Master and Disciple

Flying daggers.

No martial arts training.

And yet, Wang Long and his entire gang were dead...

This forced Elder Wu to suspect that the killer was, in all likelihood, his newly accepted "registered disciple."

But without seeing it with his own eyes, he could not be certain.

With these thoughts in mind, he arrived shortly after at the courtyard in Ram Horn Alley.

Knock, knock, knock...

Qin Fang was in a deep sleep when he heard the heavy knocking.

Although he had barely managed to doze off by daybreak, after such an intense night, his mind could not fully relax; the moment the door sounded, he was jolted awake.

His eyes, bloodshot from exhaustion, snapped open. He sat up with a start before gradually regaining his senses.

The courtyard gate sounded again. He collected his thoughts—who would come at this hour?

Could it be his master?

Qin Fang pursed his lips and glanced at his own body, but finally took a deep breath, braced himself against the pain in his right leg, and climbed out of bed.

Limping to the door, he peered through a crack and saw, sure enough, it was his master...

Qin Fang took a deep breath and opened the door.

He was met head-on by his master's scrutinizing gaze.

"Master."

Qin Fang bowed in greeting.

Elder Wu's gaze instantly fell upon his leg and his left hand.

His expression darkened immediately.

But he said nothing; instead, he glanced around before stepping into the courtyard and closing the gate.

"Come inside and talk."

His master frowned and walked into the room.

Then, he caught sight of the chaotic mess on the floor and froze in place.

Qin Fang limped along behind him into the room.

"How did this happen?" Elder Wu turned and asked in a low voice.

Qin Fang lowered his head and said respectfully, "Yesterday..."

He recounted the events exactly as they had occurred.

He held nothing back.

Qin Fang knew very well that he could not hide this from his master.

Eight people were dead; it wouldn't be long before the news was everywhere—after all, how big could a county town be in ancient times?

As the resident physician at Spring Return Hall, his master surely had his own channels of information.

His master was also the only person who knew about the conflict between him and Wang Long's group. The moment he heard they had been killed, his first reaction would likely be to suspect him.

Furthermore, he had used flying daggers to kill them... and those very daggers had been given to him by his master.

Even more... the only place he could safely hide right now had been provided by his master.

...Under these circumstances, how could he hide it?

Fortunately, Qin Fang had no intention of hiding it.

Therefore, he told him everything that had happened yesterday.

Elder Wu listened from the side, his expression shifting constantly.

He did not respond for a long time after Qin Fang finished.

He simply looked at Qin Fang with a complex expression.

...His gaze held both shock and gravity.

He was shocked that his disciple was far more calm and decisive than he had imagined.

Relying solely on his skill with flying daggers, he had actually managed to pick off Wang Long and his men one by one. The final three targets were even killed at Lan Gui Fang, in plain sight of everyone... and after killing them, he had still managed to escape unscathed.

Just hearing it made him feel a sense of trepidation.

In such a situation, anyone else would likely have been captured by Lan Gui Fang.

Yet his disciple had managed to carve out a sliver of survival from a certain-death scenario... the resilience of his character and the coolness of his mind were truly remarkable.

And what weighed heavily on him was...

This murderous intent was perhaps a bit too heavy.

He killed at the slightest disagreement.

He killed eight people in one go.

Aside from Wang Long and his men.

Scar-Head Li and Wang Long's mistress were, in his eyes, considered "innocents"...

Yet in the end, he had shown no mercy and killed them both.

Rationally speaking, those two indeed had to die.

Otherwise, there was a high probability his identity would be exposed.

But emotionally speaking...

Elder Wu found it difficult to accept for a moment.

...After all, who could accept that their own disciple might be a person of "cold nature and bloodthirsty cruelty"?

It wasn't as if he were from some demonic sect...

He remained silent for a long time before asking in a deep voice, "Why didn't you come to me?"

Qin Fang lowered his head and said respectfully, "Master has already done enough for this disciple. This was trouble I brought upon myself, so naturally, I should handle it myself. How could I dare disturb Master?"

Hearing this, Elder Wu didn't know what to say.

He fell silent, then glanced once more at the carnage on the ground... He could imagine the situation Qin Fang had faced at the time.

...He had some understanding of the methods used by ruffians like Wang Long.

After a long while, Elder Wu sighed softly, "You must restrain this murderous nature of yours in the future... If possible, try to handle problems in a gentler way."

Upon hearing this, Qin Fang instinctively looked up at his master, then said in a somber voice, "Master, I understand. Actually, if I had a choice, I wouldn't want to kill anyone either."

Heaven knows that just a few months ago, he hadn't even dared to kill a chicken.

The journey as a refugee...

Had changed him too much.

Elder Wu was silent, finally sighing as he said, "Come here, let me look at your injuries."

Qin Fang was stunned, then a warmth welled up in his heart. He did not refuse and walked over.

Elder Wu first looked at his finger... The index finger of his left hand was swollen to nearly twice the size of his middle finger, bruised blue and purple, looking extremely ghastly.

Elder Wu furrowed his brows and used his hand to gently squeeze and check the condition of the bone.

The sudden, sharp pain made Qin Fang gasp.

Elder Wu's hand paused, then he snorted coldly, "Know pain now, do you? You didn't seem to feel it when you were climbing walls to kill Wang Long yesterday!"

Qin Fang was dazed, feeling a bit embarrassed.

But he quickly reacted, blinking his eyes, "Master, how did you know I climbed the wall to get in?"

Although he had told him about the incident, he hadn't explained the specific "process of the crime" very clearly.

For instance, regarding the killing of Wang Long, he had only said that he "entered Wang Long's courtyard and shot him."

He hadn't mentioned that he "climbed the wall into the courtyard, happened to encounter Wang Long in the middle of doing that deed with his mistress, so he crouched by the wall for a while, and struck the moment Wang Long reached his climax..." and so on.

Naturally, he was surprised at how his master knew such details.

Elder Wu rolled his eyes at him, but after a short silence, he sighed softly and said, "Your senior brother is the coroner in charge of this case... I learned of the news of Wang Long and the others' deaths from him."

Senior brother?

Qin Fang looked stunned, blinking his eyes.

"I'll introduce you two when there's a chance in the future... But not for a while. Let's get this injury of yours treated first."

Elder Wu also had a headache.

His eldest disciple was the constable in charge of the case.

...His youngest disciple was the murderer!

This...

He sighed helplessly, said no more, and continued to examine the injury on Qin Fang's finger.

After a moment of inspection, he couldn't help but look at Qin Fang again...

With his medical skills, he could naturally tell how this injury had been caused.

It had first been snapped backward.

But now the finger was not irregularly twisted, which meant it had been set back into place afterward.

...As for who set it back.

It went without saying.

...This kid is truly ruthless!

Not only to his enemies.

He was even willing to lay such a ruthless hand on himself!

He thought to himself.

"Take off your pants."

Elder Wu suddenly spoke up.

"Hm... hm?"

"Aren't you going to have the injury on your leg looked at?"

"Oh..."

Qin Fang obediently took off his pants...