Chapter 21: The Collapse of Obsession, The Dark Scheme Emerges
The grey daylight filtering through the window lattice of the small building fell upon Su Nianwan's plain clothes. Supporting himself against the cold wooden wall, Chen Yi felt his chest wound throbbing with pain, his internal organs feeling as though they were tightly squeezed by an invisible hand. Gazing at the woman before him, the reunion he had imagined countless times over the past twenty years shattered against the cold reality.
He had imagined it countless times: finding the Su family orphan, telling her the truth about her family's destruction, and uncovering the darkness together to comfort the dozens of wrongfully deceased souls. But now, Su Nianwan stood there calmly. Her words were gentle, yet every single one pushed away that blood-soaked vendetta.
"Nianwan, think about it carefully." Chen Yi suppressed the腥甜 (fishy sweetness of blood) surging in his throat, his voice hoarse. "Back then, everyone in the Su family—your father Secretary Su, the stewards, servants, and maids—perished without exception. They didn't die from Jianghu grudges; they were deliberately besieged and slaughtered because they knew the secrets of the mastermind. Green Face was the executor. He personally participated in that massacre and abducted you when you were young. The grace of raising you is real, but this grace is built upon the blood of your entire family."
Su Nianwan gently lowered her eyelids, her long lashes hiding the emotions in her eyes. Her tone remained indifferent, "Since I can remember, I've only had Green Face by my side. He taught me to read, to defend myself, and to avoid the storms of the Jianghu. I have no memories of the Su family estate or the company of relatives. Those dead people are, to me, just a distant story. Is it worth stirring up another bloodbath for a past I can't even remember?"
"It is worth it," Chen Yi emphasized. "Not to provoke slaughter, but for justice. If the evildoers are forever allowed to escape punishment, then all the good in this world can be slaughtered at will. Today they can exterminate the Su family; tomorrow another family will suffer the same fate."
Green Face stood quietly to the side, not interrupting, merely watching Chen Yi's turbulent state of mind with patience. He had waited twenty years for this setup; he didn't mind waiting a moment longer. What he wanted wasn't to forcefully snatch the roster, but to make Chen Yi give up his obsession on his own. As long as this obsession in Chen Yi's heart dissipated, the roster itself would lose its meaning. If even the person guarding the roster no longer believes in justice, the roster is nothing but a yellowed piece of waste paper.
"Justice?" Su Nianwan gave a soft laugh, a trace of sorrow in her laughter. "Where is there absolute justice in the Jianghu? Back then, my father was embroiled in a dispute over power and profit, and he was already in a perilous position. Green Face said that even without that siege back then, the Su family would have hardly met a good end. All these years, I've just wanted to live quietly. Mr. Chen, let me go, and let yourself go. For twenty years, you've lived too wearily."
Chen Yi trembled all over. He could tell that Su Nianwan wasn't deliberately lying against her conscience. Twenty years of isolation and guidance had completely reshaped her cognition. She was trapped in the world Green Face had woven, unable to distinguish between grace and enmity, or good and evil.
"It's you!" Chen Yi suddenly turned his head to glare at Green Face, a fire of anger burning in his eyes. "For twenty years, you deliberately isolated her from all outside news, constantly feeding her this rhetoric, erasing the longing for her kin in her blood. You weren't protecting her; you were imprisoning her, turning her into a shield to cover up your crimes!"
Green Face slowly raised his hand, his fingertips stroking the edge of the grey iron mask on his face. He replied lightly, "I merely gave her a chance to survive. In the chaos back then, she should have died in the pool of blood. I gave her food and clothing, and taught her how to survive. As for how she views the past, that is her own choice."
"This isn't a choice! It's deception!" Chen Yi took a step forward, pulling at his severe chest wound. A mouthful of blood nearly surged to his lips, but he forcefully swallowed it back. "You cut off all her channels to access the truth. Everything she sees and hears is controlled by you. A choice derived from such conditions can't possibly be an independent decision!"
