"You seem... to feel guilty." Cao Qin said calmly, watching Feng Bujue slowly rise.

"No, I just feel it's not worth it for her." After Feng Bujue stood still, he cast a cold glance at Cao Qin. "As a chess piece, her life has been too heavy and tragic."

"A chess piece... huh..." Cao Qin slowly uttered these few words, then smiled, "Lodge Master Feng... it seems that nothing in this world can be hidden from your eyes."

"Now that Lin Yan is dead, you can finally tell me the whole story, right?" Feng Bujue continued.

"I can, but... is it really necessary?" Cao Qin asked.

"Grand Eunuch Cao is incredibly astute and plans far ahead. If you don't find someone who can understand you and tell them all this..." Feng Bujue replied, "Wouldn't that be casting pearls before swine?"

"Heh... alright." Cao Qin smiled.

He paused for a few seconds, sorted out his thoughts, and then slowly continued, "This matter... has to start from the Cangling Sword Debate that year."

"Feng is all ears." Feng Bujue responded.

Cao Qin nodded and continued, "That year, a single sword debate caused a great change in the world. Lin Chang's collusion with Qian Ning, the former commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, undoubtedly reached the ears of the late Emperor. The late Emperor believed that this matter should be taken as a warning and not be taken lightly... If the Jianghu forces secretly formed parties with certain forces in the court, then they would soon become a force that no one could control, and even pose a threat to the imperial power." He paused slightly and added, "So... not long after, a long-term and heavy mission fell on my shoulders."

"I see..." Feng Bujue asked, "It started from then..."

Cao Qin did not respond to his words, but continued to narrate, "In order to fulfill this mission, I needed two chess pieces, one... was someone whose martial arts were unrivaled in the world and who would listen to me; the other... was someone ambitious, persevering, and knew how to seize opportunities."

"That is, Lin Yan and Yuan Qi." Feng Bujue answered.

"Heh..." Cao Qin smiled without answering, and continued on his own, "Cultivating the first person takes time, but fortunately, I have the most time. Since there is no shortage of time, then the next thing to determine is the candidate." He paused, "Lin Yan... is a perfect candidate."

"It's easier to control a little girl like that, isn't it?" Feng Bujue said coldly.

"It's not as easy as you think, but... I did succeed." Cao Qin replied quite proudly.

Then, Grand Eunuch Cao untied the wine pot hanging from his waist, took a sip, and then said: "After Lin Chang died, his widow, who was pregnant with his posthumous child, was kicked out of the Ye residence. I sent East Depot's spies to watch her secretly for a few years, wanting to see if I could find out Lin Chang's martial arts secrets from her. As a result... I didn't find the *Tai Xu Wu Xiang Da Fa* (Grand Art of Nothingness), but... my spies accidentally discovered that Lin Chang's daughter was actually a peerless genius with extraordinary aptitude."

When he said this, Cao Qin also subconsciously glanced at Lin Yan's corpse: "I waited for five years, and felt that the time was almost right... so I sent someone to release a message, saying that Lin Chang's widow was hiding in a small town with the peerless secret manual left by her husband.

Sure enough, in less than half a month, some Jianghu bandits who smelled blood were lured here.

That night, I lurked in the dark, waiting until they forced Lin Yan's mother to death, and then I rescued the girl.

From then on, I became her adoptive father."

"And then you sold me out?" Feng Bujue interjected.

"Hehe... Lodge Master Feng, you have to understand." Cao Qin said, "People must have motivation to grow. Her mother's death was indeed a great stimulus to her, but those murderers have already been executed on the spot by me; I also thought about... deliberately letting a few people leave, so that they could become Lin Yan's future revenge targets. But to be honest... that bunch of goods is not qualified at all. With Lin Yan's aptitude, she would be able to kill them all and take revenge before the age of ten."

"So... I, the 'father-killing enemy', became the best choice." Feng Bujue replied.

"You've seen her current martial arts." Cao Qin stretched out a hand and gestured to the corpse over there, "Lodge Master Feng, you should feel honored... without you, there would be no Lin Yan today."

"You should continue talking about your mission." Feng Bujue never turned his head to look at Lin Yan, but just looked at Cao Qin and communicated with him in an unfriendly tone.

