The pitch-black tunnel resembled a passage to the abyss of hell. The Night-Shining Pearl in the girl's hand could only illuminate three steps ahead, yet she walked forward without hesitation. Chang Ning watched the faint circle of light ahead, his heart slightly unsettled.
Ten dark gray stone steps descended, turned a corner, then another ten steps down before opening into a black stone chamber about seven or eight zhang wide and one and a half persons tall.
Apart from one table, one stool, one bed, and two large and one small black iron shelves for miscellaneous items embedded in the stone walls, the room contained nothing else.
A dim oil lamp flickered on the table, casting eerie shadows.
After just one day unseen, Young Master Qian appeared to have lost five jin and aged three years. His once luxurious robes were crumpled and unkempt, his hair uncombed and face unwashed. He sat cross-legged on the stone bed strewn with straw, one leg dangling with an Iron Chain still clamped around his ankle, its other end embedded in the wall. Beside him lay a coarse ceramic bowl containing two cold steamed buns, one partially eaten.
Hearing footsteps, Young Master Qian sprang up, puffing out his chest arrogantly. "You needn't bring more food. I said I won't eat, and I won't. Even dogs would reject such coarse, cold fare... Who—who are you?" He stared at the two strangers.
Cai Zhao tucked the Night-Shining Pearl into her robe. "The people who saved your feet."
Young Master Qian's eyes widened as he pointed at Cai Zhao. "You—you—"
Then at the tall young man behind her, "And you, that day... You two?!" Being well-versed in the Body Transformation Art, he was acutely aware of human bone and muscle structures. Once reminded, he immediately recognized them.
Realizing their identities, fury surged through him. "How dare you show your faces here! I was living comfortably with fine food and drink until you two meddled and got me locked in this godforsaken place!"
Chang Ning said coldly, "Pigs also live comfortably with fine food and drink—until they're fat enough for slaughter. They're keeping you for your Body Transformation Art. Once someone else masters your skills, do you think you'll fare any better than a pig ready for butchering?"
Young Master Qian shuddered, fear flashing across his face. "Th-they said it's too taxing... Once this passes, they'll find me two devoted disciples..."
Chang Ning: "Disciples who can slaughter their master."
Unwilling to back down, Young Master Qian stiffened his neck. "I never wanted disciples anyway! They forced me! I'd rather die than comply! Don't think you can intimidate me—I won't tell you anything!"
Cai Zhao ignored him, turning to Chang Ning. "In that case, let's chop off his feet and take him back for questioning."
"Agreed." Chang Ning smiled faintly, shaping his hand into a blade as he advanced.
Young Master Qian shrank back on the stone bed. "Don't you dare! This place is heavily guarded. One shout, and neither of you will escape!"
Chang Ning glanced back at Cai Zhao. "Perhaps we should just kill him. This fool wouldn't yield anything useful even if we took him back—who could hear shouts from an underground stone chamber? Unless he knows the Lion's Roar... Does he look like he's trained in that?"
Cai Zhao's lips quirked. "Not the Lion's Roar—more like the Turtle Fist." A common brawler's move.
Young Master Qian's face cycled through shades of green and red, unable to settle on a single hue. Finally, he whispered timidly, "Ask whatever you want... I'll tell you what I know."
Chang Ning actually had no questions. He flicked his sleeve and sat at the stone table, leaving the girl to interrogate.
"Don't worry, I won't force you." Cai Zhao approached the stone bed. "First—are you not the only 'Thousand-Faced Person' they've captured?"Young Master Qian suddenly turned pale: "...I don't know how many they captured, but when the Thousand Faces Sect was massacred back then, only my master escaped. After my master passed away, only one member of Thousand Faces remains."
"First lie already—the Thousand Faces Sect was exterminated ninety years ago, how could your master have lived that long?!" Chang Ning interjected.
Young Master Qian immediately retorted: "My master was thirteen when the sect was destroyed! He passed away ten years ago at ninety-six, what's the problem with that!"
Chang Ning had nothing to say and turned his face away.
Cai Zhao nodded: "Second question—how many people have you transformed for them so far?"
Young Master Qian thought briefly, "Not counting that Fan fellow yesterday, eight and a half. The half didn't succeed—but you can't blame me for that, I only had a portrait to work with, how was I supposed to make it look exactly like them?"
Cai Zhao pressed further: "Do you know who those eight people were?"
Young Master Qian cried out in exasperation: "Miss, look at these shackles! I was captured by them—do you think they'd confide in me? I only recognize their faces, but I have no idea about their names."
When Cai Zhao asked if one of them had a round face, Young Master Qian answered very precisely that there were three with round faces—did she mean oval, perfectly round, or big/small round? Frustrated, Cai Zhao then asked if one had a square face, to which he replied with academic precision that there were also three square-faced ones—did she mean perfectly square, rectangular, or slanted/flat square?
Cai Zhao laughed in irritation: "Among those you transformed, there must be some famous figures in the Martial World. How could you not know?"
