Inside the guest chamber, Lu Fenghuo slept until the sun was three poles high before finally waking up. With nothing much to do lately, he had taken to sleeping in until this hour, and it was undeniably satisfying.
After finishing a simple breakfast, Lu Fenghuo headed out to look for Fu Yunming and his little apprentice. Neither of them had much on their plate recently; they would either go out into the streets or stay behind at the inn to practice their martial arts. Of course, the vast majority of their time was spent practicing at the inn.
Walking toward the inn’s courtyard, Lu Fenghuo spotted the two of them practicing as expected. Since he had a matter to discuss with the demonic monk, he walked straight over.
Fu Yunming was currently meditating.
As Lu Fenghuo stood directly before him, Fu Yunming remained entirely motionless. With his eyes closed in meditation, Lu Fenghuo could not be certain whether the monk was aware of his presence, so he reached out and waved a hand back and forth over the monk’s closed eyes.
Midway through his tranquil meditation, Fu Yunming found himself slightly amused by the sudden disruption.
He reached out and caught Lu Fenghuo’s mischievous hand.
Seeing that Fu Yunming had stopped meditating, Lu Fenghuo halted his teasing as well.
“Just how much do you know about the Heartless Temple?” Lu Fenghuo asked, getting straight to business.
He was determined to unearth the mastermind behind the cult that had dared to impersonate the Mirror Moon Palace.
Hearing that it was a serious matter, Fu Yunming released his grip. He paused to recall what he knew before answering. “I do not know much either. A few years ago, this cult suddenly emerged in the rivers and lakes. I followed the clues all the way to Dragon Chant Stronghold and managed to obtain that token belonging to the second master. After that came the sword sects tournament, where Sect Master Song slew the second master and another token surfaced on his person. Essentially, the information I hold is identical to yours.”
Understood.
Both of them were completely in the dark, hence why their pools of knowledge were virtually identical.
Lu Fenghuo turned and walked back to his room.
Inside the chamber, a shadow guard materialized from the darkness.
Lu Fenghuo had tasked his guards with investigating the Heartless Temple several months ago, and he was eager to see the results.
The shadow guard reported respectfully, “Reporting to the Palace Master, this subordinate led hundreds of shadow guards to scour the rivers and lakes, but we uncovered only one solid lead. The medical expert of the rivers and lakes once possessed a Heartless Temple token, suggesting he may be affiliated with the cult. Aside from that, we found nothing else.”
“The medical expert of the rivers and lakes, Zhaifu Ying?” Lu Fenghuo asked.
“Yes!”
Seeing Lu Fenghuo fall silent, the guard felt a tinge of nervous anxiety. He hesitated for a moment before offering a suggestion. “This subordinate is incompetent and unable to share the Palace Master’s burdens. However, if the Palace Master is truly determined to uncover news of the Heartless Temple, perhaps you could visit a certain place.”
“Where?”
“Listening Snow Manor.”
Although Listening Snow Manor bore an elegant name, it was far from a reputable establishment. It carried an infamous alternative moniker, the Villa of Villains. As the name implied, everyone who sought refuge there was guilty of monstrous crimes and stained with blood.
If the Mirror Moon Palace was the undisputed hegemon of the demonic path, then Listening Snow Manor was its undisputed second-in-command. Populated by a motley crew of scoundrels and villains, Listening Snow Manor possessed much more responsive intelligence networks. Paying a visit there was indeed a solid option.
However, if he were to visit Listening Snow Manor, he would naturally have to go under the persona of the Mirror Moon Palace Master. Given that most people he would encounter there possessed severely warped worldviews, it would be thoroughly unsuitable to drag Shen Yuansi along.
In that case, whom should he entrust Shen Yuansi to?
Lu Fenghuo pondered for a single second.
Fu Yunming, you are up!
Thus, a short while later, when Fu Yunming returned to his guest chamber, he found a slip of paper resting on the table. The writing scrawled across it was wild, untamed, and remarkably oversized.
“To Fu Yunming: This is Lu Fenghuo. I have urgent matters to attend to and am leaving ahead of schedule. I leave Shen Yuansi in your capable hands, brother. Much obliged.”
Fu Yunming…?
Lu Fenghuo arrived at Listening Snow Manor in short order.
The manor lord possessed a mane of white hair and a white beard, appearing quite advanced in years. Upon seeing him arrive, the manor lord hurried forward in nervous awe to usher him into the seat of highest honor, treating him with utmost courtesy.
At this moment, Lu Fenghuo sat at the primary seat up top, clad in dark purple robes with his silver hair cascading down. Without beating around the bush, he stated his purpose, inquiring whether the manor lord had any knowledge of a cult called the Heartless Temple.
The manor lord immediately dispatched subordinates to question the villains residing within the manor.
The results came back swiftly. Someone in the manor indeed knew of the Heartless Temple, but it amounted to nothing more than a passing rumor. However, one villain mentioned having seen a Heartless Temple token in the possession of the medical expert of the rivers and lakes.
It was no different from the intelligence gathered by the Mirror Moon Palace shadow guards.
