Sun Sheng raised his wine bowl and downed it in one go.
“A late-stage second-rank expert, with a chance to ascend to first-rank within ten years and take over as sect leader.”
“How could soone like that not defend himself and willingly let you kill him with a single strike?”
He voiced the core of the issue.
Qiong Aohai nodded. “Exactly.”
“And then? What happened next?” Hua Xiyue, picking up a peanut, urged him on.
“I struck Mo Fangping dead with one palm. The Jiuhua Sword Sect’s sect leader, Elder Songming, who had been watching from the sidelines, didn’t say much,” Qiong Aohai said. “He just sighed and said, ‘Fists and feet have no eyes,’ then told to leave.”
Hua Xiyue nodded, chewing her peanut. “Old man Songming is a seasoned first-rank master. He must’ve seen through it.”
“At least he’s reasonable.”
“That’s right.” Qiong Aohai let out a sigh.
Sun Sheng picked up the wine jar and refilled their bowls.
“Then what’s with Murong Longyuan accusing you of slaughtering Mo Fangping’s whole family?”
Qiong Aohai turned to him. “There’s sothing fishy about all this. Especially with the bounty notice that ca before—I can’t understand why Mo Fangping would willingly let kill him.”
“That night, I went to Mo Fangping’s residence. I wanted to see if soone had threatened his wife, daughters, or other relatives, forcing him to die under my palm.”
Sun Sheng and Hua Xiyue said nothing, simply listening.
“Just as I arrived outside Mo Fangping’s ho, a man in black, masked and dressed for stealth, flew out of the courtyard.”
“His lightness skill was excellent—like a rabbit leaping, a hawk swooping. Not a single wasted move.”
“When he saw , he suddenly changed direction and struck with his palm.”
“I t his blow with my Jingtao Palm. We exchanged more than ten moves.”
A distant look surfaced in Qiong Aohai’s eyes.
“His palm technique was bizarre—very bizarre. I’ve never seen any sect use such moves.”
“There was no form, no fixed rhythm, no defined structure.”
“And the more we fought, the more I felt his palm energy resembled my own.”
After a few more exchanges, he suddenly retreated and rasped out: ‘So this is the fad Unmatched Divine Palm, Qiong Aohai—nothing special.’”
“Then he vanished.”
“I worried about Mo Fangping’s family, so I didn’t chase him.”
“When I entered the courtyard, Mo Fangping’s remaining five family mbers were already dead.”
At this, both Sun Sheng and Hua Xiyue gasped sharply.
Bitterness surfaced on Qiong Aohai’s face. “They were all killed with a single palm.”
“I checked their wounds—the palm force was almost identical to mine.”
“Only I could tell the subtle differences. No outsider would be able to.”
Hua Xiyue’s bright eyes flicked with realization.
“So you were frad by that man in black?”
Qiong Aohai gave a bitter smile and nodded. “Exactly.”
“I had just finished examining the injuries when the Jiuhua Sword Sect arrived.”
Hua Xiyue exclaid, “Then you were screwed! The rules of Jianghu say family should be spared.”
“Caught red-handed like that, there’s no explaining your way out!”
“Precisely.” Qiong Aohai took a long, sullen drink. “No one believed .”
“Left with no choice, I fought my way out.”
“Sect Leader Songming was furious and demanded I pay for the lives with my own.”
“He’s a first-rank master. Unwilling to bully soone of lower rank, he listed on the Yuyi Hall’s bounty board instead.”
At the ntion of "Yuyi Hall," Sun Sheng’s expression shifted, turning subtly strange.
Qiong Aohai picked up his wine bowl, took a long gulp, slamd it down, and continued, “I traveled by river, trying to return to the Haijing Gang. By then, I was already mostly convinced by what was written on that bounty notice.”
“On the way, several assassins who’d accepted the Yuyu Hall bounty tried to kill .”
“I only injured them. I didn’t take any lives.”