"Arguing is meaningless," Green Face said lightly, his gaze falling back onto Chen Yi. "There are only two paths before you now. First, let go of your obsession and hand over the roster. The past will be wiped clean, Su Nianwan will continue to live her peaceful life, and I will never make a move against you again. Second, you insist on reopening the old case. Then I can only kill you. You can bet on whether your three copies of the roster will be delivered to Shaolin and Wudang on time. But you must think clearly: once the battle begins, Su Nianwan will inevitably be dragged into this storm. The peaceful life she desires will be completely reduced to bubbles."
This sentence struck Chen Yi's greatest weakness with pinpoint accuracy.
His lifelong wish was to protect Su Nianwan and seek justice for the Su family. But if he insisted on pursuing the truth, the price would be dragging Su Nianwan into endless Jianghu disputes, and she might even die from a vengeful killing.
On one side was the justice he had bitterly pursued for twenty years; on the other was the orphan he had tried his best to protect. Both paths carried unbearable costs.
Chen Yi stood frozen in place, his thoughts tangled like hemp.
Meanwhile, a hundred miles away, inside the abandoned hut on the mountainside.
Lin Yan suddenly pressed against his chest as a severe palpitation struck him, as if something was on the verge of collapsing. The unseen intuition connecting him to Chen Yi's obsession across the planes violently shook, fluctuating between strong and weak.
"What's wrong?" Seeing Lin Yan's face turn pale, Xiao Ge immediately stood up.
"Chen Yi's obsession is experiencing a massive shake-up over there," Lin Yan said, frowning as he slowly got up. "I can feel that the thing supporting him is disintegrating. Once Chen Yi completely lets go of his obsession, the mission will fail directly. I will be permanently trapped in this martial arts plane."
Xiao Ge's expression turned solemn as he gripped the short dagger at his waist. "Then we can't just sit here and wait! We must set off immediately for the Su family's old estate. But we don't know where it is."
"I overheard a clue when chatting at the medicine shop in the town," Lin Yan recalled quickly. "The main Su family estate back then was located in a valley surrounded by mountains, southeast of Qingstone Town. About eighty miles of mountain road southeast of Qingstone Town."
"Then let's leave right now!"
"Don't rush." Lin Yan raised his hand to stop Xiao Ge. "We're both injured. Rushing the journey will easily cause us to collapse halfway. Let's quickly organize our gear, taking the remaining herbs and dry rations. Also, we can't take the main road. It's highly likely lined with Green Face's hidden sentinels. We can only take the wild mountain paths. It will take longer, but it's less likely to expose our tracks."
The two quickly packed up, locked the wooden door of the hut, and stepped into the boundless forest, rushing toward the southeast, in the direction of the Su family's old estate.
The mountain path was rugged and difficult to navigate. The poison wound on Lin Yan's waist occasionally sent waves of numb, dull pain; every prolonged walk caused the poison to spread slightly. Xiao Ge's old arm wound hadn't healed yet, and as he climbed the rocks, the wound was repeatedly pulled, causing cold sweat to continuously slide down his cheeks. The two supported each other along the way, daring not to stop, traveling day and night.
At the same time, in the small building of the Su family's old estate.
Chen Yi remained in prolonged silence, the room filled only with the faint breathing of the few people present.
After a long time, Chen Yi slowly raised his head. The stubbornness that had burned in his eyes for twenty years had dimmed considerably.
"If... I hand over the roster," Chen Yi said in a low voice, carrying exhaustion, "swear to me that you will never harm Su Nianwan, never actively hunt down any of the Su family's old subordinates, and never stir up slaughter again."
Green Face responded calmly, "I can swear. As long as the roster is handed to me, this matter will be sealed. I will not actively harm Su Nianwan, nor will I actively search for the remaining old subordinates. But if someone actively comes to me seeking revenge, my self-defense and counterattack will not fall under this oath."
There were loopholes in this promise, and Chen Yi could hear them. But at this moment, he was physically and mentally exhausted, and under the weight of his severe injuries, he had no extra strength to continue the game. He slowly raised his hand, reaching into his embrace, intending to take out the dark iron token hiding the mulberry paper roster.
