The Execution Ground

In the blink of an eye, several days passed.

Someone in the Martial Academy murmured, "The remnants of Xingyun are making trouble again. I'm afraid there'll be no peace."

Huang Jiangyue had recovered from his failed breakthrough. The fact that several more people had failed had especially lifted his spirits.

He clicked his tongue. "Ruthless. An entire squad, Martial Warriors included, wiped out without a single survivor. Cloud-Striding Martial Hall means to fight to the bitter end."

"But those were Shan Family men. It has nothing to do with us," Lin Fan said.

"What a coincidence," Su Yuan remarked. He hadn't expected the other side to be Shan Family subordinates, but they had been sending people to tail them for some time. It seemed they had planned this long ago.

They really hadn't given up.

Tie Niu came to Su Yuan's side. "Brother Yuan, let me escort you back and forth these next few days. Things aren't safe around Fengxing Street."

He knew Su Yuan had once been targeted by Cloud-Striding Martial Hall and worried that he might be attacked.

I'm going to kill myself?

Su Yuan laughed inwardly, but didn't turn down Tie Niu's kindness.

Just then, Chai Nian came out. "Tie Niu, Su Yuan, get the carriage ready. We're going to Void Cloud Horse Ranch."

"Yes, sir."

"How's your martial arts training going?" Chai Nian asked, fanning himself. It was rare for him to check in on Su Yuan.

"You've been kind enough to provide me with medicine, Young Master. My Blood Qi has been steadily increasing, and I'm nearing a bottleneck," Su Yuan replied.

Chai Nian was a little surprised.

He knew Su Yuan had bought quite a lot of medicine, and the boy also spent every day running to Gao Mian for pointers.

For someone with inferior bones, this pace of progress was among the fastest. But accumulating Blood Qi was easy; breaking through a bottleneck was hard.

If he couldn't break through, he might be stuck there for months or even years.

The others didn't know the inside story, though. Jiang Yu was startled. Su Yuan's hit a bottleneck? Is that for real?

He barely even trained!

After the three left, someone whispered, "I think he's just bragging. Besides, breaking through a bottleneck is hard. He'll probably be stuck for months. Does he think everyone's as gifted as Senior Brother Meng?"

Everyone had also learned that breaking through a bottleneck was tied to one's comprehension, at least to some degree.

Meng Qi's comprehension really was exceptional.

Huang Jiangyue sighed inwardly. I never thought I'd be caught up to by the person everyone in the academy considers the worst.

To save face, most people secretly hoped Su Yuan would fail when the time came.

Only Lin Fan praised him. "Truly, a tiger's younger brother can't be a dog."

Everyone was speechless.

Lin Fan had long since put his pride aside. He stayed close to Tie Niu every day, and had practically become his number-one lackey.

Su Yuan and Tie Niu drove the carriage to Void Cloud Horse Ranch.

Soldiers patrolled every street.

The few Grey People still living in West City stayed cooped up in their homes all day, afraid to go out.

Except for the businesses around the horse ranch, nearly everything in the area had shut down. West City had all but fallen into ruin, becoming a prison where the Liang People held their captives.

Void Cloud Horse Ranch had expanded several times over. Rows of tents had been set up inside, each holding a different group of prisoners.

Liang soldiers drove them along with whips. Shouts and stifled wails blended together. Most of the prisoners wore rags, their bodies covered in wounds as they staggered along.

Several new black buildings stood behind the tents. Each had a single iron door, no windows or openings, and a heavily guarded entrance. Harrowing screams sometimes came from within, raising the hairs on the back of one's neck.

Su Yuan drove the carriage inside. The guards saw it belonged to the Chai Family and immediately let them through.

Many prisoners glared at the two of them with venomous eyes, only to be knocked down by a whip from the overseer.

Tie Niu had killed several assassins before, but they had all been people trying to harm Su Yuan.

This was the first time he'd witnessed suffering on such a vast scale. His face had gone faintly pale.

"Tie Niu, are you all right?" Su Yuan asked quietly.

"I-I'm fine." Tie Niu's lips were pale, and his voice trembled.

Seeing his countrymen suffer such torment shook him to the core and made his resolve falter.

He had sided with the Liang People only to give Su Yuan a chance to practice martial arts.

But as his strength grew and he saw more of the world, his deep-seated resistance and guilt only grew stronger.

So I've become a traitor, despised by everyone, and dragged Brother Yuan down with me. I shouldn't have brought him into the Chai Family.

Su Yuan sensed his turmoil and called into the carriage, "Young Master, Tie Niu isn't feeling well. Could he come inside and rest?"

"Brother Yuan, I—"

"Come in," Chai Nian said, lifting the curtain. Tie Niu had no choice but to climb inside.

Su Yuan drove the two horses alone, enduring countless stares along the way—some hateful, some numb, some contemptuous.

The Jing People crawled through the dust in humiliation, while the Liang People and "traitors" rode high in their carriages.

Su Yuan couldn't say what he felt.

Perhaps he'd gotten used to it.

He could bear this stain on his own.

Only when they reached the raised platform at the center of the ranch did Chai Nian get out.

Su Yuan saw again the young masters and ladies he'd met during the Martial Assessment:

The Shan Family's young master, Shan Xiongqing.

