"Are you unharmed?" Shen Langhun sighed in relief. "Is A Shui alright? I truly didn’t expect her to find you in time." Tang Lici was still wearing that brown robe, his silver-gray hair cascading unkempt behind him. He frowned at the question. "A Shui? Where is she?" Shen Langhun was startled. "Didn’t you come here after seeing her?" Tang Lici replied, "I heard the three of you had come to raid Wangting Manor. I figured Zhu Yan wouldn’t travel with the two of you for long, so I came to check. And indeed..." Shen Langhun’s expression darkened. "I don’t know if A Shui managed to escape from Yu Konghou. I sent her back alone to find you." Tang Lici smiled faintly. "No matter. I’ll search this place from top to bottom, inside and out—thoroughly. Alive or dead, I’ll find her." Shen Langhun exhaled deeply, his face etched with a bitter smile. No matter the situation, this man remained unchanged.
After Yu Qifeng and Qingxuzi had retreated in alarm, the tunnels of Wangting Manor were once again deserted. Shen Langhun glanced around. "How did you get in?" Tang Lici gestured behind him. "The garden above Wangting Manor was empty. There was a thin layer of snow on the ground—some patches had melted, others hadn’t. The melted spots indicated warmth, so I found an entrance. Once I descended, I heard the hum of Yu Qifeng’s sword." Shen Langhun laughed dryly. "If that sword of his were silent, wouldn’t my life have been wasted?" With a swift motion, Tang Lici tucked his sleeves behind his back, his eyes narrowing slightly as he turned to walk back the way he came. "Let’s go. He’s still inside—he won’t escape."
The dark tunnel was empty, yet the path ahead seemed lined with the eyes of malevolent spirits, thick with killing intent and malice.
Yu Konghou was not with Yu Qifeng or Qingxuzi at the moment. He was slowly tracking A Shui’s trail, but instead, he found corpse after corpse.
Some were White-Clad Servants, others were swordsmen stationed to guard the passages. Some had been pierced through the heart, while others had succumbed to lethal poison that sealed their throats upon contact with blood. The hidden weapons used were peculiar—dice.
The seventh corpse.
Yu Konghou sighed softly. Not far ahead, there were faint footsteps—light, like a child running swiftly forward. "Guan’er."
The footsteps abruptly stopped.
Yu Konghou walked slowly toward the sound, hands clasped behind his back. Under the dim tunnel lights, the small girl trembling like a frightened mouse was indeed Guan’er. He studied her for a long moment. "You’re truly remarkable."
"I... I..." Guan’er had lost her sword. Covered in blood, her face and body were a mess, but she was still alive—while those who had tried to stop her were dead."Out of several dozen White-Clad Servants, Shao Yanping let most escape, leaving only thirteen. You alone killed six—more than those who died in the battle at Good Cloud Mountain," Yu Konghou said softly. "I should have rewarded you." Guan'er's face drained of color as she staggered back a few steps. "They were trying to kill me."
Yu Konghou smiled sweetly. "I know. Little girl, so young yet so ruthless and treacherous. If not for that, I wouldn’t want to kill you." His voice remained gentle. "You're talented, truly talented. At just fourteen, you killed seven people taller, stronger, and even more skilled than you. You have potential—what a pity, such a pity—you don’t obey."
"If... if I obey now, will you spare me?" Guan'er suddenly dropped to her knees, kowtowing desperately. "I don’t want to die! I haven’t found my mother yet. I was wrong, I was bewitched—Master, please spare me! I’m so scared, don’t kill me!"
Yu Konghou chuckled. "I could spare you. But what about A Shui? Where did you take her?" Guan'er curled into a corner, trembling uncontrollably. "I don’t know, I didn’t see her."
Yu Konghou scoffed. "Really? You didn’t see her?" He examined his neatly trimmed nails, flexing his fingers as if contemplating the most graceful way to strike. Guan'er trembled harder. "I... I saw her run in another direction, but she didn’t go with me."
