The news of Tang Lici heading west to Azure Fall Palace and disappearing at Cat Sprout Peak had spread like wildfire through the Martial Arts World in recent days. Various sects were greatly puzzled by Wan Yu Yuedan's actions. The Central Plains Sword Association had lost two top masters in succession, yet Tang Lici had killed both Shi Tinghe and Yu Qifeng without offering any formal explanation or justification to the martial arts community. Although Jiang Feiyu of Yanmen had strongly asserted that Shi Tinghe was involved in the Ape-Demon Nine Heart Pill incident, branding him as a notorious villain who deserved death, Yanmen was not a major sect, and his words carried little weight. Few paid heed, and even if Shi Tinghe was indeed a villain, Yu Qifeng was a renowned hero of the Central Plains. Tang Lici, accompanied by the underworld expert Chi Yun and the Thirteen Floors assassin Shen Langhun, had stormed the Yu Family Sword Manor, killed Yu Qifeng, destroyed the manor, and even desecrated the grave of Yu Qifeng's mother. Such heinous acts were utterly appalling. Though no one knew why Tang Lici, master of Ten Thousand Apertures House, had killed the Sword King Yu Qifeng, both were figures of great renown. In just a few days, rumors ran rampant, and Tang Lici's name became infamous. Some called him an arrogant and self-righteous demon; others hailed him as a visionary hero cleansing the martial world of evil. Some speculated that their conflict stemmed from personal interests, perhaps an old agreement between the two. Others claimed Tang Lici had killed Yu Qifeng out of sheer boredom, seeking to make a grand spectacle in the Martial Arts World. Opinions varied widely, but Wan Yu Yuedan's decision to allow them to stay at Azure Fall Palace caused an even greater uproar. Some predicted Azure Fall Palace would soon be razed by the Tang-named demon, with Wan Yu Yuedan already dead. Others suggested Wan Yu Yuedan dared not offend Tang Lici for fear of provoking the imperial court. Yet despite the heated debates, the martial world remained eerily calm in recent days. The Central Plains Sword Association had invited swordsmen from various sects to meet at Good Cloud Mountain to discuss Tang Lici's case, but with the meeting still eight days away, it seemed no resolution had been reached. Meanwhile, the Ape-Demon Nine Heart Pill, rumored to have killed "West Wind Swordsman" Feng Chuanxiang and "Iron Brush" Wen Ruiqi, had not resurfaced, as if it had never existed—mere baseless gossip.
Amid the clamor, ten days passed in a flash.
At Cat Sprout Peak, the Left Guardian of Azure Fall Palace handed Wan Yu Yuedan a carrier pigeon message summarizing the current state of the martial world. As Wan Yu Yuedan was blind, the Left Guardian, as usual, read it aloud in a calm tone. Wan Yu Yuedan sat by the white jade brazier, its pristine elegance accentuating his delicate and youthful appearance. After listening, he smiled faintly. "Do you also find it strange?"
The Left Guardian shook his head and stood silently before him without speaking. Wan Yu Yuedan took a sip of ginseng soup. "What does Tie Jing think of Tang Lici?" After a long silence, the Left Guardian replied, "A calamitous star." Wan Yu Yuedan's eyes crinkled slightly. "And Yan'er?" By "Yan'er," he meant the Right Guardian of Azure Fall Palace. Tie Jing answered, "He approves." Wan Yu Yuedan chuckled. "He must have taken a liking to one of his opponents." Tie Jing smiled faintly. "He's been pondering ways to counter flying daggers these past few days." Wan Yu Yuedan laughed. "Life in the palace can be lonely. Finding a worthy opponent is a good thing. You may go now." Tie Jing bowed and withdrew. Wan Yu Yuedan closed the lid of the ginseng soup bowl, shut his eyes, and sank into quiet contemplation.Tang Lici, a man as venomous as a serpent, with a sinister and ruthless nature, yet possessed an obsessive zeal for doing good. Utter wickedness and profound virtue intertwined within him, creating an unusual brilliance. Such a man was incredibly alluring to collaborate with, if only to witness the outcomes of his good deeds. However, conspiring with a snake—even if it was a good snake, or even a mesmerizingly beautiful one—did not mean... it was harmless... He slowly opened his eyes, gazing out the window at the distant icy peaks, the flawless blue sky, and the boundless sea of clouds. Yet in his eyes, all was stained crimson. As vast as the heavens were, so too was the distance of the jianghu, and with it, the storms of blood and violence.
"Xiao Yue." Xiao Qiu peeked her head in through the door. "What are you doing?"
"Xiao Qiu?" Wan Yu Yuedan smiled. "What is it? Come in."