Su Nianwan watched him quietly, her expression complex, but she did not stop him.
Just as Chen Yi's fingertips touched the token, a short, sharp whistle suddenly sounded from outside the courtyard.
The whistle was piercing; it was the alarm signal from Green Face's hidden sentinels.
The eyes beneath Green Face's mask suddenly darkened, and he turned his head to look toward the courtyard outside the window.
"Someone has broken into the outer perimeter of the estate," Green Face said in a low voice.
Chen Yi's movement abruptly stopped, his brow raising slightly. Who would chase them all the way here? Could it be the surviving old subordinates of the Su family from back then?
Green Face raised his hand and issued a deep order to the two black-clad assassins waiting outside the door, "Go check it out and resolve it on the spot. Do not alarm the courtyard."
The two assassins accepted the order, turned, and quickly walked downstairs.
Not long after, the crisp sound of clashing blades came from downstairs, accompanied by brief fighting noises, before quickly returning to silence. A moment later, an assassin hurried upstairs, bowed, and reported.
"Leader, there are two intruders, a youth and a man. They are injured, but their martial arts are extremely agile. They've broken through three layers of outer perimeter alerts and are not far from the main courtyard."
Green Face raised his brow slightly, "I didn't expect Lin Yan and Xiao Ge to dare chase over here. I had already let them leave the valley."
Chen Yi was suddenly stunned. Lin Yan and Xiao Ge? They hadn't actually followed the agreement to hide safely; they had chased all the way to the Su family's old estate!
Su Nianwan also showed a hint of surprise.
Green Face slowly gripped the Ghost Thread soft sword in his hand. The blade trembled slightly, emitting a faint, icy blue light.
"It seems the negotiation must be temporarily interrupted." Green Face turned his gaze to Chen Yi, his tone growing colder. "Your companions refuse to behave and insist on breaking in to disrupt things. Now, the matter is no longer on the originally agreed track."
Chen Yi was filled with mixed emotions. Lin Yan and the others had risked coming here because they didn't want to see him fall into a trap. But both of them were bearing injuries; forcefully breaking into this Su family estate, which was full of assassins, was无异于自投罗网 (no different from walking into a net of one's own accord).
"Green Face, don't harm them," Chen Yi immediately said.
"Whether their lives can be spared depends on themselves," Green Face replied lightly, turning and walking downstairs. "I will personally go meet these two uninvited guests. Nianwan, stay upstairs. Do not move around."
Su Nianwan nodded and remained inside the small building.
Green Face led several assassins downstairs and stepped into the courtyard. In the distance, two figures passed through the overgrown flowers and trees of the old estate, walking into the courtyard step by step. It was precisely Lin Yan and Xiao Ge, who had rushed through the night.
The eighty miles of mountain road had drained a massive amount of their stamina. The poison in Lin Yan's waist had spread again, his face tinged with a pale blue; Xiao Ge's arm wound was bleeding again, his clothes darkened with bloodstains. Standing among the scattered rocks in the courtyard, although exhausted, their eyes remained resolute.
Lin Yan raised his eyes, facing Green Face, who wore the grey iron mask in the center of the courtyard. "We rushed over because we didn't want to watch Chen Yi make a decision he would regret for the rest of his life."
Green Face gave a light laugh, the sound icy. "You two luckily escaped with your lives, yet instead of finding a place to hide, you chose to deliver yourselves to my door. You certainly have courage, but unfortunately, courage cannot save you."
Xiao Ge gripped his short dagger tightly, his gaze sweeping over the black-clad assassins standing around them. He shouted loudly, "Brother Chen! Don't believe his promises! All oaths are empty words! Once the roster falls into his hands, no one will be able to restrain him anymore!"
Upstairs in the small building, Chen Yi stood by the window, looking at the two youths in the courtyard. Despite being battered and bruised, they had still stepped forward for him. The flame in his heart that had nearly gone out reignited with a faint glimmer.
He had almost handed over the roster; he had almost turned twenty years of persistence into nothingness.
