At night, the quiet Piaoling Mei Yuan in the mountains creaked a few times, and its nearly buried entrance slowly opened. Several figures dashed out and instantly disappeared into the forest. Meng Qinglei of the Central Plains Sword Association, leading a team, had been keeping watch and immediately gave chase upon seeing this.
Emerging from Piaoling Mei Yuan were over a dozen white-clad female attendants. Clad in white and masked, they moved swiftly in the night, appearing rather eerie. Without uttering a word, they charged straight toward the main tent of the Central Plains Sword Association. Meng Qinglei and his team pursued relentlessly, but the white-clad attendants moved with such grace that the two groups met in front of the Sword Association’s camp. To Meng Qinglei’s shock, his team nearly failed to catch up with these women. He knew his own skills well—he and Shao Yanping were close friends, their martial prowess on par. Even if he was slightly inferior to Cheng Yunpao, he was still among the top experts in the Sword Association.
How could he, with his agility, almost fail to keep up with these white-clad attendants?
There must be something unusual about these young women.
Accompanying Meng Qinglei in surveilling Piaoling Mei Yuan was Huo Xuanfeng, a man indifferent to women. He treated the white-clad attendants as nothing more than obstacles, swiftly intercepting them and slashing his blade toward the leading woman. The masked leader in white gauze spun gracefully, drawing her own blade to block Huo Xuanfeng’s strike. Her swordplay was fierce and unrestrained, and with just one clash, Huo Xuanfeng was nearly forced back a step, leaving him astonished.
The disciples behind Huo Xuanfeng were quickly defeated by the white-clad attendants’ blades. These women possessed formidable Internal Force, no less than renowned martial artists of the jianghu. Neither Meng Qinglei nor Huo Xuanfeng gained the upper hand, and they exchanged a glance, both alarmed. The leading woman raised her blade, and Meng Qinglei instantly recognized it as the Severing Discipline Blade. He shouted, “Bai Suche!”
The masked leader stood motionless, showing no reaction.
Meng Qinglei drew his sword and pointed it at her. “Bai Suche! You’ve turned to evil and sided with villains! Do you know that since your disappearance, your father has been tormented day and night, fallen gravely ill, and bedridden for days? Your mother still refuses to believe you’ve joined the Dissolute Shop, telling everyone you and Chi Yun were harmed by Tang Lici! It’s the anguish over his wife and daughter that has driven your father to illness—if you have even a shred of conscience, you should end your life here and now! The Bai family’s decades of honor have been ruined by you!”
He had been close friends with Bai Yuming for years. Bai Yuming had been a humble gentleman since youth, and his wife, Yuan Su, came from a scholarly family—a gentle and graceful beauty. Who could have imagined their daughter would turn to such wickedness? No wonder Bai Yuming was devastated, and no wonder Yuan Su had lost her mind.
The masked leader was indeed Bai Suche. She lowered her eyes, listening to Meng Qinglei’s accusations without reaction, as if the suffering parents he spoke of were not her own. The white-clad attendants behind her remained equally indifferent to the tragedies he described. Huo Xuanfeng whispered, “Brother Meng, these women behave strangely. There may be a trick.”
As Meng Qinglei berated her, figures stirred within the Central Plains Sword Association’s tent. Hong Guniang lifted the curtain, stepping out side by side with Bi Lianyi and Cheng Yunpao.
She hadn’t been resting either. The Azure Fall Palace had taken on the task of opening the mountain, but the real challenge lay in who would fight afterward. While discussing this with Cheng Yunpao, they heard the commotion in the forest—Meng Qinglei and Bai Suche had clashed.Piaoling Mei Yuan was deliberately avoiding battle, yet Bai Suche had the audacity to lead her forces straight into the main tent of the Central Plains Sword Association. Such an absurd move was undoubtedly a trap. Back in the Dissolute Shop, Hong Guniang had never gotten along with Bai Suche. At that time, her heart was solely devoted to Liu Yan, convinced that she alone in this lifetime could soothe the pain in his heart, that she alone was worthy of hearing the melodies played by his hands. What was Bai Suche to her? Back then, Bai Suche’s martial arts were far from the best, and her looks weren’t even top-tier among the white-robed female envoys. So how had she climbed so high, becoming one of Yu Konghou’s most formidable generals?
She had honed her skills—through whatever unorthodox means—and now, not only was her martial prowess incomparable to the past, but even her demeanor and aura bore no resemblance to the cautious young girl who had first entered the Dissolute Shop.
Back then, Hong Guniang had been blind to the truth. Now, as she stared at the veiled Bai Suche, she wondered—what kind of unshakable conviction could allow someone to rise against the tide in a hellish place like the Dissolute Shop, stepping over corpses and blood, standing unyielding? Was this woman before her a demon among evils, or…?
Bai Suche, however, paid no mind to Hong Guniang’s thoughts—Xiao Hong had never occupied any space in her heart to begin with. Yu Konghou had ordered her to capture Bi Lianyi alive. She understood perfectly: Yu Konghou was testing her, testing Wang Lingqiu, and forcing them to keep each other in check while probing one another.
A single misstep from either of them would mean death without a grave.
So while capturing Bi Lianyi alive might not be possible, she had to fight with her life on the line—no holding back whatsoever.
Wang Lingqiu… was likely in the same position.
She didn’t know where Wang Lingqiu was, but tonight, they had both staked their lives on capturing Bi Lianyi alive.
Even though she was well aware—just as she was—that the old man Wang Lingqiu probably loathed the idea of "capturing Bi Lianyi alive" and refining him into a Flesh Pill, a path with no retreat, neither of them had a choice.
Survival in the Dissolute Shop was never easy. Bai Suche pointed her blade at Bi Lianyi, thinking—tonight, I won’t lay any ambush. I’ll stake the lives of my sisters and fight you head-on—this is the greatest leniency I can afford.
You’d better… be able to escape.
Her right hand, pale as jade, gripped the hilt of the Severing Discipline Blade, its dark sheen making her skin appear even paler.
The gleaming back of the blade aimed straight between Bi Lianyi’s brows.
Bi Lianyi seemed to sense it. Drawing his sword, he glanced at Bai Suche.
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