Before them stood a magnificent and imposing grand manor. The plaque hanging above the main gate bore two bold, striking characters: “He Residence.” The guardian stone lions flanking the entrance also looked exceptionally spirited and majestic.
What a coincidence. Weren’t those people from earlier today members of the He clan?
The entire estate was enveloped by an invisible formation. Its intricate patterns reflected within Chi Xinyan’s eyes—a mere town-protecting grand barrier that could be obliterated with a single finger.
With a light wave of his hand, Chi Xinyan tore open a small seam in the barrier, slipping inside silently and without a trace.
The moment he entered, a crisp, crystalline aura washed over him, biting and freezing to the bone.
So the Aiyou grass was actually hidden right here within the He manor. He would never have guessed that a locally renowned and prestigious clan operated in such shady, underhanded ways behind closed doors.
Without a second thought, Chi Xinyan understood Bei Si’s inner intentions the man was simply afraid of dragging him into the dangerous political struggles of the local powers.
At this thought, Chi Xinyan curved his lips into a faint smile.
Suddenly, a few barely audible sounds of garments swishing through the air caught his ear. Chi Xinyan concealed himself behind a vermilion pillar, and two familiar faces came into view: the scar-faced man and the storyteller from earlier today.
Interesting.
These two individuals were clearly quite familiar with the layout of this place. Unlike his own method of forcefully breaking through, they advanced by following a secret pathway.
Logically speaking, these two were enemies of the He clan, and the scar-faced man was even a former member of the clan. Would the He clan really leave themselves completely unguarded against them?
The surroundings remained deathly quiet. The whistling of the howling wind could be heard with absolute clarity, biting and chilling enough to make one’s face sting with pain.
The two men groped their way forward cautiously.
Suddenly, golden light burst forth. A sprawling, heaven-covering net descended, rapidly converging toward the two figures!
Shrinking, shrinking, shrinking!
The duo unleashed a barrage of spells, yet failed to inflict the slightest bit of damage upon the golden net. Instead, it only accelerated its descent.
As expected, the two were bound tightly together, leaving them completely unable to channel their techniques.
Figures stepped out from the shadows. The Third Elder stroked his beard and smiled at the scar-faced man, saying, “You, you’re still as reckless as ever,” wearing an affectionate expression that made him look just like a doting elder brother.
Lowering his gaze to look at the diminutive storyteller, he sighed, “Senior brother, I truly thought you were dead… It turns out I wasted my tears in vain,” his tone dripping with fake regret.
“Bah! You black-hearted bastard!” the scar-faced man spat out angrily.
The Third Elder didn’t get angry; instead, he raised his hand, preparing to silence the two permanently. Chi Xinyan watched coldly from the sidelines, entirely unmoved.
Just as the fatal strike was about to land, an unexpected twist occurred!
A sharp flash of white radiance erupted from the inside out, projecting fierce sword qi. Unable to withstand the force, the yellow net shattered into a million scattered fragments. The two broke free instantly, launching a joint counterattack against the Third Elder.
The Third Elder retreated hastily, failing to raise his sword in time to block, and was killed by this sudden surprise attack.
Ignoring that scene, Chi Xinyan scanned the surrounding area, yet failed to spot a single familiar figure.
He was far too familiar with that streak of sword radiance it belonged precisely to Bei Si. Yet Bei Si himself was nowhere to be seen.
Dividing their forces into two separate paths; this really wasn’t acting alone after all, was it?
A chaotic free-for-all was on the verge of breaking out. Four fists were no match for a multitude of hands, and with enemy reinforcements arriving in a steady, unbroken stream, those two men were bound to lose eventually. Clearly, their objective now was merely to stall for time and draw away the enemy’s attention—meaning Bei Si was likely carrying out his mission on the other side.
Noticing the unfavorable situation, a disciple quietly slipped away, intending to run and alert the other elders.
Chi Xinyan flicked his right hand slightly. Fallen leaves on the ground rose suspended into the air, transforming into thousands of leafy swords that skimmed close to the ground in a simultaneous barrage. Not a single person noticed the subtle threat beneath their feet before a strange, mounting pain swept through their entire bodies.
The two combatants vaguely sensed that their enemies’ strength had begun to weaken, but under the relentless pressure of their opponents, they had no leisure to ponder why.
Before the fleeing disciple could even react, a single leaf swept across his throat, and he crashed heavily to the ground, dead on the spot.