Just as Lu Fenghuo was preparing to leave, a commotion erupted at the entrance of Listening Snow Manor.
Lu Fenghuo turned his gaze toward the doorway.
Two figures had just stepped inside. Leading them was a man clad in dark red monastic robes, possessing deep-set, handsome facial features. Following closely behind was a young man endowed with striking, delicate beauty and a subtle brownish-red tear mole at the corner of his eye.
Familiar figures.
Lu Fenghuo: ???
I fled all the way to Jiangnan.
How on earth did I still manage to bump into them?!
Wait. Fu Yunming bringing Shen Yuansi here must mean he had his own objectives.
Lu Fenghuo retraced his thoughts. Fu Yunming’s late father had apparently been associated with Listening Snow Manor during his lifetime, and perhaps even more than that. His father had once served as one of the four hall masters of Listening Snow Manor, staining his hands with countless lives.
However, his father had eventually fallen in love with an upright maiden. Upon marrying her, his father wished to wash his hands of the martial world and retire in peace. He formally petitioned to leave Listening Snow Manor, forfeiting its protection entirely.
Consequently, they were hunted down by righteous factions along the journey and perished one after another.
Both parents died in succession.
Leaving behind a solitary Fu Yunming.
If that was the case, Fu Yunming’s trip here was likely to retrieve his father’s final relics.
His father had left something behind for him within Listening Snow Manor.
Sure enough, Fu Yunming was walking in this direction.
Listening Snow Manor was a cesspool of scoundrels. The main hall was littered with gambling dens, and men and women openly rubbed shoulders while peddling their bodies. It was chaotic to the extreme. The demonic monk and his companion possessed exceptional appearances, naturally drawing unwanted attention.
The demonic monk radiated an intimidating aura of slaughter, causing onlookers to keep a respectful distance.
Shen Yuansi, however, was a different story. Slender and possessing an ethereal grace, the young man looked like a fragile, trembling blossom atop a branch, inviting predatory gazes.
Prying eyes lingered from all directions.
The hall was packed with villains and cutthroats. As someone shoved past in the crowd, Shen Yuansi was sent stumbling violently into a burly, giant-sized ruffian. He quickly steadied his footing and murmured a low apology.
However, the burly ruffian had no intention of letting him off so easily.
Though a grin spread across the man’s dark, rugged face, the smile was utterly obscene and foul. He reached out to grab Shen Yuansi by the shoulder while whispering lewd and threatening remarks.
He was clearly about to pull Shen Yuansi directly into his embrace.
Seeing this, the demonic monk raised a hand to intervene.
Yet at that exact instant, a flash of silver light descended from the high platform, piercing straight through the ruffian’s palm in a split second!
As fresh blood splattered, the silver projectile drove deep into a stone pillar!
When the surrounding onlookers whipped their heads around to look, they realized that the silver flash was not some hidden weapon at all, but rather a common pair of silver chopsticks from Listening Snow Manor!
Having his hand impaled, the ruffian let out an immediate, agonized howl.
Which blind bastard had the death wish to pull such a dirty trick from the shadows?! When he dug that person out, he was going to make them weep and beg for mercy on their knees!
Gnashing his teeth and enduring the excruciating pain, the ruffian traced his gaze back along the trajectory of the chopsticks!
The next instant, his eyes locked directly onto a pair of icy pupils.
Up upon the raised platform, a figure sat clad in a dark purple robe, wearing a silver mask across his face. The dim candlelight flickered against his unnatural silver hair, lending him an even more unpredictable and unfathomable aura.
The Mirror Moon Palace Master.
Cold sweat broke out across the ruffian’s entire body in a fraction of a second. His lips parted, but no words came out.
How could this be?
Though he knew not the reason, the ruffian slowly sank to his knees.
He could only pray that this demonic lord, notorious in martial legends for his mercurial and capricious temper, would spare him.
Or better yet, ignore him entirely.
No one had any idea why the Mirror Moon Palace Master had intervened.
Suddenly, Lu Fenghuo dropped a single sentence, his tone freezing cold. “Too noisy.”
The entire grand hall instantly plunged into dead silence.
Shen Yuansi stared up at the purple-robed figure on the high platform, a faint glimmer of doubt welling up in the depths of his eyes.
Was it just his imagination?
He had an overwhelming sensation that the person looked immensely familiar.
Whether it was the posture or the cadence of speech.
It felt just like Master.
Fu Yunming, however, remained oblivious to anything unusual. Shielding Shen Yuansi behind him, he deliberately kept a wary eye on the surrounding crowd.
Walking straight up to the high platform, Fu Yunming approached the manor lord.
“Manor Lord, before my late father passed away, he left behind certain relics within Listening Snow Manor. You once promised that whenever this monk returned, I would be permitted to retrieve them,” Fu Yunming stated his purpose.
Indeed, it was for the relics.
The manor lord immediately instructed his men to retrieve the items.
In truth, there was very little to speak of. A single piece of Tianshui blue jade and a few old garments.
Yet Fu Yunming treated them with the utmost care and reverence.