"My brother and that Chi Yun are fighting again. Aren't you going to stop them?" Xiao Qiu stepped inside. "My brother also said Young Master Tang is causing trouble for us. There are a lot of suspicious people coming down from Cat Sprout Peak, all trying to find out where Azure Fall Palace is. They’re all after Young Master Tang. Xiao Yue, why did you let them stay?" Xiao Qiu's elder brother, He Yan'er, was Wan Yu Yuedan's Right Guardian.
"They aren’t bad people. If I drove them away, those people down the mountain would surely kill them. Wouldn’t that be tragic?" Wan Yu Yuedan sighed softly.
Xiao Qiu gasped. "So we’re saving them?"
"Yes." Wan Yu Yuedan sighed again.
"Then why are you sighing?" Xiao Qiu frowned at him. "That Young Master Tang doesn’t look like someone being hunted at all. He’s just sitting there reading. It’s so funny—such a grown man, looking all refined, reading The Three Character Classic , and taking forever on each page. I don’t even know what he’s staring at."
"Is that so?" Wan Yu Yuedan said. "What have you been reading lately?"
"Me? I haven’t read in ages. There aren’t any new books here, and I don’t like those ancient texts written by old scholars. Poems, manuscripts—none of that makes its way up here." Xiao Qiu lowered her head. "But I know moving here was for everyone’s good. I don’t resent it at all."
"You’ve endured much." Wan Yu Yuedan’s eyes dimmed slightly. "Everyone has suffered."
"I’m not suffering at all, and neither is anyone else." Xiao Qiu said. "But to move here, Xiao Yue, you... you... even A Nuan’s grave..." Her voice faltered. To relocate to this desolate place, Wan Yu Yuedan had left behind the graves of Wen Ren Nuan and Yang Xiao Zhong, leaving them forever in Jiangnan. Even though he visited them every year on the anniversary, what had been abandoned... was far more than just two lonely graves. Cat Sprout Peak was a frozen wasteland, remote and treacherous, perched hundreds of feet above, accessible only by rope. Moving the graves was nearly impossible, and no one knew how long they could even stay here. So it had to be this way.
"Xiao Qiu, are you happy living like this?" Wan Yu Yuedan asked slowly.
"I..." Xiao Qiu whispered, "As long as Xiao Yue is happy, I’m happy. Everyone is happy."
"Were you happier before, or now?" he asked gently.Xiao Qiu's eyes slowly filled with tears. "Of course... it was when A Nuan was still here... when we were little... those were happy times..." she said in a trembling voice before suddenly turning away. "I'm going to eat now." Covering her face, she ran out.
Wan Yu Yuedan's lips curved into a faint smile, tinged with sorrow. Silly girl, dinner was still an hour away—children really can't lie. Happy times in the past, when A Nuan was here, when we were young, before these days of wandering and displacement. Azure Fall Palace, oh Azure Fall Palace... Father, oh Father, how did you manage to hold up this vast sky back then? How did you bear the immense reputation of Azure Fall Palace, keeping it safe and untouched, far from the clamor of the martial world? How did you make us truly so happy?
Perhaps... Father was blessed with good fortune. But Father, there's one thing I don't envy you for—I don't want Azure Fall Palace to ever face the day when enemies storm our gates, blood splattering three feet deep. I don't want to live too many days of displacement. I don't want the swords in the palace to grow lonely, nor its people to shed tears. So—I must become stronger. One day, I will bring those two graves back home. One day, I will ensure no one in the world dares to stand before Azure Fall Palace's gates and point at our plaque to mock the name "Azure Fall"! I want the next generation, and the one after, to live as simply and happily as I did in my childhood.
So...
Wan Yu Yuedan gripped the cup of ginseng soup tightly, his knuckles turning white. So... A Nuan, I can never go back. I can never again be that child lying in the grass, catching dragonflies in my sleep. As much as I long to return... I cannot. Because I am the Palace Master now.
In the guest room, Tang Lici leaned against two stacked quilts as he read a book—one quilt his own, the other Chi Yun's. The quilts of Azure Fall Palace were naturally soft and snow-white, infinitely comfortable to recline upon. Tang Lici, propped against both, studied the Three Character Classic with meticulous attention. Meanwhile, Chi Yun sat cross-legged on the other bed, his face dark with suppressed fury. Earlier, Tang Lici had remarked with a faint smile that meditation required a calm and undisturbed mind, free of distractions. Someone as full of resentment and turmoil as Chi Yun risked qi deviation—perhaps it would be better not to meditate at all, and instead brew him a cup of tea. Those words had only deepened Chi Yun's scowl, and now he remained stubbornly seated in meditation, refusing to budge.
