With a "thud," a bamboo chopstick fell to the ground. A young woman in the corner bent down and picked it up with ease. The inn was noisy and bustling, and no one noticed.
The woman had delicate features and was dressed in village girl attire, so she didn't attract much attention. However, the man in the green robe beside her was stunningly handsome and had an extraordinary air about him, making him stand out even more in this chaotic inn.
These two people were Yin Wuxiao and Yin Bitong.
Yin Wuxiao heard the entire conversation between the five people. She listened to it as if it were a story, but when the words "Young Master in Green" appeared in the conversation, she was so shocked that she dropped her bamboo chopsticks.
Yin Bitong noticed her unusual expression: "Are you worried about Baili Qingyi?"
Yin Wuxiao lowered his head and remained silent.
Yin Bitong glanced at her again, then suddenly stood up and walked towards the lame scholar: "Brother..."
The lame scholar glared at him warily: "What are you doing?"
Yin Bitong smiled slightly: "You just mentioned the Qiong Sect entering the Central Plains and the Qingyi Gongzi being murdered. Is that true or false?"
"Why are you asking this?" The lame scholar's face suddenly turned hostile. "Could it be that you're also going to Hundred Questions Valley?"
Yin Bitong feigned surprise: "Hundred Questions Valley? Ah, no. It's a little dog I keep that has always admired the young master in green. When it heard about his death, it was extremely anxious and sent me to ask him."
The lame scholar was baffled. Then, seeing Yin Wuxiao's angry expression behind Yin Bitong, he suddenly understood and shouted, "What do you mean by 'harmed'? Did I say he was dead?"
"That……"
"I heard that as soon as the young master in blue received the news, he personally went south to intercept the Qiong Sect group. During the fight with the Qiong Sect leader, the young master in blue was struck by a palm and seriously injured, but his life should be out of danger."
Yin Wuxiao's heart skipped a beat. Was he injured that day at the Yuwen residence?
"So that's how it is."
Scorpion Old Ghost then spoke up: "Kid, do you know what Hundred Questions Valley is?"
Yin Bitong raised an eyebrow: "Then tell me, what is 'Hundred Questions Valley'?"
Old Scorpion glanced at him: "Hundred Questions Valley is twenty miles from Longqian Town. It is the residence of Xuan Hegu, the Divine Physician of Hundred Questions."
"The Divine Physician Who Asked a Hundred Questions?"
"Twenty years ago, Old Man Xuan established a rule that he would only open the valley for medical consultations once a year at this time, and would only see ten people at a time, regardless of whether they were men, women, or children."
"Then how do we choose which ten people to treat?" Yin Bitong asked, feigning a humble desire for advice.
"Hmph, it's all about skill. Only those who survive can enter the Valley of a Hundred Questions."
“If that’s the case, I’ve long suspected that my dog has some problems. Sigh, I’m afraid I should go see the renowned doctor Baiwen.” Yin Bitong smiled and turned back to her seat.
Yin Wuxiao stared at him, speechless. After a long while, he finally said, "Was what he told you just now the truth?"
"Are you talking about the young master in blue?" Yin Bitong feigned ignorance.
Yin Wuxiao rolled her eyes at him.
Yin Bitong smiled, lowered her voice, and said inscrutably, "These five people are all evil stars who have been running rampant in the martial arts world for the past twenty years. Their names in the martial arts world are: Yama Scholar, Poisonous Scorpion Old Ghost, Smiling Buddha, Black Dragon King, and White Bear Lord. They have always been despised by righteous people. However, all five of them have chronic illnesses, so every year at this time, they will definitely come to the Hundred Questions Divine Physician for treatment. In the past twenty years, they have never been successful, but they never give up."
Why has it never been successful in the past twenty years?
"You should be able to tell that Old Ghost Poison Scorpion was testing me just now. The Divine Physician of a Hundred Questions does not treat ten people every year, but only one."
Yin Wuxiao was taken aback: "The Divine Physician Baiwen has a very clever plan. Even if one person is left, there's no way to save them, right?"
