Qi Ziru heard it and saw it too-his nephew's figure fleeing in blind panic. He sighed inwardly, knowing there was virtually no chance of escaping that tall man's clutches. With things having come to this, he could barely save himself, let alone look after his nephew.
His gaze returned to Shi Chun's face. He nodded slightly and praised him with what seemed like genuine admiration. "With your cultivation and theirs, you actually crippled them with a single palm strike. What domineering palm power! No wonder Shen Youkun kept saying you could fight. Even joining forces, those two couldn't last a single exchange against you. You truly deserve to be the chief of the Eastern Nine Plains. I was arrogant and blind. I deserved this end. There's no injustice in it!"
This was the first time Shi Chun had studied him carefully at such close range. His gaze fixed on the two talismans in Qi Ziru's hand and the little black cloth pouch he gripped tightly. At those words, he looked back at his face. "Who are you?"
Qi Ziru said calmly, "Does it still matter?"
Shi Chun raised his brows slightly at that answer, showing his displeasure. "Looks like you're a newcomer. Not just any crime will get you sent here. I heard Shen Youkun came in because of some 'Hundred Children Banquet.' What about you? What did you do to end up here?"
The so-called "Hundred Children Banquet" was nothing good. Shen Youkun himself had confessed to it when Shi Chun first placed him under house arrest.
Perhaps he had eaten too many fine delicacies and wanted something unusual, so that bastard Shen Youkun had developed a taste for "Brain Tofu." Later, in pursuit of freshness and tenderness, he had gone so far as to prey on children. When entertaining a pack of disreputable friends, he had actually procured a hundred pairs of boys and girls for a banquet. Someone had exposed it, landing him here.
Shen Youkun had plenty of complaints about that. What was wrong with eating a little of what belonged to his own territory? Didn't everything on his territory fall under his authority? It wasn't as though he alone was doing something unconventional.
He had no complaints about being punished. He resented the person who had exposed it and let word spread.
Qi Ziru repeated the same words. "Does it still matter?"
Seeing him brush the question aside like that, Shi Chun's voice sank. "You think I won't dare kill you?"
Qi Ziru replied calmly, "You left and came back. Wasn't that precisely to kill me?"
That left Shi Chun somewhat at a loss for words. It was true-he had come back to silence them.
Soon, Shen Youkun's howls of agony reached them, followed by the man himself. Wu Jinliang was dragging him back by the hair.
Under the bright moonlight, Wu Jinliang dragged his saber with one hand and a man with the other, running at full speed without treating his captive as human. Before long, he reached Shi Chun and flung Shen Youkun down, sending him tumbling at Shi Chun's feet.
Shen Youkun looked up and met Shi Chun's downward gaze, then immediately scrambled into position, kneeling before him with his forehead pressed to the ground. He trembled, truly frightened to the point of shaking all over.
Beside him, Qi Ziru could hardly bear to watch. He closed his eyes in regret, wishing he had never involved himself in the affairs of the land of exile for this nephew. It hadn't been worth it.
Wu Jinliang stepped forward and planted a foot on Shen Youkun's back, lecturing him with a chuckle. "You really never learn to fear a beating, do you, Shen? Didn't we tell you we wouldn't spare you if you provoked us again?"
With his face buried against the ground, Shen Youkun immediately protested in a muffled voice. "I didn't provoke you. You came here yourselves."
"Uh..." With his saber braced against the ground and his foot on the man, Wu Jinliang couldn't help scratching his head. He gave Shi Chun an awkward laugh. "Chun, it does look like we came knocking this time. Huh, no, wait..." He suddenly lifted his foot and stomped twice on Shen Youkun's back, flattening him against the ground. "You were the one who dangled a heap of supplies to lure us in first! And you dare say you didn't provoke us? You treated our words like so much farting wind, sneaking supplies over to us! Clearly you don't take us seriously, and you still dare argue..."