Inside the courtyard, the atmosphere instantly grew taut. Green Face's assassins slowly closed in, surrounding Lin Yan and Xiao Ge.
A new slaughter was about to erupt in the courtyard of the Su family's old estate.
He had imagined it countless times: finding the Su family orphan, telling her the truth about her family's destruction, and uncovering the darkness together to comfort the dozens of wrongfully deceased souls. But now, Su Nianwan stood there calmly. Her words were gentle, yet every single one pushed away that blood-soaked vendetta.
"Nianwan, think about it carefully." Chen Yi suppressed the腥甜 (fishy sweetness of blood) surging in his throat, his voice hoarse. "Back then, everyone in the Su family—your father Secretary Su, the stewards, servants, and maids—perished without exception. They didn't die from Jianghu grudges; they were deliberately besieged and slaughtered because they knew the secrets of the mastermind. Green Face was the executor. He personally participated in that massacre and abducted you when you were young. The grace of raising you is real, but this grace is built upon the blood of your entire family."
Su Nianwan gently lowered her eyelids, her long lashes hiding the emotions in her eyes. Her tone remained indifferent, "Since I can remember, I've only had Green Face by my side. He taught me to read, to defend myself, and to avoid the storms of the Jianghu. I have no memories of the Su family estate or the company of relatives. Those dead people are, to me, just a distant story. Is it worth stirring up another bloodbath for a past I can't even remember?"
"It is worth it," Chen Yi emphasized. "Not to provoke slaughter, but for justice. If the evildoers are forever allowed to escape punishment, then all the good in this world can be slaughtered at will. Today they can exterminate the Su family; tomorrow another family will suffer the same fate."
Green Face stood quietly to the side, not interrupting, merely watching Chen Yi's turbulent state of mind with patience. He had waited twenty years for this setup; he didn't mind waiting a moment longer. What he wanted wasn't to forcefully snatch the roster, but to make Chen Yi give up his obsession on his own. As long as this obsession in Chen Yi's heart dissipated, the roster itself would lose its meaning. If even the person guarding the roster no longer believes in justice, the roster is nothing but a yellowed piece of waste paper.
"Justice?" Su Nianwan gave a soft laugh, a trace of sorrow in her laughter. "Where is there absolute justice in the Jianghu? Back then, my father was embroiled in a dispute over power and profit, and he was already in a perilous position. Green Face said that even without that siege back then, the Su family would have hardly met a good end. All these years, I've just wanted to live quietly. Mr. Chen, let me go, and let yourself go. For twenty years, you've lived too wearily."
Chen Yi trembled all over. He could tell that Su Nianwan wasn't deliberately lying against her conscience. Twenty years of isolation and guidance had completely reshaped her cognition. She was trapped in the world Green Face had woven, unable to distinguish between grace and enmity, or good and evil.
"It's you!" Chen Yi suddenly turned his head to glare at Green Face, a fire of anger burning in his eyes. "For twenty years, you deliberately isolated her from all outside news, constantly feeding her this rhetoric, erasing the longing for her kin in her blood. You weren't protecting her; you were imprisoning her, turning her into a shield to cover up your crimes!"
Green Face slowly raised his hand, his fingertips stroking the edge of the grey iron mask on his face. He replied lightly, "I merely gave her a chance to survive. In the chaos back then, she should have died in the pool of blood. I gave her food and clothing, and taught her how to survive. As for how she views the past, that is her own choice."
"This isn't a choice! It's deception!" Chen Yi took a step forward, pulling at his severe chest wound. A mouthful of blood nearly surged to his lips, but he forcefully swallowed it back. "You cut off all her channels to access the truth. Everything she sees and hears is controlled by you. A choice derived from such conditions can't possibly be an independent decision!"
"Arguing is meaningless," Green Face said lightly, his gaze falling back onto Chen Yi. "There are only two paths before you now. First, let go of your obsession and hand over the roster. The past will be wiped clean, Su Nianwan will continue to live her peaceful life, and I will never make a move against you again. Second, you insist on reopening the old case. Then I can only kill you. You can bet on whether your three copies of the roster will be delivered to Shaolin and Wudang on time. But you must think clearly: once the battle begins, Su Nianwan will inevitably be dragged into this storm. The peaceful life she desires will be completely reduced to bubbles."