As they were talking, a man and a woman suddenly came down from upstairs and met Yin Wuxiao. They were both taken aback.
The man and woman were the Rong siblings from the Rong family of Luoyang. It seemed that, like everyone else, they had come to seek medical help from the renowned physician Baiwen.
Rong Jufeng immediately grabbed Rong Qiurui's hand and started walking upstairs, but Yin Bitong stopped them with a smile.
“Little Yin, if I kill those two, there will be two fewer people competing with us.”
Rong Jufeng, the sister-obsessed maniac, immediately glared at Yin Wuxiao with a wary expression.
Yin Wuxiao coughed lightly: "Don't be like that. They're not bad people. If you want to cause trouble, you might as well go and cause trouble for those five people."
Yin Bitong's lips curved slightly: "They're not bad people? Could it be that I really killed those four people at the banquet of the Seventeenth Young Master in Luoyang?"
Rong Jufeng's expression changed.
"If you dare to frame someone, you must bear the consequences of that."
Rong Qiurui hid behind Rong Jufeng, trembling like a fallen leaf in the autumn wind.
Yin Wuxiao sighed again: "I have no objection to you killing them, just don't do it in front of me, and don't let me know, okay?"
Yin Bitong stared at Rong Jufeng for a long time before taking a step back and sitting down.
Seeing the Rong siblings standing there dumbfounded, Yin Wuxiao whispered, "What are you still standing there for? Why don't you hurry up and leave?"
Yin Bitong chuckled: "Little Yin, you're still too soft-hearted."
Yin Wuxiao rolled his eyes.
"Xiao Yin, you told me to release them, so I released them. Shouldn't you give me something in return?"
What benefits do you want?
"I've noticed you don't sleep very well when you sleep alone at night, so I'll be generous and give you half of my bed. What do you think?"
"...You should just go and kill them both."
Yin Bitong chuckled softly, her voice filled with indescribable contentment.
Chapter Twelve: Sharing a Pillow, A Boat Listening to the Autumn Rain (Part Two)
The next day.
Yin Wuxiao slowly walked downstairs and was stunned when he saw the situation downstairs.
A dozen or so women dressed in purple stood in a row in the hall, each with a cold expression. A middle-aged beauty sat in the middle, a half-smile playing on her lips, her eyebrows gleaming. A man stood respectfully behind her, head bowed, exuding an air of authority.
Most people in the inn were intimidated by her power and ran away as fast as they could. Only the Five Evil Stars stood in a row facing the middle-aged beauty, each of them looking fierce and menacing, yet their aura was no less imposing than hers.
However, only a moment later, the Black Dragon King of the Five Evil Stars received a heavy slap across the face, and the one who slapped him was the respectful man behind the middle-aged beauty. Before anyone could see clearly, he had already swayed in front of the Black Dragon King and returned to his original position.
Apart from the Black Dragon King, who was crying out and clutching his cheek, the Five Evil Stars were all terrified. In their more than twenty years of experience, they had never suffered such an insult, let alone the fact that their opponent's martial arts were so high that they were powerless to resist.
"Who...who exactly are you people?" After a long while, Yama, the scholar, finally came to his senses.
"The leader of the Qiong Sect, Mu, is here! Why don't you kneel down and pay your respects!" The man spoke, his voice flat but swift.
"Qiong Sect?"
The Five Evil Stars exchanged glances, and White Bear Lord suddenly laughed, "The leader of the Qiong Sect is clearly surnamed Jiang, and he is a grown man. You are a woman, and you are not good-looking, but you are not quite good enough to impersonate the leader." His smile was extremely forced.
The man glanced at him, expressionless: "Master Jiang passed away last year. The current master is Master Mu."
The Five Evil Stars exchanged another glance and had no choice but to accept the fact. The Smiling Buddha stepped forward and bowed: "So it really is Master Mu who has graced us with his presence. My brothers were quite rude earlier, please forgive them."
Mu Wanfeng—The middle-aged beauty looked around, stood up, but didn't exchange pleasantries with the Smiling Buddha, leaving him quite embarrassed. After a moment of silence, she suddenly asked, "Which way is Hundred Questions Valley?"
