That night, the moon shone bright and the stars were sparse. Silver moonlight spilled like water across every inch of Plum Manor, cloaking the otherwise tranquil estate in a hazy veil of murderous gloom.
And on that very night, after a flurry of tense, nerve-racking preparations, Ren Yingying, Xiang Wentian, and Linghu Chong had finally overcome countless dangers and successfully, if not without a few scares, rescued Ren Woxing, the former leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult, from the dungeon beneath West Lake where he had been imprisoned for many years.
"Where is this...?"
Ren Woxing had just staggered out of the damp, pitch-dark dungeon.
He was tall, though somewhat hunched, with messy, graying hair. The ravages of time and imprisonment marked his face and body, but his eyes still gleamed with a sharp, almost deranged light—especially now that he had confirmed he had truly escaped.
And so...
"Hahahahaha—"
He could no longer hold back. He threw his head back and unleashed a thunderous peal of laughter, powered by his profound inner strength.
"Twelve years!"
"A full twelve years!"
"Today, this old man has finally seen daylight again!"
"Heaven has opened its eyes!"
"Hahahahaha—"
He laughed hysterically, as if trying to release all the humiliation and pain he had endured over those twelve years.
"Father..."
Ren Yingying hurried to support him, afraid he might laugh himself sick.
She wore a pale green robe, its sleeves fluttering gently in the night breeze. Tears glimmered in her beautiful, weary, worried eyes, and the corners of her mouth kept lifting despite her efforts to hold back a smile.
And small wonder!
She had longed for her father for more than a decade, and now she had been reunited with him. Nothing in the world could be better.
"..."
Xiang Wentian, dressed in