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I mumbled sleepily as he poured medicine and water into my mouth. After he finished, I lay back down and went back to sleep.

She had just fallen asleep again when Qingyou woke her up again. "Sister-in-law Qingshan, sister-in-law Qingshan—!" he cried. "Get up quickly, something has happened to Shao Yanhe!"

"What?!" I opened my eyes wide and jumped out of bed. My mind started working immediately, and all sleepiness vanished.

"What happened?!" I asked.

“Now is not the time to talk,” he pulled me, “come with me.”

I kicked off my shoes and followed, not even having time to change out of my shirt, floral shorts, or anything else.

Qingyou, the younger brother, turned around at the door. “Oh, right,” he handed me a medicine bottle, “take the antidote first.”

"Another antidote?" I was about to shake my head when Qingyou said, "Take a few more to be on the safe side."

I was speechless as I took it.

The two of them crept around furtively and quickly made their way to the side hall in the dark. I made a move to roll up my sleeves and rush forward, but Qingyou pulled me back and dragged me to the window. "Check the situation first," he instructed me.

I nodded vigorously, my eyes peering at the crack in the window that Qingyou's younger brother had made.

The sound that came out was a groan from someone who had been kicked to the ground.

I frowned. In the square hall, the walls shone with an atmosphere of grandeur. The savage sat with two people prostrate in front of him. Sister Hongbao and Song Guan stood beside him, while the two Taoist priests, one tall and one short, sat beside him.

"You—!" I turned around abruptly—didn't you say something happened to the savage?! Before I could finish speaking, my younger brother Qingyou covered my mouth with his hand and silently pointed inside the window. Only after I nodded did he slowly release his hand.

"Let's assess the situation first," I sighed and leaned closer.

Song Guan bent down and grabbed the person he had kicked over earlier. The person's face turned up, and it turned out to be Li Gaobai, who was rumored to be poisoned.

“If you don’t talk,” Song Guan said to the other man on the ground, “I’ll beat him to death!” He then punched and kicked him again. Li Gaobai, who had been so full of vigor when they first met, spat out drops of blood. His long hair, which I admired, fell back onto his body in a tangled mess.

The savage sat expressionless, watching this scene unfold.

The tall Taoist priest stood up and walked to Song Guan's side. He also spoke to one of the people on the ground: "Senior Brother, it's not that I don't want to help you. You've been heartless and slaughtered an entire family. Now that they've come looking for you, do a good deed and tell them the whereabouts of the last person. I'll plead for you and let you get a quick death."

The man on the ground, referred to as the senior brother, was limp and had a livid face, but unlike Li Gaobai, he had not been beaten and his limbs were still intact.

He was the Rao Zhenmu mentioned by the wild men. He was a middle-aged man with a blue beard and a broad forehead. His face was sincere and kind, and at first glance, he didn't seem like a bad person.

The tall junior brother stood there and asked him a question, but Rao Zhenmu didn't answer. Instead, he turned to the savage and said weakly, "Everything... is entirely my fault. It has nothing to do with Fifth Junior Brother. Why do you... implicate others?"

The savage sat motionless, seemingly frowning, exuding a calmness and patience completely different from that before me.

"Liuya." The savage called out, and Sister Hongbao responded with "Yes." Without needing any further instructions from the savage, she walked up to Li Gaobai, who was covered in wounds and unable to resist. She picked him up, reached out and took off the gold hairpin from his hair, grabbed Li Gaobai's finger, and with a flash of golden light, mercilessly stabbed Li Gaobai's fingertip.

"Ah————!" Li Gaobai screamed in pain. The seriously injured man, who was already having difficulty moving, was now trembling and curled up. His hand was being held and the gold hairpin was being inserted deeper. After the first scream, he was silenced by someone pressing his acupoints. He was shaking violently and could not even make a sound.

Rao Zhenmu was being held and admired by Song Guan, while the savage watched everything with indifference, his face expressionless. As I stood outside the window watching him, I felt a chill in my heart and a shiver down my spine.

“Senior brother, why do you do this?” the short Taoist priest sighed. “Your junior brother and I are like brothers. How can you let someone else suffer for you? What a sin, what a sin…”

Li Gaobai had three fingers pierced by the golden hairpin and was now in so much pain that he had fainted. Rao Zhenmu's face was pale and his lips were bleeding from being bitten, but he still looked at the savage with pain and helplessness.

