Chapter 1 The Reaction

Kuang Zong Jian Ying's reaction was within Leng Yuqiu's expectations, but his strength... was far beyond the other's estimations.

Leng Yuqiu had not intended to draw his sword against these two people, as he felt it unnecessary.

However, the instant Jian Shao's hand touched the hilt, the moment his fighting spirit and sword intent burst forth from his eyes, Leng Yuqiu's expression... changed.

An instinct made Leng Yuqiu take a step back, and when he realized it, his own hand was already gripping his sword.

"How is this possible?" That was the thought that flashed through Leng Yuqiu's mind – a mix of doubt and shock.

But before he could ponder it, Kuang Zong Jian Ying had already made his move.

Clang—

Sword edges collided rapidly in the air.

Anyone who could clearly see this exchange would be amazed by the power and speed of both sides.

However, the sound produced by this strike... was neither loud nor heavy.

The sound was like two glass cups gently touching, light and gentle.

After this exchange, both Jian Shao and Leng Yuqiu's expressions changed drastically, and they each retreated a few steps.

"So that's how it is..." Leng Yuqiu immediately thought, "The reason I couldn't detect his inner energy wasn't because his internal skills were weak... but because his cultivation method is unique and undetectable."

"Are you kidding me... is this guy really this strong? Or is the average level of NPCs in this script world just like this?" Jian Shao thought, equally surprised and uncertain.

"May I ask for your name..." Leng Yuqiu rarely took the initiative to ask for someone's name, but this was clearly an exception.

"Huangfu Mingkang." Jian Shao stated his real name without missing a word; his real name sounded perfectly natural in this wuxia world.

"Good." Leng Yuqiu didn't give his own name, nor did he ask if the other party recognized him; he simply said "Good," then sheathed his sword and took out a silver note from his pocket. "I'll pay for the damages."

As he spoke, he reached out to hand over the silver note.

However, Jian Shao didn't take it.

"No need," Kuang Zong Jian Ying said coldly. "We have money."

The implication being – we're talking about principles here, as long as you're willing to compensate, the money itself is irrelevant.

"But I think it's better if I compensate you," Leng Yuqiu's hand didn't retract. "Just consider it helping me out."

His meaning was – for me, the matter is only settled if I pay, otherwise I'll feel like I owe someone something.

"Alright then." Jian Shao quickly understood the other's meaning, and at the same time, he belatedly realized... that when he decided to draw his sword, he had already missed the opportunity to cooperate with this NPC; now he could only accept the money, end the incident, and accept that the other party would continue to maintain a "neutral" relationship with him.

Thus, the two jianghu players accepted the money, left the second floor, and immediately went to the innkeeper to change rooms.

During their negotiations with the innkeeper, they learned who Leng Yuqiu was, and what role he played in this event.

But at this point, it was too late for them to lament their poor ability to interact with NPCs.

...

On the other side, in Wang Qiong's residence.

The aroma of grains, the smell of cotton, the scent of straw and firewood, and a hint of burning, all mixed together and wafted through the house.

Wang Qiong sat contentedly on the kang (a heated brick bed), eating pastries and drinking hot tea.

Most people who saw him at first glance would take him for an ordinary farmer, and would never imagine that he was a living god of wealth, richer than a country.

"Master," Cheng Wei's voice came from outside the door.

He stood at the doorway, his back ramrod straight; even though there was no one around to see, he maintained an expression of solemnity and respect when he said "Master."

"Come in," Wang Qiong responded casually, his mouth still full.

"Yes," Cheng Wei acknowledged, then lifted the door curtain and entered the room.

"What did the midwife say?" Wang Qiong knew what the other had come to report, so he asked directly.

"Reporting to Master, she is indeed a virgin," Cheng Wei gave a straightforward answer.

"Hmm..." Wang Qiong nodded, was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Cheng Wei, what do you think?"

Cheng Wei was taken aback. "You mean..." He didn't know which aspect the question was referring to.

"You know how much silver, time, and connections I've used for this woman," Wang Qiong continued. "Aren't you even a little curious about what I'm doing it for?"

Cheng Wei lowered his head and replied, "Master, we servants shouldn't ask what we shouldn't..."

"Aiya~" Wang Qiong waved his hand to interrupt him. "It's not about you asking me now, it's me asking you." He paused for half a second. "Whatever you're thinking... just say it."

This was not an easy question to answer.

Although Cheng Wei had been Wang Qiong's loyal follower, he knew very little about this woman.

"In my humble opinion..." After considering for a moment, Cheng Wei replied, "Is Master planning to marry this woman?"

This guess seemed superficial at first, but it was actually quite plausible.

Indeed, Wang Qiong didn't lack women, but "mistresses" and "wives" were two different things.