The Rong Family's eldest daughter, Rong Yulian.

The Chai Family's second young master, Chai Nian.

Wei Xian, a commandant in the Fierce Horse Army.

The young representatives of the four great Liang People powers in Ji City had all gathered here.

As Su Yuan looked back, he saw that Yun Xu had been brought out too.

Unlike the wretched figure who had been left hanging in Shan Estate, this time she sat inside an ornate prison carriage.

The carriage was spacious, and she wore no shackles.

Instead, the carriage was lined with soft sable fur, its four walls hung with brocade and luminous pearls. She wore a flowing blue silk dress, her black hair loosely pinned with a jade hairpin. Pearls dangled from her ears, gold bracelets encircled her wrists, and precious jewels adorned her from head to toe.

All that splendor stood in cruel contrast to the miserable prisoners below.

Yun Xu sat quietly inside, her dark gaze sweeping over the people in the yard.

Her tightly pressed lips revealed that she was anything but calm.

The people below had suffered for her, enduring brutal torture, while she had been dressed in such finery and locked in a gilded cage.

Rong Yulian was plain-looking. Seeing Yun Xu's peerless beauty, she sneered, "No wonder Young Master Shan kept her hidden for so long and wouldn't bring her out. With a pretty songbird like that, he must have wanted to keep her locked up at home and admire her every day."

Shan Xiongqing snorted. "Stick to the plan."

At last, he was willing to bring out Yun Xu as bait.

If he kept her hidden in the Inner City, Cloud-Striding Martial Hall would have no chance to rescue her.

The young masters and ladies went inside to discuss matters.

In broad daylight, Su Yuan didn't dare communicate with Yun Xu.

With the Liang People's precautions in place, it would be even harder for him to get near her.

Chai Nian left after their discussion, without lingering.

Su Yuan drove the carriage back.

On the way, Chai Nian spoke. "They need an artist at the horse ranch to record the interrogations. Your painting is decent, and Shan Xiongqing specifically asked for you. Go there in your spare time each day and paint. I've already agreed, and Gao Mian has no objections."

Su Yuan frowned slightly.

The job had its advantages and disadvantages. It would let him get deeper into the horse ranch and gather more information, but it would also put him in danger and leave him vulnerable to whatever came his way.

But the Liang People hadn't given him the right to refuse.

From then on, Su Yuan's routine changed. Instead of building up Yun Xu's strength, he spent his time painting beside her at the horse ranch.

And the horse ranch had become an execution ground.

Every day, horrific tortures battered their minds.

Living people were torn apart by five horses.

Several people were pierced by a long, sharpened bamboo pole and strung together like bloody gourds.

Branding irons, ant bites... The torments varied, and the screams never ceased.

The corpses were tossed into the monster cages, where they became food.

Su Yuan held his brush, laying ink on rice paper as he painstakingly sketched each scene of hell on earth, enduring the dying curses of the victims and the spectators' abuse.

But he wasn't the only traitor in the yard. Every family had sent Jing People loyal to them, and most of the people carrying out executions and driving the prisoners were Jing People as well.

Cloud-Striding Martial Hall had not remained idle. Seeing how heavily guarded the horse ranch was, they had gone after these traitors instead.

Once again, Su Yuan and the others became bait for the Liang People.

More ironically, many of the prisoners cursed Yun Xu most fiercely, treating her as the root of all their misfortune.

Yun Xu, the instigator, was "attended" on the raised platform, surrounded by fine clothes and fine food.

Meanwhile, these innocent people, dragged into the affair, endured brutal torture.

Yun Xu wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and forced herself to remain calm.

She looked at Su Yuan beside her, painting with an impassive face, and felt a chill in her heart.

She already knew that the boy was extraordinarily patient. It was pure luck that she'd managed to turn him into an informant.

Training spies and planting them among the Liang People was already difficult, since the Liang People valued loyalty.

And few were willing to bear the name of traitor and make sacrifices in silence.

She had placed her hopes in Su Yuan. If he continued to grow and made his way into the upper ranks of Great Liang, he might one day become a great asset in restoring Ji City.

She had to keep Su Yuan safe. That became Yun Xu's way of atoning, and the reason she gritted her teeth and endured.

[Painting: 1987/2000 (Perfection)]

My painting skill is almost full. What should I paint for this last one? Before leaving, Su Yuan gave Yun Xu a reassuring look.

Then he left the horse ranch and, with Tie Niu guarding him, headed to Xiasheng Restaurant to pass along a message.

Su Yuan had never contacted anyone from Cloud-Striding Martial Hall in person. He couldn't fully trust them; if his identity leaked and they reported him to the Liang People, it would spell his doom.

By now, his finger techniques were well practiced, and he could send a letter on a leaf from a distance.

They still used the same window for the handoff.

At the same time every day, someone would appear by the window, and he would send the message leaf over.

Su Yuan briefly sent Tie Niu away, then flicked the leaf from his hand. It carried information about a group of traitors and the horse ranch.

Then he disappeared into the shadows.

Duan Hongyan picked up the fallen leaf, looked in the direction it had come from, and pondered for a moment before entering the hidden room.