Chapter 22: A Fight to the Death in the Courtyard, A Flash of Clarity
In the desolate courtyard of the old Su family estate, broken bricks and scattered tiles lay everywhere. The dead branches in the withered lotus pond trembled in the wind with a rustling sound. Behind Green Face, dozens of black-clad assassins slowly spread out, forming a ring that trapped Lin Yan and Xiao Ge in the center. Short blades were drawn, their cold light gleaming in a continuous line.
Lin Yan shifted slightly, standing back-to-back with Xiao Ge. The numbness from the wound on his waist had already spread to his lower abdomen. The poison from the Ghost Thread sword continuously eroded his strength, and his right hand gripping the dagger trembled occasionally. Xiao Ge's old wound on his upper arm had torn open again, warm blood dripping down his forearm onto the dusty ground, seeping into dark spots. The two had just completed a long-distance assault of eighty miles, already at the end of their strength. Now, facing Green Face's elite forces, their situation was extremely perilous.
"Knowing it's a dead end, you still chose to chase us here," Green Face said, holding the Ghost Thread soft sword as he slowly stepped forward. The iron mask reflected the grey-white daylight, his voice perfectly calm. "I gave you a way out, yet you insisted on delivering yourselves back to me."
"Chen Yi cannot hand over the roster," Lin Yan said, his gaze firmly locked onto Green Face. "Once the roster falls into your hands, all leverage against you will vanish. The oaths you made today can be torn up the moment you turn your back."
Xiao Ge gripped his short dagger tightly, his chest heaving. "After twenty years of meticulous planning, how could you possibly intend to keep your word! Brother Chen, you upstairs, think about it carefully! All his promises are built on the premise that the roster is still in our hands!"
On the second-floor windowsill, Chen Yi leaned against the wooden frame, staring down. The hand that had just reached out to touch the roster slowly withdrew. In his previous state of mental turmoil, he had nearly made an irreversible decision. Lin Yan and Xiao Ge, bearing severe injuries, had crossed a hundred miles of mountain roads just to stop him. This sheer resolve struck him hard, jolting him awake from his dilemma.
Su Nianwan stood beside Chen Yi, quietly watching the standoff in the courtyard. For the first time, a ripple appeared in her eyes. The people she had seen since childhood mostly feared Green Face's power and methods. Never had anyone, knowing they were no match, voluntarily broken into this cage.
Green Face lightly raised his hand.
Two assassins immediately dashed out, their short blades thrusting toward Lin Yan and Xiao Ge from the left and right.
Lin Yan quickly shifted sideways, dodging the frontal blade, and his dagger slashed diagonally, precisely chopping at the assassin's wrist holding the weapon. Metal clashed with a piercing, crisp sound. The assassin winced in pain, the short dagger slipping from his hand. Seizing the momentum, Lin Yan turned sideways and drove his elbow heavily into the man's chest. Meanwhile, the other assassin's blade had already approached Xiao Ge's shoulder. Xiao Ge gritted his teeth, turning his body and enduring the pain to raise his dagger to block. The blade grazed his flesh, carving a new wound.
"Don't fight them head-on! Try to stall them!" Lin Yan reminded in a low voice.
The assassins surged forward in endless relays. The two fought back-to-back, covering each other and barely managing to parry. But the gap in stamina grew wider and wider. Before long, Xiao Ge stumbled, unable to dodge in time, and an assassin's blade thrust straight toward his left shoulder.
"Careful!" Lin Yan lunged forward fiercely, taking the blow squarely on his own shoulder to shield Xiao Ge. The blade pierced his flesh, and a wave of agonizing pain exploded. He let out a muffled groan as blood instantly soaked through the coarse cloth on his shoulder.
"Lin Yan!" Xiao Ge's eyes nearly tore from their sockets. He swung his dagger to force back the approaching assassin, guarding Lin Yan's side.
Green Face stood on the outer edge of the encirclement, in no rush to make a move, coldly watching the slaughter. He was not anxious; he would wait for these two youths to exhaust their strength before stepping in to harvest them effortlessly.
By the second-floor window, Chen Yi watched the two fighting desperately in the courtyard, his heart tightening with every beat. What he had sought all his life was justice, yet he had actually intended to compromise earlier, trading the roster for temporary peace. This compromise would have come at the cost of sacrificing Lin Yan and Xiao Ge, and burying the grievances of all those wrongfully deceased.