"In the next ten years or so, Lin Yan's martial arts can be described as advancing by leaps and bounds. Her comprehension is extremely high. She started building her foundation with *Ming Chen Xuan Gong* at the age of six, and received countless true transmissions from me... By the time she was eighteen years old, there were already few people in the martial world who could compare with her." Cao Qin continued, "And most importantly, she is very obedient... in contrast to hatred, she is full of gratitude to me, the 'savior' and 'master'. As long as it is a task that I ask her to perform, she will complete it without hesitation."

"If I'm not mistaken... 'King Yama' was born at that time, right?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Exactly." Cao Qin replied, "The existence of Burial Heart Valley, and the legend of 'King Yama's' 'immortality'... are all part of the plan." He took another sip of wine, and looked at Jue Ge with a strange look, "You should understand that those youth-preserving techniques are no longer 'martial arts', but 'Dao'. I... only entered Dao at the age of fifty through martial arts. Lin Yan can be considered to have benefited from me... In order to keep her young and show people her 'ageless' face, I would transmit a portion of Xuan Dao power to her every year, and instruct her to meet with all the residents of Burial Heart Valley every month to let them witness it."

"But doing so... is different from true immortality, right?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Of course it's different." Cao Qin said, "Didn't you just see it... once the power is dissipated, her body will age exponentially."

"In short... you are overdrawing her lifespan in advance." Feng Bujue said.

"I can't help it... after all, Dao Heart is different from martial arts, and it's not something that people of her age can easily cultivate." Cao Qin raised his hand, "In order to keep her young, this is the only way."

"Then... what happened later?" Feng Bujue didn't want to listen to this anymore, so he asked another question.

Cao Qin also continued very calmly: "Twenty-one years ago, things in Burial Heart Valley were basically settled. I felt that the time was ripe, so I began to look for the second chess piece." He looked up at the cherry tree beside him, as if recalling some past events, "That year, it was exactly the first year of Shengping. After the late Emperor passed away, the Crown Prince... that is, the current Emperor, had just ascended the throne. That was a year of killing, and the court was filled with blood and rain, with countless heads falling to the ground...

For ten months of that year, I was racking my brains to pin crimes on a group of people who stood on the wrong side, and sending their whole families to the execution ground.

It wasn't until the twelfth lunar month that I had some free time, so I transformed into a fortune-telling blind man and went to the Jianghu to take a walk..."

"It was at that time that you chose Yuan Qi." Feng Bujue replied.

"Heh..." Cao Qin said, "It can also be said that Yuan Qi found me himself." He took another sip of wine and said again, "The encounter with him was indeed a coincidence. At first, I didn't think he quite met my requirements, because he was really a bit mediocre, and he was not young anymore; but later I discovered... precisely because of this, he was the best candidate - the more clearly a person recognizes his own mediocrity, the more he understands the value of opportunity. Furthermore... Yuan Qi himself already had half a set of *Ming Chen Xuan Gong* in his hand, which saved me a lot of trouble. I have to say... this is an opportunity."

"At this point... both chess pieces have been buried." Feng Bujue said.

"That's right." Cao Qin smiled, "After that, all I had to do... was wait, waiting for the opportunity to arrive."

"And the Emperor... chose the opportunity for you." Feng Bujue replied.

"You seem to already know something?" Cao Qin asked.

"I knew from the beginning that the Emperor was the driving force behind this matter." Jue Ge replied, "I think... he's not really critically ill, is he?"

"Hahaha..." Cao Qin laughed, "Amazing."

"It's not amazing, just a very simple deduction." Feng Bujue said, "If the Emperor really wanted to find some 'longevity technique', he would directly ask you, the East Depot Director who is getting younger and younger, why would he need to find some 'King Yama'..." He paused, "In addition, after listening to your explanation just now, I can basically confirm... the Emperor also knows everything about King Yama and the mission that the late Emperor gave you. From this, it can be seen that this so-called "seeking technique" mission actually has another purpose..."