This sentence struck Chen Yi's greatest weakness with pinpoint accuracy.
His lifelong wish was to protect Su Nianwan and seek justice for the Su family. But if he insisted on pursuing the truth, the price would be dragging Su Nianwan into endless Jianghu disputes, and she might even die from a vengeful killing.
On one side was the justice he had bitterly pursued for twenty years; on the other was the orphan he had tried his best to protect. Both paths carried unbearable costs.
Chen Yi stood frozen in place, his thoughts tangled like hemp.
Meanwhile, a hundred miles away, inside the abandoned hut on the mountainside.
Lin Yan suddenly pressed against his chest as a severe palpitation struck him, as if something was on the verge of collapsing. The unseen intuition connecting him to Chen Yi's obsession across the planes violently shook, fluctuating between strong and weak.
"What's wrong?" Seeing Lin Yan's face turn pale, Xiao Ge immediately stood up.
"Chen Yi's obsession is experiencing a massive shake-up over there," Lin Yan said, frowning as he slowly got up. "I can feel that the thing supporting him is disintegrating. Once Chen Yi completely lets go of his obsession, the mission will fail directly. I will be permanently trapped in this martial arts plane."
Xiao Ge's expression turned solemn as he gripped the short dagger at his waist. "Then we can't just sit here and wait! We must set off immediately for the Su family's old estate. But we don't know where it is."
"I overheard a clue when chatting at the medicine shop in the town," Lin Yan recalled quickly. "The main Su family estate back then was located in a valley surrounded by mountains, southeast of Qingstone Town. About eighty miles of mountain road southeast of Qingstone Town."
"Then let's leave right now!"
"Don't rush." Lin Yan raised his hand to stop Xiao Ge. "We're both injured. Rushing the journey will easily cause us to collapse halfway. Let's quickly organize our gear, taking the remaining herbs and dry rations. Also, we can't take the main road. It's highly likely lined with Green Face's hidden sentinels. We can only take the wild mountain paths. It will take longer, but it's less likely to expose our tracks."
The two quickly packed up, locked the wooden door of the hut, and stepped into the boundless forest, rushing toward the southeast, in the direction of the Su family's old estate.
The mountain path was rugged and difficult to navigate. The poison wound on Lin Yan's waist occasionally sent waves of numb, dull pain; every prolonged walk caused the poison to spread slightly. Xiao Ge's old arm wound hadn't healed yet, and as he climbed the rocks, the wound was repeatedly pulled, causing cold sweat to continuously slide down his cheeks. The two supported each other along the way, daring not to stop, traveling day and night.
At the same time, in the small building of the Su family's old estate.
Chen Yi remained in prolonged silence, the room filled only with the faint breathing of the few people present.
After a long time, Chen Yi slowly raised his head. The stubbornness that had burned in his eyes for twenty years had dimmed considerably.
"If... I hand over the roster," Chen Yi said in a low voice, carrying exhaustion, "swear to me that you will never harm Su Nianwan, never actively hunt down any of the Su family's old subordinates, and never stir up slaughter again."
Green Face responded calmly, "I can swear. As long as the roster is handed to me, this matter will be sealed. I will not actively harm Su Nianwan, nor will I actively search for the remaining old subordinates. But if someone actively comes to me seeking revenge, my self-defense and counterattack will not fall under this oath."
There were loopholes in this promise, and Chen Yi could hear them. But at this moment, he was physically and mentally exhausted, and under the weight of his severe injuries, he had no extra strength to continue the game. He slowly raised his hand, reaching into his embrace, intending to take out the dark iron token hiding the mulberry paper roster.
Su Nianwan watched him quietly, her expression complex, but she did not stop him.
Just as Chen Yi's fingertips touched the token, a short, sharp whistle suddenly sounded from outside the courtyard.
