Chapter 20: Diverging Paths, The Secret Shadows of the Old Estate
The night wind in the forest was steeped in dew, the chill seeping through their clothes and into their flesh. Lin Yan and Xiao Ge walked steadily along the winding mountain path outside the valley, daring not to run. The poison wound left by the Ghost Thread sword on Lin Yan's waist was still wreaking havoc; the numbness had spread from the wound down his entire right leg, making every step carry a faint, dull ache. Xiao Ge's piercing wound on his upper arm had been pulled and tugged along the way, the bandages soaked dark red. The youth's face was pale, held up solely by a sheer force of will.
They deliberately chose routes with dense trees, stopping occasionally to listen for any sounds behind them, confirming that no assassins were secretly tailing them. Green Face had just promised to let them go, but no one could tell if he had secretly arranged for men to set up an ambush halfway outside the valley.
"Let's find a secluded mountain hut to rest and recover first," Lin Yan whispered, his gaze sweeping over the rolling hills around them. "The priority is to treat our wounds and suppress the poison. If the wound on your arm continues to worsen, it will easily fester. As for the sword poison in my body, dragging it out too long will damage my meridians."
Xiao Ge nodded, his gaze involuntarily looking back at the continuous outline of the valley behind him. His voice was low, "I wonder how Brother Chen is doing right now. Not a single word from Green Face can be completely trusted. I just feel that this is a trap."
"The possibility of a trap is extremely high," Lin Yan replied in a deep voice. "But Chen Yi knows the risks clearly and still chose to accept the invitation. He is betting on the deterrent power of the roster copy, betting that Green Face wouldn't dare to make a rash move before the truth is exposed. What we can do now is preserve ourselves and quietly wait for the three-month deadline. Once the deadline passes without news, the copy of the roster will be sent to Shaolin, Wudang, and the Beggar Sect, and the entire Jianghu will know about the Su family massacre."
They traveled until daybreak, when a faint fish-belly white appeared on the eastern horizon. The morning mist rose in the mountains, shrouding the entire forest. On the mountainside ahead, an abandoned mountain villager's hut came into view. The wooden walls were dilapidated, the roof had gaps leaking light, and it was half-hidden by wild vines. It had long been uninhabited, making it perfect for a brief hiding place to recover from their injuries.
The two walked quickly into the hut and pushed open the creaking broken door. A thin layer of dust covered the interior, and dry firewood and grass were piled in the corners. The space was cramped, but it could shelter them from the wind and rain. Lin Yan first carefully checked the inside and the surroundings outside the hut, confirming there were no traces of anyone staying and no ambushes, before using a wooden stick to wedge the broken wooden door shut from the inside.
"We'll stay here temporarily," Lin Yan said, slowly sitting down against the wooden wall and carefully unwrapping the bandages on his waist. The flesh around the wound had turned a faint greyish-blue, a sign that the Ghost Thread sword's poison was spreading. Fortunately, the poison wasn't too fierce and hadn't rapidly attacked his heart; it was merely continuously eroding his strength.
Xiao Ge also unwrapped his arm bandage. The wound was raw, exposing red flesh and bleeding continuously. Enduring the severe pain, the youth carefully washed the wound with water taken from a mountain stream, tore a fresh strip of cloth from his inner garment, and re-wrapped it tightly.
"We don't have any medicinal herbs to detoxify," Lin Yan said, frowning as he looked at the mountains and wilderness outside the window. "We can only rely on water to clean the wounds and avoid infection as much as possible. Once my strength recovers a bit, I'll go down the mountain to a nearby town to buy medicinal herbs and dry rations, and gather intelligence on the Jianghu. You stay behind to guard the hut, and don't go out to avoid exposing our tracks."
Xiao Ge agreed, "Be careful. There might be hidden sentinels planted by Green Face in the town."
"I will disguise myself," Lin Yan nodded. "I'll change into the coarse cloth clothes of ordinary mountain villagers and try to keep a low profile."
After resting for two days, their injuries had stabilized slightly. The spread of the poison in Lin Yan's body had slowed, and his strength had mostly recovered; Xiao Ge's wound had stopped bleeding continuously, though his arm still couldn't exert much force.
