Tang Lici slightly furrowed his brows. The bodies of Chi Yun and the two leaders of Plum Blossom Mountain had long been burned to ashes by him. Bai Suche wasn't present at the time and thus could casually claim she "stole Chi Yun's corpse," but Yu Konghou was at the Central Plains Sword Assembly—how could he not know? Why then would Yu Konghou believe she stole Chi Yun's corpse? Unless—
His eyes narrowed slightly as he lifted his gaze, inch by inch, from Bai Suche's chin up to her eyes.
"When... did you steal his body?" Tang Lici asked softly.
Bai Suche lowered her lashes and replied indifferently, "...In any case, I stole Chi Yun's corpse and sank it in the cold pool of Emerald Peak."
Tang Lici frowned slightly, his gaze fixed on Bai Suche's eyes.
Bai Suche's eyes flickered, sensing something unusual in Tang Lici's stare. "What?"
"Chi Yun's body was burned to ashes by me long ago," Tang Lici said softly. "Even the ashes were scattered." His gaze slowly shifted from Bai Suche's face to the sword. "How could you have stolen his corpse? Why does Yu Konghou believe you took Chi Yun's body?"
Bai Suche abruptly raised her head, locking eyes with Tang Lici like blades clashing, as if metallic sparks could fly. "Are you saying—"
"I'm saying... if Yu Konghou believes Chi Yun's corpse was stolen—then it must have been stolen." Tang Lici spoke slowly, his tone gentle, almost as if he wasn't angry. "Only, at the time, he thought it was me, and now he thinks it's you..." He paused briefly before continuing softly, "But if it wasn't me or you—then what happened in between? Yu Konghou was at the Central Plains Sword Assembly back then... and I..."
He trailed off.
Bai Suche said coolly, "Oh, so you don't even know who was burned to ashes."
Tang Lici turned his gaze to the sword hanging on her wall, still unperturbed. "That Yihuan Duyue..."
Bai Suche interrupted him, "You're acting strange." She stared at Tang Lici. "Young Master Tang never overlooks details. Young Master Tang never loses heart. Chi Yun's corpse was most likely indeed stolen, and you didn't know—yet you remain indifferent to this strangeness."
"Young Master Tang never loses heart," Tang Lici echoed. "True, I will uncover the truth eventually. Chi Yun's body was stolen, and I burned someone else's corpse—so what?" Finally, the corner of his lips curled slightly, as if smiling. "I will still win in the end."
"You really are bizarre..." Bai Suche frowned. "That Yihuan Duyue is..."
Before she could explain where she had obtained the Yihuan Duyue, the ground suddenly trembled violently. An indescribable, monstrous roar erupted from beneath the earth. The ground shook, the walls cracked, and the ceiling beams groaned as if they might collapse at any moment, sending dust and debris raining down. Amidst this cataclysmic upheaval, Tang Lici vanished in a flash, disappearing from her room.
Bai Suche took down the "Rusong" sword from the wall and casually tossed it under the bed.
Turning around, she drew her Broken Vow Blade and cautiously stepped outside, one careful step at a time.
The corridor outside had already been damaged when the Drifting Eyebrow Manor sank underground, and now it was splitting further. The tremors beneath the earth were gradually subsiding, but the sense of dread lingered.
Several white-robed attendants came running from afar. "Commander, the underground... the underground has split open!""Commander, the rocks at the entrance of the Crimson Serpent Cave have collapsed underground, and all the spring water has drained into the fissures. What should we do?"
"The entrance to the Crimson Serpent Cave has split open... that... that one seems to be stirring..."
"Su Su! A passage has opened up on the cliff face!"
The last to arrive was a young girl in white, no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, her face uncovered and filled with panic. "The Central Plains Sword Association used some method to create several cracks on the cliff face, and then I saw the massive boulders up there come crashing down!"
Bai Suche had remained expressionless upon hearing the earlier reports, but at this last statement, even she froze momentarily, asking incredulously, "What fell down?"
The girl in white gestured wildly. "Those strange people opened up several cracks on the cliff wall, and then the Toad Moon Platform near the Crimson Serpent Cave... the platform collapsed! The cave is right next to that part of the cliff, so it was torn open by the falling platform. I saw it with my own eyes!"
Bai Suche whirled around abruptly. Outside the Crimson Serpent Cave, on the cliff face, stood a massive boulder nearly twenty feet tall, resembling a toad jutting out from the rock—known as the Toad Moon Platform. There were no paths leading up or down to it, but after the Drifting Eyebrow Manor sank underground, the ancient tunnels dug years ago were violently shaken, opening a fissure that led straight to the platform.
This young girl in white was named Qing Yan, the junior disciple of Wen Hui, barely fourteen years old. Both were disciples of the Qingcheng Sect, though not direct followers of the sect leader, Dongfang Jian—they were merely nominal disciples of his junior brother. Like countless other youths in the martial world, the truly exceptional were but fleeting sparks, while the majority were ordinary youngsters, carrying a mix of hope and confusion, drifting along with the rivers and the sun.
She had followed Wen Hui into the Fengliu Dian, and though young, she had already killed many. She had been close with Guan'er. After Guan'er died at the Lookout Pavilion Manor, Qing Yan grieved for a long time, searching everywhere for the killer, but no one knew who it was.
Recently, the Drifting Eyebrow Manor had sunk underground, Yu Konghou returned severely injured, and Liu Yan was said to have been rescued by Tang Lizhi, disappearing without a trace. Many of the white-robed female envoys were infatuated with Liu Yan, their longing growing deeper by the day. Yu Konghou couldn't perform the String-Snatching Life Technique, and after Xiao Hong left, Bai Suche took control. Ruthless and cunning, she drugged both the red-robed and white-robed envoys heavily, driving them to madness—some even needing assistance for basic daily tasks, while the most deeply poisoned became little more than mindless killing puppets.
Qing Yan, being young and of low martial skill, was assigned to serve the red-robed envoys, which kept her relatively sane and unmasked. Today, she had slacked off, intending to play on the Toad Moon Platform, when she suddenly spotted over a dozen black-clad figures lurking around it. She didn't know what they did, but two fissures abruptly appeared on either side of the platform, rapidly widening until the massive rock slowly sank. With a thunderous crash, it tore open a gaping hole in the cliff face.As the Toad Moon Terrace sank, the original fissures of the Drifting Brow Garden were exposed to the daylight. The black-clad figures hurled thunderfire bombs into the cracks, causing the earth to shake and the mountains to tremble. Black flames billowed, interspersed with flickering bursts of light. Qingyan was terrified out of her wits. When the smoke and dust cleared, the narrow, winding natural fissures had been blasted open into a hole half a person’s height. The black-clad figures had vanished without a trace—whether they had forced their way into the Drifting Brow Garden or quietly retreated was unknown.
Bai Suche listened to her disjointed account, then flicked her sleeve, causing three delicate chimes to ring out from within. Though the sound was faint, it carried far. Several red-robed women with light veils over their faces emerged slowly from behind the shattered stone walls, their movements stiff, and took their positions at the collapsed entrance.
"If anyone attempts to break through, kill them without hesitation!" Bai Suche commanded before hastening deeper into the Drifting Brow Garden.
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