"You Imperial Guards have agents scattered across the land. You know all about Cloud Dragon Village's intelligence, yet you still want to deceive me?"
"Think whatever you like." Su Changqing shook his head.
"My master is called Trace-less Young Master, known as Spring Dream Without Trace. He is as famous as the Flower Burial Martial Saint. That cannot be false, can it?"
"By rights, you should call me Senior Brother." Su Changqing watched her and spoke softly.
Su Changqing turned to leave, a trace of reminiscence in his eyes. He sighed softly. "Forget it. Think whatever you like. After tomorrow, you will leave. As for your brother, I cannot let him go."
"He has already entered the eighteenth level of the Heavenly Prison. He will not be easy to save."
Jiang Xingxing was stunned at those words, then suddenly frowned and said coldly, "You claim to be my martial uncle's disciple. Why did you not use Sky Full of Flowers Scattering Gold Coins today?"
"My martial uncle is proficient in Qimen Dunjia and the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. His reputation resounds throughout the martial world. He and the Flower Burial Martial Saint came from the same school. Few know of this, but that does not mean your Imperial Guard does not."
"Sky Full of Flowers Scattering Gold Coins?" Su Changqing burst out laughing.
"My master did not teach me that method. He passed it on to Senior Sister instead. But I cultivated both the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams and Qimen Dunjia."
"You have a Senior Sister?" Jiang Xingxing could not help but ask in shock.
The moment she said that, it meant she somewhat believed Su Changqing's words.
People with Xing in their names were all innocent little fools. The ancients truly did not deceive me.
"The moment I entered the Seven Mountains of Cloud Dragon and saw the Seven Linked Mountains rising around the water, I knew there had to be a great tomb here. I simply did not expect it to be Martial Uncle's burial ground..."
Su Changqing's eyes were profound as he looked at Jiang Xingxing.
Jiang Xingxing could no longer sit still. She stared at Su Changqing, her heart shaken.
The death of the Flower Burial Martial Saint was an absolute secret in the martial world. No one knew of it. He had been in the prime of his life—who could kill a Martial Saint and absorb all of his cultivation?
Back on Cloud Dragon Mountain, this man had clearly been capable of killing both her and Jiang Han, yet he had spared them alone.
After all, the other five village chiefs had all died.
Su Changqing pretended not to notice. He turned toward the window, where the rich night settled in, empty and tranquil as an orchid.
His gaze remained unfathomable. Without looking at Jiang Xingxing even once, he said calmly:
"Leave tonight at midnight. I will also try to work something out regarding Jiang Han. If I cannot save him, do not blame me."
"Martial Uncle never accepted a disciple in his life. After his death, having a successor like you means he has left behind someone after all."
"My master, Trace-less Young Master, once said: 'Flower burial leaves no trace, only hidden fragrance remains.'"
"There will be no need for us to meet again. You must leave at midnight. Otherwise, once my injuries recover in a few days, I will have no way to explain how you escaped."
Su Changqing pointed a finger, breaking Jiang Xingxing's acupoints. With his back to her, he stepped out the door.
Jiang Xingxing's eyes turned cold. If she struck now, she could easily send a poisoned needle into Su Changqing's chest and send him to the afterlife within fifty breaths.
Yet she did not make a move. Instead, she sat on the bed, her willow brows faintly furrowed.
Flower burial leaves no trace, only hidden fragrance remains.
Those words had come from her master. There was no reason for Su Changqing to know them unless Trace-less Young Master had told him.
"Wait. Who is your Senior Sister?"
Jiang Xingxing took a deep breath and called after Su Changqing.
"Xuan Character Number One, Shangguan Haitang," Su Changqing replied calmly.
He turned and left without the slightest reluctance, leaving only Jiang Xingxing standing there in a daze.
"It is true? Shangguan Haitang is my Senior Sister? He is my Senior Brother? No wonder he did not kill me."
Su Changqing stood beneath the great banyan tree in silence.
He had already calculated everything in this matter. He had anticipated it long ago.
Trace-less Young Master was extremely famous.
He knew astronomy above and geography below; music, chess, calligraphy, painting, tea brewing, flower appreciation, the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, and Qimen Dunjia.
Even ordinary matters such as farmland irrigation, economics, and military strategy—there was nothing he did not know, nothing he was not skilled at.
The key was not his martial arts, but that he had long since ceased appearing in public.
Even the Flower Burial Martial Saint had died. Su Changqing had every reason to suspect that Trace-less Young Master had also been drained dry by the God-Marquis.