Early that morning, Lin Yan put on the coarse cloth short jacket he had found, simply changed his hairstyle, and went down the mountain alone to Qingstone Town, over ten miles away. The town was small, a gathering place for nearby mountain villagers to trade. Pedestrians came and went on the streets, and it had everything from teahouses and medicine shops to blacksmiths.
He walked into a medicine shop in town, unobtrusively purchasing external herbs for stopping bleeding and clearing sores and detoxifying. He didn't speak much throughout the process, and after paying, he prepared to leave. The shopkeeper was chatting with someone, and a few words drifted into Lin Yan's ears.
"The Jianghu hasn't been peaceful lately. I heard that the old incident of the Su family massacre twenty years ago has been brought up again by someone."
"The Su family? The famous Secretary Su of Jiangnan back then, his entire family died tragically in one night. The case has been unsolved for twenty years. Could it be that new clues have been found?"
"Rumor has it that people from the Dark Arena have been active everywhere recently, inquiring about the whereabouts of the Su family's old subordinates back then. I don't know what they're up to."
Lin Yan's heart stirred. He silently memorized this conversation, carrying the medicine package as he walked slowly out of the shop without lingering. Green Face's forces had already begun setting up eyes in the surrounding towns, searching everywhere for people related to the old case.
After buying dry rations, he quickly returned to the abandoned hut on the mountainside and informed Xiao Ge of the news he had heard in the town.
"Green Face is searching everywhere for the Su family's old subordinates," Xiao Ge said, his brow furrowed. "It seems he is also worried that once the copy of the roster is sent out, a large number of people in the know will step forward to testify, so he is clearing out hidden dangers in advance."
"This also indirectly proves that he fears the copy of the roster," Lin Yan said. "At least in the short term, Chen Yi's life is relatively safe. But Su Nianwan's situation remains unknown."
At the same time, a hundred miles away, an old estate hidden deep in the mountains.
Green Face led Chen Yi through two stone archways overgrown with moss, stepping into the long-abandoned Su family estate. In the courtyard, weeds grew wildly, broken bricks and tiles were scattered everywhere, and the withered lotus pond was filled with stagnant water. Everywhere bore the bleak traces of the massacre from twenty years ago.
Standing in the center of the courtyard, Chen Yi looked around the familiar grounds. His chest heaved violently, and complex emotions surged in his heart. This was exactly the Su family mansion back then; he had worked alongside Secretary Su here, witnessing with his own eyes how the entire family was bathed in blood in a single night.
"Why did you bring me back to the Su family's old estate?" Chen Yi asked in a deep voice, his gaze fixed on Green Face, who wore the grey iron mask beside him.
"Su Nianwan is right here," Green Face said, slowly taking a step toward the secluded small building deep in the courtyard. "She was taken away by me in this very building back then. After twenty years, letting her return to the place of her birth can also be considered a sense of completion."
Suppressing the pain in his chest, Chen Yi followed Green Face, stepping onto the wooden stairs one step at a time. The boards of the staircase were dilapidated from years of disuse, emitting a dull creaking sound underfoot. In the room on the second floor of the small building, the window paper was old, and the light was dim.
Inside the room, a woman stood quietly by the window. Dressed in a plain long gown, her long hair tied up, her back was quiet and gentle. Hearing the footsteps, she slowly turned around.
The woman looked about twenty-seven, with delicate features and a layer of impenetrable gloom hidden in her eyes. She was Su Nianwan, the sole surviving orphan of the Su family back then.
Seeing that face, Chen Yi's breath suddenly caught. Between her brows and eyes, he could faintly see the shadow of Secretary Su from back then. After twenty years of anxious waiting, he had finally seen a living descendant of the Su family. His eyes grew slightly warm.
"Miss Nianwan," Chen Yi's voice trembled slightly.
Su Nianwan looked at him calmly, showing no excitement in her expression. Her tone was as indifferent as ice, "You are Chen Yi? I've heard Green Face mention your name since I was little. He said that for twenty years, you've been trying to find me and dig up the old events from back then."
