Beside the Dry Well.
Li Xiaopang recounted everything he had overheard in the Deliberation Hall in great detail, then delivered a deeply pessimistic verdict. "There's no saving you. Once a culprit's identity is exposed, there's no escaping the Clan Hall's killing blade... you're dead for sure."
Under the moonlight, the Storyteller fell silent for a long while before looking up at Ren Ye. "He's right... you really are an idiot! How could you leave such an important clue in the Peach Grove Courtyard?"
Not far away, fine beads of sweat covered Ren Ye's forehead. He was thinking with intense concentration and seemed not to have heard him.
"Look at him. He's still putting on an act, still trying to look so clever." Li Xiaopang shot him a sidelong look of accusation. "I honestly don't know where this blind man gets his confidence!"
Whoosh!
Ren Ye turned woodenly to look at them and said succinctly, "I came up with the entire escape plan. It involved so many stages and so many people, yet I left no evidence against myself... so use your brains and think. The Peach Grove Courtyard was somewhere the three halls were bound to examine carefully. Why would I be stupid enough to leave a drop of blood there?"
Li Xiaopang looked bewildered. "What do you mean?! If you didn't leave any blood, where did that bloodstained stone come from?"
Ren Ye pondered for a long while, then shook his head. "Let me put it this way. That day, after Zhou Taozhi went mad and drove the Surge Divine Method to its limit to attack Zhao Mingdi, I really was caught in the blast. My internal organs were shaken, and blood came up through my mouth and nose... but before it flowed out, I forcibly swallowed it back