Young Master Qian felt deeply wronged and protested: "Our sect was practically lower than street rats! My master lived his whole life in hiding under false names. If not for a slip-up a year ago, I'd never have had any dealings with Martial World people in this lifetime!"
Cai Zhao's palms itched with the urge to punch him. To avoid breaking this idiot's nose, she irritably stepped away from the stone bed, walking all the way to the iron rack before turning back: "Fine, one last question—and you must know the answer to this one!"
She took a deep breath before continuing: "How can this Body Transformation Art be undone?"
At this question, Young Master Qian's expression became both proud and awkward. He forced a smile: "Well... the best method is naturally to wait for the effect to wear off. After all, it's just a trick to fool people—it can't last forever. Once the time's up... hey hey don't come closer don't come closer..."
Chang Ning stood up, lifting a stone stool threateningly. Young Master Qian shrank back in fear.
"Among those eight people you transformed, what was the longest duration?" Cai Zhao still held out hope.
Young Master Qian mumbled: "...Half a year."
Cai Zhao immediately leaped onto the stone bed and grabbed Young Master Qian by the collar—in half a year, her father's ashes might already be scattered to the winds!
"There's another way!" Young Master Qian screamed, shielding his face.
Cai Zhao paused.
Gasping for breath, Young Master Qian said: "Death—once the person dies, the technique immediately dissolves!"
He swallowed hard, "Didn't you see it that day? The moment Xiao Gong died, his appearance instantly reverted!"
Cai Zhao tilted her head, her thoughts returning to that final moment yesterday after hiding Fan Xingjia's body in the secret compartment—the deafening crash, the blood-soaked carpet, Fan Xingjia's corpse beginning to twist and transform...
She suddenly turned back and demanded: "Does it have to be death? Wouldn't serious internal injuries or stab wounds reveal their true forms?"
"No injury works unless the person willingly dispels the technique themselves. Only death—when someone dies, their dantian is destroyed, their breath stops, and their meridians sever—only then does the true form emerge!"
Young Master Qian loosened his collar indignantly, "Do you know why the orthodox and unorthodox factions joined forces to exterminate our sect back then? If the Body Transformation Art had weaknesses, they wouldn't have feared us so much! Hmph, oceans may turn to mulberry fields, mountains and rivers may shift with time, but the Body Transformation Art never changes—that's what my master said!"
Cai Zhao frowned and looked at Chang Ning.Chang Ning spoke slowly, "Killing that impostor would mean we can't get any answers. But if we don't kill him and he stubbornly refuses to admit anything, what then? This truly leaves us between a rock and a hard place."
He turned to Young Master Qian and asked, "When did you arrive in Qingque Town?"
Young Master Qian was taken aback. "So this is Qingque Town? Three months ago, they put me in a box and brought me here, telling me to hide in places like street corners and taverns to observe someone repeatedly. I spent two and a half months just watching that person before daring to use the Body Transformation Art. That person was quite impressive—everyone bowed to him."
He sighed, "Adding that fellow surnamed Fan from yesterday, I've lost all my strength now. I won't be able to transform again without resting for at least a month."
"So you were already lying in wait in Qingque Town before the grand sacrificial ceremony." As he spoke, Chang Ning's eyes suddenly gleamed with realization.
He turned to Cai Zhao with a smile, "Yesterday, you couldn't understand why they dared to bring this person to the Myriad Waters, Thousand Mountains Cliff, right? Now it's clear—in about a month, Song Shijun will come to see his son."
A bolt of realization struck Cai Zhao: "...And another month after that, Uncle Zhou will arrive too!"
Chang Ning lowered his head and gently smoothed his sleeve. "Si Qi is a fence-sitter, Grand Beginning Temple is half crippled now, your father and Sect Leader Qi have already been captured. If we replace Song Shijun and Master Zhou as well... heh, great things can be accomplished."
He stood up slowly, his smile gentle. "To prevent the Big Dipper Six Sects from being wiped out in one fell swoop, perhaps we should kill him first. As long as this person is dead, no one in the world will know the Body Transformation Art anymore."
Young Master Qian pressed himself fearfully against the wall, his voice trembling. "No, no, don't kill me. I've never done anything bad, I've always hidden well, never involved myself in Martial World affairs..."
Cai Zhao stood with her back to them, silently facing the tall iron rack on the stone wall.
After a moment, she turned around, tugged at Chang Ning's sleeve, and said softly, "Let's go. We've been in here too long—people outside will notice something's wrong."
Chang Ning looked at her incredulously, his voice grave. "Don't be merciful now of all times! If we don't kill this person, the consequences will be endless!"
Unable to move the tall young man, Cai Zhao had to turn back. She forced a smile, her eyes glistening as if with unshed tears. "Have you heard about the two things my aunt was most proud of in her life?"
Chang Ning snorted in frustration.