Chen Yi was slightly stunned. The anticipated mix of grief and joy, the tearful reunion, did not happen. Su Nianwan's calmness carried a strange aura.
Green Face stood to the side, his expression hidden behind the grey iron mask as he spoke slowly, "Nianwan has been raised by me since she was seven. For twenty years, I have protected her and kept her alive in this chaotic Jianghu. The fall of the Su family was an outcome created by the times and choices. She has long accepted everything and does not want to be disturbed by the blood feud from twenty years ago anymore."
Looking at Su Nianwan, Chen Yi said anxiously, "Nianwan, your entire family was slaughtered back then, all orchestrated by Green Face and the mastermind behind him. The roster records all the murderers. We can expose the truth together and comfort the wronged souls of the Su family!"
Su Nianwan gently shook her head and said lightly, "I have no desire for revenge. The only person I've ever relied on from childhood to adulthood is Green Face. If it weren't for him, I would have died in that massacre back then. The old affairs of the Su family are, to me, just a distant, unfamiliar past. I don't want to pursue hatred anymore."
These words were like cold water poured onto Chen Yi's heart. He had pursued this for twenty years, risking his life to protect the roster and rush here, wanting to find the orphan and clear the injustice. Yet the only surviving descendant of the Su family actually did not want to pursue this massacre blood feud.
"Do you... do you know that dozens of people in the mansion back then all died tragically?" Chen Yi asked in disbelief, his voice trembling slightly.
"I know," Su Nianwan said, her gaze calm. "But hatred will only breed more slaughter. Even if we kill everyone on the roster, the dead relatives cannot be brought back to life. After twenty years of peaceful living, I don't want to get involved in endless Jianghu fighting anymore. Chen Yi, let it go."
Green Face said lightly, "You heard it. This is her thought. The wish you've exhausted half your life trying to fulfill, the person involved no longer wants to bring it up."
Chen Yi stumbled back half a step, the blood in his chest surging as a wave of severe pain struck his wound. The goal he had held onto for twenty years collapsed in an instant.
The core obsession sensing Lin Yan held in this plane experienced a violent fluctuation at this moment. In the mountain hut, Lin Yan inexplicably felt his heart sink, as if he had sensed an unexpected change happening far away.
"Could it be... something went wrong?" Lin Yan muttered to himself in a low voice.
Seeing his expression change suddenly, Xiao Ge hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"
"I can't explain it clearly," Lin Yan said, frowning tightly. "That unseen intuition in my heart suddenly became very unstable. Something unexpected has most likely happened to Chen Yi."
Inside the small building of the Su family's old estate, Green Face looked at Chen Yi, whose mind was in chaos, a trace of hidden cold light flashing in his eyes beneath the mask.
"Chen Yi, everything you've sought in your life was for the sake of the Su family orphan. Now that Su Nianwan is unwilling to take revenge, what meaning does your obsession still have?" Green Face slowly took a step forward. "Hand over the roster, and this matter will be settled. I will guarantee Su Nianwan a lifetime of peace, and no one will disturb her again."
Supporting himself against the wall, Chen Yi gasped for air, his gaze alternating between Su Nianwan and Green Face, his thoughts in disarray. Twenty years of persistence lost its support in an instant. Yet, a trace of remaining clarity still lingered in his heart. Staring at Green Face, he said in a deep voice, "It's you. For twenty years, you've been brainwashing her constantly, making her forget the blood feud, making her believe that you saved her, haven't you?"
Su Nianwan frowned slightly, "It's not brainwashing. Green Face raised me and showed me kindness. Hatred will only continue to create death; I don't want to see bloodshed anymore."
Green Face watched quietly, waiting for Chen Yi to make his choice. As long as Chen Yi voluntarily let go of his obsession and handed over the roster, the crisis hanging over his head would completely dissipate.
Outside the courtyard in the forest, the wind blew through the dead branches, wailing mournfully. On one side was the orphan he had spent half his life searching for, yet she was unwilling to acknowledge the blood feud; on the other side was the opponent who had meticulously planned for twenty years, quietly waiting for him to let go of his persistence.
