The wound on his abdomen was still bleeding. Yan Shouyi gripped Ling Xiaoxiao's Emei dagger and asked coldly:
"What are you talking about?"
"You're still playing dumb!" Ling Xiaoxiao retorted angrily. "The one who kidnapped me was a 'She Daoren' (赊刀人 - blade-wielding soothsayer). He exposed your identity! If it weren't for him, I'd still be in the dark!"
Yan Shouyi sighed, his worst fear realized.
There was no point in hiding anymore. He removed the golden mask, revealing his true face.
Seeing Yan Shouyi's features, Ling Xiaoxiao became even more convinced that there was no Senior Brother Wunian from the Ascension Temple, only this imposter, Yan Shouyi!
"You forged your identity to deceive us. What's your goal? Are you planning to capture us all at once?" Ling Xiaoxiao asked furiously.
"Junior Sister Ling, please calm down!" Lin Zhitong interjected. "If we truly intended to attack you, we would have had countless opportunities before. But we haven't done so!"
A flicker of hesitation crossed Ling Xiaoxiao's eyes, but she insisted, "My master told me that the world is treacherous and people's hearts are not what they used to be. If someone deceives me once, I will never trust them again!"
"But..."
Yan Shouyi said softly, "You were the ones who came to kill me first. When I met you, it should have been a situation where either you die or I die. But I didn't want that to happen, so I hid my identity and befriended you. Even though I lied, was I truly wrong? Would it have been right to draw swords against you?"
Ling Xiaoxiao hesitated again, her grip on the Emei dagger loosening.
Seizing the opportunity, Yan Shouyi struck Ling Xiaoxiao's wrist with his palm. With a yelp, the Emei dagger flew from her hand.
Lin Zhitong, seizing the moment, drew her Red God Umbrella from behind and the tip of the spear instantly pressed against Ling Xiaoxiao's neck.
Ling Xiaoxiao came to her senses, crying out in exasperation, "I... I really shouldn't have trusted you!"
"Calm down first," Lin Zhitong said, looking at Yan Shouyi. "Are you alright?"
"Just a flesh wound."
Yan Shouyi gritted his teeth and pulled the Emei dagger from his body, blood gushing out.
Ironically, Ling Xiaoxiao, who had attacked him, frowned at the sight.
*Ding ling—*
Yan Shouyi tossed the Emei dagger aside. He tore off a strip of his sleeve to press against the wound. The body of the Heavenly Fiend Corpse Puppet was rapidly healing.
Yan Shouyi clutched his wound, gasping in pain. Once the throbbing subsided slightly, he said slowly, "Junior Sister Ling, the rumors about me in the martial world are not true."
"But my master said there isn't a single good person in your Yan family!"
"Put aside my identity as a Yan family member. Think about it yourself, since we met, have I offended you in any way?" Yan Shouyi asked sternly. "Look at what we're doing now. To save you, I put my brothers in danger. My wife and I risked our lives to rescue you, yet how have you treated us?"
Ling Xiaoxiao couldn't help but glance at Lin Zhitong.
Lin Zhitong said softly, "Even if ten thousand people speak ill of us, as long as we treat you well, we are not bad people. To understand if someone is good or bad, you can't listen to what others say; you must use your own eyes."
After speaking, Lin Zhitong lowered the Red God Umbrella, shook her head at Ling Xiaoxiao, and then turned to help Yan Shouyi.
"You are safe now. We need to go rescue our own friends," Lin Zhitong said.
Ling Xiaoxiao watched their retreating figures, frozen in place. The anger that had built up inside her from being deceived, expecting a life-or-death struggle upon meeting, had vanished. In reality, she found herself unable to lay a hand on Yan Shouyi and the others.
Could it be that, as Yan Shouyi and the others claimed, they weren't bad people at all?
But Master said...
Ling Xiaoxiao's thoughts halted. She recalled how well Yan Shouyi and the others had treated her over the past two days.
Master had never mentioned that the wicked Yan family had a benevolent side.
She looked down towards the base of the lighthouse. Long Feicheng's small, rickety boat had already sailed away from the shore!
Long Feicheng was shouting from the boat, while the dark shadow beneath the boat completely ignored him, swiftly dragging the boat towards the other side of the river!
Ling Xiaoxiao frowned deeply, a hint of guilt appearing in her eyes.
She gritted her teeth and called out to Yan Shouyi, "Yan Shouyi! Let's put our grievances aside for now. I'll accompany you to rescue the others!"
Yan Shouyi and Lin Zhitong stopped, saying without turning back, "How much do you know about that She Daoren's plan?"
"The She Daoren... there's more than one..."
"What?!"
This answer truly caught Yan Shouyi and the others by surprise.
Most disciples of folk sects were solitary. Lin Fan hadn't mentioned any other She Daoren, so Yan Shouyi instinctively assumed there was only one.
"There are two She Daoren. One was responsible for kidnapping me, and the other is grabbing people!"
"Understood," Yan Shouyi discarded the blood-stopping cloth, silently drew his Zanpakuto, and said, turning his face sideways, "The person on the boat is Long playing a trick. If you don't want him to get hurt, pick up your Emei dagger and come with us to rescue him."
"But your injury..."
"It has already healed. I am the Heavenly Fiend Corpse Puppet," Yan Shouyi said with a smile.
Ling Xiaoxiao's mouth flew open in surprise. Then, she gritted her teeth, picked up her Emei dagger, and followed Yan Shouyi and Lin Zhitong.
She said, "I'm not that weak, you know. Otherwise, that stab earlier would have left you completely unable to fight back... And deep down, I don't think you're bad people."
"Then prove it to us."
Yan Shouyi finished speaking and turned back, about to descend the lighthouse. To his surprise, two figures had appeared before them at some point, blocking their path.
