It was those retainers who were the most likely to be mixed up, as the young master had not imposed much discipline on them. Guan Shi Cang Qianlang had kept the murder of Lady Wang Yun a secret, so aside from the night watchwomen, almost no one in the mansion knew about it. Yet, this man in black was using this matter to threaten me… If it wasn’t He Buke, who had inspected the crime scene that day, then who could it be? “That day, in the torture chamber… you said the exact same thing to me. Although you tried to disguise your voice, the tone and pauses were the same,” Chuxia restrained her fear and said, “He Buke, why… why did you kill the lady?” He Buke gave a sinister smile: “If I were you, I wouldn’t ask so many questions. You should think about how to find the place depicted in the painting. If not, I will count how many men are here.” After another two days of arduous travel, they still found nothing. That evening, as they reached deep into the mountains, the twilight was dense, with insects chirping and beasts stirring around, and vines sprawling everywhere, they entered a valley. He Buke ordered his men to light a bonfire to ward off wild animals, while Chuxia sat silently to the side. “Leader, look over there, it seems someone is coming,” one of the subordinates whispered. He Buke, very cautious, draped a cloak over Chuxia to hide her bound body and whispered, “Be careful.” The noise grew louder, and the dark figure approached – it was a shepherd, driving a flock of sheep and singing mountain songs. The shepherd was startled to see the fire and the people, asking, “Who are you?” He Buke bowed slightly: “We are a group of merchants here to buy herbs. It’s getting late, and we can’t leave the valley, so we have to camp here for the night.” The shepherd responded with an “Oh,” drove his sheep a few steps forward, then turned back, kindly advising, “You should turn back tomorrow. Ahead is Little Mirror Lake, where no one lives, and there are leopards that sometimes come out to harm people. Be careful.” He Buke smiled, “Thank you for the reminder.” Chuxia, who had been drowsy, suddenly felt a tightness in her chest upon hearing “leopards” and “Little Mirror Lake,” and asked the man, “Brother, did you say there’s a lake ahead?” “Yes!” “Is there a pavilion halfway up the mountain by the lake, with a large willow tree underneath?” The shepherd was surprised: “How do you know? There is a plank road there, and a pavilion for resting, but it’s quite desolate due to the leopards.” Chuxia pondered for a moment before saying, “I’ve heard about it, they say Little Mirror Lake is as beautiful as any famous mountain or river.” “Bah, it’s pretty, but the locals call it ‘Leopard’s Head,'” the shepherd sighed, “Everyone should be careful.” After parting with the shepherd, Chuxia hugged her knees, her delicate brows furrowed, as if pondering a difficult problem. “Hey! The leader is talking to you!” A Sky Wolf assassin pushed her hard, angrily asking, “Have you thought of something?” Chuxia, still dazed, looked at He Buke and said quietly, “That Little Mirror Lake might be the place depicted in ‘The Mountain and Water Ballad’.” He Buke stood up, paced a few steps, his eyes showing doubt: “What about the leopards? You wouldn’t be so naive as to think you could escape by leading us into a den of leopards, would you?” Chuxia’s brows furrowed slightly: “With the skills of the Sky Wolf assassins, how could I be so foolish to think… a few leopards could harm you?” “Then why did you mention the leopards?” “I’m not sure either, just a speculation. The day the young master showed me ‘The Mountain and Water Ballad,’ it was an ancient silk painting. At first glance, the picture was quite blurred. Later, he washed it with soapberry water, laid it flat, and cleaned off the dust, making the painting clearer. But due to its age, there were still some parts hard to discern.” Chuxia paused, then continued, “I saw several small ink dots hidden in the forest. I thought they were just smudges mixed with dust. Now thinking back, those ink marks looked like animals, perhaps leopards or tigers. So when the shepherd mentioned it, I remembered.” He Buke paced with his hands behind his back, ominously saying, “Alright, let’s go to Leopard’s Head tomorrow. Little girl, tomorrow is the last day of the three-day deadline. If it’s not there… heh, you better prepare to become the wife of one of my brothers.” Chuxia seemed not to have heard his threat, her right hand unconsciously touching her empty left wrist, staring at the crescent moon in the deep blue sky, silent. Chapter Sixteen “Damn it! You deceived me!” The Azure Dragon swung his sword, cursing with each strike, never missing a blow. “Damn it! Won’t you confess?” With a diagonal slash, his sword Phoenix River cut through the chest of the approaching enemy, blood splattering everywhere, yet his hand did not stop; the sword tip pointed at the chest of the next person, “What about you? Damn it, will you confess or not?” Seeing the corpses on the ground, the last survivor gripped his weapon tightly, retreating while fighting. “I, the Azure Dragon, have never let anyone I wanted to kill escape!” Leaping forward to block the retreat, the Azure Dragon’s sword trembled, “Where have you taken that girl?” Before the words were out, his sword aimed at the man’s knee, with a “sizzle,” slicing off a piece of kneecap. The man fell to the ground but stubbornly bit his lip, not making a sound. “Won’t confess, huh?” The young man’s eyes narrowed slightly, and without hesitation, he thrust the sword into the man’s throat, “No matter, there are many of you in the Sky Wolf gang. I’ll see if each one is as stubborn as you!” After the slaughter, the youth in azure mounted his horse and galloped away, covering nearly twenty miles before he reined in his horse, vigilantly scanning his surroundings. With a light tap of his toes, he leaped onto a branch at the roadside. The youth’s body moved with the swaying branch, his fingers gently touching a bell hanging from the leaves. After several chimes, a few figures emerged from the dark wilderness. The Azure Dragon waited silently until they were close, then gently descended. Under the soft moonlight, the slender figure of the young man stood, holding his sword. “Sky Wolf?” The three newcomers exchanged a glance, sensing trouble. “Who leads your group, and where are they now?” The leader among the three laughed, “Since you know it’s Sky Wolf, do you dare to stand here?” Without another word, the Azure Dragon wielded his Phoenix River like a steel blade, slashing freely. With a resounding clang, the weapon clashed with the one in the hands of the man in black, leaving a noticeable notch in the sword. “Where have you taken the girl?” Qinglong’s next move was swift, felling two opponents before pointing his sword at the last one. “Are you going to talk?”
The man tossed aside his weapon and fled using his qinggong. Qinglong scoffed, flicking his Qinggang sword with the tip of his foot, and in a swift motion, the sword pierced through the man’s chest from back to front. Since leaving Da Liu Village, Qinglong had tracked down over a dozen communication stations used by the Tian Gang organization, capturing many of their scouts. However, as they neared Luoyang, he still hadn’t found Chuxia.
Frustrated, Qinglong slowly approached his horse when he heard a faint noise behind him. Alerted, he realized someone must be hiding behind the trees, and he had only just noticed, indicating the intruder’s martial arts skills were comparable to his own. He raised his Fengchuan sword defensively, slowly turned around, and asked in a deep voice, “Who’s there?”
From the dense forest stepped out a slender figure, shadowed by the moonlight, making it impossible to discern her features, but it was clearly a woman. She spoke in a lowered voice with a laugh, “Qinglong, you have good hearing.”