"Chatting with Lodge Master Feng is so easy~" Cao Qin nodded, "You're right... this journey is actually a 'cleansing' mission." When he said this, his expression became slightly serious, "The current Emperor is old, and only has one young son under his knees, and has not officially established a Crown Prince. And Prince Jin, Zhu Zhizha... is in his prime, and has a high reputation among the people. Although he himself has no intention of overstepping his authority, there are many people in the court who want to push him... and use this opportunity to rise to power.

Those civil officials are easy to deal with, I have a hundred ways to kill them; but those in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Grand Commandant's Office, the Forbidden Army, and even my East Depot... are not so easy to deal with."

"At this moment, these people should all be dead, right?" Feng Bujue also saw the corpses in the villa, so he guessed one or two things.

"Hehe... that's for sure." Cao Qin said, "This trip to Burial Heart Valley, I brought out a few of the people who should be killed the most... it's very worry-free to be able to solve them all at once."

"Then what about the mission that the late Emperor gave you?" Feng Bujue asked again.

"That..." Cao Qin's expression changed slightly, "I used the 'longevity technique' as bait to lure Yuan Qi to lead many martial arts figures to gather here, originally wanting them to fight to the death with the people in the valley trained by Lin Yan... taking the opportunity to annihilate the first-class masters of the Central Plains martial arts in one fell swoop." He paused for two seconds and said again, "After that, I only need to let Lin Yan establish a sect in the martial world... in at most three years, she can unify the Jianghu."

"In this way... the Jianghu will become something in your palm." Feng Bujue said.

"No... it's something in the Emperor's palm." Cao Qin said, "...I'm just a person who does things."

"Whatever you say..." Feng Bujue said, "But... now Lin Yan is dead."

"Yes, she's dead." Cao Qin said.

"Then who will be the supreme of the martial world?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Hehe... anyone can, but you can't." Cao Qin smiled.

"Why?" Feng Bujue asked knowingly.

"Because you are an uncontrollable person." Cao Qin said, "Even I... am afraid of people like you."

"So..." Feng Bujue motioned for the other party to continue.

"So..." Cao Qin finished the last sip of wine in the pot, "You better die here."

"I thought we were friends." Feng Bujue said.

"We do have a friendship, and if possible... I don't want to kill you." Cao Qin said, "But for my ideal, I must kill you."

"Ideal?" Feng Bujue put on a dead fish eye, "You are a person who has entered Dao, and you are still diligently working for the court, I won't complain about that..." He chuckled twice, "But... you actually said you have an ideal?"

Yes, Cao Qin certainly has an ideal.

As mentioned earlier, he is a detached person.

Fame, fortune, and wealth are no longer important to him.

He already has invincible martial arts.

Beautiful women... let's not mention this.

In short, those things that most people in the world pursue are no longer pursuits for him.

However, Cao Qin still has an ideal.

What he considers is not so much a personal "ideal" as a "concept."

"Confucians use literature to disrupt the law, and knights use martial arts to violate the ban." Cao Qin's voice suddenly became high-pitched, and his eyes became very sharp, "One voice in the hall... can eliminate party strife. Unifying the Jianghu can eliminate the so-called 'Jianghu' in the world.

It's easy to kill people, but it's difficult to conquer hearts; Burial Heart Valley buries not only people, but also hearts.

I said... I have plenty of time, even if it takes another fifty or a hundred years, I will complete all of this.

When I succeed, my Great Ming Dynasty will last forever, and the country will be prosperous and the people will be at peace."

"Good~ ah~ that's very well said." Feng Bujue put his hands in his pockets and tilted his head, "But when that time really comes, you yourself... won't you become a heresy that must be eliminated under this system?"

"This... you don't need to worry about..." Cao Qin said, throwing away the wine pot in his hand, and releasing his inner breath.

In that instant, the surrounding cherry blossoms fell like snow, and the light mist in the sky swirled like a vortex.

The dawn light at dawn also fell from the sky at this time...

For many years, this was the first time that Cao Qin had used his power in a serious manner. Because he knew... the opponent in front of him was worthy of him doing so.

"Lodge Master Feng, you don't have to be polite." In the chaotic falling flowers, Cao Qin turned his palm up and down, "You and I will fight today, life and death are determined by heaven, no regrets!"