"Lies!" Yu Konghou roared, his voice shaking the room. Guan'er turned deathly pale, but then he spoke softly again. "If you hadn’t seen her, if you weren’t traveling together, if you weren’t covering for her—why would you kill seven people? Are you insane? Enough nonsense. Where is she?"
Guan'er clenched her teeth. "I don’t know."
Yu Konghou raised his hand. "Say 'I don’t know' one more time, and I won’t spare you. Think carefully. You’re so young, so clever, so pretty—and so afraid of death. Life holds so many possibilities. You haven’t married, haven’t had children. Wouldn’t it be a shame to die like this? I’ll ask one last time—where is she?"
Guan'er lifted her chin defiantly. "I don’t know! Kill me, and I still won’t know!"
"You truly surprise me." Yu Konghou giggled, shaking his head. "What a shame. If I’d known you’d turn out like this when I took you in, I should’ve killed you long ago." With that, his palm struck— crack —Guan'er's skull shattered, her brains splattering. She died instantly, lips still tightly sealed, refusing to speak even in death.
That a little girl in the Dissolute Shop would show loyalty to A Shui was an absurd, unimaginable thing. Blood splashed onto Yu Konghou’s shoes. He took out an embroidered handkerchief and wiped it away slowly, meticulously.
At the moment he struck Guan'er down, Yu Qifeng and Qingxuzi retreated swiftly, while Tang Lici burst into the tunnel. Everything seemed to be just beginning—but for Guan'er, it was already too late.
She never got the chance to grow up.
From the distant passage came shouts and the sound of running. Yu Konghou’s expression shifted abruptly, his eyes filling with ruthless malice. Gripping his short sword, he retreated the way he had come.In the passageway, Bai Suche and Yu Qifeng were rushing forward, while Qingxuzi emerged from another corner. Yu Konghou glanced at them and scoffed, "Pathetic." Bai Suche, her expression solemn, bowed slightly and said, "Tang Lici came prepared. None of us are a match for him alone." Yu Konghou snorted. "Open the water prison and check if anyone has passed through the breach." Bai Suche obeyed and left. Yu Konghou's eyes flickered as she looked at Yu Qifeng and Qingxuzi, then let out a soft laugh. That laugh left the two of them silent and bowing their heads. Both were masters of their generation, yet they had been frightened into fleeing by Tang Lici.
"Actually, the two of you could have lasted at least two hundred moves against Tang Lici..." Yu Konghou said gently. "He's just recovered from a severe injury. He might have exhausted himself within those two hundred moves—perhaps you could have even won." She paused, then added coldly, "Do you regret it now?" Yu Qifeng's face darkened, but he remained silent. Qingxuzi, his face veiled in black gauze, showed no expression, though his displeasure was evident. Yu Konghou stood with her hands behind her back in the middle of the passage, while Yu Qifeng and Qingxuzi stood on either side. The distant darkness was silent, yet everyone knew Tang Lici and Shen Langhun were approaching.
Though Tang Lici was formidable in martial arts and Shen Langhun was no weakling, in terms of sheer strength, they were no match for Yu Konghou, Yu Qifeng, and Qingxuzi. However, Tang Lici possessed the Sound Assassination Technique—a terrifying skill few could withstand, not even Yu Konghou.
Yet Yu Konghou did not retreat. The reason was simple: within Wangting Manor, aside from Yu Qifeng and Qingxuzi, there was also Gui Mudan. No matter how powerful Tang Lici's Sound Assassination Technique was, he still needed time to perform it. With several peerless martial experts present, they could ensure Tang Lici never got the chance to use it.
Far down the long tunnel, a faint light flickered, then extinguished. Another light flared ahead, only to vanish again. These were the dim oil lamps embedded along the tunnel walls, snuffed out one by one, their feeble glow making the darkness seem even deeper. As the lamps extinguished in sequence, the tunnel appeared to shorten section by section.
Tang Lici was coming.
Yu Konghou's hands, clasped behind her back, twisted idly, as if the encroaching darkness meant nothing to her.
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