The savage sighed, stood up, walked to Rao Zhenmu, and looked down at him with disdain. "What do you want?" the savage asked. "Releasing your fifth junior brother isn't enough, how about letting your Zhuling Sect go?"

"You—?!" Rao Zhenmu raised his head, his expression changing repeatedly. In the blink of an eye, the tall Taoist priest and the short Taoist priest were each taken care of by Song Guan and Sister Hongbao, with weapons held to their necks.

The tall and short Taoist priests were shocked and asked the wild man in a panic, "Shao Yanhe, what do you mean by this?!"

The savage ignored them and squatted down in front of Rao Zhenmu. "How about it?" he asked. "Do you want me to go on a killing spree to cleanse your master's sect?"

Upon hearing this, the tall and short Taoist priests fought back. They were no pushovers either, but after just one move, both of them collapsed, unable to stand up.

"You—" The short Taoist priest exclaimed in horror, pointing at the savage, "You actually...poisoned him...?"

"Shut up." The savage continued to negotiate with Rao Zhenmu, "The life and death of the entire Zhuling Sect are in your hands. Is a secret more important than the lives of your entire sect?"

Rao Zhenmu turned his head away and remained silent.

The savage reached out and turned his face back, his expression unchanged, and his tone as calm and low as ever. “I have plenty of ways to get people to talk, but I have no interest in wasting time with you—Durian,” the savage ordered, “kill his third junior brother, or he’ll think I’m joking with him.”

Sister Hongbao replied "Yes," and with a flash of her golden hairpin, I sensed that Shao Qingyou beside me was somewhat uneasy. But in an instant, the situation reversed.

Sister Hongbao cried out, and her golden hairpin fell to the ground; instead, she was subdued.

Chapter 80

"I've got an idea!" I grabbed someone at random. "Get on the roof!!"

I don't believe they can build a mechanism to seal off the roof!

I flew to the rooftop and carefully peeled off someone else's tiles.

"Why are there so many beams..." Upon closer inspection, Song Guan and Sister Hongbao were lying on the ground, and everything was in chaos.

Qingyou slapped the savage across the face, a hard slap, devoid of any familial affection. Instantly, I thought of his resolute words, "Let's perish together," and my heart chilled. I pressed the head of the expert beside me down, "Expert, huh? You should be able to hear falling leaves and flying flowers within a hundred feet, right? You—listen to me, use all your inner strength to listen to me, what exactly are they saying?!"

The expert dared not disobey, so he bent down and observed from between the other tiles, relaying the information to me in real time.

The savage said to Qingyou's younger brother, "...It's understandable that you hate me, but why associate with these people...Rao Zhenmu...he has an irreconcilable hatred for you..."

An expert added: When saying these things, the savage's expression and tone were very peaceful, not like he was experiencing great joy or sorrow.

"Hmm..." I nodded.

Qingyou's younger brother retorted, "I just want you to tell me, what right do you have to avenge our parents? When you did that kind of thing with Aunt Shao, did you ever think about Father, did you ever think about me—are you determined to avenge them? Willing to do anything? —How laughable!"

Expert's addition: After hearing Qingyou's brother's words, the savage turned pale, clenched his fists, and seemed unable to believe what he had heard, deeply shocked.

Qingyou's younger brother continued, "You know I hate you, but why have I spared your life time and time again? Why didn't I end you with a single blow? — Because you don't deserve to go to the underworld to see Father and Mother. Father doesn't want to see you at all. He has known about what you've done for a long time and has long been heartbroken by you!"

Expert's addition: Qingyou's eyes were bloodshot with rage. The savage had already given up and was forced back, collapsing to the ground.

"Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother—!" Qingyou's younger brother turned his eyes to the side and was ambushed by the two of them, spitting out a mouthful of blood towards them.

An expert added: Neither the sword nor the palm strike hit a vital point, but the force was immense; the three souls had been extinguished and the seven spirits gone.

"Are you all happy?" Qingyou's younger brother, despite his injuries, let out a cold laugh. "Don't you feel a tightness in your chest? Don't you feel something's wrong?"

"You—?!" The two Taoist priests, one tall and one short, suddenly changed their expressions.

Qingyou's younger brother coldly glanced at the two. "In a fair fight, I could never defeat you, but... you were poisoned, and I temporarily suppressed your poison with another, even more potent one. My two senior brothers have refined pills for many years; you should know that it's not an antidote. Not all poisons can be countered with poison. Sometimes, when deadly poisons are mixed together, and you then circulate your internal energy..." Qingyou's younger brother laughed, "...you'll die..."

