"Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Running out with your injuries not yet healed—what if you encounter the Heretical Sect? Why are you so guarded against us?" Shen Zhili chased out of the estate.
She couldn't let him escape, or her own life would be on the line!
"Ningxiang, don't move. Wait for me inside the estate."
Ningxiang hurriedly said, "What does the young lady intend to do? You mustn't! It's almost dark!"
The streets were bustling with people, all rushing home in haste, afraid that being a moment late to close their doors would invite disaster.
Ningxiang watched as Shen Zhili's figure gradually disappeared into the crowd, her anxiety mounting.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The deafening sound of gongs echoed.
"Curfew!" a voice shouted from the street corner, as the patrol team began to roam.
Yujiang enforced a curfew at night, and with the recent mysterious deaths in the Yu family, inspections had become even stricter. If caught, even if one survived the interrogation, they would be stripped of a layer of skin.
Shen Zhili had already turned into an alley before the curfew began. A few steps away, a dimly lit plaque read "Medical Clinic," and the door was slightly ajar, with flickering candlelight faintly leaking out. The footsteps of the patrol team grew closer and closer; if they came near, they would surely notice the light and investigate.
Beads of sweat dotted her forehead, her nerves on edge.
She knew about the curfew—today's notice had made it clear—but she hadn't expected He Chengyuan to flee without a moment's hesitation, catching her off guard.
With his injured eyes, he couldn't have gone far.
Based on her understanding of him, the first thing he would do upon waking was to seek an antidote. The physician who treated injuries had visited just this morning and, after examining He Chengyuan, remarked that his poison was extremely peculiar, requiring a night of study before returning tomorrow morning.
She didn't know when He Chengyuan had woken up, but Xie Gubai, who had been busy outside, had returned, and the estate was suddenly filled with guards. He Chengyuan was severely injured; if he didn't escape tonight, it would be difficult to shake them off once Xie Gubai returned tomorrow.
The only thing Shen Zhili feared was the Heretical Sect. Their methods were ruthless, and they wouldn't easily let He Chengyuan go. Now, severely injured and defenseless, how could a down-and-out youth contend with them?
The footsteps of the patrol team grew louder. Staring at the door, she held her breath nervously, then mustered her courage and rushed forward.
He Chengyuan hadn't encountered the Heretical Sect, but he intended to seek them out.
The poison plaguing him was undoubtedly connected to the Heretical Sect.
The old physician's medicine from this morning had somewhat suppressed the poison, preventing it from acting up for a short while.
However, the curfew hindered his search, so he had no choice but to use Shen Zhili.
He deliberately knocked over the tea she had poured, letting the water flow toward the medicinal dregs, making her think it was an accident. Then, after leaving, he intentionally left the window slightly ajar, pointing her in the direction of the market street.
Shen Zhili didn't suspect anything and followed this street, where there was only one medical clinic.
She dashed inside, closing the door behind her to block the light. The next moment, the patrol team passed by outside.
She had narrowly avoided disaster.
Still catching her breath, her heart pounding, she looked up and saw that the clinic looked as if it had been ransacked—utter chaos, with no one in sight.
Only a flickering candle remained, not yet extinguished.
Shen Zhili didn't know where to step. Her gaze swept around, but there were too many dark corners to discern anything. She could only tiptoe carefully through the mess, making her way to the front counter.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a foot protruding from behind the counter. Startled, she took a closer look and realized it was the physician, unconscious on the floor. He Chengyuan was long gone.
She was a step too late.
She lifted the candlestick, hoping to find some trace of him in the chaos and figure out where he had gone.
But she found nothing.
Was He Chengyuan doing this on purpose?
In the midst of being overwhelmed and frantic, the system reminded in his mind: [Target location, western outskirts.]
…
He Chengyuan stepped into the abandoned old house in the western outskirts, surrounded by tangled thorns and the rustling of dry leaves falling to the ground.
In his previous life, the Heretical Sect had cured his poison, leading him—who had never seen the outside world—to mistakenly believe it was a place of salvation, only to find it was yet another abyss. When slaughtering You Shui City, he encountered someone again—a poison master. Back then, he had glimpsed him briefly, a fleeting and careless encounter. The poison master had interacted with the opponent who poisoned him, entrusting the opponent with a vial of secret medicine.
All of this he only learned later.
