A Shui and the coachmen ventured into the woods, calling out Yu Tuan'er's name all the while. Yet aside from the howling wind through the trees, the forest remained eerily silent. Suddenly, one of the coachmen let out a muffled groan, and a dragging sound erupted beside them. A Shui gasped, swinging her torch just in time to see a dark, indistinct shape swiftly drag a coachman away, vanishing instantly into the thick foliage and rocky terrain. The other coachman screamed, "Mountain Wraith! It's the Mountain Wraith!" before turning and fleeing headlong into the woods.
Left alone, A Shui stood frozen, torch in hand, staring at the shifting shadows around her. Behind every cluster of trees, it seemed as though a deadly Mountain Wraith lurked, waiting to strike. After a long moment of paralysis, she finally mustered her courage. Trembling, she raised the torch and slowly advanced in the direction where the monstrous shadow had disappeared.
If there truly was a man-eating creature in these woods... then perhaps Yu Tuan'er had been taken by the same monster.
Clutching the torch tightly, her face deathly pale, she took one cautious step after another. After a few paces, she hesitated. Maybe she should turn back and alert the others first—but what if, in the time it took her to return, "it" devoured Yu Tuan'er? Wouldn't that be a regret she'd carry for the rest of her life?
Her face grew even paler. Gritting her teeth, she tightened her grip on the torch and quickened her pace.
The deeper she went, the denser the trees became, and the darker her surroundings. A chill settled in her heart. The rustling of leaves in the wind drowned out the sound of her footsteps. "Tuan'er?" she called softly. "Uncle Ma?"
Uncle Ma was the coachman who had just been dragged away by the shadow. She called his name a few times, but there was no response. In such a short span of time, he had either been taken too far to hear—or he was no longer able to answer.
"Uncle Ma? Tuan'er?" She continued forward, step by step, until suddenly—her foot met empty air. With a startled cry and a rustling crash, she tumbled into a shallow pit.
The pit was filled with dry branches and rotting leaves, reeking of decay. As she fell, she landed on something warm and soft—a human body. Her torch, miraculously still lit, illuminated the two figures lying motionless at the bottom of the pit: Yu Tuan'er and Uncle Ma.
They lay separately, utterly still. A Shui checked their pulses—both faint and weak—but found no visible wounds or blood. Whatever had harmed them, it must have been some kind of venom from a strange beast. Panic gripped her, and in her desperation, she looked up toward the mouth of the pit and called out, "Young Master Tang..." Even though she knew he wouldn't come, in her despair, she still wished he were here.
Just as she lifted her head, the torchlight flickered, revealing freshly turned black soil on either side of the pit's entrance.
This hole had been dug recently.
Startled, she turned the torch downward, where something glinted faintly amidst the debris.
She bent down and gingerly touched it.
It was a net.
A net woven from impossibly thin black wire, nearly invisible in the darkness.
No beast could craft a net from wire—this had to be a trap!
This was the work of a person, not a ghost!The net was spread across the bottom of the cave, and after a brief moment of contemplation, A Shui understood—Uncle Ma and Yu Tuan'er were the bait and the trap within this net. Most likely, something crucial lay beneath them. If someone fell into the net and tried to lift them, this strange black web would spring up, ensnaring everyone in the cave.
She had fallen into this place without triggering the mechanism because she hadn’t even thought of moving the two of them.
She stopped calling for Young Master Tang and slowly extinguished the torch.
Darkness enveloped everything.
Perhaps the person who had set this trap had allowed her to fall in, hoping she would cry out for help and lure Tang Lici here. But she didn’t want Tang Lici to come at all—his wounds hadn’t yet healed, and his emotions were too turbulent. If he were caught in this net… she thought… he would surely fall into the trap.
A Shui closed her eyes. Yes, he would definitely be caught. Young Master Tang never feared venturing into the dragon’s den or the tiger’s lair, and though he would surely rescue them safely, she never wanted to see him struggle again, never wanted him to face any more danger.
She thought… at this moment, even the weight of a single feather would be torture for him.
Though Tang Lici had never shown it.
In the pitch-black darkness, she hesitated for a moment before slowly groping her way to Yu Tuan'er’s side. She embraced Yu Tuan'er and, with great effort, managed to turn her over. Dimly, she felt something hard beneath Yu Tuan'er, but the iron net didn’t activate. She let out a sigh of relief and gently nudged Yu Tuan'er, who remained unconscious and silent. A Shui ran her hands over Yu Tuan'er’s body, trying to determine what injuries she had sustained and why she wouldn’t wake up.