Shi Chun raised a hand and flicked it, signaling him to stop and move aside. Only then did Wu Jinliang relent.
Shi Chun wasted no more time and asked directly, "Which of you will tell me why you were digging up that skeleton underground?"
Shen Youkun's whimpers and groans immediately ceased. He quietly tilted his head and stole a glance up at his uncle.
Qi Ziru also gave him a scornful glance and said evenly, "Shen Youkun, they risked coming back to silence us. Whether we talk or not, we'll die. Do you understand?"
He was warning Shen Youkun to keep his mouth shut.
Shen Youkun shuddered all over. He understood.
"You bastard!" Wu Jinliang was displeased. He glared viciously at Qi Ziru. "Chun, I'll take one away. We'll question them separately. Let's see if they keep their mouths shut then."
Shi Chun instead stared at Shen Youkun on the ground and said something seemingly unrelated. "In other words, you know the truth too."
At those words, Qi Ziru's brow twitched. He abruptly realized something, and the outcome was exactly as he feared. The chief suddenly drew the saber from the ground, sweeping a cold gleam before his eyes. With a swish, his vision went tumbling.
With a thud, a head landed before Shen Youkun. His eyes flew wide. Never had he imagined that uncle and nephew would come face-to-face in this fashion. A spray of hot blood followed, splashing across his face.
"Ah!" Shen Youkun suddenly let out a shriek like a woman's. He lurched backward, sitting on the ground and kicking his legs as he scrambled away, watching with his own eyes as his uncle's mutilated body twitched and fell.
Before he could recover from the shock, the bloodied blade was held before his eyes. Shi Chun knew him better and had greater confidence in handling him. He threatened, "Will you talk or not?"
Shen Youkun's Adam's apple bobbed repeatedly. Swallowing dryly, he said in a trembling voice, "You'll kill me to silence me even if I talk."
Shi Chun laid the blade atop his head. "Since you could lure me with so many supplies, your family outside must already know I exist. I really don't want them coming after me once I get out. You're no fool, Brother Shen. I'm sure you understand my concern."
At those words, a spark of hope flashed in Shen Youkun's eyes.
Shi Chun continued, "I don't want to spend my whole life here. Besides, even staying here isn't safe. Your family's reach has already extended inside. I hope you'll put in a good word and smooth things over for us, Brother Shen. As long as you cooperate properly, wouldn't it be better for everyone to have a way to live? I believe I've made myself clear. If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do. Why not take a gamble, Brother Shen?"
Those reasonable, persuasive words even made Wu Jinliang nod inwardly. His gaze toward Shen Youkun softened considerably, and he began to pin some hopes on him.
In the end, Shen Youkun decided to gamble.
Regardless of his uncle's warnings, and regardless of whether his Lineage would spare him after he spoke, he decided to first secure the chance to survive what lay before him. His thinking was not without reason. If he couldn't survive the present, what future was there to discuss?
So he explained his relationship with Qi Ziru and the purpose of the excavation. He answered every question, spilling everything he knew.
The result surprised Shi Chun. Neither uncle nor nephew knew what that violet-glittering nebula was, yet that was precisely the mystery he urgently wanted to unravel.
Still, it did explain why neither of them had stayed at the site to oversee the excavation of something so important. It really might have been because they didn't know.
"Chaos, Chaos..." That answer also left Shi Chun muttering the word over and over.
He thought of the strange scene he had seen through his right eye. He could still see it a little while ago, but now it had vanished. He wanted another look, yet no matter how he thought about it or channeled his power, nothing worked. He couldn't trigger that bizarre, illusion-like scene again.
Shen Youkun, who had already risen to answer his questions, watched him eagerly, waiting for some reassuring words.
Coming back to himself, Shi Chun met his gaze and felt some regret. He didn't know whether the bastard was holding something back, but Shen Youkun actually didn't know whom the excavated dragon bones were to be handed to, or even where or with whom he was supposed to make contact. Qi Ziru had never told him the truly important details. Otherwise, Shi Chun might really have tried digging a little deeper to see whether he could gain something else to protect himself.