Chen Yi stood in place, trembling all over, caught in a difficult choice. And a hundred miles away in the mountain hut, the unease in Lin Yan's heart grew stronger. He vaguely sensed that the trajectory of this dimensional mission had already deviated from the originally expected path.
They deliberately chose routes with dense trees, stopping occasionally to listen for any sounds behind them, confirming that no assassins were secretly tailing them. Green Face had just promised to let them go, but no one could tell if he had secretly arranged for men to set up an ambush halfway outside the valley.
"Let's find a secluded mountain hut to rest and recover first," Lin Yan whispered, his gaze sweeping over the rolling hills around them. "The priority is to treat our wounds and suppress the poison. If the wound on your arm continues to worsen, it will easily fester. As for the sword poison in my body, dragging it out too long will damage my meridians."
Xiao Ge nodded, his gaze involuntarily looking back at the continuous outline of the valley behind him. His voice was low, "I wonder how Brother Chen is doing right now. Not a single word from Green Face can be completely trusted. I just feel that this is a trap."
"The possibility of a trap is extremely high," Lin Yan replied in a deep voice. "But Chen Yi knows the risks clearly and still chose to accept the invitation. He is betting on the deterrent power of the roster copy, betting that Green Face wouldn't dare to make a rash move before the truth is exposed. What we can do now is preserve ourselves and quietly wait for the three-month deadline. Once the deadline passes without news, the copy of the roster will be sent to Shaolin, Wudang, and the Beggar Sect, and the entire Jianghu will know about the Su family massacre."
They traveled until daybreak, when a faint fish-belly white appeared on the eastern horizon. The morning mist rose in the mountains, shrouding the entire forest. On the mountainside ahead, an abandoned mountain villager's hut came into view. The wooden walls were dilapidated, the roof had gaps leaking light, and it was half-hidden by wild vines. It had long been uninhabited, making it perfect for a brief hiding place to recover from their injuries.
The two walked quickly into the hut and pushed open the creaking broken door. A thin layer of dust covered the interior, and dry firewood and grass were piled in the corners. The space was cramped, but it could shelter them from the wind and rain. Lin Yan first carefully checked the inside and the surroundings outside the hut, confirming there were no traces of anyone staying and no ambushes, before using a wooden stick to wedge the broken wooden door shut from the inside.
"We'll stay here temporarily," Lin Yan said, slowly sitting down against the wooden wall and carefully unwrapping the bandages on his waist. The flesh around the wound had turned a faint greyish-blue, a sign that the Ghost Thread sword's poison was spreading. Fortunately, the poison wasn't too fierce and hadn't rapidly attacked his heart; it was merely continuously eroding his strength.
Xiao Ge also unwrapped his arm bandage. The wound was raw, exposing red flesh and bleeding continuously. Enduring the severe pain, the youth carefully washed the wound with water taken from a mountain stream, tore a fresh strip of cloth from his inner garment, and re-wrapped it tightly.
"We don't have any medicinal herbs to detoxify," Lin Yan said, frowning as he looked at the mountains and wilderness outside the window. "We can only rely on water to clean the wounds and avoid infection as much as possible. Once my strength recovers a bit, I'll go down the mountain to a nearby town to buy medicinal herbs and dry rations, and gather intelligence on the Jianghu. You stay behind to guard the hut, and don't go out to avoid exposing our tracks."
Xiao Ge agreed, "Be careful. There might be hidden sentinels planted by Green Face in the town."
"I will disguise myself," Lin Yan nodded. "I'll change into the coarse cloth clothes of ordinary mountain villagers and try to keep a low profile."
After resting for two days, their injuries had stabilized slightly. The spread of the poison in Lin Yan's body had slowed, and his strength had mostly recovered; Xiao Ge's wound had stopped bleeding continuously, though his arm still couldn't exert much force.
Early that morning, Lin Yan put on the coarse cloth short jacket he had found, simply changed his hairstyle, and went down the mountain alone to Qingstone Town, over ten miles away. The town was small, a gathering place for nearby mountain villagers to trade. Pedestrians came and went on the streets, and it had everything from teahouses and medicine shops to blacksmiths.