After killing Shen Zhili back then, he had chased his way here, exterminating the remnants of the Heretical Sect.
A dry leaf crunched, and the poison master inside the old house tensed, hiding himself.
"Creak—" The door to the house opened.
The hair at He Chengyuan's temples was lifted by the cool wind from behind, revealing thin lips curled into a smile, as if slicing through the entire night, exuding an icy chill.
The cold moonlight elongated his shadow. He tilted his head slightly, his blindfolded eyes fixed on the curtain where the poison master hid. The blade in his hand tapped twice against the door, as if offering a friendly greeting.
The poison master threatened, "Who are you?"
He Chengyuan let out an innocent, mocking laugh. "It's raining outside. I'm here to take shelter."
The night was silent—where was the rain?
The poison master tore off the curtain and lunged out to attack. Upon seeing the visitor clearly, his heart tightened. "It's you!"
The Slayer from the Fighting Arena!
On the orders of the Heretical Sect, he had blinded the man's eyes and poisoned him the day before his match with the executioner, all to leave the Slayer on the brink of death. This made it easier for the Heretical Sect to buy him at a low price, and with severe injuries, he wouldn't resist on the journey.
"It's me." He Chengyuan leaned casually against the doorframe, provocatively stroking his blade. "Just passing by, taking shelter from the rain, and incidentally here to take a life."
The poison master flung the curtain and simultaneously tossed a vial of poison.
The wind stirred by the curtain allowed He Chengyuan to pinpoint its trajectory. With a twist of his blade, he wrapped the curtain around the poison, bundled it up, and discarded it to the side.
The fight erupted instantly, the two battling fiercely inside the house.
Before coming here, he had coerced a physician into making several antidote pills for him, rendering the poison master's toxins temporarily ineffective.
"I'm usually quite reasonable. Hand over the antidote, and I'll spare your life."
Outside the tightly shut door, hurried footsteps crushed the dry leaves.
The poison master seemed to sense something.
The treacherous Heretical Sect might come to seize the poison and silence him. Panic flashed across his face, and he grew careless in his exchanges with the young man, losing his footing and falling into a disadvantage.
For both of them, the sound of crushed leaves was like a death knell. If they remained deadlocked, both would perish.
The poison master grew anxious, his forehead beaded with sweat, while He Chengyuan remained as calm as ever, a mocking smile playing on his lips.
Each held the other's vital points, the tension stretched taut like a fully drawn bowstring. It all depended on who would break first—whether they would perish together or both walk away unscathed.
The footsteps nearly stopped right outside the door. At this moment, the atmosphere reached its breaking point. The poison master withdrew first, tossing a vial of medicine to He Chengyuan before turning to flee.
The moment the door was pushed open, a blade flew straight out, striking down the fleeing poison master in a single blow. He collapsed stiffly, blood spurting from his mouth as he died instantly.
He Chengyuan coldly "glanced" at Shen Zhili, who was leaning against the doorframe gasping for breath, then strode toward the poison master and pulled out his blade.
The moment Shen Zhili saw He Chengyuan, her anxious heart settled. Thankfully, he was tough enough not to have been killed. Squinting for a closer look, she saw a dark figure lying dead on the ground and nearly choked, almost fainting on the spot.
With the help of the system, she had evaded patrols and run into the western outskirts village, only to discover a hidden group of people outside, surrounding the desolate village tightly.
The Heretical Sect has indeed tracked them here!
Following the directions, she rushed headlong into the old house, fearing she might be a step behind the Heretical Sect.
He Chengyuan had collected all the poison bottles from the poison master's body and thoroughly searched the room to ensure nothing was left behind. At that moment, a bird on the withered tree flapped its wings.
He stopped his actions and turned his head to "look" toward the open doorway.
"When catching birds, don’t make too much noise. Has nobody told you that?"
"……" Shen Zhili: "What happens if footsteps are too loud?"
"The bird will fly away."
"Why didn’t you fly away then?"
"……"
It’s strange—why could he distinguish her footsteps at the first moment?
He Chengyuan opened a medicine bottle and sniffed it. It resembled the medicine from the clinic, so it should indeed be antidote. "I don’t have wings."
"……"
Suddenly, rustling sounds came from outside, and a strange wind swept up withered leaves.
