Chapter Seventy-One: The Intelligence Was Wrong

At noon, the blazing sunlight pierced through the treetops, its heat filtering down in slender threads through the dense foliage. The forest was alive with the occasional cries of birds and beasts, accompanied by the hum of insects, and the autumn air, usually cool, was suffused with an unexpected warmth.

A small group was making their way through the mountain woods, moving in a tight formation, each one vigilant in a different direction lest they be ambushed by the forest's wild predators. Their progress was painstakingly slow, every step taken with utmost caution.

It was not until the afternoon that they emerged from the woods. In the distance, atop a small hill several hundred yards away, there appeared to be traces of human construction.

Xue Jiahuan immediately cheered, her voice bright with relief, "We’ve finally arrived! The whole journey had me so on edge, I nearly died of fright."

Su Bai, however, was less optimistic. His eyesight, since a certain incident, had become sharper than most. While he could see the hint of buildings up ahead, he sensed an eerie emptiness, a desolation. He warned, "Stay alert, everyone. I doubt this mission will be as straightforward as it seems."

Turning, he glanced at Ni Hanyan, suspecting she might attempt something sly. But with people from the Blood River Tower nearby, it would be difficult to act against her for now.

"We must quickly find the inspector. If we leave Ni Hanyan unchecked, she’ll become a menace sooner or later," Su Bai calculated inwardly.

"Enough, you keep telling us to be cautious. My ears are calloused from hearing it," Xue Jiahuan grumbled, covering her ears with a look that seemed to say she refused to listen.

Su Bai shot her a dark look, startling her. He wasn’t usually gentle, but neither was he so harsh, prompting her to step closer to Ba Xia for protection.

Ba Xia tried to smooth things over, "Don’t be angry, Brother Ming. We understand."

"It’s not about wanting to dictate; there’s something strange about this mission. I can’t say exactly what, but we can’t afford to let our guard down," Su Bai replied, his brows furrowed, and strode ahead, no longer looking at Xue Jiahuan.

Gu Fanshuang, seeing Xue Jiahuan’s pitiful look, could only shrug helplessly. "I don’t know what’s going on either, but you’d best listen to him. He’s right—better safe than sorry." She hurried to catch up.

Xue Jiahuan and Ba Xia followed, keeping some distance. Ni Hanyan, as always, was silent as a statue.

"Anything unusual?" Gu Fanshuang asked Su Bai quietly when she caught up.

"Nothing for now. But the village ahead seems deserted. Perhaps everyone’s resting after lunch. Yet the land here is ideal for farming, and the village isn’t far—so why are there no signs of people working?" Su Bai mused, voicing his doubts.

"That’s true, but surely the sect wouldn’t give us false information. Maybe the villagers have been forced out by wolves, leaving the place sparsely populated," Gu Fanshuang smiled, gently taking Su Bai’s hand in comfort.

Su Bai nodded thoughtfully, "You have a point. Maybe I’m just being too sensitive. Let’s get to the village and ask around."

"Alright," Gu Fanshuang smiled, walking by his side.

But after the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, they reached the village entrance and all frowned at what they saw. They entered slowly, surveying their surroundings.

The village could hardly be called such anymore: broken walls and ruined houses greeted them; corpses and bones littered the roadside; the homes were dim, cold, and blood stained the walls. The overwhelming stench of blood shocked them as soon as they stepped inside.

Gu Fanshuang and Su Bai remained the calmest. Ba Xia, though covered in goosebumps, forced himself to suppress his fear for Xue Jiahuan’s sake.

Su Bai quietly glanced at Ni Hanyan, seeing her utterly unmoved, so he ignored her. Turning to Gu Fanshuang, he whispered, "Something’s wrong here. We need to change plans and leave quickly. If night falls and we can’t get out of the woods, we’ll be trapped here."

Gu Fanshuang nodded with difficulty; she realized the mission had gone terribly awry and must be abandoned.