"Nianwan," Chen Yi turned his head to look at the woman beside him, his voice low. "You said Green Face raised you and showed you grace. But have you ever thought about what the source of that grace is? It is the blood of dozens of your family members. He saved you not out of goodwill, but to keep you as a pawn to absolve the sins of this massacre. As long as you identify him as your benefactor, the world will more easily believe that there was a reason for the Su family's destruction back then."
Su Nianwan's eyelashes trembled, and she remained silent. From childhood to adulthood, Green Face's words had been etched into her cognition. But witnessing two strangers risk their lives to break into this deadly place for an old case that had nothing to do with them, her long-stable beliefs cracked open.
"If hatred only brings destruction, why are they willing to risk their lives to come here?" Chen Yi asked slowly. "They are not descendants of the Su family; they have no blood feud. They simply do not want evildoers to escape with impunity."
In the courtyard, Lin Yan's wounds on his shoulder and waist continued to bleed, and the poison spread more severely. His vision began to blur slightly. Biting his tongue to maintain consciousness through the sharp pain, his dagger still stubbornly resisted the relentless attacks.
"That's enough." Green Face gently swayed the Ghost Thread soft sword in his hand, the faint blue blade trembling slightly. "The game ends here."
As the words fell, Green Face's figure blurred like a shadow, slipping through the gaps between the assassins and lunging straight at Lin Yan. The soft sword's trajectory was erratic and unpredictable; it bypassed the dagger's guard and wound directly toward Lin Yan's wrist holding the blade.
Lin Yan hastily pulled his arm back, but he was still half a beat too slow. The tip of the soft sword grazed his wrist, and a shallow wound instantly appeared. The Ghost Thread sword's poison invaded his body once more. A stronger wave of numbness spread down his arm, and the dagger nearly slipped from his grasp.
"Lin Yan!" Xiao Ge hurriedly swung his dagger at Green Face's side, trying to force him back.
Green Face flicked his wrist lightly, the soft sword spinning back to entangle Xiao Ge's short dagger. With a gentle twist and a sharp clang, the short dagger in Xiao Ge's hand was震飞 (shocked out of his grip) and fell to the ground.
Having lost his weapon, Xiao Ge, now empty-handed, could only retreat. The tip of Green Face's soft sword hovered an inch from Lin Yan's throat, stopping its assault.
"You can no longer resist," Green Face said calmly. "Stop. Don't throw your lives away for nothing."
Upstairs, seeing Lin Yan subdued, Chen Yi's heart tightened. He hesitated no longer, turning and walking quickly toward the stairs.
"Mr. Chen!" Su Nianwan called out to stop him.
Chen Yi paused, turning back to look at her.
"You're going down? What good will it do? You are severely injured," Su Nianwan said, a hint of bewilderment in her voice.
"I cannot watch them die because of my choices," Chen Yi said slowly. "Justice may be hard to obtain, but I cannot bury it with my own hands. Even if we all perish here today, we cannot hand over the roster."
With that, Chen Yi supported himself against the staircase railing, descending the stairs step by step with great difficulty. Every breath tore at his chest with excruciating pain, and his wound continued to bleed, but his spine straightened once again.
Stopping at the courtyard steps, Chen Yi spoke loudly, "Green Face, let them go. I will not hand the roster to you. If you want it, you can only kill me. Once I die, the three copies will be delivered to Shaolin, Wudang, and the Beggar Sect on time, and all your schemes will turn to ashes."
Green Face turned his head slightly, his gaze beneath the mask falling upon Chen Yi. "Have you thought this through? Just a moment ago, you were planning to hand over the roster and settle this matter peacefully."
"I was momentarily confused," Chen Yi said in a deep voice. "I almost forgot that those who died wrongfully have waited for twenty years. I have no right to choose forgiveness on their behalf. Whether Su Nianwan lets go of her hatred is her choice. But I cannot choose to obliterate the evidence of crimes for all the dead."
Su Nianwan stood by the second-floor window, quietly watching everything in the courtyard. She looked at Lin Yan, covered in wounds; at Xiao Ge, who refused to retreat even after losing his weapon; and at Chen Yi, severely wounded and near death, yet having reclaimed his obsession. The cognition built over twenty years was collapsing bit by bit.