Wang Qiong was over forty years old and had never officially married, nor had he ever put so much effort into a woman; plus, he had specifically arranged for a midwife to verify her virginity...

Based on these signs, Cheng Wei had come to this conclusion.

"Hehe..." Wang Qiong laughed. "Reasonable..." He paused. "But wrong."

"Then..." Cheng Wei offered another hypothesis. "Is it to give her away to someone else?"

Wang Qiong smiled and shook his head. "You're half right."

"I am foolish, please enlighten me, Master," Cheng Wei stopped guessing; a shrewd subordinate knew when to stop asking, even if the master had initially told him to ask.

"I want her to kill someone for me," Wang Qiong said.

Cheng Wei's eyes flickered slightly. "Is her martial arts very high?"

"Not high," Wang Qiong said. "In jianghu terms... only third-rate."

Cheng Wei said, "But the silver you've spent on her could have hired at least ten first-rate experts to work for you."

Wang Qiong said, "Heh... but the person I want her to kill, even if you hired twenty first-rate experts, they would still be going to their deaths."

Cheng Wei was silent.

Logically, he should ask "Who?" at this moment.

But he didn't ask; he didn't dare to ask, nor did he want to know.

But Wang Qiong wanted him to know. "Why don't you ask who it is?"

Cheng Wei said, "I... don't dare."

Wang Qiong said, "Heh... that means you've already guessed a little bit."

Cheng Wei couldn't deny it. "Yes."

Wang Qiong said, "But I want you to know the whole story, not just a little bit."

Cheng Wei said, "Thank you, Master, for your trust." He had no choice but to accept.

Wang Qiong said, "The person I want to kill is the current emperor."

Even though he had vaguely sensed that he would hear such an answer, when he did, Cheng Wei's mind still buzzed, and the immense pressure instantly made his stomach churn. "May I ask, Master... why?"

Wang Qiong said, "Because he wants to kill me."

Cheng Wei nodded; he didn't ask "How do you know?" He knew very well that Wang Qiong would have a way of knowing...

So, if Wang Qiong said the emperor wanted to kill him, then the emperor wanted to kill him.

"Why hasn't he made his move yet?" Cheng Wei asked.

That was indeed a question... If the emperor wanted to kill someone, wouldn't he just do it?

Wang Qiong snorted coldly. "Hmph... he already has." He clenched his right fist, saying with some resentment, "And... he was one step ahead of me."

Hearing this, Cheng Wei's expression changed. "You mean... his assassins have already been dispatched?"

Wang Qiong said, "More than dispatched, they've already arrived in front of me."

"Master!" Cheng Wei's face turned pale at this, and he knelt on the ground with a thud. "Are you suspecting me..."

"Aiya~ I didn't say it was you..." Wang Qiong revealed a hint of impatience and turned his head away. "Don't be so alarmed, get up and talk."

Cheng Wei wiped the cold sweat from his face and stood up again. After calming down slightly, he pondered for a moment and said, "Then you're referring to... that 'Zhang San'?"

"He is indeed in league with the assassins, but his mission is already complete," Wang Qiong said, stuffing another piece of pastry into his mouth.

Cheng Wei was now a little confused. "Master... then who exactly is the assassin?"

Wang Qiong shrugged. "It's that woman."

Before he said this, Cheng Wei didn't understand; after he said it, Cheng Wei was even more confused.

"Don't understand, do you?" Wang Qiong said. "I'll tell you, and you'll understand."

Cheng Wei clasped his hands in a fist salute. "Please enlighten me, Master."

Wang Qiong used the tea to wash down the remaining pastry in his mouth, cleared his throat, and organized his thoughts, saying, "First, let me ask you... do you know about 'Jing Hua Shui Yue' (Mirror Flower Water Moon)?"

"I don't," Cheng Wei shook his head.

Although he had once been a jianghu figure, after following Wang Qiong for so many years, Cheng Wei's connection with the jianghu had long faded. Unless Wang Qiong gave instructions, he wouldn't deliberately seek out and understand those more obscure pieces of information.

"They are four assassins," Wang Qiong continued after a slight pause. "Four assassins who are little known, but never fail."

This was a very high evaluation.

For an assassin, "little known" was even more terrifying than "never fail."

"Legend has it that these four each possess a unique and unparalleled skill," Wang Qiong said. "And those four skills are... 'Mirror's' disguise, 'Flower's' beauty, 'Water's' inner energy, and 'Moon's' lightness skill."

"Disguise?" Cheng Wei reacted quickly. "Could it be that 'Zhang San' is..."

"That's right, he's 'Mirror'," Wang Qiong said. "The woman he brought is 'Flower'."

He pursed his lips, as if savoring the pastries he had just eaten. After a brief silence, he spoke again: "And 'Flower' is also the only one among the four who has a chance to kill the emperor."