She turned to the others, "The sect’s information was incorrect. We should return and report back as soon as possible." She glanced at the sky—already late afternoon. If they hurried, they could retrace their steps before nightfall.

"Agreed!" Xue Jiahuan was the first to voice approval.

Ba Xia, clutching Xue Jiahuan, nodded as well, but worried, "But if we return now, won’t the sect punish us?"

"What use is money if you’ve lost your life?" Su Bai replied calmly. "The error in the sect’s information is plain. If we stubbornly press on, we’re really disregarding ourselves."

Ba Xia thought it over and nodded, "Alright, we’ll do as you say." He looked down at Xue Jiahuan, "Let’s leave this cursed place quickly."

They immediately set out, retracing their earlier path. Yet the blood-soaked horror they’d seen weighed on Xue Jiahuan and the others, slowing their pace even further.

As the sun sank lower, the pressure in their hearts grew. Su Bai, recalling the carnage in the village, had already reached a conclusion—hence why he hadn’t let the others linger but led them away quickly: it was all human slaughter, likely the work of numerous bandits. Yet the remains showed signs of wild beasts, and wolf bites—clearly, the wolves had been raised by bandits, the villagers fed to them.

"The sect didn’t send us to complete a mission, but to see if we could escape alive!" Su Bai’s calculations left him uneasy. "From the start, I was destined for this trap, whatever number I drew. Even the erroneous information was orchestrated by them."

He kept this grim realization to himself, fearing that sharing it would crush everyone’s spirit.

"Night is falling. We need to move faster." Su Bai watched the sun dip, his voice grave.

Suddenly, a plan came to him. He glanced at Ni Hanyan, thinking, "If they want us to face life and death, there must be no inspector among us."

He quietly drew a dagger from his sleeve, cut a piece of cloth, and wrote a few words on it in blood. When everyone’s attention was scattered, he slipped it to Gu Fanshuang.

Gu Fanshuang noticed the exchange and, after checking the others, discreetly looked at the cloth. Her expression grew solemn as she met Su Bai’s gaze, who reassured her with a nod.

Just then, calamity struck.

A scream shattered the forest’s silence, sending birds fleeing in all directions and beasts watching with glowing eyes.

Su Bai turned: Xue Jiahuan was clutching her right leg, which was trapped in a massive animal trap, the metal jaws biting through flesh and bone, blood pouring out and staining her white robe.

Ba Xia was beside her, sweating with anxiety, while Ni Hanyan watched coldly. Gu Fanshuang rushed over to check the wound.

Su Bai, seeing Xue Jiahuan’s plight, spoke, "Rest here. Ni Hanyan and I will look for herbs to stop the bleeding and treat the injury."

Ni Hanyan met his gaze. Ever since their last confrontation, she knew Su Bai’s strength far exceeded her own. She had held her tongue throughout the journey, waiting for a chance. Now, faced with his commanding tone, she could only agree, "Alright."

The two walked away together...

After administering some anesthetic, Gu Fanshuang and Ba Xia pried open the trap. As it released, Xue Jiahuan fainted from pain.

Ba Xia took out a flask from his waist, relieved, "Thank heavens I brought wine." He poured it onto the wound, his own anguish written on his face as Xue Jiahuan writhed in agony, eventually passing out again.

They waited, but Su Bai and Ni Hanyan did not return. Ba Xia grew anxious, especially as dusk fell and his worry deepened.

"We should go. He’ll catch up," Gu Fanshuang said decisively after bandaging Xue Jiahuan.

"But... are we really leaving Ming Li behind?" Ba Xia couldn’t understand—Gu Fanshuang and Su Bai were so close, how could she abandon him at a critical moment?

"There’s no time to explain. Just remember, Ming Li told me to do this," Gu Fanshuang insisted, hoisting Xue Jiahuan and signaling Ba Xia to carry her.

