White snow blanketed everything along the way.
Beneath the all-encompassing curtain of snow, every household had shut its doors and windows tight and huddled around the fire. Not a soul could be seen on the streets.
Only after they rounded a corner did they see an open doorway in a broad alley, flanked by two glowing lanterns.
Seeing Xie Ruomei shivering badly, her lips deathly pale, Lian Youming simply undid his padded coat and handed it to her.
"What fairness? We're already enemies. It's him or me, so why bother being fair?"
Hearing the boy's muttering, the old man raised his gray eyebrows and said sternly, "These are rules handed down in the martial arts community. They're also meant to keep the losing side from seeking revenge against the winner later. As the saying goes, 'Life and death beneath the fists, Grudges settled in a day.' If you sneak over at night, others can come for you at night too. Killing back and forth—will it ever end?"
Lian Youming kept curling his lip as he listened. "Then why not kill them all? Don't leave trouble for later. This uncle had the right idea: strike under cover of darkness and finish it once and for all."
The farmer-like man's eyelids twitched wildly. He forced a smile uglier than tears. "Master, I was only joking with him."
The four of them reached the main gate.
The moment Lian Youming stepped onto the stairs, he began looking left and right, his eyes fierce as he searched for people from the Eagle Claw Sect. The old man pressed him down with one hand. "What are you bouncing around for? This is the Baji Sect. That reckless, empty-headed manner of yours really does remind me of my youngest martial uncle back then. He went to