“Until I was almost out of Chizhou’s borders.”
“At a relay station, an old man suddenly charged at with a dagger, eyes bloodshot, his face twisted with hatred.”
“I thought he was another assassin after the bounty, so I struck with my palm.”
“I didn’t expect that one strike would kill him on the spot.”
“There were a few attendants nearby. When they saw kill the old man, they all cried out in horror.”
“They said I’d killed the Chizhou Prefect and called a demon.”
Sun Sheng, who had been silently drinking, set down his bowl, a contemplative look in his eyes.
Hua Xiyue finally pieced the story together and cried out, “This… this is beyond unjust!”
“Did you offend soone?”
“On the Jianghu side, you’re frad for exterminating a family. On the civil side, they trick you into killing the prefect of Chizhou.”
“Whoever’s behind this wants you ruined both in the martial world and the secular one.”
“That… that’s vicious beyond words!”
Her face had gone pale from the tale.
She had just stepped into the martial world, and already she was tangled in sothing this sinister.
If she had been in Qiong Aohai's place, she’d probably have been calculated to death as well.
That thought sent an involuntary shiver down Hua Xiyue’s spine.
Qiong Aohai gave a bitter smile and downed another bowl of wine.
He drank several dozen bowls in a row, and a flush was beginning to show on his face.
“Maybe I was shining too brightly.”
“Soone probably wanted to see fall into disgrace…”
He sighed deeply.
In just a few short months, he had gone from the fad Unrivaled Divine Palm of the jianghu to soone reviled by the martial world and rejected by the common world.
The psychological blow was crushing.
Sun Sheng picked up the wine jar and refilled Qiong Aohai’s bowl.
“What are you planning to do next?” he asked.
Qiong Aohai silently finished his drink. Then, with a sigh, he said, “From Lake Tai to Jianning Prefecture, it’ll take at least twenty days by water.”
“Six Doors won’t let go.”
“The road ahead… I’m afraid I won’t be able to escape.”
He looked at Sun Sheng, his expression turning solemn.
He respectfully cupped his hands and said in a low voice, “Shishu, I would like to ask you to deliver this brocade slip to my father.”
Sun Sheng looked at Qiong Aohai with a steely gaze. “And you?”
Qiong Aohai picked up the wine jar again, pouring himself a bowl as he replied, “I want to find out who’s behind all this. Who’s trying to destroy .”
A flash of cold light passed through his eyes, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged as he gripped the jar.
Anyone who had been frad and ruined like that would feel bitter… and furious.
And would want revenge.
“Delivering a ssage? I can do that too!”
Hua Xiyue suddenly leaned forward, her crescent-moon eyes gleaming with excitent.
Before either of the n could respond, she snatched up the brocade slip from the table and tucked it into her clothes.
Sun Sheng and Qiong Aohai exchanged a glance, both showing hesitation.
Hua Xiyue gave a little huff. Her right hand clenched, and the chopsticks in her hand snapped into several pieces with a crisp crack. With a casual flick—
Whoosh whoosh whoosh…
Thud thud thud…
The sharp sound of sothing hard piercing wood rang out.
Sun Sheng and Qiong Aohai both turned to look at the door.
A small round hole had appeared in the wooden door.
It was the size of a chopstick, and moonlight stread through it, falling in a clear beam on the floor inside the room.
Recalling the speed at which Hua Xiyue had just acted, the wine-induced haze in both their heads instantly cleared.
That speed. That precision.
If Hua Xiyue had just struck at them instead of the door, they would be dead.
The two n exchanged another glance and silently confird the truth in their hearts: this cross-dressing young man was a first-grade expert.
So young—and already at the first rank?
Who was she, really?
Hua Xiyue, having shown just a hint of her skill and seeing their stunned expressions, smiled sweetly. “Well?”
“Am I qualified?”
“I’ll deliver the ssage. You two go investigate who’s behind this.”
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