Hearing this, Cheng Wei gradually followed Wang Qiong's train of thought: "Is that why Master spent so much money to capture her?"

"Yes," Wang Qiong nodded. "To kill the emperor, you have to find 'Flower'... The four members of 'Jing Hua Shui Yue' are all very difficult to find, but half a month ago, I accidentally grasped 'Flower's' whereabouts due to a strange incident." He raised his eyes to look at Cheng Wei. "You should know about that incident too."

"Half a month ago..." Cheng Wei murmured, "Are you referring to... the Yu Wang's (Prince Yu) 'Hunting the Fox and Encountering a Fairy' incident?"

Not many people knew about this incident, because it wasn't considered a "jianghu affair," nor was it a "court affair." If it had to be classified, it would probably be a romantic story...

The general plot wasn't complicated; it was just that a rather influential prince, while out hunting, "coincidentally" encountered a beautiful, stunning "fairy" by a lake. He then "invited" the beauty back to his mansion, treated her with courtesy, and treated her as an honored guest, hoping to win her heart one day.

Of course, there were many logical problems in this story, the main two being: firstly, even if Yu Wang was blinded by lust, the people around him should have realized... that this woman's appearance was very strange, and she came from an unknown origin. How could they let him bring her back to the Prince's mansion? Secondly, even if everyone accepted that setting, how difficult would it be for a prince to seize a commoner? How could he end up in this kind of "spare tire chasing goddess" situation?

In short, the unreasonable parts were quite prominent, which greatly reduced the story's credibility; it's just that... in that era, communication relied on shouting, and stories were passed down by word of mouth, often becoming distorted along the way. There were many stories even more outrageous than this, so not many people questioned this story, which few people knew about to begin with.

Until... this story reached Wang Qiong's ears.

Wang Qiong's intelligence network spread throughout the jianghu, the court, and the common people...

Therefore, he was able to know many things that others would never know in their lives, and he was also able to make many predictions that others would never think of.

Although Wang Qiong wasn't 100% sure, he was at least 50% certain that the "fairy" currently visiting Yu Wang's mansion was the "Flower" of Jing Hua Shui Yue, and Yu Wang was her target.

After reasoning to this point, Wang Qiong immediately used his connections to prepare to carry out a mission to "kidnap a woman from Yu Wang's mansion."

Wang Qiong understood that once Yu Wang died, the woman would disappear without a trace; a killer like her would definitely disappear immediately after the mission was completed. So he had to be fast, to find that woman as quickly as possible, otherwise he might miss this rare and only opportunity.

Therefore, he sought out the "Yuling Four Absolutes" (Yu Ling Si Jue); those four might not have been the best choice, but they were indeed the most suitable choice at that time.

However, nearly ten days had passed since those four had set off, and in the end, the person who brought "Flower" to Wang Qiong wasn't the Yuling Four Absolutes, but "Mirror."

"I... still don't understand," Cheng Wei thought for a moment and said, "According to what Master said, Mirror and Flower are both here to kill you?"

"Yes," Wang Qiong said.

"But 'Flower' was someone you actively sent people to bring back," Cheng Wei said. "And... wasn't her target Yu Wang?"

"Her target... from the very beginning, was me," Wang Qiong said, almost word for word.

Hearing this, Cheng Wei's thoughts were disrupted again. He followed the master's meaning and rearranged the matter again. Finally, after a full three minutes, he suddenly realized: "That Yu Wang 'Hunting the Fox and Encountering a Fairy' thing... was arranged by the emperor?"

"You finally thought of it," Wang Qiong nodded. "I said, the emperor wants to kill me; but killing me, Wang Qiong... isn't that easy. He knows very well that once I sense his murderous intent, I will immediately take action and strike first.

"Having seen through this point, he set up this trap...

"Only the emperor could make a prince act for him.

"This play was made for me to see, because only I could see from that play that 'Flower wanted to assassinate Yu Wang'.

"And I... did fall for it."

Cheng Wei now closely followed Wang Qiong's train of thought, adding: "And that 'Mirror'... should be a kind of 'insurance'. If there was no accident, he wouldn't have to take action, but obviously... an accident happened."

"Hmm..." Wang Qiong responded, "Legend has it... 'Flower' can charm all the men in the world. As long as they look at her once, men will be completely captivated by her, and some will even willingly be killed by her. Therefore, she has never failed, even with only third-rate martial arts..." He paused. "Although I told the Yuling Four Absolutes in advance not to let any men confirm the 'goods'' appearance, nor to look at her on the way; but I think... they probably didn't do it."