...
"Changshan, run faster! Junior Brother Long is in danger!"
Yan Nanfei and Changshan, who were hiding in the dark, shifted their focus to Long after seeing Ling Xiaoxiao rescued.
They watched Long's boat drift further away and no longer concealed themselves, rushing out directly.
Upon reaching the riverbank and seeing the swift current, Changshan leaped in without a second thought.
The bone-chilling river water instantly engulfed Changshan, but in the next moment, golden Buddhist light flashed around him, protecting him from the river's erosion as he swiftly swam towards the small boat.
Yan Nanfei did not jump into the river. Instead, he took out his pocket-watch-sized compass, briefly checked the direction, then found a piece of broken wood and stood on it, throwing it into the river.
The wooden board was unstable, swaying from side to side, appearing far more dangerous than the small boat. Yet, Yan Nanfei stood steadily on the board with his arms outstretched.
Even more astonishingly, without doing anything, the river pushed him along to catch up with Changshan and the small boat!
This was the Feng Shui technique of the Yan family from Kunlun Mountain. Yan Nanfei took only a few seconds to discern the river's flow and, using the compass's calculations, determined a route that utilized an underwater current.
To outsiders, Yan Nanfei appeared to be walking on water.
Yan Nanfei overtook Changshan and quickly reached the side of the small boat. Long Feicheng, seeing Yan Nanfei coming to his aid, couldn't help but warn him:
"Senior Brother Yan, there's a water ghost under my boat!"
Despite the dim light, Yan Nanfei clearly saw a small dark figure beneath the boat dragging it forward.
"Long, catch this!"
Yan Nanfei suddenly threw something. Long Feicheng fumbled and caught it.
He looked at it and realized it was his magical artifact, the "Cai Wei Sword." His courage surged.
"Senior Brother Yan, you step back. I'm going to show off... no, I'm going to make my move!"
Long Feicheng took out a palm lightning talisman, stuck it onto the Cai Wei Sword, chanted an incantation, and plunged the sword into the water.
Silver-white lightning spread through the churning river, its light flickering. Yan Nanfei could faintly hear muffled thunder.
"Palm lightning?"
Yan Nanfei recognized the move and was surprised. Palm lightning was a technique of the Maoshan sect. The Ascension Temple and Maoshan had no connection whatsoever. How did Long Feicheng have a palm lightning talisman?
But there was no time to think, as Yan Nanfei noticed the small boat was slowly stopping.
Ahead of the boat, a dark figure slowly floated up.
"You little water ghost, how dare you act presumptuous in front of your Dragon Grandpa!" Long Feicheng laughed heartily.
However, the next moment, Long Feicheng's laughter died.
Another dark figure emerged from the water and kicked Long Feicheng, sending him tumbling. His upper body was completely submerged in the river, and he unexpectedly gulped down several mouthfuls of river water.
The person who emerged from the water was the She Daoren from the lighthouse!
The She Daoren scooped up the dark shadow from the water and threw it onto the boat. Then, he yanked Long Feicheng by his belt, letting him drown for a few more seconds before pulling him up.
Gasping for air, Long Feicheng, after clearly seeing his attacker, panicked. He fumbled to stab the She Daoren with the Cai Wei Sword.
Unexpectedly, the She Daoren also had a weapon in his hand, a dark-looking cleaver. As the two weapons met, the Cai Wei Sword found itself at a disadvantage, and a dent appeared on its blade.
The She Daoren then struck Long Feicheng's shoulder hard with the back of the cleaver. Long Feicheng cried out in pain and knelt on the ground, unable to move for a long time.
"Yan Shouyi, where do you think you're going!" Yan Nanfei roared.
The She Daoren turned his head, and the cleaver in his hand chopped down, splitting the river water before him into a two-meter-deep trench. Yan Nanfei, caught off guard, also fell into the water.
After dealing with Yan Nanfei, the She Daoren did not linger. The small boat, just like Yan Nanfei's wooden board, rapidly fled downstream.
"Lin Fan!"
The She Daoren grabbed Long Feicheng by the neck. "How can you break your promise!?"
Long Feicheng, choked for breath, stubbornly raised his hand and gave the She Daoren the middle finger.
The She Daoren's eyes widened. He grabbed Long Feicheng's middle finger, almost breaking it off.
But he stopped. Because he realized Long Feicheng was not Lin Fan!
"You're not Lin Fan, you're that Lu Ban descendant's companion!" the She Daoren roared. "Why didn't you bring Lin Fan to see me!"
Long Feicheng sneered, "We give you whatever you want. What would happen to the dignity of us Lu Ban descendants?"
"Scoundrel!"
The She Daoren, enraged, raised his cleaver, intending to sever Long Feicheng's finger.
But at the critical moment, another figure shot up from the water and punched the She Daoren. The She Daoren winced in pain and casually threw Long Feicheng into the water.
Changshan arrived late but in time. He fought the She Daoren hand-to-hand on the small boat, which was less than two meters long!
Long Feicheng, who had fallen into the water, gulped down more water in his panic. Fortunately, Yan Nanfei swam over and stabilized him.
"Long, grab this wooden board. I'm going to help Changshan!"
In the dire situation, Yan Nanfei leaped out of the water and onto the small boat, making the already cramped vessel even more crowded, with all three unable to maneuver properly.
Just as Yan Nanfei was about to join the fray, Changshan stopped.
"Changshan, why...?"
Yan Nanfei's question was cut short as he also noticed something.
There was a fourth person on the small boat.
It was the "water ghost" from before, but the water ghost's true face was that of a child who looked only five or six years old.
The child was soaking wet, huddled fearfully at the feet of the three.
It was precisely because Changshan discovered this child that he ceased fighting.