At that moment, the familiar sword qi struck once more. A trace of genuine surprise flickered in Chi Xinyan’s heart: why was Bei Si’s aura so close that he could perceive it now, when the other’s cultivation level was clearly much lower than his own?
Chi Xinyan’s heart tightened. The wounds on the bodies of the fallen men scattered across the ground bore no resemblance to sword injuries. Bei Si had arrived far too quickly, and he hadn’t yet had time to disguise their wounds.
Given Bei Si’s sharp intellect, he would inevitably grow suspicious.
His brain spun at lightning speed, and in a split second, he formulated a counter-strategy.
Chi Xinyan stepped forward, the dry leaves beneath his feet crunching audibly.
Hearing the commotion, the nearby yellow-robed disciple whipped his head around, killing intent boiling in his eyes as he brought his sword down in a vicious slash.
Chi Xinyan calculated the angle perfectly and stumbled forward, putting on a convincing show of being frightened out of his wits, using a subtle burst of inner strength to dodge that sword blow cleanly.
The yellow-robed disciple’s expression froze. He had merely swung his sword—why on earth was the other person so terrified he looked on the verge of tears? It was utterly pitiful.
Taking advantage of the opening, Chi Xinyan smeared a bit of dirt across his own face, adjusted his angle slightly, lifted his tear-filled eyes, and quivered his voice as he pleaded, “Don’t kill me…”
The disciple hardened his heart, casting such thoughts aside as he raised his sword again only for his entire body to be violently thrown backward by an overpowering, tyrannical wave of internal force. His internal organs shattered instantly, leaving him with a single lingering thought right before death:
H-how could anyone possess such terrifying inner strength?!
Chi Xinyan watched as the man went flying straight backward, and was immediately scooped up into a pair of familiar arms by the person who had just arrived. He instinctively buried his face into the other’s chest, playing the part of a frightened lamb.
The rock-solid chest pressed against his forehead, vibrating with a rapid, pounding heartbeat that battered against his eardrums, laying bare the profound anxiety of its owner in that moment.
Clutching at Bei Si’s lapels, Chi Xinyan felt a sudden pang of regret. He shouldn’t have done that… he had scared Bei Si.
However, the deed was already done. Closing his eyes, Chi Xinyan could only focus all his efforts on keeping the other’s attention completely focused on himself.
Without a word, Bei Si simply shielded him in his arms as if protecting the most precious treasure in the world.
Realizing they had fallen into the losing position and lacking any remaining fighting spirit, the He clan members retreated step by step in continuous defeat.
The four of them had no desire to linger, instantly breaking through the array and escaping.
Only then did Chi Xinyan lift his head to check the situation, only to have a low, deep voice sound right above his head: “Close your eyes.”
Knowing the other was afraid of startling him, Chi Xinyan lowered his head right back down and stopped looking.
The four of them moved at blistering speed, breaking free from the battlefield in the blink of an eye.
It wasn’t until Chi Xinyan was finally set back down on his feet that he braced himself for Bei Si’s “interrogation.”
Bei Si first looked him up and down from head to toe, confirming he sustained zero injuries, before finally letting out a long breath of relief.
His expression turned heavy once more, his gaze growing dark and brooding. “Did those people drag you here?”
Heaven knew that when he saw Chi Xinyan nearly lose his life, his breath had nearly stopped. The inner energy within his five viscera had surged out of control; throwing all caution to the wind regarding the concealment of his identity, he had simply sent the attacker flying with a single palm strike.
In his panic, he had completely forgotten that the jade pendant he had given Chi Xinyan possessed the power to protect him.
If a true life-or-death crisis had arisen, that jade pendant would have automatically shielded its master without needing him to step in, meaning Chi Xinyan would have been safe regardless.
Chi Xinyan blinked in blank bewilderment, his cat-like eyes widened slightly with confusion and lingering shock as he replied innocently, “Maybe? I don’t know why, but I fell into an extremely deep sleep, and when I woke up, I was already here.”
As for why he had fallen into such a deep sleep, Bei Si fell silent for a brief second. It was his own oversight; those people had likely harbored deep resentment after being publicly humiliated during the daytime, leading them to resort to such despicable, covert kidnapping tactics.
As for how those people had managed to breach the defensive barrier he had set up around the room, he suspected it for a second, then temporarily attributed it to the fact that his supreme battle against the evil entity had left his divine powers largely unrecovered.
