Everyone in the hall who still retained some consciousness was stunned. How could the beautiful woman who had been dancing and singing just moments before suddenly turn into a man and walk out? Could this be another of Rong Jufeng's tricks?
Rong Jufeng suddenly turned around.
Even with his cunning and scheming, he couldn't have foreseen such a fake woman appearing. However, perhaps because he was used to doing bad things, he managed to remain somewhat calm in this situation, quickly drawing his sword and stopping the tip just before the fake woman's throat.
Rong Jufeng's sword was aimed with extreme precision.
That's quite a large Adam's apple. It seems this person is definitely a man.
Shui Wu'er swallowed hard. What kind of mess had she gotten herself into this time?
Seeing this, the green-eyed fake woman smiled slightly, her large sleeves billowing as the soft gauze lightly brushed against Rong Jufeng's sword blade, which snapped with a "clang." Her snow-white hand, wiping the broken blade, snaked around Rong Jufeng's chest, then along his chest to his brow.
Everyone heard a soft "splash" in the air.
The alluring fake woman lightly touched Rong Jufeng's brow with her fingertip, creating a deep, bloody gash that exposed bone. Blood gushed from his eyes, spreading across half of Rong Jufeng's face. He endured the pain, clenching his teeth, which only made his otherwise handsome face appear even more ferocious.
Suddenly, the handsome man screamed at the top of his lungs: "You! You are Yin Bitong!"
Winter snow lingers, illuminating the emerald eyes.
Yin Bitong, the top assassin of the "Traceless" gang, possesses martial arts skills that are extremely sinister and evil. Legend has it that his fingertips can become blades, and his breath can become palms, killing in the blink of an eye. Those who die by his hand all have a deep, bloody gash between their eyebrows. His skill is called "Flick of the Finger, Beauty Fades." It is said that he is the second most handsome man in the martial arts world after the Green-Clad Gentleman, but after seeing him now, Shui Wu'er dares not say that he is inferior to the Green-Clad Gentleman. After all, the Green-Clad Gentleman's beauty is non-aggressive, while Yin Bitong's beauty is alluring and almost bewitching.
Rong Jufeng swayed, finally collapsing from exhaustion before kneeling before Yin Bitong. He struggled to lift his head; the wound between his brows was still bleeding profusely, and he wondered what Yin Bitong had done to his fingertips. At this rate, Rong Jufeng would surely die from blood loss. A long trail of blood slid down his robe, a truly bizarre sight.
The second handsome man shouted again: "Yin Bitong, kill me if you want, no need for further words! I'll be a hero again in twenty years!"
Shui Wu'er sighed. This handsome second man seemed to be the brother of the little heroine who was close to Rong Qiurui, named Yan Danxin. What a good name. I'm afraid he'll be going to have his portrait taken soon.
This is why she disliked the martial arts world. People in the martial arts world always take life and death too lightly. If death were truly that easy, she would have died long ago.
Yin Bitong is an assassin, so will he kill her too? Shui Wu'er squatted on the ground, seriously considering this question.
Yin Bitong smiled. He stopped attacking Rong Jufeng and, with a swift movement, gracefully landed beside Rong Qiurui like a phoenix soaring through the clouds. It was obvious to everyone that this woman was Rong Jufeng's darling.
Sure enough, Rong Jufeng's face turned deathly pale.
Yin Bitong touched Rong Qiurui's brow with a slender white finger: "You want a man's heart's blood for this woman?"
Rong Jufeng struggled to his feet: "Don't hurt her! Whatever you want, I'll give you!"
Rong Jufeng didn't dare to drug Rong Qiurui's wine. Rong Qiurui, this pure and delicate girl, sat blankly at the head of the table, coldly watching everything her brother had done for her, neither stopping him nor uttering a sound. At that moment, Yin Bitong's deadly fingertip lightly touched her brow, and she suddenly flinched.
She gasped for breath, her chest heaving violently, and finally, overcome with fear, she cried out in a trembling voice, "Brother!"
That one word, "Brother," was enough to make Rong Jufeng risk his life for her. He roared, and the broken sword shattered into several pieces under his sudden burst of energy. He then sprang up, using his own body as a blade, shooting towards Yin Bitong, with a clear intention to destroy everything in their path.
Unfortunately, with just a flick of her sleeve, Yin Bitong caused Rong Jufeng to veer off course and crash into a screen.
Only then did Shui Wu'er feel a chill run down her spine.