He Chengyuan frowned tightly. In a one-on-one fight, he still had a chance of winning, but facing multiple opponents was something he couldn’t confront directly at present. While thinking of a strategy, someone grabbed his wrist and pulled him into a cabinet, closing the door just before the arrivals.
In the narrow, dim space, the two were pressed close together, their warm breaths colliding.
Shen Zhili whispered teasingly, "Looks like they don’t know how to catch birds either."
After losing his vision, He Chengyuan became especially sensitive to sound and smell, with his senses amplified manyfold.
The cabinet was cramped; he slightly hunched over. Shen Zhili’s damp, warm breath sprayed against his ear, making him stiff like a piece of burning wood.
He warned in a low voice, "Shut up."
"What’s wrong?" Shen Zhili turned her head, and her two red lips inadvertently touched the tip of his ear.
Instantly, the temperature inside the cabinet soared fiercely. He Chengyuan gritted his teeth and said, "Don’t move recklessly… huh?"
Shen Zhili covered his mouth and whispered close to his ear, "Someone’s coming."
People surrounded the old house from all directions.
He had been distracted and noticed the commotion later than she did.
Footsteps densely trampled the rotting floorboards, creaking loudly. Torches suddenly lit up, their red light passing through the gaps in the cabinet, flickering on and off against his right cheek, hiding the flush. He Chengyuan was exceptionally handsome—with sharp features, a high nose bridge, and beautiful eyes that carried a hint of cool indifference. When his thin lips curved upward, they exuded a rebellious wildness.
In her previous life, she had never looked closely at him. This astonishingly handsome face couldn’t be ruined by those villains.
"What’s going on? The poison master is dead?!"
Conversation voices arose.
Heretical Sect disciples brought torches to check; the deceased was indeed the poison master.
"Who killed the poison master first?"
"Could it be that Slayer?"
"Impossible. Not only is he severely injured and possibly dead or alive, he couldn’t possibly know who poisoned him, let alone find this place."
"If it’s not him, then who? If the poison is taken away, we have no leverage to force him to submit to us. Why did Master insist on finding a Slayer? He’s still in seclusion, and now we’ve lost the person and the poison. We’ll be punished when we return."
"Hmph, I suspect it’s definitely related to that gambling den."
Shen Zhili held her breath and peered through the gap.
Are they not looking for He Chengyuan? But for the poison master?
The leading disciple wiped the flowing blood on the ground—it was still warm.
A disciple stepped forward and said, "Senior brother, with so many of us surrounding this village, even if the assassin had wings, he couldn’t fly out."
"Search!"
Shen Zhili was so nervous that she clung to He Chengyuan, trembling all over, while this man remained calm, his hand propped against the cabinet wall, completely unconcerned about their lives, stubbornly trying to distance himself from her.
What should they do now! They were outnumbered; rushing out would be suicide, handing themselves over to the enemy—wouldn’t that be wasting the money they spent!
Outside, there was a commotion of rummaging through cabinets and drawers, then silence after a while. “Brother, we checked, nothing.”
The leading disciple said, “Checked everything?”
Then footsteps approached, stopping before the cabinet. “Isn’t there still a narrow cabinet here?”
Shen Zhili buried herself entirely in He Chengyuan’s embrace, her fingers gripping his clothes turning pale, her heart rising to her throat, almost jumping out.
At that moment, the metal door handle clicked lightly, and just as the cabinet door was about to open, someone stopped it.
“Brother! No! This cabinet cannot be opened; opening it brings misfortune!”
The leading disciple paused. “Why?”
Several others quickly approached and chimed in, “Brother, you don’t know.” He wiped away a layer of dust on the cabinet, revealing a red-painted Talismanic Seal.
“There’s a folk rumor that the Shadow Puppeteer’s upright coffin is used to lock shadow souls; it cannot be disturbed randomly, as it brings bad luck. This West Village offended the Puppet Master and released the bride’s soul, leading to the village being wiped out overnight.”
He spoke mysteriously, accompanied by the howling wind outside, making Shen Zhili instantly shudder, her body chilled. She couldn’t help burrowing deeper into He Chengyuan’s embrace, wishing she could dig out a safe spot. He Chengyuan’s handsome face grew colder, yet he couldn’t make a sound, forced to endure silently.
The leading disciple burst into laughter. “Truly amusing, but unfortunately, I don’t believe in such superstitions!”
