right! We have to catch them!”
“The Shopkeeper is right! We can’t let them get away!”
“Shopkeeper, can you catch the villain?” the crowd shouted, their voices filled with agitation.
Yu Baisui chuckled softly.
With a flick of his wrist, the same circular tray from before reappeared in the air. Several wisps of colored gas slowly flowed out from the gap in its center, writhing and dancing in the air like countless tentacles.
He cleared his throat and spoke with a grave expression. “I set up this formation earlier to prevent such an incident. Though small, it can capture the aura of anyone who touches it. Now, I’m releasing the wisps. Everyone, please stay where you are. Whoever they latch onto is the last person who touched the pills.”
Xu Songhe stared, momentarily forgetting her tension. She watched the rainbow-colored wisps floating in the air with curiosity.
This place actually has such advanced magic? Isn’t this just like how the police collect fingerprints to catch thieves?
Yu Baisui’s intense focus on the wisps’ movements made her nervous again.
It seems my earlier worries were completely unnecessary, she thought. Yu Baisui probably isn’t trying to frame us. He has no reason to, and if he really wanted to, why would he go to the trouble of setting up a formation?
Xu Songhe stepped aside, clutching the rabbit in her arms. She watched, waiting to see who the wisps would target.
No matter who it is, she thought, at least we’re cleared.
But before she could even feel relieved, the rainbow-colored wisps began to converge, drifting steadily toward them.
Xu Songhe glanced behind her. There was no one else there.
“…?”
“Are they coming for us?”
Qi Wuyang remained calm. He raised his hand, letting the wisps coil around his wrist before they vanished into the air.
He glanced down at the townspeople, whose expressions had shifted from shock to fury. A cold smile touched his lips. “To be precise, they’re coming for me.”
Yu Baisui’s face transformed.
His eyes widened as he pointed a trembling finger at Qi Wuyang, his voice shaking with rage. “You… how could you be so vicious? I saved you from freezing to death in the snow, and this is how you repay me? By trying to murder them? And then… then you dare try to frame me?”
His words ignited the crowd.
“He’s right!” they roared, shaking their fists. “Our Shopkeeper saved you out of the kindness of his heart, yet your heart is so black! To harm us is one thing, but to try and shift the blame onto Shopkeeper Yu? You deserve a thousand deaths!”
The young man raised his gaze, his eyes cold. The figures of the angry crowd began to blur and distort, their forms overlapping with another group of people from a different time and place.
The reflections of nearby trees flickered past like ghosts. On the ground, several corpses lay scattered in disarray, their blood long since dried into the cracked, dusty earth.
The group of figures in black daoist robes stumbled back, forced into retreat. In the darkness, countless sword flashes crisscrossed before they all converged, their points aimed at a single target.
“Qi Wuyang!” The lead Daoist roared, his face contorted, his long beard bristling.
His voice echoed sharply through the desolate valley. “You monster! If you surrender your spirit vein now, we will show mercy and grant you the favor of leaving your corpse whole!”
“Oh, is that so?” The besieged young man showed no fear. Instead, his eyes narrowed slightly as if he had just heard a joke.
He raised his hand with slow deliberation, and a longbow slid from his sleeve. He carelessly notched several harmless-looking twigs.
“Who’s showing mercy to whom?” he sneered. “At least the bodies on the ground aren’t mine.”
The great sects had joined forces to attack him, yet they had suffered heavy casualties without even scratching him. The lead daoist’s face turned as black as the night sky.
“You’re nothing but a monster’s spawn,” he snarled. “Clinging to that spirit vein is a waste. Hand it over already, so I can make sure you die with a clear mind.”
“Senior Brother, he clearly has no intention of giving it up. A vile man like him would only cause chaos if he kept the spirit vein. We should just kill him today, seal the vein, and bring peace back to the world.”
The young man tilted his head slightly, his red robes striking against the darkness. With a soft thwack, the finger holding the arrow to the bowstring released.
His voice cut through the whistle of the projectile as it tore through the air.
“What a noble speech. You want peace in the world? If you want to kill me, you’ll have to survive these ‘mere twigs’ you despise so much.”
A wisp of spiritual energy gathered at his fingertips. He raised eyes filled with killing intent, a mocking smile on his lips, as he swept his gaze over the men below as if they were nothing more than lifeless weeds.
Suddenly, a white figure flashed before him. For a brief moment, the world fell silent, and those ugly, foolish faces vanished from his sight.
“What makes him vile?” Xu Songhe stood before him, arms outstretched.
She glared at the murderous mob, her voice laced with anger. “You pathetic followers! How dare you use a nameless formation as proof to frame an innocent man for poisoning! If anyone here is vile, it’s you for trying to drive him to his death.”
Qi Wuyang paused, his composure slipping for a rare moment. The alertness he had just summoned remained, but the killing intent in his eyes nearly vanished.
The crowd scoffed, their voices filled with disdain. “You expect us to trust you over Shopkeeper Yu? He’s saved countless lives. Why would he ever harm us?”
“Why don’t you ask yourselves why we would want to harm you?” Xu Songhe snapped, her anger making her words sharp. “What could I possibly gain from your deaths?”
A-Fang stepped forward, glaring at Qi Wuyang. “Young lady, if you’re smart, you’ll leave him now. We won’t hurt you. You have nothing to fear from him—we have the numbers, he’s just one man.”
More townsfolk began emerging from the shadows, wielding weapons and ready for a fight.
Xu Songhe hesitated. She turned back to the young man behind her. He was already looking down at her, his eyes as unreadable as ever.
After a long silence, he curved his lips into a faint smile and suppressed the murderuous intent that had been threatening to resurface.
“You have a choice now,” he said softly. “I told you, this body is weak. I can’t guarantee I can beat them all.”