The man holding the Mian Character Sword glanced at Young Master Cheng, then looked at him expressionlessly, moved his lips, and said, "Xiao."

Yi Wusheng: "..."

Fine.

In short, after that "Xiao," the silenced Yi Wusheng truly said nothing more until he chased Hua Zhaoting to Jianhua Hall and saw him collapsed on the ground.

To say he was unmoved would certainly be a lie.

Yi Wusheng had joined the Hua Family at the age of fourteen, where he met the then seventeen-year-old Hua Zhaoting and eleven-year-old Hua Zhaotai. From then on, he studied in the same hall with this pair of direct-line Hua Family siblings, getting to know them well. A hundred years had passed since then.

For ordinary people, a hundred years was more than a lifetime.

Back then in the Hua Family's Disciple Hall, he often stayed up late fiddling with medicinal pills. He would doze off with his head propped up while listening to the teacher lecture on the heart of the sword and the Sword Dao, only to be poked awake by the siblings behind him.

That feeling of being startled awake seemed like just yesterday, yet it was already a hundred years ago.

That girl who loved to laugh had been buried in the Peach Blossom Forest for twenty-five years. The other, the one who had loathed rules the most in his youth, had become the Hua Family's greatest rule, and now lay before him in a wretched state, his soul devoured by an Evil Demon, suffering the same fate as him.

So what he wanted to know most at this moment was not something else, but whether this person before him, who may or may not have a remnant soul left, was dead.

"I didn't kill him," Xiao Fuxuan said lightly. "I just suppressed that Evil Demon so it can't cause any more trouble."

"Good, good," Yi Wusheng nodded, repeating softly.

He was very afraid, but his fingers still reached for the center of Hua Zhaoting's forehead. Hua Zhaoting's condition was even worse than his own; he could barely detect any trace of a remnant soul.

Wu Xingxue stood to the side, watching silently for a while. He noticed Hua Zhaoting's fingers clutching the ground, but his eyes were staring fixedly at a certain spot.

It is said that when a person is in a life-or-death crisis, they will always subconsciously reveal some secrets—they will look toward a place where something is hidden, or gaze at a person they have unspoken words for.

Even Evil Demons were no exception.

And what Hua Zhaoting was facing at this moment was precisely the flower pot he would stand and look at for a while every day.

In that flower pot grew several special breeds of dwarf peach blossoms. They were extremely well cared for, showing no signs of withering even in the dead of winter, their branches and leaves still green. One stalk had even sprouted a new flower bud.

Now the flower pot was shattered, and the small flower tree had toppled to the ground. Wet mud and roots were scattered all over, revealing the sand and gravel beneath the soil.

What kind of logic was there in using sand and gravel to grow this type of peach blossom?

Wu Xingxue pondered for a moment, then walked to the side of the flower pot, lifted the hem of his robe, and squatted down, his fingers rummaging through the wet mud, sand, and gravel a few times.

His forefinger hooked away a piece of broken pottery with a clang.

"What are you looking for?" Xiao Fuxuan's voice came from above his head.

Wu Xingxue tilted his head to glance at him, then continued to search through the sand and gravel. After a moment, he said, "Didn't you say you were looking for something before? What was it... something that someone took and then returned?"

He stood up, dusted the sandy soil from his hands, then found a clean cloth on a wooden rack to wipe them. "I saw him keep staring at this spot, so I thought I'd help you take a look."

Hearing this, Yi Wusheng, still clutching the paper, also came over.

He rummaged through the sand and gravel with one hand a few times. His fingers suddenly paused, and then his movements became urgent.

Buried in the sand and gravel of one of the flower pots were some strange miscellaneous items—a wooden hairpin, a disciple's waist token, a personal hair clasp, and a brocade fish pouch used by the Hua Family for passing orders.

There were many of them, all different in appearance. Judging by their age, they didn't seem to be the old belongings of a single person. It was as if they had come from different people and had all been buried here by Hua Zhaoting.

"Who were these people?" Wu Xingxue asked, pinching the waist token and glancing at it.

Yi Wusheng was stiff all over. After a long moment, he said, "Disciples."

These were all miscellaneous items that Hua Family disciples often carried with them. It was common for people to lose them, so it wouldn't be strange for them to go missing.

Wu Xingxue suddenly remembered what that disciple who had received them had said. Even though they went to the Punishment Hall every morning and evening to prevent possession by Evil Demons, some disciples still died every month.

It seemed... there was now an answer as to why those disciples had died.

But this was actually very contradictory.

He then recalled what he had heard in Chunfan City before, about the Hua Family.

It was said that the Hua Family guarded Jianghai alone, occupying Peach Blossom Isle, yet did not allow any common people to settle there. It was said that Peach Blossom Isle's terrain was perilous and easily invaded by Evil Demons. If common people went there, they would be exposed meat on a platter, and it would be difficult to protect their lives.

At the time, he had felt that since it was the largest sect in Chunfan City with so many disciples, it wouldn't be entirely impossible to protect the common people if they were settled in a suitable location.

Other sects could manage it, but the Hua Family was the sole exception. It was truly strange.

Thinking back now...

It was as if Hua Zhaoting, on the one hand, couldn't resist devouring disciples every month to sate himself, while on the other, he was terrified of common people getting close to him.

Wu Xingxue held the old waist token in his hand, somewhat lost in a daze.

A moment later, he heard Yi Wusheng let out a low cry.

He saw him pull a flat container with small holes on top out of another flower pot. He opened the container and saw that it was full of medicinal pills.

It was unknown how long the pills had been buried in the flower pot, but they still carried a gentle spiritual glow, indicating they had been well protected.

Yi Wusheng's Adam's apple bobbed. He said in a low voice, "Dreamless Pills..."

No wonder Hua Zhaoting watered this flower pot every day, without fail. Logically, that special breed of peach blossom couldn't be cared for like that. Unless he was subconsciously taking care of something else he thought was useful.

Those were Dreamless Pills...

Dreamless Pills that could still save you if taken within a month of being afflicted.

'After he was possessed by the Evil Demon, how long did it take for him to realize it? Did he also swallow handful after handful of Dreamless Pills like that? Did he also try to struggle? When he gave the order for no disciples to approach Jianhua Hall, was he briefly lucid?'

'That late night, when I stumbled to find him, did he still have a remnant soul left?'

The more Yi Wusheng thought, the colder he felt all over.

His finger was cut by the flower pot, but it no longer bled, just gaping with a pale white wound that looked rather horrifying. He paid it no mind and went to rummage through the last flower pot.

This time, he found a small box.

The moment the box was opened.

Xiao Fuxuan turned his head to look, because he had smelled a trace of lingering immortal qi.

He saw a circular hole inside the box, and nestled within the hole was a very small bell made of white jade and trimmed with silver thread. If he wasn't mistaken, he recognized this item.

It was called a Dream Bell.

Shaking it nine times in different directions could create a grand dream for someone.