After all, teaching Shangguan Haitang was equivalent to teaching the God-Marquis.
Flower burial leaves no trace, only hidden fragrance remains.
What did it mean for only hidden fragrance to remain? They had both already passed away, leaving only lingering traces behind. Those two unmatched young masters could no longer be seen in this world.
His rise had been too recent. Even if Trace-less Young Master was alive, he would still be as elusive as a divine dragon, showing only his head and never his tail.
Who could find him? When the time came, Su Changqing only needed to explain that he had been taught Qimen Dunjia and the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams.
Where could Shangguan Haitang seek confirmation?
Even if she possessed a mind with eight openings, she would not be able to react in time, much less with Jiang Xingxing serving as such divine assistance.
In the Number One Under Heaven story from his previous life, even after Haitang died, Trace-less Young Master had never taken a single step outside.
That was why Su Changqing dared to do this.
Jiang Xingxing's elder brother was firmly in his grasp. Even if she escaped today, she would return again in the future.
Only by indirectly confirming this junior brother's identity to Shangguan Haitang would she cease to have any doubts.
He was definitely going to claim this bargain junior brother identity!
The Flower Burial Martial Saint's remains, Three Slashes of Buried Flowers, Snow Drifting Through the Mortal Realm, Dominating the World, and Three Blades of Abyssal Dao—all of them had to be taken!
Beneath the great banyan tree, Su Changqing sat cross-legged and cultivated the Indestructible Vajra Divine Art, remaining sleepless for an entire day.
His saber art had already reached the second strike of the Tyrant Saber, Heartless Slash.
The third strike was God-Slaying Slash, but he had yet to even enter its gate.
In the quiet hours of the night, a figure in red quietly stepped out the door. With delicate features and long, straight legs, it was Jiang Xingxing.
She looked toward Su Changqing beneath the great banyan tree, her eyes cold as threads of killing intent gathered within them.
In the end, for some reason, she did not strike. Her crystalline jade hand rested against the wall, tears in her eyes. Like the moon above Guanghan Palace, she was cold and lonely, dim as a fading flower.
"My master's ceremonial tomb left behind information. Only Snow Drifting Through the Mortal Realm can obtain his remains."
"This man is ruthless. How could Martial Uncle have accepted him? I have indeed heard that Shangguan Haitang was sent by Iron Guts God-Marquis to study under Trace-less Young Master."
"Fine, then. I will let you live a few more days. Once I investigate this clearly, I will come back and take your dog life!"
She walked away lightly, seemingly afraid of disturbing Su Changqing, her eyes fixed on him the entire time.
Then she saw Su Changqing remove the Imperial Guard's Flying Fish Robe.
Clad in white, pure as snow and untouched by dust, with the Frost Snow Saber before him like a crystal of ice, he laid the saber across his knees.
He closed his eyes and focused, the five energies returning to their source. Handsome and graceful, with a presence like jade, he bathed in moonlight and shone brilliantly. There was not the slightest trace of gloom in his bearing.
"Once you take off that dog skin, you are rather handsome. If you have deceived me, this saber will be mine! I will use it to cut off your head!"
Jiang Xingxing narrowed her eyes, gave a soft snort, and muttered to herself.
For some unknown reason, a trace of inexplicable joy suddenly arose in her heart.
Perhaps it was because Su Changqing truly had not violated her in the slightest and had merely sat beneath the great banyan tree.
When she reached the entrance to the Commander's Courtyard, she looked back once more at Su Changqing's face, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"You were born a beauty; why become a thief?"
"This young lady is leaving! Hmph, hmph."
Jiang Xingxing recited a little poem, quite pleased with herself. Feeling smug, she turned and left.
"If I am a thief, then what are you?" Su Changqing opened his eyes, looked toward the gate, and shook his head slightly.
Jiang Han and Jiang Xingxing truly were two extremes.
One was incomparably clever, still capable of plotting even in a desperate situation.
The other was all chest and no brains, even insulting herself.
He truly did not know who their parents were.
"If Jiang Han dies, it will affect me, but I cannot deceive him." Su Changqing narrowed his eyes and thought to himself.
"Only Jiang Xingxing can deceive Shangguan Haitang. Neither Shangguan Haitang nor Jiang Han will grow suspicious, and only then can I seize everything."
Suddenly, Su Changqing remembered something, and the corners of his lips curved upward.
Perhaps it was the sight of Jiang Xingxing's innocence and her little improvised poem.
Some people brought a smile only after a long time, yet that smile surpassed countless sights in the world.
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