Late at night, Wen Chen received a summons saying that Lord Yunzhong, who was staying in the guest house, had something to discuss with him.

Saying it was to reminisce about old times, Wen Chen couldn't help feeling apprehensive. He came by moonlight to the entrance of the guest house, not forgetting to tidy his robes and compose himself before entering.

There was only one person in the courtyard.

Feng Rugu was drinking by himself from his jade wine flask. Under the clear moonlight, his white robes and blue sash, unique to Fengling, looked exceptionally pure and saintly.

He must have been drinking for a while, as his face was already flushed.

He greeted casually, "You're here."

Wen Chen lifted his robe and performed a kneeling grand salute. "Lord Yunzhong."

The two were the same age, so such a solemn ceremony was inevitably comical.

Feng Rugu calmly accepted it. "Get up. Your family has suffered a loss, so you must have been busy these past few days. I hope I'm not troubling you by calling you here?"

"No trouble at all." Wen Chen stood up and stood to one side with his hands clasped, polite yet distant.

To be honest, although they said it had been many years, when they actually met, Wen Chen felt somewhat awkward.

Truth be told, they weren't very familiar with each other.

Their first meeting was at the Eastern Emperor Ceremony ten years ago.

Before the sudden change occurred, he had been discussing and mocking Feng Rugu along with the other disciples of the Dao Sect, as Feng Rugu sat on a rock to the side, flipping the order token between his fingertips.

"Wasn't Fengling's eldest disciple Chang Boning supposed to come here?"

"Yeah, why is it Feng Rugu's turn to lead us?"

"Have you heard about Feng Rugu's background? The son of a merchant family who made their fortune by peddling medicine on the streets. Before entering Fengling, he had even killed someone at the age of nine! So vicious and ruthless at such a young age..."

Wen Chen had heard and repeated these rumors.

But it was precisely this person who saved their lives when they were drawn into the "Forgotten World" by the long-planned demonic sect and injured by the demonic energy.

"It's been ten years." Feng Rugu's first words were not normal. "The wrinkles between Young Master Wen's brows have deepened."

Wen Chen had good self-restraint and just smiled.

Feng Rugu hooked a stool with his foot. "Sit. With me sitting and you standing, me drinking and you watching, it's not enjoyable for me either."

Wen Chen had no choice but to sit, intentionally avoiding eye contact with Feng Rugu. "The engagement between my younger sister and Lord Yunzhong has been dissolved. Thank you for making this trip."

"You're welcome." Feng Rugu pushed a full cup of wine to him, gently pressing his own jade cup against his soft lips. "I've seen your sister's portrait. Isn't it strange? When I met your younger brother today, he doesn't resemble his full sister that much in appearance, but her features are quite similar to yours."

Wen Chen didn't speak, but his expression changed slightly. He downed the cup of wine in one gulp, unable to taste it at all, a pained look appearing on his face.

"Oh." Feng Rugu seemed to be chatting idly. "Do you know the whereabouts of your sister's corpse?"

Wen Chen gave a strange laugh. "Lord Yunzhong is joking. How would I know..."

"Then it's odd." Feng Rugu continued on his own. "In Wenshi Sect, with its emphasis on etiquette, even though I didn't inform you of my arrival time, there was always a group of disciples waiting at the Sword Stone. Even my Fengling Mountain isn't so pretentious."

Wen Chen struggled to deflect quite awkwardly. "We are a small sect, not daring to compare with Fengling."

But Feng Rugu ignored his intentional or unintentional attempt to change the subject. "...If it's like this at the Sword Stone, then what about the main gate and side gate? How would a headless corpse be transported down the mountain? And how would a severed head be brought up the mountain?"

"A head is easier to handle than a torso. Perhaps my sister was killed by someone after descending the mountain..."

Feng Rugu said lightly, "No. She was wearing a bathrobe."

The cup in Wen Chen's hand suddenly fell onto the stone table with a crisp sound.

"Ah." Feng Rugu's heart ached. "My cup."

Wen Chen was greatly flustered. "You, how do you..."

Feng Rugu took the jade cup and carefully inspected it for any damage. "Your sister is lying in the back courtyard. Feel free to go see for yourself."

Wen Chen almost couldn't control his urge to rush to the back courtyard, but in the end, he managed to steady his mind. "Lord Yunzhong, please don't joke about the deceased..."

Feng Rugu looked at him. "Did I scare you?"

Wen Chen realized he was drenched in cold sweat. He gave a dry "ha ha" and wiped the sweat with his sleeve.

