Teammates stood around watching Feng Bujue spout nonsense, continuing his blather with the Beggar Clan leader.

According to Meng Jiu, he was guarding the village entrance to point the way for jianghu (martial world) friends entering the village and to probe the background of various people. As a member of the Beggar Clan, he could naturally speak to most people in the jianghu, and people from all walks of life had to give the old beggar some face.

Meng Jiu told Feng Bujue and the others the rules about the main road and the side paths. Feng Bujue's first reaction after hearing this was to ask, "According to this, there are no evil people in Cang Ling Town now, only famous and righteous sects and well-known figures in the jianghu?"

The old beggar laughed immediately. "Are all the famous and righteous sects good people?" he retorted. "Are those heroes of great renown really gentlemen behind the scenes?"

Feng Bujue smiled. "This junior is enlightened..." In fact, he just wanted Meng Jiu to make this clear. With Feng Bujue's personality, how could he believe that those people were all good people? He didn't even completely trust Meng Jiu in front of him.

Another focus of the conversation between the two was Meng Jiu's emphasis on introducing the current basic situation in Cang Ling Town, which could be said to be... seemingly calm on the surface but with undercurrents surging, while in the dark... everyone was in a state of anxiety.

The negotiation with this plot-explaining NPC lasted for more than twenty minutes, and Feng Bujue extracted almost all the information he could. After listening to the narration, he thanked the senior and then led his teammates towards the town.

After leaving the old beggar's sight, Xiao Tan came up and said, "Brother Jue, did you hear that? Things are not good!"

"Which part are you referring to?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Of course, the part about 'people disappearing every night'!" Xiao Tan replied.

"Although Meng Jiu said with a serious face that this was caused by ghosts..." Feng Bujue laughed, "I think... you're the only one who would completely believe it."

Bei Ling also smiled and said to Xiao Tan, "Even the other NPCs in this script wouldn't believe this, that old beggar is obviously trying to scare us. I'm afraid even he doesn't completely believe it."

"What makes you say that?" Xiao Tan asked doubtfully.

Bei Ling replied, "Isn't it obvious? If this Meng Jiu really believed in ghosts, would he still dare to stay on the streets every night, exposed to the wind? At least he should find a roofed house to hide in, right?"

Feng Bujue also said, "Meng Jiu said that people disappear here every night, at least seven or eight, and as many as ten or more... I think more than 90% of those who disappear are killed by 'people', or rather... killed in mutual fighting." He paused for a moment, "Perhaps only one or two have truly encountered some kind of supernatural thing."

Bei Ling continued, "And those jianghu people are all very clear about this, but no one will expose the so-called ghost story."

Xiao Tan nodded, seemingly understanding. "So they can use the cover of the ghost story to kill others in the days to come?"

Feng Bujue snapped his fingers. "Correct."

Atobe-sama then said, "But why would these people do this? They've already come to Cang Ling Town. Is it just to occupy a spot in the front row when the duel takes place, so they take advantage of these few days to secretly kill other spectators?"

"Sigh~ you don't understand jianghu affairs." Feng Bujue said earnestly, as if he understood very well, "Fame and fortune are what people desire, and grievances arise from this. The jianghu is a big melting pot that embodies these things most vividly. If a group of martial artists are placed in a specific, suitable environment, human nature will be exposed without a trace." He glanced around the dark and quiet village. "Usually, there are always some people you don't like, perhaps you're jealous of them, perhaps they've offended you, or you know their dirty tricks in the dark, or they know your dirty tricks behind your back. But everyone is constrained by their own or the other's identity, by jianghu rules, ethics, and so on... it's impossible to act outside." He smiled, "Look how perfect Cang Ling Town is, a no man's land... heaven doesn't care, earth doesn't care, officials don't care. When night falls, you can quietly go out and kill those guys you've been enduring for a long time, and blame it on the ghosts that no one knows if they really exist. Everyone is doing this, tacitly, and no one exposes anyone else. Isn't that great?"

"I say... you're painting a very dark picture of people's hearts..." Atobe-sama listened to Feng Bujue's vivid description and couldn't help but shrink his neck.

"Your family is doing well, right?" Feng Bujue looked at him and smiled.

"How did you know?" Atobe-sama asked.

"Hehe..." Feng Bujue stroked his chin and said, "Names are hard to pick, picking names is really hard, and Really Hard to Pick a Name, the three of them are the kind of friends who... although they bully you openly on weekdays, they rush to the front when something happens, right? Hmm... let me guess, brothers you met when you were studying."

"Hey... can you even see that?" Atobe-sama asked in surprise.

Feng Bujue patted Atobe's shoulder and sighed. "You ah... that's why you don't know the dangers of the human heart." He then turned to look at Xiao Tan.

Xiao Tan also smiled and didn't speak, with the expression of someone who's been there, done that.

"When you work under someone else someday, and come into contact with more people in society, you'll know how many bastards there are in this world, and how much of a bastard a person can be." Feng Bujue said.

As they were talking, a sudden change occurred.

A figure suddenly flashed out of an alley in front of them, a young scholar in green robes, about thirty years old, with a handsome, dashing, and refined appearance. Women who had just entered the jianghu would probably feel a warmth in their hearts and blush when they saw such a face.

But at this moment, the handsome guy looked a little embarrassed. It could be seen that he was already injured, and quite seriously. His left shoulder was already dyed red with blood, and when he ran, not only was his gait staggering, but his breathing was also completely disordered. Under the moonlight, his pale face and frightened expression appeared particularly pitiful.

When he came to the street, he barely had time to look up at Feng Bujue and the others. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could make a sound, his body suddenly twisted as if he had been hit by a truck. His waist bent sideways, and his whole person flew out horizontally, hitting a wall on the side of the road. In a few breaths, he had already died.

Feng Bujue raised a hand, signaling his teammates not to go forward. He himself walked up quickly and looked closely at the corpse.

One look at the corpse revealed that the strange movement of the person just now, when he was ejected to the side, was due to more than a dozen nail-like hidden weapons hitting the side of his torso. He had been hit by the force of the hidden weapons and had flown out horizontally, as if he had been shot by a shotgun.

No sooner said than done, Feng Bujue was about to look up in the direction from which the hidden weapons had been fired when he himself was attacked...