Cai Zhao kept her head down, her voice muffled. "Before her death, my aunt said that what she was most proud of wasn't killing Nie Hengcheng, but rather—no matter how desperate the situation, she never killed an innocent person; no matter how difficult, she never stood by and watched innocents fall into danger."
She had said these words to Zeng Dalou before, and at the time, she had thought them ordinary. Only now did she understand how difficult it was to uphold these two principles.
Chang Ning's chest heaved with anger, his eyes cold and fierce. "Your father's life hangs in the balance—can't you make an exception for such an urgent matter?!"
The usually easygoing girl stubbornly shook her head. "No, we must never cross that line. Once you do it the first time, there will be many, many more times after."
She raised her head and smiled. "When I first met you, I didn't know who you were. It was because of my aunt's words that I felt compelled to save you, even if it seemed foolish."
Remembering the carefree girl from that spring day, as lively as green branches reflected in clear water, Chang Ning suddenly felt his heart soften.
He said gently, "Fine. We'll find another way. He has no strength now—keeping him alive for a while won't hurt."
Just as the two stepped onto the stone stairs at the second-floor landing, a voice suddenly came from behind—"Actually, there was once someone who cracked this Body Transformation Art."
Chang Ning and Cai Zhao turned their heads in unison, their faces lighting up with surprise and hope.
"It was the North Star Ancestor," Young Master Qian said dejectedly, standing by the stone bed."Two hundred years ago, our ancestor once assisted Ancestor North Star in exterminating Demons using the Body Transformation Art. On the day the demons were eradicated, the gravely injured ancestor summoned our ancestor on his deathbed and instructed him to transform into anyone at will. Though puzzled, our ancestor complied."
"Then, the ancestor had his servants bring forth the Snowscale Dragon Beast he had raised for years. He extracted a small amount of saliva from the beast's mouth and had our ancestor consume it—Snowscale Dragon saliva is a rare tonic, greatly beneficial for cultivation. Our ancestor swallowed it immediately."
"Shortly after, his entire body turned ice-cold, as if dead, and soon reverted to his original form."
"Before everyone gathered at the sickbed, the ancestor warned our ancestor that all things in heaven and earth, the forces of yin and yang, have their natural restraints. Thus, there would never be an inexplicable miraculous technique in this world, nor an eternally undefeated faction. He urged everyone to be cautious."
"Then the ancestor passed away, and not long after, our ancestor went into seclusion—whether true or not, that's what my master told me." Young Master Qian finished speaking, tightly wringing his hands together.
"Snowscale Dragon Beast?" Cai Zhao exclaimed in surprise. "I've read about it in books. It's said the ancestor once raised many rare immortal beasts—like the Frostwing Crane with gauze-like feathers, the Eight-Legged Crimson-Headed Snake, and even the Qilin Steed that could gallop a thousand miles in a single night... But the books say that after the ancestor's death, the immortal energy of Nine Conch Mountain dissipated, and those rare creatures gradually left."
"I don't know about the others, but the Snowscale Dragon Beast must be real," Chang Ning said with a frown. "A hundred and sixty years ago, the Snowscale Dragon Beast wreaked havoc across the land, injuring countless people before being driven away by a united effort of martial artists."
Cai Zhao perked up. "Driven where?"
"Northward, to the Great Snow Mountain in the extreme cold region."
...
After leaving the dungeon, the two quietly retraced their steps.
The mountain wilderness grew even more desolate, with black-clad figures still patrolling like ghosts.
Only after leaving that area did they finally exhale in relief.
Chang Ning steadied the slightly panting girl but remarked, "Serves you right for playing the hero. Though Nine Conch Mountain lies to the north, even riding nonstop at full speed would take over half a month to reach the Great Snow Mountain. And who knows if that Snowscale Dragon Beast is even still alive?"
"Let's not pin our hopes on the Snowscale Dragon Beast just yet," Cai Zhao said, catching her breath and straightening up. "First, we need to capture that impostor. Didn't he bring many experts with him? Let's seize ten or twenty of them. If we interrogate them one by one, we might uncover something."
Chang Ning chuckled. "Wow, Zhao Zhao, you sure talk big. To capture ten or twenty, you'd need the entire sect's help. How do you plan to convince them?"
"By laying all the facts bare," Cai Zhao said firmly. "Falsehood can't pass for truth. No matter how well he mimics our master, there must be flaws. If we can convince a few senior uncles, we can round them all up in one sweep."
Chang Ning frowned slightly. "That might not be so simple. Sometimes, what's said isn't the most important—it's whether the speaker can make everyone listen to them."
As they spoke, they walked toward Quietude Cottage. Suddenly, a group of people surged toward them from ahead, swords at their waists and lanterns in hand, surrounding them instantly with blazing torches.
At the forefront stood Dai Fengchi.
He smirked darkly. "What a delightful stroll you two are having, wandering the mountains in the dead of night instead of staying in your rooms. Since you're not asleep, come with me—our master requests your presence."
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