"Fine. Since it was a joke, then let's pretend I didn't say anything just now. Consider it drunken words."

Feng Rugu gently placed the cup on the table, showing great care. "Judging from the water erosion on the rocks by the hot spring, the guest house must have been built in the past two years, and the spring was dug out later as well. There are both cold and hot springs here, the only place in the mountain that changes water every hour... Oh, this is what the little Daoist leading the way told me when I arrived."

"Using this place as a guest house serves two purposes. First, it can be used to host guests. Second, you can come here to relax and enjoy yourselves in your free time."

"I heard that the Third Young Lady Wen loved this place the most when she was alive, and even said she wanted to move her boudoir to the guest house."

Wen Chen's face turned deathly pale. He remained silent.

"If the Third Young Lady Wen died in the bath, everything would make sense."

After another cup of wine, Feng Rugu's cheeks became even redder.

"The bath in the guest house of Wenshi Sect has the most exquisite design. The water changes every hour, flowing along the earth's veins. Killing someone here is clean and convenient, not even leaving bloodstains."

As he spoke, Feng Rugu nodded in agreement. "If I were to kill someone in Wenshi Sect, I would definitely choose this place."

Wen Chen's teeth chattered for a while. With a flushed face, he jumped up, suddenly drawing his sword, the tip pointing at Feng Rugu. His ornaments clinked and clanged, sounding like his heartbeat.

"...Sit down and let go."

With a single command from Feng Rugu, Wen Chen's sword trembled.

"Or..." Feng Rugu remained motionless, raising his eyes to meet Wen Chen's gaze. He pressed a single finger against the outer wall of the wine cup, exerting force to slowly rotate it. "...Do you want to dance with your sword in front of me?"

Wen Chen's face changed drastically.

He had witnessed Feng Rugu's Guixu swordsmanship before...

With a clang, the long sword fell to the ground.

Wen Chen collapsed to the ground, knowing that the corpse and the secret he had carefully hidden must have been discovered.

He buried his face deeply in his palms, his shoulders shaking violently. "I clearly buried it under the pine tree... buried it very deep. How could it..."

"Unfortunately, someone saw you behead and bury the corpse." He could no longer tell if Feng Rugu's words were sarcastic or sincere. "You need to be more careful next time."

Wen Chen suddenly raised his head. "I didn't kill my little sister! He forced me... He forced me!"

"Who?"

"I don't know... It was a young man in black clothes..."

Wen Chen's thoughts were in disarray, as if he had returned to seven days ago.

In fact, Wen Chen had been opposed to his younger sister's marriage to Fengling. He reasoned that he knew Feng Rugu well. Although the younger sister and Feng Rugu had compatible birth charts, their personalities were incompatible, so it would be in vain.

Wen Shen'er had been close with her eldest brother Wen Chen since childhood, but often quarreled with her impetuous second brother. So when she saw her eldest brother's support, she became even more unrestrained in her behavior.

Their father, disturbed to no end by this pair of children, summoned Wen Chen to the study and revealed a shocking matter to him.

-- Inside the Wenshi Sect, a few young demonic cultivators were being kept.

They were not so much kept as restrained and imprisoned.

Reportedly, these young demonic cultivators all had parents and were not descendants of blood sects that relied on killing to cultivate. They simply had innate demonic bloodlines.

Two were from the Passion Sect, one from the Corpse Sect, and one from the Gu Sect, totaling four people.

Upon first hearing this, Wen Chen was startled. "Father, why are you harboring demonic cultivators?"

In the righteous sects nowadays, demonic cultivators were to be executed by all, and no one would consider this unjust.

"Harboring? I captured them and brought them up the mountain a year ago, placing seals on their bodies to prevent them from leaving the mountain."

Facing Wen Chen's shocked gaze, his father Wen Runjin spoke frankly, "To save their children's lives, their parents had to search everywhere for spirit stones. During the quarterly opening of the 'Forgotten World', they would enter the 'Jing Sect Ghost Market' within to exchange for useful items, such as cultivation manuals that flowed out from the Dao sects, and send them to our mountain..."

Understanding dawned on Wen Chen as cold sweat beaded his forehead. "Father, you're detaining the children of demonic cultivators and making deals with them?! This goes against the Dao--"

Wen Runjin smiled as he stroked his beard. "My son, you are not even thirty years old. How can you be even more rigid than this old man? The demonic path owes us righteous sects a great deal. When we decide to collect repayment is our sects' business."

Wen Chen felt there was a problem with this reasoning.

