Behind the Scenes

Someone wanted to kill him,

and it was most likely that old master.

Ever since he had heard that the old master had proposed the marriage, Qin Yi had harbored this suspicion. The contents of Ruan Su's diary had supplied the final piece of the puzzle.

The old master had hidden his coveting of Ruan Su well—so well that even Qin Yi had not noticed the slightest trace of it.

Ever since the young master had confessed to Ruan Su, the old master's actions over the past half month had been gradual enough, yet compared to his former orderly ways, they still seemed far too hasty.

Something must have happened, making the old master desperately eager to bind Ruan Su to himself at once, even at the cost of severing ties with and offending the Lineage he had once planned to marry into.

Such an attitude already showed the utmost regard, yet after his marriage proposal failed, the old master had chosen to stand aside, even fanning the flames of those rumors until tonight's attack finally fell upon Ruan Su.

For an ordinary person, this might have been a warning, meant to make Ruan Su realize who was sheltering the siblings.

After all, from every angle, Ruan Su should not have refused this proposal, nor did she have any reason to refuse it. Yet she had answered with the fiercest resistance, all without a word.

But the old master would not do that.

What he wanted was a Ruan Su whose heart had returned to him. Even if such methods forced her to submit, they would plant the seeds of disaster.

With the old master's breadth of mind, he could not possibly fail to understand this. Yet he had not only laid the groundwork for so long, but had also staked his sole male heir's marriage on Ruan Su.

Such desire naturally meant he would stop at nothing to achieve his goal.

If Ruan Su herself could not be reached, then he would broaden his sights,

In Yellow Bamboo Town, Ruan Su's monthly salary was high. Together with the rewards she earned for completing missions, after several years she had enough to buy quite a few fields and land deeds in Yellow Bamboo Town. Yet the girl's life was simple, even meager.

Meat was rarely seen at her meals, and from spring to autumn, she wore only those few coarse hemp garments. Whenever she was seen in new clothes, they had most likely been stripped from some corpse, then taken to the tailor's shop on the western side of town to be altered.

Ruan Su had spent all her silver on physicians.

To treat her younger brother's brain affliction.

That was him, Qin Yi.

With that, the old master's motive for killing him became clear...

As one of the common folk who had risen amid the war that had swept the realm ten years ago, ruthlessness was a gene carved into the old master's very bones.

If he could not have her, then he would destroy everyone around her!

Make her have no choice but to depend on him.

As long as he disappeared, Ruan Su would lose the center of her world.

As long as he disappeared, with all that past groundwork and with himself—or his son—gradually taking his place, the final result would be no different from a marriage alliance.

The only thing to consider was how to remove himself from suspicion.

And that,

was truly not difficult for the old master.

The woods were quiet at night,

After a brief moment of thought, Qin Yi walked to the bed, pulled back the quilt warmed by the girl, and lay down beneath it.

He had no intention of running away.

Those who set their sights high despite humble origins walked through nine deaths for one chance at life.

Given the old master's caution, he had most likely sent people to watch the small courtyard where the siblings lived.

If they fled, it would be as good as laying their cards on the table and telling the old master that the siblings had concluded he had planned this attack and now regarded him as an enemy.

And given how much the old master valued his sister, once he learned his plan had been exposed, even if they escaped tonight, he would send experts after them to leave no future trouble behind—to cut the grass and pull out the roots.

So...

He needed to meet that old master.

Qin Yi stared at the open wooden door, his gaze cold as a mass of black ice.

Then,

A small hand rustled around him from behind. The girl's warmth seeped through their thin clothes, driving away much of the late autumn chill.

Her sleepy, muddled voice asked:

"Want... sleep...?"

The corners of Qin Yi's thin lips lifted unconsciously. Holding the girl's hand, he said softly:

"I'm only lying down for a while. Just get some proper rest."

"...Oh, okay."

After that, Ruan Su must have been exhausted beyond measure, for only her faint breathing remained before long.

Compassion Mountain, a clearing in the woods.

The mountain forest was quiet under the moonlight. Leaping flames scattered the darkness, while several masked men embroidered with the patterns of Immortal Guest House moved through the clearing, their footsteps making sticky, slapping sounds. Aside from them, roughly a dozen burly men in fitted martial attire stood watch around the area.

A thick stench of blood permeated the surroundings. Nie Junyue walked amid the masked men's protection, his gaze continuously sweeping over the area.

Moonlight fell, its clear radiance joining the firelight to illuminate every last detail in the forest clearing. Human flesh and blood practically carpeted the entire space.

One torso had been torn in half. Exposed organs glistened wetly with a dark purple sheen beneath the moonlight, while intestines trailed several feet away, coiled around the roots of a snapped sapling.

