This sudden turn of events truly caught Chu Qing off guard.
Even with his usual boldness, a chill ran through his heart. But he immediately realized—the man was not dead!
It was hardly Chu Qing's fault for failing to notice. The man's legs had been severed, and his upper clothes were drenched in blood. The blood had long since dried; no one knew how long ago he had been injured.
His breath was a thin thread, faint to the utmost extreme.
Anyone who saw a man like this would never imagine he still had one breath left in him.
Yet the moment he saw Chu Qing, he reached out to grab Chu Qing's ankle.
How could Chu Qing let him catch hold? With a flash of his body, he had already dodged aside, and the man did not seem to care.
He merely spoke a few words with extreme difficulty:
"Tell... Green Leaf... sword... hilt... Heaven... Heaven... Heaven..."
After those few words, his body slumped. He could no longer hold himself up, and he breathed his last.
"...Tell Green Leaf Sword's hilt? What kind of thing is that?"
Chu Qing listened in confusion.
"Hey, explain yourself! What Green Leaf Sword hilt? Tell whom? How am I supposed to tell them? And what does 'Heaven Heaven Heaven' mean? Riddlers need to get the hell out of Gotham City!"
Those words truly had neither head nor tail. No matter how he looked at it, Green Leaf Sword's hilt should not have been a person.
Or perhaps... Green Leaf Sword was someone's nickname?
Tell Green Leaf Sword, hilt... what was that supposed to mean?
Had he misheard?
Hilt, or cake? Or some other character?
Or perhaps there was a Green Leaf Sword, and some mystery lay hidden within its hilt?
But what did that have to do with Heaven?
In an instant, Chu Qing considered countless possibilities, then found himself rather speechless...
Why the hell was he analyzing the words of a dying stranger he had never met?
"Still, judging by his attire, he was undoubtedly one of the Heavenly Dance Guards.
"Could this matter be connected to the City Lord's Mansion?"
Chu Qing examined the corpse, and a moment later, a look of shock appeared on his face.
The man's legs had been severed. There were trails of blood across the ground, and the weeds in the forest bore signs of having been crushed.
Looking at his hands again, there were many torn and mangled places, with grass scraps and dirt beneath his fingernails.
This seemed to indicate that after his legs had been cut off, the man had crawled all the way here with immense difficulty?
"He struggled this far just to deliver a message?
"This matter was probably no small thing."
Chu Qing pondered briefly, then shook his head.
"Still, it has neither head nor tail. It is far too baffling."
He shook his head and did not touch the corpse.
This was, after all, within the bounds of Heavenly Dance City. If the matter had anything to do with the City Lord's Mansion, people from the City Lord's Mansion would certainly come looking.
If he rashly handled the corpse, then whether they found it afterward or failed to find it, things would not look right.
With that in mind, he cleaned up his footprints around the area before continuing on his way.
Along the road, he kept watch as well, but did not encounter anything unusual.
Thus, at noon the following day, Chu Qing stole several pieces of clothing from a farming household outside the city. Disguising himself as a country lad entering the city, he smoothly slipped into Heavenly Dance City.
The streets of Heavenly Dance City teemed with people. Carriages passed by from time to time, vendors lined the roads without end, and cries of sale rose and fell one after another.
For Chu Qing, this was his first time setting foot in Heavenly Dance City, yet memories could not help but rise to the surface.
This was South Street. Heavenly Dance City had four main streets in all, and the entire city was laid out in the shape of a grid.
At the very center stood the City Lord's Mansion, while the Chu Family was on North Street.
Yet though the scenes all around him looked as they had in his memories, some things had changed.
The sugar figurines he loved to eat were still there, but the person blowing them was no longer the same.
The narrow alley where he had once played with his companions was still there, but now another group of children frolicked within it.
The uncle who sold steamed buns had gained several streaks of white at his temples.
The mischievous children who had once caused trouble among the stalls now had cloths draped over their shoulders, standing by the roadside and shouting their wares with all their might.
Chu Qing walked along the street. Unconsciously, he lifted his eyes and saw a residence.
It belonged to a wealthy, prominent household. A plaque hung above its gates, bearing two gilded characters: Chu Residence.
"How did I end up here without realizing it?"
Chu Qing let out a soft breath. He did not wish to enter just yet.
The purpose of this trip was simple: to warn Chu Yunfei and tell him to beware the Mirror of Sin.
To accomplish that, there was no need to meet him at all.
He only needed to find a way to sneak into the Chu Family and leave something behind... Of course, an opportunity to infiltrate the Chu Family would not be easy to find, but Chu Qing believed he was not without methods.
He turned to leave, but suddenly heard a familiar term from nearby. He could not help looking toward the sound and found that it came from a tea house.
The tea house was called Red Leaf Tea House, directly across from the Chu Family. It had presumably opened within the past few years.
There had originally been no tea house or teahouse across from the Chu Family, but rather an escort agency.
That escort agency had once enjoyed considerable renown. It had been Heavenly Dance City's foremost escort agency.
Later, its chief escort had died tragically by the roadside in the martial world. The young chief escort who inherited the agency was immature and inexperienced, mediocre in martial arts, and fond of lingering among flowers.
Now, it seemed he had squandered the family fortune and even sold the escort agency.
There was a restaurant beside the tea house and a pawnshop on the other side. Clearly, they had all been converted from the old property.
After pondering slightly, Chu Qing stepped into the tea house. Before he could even sit down, he heard someone ask loudly:
"Just who is this Night Emperor?"
"Exactly! The Seven Iron Horse Thieves were no weaklings, yet this Night Emperor cut down three of them with a single sword strike. Is that true or false?"
The familiar term Chu Qing had heard earlier was precisely the words "Night Emperor." He had not expected the news to reach Heavenly Dance City so quickly.
He casually found a seat and sat down, only to hear a burly man say loudly:
"Of course it is absolutely true! Chu Fan, the Chu Family's second young master, said it himself. How could it be false?"
Chu Qing was speechless.
So this was how the news had spread so quickly.
After all that, it turned out to be Chu Fan, that loudmouth.
He and Junior Sister Wen both had fast horses, so it was only natural that they had reached Heavenly Dance City before him.
While the shop assistant brought over the tea, the group chattered away and said much more.
Chu Qing discovered that these people knew very little. Most of what they said was merely speculation about the Night Emperor.
And they had all sorts of things to say...
Some claimed the Night Emperor was an elder of the martial world who had long since retired, living out his days under a hidden name. When the Seven Iron Horse Thieves happened to slaughter innocents, he had acted in righteous fury.
Others said he was merely a showboat seeking attention. Daring to call himself "Emperor"—only because the Great Qian Dynasty had gone silent. Otherwise, his entire clan would surely be exterminated to the ninth degree.
Others believed he was a wandering hero newly emerged into the martial world, using this matter to make a name for himself.
For a time, the place was quite lively.
Chu Qing had no interest in any of this. Just as he was about to take a sip of tea and leave, he suddenly saw an Itinerant Doctor walking down the street, carrying a banner.
With only one glance, Chu Qing's pupils abruptly contracted.
He knew this man.
But this man should not have been here.
Because in his memories, this man had died a month ago.
Before you continue