Already Here

Wen Rou listened to Chu Qing and thought it over before saying,

"But if he gets away, I'll be in trouble...

"I can keep the poison from spreading, but I can't cure it."

"How long can you hold it back?"

Chu Qing asked.

"About an hour... After that, it'll spread from my palm along my meridians.

"I'll probably die within ten hours at most."

Even as Wen Rou said this, her expression barely changed.

As if whether she lived or died had nothing to do with her.

Chu Qing nodded.

"Can you move?"

"No."

Wen Rou answered honestly.

"Then forgive me."

With that, Chu Qing carried Wen Rou into the house, seemingly having completely forgotten about Mei Qianluo.

After laying Wen Rou down on his kang, Chu Qing said,

"Stay here and keep the poison under control. Don't let it spread.

"I'll go find you an antidote."

Wen Rou thought for a moment.

"Then be careful."

Chu Qing was at a loss.

"You really trust me? You don't even know who I am..."

"I trust you."

Wen Rou spoke without a ripple in her voice.

"After all, if you hadn't stepped in just now, I'd already be dead."

That was fair enough. Wen Rou was Chu Fan's junior sister, and for Chu Fan's sake, Chu Qing couldn't let her die before his eyes.

He smiled.

"Then stay here and rest easy. I'll be back soon."

With that, he took his saber and went out.

He also began thinking about where he should move tomorrow.

He probably couldn't stay here anymore...

Before, it had been anyone's guess whether Wen Rou might invite Chu Fan over as a "guest." But now that he'd saved her life, there was a very good chance she'd invite Chu Fan over to thank him for saving her.

So he had to move.

Thinking back over what had happened that night, he couldn't help feeling a little wistful.

Surviving in a world like this was truly no easy thing.

If someone ordinary had been staying here tonight instead of him, and two inexplicable martial artists had fought on their rooftop, killing each other...

They'd wake up the next morning, see the bodies in the yard, and be scared out of their wits.

And given Mei Qianluo's caution, he might even have killed the owner of the house.

After all, he'd said himself that he had grand plans and couldn't leave behind a single trace.

For ordinary people, this was disaster from a clear sky, and they'd have no way to fight back.

"This is still inside Heavenly Dance City. Wu Ganqi may not be a great visionary, but he governs the place well enough.

"Yet even so, he can't stamp out things like this.

"Life is hard, and it's usually ordinary people who bear the brunt..."

As Chu Qing thought, he followed the traces Mei Qianluo had left behind.

He was an assassin... tracking was one of his specialties.

Mei Qianluo had lost an arm to him, and there was no way to stop the bleeding anytime soon. That left even more clues.

Finding him couldn't have been easier.

So Chu Qing wasn't worried about him escaping... If he ran, Chu Qing could pull up the whole radish and all its roots.

The numbness in Mei Qianluo's wounded arm had finally worn off, and now the pain made his breath tremble.

Wave after wave of violent dizziness swept over him, tormenting him.

All the while, he had to watch out for pursuers behind him and hide from the Heavenly Dance Guard.

If the Heavenly Dance Guard spotted him, things would become as bad as they could possibly get.

The only thing to be thankful for was that the young man didn't seem to be chasing him.

At least, so far, all had been quiet behind him.

"Who exactly is he?

"That girl called Wen Rou was poisoned by me. Without an antidote, she probably won't last twelve hours.

"I just hope the young man doesn't take her to the Chu Family. Otherwise, my identity will be exposed."

Mei Qianluo stumbled along, feeling that his condition had become utterly dire.

But he was almost there...

His home was just ahead, and Second Boss, Guizhang Fulong, was there now.

Once he got back, he'd be safe.

Then he'd have Second Boss make the trip himself and kill those two. That would put an end to the matter.

The thought seemed to summon another burst of strength.

He forced himself to stay upright, but those few short steps felt as if they'd taken half a lifetime.

At last, he slammed open the courtyard gate.

The crash rang out sharply in the stillness of the night.

There were people in the courtyard—and more than one.

Mei Qianluo looked up at the scene before him, momentarily bewildered.

Guizhang Fulong was gripping a black-clothed man by the throat, holding him up in the air.

The noise drew his attention. He furrowed his brows and turned to Mei Qianluo. When he saw Mei Qianluo's severed arm, his pupils shrank slightly.

"What happened?"

He casually flung the black-clothed man from his grasp. The man was lucky to survive; he lay on the ground, coughing incessantly.

Mei Qianluo couldn't help asking,

"And what happened here?"

"A survivor from the Xia Family. He had some tricks up his sleeve and quietly followed me here. After you left, he thought he'd found his chance.

"He tried to poison my teacup. I played along and lured him out... It did take a little effort."

The moment Ge Jingchun said "Xia Family," Mei Qianluo understood.

The Xia Family was a famous clan in the Shashen Gang's territory.

But they weren't a martial arts family like the Chu Family. They were wealthy merchants, with riches beyond measure.

For years, they'd been the Shashen Gang's ready source of money.

But the Xia Family clearly hadn't wanted the Shashen Gang to keep sucking them dry. Behind the scenes, they'd tried to throw in their lot with another power.

When the Shashen Gang found out, they wiped out all 130-odd members of the family overnight and seized every last coin.

They hadn't expected that one survivor had slipped through the net.

Mei Qianluo glanced at the black-clothed man and let out a soft breath.

"Good thing he couldn't hold back. Otherwise, he really might have ruined everything...

"No, Second Brother Ge, leave this man to me.

"I ran into an expert. I didn't kill him, and in the blink of an eye, he took my arm."

At this, a grave light flashed in Ge Jingchun's slightly aged eyes.

"I thought you'd killed him, even if it cost you your life. He took your arm, walked away unharmed, and just let you go?"

Mei Qianluo froze and answered instinctively,

"We have no grudge against him. He..."

He couldn't finish.

His face had gone deathly pale.

A moment ago, he'd been blinded by what he wanted to believe. Chu Qing hadn't caught up, so he'd assumed the man didn't want to kill them all.

But could that really be true?

"You've lost so much blood that even your head's gone fuzzy."

Ge Jingchun's face darkened. He pulled pills from his robes and tossed them to Mei Qianluo.

"That man is probably already here."

At those words, Mei Qianluo felt a chill settle over his whole body, as if even his blood had frozen solid.