Those secret arts and manuals for alchemy, artifact forging, and sword techniques - weren't they all written by the patriarchs of the Four Great Sects, the product of their painstaking efforts? What did they have to do with these newly established minor sects?

However, a son does not point out his father's faults.

Wen Chen stammered, "But..."

Wen Runjin did not let him continue. He took over, "But this is not a long-term plan! Shen'er is too thoughtless. We just need to form a marriage alliance with Fengling and have Lord Yunzhong become the son-in-law of our Wenshi Sect. Then wouldn't the Guixu Sword Technique belong to our family?"

Wen Chen was at a loss for words.

"You are the future leader of Wenshi Sect." Wen Runjin patted his shoulder. "Sooner or later, Wenshi Sect will be handed over to you. Your father is also paving the way for your future. You must understand your father's painstaking efforts."

Just as father and son were in the midst of their secret discussion, news arrived of the third daughter Wen's third suicide attempt.

This time the situation was especially dire. If she had been discovered any later, her soul would have truly dissipated.

Wen Runjin was badly shaken.

Although he wanted his daughter to marry for the benefit of Wenshi Sect, he did not actually wish for her to die for it.

Left with no choice, he made the painful decision to dissolve the engagement with Fengling after his daughter recovered.

However, Wen Chen was worried sick and could not sleep at night.

His father's words had left quite a shadow on his heart.

This matter weighed on him, with no one to discuss it with.

His mother naturally sided with his father; he was not close enough with his fellow disciples to confide in them; his second brother was even more reckless, spending his days brandishing his whip and sword with bravado.

In comparison, although his younger sister was willful, she had a mind of her own and had the best relationship with him.

Moreover, she was also a disciple of Wenshi Sect. They shared honor and disgrace, rise and fall together. She also needed to know about matters concerning Wenshi Sect...

Therefore, when visiting his younger sister, Wen Chen took the opportunity while the maidservant went to pour water to arrange a secret meeting with her at a side residence two days later, wanting to discuss this matter away from prying eyes and ears.

He specifically instructed that this matter was important and must not be disclosed to anyone else.

On the day his father went down the mountain to Fengling, he went as agreed but found the main hall of the side residence empty. There were sounds of bathing coming from the back.

His younger sister loved these hot springs the most. Taking advantage of this opportunity to bathe beforehand would not be an issue.

Wen Chen waited in the main hall. After a quarter of an hour, the sound of water had long ceased but she still did not appear.

Wen Chen had many sect matters like procurement and repairs to handle and could not waste too much time here. He circled to the hot spring area and called out from behind a stone screen, "Shen'er, hurry up."

Behind the screen, all was silent except for the sound of wind in the pines.

Wen Chen thought his younger sister's body was still weak and she had gotten dizzy from soaking in the hot spring. Alarmed, he dared not delay. Disregarding propriety between men and women, he strode inside, but unexpectedly encountered a bloody scene--

The entire pool was red.

Wen Shen'er, wearing a bathrobe, was lying face-up in the water. Her throat had been slit and blood was gushing out from her neck like a spring.

A person wearing a bronze demon mask and leaning on a Tang saber sat quietly on a boulder to the side, looking at Wen Chen.

His figure was thin, wrapped in black robes, his features completely indiscernible.

Shocked and overwhelmed by grief and rage, his viscera felt ablaze. Wen Chen drew his sword and pounced forward.

However, as soon as they exchanged blows, Wen Chen knew he was no match for him.

In less than three rounds, he was defeated. Suppressed on the ground by a powerful gust of spiritual wind, he lay face-up, unable to move.

The person pointed the Tang saber at his throat, his voice devoid of emotion, "Cut off her head. Hang it from the tallest tree in your Wenshi Sect."

Wen Chen's heart felt like it had been crushed by a handful of shattered ice, leaving him bleeding. "You killed her--"

His next words never left his mouth.

The person directly thrust the Tang saber into his mouth, the tip stabbing into his tongue.

His voice carried an ethereal chill, "Cut off her head. Hang it from the tallest tree in your Wenshi Sect. Otherwise, you die."

Wen Chen's face turned deathly pale.

He knew this person meant it.

But she was still his own younger sister...

As if seeing through his hesitation, the black-robed man looked into his eyes.

Behind the demon mask was a pair of deep, tranquil black eyes, "If you don't do as told, by tomorrow the world will know that your Wenshi Sect is holding the children of demonic cultivators hostage and colluding with them."

Wen Chen's heart shook violently, as if he had been slapped across the face, his cheeks burning.

The man said no more. He tossed the Tang saber to Wen Chen and leaped onto a pine tree on the side, his figure vanishing into the forest.