Ba Xia, not one to argue, complied and prepared to leave.

Meanwhile, Su Bai and Ni Hanyan were gathering herbs for treating wounds. Su Bai collected far more, while Ni Hanyan’s heart raced and she could barely focus.

"Ni Hanyan, how’s your herb gathering?" Su Bai suddenly asked, startling her.

He approached, looked at her handful of herbs, and chuckled softly, "Look at you—so careless. This isn’t for treating wounds. After all these years, how can you make such childish mistakes?"

He pulled out one herb from her hand.

Examining it, he said quietly, "Ni Hanyan, there’s something you might not know."

"What... what is it?" Ni Hanyan sensed a sudden shift in Su Bai’s aura, an intangible pressure that made her fearful.

"In fact, Gu Fanshuang and I have long known your history, your grudges, and the reason you want revenge," Su Bai said, still focused on the herb.

"What!" Ni Hanyan was shocked; she had believed her secrets well hidden.

But she was still a teenage girl, and even the deepest hatred couldn’t turn an average person into a genius. Su Bai, with his years of experience, easily saw through her flaws. The only reason he hadn’t killed her was because of too many constraints. Now that the opportunity was at hand, he wouldn’t let it slip.

"You’re going to kill me?" Ni Hanyan trembled.

"That’s partly right," Su Bai smiled, "But you’re only half correct."

He listened to the wolves howling around them and decided not to beat around the bush. "Xue Jiahuan is gravely wounded. Tonight, the wolves will inevitably catch up with us. And those who slaughtered the village weren’t just beasts. So I need you to do me a favor."

"What... what favor? I can’t do anything! Please spare me!" Ni Hanyan was terrified, Su Bai’s casual, deadly demeanor making him seem like a demon from the Nine Provinces. She could only kneel, banging her head on the ground until blood ran, herbs scattered around.

"No need for such ceremony. I simply want you to delay the wolves’ arrival," Su Bai paused, "And yes, I’ll use your flesh as bait. Don’t worry, I’ll cut you into dozens of pieces so the inspectors won’t recognize you."

"I’ll kill you...!" At these words, Ni Hanyan found a surge of courage and drew her iron sword toward Su Bai’s face.

But the blade hadn’t moved half a foot before weakness overtook her.

She suddenly remembered the herb Su Bai had pulled from her hand: Soul-Calm Grass.

Its thorns, when embedded in the skin, cause a person to fall unconscious. She hadn’t noticed when Su Bai took it, nor the prick of the thorns.

She... had fallen into his trap.

"For the sake of our shared training, I’ll make your end swift," Su Bai said as Ni Hanyan’s eyes slowly closed. He didn’t draw his own sword, but used hers to decapitate her.

As he began dismembering the body, far in the village, atop a roof, a man wearing a fearsome mask stood, his long hair and robe billowed by the autumn night wind, the moon casting him in a celestial silhouette.

Watching Su Bai methodically separate the body, the man murmured, "The prince is even more ruthless than you, though his methods are still somewhat crude. But he’s impressive—surviving the Blood River Tower takes more than luck."

He turned away from Su Bai’s merciless work, gazed at the shattered ruins, and sighed, "To defeat a ruthless enemy, one must have an equally ruthless heart. In those years, you trusted His Majesty too much."

With that, he disappeared into the night.

...

The moon grew ever brighter. Gu Fanshuang, glancing back toward the path Su Bai had taken, was worried, "Please, let nothing happen. You promised—you must keep your word."

But yet another calamity struck.

Dozens of torches suddenly appeared before Gu Fanshuang.

A burly man grinned wickedly, his smile widening as he saw Gu Fanshuang and Ba Xia carrying Xue Jiahuan.

Gu Fanshuang and Ba Xia stared at him, Gu Fanshuang slowly raising the ancient Raksha zither to her chest.

"Ming Li, whatever you do, don’t come! Run!" Gu Fanshuang cried inwardly.