They talk about equality for all beings, yet the difference in martial arts skill between people can be so vast. Those with higher martial arts skills wield absolute power of life and death over those with lower skills. And someone like Yin Bitong, whose martial arts have reached a state of perfection, wouldn't he be able to slaughter everyone in the world at his mercy?
For him, killing someone is truly just a matter of snapping his fingers!
Back then, her relatives and family members also lost their lives in the blink of an eye.
Rong Jufeng, with the tenacity of a cockroach, managed to move even after being struck twice by Yin Bitong. Clinging to the fallen screen, he forced out a few words through clenched teeth: "You...you mustn't kill her. You can have anything you want..."
Yin Bitong seemed somewhat moved: "Didn't you want someone's heart's blood to save your sister? Then cut off an ounce of your heart's blood and let me see it." He pretended to be touched by the deep affection between the siblings while winking at Shui Wu'er beside him.
Shui Wu'er was horrified. Now, even Yin Bitong's alluring eyes seemed to her like the sinister grin of a skeleton.
Although this brother and sister were not exactly good people, their deaths at the hands of Yin Bitong were all the more terrifying.
Rong Jufeng knew that Yin Bitong was just trying to watch the show, but he still drew a dagger from his waist and stabbed it in the chest.
Rong Qiurui cried out, "Brother!"
This girl… all she can do is call me “brother”? Shui Wu’er suppressed her fear, thinking that she should slip away through the back door right now. She should endure… a moment of patience brings peace, everyone dies eventually, and she didn’t want to be remembered in history.
"Wait!" She couldn't help herself. "Could you let them go this time?" She stepped forward and asked Yin Bitong in a low voice.
Yin Bitong stared at her in astonishment. He truly hadn't expected this little beggar to stand up for him. It wasn't that he thought she lacked the courage, but rather that he felt she wasn't so righteous and chivalrous.
Would this little beggar care about the lives of others? His gaze suddenly turned deep.
"Little beggar, I heard you don't ask for favors?"
Shui Wu'er choked. Not only could she not ask for help from others, she couldn't even ask for help from herself. She was devoid of anger and desire, and even the old monks of Daxiangguo Temple had to admire her three years of cultivation.
"If you want me to release them, then you should beg me." Yin Bitong withdrew her finger from Rong Qiurui's brow, her eyelids slightly closed, feigning sleep.
Rong Qiurui and Rong Jufeng's gazes immediately shifted to her.
Shui Wu'er smiled bitterly. How could she bear such a gaze? She couldn't even save herself, so why was she being looked at with such a pleading expression, as if saving a life was more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda? Life and death, in truth, are only a matter of a single thought from the killer.
She clutched the fabric at her chest. Had Rong Qiurui done her a favor? Did she? Did she?
Even if she hadn't done him any favors, could she just stand by and watch Rong Qiurui die? Could she?
Yin Bitong saw Shui Wu'er trembling as she uttered a few words: "I... beg you, let them go."
Yin Bitong forced a playful smile. But after a moment, his smile vanished, replaced by a startled jump from his chair: "Hey, hey, I told you to beg me, not to kneel! Oh dear, why are you lying down?...Are you unconscious? Damn it, why are you spitting blood?"
Chapter Three: The Swing Inside the Wall, the Path Outside (Part Three)
Yin Bitong didn't kill her, which was within Shui Wu'er's expectations. Because Shui Wu'er smelled a familiar scent on Yin Bitong—the scent of someone who was like-minded, like someone who had circled a tree three times, finding no branch to cling to, and was utterly bored.
Her waking up was expected. For three years, she had lived in such a wretched state; the only good thing was that she wouldn't die. Even if she vomited blood for a month, she would eventually wake up. At first, she tried to cut her own throat with a knife, but she fainted before she could even slit her throat, bleeding from all seven orifices. After waking up, she had to wrap her own neck with strips of cloth and drag her broken body to clean the bloodstains on the floor to avoid being discovered by Shui You'er.
She had always thought that there were few things in this world that could surprise her, but she never expected that the scene she saw when she woke up this time would frighten her so much.
When Shui Wu'er woke up, Yin Bitong was taking a bath.
Shui Wu'er mustered her strength and managed to sit up halfway, revealing a flawless, white back emerging from above the steaming wooden tub. Her long, black hair was soaked by the water and hung wetly on the rim of the tub. Yin Bitong held a square towel, wiping her body while making strange noises.
Shui Wu'er's eyes were fixed on something.
She had quite a bit of self-control. She silently repeated to herself several times, "That's not human flesh, that's not human flesh, that's pork, that's pork." After repeating it a few times, she felt much calmer, so she lay back down on the bed, turned her face to the wall, and pulled the blanket over her head.