Green Face was silent for a moment, then slowly withdrew the Ghost Thread soft sword from Lin Yan's throat.
"Interesting," Green Face murmured. "I thought your obsession had collapsed, but I didn't expect you to be pulled back by these two outsider youths. Since the path of negotiation is a dead end, we can only try a different approach."
He raised his hand to signal the assassins to pause their attack, though they maintained their encirclement formation.
"Chen Yi, since you refuse to hand over the roster, let's change the wager," Green Face said slowly. "A one-on-one duel between you and me. If you win, I will let everyone leave, stop pursuing the roster, and Su Nianwan can freely choose the life she wants. If you lose, the roster belongs to me. Lin Yan and Xiao Ge may live, but they must leave this place immediately and never interfere in the Su family's old affairs again."
Chen Yi gave a bitter smile, looking down at his broken body. "I am severely wounded, my internal organs are damaged, and I can barely stand. For you to propose a solo duel is inherently unfair."
"In Jianghu duels, there is no absolute fairness," Green Face replied lightly. "This is your only chance. Either accept the wager, or I will give the order to attack, and everyone will stay here. Although the copy of the roster will be mailed, none of you will live to see that day."
Lin Yan gasped for breath, trying to speak and dissuade Chen Yi, but the poison had already invaded his throat, making it difficult to even talk.
Chen Yi's gaze swept over the battered Lin Yan and Xiao Ge beside him, then raised his eyes to look at Su Nianwan by the second-floor window. After pondering for a moment, he slowly nodded.
"I accept."
The wind blew through the desolate courtyard, and fallen leaves spiraled down. A duel that would determine the outcome of the twenty-year-old blood case was about to begin in this courtyard, stained with the scars of the past. The sense of dimensional obsession in Lin Yan's heart stabilized once again. He knew clearly that the outcome of this battle would determine whether he could return to the real world.
Lin Yan shifted slightly, standing back-to-back with Xiao Ge. The numbness from the wound on his waist had already spread to his lower abdomen. The poison from the Ghost Thread sword continuously eroded his strength, and his right hand gripping the dagger trembled occasionally. Xiao Ge's old wound on his upper arm had torn open again, warm blood dripping down his forearm onto the dusty ground, seeping into dark spots. The two had just completed a long-distance assault of eighty miles, already at the end of their strength. Now, facing Green Face's elite forces, their situation was extremely perilous.
"Knowing it's a dead end, you still chose to chase us here," Green Face said, holding the Ghost Thread soft sword as he slowly stepped forward. The iron mask reflected the grey-white daylight, his voice perfectly calm. "I gave you a way out, yet you insisted on delivering yourselves back to me."
"Chen Yi cannot hand over the roster," Lin Yan said, his gaze firmly locked onto Green Face. "Once the roster falls into your hands, all leverage against you will vanish. The oaths you made today can be torn up the moment you turn your back."
Xiao Ge gripped his short dagger tightly, his chest heaving. "After twenty years of meticulous planning, how could you possibly intend to keep your word! Brother Chen, you upstairs, think about it carefully! All his promises are built on the premise that the roster is still in our hands!"
On the second-floor windowsill, Chen Yi leaned against the wooden frame, staring down. The hand that had just reached out to touch the roster slowly withdrew. In his previous state of mental turmoil, he had nearly made an irreversible decision. Lin Yan and Xiao Ge, bearing severe injuries, had crossed a hundred miles of mountain roads just to stop him. This sheer resolve struck him hard, jolting him awake from his dilemma.
Su Nianwan stood beside Chen Yi, quietly watching the standoff in the courtyard. For the first time, a ripple appeared in her eyes. The people she had seen since childhood mostly feared Green Face's power and methods. Never had anyone, knowing they were no match, voluntarily broken into this cage.
Green Face lightly raised his hand.
Two assassins immediately dashed out, their short blades thrusting toward Lin Yan and Xiao Ge from the left and right.
Lin Yan quickly shifted sideways, dodging the frontal blade, and his dagger slashed diagonally, precisely chopping at the assassin's wrist holding the weapon. Metal clashed with a piercing, crisp sound. The assassin winced in pain, the short dagger slipping from his hand. Seizing the momentum, Lin Yan turned sideways and drove his elbow heavily into the man's chest. Meanwhile, the other assassin's blade had already approached Xiao Ge's shoulder. Xiao Ge gritted his teeth, turning his body and enduring the pain to raise his dagger to block. The blade grazed his flesh, carving a new wound.