Footsteps approached from outside—neither too heavy nor too light, perfectly ordinary. It was Shen Langhun. Tang Lici gestured with his book, inviting him to sit as he pleased. Shen Langhun gave a slight nod but remained standing. "There's something I can't figure out," he said coolly.
"Can't figure out?" Tang Lici turned a page. "Can't figure out why Wan Yu Yuedan allowed us to stay at Cat Sprout Peak?" The Marrow Cleansing Silver Bracelet on his left wrist gleamed brightly against his fair, delicate skin, strikingly beautiful.Shen Langhun nodded, "What's the reasoning?" Tang Lici, eyes still on his book, smiled faintly at the corners of his lips, "What kind of person do you think Wan Yu Yuedan is?" Shen Langhun replied indifferently, "A master." Tang Lici's gaze shifted from the first line to the second, "He is not a master. He is a king." Shen Langhun was slightly taken aback, "A king?" Tang Lici smiled, "A king of the martial world—one who does not bow beneath others, nor yield to their might. Weak, he retreats to the ends of the earth; strong, he commands awe across the land. The Azure Fall Palace was destroyed under Wan Yu Muru's rule, yet reborn in Wan Yu Yuedan's hands. Wan Yu Muru was a man of preservation—under him, the Azure Fall Palace's reputation for mystery reached its zenith. But mystery is merely an illusion. Its advantage lies in inspiring reverence and fear, while its disadvantages are twofold. First, a palace shrouded in mystery, closed off from the world, inevitably has no allies. Second, its members rarely venture out—figures like Bi Qiuhan are few and far between, and even when they do, they dare not claim affiliation with the Azure Fall Palace. Though the disciples' martial skills are formidable, most are armchair strategists, discussing theories in lofty halls, inevitably detached from reality. Thus—" Shen Langhun interjected, "Thus, when Li Lingyan led his forces to their gates, the Azure Fall Palace faced near annihilation." Tang Lici nodded, "Precisely. Once one person lifts the veil, others will follow. And when the Azure Fall Palace revealed its true strength in the battle of Luoyang, it fell short of the legends, forcing them into exile. The 'mystery' could no longer serve as the palace's foundation." His eyes moved from the third line to the fourth, "So, what follows is this—if the Azure Fall Palace does not wish to be a stray dog fleeing the martial world, nor abandon the Central Plains, it must take action. This is not a matter of whether the palace master is Wan Yu Yuedan, but an inevitable trend of circumstance. Therefore—" He smiled faintly, "Therefore, Wan Yu Yuedan's agreement to let us reside in the Azure Fall Palace is not because he's lost his mind or fears us, but because he harbors ambitions to rule the world, and I possess the intent to stir the winds and clouds. Only when our purposes align can we coexist in peace.""In recent years, the Azure Fall Palace has remained hidden beyond the rivers and lakes, undoubtedly growing in strength. Its return to the Martial Arts World requires a suitable opportunity—and coincidentally, your pursuit of the Ape-Demon Nine Heart Pill led to the deaths of Shi Tinghe and Yu Qifeng, stirring upheaval in the martial world..." Shen Langhun said indifferently. "But how can he be certain that lending you his strength is the right move?"
Tang Lici's lips curved slightly, revealing a charming, rosy softness. "That involves the so-called 'judgment of a king.' Wan Yu Yuedan has determined that I can provide him with this opportunity—and everyone who has worked with me knows..." His voice gradually softened, his eyes tilting slightly, his lips lifting slowly—the tone so bewitchingly gentle, "The terms I offer are always... exceptionally generous. Essentially, whatever you desire, I can give it to you..."
Shen Langhun smiled faintly—the first time he had shown any expression in front of Tang Lici. It was unclear whether he believed him or not.
Tang Lici turned the second page of his book. "I'm glad you came today."
Shen Langhun replied, "Oh?"
Tang Lici closed the book and smiled. "It means you consider me a friend."
Shen Langhun glared at him. He rarely spoke, and even when he did, his expression remained blank. But now, he suddenly blurted out, "I truly can't figure out whether you're a genius or a complete fool."
Tang Lici laughed aloud, leaning back against the bedding and closing his eyes to sleep. "But I do know—someone who sells himself as an assassin to ransom his wife's corpse must be a complete fool."
Shen Langhun froze, then suddenly chuckled. "To even uncover something like that... truly worthy of being called the world's number one fox spirit."
The reason Shen Langhun had joined the Thirteen Assassins Tower and become its top killer was indeed because his wife, after chasing into the Yellow River, had her remains seized by the tower's master. To reclaim her body, Shen Langhun took up his sword, accepting payment in exchange for lives. The world believed him to be cold and ruthless, indifferent to morality—but in truth, his love for his wife simply outweighed any reverence for the lives he took.
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