The sudden turn of events was truly beyond Chu Qing's expectations.
Though he had always been bold, a chill still crept into his heart. But right after that, he realized the man wasn't dead!
It wasn't that Chu Qing had failed to notice him. The man's legs had been chopped off, and his upper body was covered in blood. The blood had dried, and there was no telling how long ago he had been injured.
His breath was faint, nearly gone.
Anyone who saw a man like this would never have imagined he still had a breath left in him.
And when he saw Chu Qing, he reached out to grab Chu Qing's ankle.
How could Chu Qing let him catch him? He swayed aside, and the man didn't seem to mind.
He only struggled to speak a few words:
"Tell... Qing Ye... sword... hilt... Tian... Tian... Tian..."
After saying those words, his body slumped. He could no longer hold on, and his breath left him.
"...Tell Green Leaf Sword's hilt? What does that mean?"
Chu Qing was a little confused.
"Hey, make yourself clear! What Green Leaf Sword hilt? Tell whom? How do I tell them? What does Tian Tian Tian mean? Riddle-speakers need to get out of Gotham City!"
Those few words had come completely out of nowhere. However one looked at it, Green Leaf Sword's hilt shouldn't be a person.
Or was Green Leaf Sword... someone's nickname?
Tell Green Leaf Sword, hilt... what did that mean?
Had he heard wrong?
Was it hilt, or cake? Or some other word?
Or was there a Green Leaf Sword, with some secret hidden in its hilt?
But what did that have to do with the heavens?
In an instant, Chu Qing thought of all sorts of possibilities, then felt a little speechless...
A dying stranger he'd never met had said something, and here he was analyzing it for nothing.
"But judging by his clothes, he's definitely a Heavenly Dance Guard.
"Could this have something to do with the City Lord's Mansion?"
Chu Qing examined the corpse, and a moment later, his expression turned startled.
The man's legs had been chopped off. There was a trail of blood on the ground, and the weeds in the woods had been pressed down.
Looking at his hands, they were badly damaged, and there were bits of grass and dirt under his fingernails.
It seemed to suggest that after someone had chopped off his legs, he'd struggled all the way here on his hands and knees?
"He struggled this far just to pass on a message?
"This must be no small matter."
Chu Qing pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
"But it's so vague, and makes no sense at all."
He shook his head and didn't touch the corpse.
This place was within the bounds of Heavenly Dance City. If the matter was connected to the City Lord's Mansion, its people would certainly come looking.
If he rashly disposed of the corpse, it wouldn't be right, whether they found it later or not.
Thinking this, he also dealt with his footprints nearby, then continued on his way.
Along the road, he kept a careful eye out, but didn't see anything unusual.
And so, by noon the next day, Chu Qing stole some clothes from a farmhouse outside the city, disguised himself as a country lad heading into town, and slipped into Heavenly Dance City without a hitch.
The streets of Heavenly Dance City were packed with people. Carriages passed by from time to time, shops lined the roads, and hawkers' cries rose and fell.
For Chu Qing, this was his first time setting foot in Heavenly Dance City, yet memories rose to the surface of their own accord.
This was South Main Street. Heavenly Dance City had four streets in all, and the entire city was laid out in the shape of the character "tian."
The City Lord's Mansion stood at the very center, while the Chu Family was on North Main Street.
Though everywhere he looked were scenes from his memories, some things had changed.
The sugar figurines he'd liked were still there, but the man blowing them was someone else.
The narrow alley where he'd once played with his friends was still there, but a different group of children now played in it.
The bun-selling uncle had a few more white hairs at his temples.
The little rascal who'd once run wild between the stalls now had a rag draped over his shoulder, standing by the roadside and hawking his wares with all his might.
As Chu Qing walked down the street, he glanced up without thinking and saw a residence.
It belonged to a wealthy family. A plaque hung above the gate, bearing two gilded characters: Chu Mansion.
"How did I end up here without even realizing it?"
Chu Qing let out a quiet breath. He didn't want to go in yet.
His purpose on this trip was simple: to warn Chu Yunfei to be wary of the Sin Mirror Platform.
He didn't need to meet him in person to do that.
He only needed to find a way into the Chu Family and leave something behind... Of course, a chance to sneak into the Chu Family wouldn't be easy to come by, but Chu Qing was sure he had his ways.
He turned around, about to leave, when a familiar word reached his ears from nearby. He couldn't help looking toward the sound and saw a teahouse.
It was called the Red Leaf Teahouse, right across from the Chu Family. It must have opened sometime in the past few years.
There hadn't been a teahouse or tea shop opposite the Chu Family before. There had been an escort agency.
That agency had once been renowned, the best in Heavenly Dance City.
Later, its chief escort had died a terrible death on the road. His successor, the young chief escort, had been immature, mediocre in martial arts, and too fond of chasing women.
Judging by the look of things, he'd squandered the family fortune and sold off the agency.
There was also a restaurant beside the teahouse, and a pawnshop on the other side. Clearly, all of them had been renovated from something else.
After a moment's thought, Chu Qing stepped into the teahouse. Before he could sit down, someone called out loudly:
"Just who is that Night Emperor?"
"Exactly! The Iron Horse Seven Bandits were no weaklings, yet this Night Emperor killed three of them with a single strike. Is that story true or not?"
The familiar words Chu Qing had heard just now were "Night Emperor." He hadn't expected the news to reach Heavenly Dance City so quickly.
He casually found a seat. A burly man was loudly proclaiming:
"Of course it's true! Chu Fan, the Second Young Master of the Chu Family, said so himself. How could it be fake?"
Chu Qing was speechless. So that was why the news had spread so quickly.
It turned out Chu Fan was a walking loudspeaker.
He and Junior Sister Wen both had fast horses, so it made sense they'd arrived in Heavenly Dance City before him.
While he waited for the waiter to bring the tea, the group chattered away about all sorts of things.
Chu Qing realized they didn't know much. Most of what they said was speculation about the Night Emperor.
And they had all kinds of theories...
Some said the Night Emperor was an old martial-world veteran who had long since retired and lived under an assumed name. He'd happened upon the Iron Horse Seven Bandits slaughtering innocents and, in a fit of fury, stepped in.
Others said he was just a show-off. How dare he call himself an "Emperor"? If the Great Gan Dynasty hadn't vanished without a trace, the whole nine generations of his family would have been executed.
Still others thought he was a wandering hero just starting out in the martial world, using this incident to make a name for himself.
The place was lively for a while.
Chu Qing wasn't interested in any of that. He was thinking of finishing his tea and leaving when he suddenly saw a Wandering Doctor passing by on the street, carrying a sign.
At just one glance, Chu Qing's pupils shrank sharply.
He knew this man.
But this man shouldn't have been here.
Because in Chu Qing's memory, this man had died a month ago.
Before you continue