Suddenly, her fingers brushed against something cold and hard. Startled, she felt a sharp pain—something had clamped down on her finger with such force that its teeth trembled violently against her skin. She yanked her hand back, and the creature coiled around her arm—a snake!
There was a snake on Yu Tuan'er! She suddenly realized the strange, pungent smell in the cave was the scent of snakes. Their unconsciousness was likely due to snake venom, and now that she had been bitten, she too would probably… Just as she was at a loss for what to do, a low, sinister chuckle echoed from outside the cave.
“Ha…”
Just a single, low laugh, but it struck her as distinctly unnatural. Gritting her teeth, though she didn’t want to involve Tang Lici and had hoped to escape on her own, she couldn’t let Yu Tuan'er and Uncle Ma die from the venom. Reluctant as she was, she had no choice but to raise her voice and call for help. “Young Master Tang—Young Master Tang—”
No one stopped her cries for help. Clearly, this was indeed one of the means to lure Tang Lici into the trap. As A Shui mustered her strength to call out, she slowly rolled to the side.
With a resonant “hum,” the hard object beneath her sprang up as she moved, and the black net in the cave abruptly closed, tightly binding A Shui and the other two inside. A faint smile touched her lips as her body grew numb from the venom, rendering her unable to make another sound. She closed her eyes.
Everything she had done might have been in vain, but she had given it her all.Outside the cave, the person who had just let out a low chuckle let out a questioning "Hm?" sound, surprised that A Shui had somehow triggered the mechanism on her own. The black net was made of Dark Iron, impervious to swords and blades. Once caught in it, even someone with extraordinary abilities would find it impossible to escape—which was why it had been set up to deal with Tang Lici. Yet, it had been triggered prematurely by a mere girl.
Had she done it on purpose or by accident? The person frowned. That cold laugh earlier had been infused with internal energy, carrying far into the distance—Tang Lici must have heard it. And with the girl’s cries for help, if he hadn’t heard them in the dead of night, it would have been a miracle.
But even if the trap had been sprung prematurely, it didn’t matter. The person reached into the cave and yanked the net upward. The three inside were tightly bound together, their condition unknown. He slid his hand into the net, casually gripping one of their necks, and called out in a sinister voice, "Tang Lici, I know you’ve been here for a while. Show yourself!"
The leaves in the forest rustled softly. No one answered. Only darkness remained.
"Tang Lici, I’ll count to three. If you don’t appear by one, I’ll kill one person. If you don’t appear by two, I’ll kill the second. If you don’t appear by three, all three in this net will die—" Before he could finish, a faint crack sounded from his own neck. Then… everything about him fell silent.
A soft hand rested against the back of his neck.
That hand had just gently shattered his cervical spine.
A moment later, with a thud , the man’s body stiffly collapsed to the ground, revealing the figure who had appeared behind him like a ghost at some unknown moment.
"‘If you don’t appear by one, I’ll kill one person…’" the newcomer murmured softly. "You just talk too much." He gave a light cough. "My patience has never been good."
Clad in white robes, the man stood like a pale specter in the pitch-black forest. As the corpse with the shattered neck fell, the Dark Iron net trapping A Shui and the others fell into his hands. His fingers traced the smooth strands of the net with the lightest of touches, his pale fingers slowly slipping between the wires—just as the other man had done—before casually closing around someone’s throat.
A Shui’s throat.
She had shielded Yu Tuan'er behind her, the girl curled tightly against her back. The moment the net had closed, A Shui had stretched herself to cover Yu Tuan'er, while Uncle Ma lay sprawled at their feet. So no matter who reached into the net, it was easy to grasp her exposed neck.
He stared unblinkingly at A Shui, his fingers gradually tightening around her throat.
A little more pressure, and she would vanish forever.
Yet after a long moment, he loosened his grip inch by inch, then gently raised his hand to touch her face.
A Shui’s face was icy cold, but there were no tears.
His hand slowly withdrew from her cheek. Quickly, he struck a flint, searched the dead man’s body, and scanned the surroundings briefly. Finding no further ambush, he lifted the three from the Dark Iron net and swiftly retraced his steps.
His sense of direction was impeccable. Even in the near-impenetrable darkness of the forest, he moved swiftly without much hindrance, soon returning to the campfire they had left earlier.
But by the campfire, there was only the campfire.