Looking into Chi Xinyan’s pure, innocent eyes, Bei Si felt a wave of self-reproach wash over him for his own carelessness. Softening his voice to soothe him, he promised, “It was my fault. I swear I will never let you fall into such a situation again next time.”
“You must tell me the next time you take action,” Chi Xinyan added, remembering something important. “No playing word games.”
Even when caught red-handed, Bei Si didn’t change expression, fixing his direct, intense gaze entirely on Chi Xinyan. “During that chaotic battle, I saw that they hadn’t harmed any innocent people…”
The storyteller hurriedly nodded in agreement. Well, if nothing else, we’ve clearly learned one thing today: this towering brother here is an absolute wife-pecked husband [fearful of his spouse].
The next second, upon hearing Chi Xinyan’s words, the storyteller froze stiff on the spot, realizing that his initial assessment of the youth as a mere pretty vase was hilariously wrong this person was terrifyingly clever.
“You knew that many out-of-towners were flocking here specifically because of the Aiyou grass, so you intentionally chose to tell stories at the tavern where travelers frequently gather. Since locals would never help you, and you noticed Bei Si was a cultivator, you deliberately deflected that sword to test his abilities. Once you saw him rescue the townsfolk, you knew he was kind-hearted, which is why that slip of paper was prepared well in advance,” Chi Xinyan stated calmly.
In other words, the storyteller and the scar-faced man were waiting for a hare by the tree, placing a deliberate gamble on finding precisely this kind of person to help them.
The two men didn’t offer a denial, tacitly acknowledging it. And right then, they watched the man who had maintained a cold, expressionless face toward them the entire time suddenly break into a smile, turning to the person beside him to murmur: “Xixi, you are endlessly clever.”
The man’s eyes reflected Chi Xinyan’s figure, the cold abyss within his pupils melting away to ripple with soft waves, brimming with an extraordinary brilliance. Meeting that gaze, Chi Xinyan couldn’t help feeling his earlobes flush red. “Stop flattering me. You guessed it ages ago.”
Bei Si confessed honestly, “The ink on that note was already dry; in all that chaos, there simply wouldn’t have been time to write it on the spot—it had clearly been prepared beforehand. I happened to need the Aiyou grass as well, so we were just taking what we each required from a mutual cooperation.”
At this, the two men looked utterly bewildered. They had considered their scheme flawless and airtight, yet these two partners were as sharp as if they could see right through everything.
“Not for nothing are they a couple…” the scar-faced man muttered under his breath without thinking.
Fortunately, all three individuals present were cultivators possessing sharp, refined hearing, catching every single word even when muttered under one’s breath.
Whether it was the scar-faced man’s imagination or not, he suddenly felt the surrounding air grow several degrees warmer, leaving his entire body feeling remarkably relaxed.
“There was no Aiyou grass in that secret chamber, but the aura of deep chill was exceptionally intense,” Bei Si stated slowly.
The scar-faced man looked shocked, fearing Bei Si might think he had been fed lies, and hastened to explain, “It must have been hidden somewhere else! We clearly got our hands on it back then; it was stored inside a black four-sided box, and touching it felt bone-chillingly cold…”
“Did you open the black box to take a look?” Bei Si interrupted with a single sentence, instantly freezing the scar-faced man’s agitated emotions in place.
The scar-faced man tried to find a defense: “We followed orders to find this black box, and I guarantee it contained the Aiyou grass inside! There’s simply no container in this world capable of completely masking the natural aura of the Aiyou grass! The Aiyou grass from the black market has already vanished if it’s not here, where else could it be?”
“News of the Aiyou grass spread so widely that the number of outsiders rushing here for it is immense. Could it be someone else?” Unlike the scar-faced man, the storyteller remained calm, analyzing the situation aloud to himself. “What kind of influence or power would an outsider have to conceal it without being discovered? And there are no ice mountains in this region…”
“Where is He Yan’s corpse?” Bei Si countered with a question.
“It… it was disposed of by people from the black market…” the scar-faced man stammered in response.
Would people from the black market properly and respectfully handle the corpse of a common thief?
Naturally impossible. It would have been dumped carelessly into a ditch somewhere.
An oppressive silence blanketed the air.
A single thought floated into the minds of everyone present: a place where extreme, bone-chilling cold naturally existed, and which matched this city perfectly… There was only one such location.
Namely…
The Potter’s Field (Graveyard for the destitute/abandoned corpses).