“Click”—a faint sound echoed nearby. He Chengyuan pressed a mechanism in the corner of the wall, which swiftly opened and closed again. Shen Zhili suddenly felt empty beneath her feet, and the two plummeted rapidly.
The cabinet door was pulled open, revealing emptiness inside. The leading disciple narrowed his eyes, examining it carefully but detecting no anomalies. “Search nearby!”
As they fell downward, He Chengyuan’s blade wedged into the stone wall, sliding a distance before stopping. They weren’t far from the bottom path. He pried Shen Zhili’s hands away and leaped down, landing steadily. Shen Zhili, however, lost her support and tumbled heavily, lying on the ground for a long time before recovering, her waist aching so badly tears streamed down.
This man was truly as ruthless as ever.
He Chengyuan ignored her, feeling along the stone wall as he walked forward.
Back then, escaping from layers of poison masters’ encirclement must have been through a tunnel.
He guessed correctly, and she had grasped the right spot in her panic. But this woman was somewhat strange. Since the reign of the foolish emperor began, various bizarre arts had spread among the people, and the shadow puppets had emerged accordingly, widely rumored to bring safety, wealth, promotions, and prosperity.
The red coffin of the shadow puppet wasn’t an ordinary cabinet; even covered in dust, it shouldn’t be unfamiliar, especially since weak light illuminated the coffin facing the door, making it unmistakable. How could she not know about this? Unless her identity was fabricated.
The pitch-black tunnel was so dark one couldn’t see their own hand, even permeated with a damp, decaying wood smell, eerie and terrifying.
Shen Zhili was terrified, her hands and feet icy cold. “He Chengyuan, He Chengyuan…”
She called his name repeatedly, but this man’s heart was harder than stone, not uttering a word, leaving her behind.
Shen Zhili endured the pain, scrambling forward, blindly bumping into his back. Like someone drowning clutching a floating log, she tightly gripped his clothes and buried her head.
“Let go.”
“No.”
“I will kill you.”
"I spent a fortune and risked my life to save you, yet you repay kindness with enmity."
He Chengyuan turned and gripped her throat, sneering coldly, "So what? Killing a benefactor is far more interesting than killing an enemy."
Shen Zhili gasped in agony.
You madman!!
Just as she thought she would suffocate to death, He Chengyuan’s conscience stirred and he released her.
She could no longer care about the strange smell in the air, gasping deeply and greedily for breath.
"He…"
He Chengyuan drew a dagger, its sharp tip piercing through her clothes and pressing against her heart.
"Without you, I can still get out. But without me, you’ll end up just like the bones in this cave."
Shen Zhili stiffened instantly, mechanically lifting her head. "You… what did you say?"
The young man grinned maliciously. "What’s that smell in the air, Miss Shen? Can’t you tell?"
Damp, rotting wood accompanied by… the faint scent of decay…
Shen Zhili immediately covered her mouth, instinctively wanting to grab his sleeve for reassurance but not daring to, her fingers straightening and curling back.
He Chengyuan sheathed the blade and turned to walk ahead. "If you want to get out, don’t touch me."
Shen Zhili could only nod, cursing him fiercely in her heart.
Just wait until she got the chance! She’d settle all the old and new grudges at once!
The two walked side by side along the edge, finally reaching a wider area. Rotten coffins lay scattered underfoot, and as Shen Zhili stepped down, something sticky "squelched" and clung to the sole of her shoe.
"He… He Chengyuan." Shen Zhili couldn’t hold back any longer, pinching his clothes with two slender fingers. "Did… did I step on something?"
Her scalp tingled, thinking she had stepped on rotting flesh.
He Chengyuan took two steps forward but was tugged back by the fingers behind him. He snapped impatiently, "Does Miss Shen want to lie down here too?"
He turned around, a cold glint flashing before her eyes.
Shen Zhili shut her eyes tightly and hurriedly said, "Wait! I can tell fortunes! I’ve divined a reading for you!"
The blade’s momentum halted, leaving only her heavy breathing. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see the silver dagger hovering before her.
She let out a long breath. Did He Chengyuan believe her?
He Chengyuan: "I’ve never believed in such things."
The next moment, the blade suddenly advanced again, nearly touching the bridge of her nose.
Shen Zhili cried out in alarm, "Wait!!! I’ve divined it! You’ll have both a son and a daughter!!"
"……………?"