She was carefully covering herself up, but someone outside came and pulled her blanket.
Shui Wu'er gripped the blanket tightly, refusing to let go. But the blanket had four corners, and she wasn't a centipede; she made a small opening for the person outside, and the entire blanket was lifted open.
"Come on, help me apply it," Yin Bitong mumbled.
Shui Wu'er broke out in a sweat.
Yin Bitong placed a small, cool bottle in Shui Wu'er's hand.
Shui Wu'er opened her eyes, startled. She touched the small bottle, then looked at Yin Bitong.
Yin Bitong had a long knife wound on her left chest, which was clearly from Rong Jufeng's dagger.
Shui Wu'er was utterly astonished: "You're injured? How could Rong Jufeng have injured you?"
Yin Bitong said smugly, "Of course he couldn't hurt me; I cut myself."
Shui Wu'er was speechless. With a stern face, she shoved the small bottle back into Yin Bitong's hands.
"Come help me rub it, it still hurts quite a bit. It hurts even more after it got wet." Yin Bitong's face showed a pain.
Shui Wu'er glared at him: "Are you sick?"
“No, I want to see if my blood can really save that woman.” Yin Bitong thought for a moment and then said, “If my blood can’t save her, then we’ll go to the capital and try to get Baili Qingyi’s heart blood.”
Shui Wu'er stared at him, wide-eyed, feeling utterly deflated.
Rong Jufeng wanted the heart's blood of an exceptionally handsome man to be used as a medicinal ingredient for Rong Qiurui, in order to cure her cold constitution. Who knows which quack doctor said this? And did that quack doctor even explain whether the handsomeness of the man was proportional to the efficacy of the medicine?
"Yin Bitong, I asked you to spare her, not to save her."
Yin Bitong nodded in deep agreement: "That's true. But if she were to die by accident, wouldn't it be pointless for me to spare her?"
Shui Wu'er was speechless, choked by his words, and pulled the blanket back to cover herself.
Yin Bitong pulled her again: "You still want to sleep? You've slept all day, aren't you enough?"
Shui Wu'er gasped for breath, "It's not that I haven't slept enough, it's that I can't climb!"
Shui Wu'er pondered for a long time, but still couldn't figure out what the situation was.
She squatted by the bedside, eating a bowl of braised noodles. The noodles and the lingering odor accumulated on her body over the years created a wonderful olfactory stimulation that filled the room. Meanwhile, Yin Bitong, dressed in a light green, wide-sleeved robe, stood by the window, her hair flowing like clouds, a section of it extending outside the window, her expression hazy and serene.
However, Shui Wu'er knew that he was standing by the window simply because there was some fresh air there, and that his hazy, dreamy eyes were the result of him pinching his nose and holding it in.
Her fate has always been inexplicable, so how did destiny pair her with this monster?
I don't understand.
Yin Bitong then knocked on the window frame: "Someone is looking for you."
Shui Wu'er exclaimed "Eek!" and peeked out, only to see Rong Qiurui entering the inn from downstairs.
When Yin Bitong saw her large, black, smelly head squeezing in, he reached out and pushed her away with great elegance. But he was caught off guard and used too much force, not only knocking her to the ground but also knocking the bowl of braised noodles out of her hand.
Shui Wu'er slowly got up from the ground, while Yin Bitong was still staring at her hands, looking shocked and aggrieved.
"You're so fragile."
Shui Wu'er's cold laugh was almost convulsive. Karma, absolutely karma, karma bestowed upon her by Heaven.
At this moment, Rong Qiurui pushed the door open and came in.
Rong Qiurui's face grew even paler when she saw Yin Bitong. Yin Bitong's bright eyes swept over the two of them for a moment, then she smiled and walked out the door.
Rong Qiurui let out a long sigh. She sat down at the table: "I...I came to thank you."
"Thank you?" Shui Wu'er asked curiously. "Could it be that Yin Bitong's heart's blood is really a cure?"
Rong Qiurui frowned with worry and said in a melancholy voice, "There's been no improvement. But it's true that you saved my brother's and my lives, and I've come today to thank you."
She called out softly, and a young maid with double-bun hairstyle came in through the door, carrying a small brocade box.
"Please accept this luminous pearl."
Shui Wu'er stared at the little girl for a long time, then said casually, "When did I ever save you? Whether I kill you or not is just Yin Bitong's whim."
"Then this luminous pearl..."
"Just leave it." She was too lazy to refuse anyway.
Rong Qiurui smiled gently: "Thank you." She was about to leave, but then stopped and asked: "May I...know your name?"