Before he could finish speaking, the two Taoist priests collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth, their skin turning red, as they suffered a severe attack of the poison.

"You'll die a horrible death..." Qingyou's younger brother stopped laughing and finished speaking.

An expert added: During this time, the savage kept looking at Shao Qingyou, seemingly oblivious to everything else, with only Shao Qingyou in his eyes.

"Now you understand..." Qingyou's younger brother knelt down, touching the wound on his chest, and asked the savage, "Why do I hate you so much...? Because from a long time ago, those things you thought you hid so well, I actually knew, and Father knew too. We... didn't know how to face you..."

Expert's addition: The savage vomited blood!!!

Qingyou's younger brother crawled over. "Weren't you looking for the last person?" Shao Qingyou turned to the side and pointed to Rao Zhenmu, who was still conscious not far away. "...Senior Brother Rao isn't a bad person. He's been very good to me. Now that I've saved his life, there are only the three of us left here. I'll go and beg him. No matter how big the secret... there's no need to carry it into the afterlife..."

Rao Zhenmu remained silent.

The savage shook his head, “...I don’t understand…”

"What don't you understand?" Qingyou asked. "The Yan family's feud is also my family's feud. I came here to be a Taoist priest, not to be your enemy... At Liangfeng Manor, it was indeed me who tipped off Senior Brother Rao. I used Sister Liuya to send the message, but she was unaware of it... Later, when you came to Hengshan, I guessed that you would conspire with Second Senior Brother—but you used the wrong method. You don't understand Senior Brother Rao, just as... you don't understand the truth of what happened when you were young... Perhaps, everything is not what you think at all..."

An expert added: The savage's mind has been disrupted, this is bad, there are signs of his true energy flowing backward!

Qingyou, however, ignored him and continued, "It was indeed I who told Second Senior Brother about your secret poisoning of Zhuling Palace, and it was also I who gave them the medicine to counteract the poison... As for the poison on your body, I was the one who administered it... If I hadn't done this, this place would have been razed to the ground long ago, but what right do you have to decide the life and death of my fellow disciples—you were merely harmed by some people, yet you implicated even more innocent people... This is called committing a sin, and you will be punished..."

"So I came up with a good idea. Let's gather all the damned people and related people together..." Qingyou looked at his senior brother Rao Zhenmu, "Senior brother should know about the mechanism of this side hall, right? I discovered it by chance in Master's notes. As long as the stone door is lowered from the inside of the hall, it will take at least three days for outsiders to enter or insiders to leave... By then, after three days, we'll be either injured or poisoned, and probably all dead..."

Rao Zhenmu's expression changed. "Junior Brother Qingyou, what exactly do you intend to do?!"

Shao Qingyou turned around, staggered to his feet, took two steps toward Rao Zhenmu, and knelt down with a thud. "Senior Brother..." Qingyou pleaded softly, his voice low and weak. "My brother... he wasn't going to live long to begin with. All his thoughts and energy in this life were devoted to avenging the Yan family. He even cruelly abandoned the woman he loved... Senior Brother, if we die here, the Yan family will be wiped out. Therefore, telling us what happened back then is not a betrayal, not a leak of secrets... Please, tell Shao Yanhe that the deaths of the Yan family were not as simple as he thought. Revenge is meaningless. All his efforts in this life were laughable... Please, let him give up all hope. Even if he goes to the underworld, let him not be preoccupied with anything anymore. Let him be a soul without any attachments. In his next life, even if he is reborn as a pig or a dog, he can eat and sleep well, without any worries..."

Rao Zhenmu's face turned ashen because of Shao Qingyou's request.

“You can take his pulse,” said Qingyou’s younger brother, “or you can make me swear that once I learn the secret, I will end my own life and never reveal a single word!”

Rao Zhenmu's face was filled with horror, "You guys... are you crazy...?"

The savage lay limply in the distance, offering no rebuttal, remaining calm and accepting Qingyou's suggestion.

"You—!" Rao Zhenmu was too shocked or too angry, and suddenly laughed, his beard trembling.

“Okay!” he said, his voice booming and full of confidence.

“Help him up,” he instructed his younger brother Qingyou, who could barely get up, since he couldn’t get up himself. “I will tell you everything I know, in great detail.”

