A Rough Man Understands the Meaning in the Music; Mad Blade Walks the Bloody Cliffside Road

A moment later, Miao Cuilan had finished tidying up and returned to the courtyard.

She did not disturb Yan Lingwei, merely standing quietly to one side and listening.

Soon, she seemed to be infected by the melody. Following the rhythm, she stretched out her body and began to dance gracefully.

As her skirt billowed, she exuded a lively, spirited vitality.

Yan Lingwei looked up and saw Miao Cuilan dancing. The corners of her lips unconsciously lifted slightly, revealing a faint, gentle smile.

The pipa notes flowing from her fingertips seemed to be infected as well. The trace of sorrow from before quietly faded a little, and the melody became several shades lighter and brighter.

The song ended.

The two women exchanged smiles.

Clap, clap, clap!

Suddenly, applause rang out from the roof eaves, startling the two of them badly.

The two women looked up and saw that Chen Duan had somehow taken a seat in the shadow at the corner of the roof.

Half his face was illuminated by the lamplight below, while the other half lay in shadow, making him look exceedingly eerie.

"This is much better. The strings should be happier, with less sorrow. I'll come again next time."

Before his voice had even faded, the figure on the roof swayed and vanished without a trace, as if he had never appeared.

"Whew! That scared the life out of me!"

Miao Cuilan patted her chest and muttered in a small voice, still shaken, "That lord is just like a ghost..."

By the end, her voice had grown increasingly faint. She nervously glanced around, afraid Chen Duan might suddenly emerge from some corner again.

Yan Lingwei had been startled at first too, but after recovering, her reaction was entirely different from Miao Cuilan's.

She looked once more toward the empty roof, Chen Duan's parting words echoing in her mind.

"Be happier... Could he understand the meaning in my music?"

She murmured to herself, a ripple passing through her eyes.

Thinking back, Chen Duan did not seem to have just arrived. He had apparently listened for quite some time, only speaking when the song ended, without disturbing their refined enjoyment.

Then she recalled how he had abruptly demanded that she play the pipa during the day. She seemed to realize something.

As a layer of the original mystery was peeled away, her fear seemed to lessen as well.

Pfft!

Meng Ruochuan spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered. In his haste, he glanced back, cursing inwardly.

With his wits, he now understood that he had probably taken the blame and disaster for someone else.

Although he had tried several times to explain, the person pursuing him seemed to have taken a stubborn position, insisting that certain things were on him and refusing to listen to any explanation.

What frustrated him most was that as a dignified Imperial Court Five Refinement Master, he was actually no match for that person?

Since entering official service, Meng Ruochuan had relied on his formidable strength to solve countless cases without ever failing. His career had risen smoothly. When had he ever suffered such stifling humiliation?

He had never imagined that he would nearly fall in this remote corner of Chuzhou today...

"Little friend, stop struggling!"

"Damn it!"

Meng Ruochuan cursed inwardly. A look of resolve flashed through his eyes. Seeing the cliff beside him, he leaped without hesitation.

After a while.

Several figures reached the edge of the cliff.

The black-clad man leading them had a sinister gaze. He looked down and saw the river below surging violently because of the rain from several days before.

"Hmph! You're decisive, at least!"

The black-clad man snorted. "Pursue him! Alive, we take the man; dead, we take the corpse!"

The group immediately prepared to move, intending to find a path down to the bottom of the valley.

But after they had taken only a few steps, two rather ordinary-looking carriages came around the bend in the Official Road ahead.

A head poked out from the window of the carriage in front. A young man smiled and called to them:

"Hey! Good sirs, could I ask for directions? Is Yingcheng this way?"

The black-clad man swept his gaze over the carriages. Unwilling to invite complications, he ignored the young man and continued hurrying forward with his men.

"Hey! Good sir! Don't go!"

"Say something, will you?" the young man's voice called after them relentlessly.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Could it be you're off to do something wicked?"

The black-clad man suddenly stopped. His brows furrowed as he sensed something amiss.

His group was not slow on their feet. They had already gone some distance. Why was that young man's voice still echoing beside his ears?

He turned around, and his pupils contracted.

The carriage was actually traveling backward along the Official Road.

The young man still had his head poked out of the window, waving at him with a broad smile.

"Playing at ghosts and gods!"

The black-clad man's gaze turned cold, murderous intent spilling from him.

His figure blurred. In an instant, he crossed several yards, his five fingers curving into claws as true qi gathered at his fingertips, striking straight for the young man's throat!

The other subordinates rushed forward as well.

However, just as the black-clad man's claws were about to touch the young man, the white-haired old coachman in the driver's seat vanished in an instant and appeared before the young man.

The old coachman's face was covered in weathered wrinkles. A scar covered one eye, while his remaining single eye opened, its gaze sharp as a blade and radiating a special keenness.

His right hand rested on the hilt of the long saber at his waist.

At that instant, time seemed to stretch infinitely.

The long saber left its sheath.

No one could see how he had drawn it. They only saw countless condensed blades of light flash out in an instant, blade qi crisscrossing and weaving through the air into a net of true qi that descended over the black-clad man and the others.

The black-clad man's heart shook with terror. He cried out in shock:

"Hundred Blades in an Instant, Blade Qi Woven Net! You're 'Mad Blade' Sun Baizhan!"

Several miserable screams rang out one after another.

A moment later.

Everything fell silent once more.

On the Official Road, only a scene of utter devastation remained, with chunks of corpses strewn everywhere.

The young man showed no reaction to the carnage before him. He leisurely jumped down from the carriage, walked to the cliff, and peered down, clicking his tongue in amazement.

"He sure ran decisively. Chuzhou really is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Anyone you happen to meet by the roadside is a Five Refinement-level master."

He turned back toward the expressionless old coachman and said with a smile, "Brother Sun, I didn't expect that after submitting to the Imperial Court for so many years, your reputation in Jianghu would still be so resounding."

Sun Baizhan ignored the young man's teasing. His single eye gazed toward the bottom of the cliff as he asked in a deep voice, "That man is the Imperial Court's wanted criminal, Li Fangchou, a vicious and utterly evil man. Should we pursue him?"

"No need. We have other important business on this trip. Playing around a little is enough." The young man waved his hand, completely unconcerned.

But then he suddenly remembered something and rubbed his chin. "Right, the one who jumped down at the beginning looked somewhat familiar to me."

"That was Meng Ruochuan."

"Little Meng?" The young man was somewhat surprised.

"Wasn't he looking for the whereabouts of those few vermin? How did he end up in Chuzhou, and in such a sorry state?"

As he spoke, he had already turned and begun walking back, with no intention whatsoever of rescuing his colleague.

"Lord Yan, this journey has already been delayed for quite some time. We shouldn't delay any longer."

A clear, cool female voice came from inside the carriage.

"No rush, no rush."

The young man surnamed Yan climbed back into the carriage, his voice drifting out lazily.

"That thing won't appear for some time yet. Let other people scout ahead and test the waters, see how deep they run. Then we can go pluck the ripe fruit at the end. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"Lord, you still shouldn't underestimate the heroes of the world." The woman's voice inside the carriage carried a hint of warning.

"There are no small number of experts from every side who have come running at the rumors this time."

"Got it, got it." The young man surnamed Yan answered perfunctorily.

Sun Baizhan silently returned to the driver's seat as well. With a flick of the whip, the wheels began turning slowly once more, rolling over the dust and bloodstains on the Official Road before disappearing into the distance.