Everyone's expression changed; what Yanluo Xiucai had said was indeed true.
"Is Master Mu also going to Hundred Questions Valley for medical treatment?" The Smiling Buddha asked cautiously.
Mu Wanfeng nodded: "This long-standing heartache needs to be treated."
Bai Xiongjun and the others couldn't help but show anger on their faces. They had all suffered from intractable diseases for decades and had no choice but to take this path. Mu Wanfeng was so nonchalant about it, as if she had just casually found a doctor to check on her typhoid fever and cold.
"Doesn't Master Mu know that the Divine Physician of a Hundred Questions only sees one patient per year?" White Bear stepped forward.
Mu Wanfeng's eyes sparkled, a faint smile appearing on them, causing Bai Xiongjun to be momentarily stunned.
"This leader naturally knows."
White Bear steadied himself and said, "Since Master Mu knows this, he should..." He originally wanted to say that he should withdraw voluntarily, but after thinking about it, he thought it would be too much, so he changed his words to, "He should know the principle of fair competition."
"Oh?" Mu Wanfeng raised her eyebrows in surprise. "This sect leader has never known the principle of fair competition." She turned slightly, facing Yin Wuxiao who was going up the stairs.
Yin Wuxiao couldn't help but flinch.
Mu Wanfeng seemed not to see her at all: "Who else here is going to Hundred Questions Valley? Wu Guo, kill them all."
"Yes," Wu Guo replied obediently, as if she had merely instructed him to slice two eggplants.
As soon as these two sentences were uttered, everyone's expression turned extremely ugly. Mu Wanfeng clearly intended to exterminate them all, and a major battle was inevitable.
Yin Wuxiao turned around very discreetly and went upstairs.
A colorful ribbon suddenly shot out from Mu Wanfeng's sleeve, tightly wrapping around Yin Wuxiao's waist. She felt a dizzying sensation, and the next second, her body was already flying into the air.
A green shadow drifted down just in time, the colorful ribbon splitting in two. Yin Bitong intercepted Yin Wuxiao's momentum as he flew towards Mu Wanfeng, and landed slowly.
"Xiao Yin, are you alright?" Yin Bitong put one arm around her and gently stroked her head with the other.
Mu Wanfeng glanced at him coldly, but her sharp gaze shot directly at Yin Wuxiao: "Your surname is Yin? Is your mother's surname Ruan?"
Yin Wuxiao shuddered and shook his head in horror.
Mu Wanfeng stared at her suspiciously: "What is your relationship with Ruan Wuyou?"
Yin Wuxiao shook his head again.
Mu Wanfeng gritted her teeth and sneered, "Do you think I can't do anything to you just because you don't talk?" With a wave of her hand, the colorful ribbon slapped directly at her head.
"Stop!" someone shouted at the door.
It turned out to be Baili Hanyi.
Mu Wanfeng stopped her attack and smiled brightly: "So it's Young Master Hanyi. You're so fast, you're only half a day late. Why, didn't Young Master Qingyi come with you?"
Before he could finish speaking, Yin Wuxiao saw Baili Qingyi gracefully enter.
She truly is a celestial being descended to earth; her entrance is always so magnificent.
Her heart tightened again.
The immortal looked thinner and his complexion wasn't good. His brows remained calm as ever, but he had lost some of his warmth. And... there was a beautiful woman following behind him.
"Young Master in Green, it's been a long time." Mu Wanfeng's tone was light and cheerful. Women, regardless of age or beauty, are always pleased to see a handsome man.
"Master Mu." Baili Qingyi remained polite, his gaze sweeping around before returning to the group.
Yin Wuxiao shuddered, hurriedly shifting her weight away from Yin Bitong and standing properly. Hey, what's with this guilty conscience?
"Since Master Mu has come to the Central Plains, he must abide by the rules of the Central Plains, compete fairly, and prioritize the capable." Baili Qingyi's words were calm, yet contained a sense of oppression.