Gu Min froze, his eyes going slack.
Shuidong Liu knew this wasn’t good.
Spitting blood, Gu Min chuckled.
“I…
I won’t betray my master…
I…
hehe…
I can die for my master…”
Blood spilled from his mouth, staining his bright red dress as his head drooped, a faint smile still on his lips.
Disgusted, Shuidong Liu tossed the man’s body aside.
Not wanting anyone to see the hole pierced through his chest, he struck it with his palm, forcing the Soft Sword out.
As he circulated his Cultivation Technique, he could feel his flesh knitting itself back together, squirming as the wound rapidly healed.
“Brother-in-law, are you okay?”
“Dongliu!”
“You bastards!
How dare you attack the Xiao Mansion’s son-in-law!
Take them alive!
I’m going to have a nice, long ‘chat’ with every single one of them!”
In the distance, Xiao Liang and Huang Wenlong came charging in on horseback from opposite sides, roaring furiously.
Xiao Liang’s horse was especially massive, standing over two meters tall.
Anything smaller likely couldn’t have handled his sheer bulk.
Xiao Zhuang, standing guard nearby, stared in shock at Gu Min’s body.
“Sir…
Did…
did you kill him?”
“I was just about to question him when someone killed him!” Shuidong Liu said with revulsion, dropping the man’s body to the ground.
Sure enough, a silver needle was lodged in the back of Gu Min’s head, having pierced straight through and shattered his brain.
“Are you alright?” Huang Wenlong dismounted and looked Shuidong Liu over carefully.
“I’m curious,” he said.
“How exactly did you defeat Gu Min, given your Realm?”
“You know him, Wenlong?”
“Is there anyone here who *doesn’t* know him?” Huang Wenlong asked.
Several men nodded, and Xiao Zhuang volunteered, “Sir, Gu Min has been in Celestial Fragrance City for the past two years, but he kept to himself due to his odd behavior.
We never thought…”
Huang Wenlong shook his head.
“I can’t figure it out.
Why would a man dress like that?
And he’s the one who was targeting you!”
“He was just doing someone else’s dirty work.”
Shuidong Liu was frustrated.
His lead had been killed right before his eyes.
Amidst the sounds of fighting, they managed to capture a few men alive, but they were obviously just grunts acting on orders.
“I have an update!”
Just as the group was about to turn and leave, Feng Wuqing approached.
“We found the people who chased you into Celestial Cloud Mountain, sir.
They were in a small cabin in the East Suburbs.
The place was burned to the ground, leaving two bodies inside.”
“Let’s go see!” Shuidong Liu was the first to speak.
‘They’re dead already?
I didn’t even get my hands on them yet.’
The group arrived at the smoldering ruins.
“Someone’s been digging around here, probably looking for anything valuable,” Shuidong Liu saw at a glance.
“But it’s definitely these two.
How did you recognize them?”
“Sir, even though they’re charred, a Martial Artist’s vision is sharp enough to identify bone structure.
I fought them, and they weren’t wearing masks.
The skulls match.
There’s no mistake!”
Shuidong Liu nodded and searched the area carefully, but came up empty-handed.
Xiao Liang watched from the side while Huang Wenlong, quite interested, began examining a corpse.
“They were killed to tie up loose ends.”
“Looks like it,” Shuidong Liu agreed.
“But now the trail has gone completely cold,” Xiao Liang said resentfully.
“Those bastards are decisive, I’ll give them that.
The ones we captured alive are useless, and all the useful ones are dead!”
“I’m afraid this is far from over,” Huang Wenlong sighed.
The sound of hooves approached, and several people dismounted.
“Little Sis!”
“Second Miss!”
The crowd bowed respectfully.
Xiao Yue’Er looked rushed, her pretty face cold as ice—until she saw Shuidong Liu’s blood-soaked chest.
She strode over anxiously.
“Sir, you’re hurt!”
Her eyes filled with worry, she gently pressed a hand to Shuidong Liu’s chest.
The power of the Magic Realm surged into his body like a tidal wave.
“Hey, hey, hey!
Do you have a heart?
I’m your brother!
Your brother!
You could at least say hello!” Xiao Liang cried out dramatically.
“It’s true what they say!
Once you find a sweetheart, you forget all about your brother!”
Xiao Yue’Er just gave a faint smile, ignoring him completely.
Apparently, this was just how Xiao Liang behaved.
“Thank you for your concern, Second Miss.
It’s just a minor injury.”
“Since fate has brought us together, Sir, we shall weather all storms as one from this day forward.
I wish for you a life without illness, without disaster, without hardship, without injury, and without pain.” Xiao Yue’Er gazed at him, her eyes shimmering.
Shuidong Liu’s heart leaped in his chest.
‘I can’t handle this.’
‘We’ve only met once.
Could she really have fallen in love at first sight?’
Huang Wenlong smiled faintly.
“Second Miss, why don’t we talk back at the mansion?
This place…”
Xiao Yue’Er nodded.