At this moment, the expert raised his head and asked me: Do you still want to listen? After all, this is a secret that was obtained at the cost of a life.

I shook my head. The matter wasn't over yet. Things weren't as simple as they seemed on the surface. Based on my observation of these three people, even when they were in the same room, even in a secret room, they would still keep quiet when it came to secrets, whispering in each other's ears or writing them down.

Chapter 81

Yueyang City, Yueyang Tower.

I argued with a savage, ran crying to a famous historical site, gazed at the waters of Dongting Lake, and was pointed at and gossiped about by passersby. My eyes were probably swollen like walnuts, but no one cared, no one came out to chase me, and no one paid any attention to me.

The inn where I was temporarily staying was filled with soldiers. They claimed to be there to protect the leader of the martial arts alliance, but in reality, they were just there to monitor the savage. Otherwise, where would all those people who were ordered to protect me have gone if I, a grown man, were to walk out into the street?

While thinking and crying, I restrained myself and poured my heart out to the beautiful scenery of Dongting Lake. What clear and pure lake water! Vast and boundless, with gentle ripples. I wiped my face and started reciting "The Yueyang Tower Inscription," but as I recited it, I ended up reciting "The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng."

Ten days ago, Shao Qingyou was carried down from Mount Heng and has been barely clinging to life ever since.

Five days ago, Xu Yi pulled me aside and told me some old stories that he had kept quiet for a long time but finally couldn't help but tell.

Because he was a divine physician, he knew many secrets hidden in the shadows, things that couldn't be seen in the light of day, like... He asked me, "Is the leader of the Chen Gang Hall, the number one evil sect in the martial arts world, a vegetarian? How could he be tricked by a savage once or twice?"

Actually, that's not the case. In this martial arts world, every gang and faction has its own affiliated power. Ordinary people can't establish their own gangs or factions without a powerful backer. Just having high martial arts skills is useless.

Therefore, the orthodox martial arts world submitted to the imperial court, while the evil factions naturally colluded with foreign tribes.

The savage's treasure and the people he approached one by one—weren't they all connected to the government? This was no simple case of wiping out an entire family. The savage knew better than anyone what kind of power he was facing.

Thirteen years ago, did the nineteen-year-old savage really think he was so trustworthy? Did the Palace Master of Chen Gang really feel at ease letting him infiltrate the righteous path? Of course not. Anyone with a little foresight would have left some leverage over him to prevent that treacherous pawn from developing rebellious intentions and slipping out of control.

So, just five days ago, the fearless Chen Gang Palace came knocking on the door. It wasn't the Palace Master who came, but the two protectors, accompanied by a girl who was over ten years old and seemed otherworldly—the so-called Holy Maiden. They came to deliver an ultimatum to the savages, demanding that they hand over the treasure map.

In other words, holding the treasure in one's own hands is related to the secrets of the current dynasty, while handing it over to the Chen Gang Palace is tantamount to colluding with the enemy and betraying the country.

But I was told afterwards that the so-called saintess was the savage's weakness, the weakness that the savage had left in the Chen Gang Palace many years ago—the beautiful and delicate little girl who was like a fairy—was actually the savage's daughter.

She was the biological daughter of Yao Ting, the Left Protector—don't scare me, my legs went weak at the time.

Therefore, Xu Yi analyzed that the savage was actually a very dangerous person. He was not afraid even when his daughter was held captive, which showed that he held more information about a sect's collusion with foreign enemies. The affairs of the martial arts world should not be interfered with by the court, but with evidence, the situation would be very different. If troops were sent to attack, the Chen Gang Palace would be destroyed.

Furthermore, his current plan to openly search for treasure is tantamount to openly opposing the imperial court. Why doesn't he become the leader of the alliance himself, and why does he place his hopes on Sun Qingshan, who is unaffiliated with any sect? Because it's not so easy to deceive others in this situation. He needs someone he can control, someone who is completely detached from the various forces in the martial arts world, and someone who can gain the temporary approval of the imperial court. The best candidate is me, whoever comes to mind.

Xu Yi asked, "Do you know how dangerous it is to be the leader of the martial arts alliance? You could lose your head at any moment. What do you think he's scheming all day? Destroying the Hengshan lineage isn't about venting his anger; it's about removing their obstacles. The Zhuling Sect is the number one righteous sect and a powerful force in the current court—he's clearing obstacles for himself, and he's doing it all with your help, Sun Qingshan!"