Under Shen Youkun's expectant gaze, Shi Chun slowly gave his answer. "From this moment on, all debts and grudges between us are settled!"
Shen Youkun froze for a moment, then his face drained of color. Panic seized his entire body, and he waved his hands frantically, but he was no faster than Shi Chun drawing the saber from the ground.
Swish! A cold gleam flashed, hot blood shot skyward, and another head went tumbling into the air, its wide-open eyes filled with disbelief.
Shi Chun flicked the blood off the blade, raised his hand, and slid it into the sheath on his back.
Staring at the head rolling along the ground, Wu Jinliang said in astonishment, "You aren't keeping him alive to help us deal with the Qi Household?"
Shi Chun said, "You're overthinking it. From what he told us, the Qi Household could discard even his uncle at a word, let alone him. In the eyes of the important figures who can sway the Qi Household, our feud with him is merely a personal grudge. They might not take it too seriously. But if we're connected to what happened here, the Qi Household will never leave us a way out."
"Ah." Wu Jinliang scratched his head. Forget it. The man was already dead, so whatever Shi Chun said would sound reasonable. He turned and hurried excitedly straight toward Qi Ziru, reaching to pick up the black cloth pouch and the two talismans still clenched in his hand.
Shi Chun glanced over and urgently shouted, "Don't touch them!"
Bent over with his hand outstretched, Wu Jinliang froze and looked up in surprise. "What do you mean? Shen Youkun said this 'Heaven-and-Earth Bag' isn't an ordinary magical treasure even in the outside world. How can we pass up such a valuable treasure? Taking it out would earn us enough to never worry about food or drink."
"Don't touch it!" Shi Chun warned him again, then headed toward the corpses he had cut down on the slope. "No matter how good it is, we can't touch it. We can't take a single thing from their bodies. If we want to live, we have to restrain ourselves. Remember, we were never here. Everything that happened here has nothing to do with us!"
His hands itching unbearably, Wu Jinliang nevertheless wasn't stupid. He understood. Forcing himself to withdraw his hand, he darted after Shi Chun. When he saw Shi Chun pull away the masked burly man's face cloth, he said in surprise, "It's him? Isn't this Tian Zhan, the chief of the Youle River? Have you forgotten? You've met before. You even exchanged polite greetings."
Shi Chun frowned slightly but said nothing. He found the heads of the other two sedan bearers and uncovered their faces for a look, giving up when he found he didn't recognize them. He surveyed their surroundings, drew a deep breath, and said, "We can't linger here," before darting away.
After glancing around, Wu Jinliang shouldered his great saber and swiftly chased after him. The two quickly vanished into the night.
Not long after they left, a figure flew unhurriedly through the sky overhead.
He was a very peculiar middle-aged man. It was late at night and there was no rain, yet he flew beneath a large black umbrella.
He was tall and slender, his shoulder-length black hair streaming in the wind. His handsome face bore a faint stubble, lending him a mature, attractive masculine air. Over clothes of black patterned with gold, he wore a loose violet gauze robe. Elegant and unrestrained, his sweeping gaze conveyed an aloof grandeur that stood apart from heaven and earth.
Suddenly, he paused in midair and stopped flying. His gaze, which had been searching the ground below along the way, fixed on a valley. The extensive signs of filled gullies and piled earth below were obvious and certainly not natural. This was precisely where Shen Youkun had organized a large-scale excavation.
He had come because of the disturbance caused by the collapse here. It hadn't seemed like something anyone with the usual level of cultivation in the land of exile could cause, so he had headed to this area to investigate.
His gaze suddenly shifted again. Moonlight reflected from weapons scattered outside the valley, catching his attention.
In the next instant, he vanished into thin air and reappeared beside the scattered weapons, strolling slowly beneath his umbrella.