He walked into a medicine shop in town, unobtrusively purchasing external herbs for stopping bleeding and clearing sores and detoxifying. He didn't speak much throughout the process, and after paying, he prepared to leave. The shopkeeper was chatting with someone, and a few words drifted into Lin Yan's ears.
"The Jianghu hasn't been peaceful lately. I heard that the old incident of the Su family massacre twenty years ago has been brought up again by someone."
"The Su family? The famous Secretary Su of Jiangnan back then, his entire family died tragically in one night. The case has been unsolved for twenty years. Could it be that new clues have been found?"
"Rumor has it that people from the Dark Arena have been active everywhere recently, inquiring about the whereabouts of the Su family's old subordinates back then. I don't know what they're up to."
Lin Yan's heart stirred. He silently memorized this conversation, carrying the medicine package as he walked slowly out of the shop without lingering. Green Face's forces had already begun setting up eyes in the surrounding towns, searching everywhere for people related to the old case.
After buying dry rations, he quickly returned to the abandoned hut on the mountainside and informed Xiao Ge of the news he had heard in the town.
"Green Face is searching everywhere for the Su family's old subordinates," Xiao Ge said, his brow furrowed. "It seems he is also worried that once the copy of the roster is sent out, a large number of people in the know will step forward to testify, so he is clearing out hidden dangers in advance."
"This also indirectly proves that he fears the copy of the roster," Lin Yan said. "At least in the short term, Chen Yi's life is relatively safe. But Su Nianwan's situation remains unknown."
At the same time, a hundred miles away, an old estate hidden deep in the mountains.
Green Face led Chen Yi through two stone archways overgrown with moss, stepping into the long-abandoned Su family estate. In the courtyard, weeds grew wildly, broken bricks and tiles were scattered everywhere, and the withered lotus pond was filled with stagnant water. Everywhere bore the bleak traces of the massacre from twenty years ago.
Standing in the center of the courtyard, Chen Yi looked around the familiar grounds. His chest heaved violently, and complex emotions surged in his heart. This was exactly the Su family mansion back then; he had worked alongside Secretary Su here, witnessing with his own eyes how the entire family was bathed in blood in a single night.
"Why did you bring me back to the Su family's old estate?" Chen Yi asked in a deep voice, his gaze fixed on Green Face, who wore the grey iron mask beside him.
"Su Nianwan is right here," Green Face said, slowly taking a step toward the secluded small building deep in the courtyard. "She was taken away by me in this very building back then. After twenty years, letting her return to the place of her birth can also be considered a sense of completion."
Suppressing the pain in his chest, Chen Yi followed Green Face, stepping onto the wooden stairs one step at a time. The boards of the staircase were dilapidated from years of disuse, emitting a dull creaking sound underfoot. In the room on the second floor of the small building, the window paper was old, and the light was dim.
Inside the room, a woman stood quietly by the window. Dressed in a plain long gown, her long hair tied up, her back was quiet and gentle. Hearing the footsteps, she slowly turned around.
The woman looked about twenty-seven, with delicate features and a layer of impenetrable gloom hidden in her eyes. She was Su Nianwan, the sole surviving orphan of the Su family back then.
Seeing that face, Chen Yi's breath suddenly caught. Between her brows and eyes, he could faintly see the shadow of Secretary Su from back then. After twenty years of anxious waiting, he had finally seen a living descendant of the Su family. His eyes grew slightly warm.
"Miss Nianwan," Chen Yi's voice trembled slightly.
Su Nianwan looked at him calmly, showing no excitement in her expression. Her tone was as indifferent as ice, "You are Chen Yi? I've heard Green Face mention your name since I was little. He said that for twenty years, you've been trying to find me and dig up the old events from back then."
Chen Yi was slightly stunned. The anticipated mix of grief and joy, the tearful reunion, did not happen. Su Nianwan's calmness carried a strange aura.