“Let’s go to Sir’s residence.”
It was all Xiao Family property anyway, so no one objected.
The servants who had been gossiping moments before turned deathly pale at the sight of Xiao Yue’Er.
One servant in particular—the one who had sworn he was stronger than Shuidong Liu and could have done the same—hid behind the others, not daring to even look at Xiao Yue’Er.
After tea was served, even Xiao Zhuang and Huang Yi excused themselves.
Aside from Shuidong Liu, Xiao Liang, and Huang Wenlong, only Feng Wuqing and Xiaoyu remained.
“There’s not much more to discuss,” Shuidong Liu began.
“As Wenlong said, they’re either after the Linglong Pendant, or they want me dead because Second Miss has shown me favor.”
“What did you ask at Luotian Pavilion today?” Xiao Liang asked bluntly.
“Who the mastermind trying to kill me is.
But they only managed to trace it back to Gu Min.”
“Even Luotian Pavilion doesn’t know?” Huang Wenlong said.
“If I wasn’t trying to avoid getting tangled up with them, I would have gone to ask myself.”
“Even their reach has its limits,” Xiao Yue’Er said, sitting perfectly poised, as ethereal and distant as the Nine Heavens Goddess herself.
“By the way, I’ve captured the Musician.
She will be executed in three days.”
“What do you mean?” Shuidong Liu asked, confused.
“She was having people spread vicious rumors about you.
I issued a public warning to stop, but she persisted.” A murderous glint flashed in Xiao Yue’Er’s eyes.
“It seems they’ve forgotten who I am.”
She was the number one Martial Arts genius in the Yunlong Dynasty.
And Martial Arts was the art of killing.
“Slandering Dongliu…
for a woman like that, death is too good!” Xiao Liang added angrily.
“You have no idea the things she was saying.
The gist was, if she couldn’t have something, she’d make sure my little sister couldn’t have it either.
Who the hell does she think she is?!”
“Thank you, Second Miss.” Shuidong Liu hadn’t even considered that it was the Musician.
To act so brazenly, knowing the power of the Xiao Family…
‘She was just asking to die.’
“I told you, no need for all the ‘thank yous.’ Just call me Yue’Er.” A smile bloomed on Xiao Yue’Er’s face, one of incomparable beauty.
“Oh, and you two can leave now.
I have something to discuss with Sir in private.”
“Are you kidding me?” Xiao Liang said.
“We haven’t even finished our tea and you’re already kicking us out!”
“Haha…
Let’s go,” Huang Wenlong said after a brief pause, rising with a smile.
Still worried, Xiao Liang added a final instruction to his sister: “Be back early!”
After the two of them left, Feng Wuqing followed them out as well.
Xiao Yue’Er looked at the blood on his chest.
“Sir, this is all my…”
“It’s fine now, don’t worry,” Shuidong Liu cut in, then asked, “But what is it, exactly, that you see in me, Second Miss?”
“A feeling.
When I see you, I just…
get a feeling.
A wonderful one…” Xiao Yue’Er’s gaze softened.
“Do you believe me, Sir?”
Shuidong Liu sighed.
“For a beauty such as yourself to be so taken with me, Yue’Er…
if I were to keep pushing you away, I’d just seem hypocritical.”
Xiaoyu, listening from the side, couldn’t help but smile.
“In that case, I have something I’d like to ask you.”
Xiao Yue’Er nodded.
‘He didn’t mention this before.
Clearly, out of everyone, he trusts me the most!’
“What kind of Swordsmanship is Moon Sword?”
“Moon Sword?”
After Shuidong Liu described Gu Min’s techniques, Xiao Yue’Er said, “I’ve never heard of it.
But if he was dressing and acting like a woman because of his Cultivation Technique, then I might have a faint memory of something.”
“It sounds vaguely familiar.”
As she spoke, she glanced at Xiaoyu, but Xiaoyu shook her head.
“No,” Shuidong Liu said, answering an unspoken question.
“It was too dark, the needle was too fine, and they struck from behind Gu Min.
I couldn’t see them.” Anger flared in his heart as he thought of it.
He might have been able to force the truth out of Gu Min, but someone had killed him to prevent it.
‘Sooner or later, I will find that person and drag them into the light.’
The sight of the blood on Shuidong Liu’s chest was still alarming to Xiao Yue’Er.
“You…
take off your shirt.
Let me see the wound…”
Their gazes softened, seeming to intertwine.
「In a hundred-zhang-tall tower of Luotian Pavilion.」
Liu Yin sat by an open window, bathed in the moonlight.
“Did you know he would win, Foster Father?
Is that why you stopped me from intervening?”
“I didn’t know.
But he had to win, or he would have died,” the old man said coldly.
“It seems he does have some secrets.
To defeat someone in the Super Body Realm while only in the Body Refining Realm…
it’s truly incredible.”
“Indeed.
Not even Xiao Yue’Er could do that.”
Liu Yin asked, “Are you sure Shuidong Liu has no special bloodline or constitution?”