His reasoning was very accurate... When Flower was taken from the Prince's mansion, the leader of the Four Absolutes, "Zou Ting"... that is, the "Eldest Brother"... really did not look at the "goods" from beginning to end; he, who had the highest martial arts among the Four Absolutes, was responsible for covering the rear, while the "goods" were quickly taken away by the other three.

The problem lay with their Third Brother, who was quite lecherous on weekdays and frequented brothels; but it was precisely this kind of person who felt that he had particularly good self-control. It was as if his dog-like behavior when he saw mediocre women would transform into a state of undisturbed concentration in front of a truly stunning beauty.

Things changed like this. When the Third Brother saw "Flower's" appearance, Zhu Cheng, who was impersonating the Second Brother, knew that this person could not be kept alive, otherwise things would definitely go wrong. Therefore, before Zou Ting joined them, he killed the Third Brother.

The Fourth Sister didn't have much to say about this; the Third Brother really brought it upon himself.

As for what happened after Zou Ting arrived at the Miser Inn, it was as written in the previous text... The death of the Third Brother made him also curious; the difference between Zou Ting and the Third Brother was that – the Third Brother thought he was a person with strong self-control, while Zou Ting really was a person with strong self-control.

Unfortunately, after seeing "Flower," Zou Ting's heart was also disturbed.

He began to think about his mission...

Wang Qiong would naturally not tell him something heaven-defying like "I want this woman to kill the emperor." He used a simpler reason – I want to sleep with this woman.

It was simple and persuasive, but after Zou Ting saw that woman, this reason, this purpose, became an extremely unstable factor.

"Flower's" beauty was enough to make a man like Zou Ting give up a huge reward and give her freedom... and his purpose was only to occupy even a tiny bit of space in her heart.

When this thought became clearer and clearer, more and more decisive, Zou Ting also lost his life.

With matters having reached this point, Mirror didn't need to pretend anymore... Killing the Third Brother was still logical, but killing Zou Ting... the real Zhu Cheng didn't have such high martial arts.

Therefore, he went all the way, killing all of the Yuling Four Absolutes, setting fire to these people along with the innocent people in the inn, and then personally sending "Flower" to Wang Qiong.

"Master..." Cheng Wei, after understanding the whole matter, immediately delivered a flattering remark. "... Your calculations are ingenious, I admire you..."

"Heh..." Wang Qiong laughed, "If they were truly ingenious, I should have figured things out when I was talking to Mirror." He supported his chin with one hand and picked up another pastry. "But in reality... it was only when you told me that she was 'still a virgin' that I managed to sort out my thoughts."

"Uh..." Cheng Wei was a little confused again. "That's right, I don't know... what does it matter whether that woman is a virgin or not?"

Wang Qiong said, "I also know a few things about Jing Hua Shui Yue, such as... the four of them are biological siblings..."

When he said this, Cheng Wei's other question – "Why didn't Mirror fall for Flower?" – was also answered.

"For example... Flower has never let any man get her..." Wang Qiong was still saying, "Also, for example... Mirror can imitate other people's martial arts moves, and even their internal energy, in addition to their voices and appearances..." He gave a few examples at random, not saying everything, and brought the topic back, "In short, considering Yu Wang's character... there's no more convincing way to establish 'Flower's' identity than this."

With this reminder, Cheng Wei also reacted... That Yu Wang was famous for his lust, known as a demon of lust, a devil in flowers; any woman with even a little bit of beauty would basically not be spared if he caught sight of her. The fact that the woman snatched from his mansion was still a virgin was very abnormal in itself.

"Hmm..." Cheng Wei pondered. "Now... I understand everything." He paused for half a second and continued, "Since Master has already seen through that they're here to kill you, it's easy to handle... I'll arrange a group of tough guys... of course, all women... to immediately eliminate that 'Flower' and cut off the roots..."

"Wait," Wang Qiong interrupted him. "Who said anything about killing her?"

Cheng Wei was stunned again. "This... your meaning is... to lock her up first?"

Wang Qiong picked up his teacup, took a big gulp of tea, rinsed his mouth with the tea, and then got off the kang. "No need, I'll go talk to her first."

"What?" Cheng Wei almost shouted these two words out loud, but he ultimately held back.

"Master..." Cheng Wei said, "Didn't you just say... that as long as a man sees 'Flower's' appearance..."

"Heh..." Wang Qiong laughed, "It's not what I said, it's what 'legends' say." He put his hands behind his back. "I don't believe those ghost stories anyway."

"But..." Cheng Wei's face was filled with worry. "The Yuling Four Absolutes..."

"Hahaha..." Wang Qiong laughed loudly. "They are them, I am me, I just believe that the legend is false, and I'm going to find out now."

Cheng Wei said, "Then what if..."

Wang Qiong shook his head with a smile, turned around, and walked towards the door, saying, "If it's true, then I'll just die under this legend, what does it matter?"