Green Face stood to the side, his expression hidden behind the grey iron mask as he spoke slowly, "Nianwan has been raised by me since she was seven. For twenty years, I have protected her and kept her alive in this chaotic Jianghu. The fall of the Su family was an outcome created by the times and choices. She has long accepted everything and does not want to be disturbed by the blood feud from twenty years ago anymore."
Looking at Su Nianwan, Chen Yi said anxiously, "Nianwan, your entire family was slaughtered back then, all orchestrated by Green Face and the mastermind behind him. The roster records all the murderers. We can expose the truth together and comfort the wronged souls of the Su family!"
Su Nianwan gently shook her head and said lightly, "I have no desire for revenge. The only person I've ever relied on from childhood to adulthood is Green Face. If it weren't for him, I would have died in that massacre back then. The old affairs of the Su family are, to me, just a distant, unfamiliar past. I don't want to pursue hatred anymore."
These words were like cold water poured onto Chen Yi's heart. He had pursued this for twenty years, risking his life to protect the roster and rush here, wanting to find the orphan and clear the injustice. Yet the only surviving descendant of the Su family actually did not want to pursue this massacre blood feud.
"Do you... do you know that dozens of people in the mansion back then all died tragically?" Chen Yi asked in disbelief, his voice trembling slightly.
"I know," Su Nianwan said, her gaze calm. "But hatred will only breed more slaughter. Even if we kill everyone on the roster, the dead relatives cannot be brought back to life. After twenty years of peaceful living, I don't want to get involved in endless Jianghu fighting anymore. Chen Yi, let it go."
Green Face said lightly, "You heard it. This is her thought. The wish you've exhausted half your life trying to fulfill, the person involved no longer wants to bring it up."
Chen Yi stumbled back half a step, the blood in his chest surging as a wave of severe pain struck his wound. The goal he had held onto for twenty years collapsed in an instant.
The core obsession sensing Lin Yan held in this plane experienced a violent fluctuation at this moment. In the mountain hut, Lin Yan inexplicably felt his heart sink, as if he had sensed an unexpected change happening far away.
"Could it be... something went wrong?" Lin Yan muttered to himself in a low voice.
Seeing his expression change suddenly, Xiao Ge hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"
"I can't explain it clearly," Lin Yan said, frowning tightly. "That unseen intuition in my heart suddenly became very unstable. Something unexpected has most likely happened to Chen Yi."
Inside the small building of the Su family's old estate, Green Face looked at Chen Yi, whose mind was in chaos, a trace of hidden cold light flashing in his eyes beneath the mask.
"Chen Yi, everything you've sought in your life was for the sake of the Su family orphan. Now that Su Nianwan is unwilling to take revenge, what meaning does your obsession still have?" Green Face slowly took a step forward. "Hand over the roster, and this matter will be settled. I will guarantee Su Nianwan a lifetime of peace, and no one will disturb her again."
Supporting himself against the wall, Chen Yi gasped for air, his gaze alternating between Su Nianwan and Green Face, his thoughts in disarray. Twenty years of persistence lost its support in an instant. Yet, a trace of remaining clarity still lingered in his heart. Staring at Green Face, he said in a deep voice, "It's you. For twenty years, you've been brainwashing her constantly, making her forget the blood feud, making her believe that you saved her, haven't you?"
Su Nianwan frowned slightly, "It's not brainwashing. Green Face raised me and showed me kindness. Hatred will only continue to create death; I don't want to see bloodshed anymore."
Green Face watched quietly, waiting for Chen Yi to make his choice. As long as Chen Yi voluntarily let go of his obsession and handed over the roster, the crisis hanging over his head would completely dissipate.
Outside the courtyard in the forest, the wind blew through the dead branches, wailing mournfully. On one side was the orphan he had spent half his life searching for, yet she was unwilling to acknowledge the blood feud; on the other side was the opponent who had meticulously planned for twenty years, quietly waiting for him to let go of his persistence.
Chen Yi stood in place, trembling all over, caught in a difficult choice. And a hundred miles away in the mountain hut, the unease in Lin Yan's heart grew stronger. He vaguely sensed that the trajectory of this dimensional mission had already deviated from the originally expected path.