After the brief clash, countless green bamboo stalks in the heart of the bamboo sea had been destroyed by saber winds, exposing a clearing open to the sky, strewn with broken bamboo and shredded leaves.
Rustle, rustle...
The rain of bamboo leaves drifted on the wind, gradually covering Huang Yulong's corpse.
Nearby, Pei Xiangjun held her spear, pinning down Xiao Shichen, who was covered in blood.
Ye Jingtang crouched before him and took out the medicine bottle again.
"If you don't take it now, it really will be too late. You were only second-in-command. You had to follow your sect leader's orders before; you weren't the mastermind. Now your boss is dead, and he can shoulder all the blame. I won't promise you'll walk away innocent, but I can at least spare you death. You're only in your forties. You have at least thirty years left. Why die for Prince Wu?"
"Cough..."
Xiao Shichen kept coughing up blood. Looking at Huang Yulong, who had already breathed his last, he rasped:
"You should be chasing Bai Siming. People in the martial world are all grass atop a wall, bending with the wind. Why would Prince Wu tell us where he's hiding? Cough... kill me if you want. I've long since gotten my money's worth... cough..."
Ye Jingtang frowned, raised his hand to send Xiao Shichen on his way, then stood and looked deeper into the bamboo sea.
Luo Ning approached with her sword. She was about to speak when she noticed blood at the webs of Ye Jingtang's hands and hurriedly took them to examine them.
Pei Xiangjun took wound medicine from behind her waist and handed it to Ye Jingtang, looking distinctly displeased.
"You had a perfectly good spear, but you insisted on taking a saber and 'closing on a