Severed arms and mangled limbs lay scattered everywhere. Some hung in the roadside grass, some were half embedded in thick bushes. A smashed skull lay crooked beneath an ancient tree, gray-white brain matter splattered across the ground and already beginning to scab over, while the soil beneath their feet had been soaked with blood into a deep brown, nearly black swamp of gore.

Passing through the masked men gathering the corpses, Nie Junyue came to a stop beneath an old locust tree at the edge of the clearing.

Before his eyes, a male corpse stood with its head hanging low against the trunk. A long-handled saber had pierced through his chest, pinning him dead to the tree.

Covering his nose and mouth with a brocade handkerchief, Nie Junyue reached out, seized the man's hair, and lifted his head. Once he saw the man's face, his brows rose slightly.

He recognized him. The man had once been a somewhat renowned internal martial arts expert on Compassion Mountain. He had not been especially outstanding, but he had at least survived five or six years in this chaotic region. Nie Junyue had never expected him to be recruited by that old man surnamed Zhou, much less to die soundlessly in this place.

Letting go, Nie Junyue looked toward the masked man following at his side and asked quietly:

"Have you counted their numbers?"

The masked man nodded lightly, cupped his fists in salute, and replied in a low voice:

"Judging by these severed limbs, there were around thirteen or fourteen people. There was only one killer, though, at least an established martial expert. But... that person seemed to be desperately short on money? He took every valuable item from these men, even their sabers. Keep an eye on the town's black market dealers lately. Finding him should not be difficult."

Still covering his nose and mouth, Nie Junyue fell silent for a moment before calmly instructing:

"No need to investigate further. Handle tonight's affair as a demon calamity."

The masked man froze slightly, but immediately realized the inner details of this murder were not something he was entitled to know. He promptly answered:

"Yes, sir. This subordinate will arrange for someone to draft a report and deliver it to the town governor."

The town governor, also called the Town Suppression Commissioner, was Shu Court's administrative chief in Yellow Bamboo Town. Though the authority in his hands had long since been hollowed out, proper respect still had to be shown on the surface.

After the masked man left, Nie Junyue also stepped out of the "pool of blood" in the clearing and went to rest against an ancient tree nearby.

After several breaths,

A faint, respectful voice came from the shadows behind the tree:

"Master."

Nie Junyue was not surprised. He lowered his voice slightly.

"How did it go?"

The voice fell silent for several breaths, then said quietly:

"That girl's growth has been faster than expected. Apart from the few who had practiced internal arts, the rest were basically killed in a single move."

Nie Junyue's eyes flickered for a moment before he asked in return:

"If I sent you to kill her now, how certain would you be?"

"Ten out of ten." The voice did not hesitate in the slightest.

"You're quite confident."

"I am merely stating a fact. I should be close to reaching the next realm of martial arts."

"Heh..."

Nie Junyue chuckled. His tone lightened somewhat as he asked, "Where is she now?"

"She went home."

After answering, the voice paused for a moment before adding, "The little girl seemed to think her idiot younger brother had died, and her state became somewhat strange. Her five senses were terrifyingly sharp. I did not dare follow too closely. By the time I reached the small courtyard at her home, I discovered a demon calamity."

"Hm?"

Nie Junyue frowned slightly. "A demon calamity?"

"Two Killing Apes, one male and one female."

"..."

Hearing that they were only Killing Apes, Nie Junyue relaxed slightly and said:

"Looks like our large-scale logging and land reclamation have angered that Mountain Lord.

"Most likely."

"We have not seen it in over two years. Another day, we should pay it a visit and help it recognize reality again."

"Indeed."

The voice carried a trace of laughter, but then grew hesitant.

"Besides that, there is one more matter I think you would care about, Master."

"What?"

"That girl's younger brother isn't dead."

"?"

Nie Junyue's brows instantly twisted into knots, his heartbeat accelerating of its own accord.

"What do you mean?"

The voice replied quietly:

"I don't know exactly what happened, but judging from the male ape's state of death, Ruan Su must have completely lost control. I think the male Killing Ape was most likely trying to kill Qin Yi when Ruan Su happened to return home and catch it."

At this point, the voice paused slightly.

"But the other female ape seemed to have already died before Ruan Su returned."

"..."

Nie Junyue did not reply. His gaze unconsciously flicked toward the "pool of human flesh and blood" in the clearing, and his hand clenched tightly.

Until just now, he had controlled everything that had happened tonight. But at this moment, that tightly linked chain of information had suddenly snapped. The feeling of losing control spread through his entire body in an instant, chilling him to the bone...

Because of that idiot who should have been dead.