The flickering flames danced weakly over the nearly extinguished embers. The person who should have been waiting there was nowhere to be seen, leaving only silence in their wake.Tang Lici set down the three people in his hands. The surroundings were eerily silent, with only the rustling of leaves. Within a radius of ten zhang, there was no sign of any living creature.
He had made a mistake.
He should have let those two cumbersome women die and taken Liu Yan to Shaolin Temple.
That would have been the swiftest way to cut through the chaos, forcing Yu Konghou to divide his attention and resolve the matter of the Dissolute Shop as quickly as possible.
But he hadn’t.
The night wind in the forest was icy, and the flickering campfire offered little warmth. It was clear that Liu Yan, Selin, and Feng Feng had fallen into enemy hands while he was away.
A diversion.
He had seen through it, yet made no decision. Instead, he had followed Liu Yan’s arrangement to search for someone—only for the obvious to happen… Liu Yan, true to his nature, had made another wrong choice.
He lowered his gaze to the campfire and slowly sat down. His snow-white sleeve brushed against the embers, and the dying flames quietly licked at the fabric, burning silently at the hem.
Whoever had taken Liu Yan and Selin, their background was unclear. If they were Yu Konghou’s men, their purpose was undoubtedly to stop him from reaching Shaolin Temple to meet Pu Zhu. He thought with cold clarity… If Yu Konghou could spare men to ambush them here and block his path, then he should have persuaded Pu Zhu to leave Shaolin earlier. That way, he could have abandoned the hostages immediately, knowing that going to Shaolin would yield no results. But now, there were too many in the martial world who hated him to the bone. He couldn’t determine which faction the enemy belonged to. He had offended too many people—hated in the name of justice, hunted in the name of righteousness. He had thought he didn’t care…
Or rather, until recently, he hadn’t.
But lately… something within him had shattered. Other things had slipped away. He smiled at everyone, trying to remain as he once was. He had even succeeded, for the most part.
Yet his fragmented soul longed for silence, for stillness. It needed time and solitude to lick its wounds—wounds he had already burned to ashes. Any further disturbance, and perhaps nothing would remain.
He thought… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if nothing remained.
After that night of madness, the fear and reverence of hundreds no longer satisfied him. Yet the slightest malice from a single person could leave him riddled with wounds.
The flames at his sleeve quietly died out.
A Shui and the other two remained unconscious in the net.
Tang Lici sat quietly for a long while before finally blinking and turning his gaze to the three on the ground.
The large black net still bound them tightly together. He pinched a wire between his fingers and tugged, but the net didn’t budge—clearly no ordinary trap. Suddenly, with a snap , something darted from A Shui’s body and sank its fangs into his wrist.
A snake? With a flick of his wrist, he killed the foot-long venomous serpent and tossed it aside. Mere snake venom couldn’t kill him, and in that instant, Tang Lici understood—if the ones who had taken Liu Yan and Selin were allied with those who had set this Dark Iron net trap, they were not Yu Konghou’s men.
Because Yu Konghou already knew snake venom couldn’t kill Tang Lici.
And the three on the ground must have all been poisoned. He stared coldly at the dead snake—its body an odd grass-green, its head unusually large. It was a species he had never seen before, undoubtedly lethal.A Shui's face had already turned ashen, let alone Yu Tuan'er and Uncle Ma, who had been poisoned earlier. Yet if this had been a fast-acting lethal poison, the three would have long perished—they couldn't have lasted this long. This proved the snake venom's peculiarity lay not in its instant lethality but in some other sinister quality.
The woman in the net who protected others... He had once been fond of her because she faintly resembled someone from his imagination, because she always drew men's gazes, because she endured so quietly, struggling to survive—but—
After that night, he suddenly realized she resembled no one. She was simply herself—she had always been just herself. He had never intended to treat her kindly, for she was a woman who sold herself to anyone. Shattering her dignity and confidence had been such a delight, like slowly and relentlessly tearing apart an exquisite silk painting—the destruction of beauty was intoxicatingly thrilling. Yet even after he tore, shattered, even personally ruined her, the painting remained.
She had not been destroyed. She was still there, exactly as before... without even a trace of resentment. He couldn't bear it, couldn't endure it... Before her, he had suffered, hurt, lost control, gone mad, even killed her... He had shown every monstrous face imaginable—he had erred, failed, fallen apart... Every ugly flaw laid bare, never all-knowing, never perfect. And yet, she remained unchanged.
It was truly... unbearable.
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