On the round table before Hong Guniang lay a clay model of Soul Prayer Mountain, crafted with such lifelike detail that every peak, ridge, and valley was present. She stared at the terrain, her mind racing with countless calculations, wondering where the person who had sent this clay model might be now and what they were truly doing.
As she pondered, Bi Lianyi entered the tent, bringing her a plate of pastries.
They were pale green mung bean cakes. Hong Guniang picked one up, holding it in her hand. The pastry was fresh, and she gazed at it intently. "You said Piaoling Mei Yuan has sunk underground. Where do they get their provisions from?"
Bi Lianyi frowned slightly. "Brother Meng and Brother Gu are handling this matter, but after investigating for over a month, they still haven’t found any evidence of food or water being transported into Piaoling Mei Yuan."
"Water..." Hong Guniang murmured. "There are underground rivers in Soul Prayer Mountain. But as for food—could they have hidden it inside the mountain long ago? Even a mountain as vast as Soul Prayer Mountain—how much could they have stored? We’re out in the open, and transporting supplies through the forest is no easy task. If we wait for them to tire themselves out, we might not gain the upper hand." She shook her head. "We can’t wait. If we delay any longer, the Sword Association will collapse before we act."
"But the yellow powder around the sinkhole..." A voice spoke softly from outside the tent. Though Hong Guniang’s voice had been quiet, the newcomer had heard her clearly. His tone was gentle—it was Wan Yu Yuedan. "That powder is no ordinary substance. My palace has tested it—it causes skin to ulcerate upon contact and rusts metal. Though not fatal, it’s extremely troublesome. To enter the sinkhole, we must first remove the poison."
"Can we burn it away?" Bi Lianyi asked.
"Burning it turns the yellow powder into toxic smoke," Wan Yu Yuedan replied, shaking his head. "Dissolute Shop has laid this poison as a defensive measure, which means their interior must be vulnerable."
Hong Guniang said coolly, "I’m well aware. But Piaoling Mei Yuan is full of traps, and the dangers within may be beyond human capability to overcome. How do we enter?" She watched as Wan Yu Yuedan lifted the tent flap and walked in as effortlessly as anyone else. "What are your thoughts, Palace Master Wan Yu?"
"If Piaoling Mei Yuan can burrow underground, why can’t I split the mountain open?" Wan Yu Yuedan’s face was youthful and delicate, but his words carried no weakness. "Azure Fall Palace can cut through the mountain wall here—" He reached out, his five fingers encircling the sinkhole where Piaoling Mei Yuan had collapsed in the model. His index finger traced a line straight through, pointing at the cliff outside the sinkhole. "We’ll strike here, cleaving the mountain open to enter!"
Hong Guniang’s brows lifted, stirred by his boldness. She stood abruptly. "If we can truly enter by splitting the mountain, then even if it costs our lives, we must—we must eradicate the wickedness of Dissolute Shop! To restore... to restore purity and righteousness to this world!" Yet her heart ached—if this world had no Dissolute Shop, no Liu Yan who played the qin, no poison that harmed lives, then perhaps Xiao Hong... perhaps she would have remained merely a proud, self-proclaimed genius, an arrogant girl, rather than a strategist with bloodstained hands who disregarded morality. Blinded by love, she had harmed others and herself. And so... even if Bi Lianyi treated her this way, even if she bore the title of princess, even if she shouldered the grand mission of punishing evil and upholding justice, she knew her life had already been buried in that moment. How could she deserve peace or fortune? And within Dissolute Shop, how many other young men and women had their lives ruined just as easily? The evil here was the worst of the worst—far beyond the simplicity of killing a few people or poisoning a few heroes.The Dissolute Shop... it lures people into desire, tempts them with inner demons, and then...
It watches you sink, watches you go mad, watches you die.
That is not merely "death"—it is annihilation.
Amidst one destruction after another, it gradually blooms into the most wicked of flowers. Yet do you know what lies at the end of this wickedness?
I shall sink together with the noble one.
The noble one and I—flowers upon bones.
Wan Yu Yuedan cared little for what Hong Guniang was thinking. When his Azure Fall Palace was built upon Cat Sprout Peak, they had excelled in transporting materials up high mountains and carving through stone. Soul Prayer Mountain wasn't particularly tall, and the Drifting Plum Garden was sunken within it. Judging by the mountain's contours, it wasn't too far from the cliff outside the peak.
Though not far, it was at least a mile or two away. Even with divine weapons, it would be difficult to invade the Drifting Plum Garden silently in a short time.
But if Wan Yu Yuedan said it could be done, then it could be done.
Hong Guniang made a swift decision to leave the mountain-carving task to Azure Fall Palace. She resolved to assemble a team to launch a surprise attack on the Drifting Plum Garden, taking advantage of its current defensive stance for unknown reasons and the likelihood that Yu Konghou was severely injured.
This operation had to be conducted in secrecy. Those who breached the Drifting Plum Garden needed to be highly skilled in martial arts, utterly loyal, capable of both advancing and protecting themselves. Hong Guniang's beautiful eyes flickered toward Bi Lianyi. "In the Sword Association, how many could withstand dozens of moves against Yu Konghou?"
Bi Lianyi paused slightly. "Aside from Young Master Tang, few in the Sword Association have truly crossed blades with Peach Girl. Even if they did, she wouldn't use her full strength."
"Then... in the Sword Association, how many could exchange dozens of moves with Young Master Tang?" Hong Guniang didn't blink. "I imagine quite a few have fought him with their full strength."
Bi Lianyi pondered for a moment. "I should investigate this. On the day Young Master Tang left the Sword Association, I wasn't on the mountain and didn't witness one sword against an entire sect. But... lasting ten moves against him would already be difficult." He shook his head. "Unless Young Master Tang deliberately held back and didn't intend to fight. Otherwise, there are scarcely any in this world who could last dozens of moves against him—given Young Master Tang's patience and bearing, if he didn't win within dozens of moves, he wouldn't win at all."
Hong Guniang, who knew no martial arts, was taken aback. "Has Young Master Tang ever been defeated?"
Bi Lianyi wasn't certain. "For martial artists, victory and defeat are commonplace." After a brief pause, he added, "But indeed, I've never heard of Young Master Tang suffering a single defeat."
A faint light flickered in Hong Guniang's eyes. "He's never lost?"
"Not that I've heard."
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