But Wen Chen knew he was still there.

Moreover, with the man's cultivation level, even if Wen Chen was armed and the man was barehanded, he still had no chance of escaping.

He could only grit his teeth and shed tears as he used the Tang saber given by the black-robed man to sever his sister's head.

Blood sprayed into the pool, the scalding water vaporizing it into a nauseating thick stench.

In the mountains, the bells and drums signaling the hour sounded.

Dong, dong, dong. In the deep tolling of the bell, the golden toad closed its mouth, and the silver toad spat out water. The bloody water churned and flowed into the earth's veins, the stench carried away by the fresh pine breeze.

Wen Chen held his sister's head, nearly vomiting.

He buried the corpse under the largest pine tree and placed his sister's head into a storage pouch, tucking it into his sleeve. Stumbling, he left the villa.

By the time he reached the tallest tree, Wen Chen's legs had already gone soft.

He recalled when his sister was young, she had begged him to make a swing on this tree.

The tree was close to a cliff, truly dangerous. He refused to agree, and his sister even cried.

Unable to withstand his sister's persistent pleading, he secretly made one.

Wen Shun'er was very happy and played with him for an entire afternoon.

After playing, he took the swing down.

The creaking of the swing still echoed in his ears.

Wen Chen's eyes grew hot. As if hanging a swing rope, he coiled that wet long hair around the treetop, not daring to look at those eyes that refused to close in death. He turned and left.

Unconsciously, a gust of breeze sent a beech leaf, falling in front of Wen Chen's feet. He stepped on it in panic, half-burying it into the soil.

When Wen Runjin discovered his daughter's head and was overcome with grief, ordering a search in the mountains for the headless corpse, it was the team led by Wen Chen.

He deliberately entered the villa himself to inspect when searching it, saying there were no traces.

The beauty's bones were buried under that pine tree.

But he could not say.

...

Feng Rugu listened to everything, nodding slightly.

This way, many things could be explained.

That little demon cultivator was guarding the villa. Because of the seal on his body, he could not escape, yet his heart yearned for freedom.

On the day Third Young Lady Wen met with misfortune, he was sent away but forgot to bring the key. Returning, he happened to witness the scene of Wen Chen beheading and burying the corpse.

After Wen Chen left, he ran to find three little friends to discuss a plan.

The four little turnip heads put their heads together and came up with a crude plan to free themselves.

-- Third Young Lady Wen was the fiancée of Lord Yunzhong of Fengling. Her unjust death meant Lord Yunzhong would definitely come to the mountain.

-- They would secretly refine Third Young Lady Wen into a jiangshi and send her to Lord Yunzhong. With Lord Yunzhong's cultivation, he would certainly recognize that it was Young Master Wen who killed her, then make Young Master Wen unable to escape.

-- Then, they could take advantage of the chaos to escape the mountain.

This plan was completely at the level of eleven or twelve-year-old children.

They had no intelligence, no backup plan, and even their method of refining the jiangshi was extremely crude.

Who would have thought that this matter would somehow be accomplished by them through a twist of fate?

Feng Rugu already knew Wen Chen's temperament and understood he was not one to kill indiscriminately. Thus, he did not take the little demon cultivator's accusation to heart.

Wen Chen's confession also resolved a bit of doubt in Feng Rugu's heart.

... If Third Young Lady Wen had only come to bathe and cleanse herself of impurities that day, why did she not inform the maidservants and instead suddenly disappear?

But since it was a secret invitation from her elder brother, she naturally trusted him and would not easily tell others.

She just never imagined that this was a deadly appointment.

Feng Rugu said, "You confessed quite quickly, even including the demons' matter."

He did not inform Wen Chen that it was the little demon cultivator who had reported him, only pretending that he had discovered the corpse himself under the pine tree.

Wen Chen's face was ashen, the light already lost from his eyes. "You... already knew long ago, right?"

Feng Rugu's expression paused.

"Before leaving, that black-robed man said he would not speak of the Wen clan's secrets to outsiders. But as long as Feng Rugu arrived at the Wen clan, he would always discover clues; if Feng Rugu discovered and questioned me, I was to convey a sentence to Feng Rugu."

Wen Chen let out a couple of bitter laughs. "Thinking about it now, with your intelligence, perhaps you had long seen through the secret. Why did I even need to conceal it?"

"... What words?"

Wen Chen revealed an expression that seemed to be crying and laughing, his voice carrying an elongated crying tone, as if wailing. "'The Dao is no longer the Dao' ah--"