The whistle was piercing; it was the alarm signal from Green Face's hidden sentinels.
The eyes beneath Green Face's mask suddenly darkened, and he turned his head to look toward the courtyard outside the window.
"Someone has broken into the outer perimeter of the estate," Green Face said in a low voice.
Chen Yi's movement abruptly stopped, his brow raising slightly. Who would chase them all the way here? Could it be the surviving old subordinates of the Su family from back then?
Green Face raised his hand and issued a deep order to the two black-clad assassins waiting outside the door, "Go check it out and resolve it on the spot. Do not alarm the courtyard."
The two assassins accepted the order, turned, and quickly walked downstairs.
Not long after, the crisp sound of clashing blades came from downstairs, accompanied by brief fighting noises, before quickly returning to silence. A moment later, an assassin hurried upstairs, bowed, and reported.
"Leader, there are two intruders, a youth and a man. They are injured, but their martial arts are extremely agile. They've broken through three layers of outer perimeter alerts and are not far from the main courtyard."
Green Face raised his brow slightly, "I didn't expect Lin Yan and Xiao Ge to dare chase over here. I had already let them leave the valley."
Chen Yi was suddenly stunned. Lin Yan and Xiao Ge? They hadn't actually followed the agreement to hide safely; they had chased all the way to the Su family's old estate!
Su Nianwan also showed a hint of surprise.
Green Face slowly gripped the Ghost Thread soft sword in his hand. The blade trembled slightly, emitting a faint, icy blue light.
"It seems the negotiation must be temporarily interrupted." Green Face turned his gaze to Chen Yi, his tone growing colder. "Your companions refuse to behave and insist on breaking in to disrupt things. Now, the matter is no longer on the originally agreed track."
Chen Yi was filled with mixed emotions. Lin Yan and the others had risked coming here because they didn't want to see him fall into a trap. But both of them were bearing injuries; forcefully breaking into this Su family estate, which was full of assassins, was无异于自投罗网 (no different from walking into a net of one's own accord).
"Green Face, don't harm them," Chen Yi immediately said.
"Whether their lives can be spared depends on themselves," Green Face replied lightly, turning and walking downstairs. "I will personally go meet these two uninvited guests. Nianwan, stay upstairs. Do not move around."
Su Nianwan nodded and remained inside the small building.
Green Face led several assassins downstairs and stepped into the courtyard. In the distance, two figures passed through the overgrown flowers and trees of the old estate, walking into the courtyard step by step. It was precisely Lin Yan and Xiao Ge, who had rushed through the night.
The eighty miles of mountain road had drained a massive amount of their stamina. The poison in Lin Yan's waist had spread again, his face tinged with a pale blue; Xiao Ge's arm wound was bleeding again, his clothes darkened with bloodstains. Standing among the scattered rocks in the courtyard, although exhausted, their eyes remained resolute.
Lin Yan raised his eyes, facing Green Face, who wore the grey iron mask in the center of the courtyard. "We rushed over because we didn't want to watch Chen Yi make a decision he would regret for the rest of his life."
Green Face gave a light laugh, the sound icy. "You two luckily escaped with your lives, yet instead of finding a place to hide, you chose to deliver yourselves to my door. You certainly have courage, but unfortunately, courage cannot save you."
Xiao Ge gripped his short dagger tightly, his gaze sweeping over the black-clad assassins standing around them. He shouted loudly, "Brother Chen! Don't believe his promises! All oaths are empty words! Once the roster falls into his hands, no one will be able to restrain him anymore!"
Upstairs in the small building, Chen Yi stood by the window, looking at the two youths in the courtyard. Despite being battered and bruised, they had still stepped forward for him. The flame in his heart that had nearly gone out reignited with a faint glimmer.
He had almost handed over the roster; he had almost turned twenty years of persistence into nothingness.
Inside the courtyard, the atmosphere instantly grew taut. Green Face's assassins slowly closed in, surrounding Lin Yan and Xiao Ge.
A new slaughter was about to erupt in the courtyard of the Su family's old estate.