"Don't fight them head-on! Try to stall them!" Lin Yan reminded in a low voice.
The assassins surged forward in endless relays. The two fought back-to-back, covering each other and barely managing to parry. But the gap in stamina grew wider and wider. Before long, Xiao Ge stumbled, unable to dodge in time, and an assassin's blade thrust straight toward his left shoulder.
"Careful!" Lin Yan lunged forward fiercely, taking the blow squarely on his own shoulder to shield Xiao Ge. The blade pierced his flesh, and a wave of agonizing pain exploded. He let out a muffled groan as blood instantly soaked through the coarse cloth on his shoulder.
"Lin Yan!" Xiao Ge's eyes nearly tore from their sockets. He swung his dagger to force back the approaching assassin, guarding Lin Yan's side.
Green Face stood on the outer edge of the encirclement, in no rush to make a move, coldly watching the slaughter. He was not anxious; he would wait for these two youths to exhaust their strength before stepping in to harvest them effortlessly.
By the second-floor window, Chen Yi watched the two fighting desperately in the courtyard, his heart tightening with every beat. What he had sought all his life was justice, yet he had actually intended to compromise earlier, trading the roster for temporary peace. This compromise would have come at the cost of sacrificing Lin Yan and Xiao Ge, and burying the grievances of all those wrongfully deceased.
"Nianwan," Chen Yi turned his head to look at the woman beside him, his voice low. "You said Green Face raised you and showed you grace. But have you ever thought about what the source of that grace is? It is the blood of dozens of your family members. He saved you not out of goodwill, but to keep you as a pawn to absolve the sins of this massacre. As long as you identify him as your benefactor, the world will more easily believe that there was a reason for the Su family's destruction back then."
Su Nianwan's eyelashes trembled, and she remained silent. From childhood to adulthood, Green Face's words had been etched into her cognition. But witnessing two strangers risk their lives to break into this deadly place for an old case that had nothing to do with them, her long-stable beliefs cracked open.
"If hatred only brings destruction, why are they willing to risk their lives to come here?" Chen Yi asked slowly. "They are not descendants of the Su family; they have no blood feud. They simply do not want evildoers to escape with impunity."
In the courtyard, Lin Yan's wounds on his shoulder and waist continued to bleed, and the poison spread more severely. His vision began to blur slightly. Biting his tongue to maintain consciousness through the sharp pain, his dagger still stubbornly resisted the relentless attacks.
"That's enough." Green Face gently swayed the Ghost Thread soft sword in his hand, the faint blue blade trembling slightly. "The game ends here."
As the words fell, Green Face's figure blurred like a shadow, slipping through the gaps between the assassins and lunging straight at Lin Yan. The soft sword's trajectory was erratic and unpredictable; it bypassed the dagger's guard and wound directly toward Lin Yan's wrist holding the blade.
Lin Yan hastily pulled his arm back, but he was still half a beat too slow. The tip of the soft sword grazed his wrist, and a shallow wound instantly appeared. The Ghost Thread sword's poison invaded his body once more. A stronger wave of numbness spread down his arm, and the dagger nearly slipped from his grasp.
"Lin Yan!" Xiao Ge hurriedly swung his dagger at Green Face's side, trying to force him back.
Green Face flicked his wrist lightly, the soft sword spinning back to entangle Xiao Ge's short dagger. With a gentle twist and a sharp clang, the short dagger in Xiao Ge's hand was震飞 (shocked out of his grip) and fell to the ground.
Having lost his weapon, Xiao Ge, now empty-handed, could only retreat. The tip of Green Face's soft sword hovered an inch from Lin Yan's throat, stopping its assault.
"You can no longer resist," Green Face said calmly. "Stop. Don't throw your lives away for nothing."
Upstairs, seeing Lin Yan subdued, Chen Yi's heart tightened. He hesitated no longer, turning and walking quickly toward the stairs.
"Mr. Chen!" Su Nianwan called out to stop him.
Chen Yi paused, turning back to look at her.
"You're going down? What good will it do? You are severely injured," Su Nianwan said, a hint of bewilderment in her voice.
"I cannot watch them die because of my choices," Chen Yi said slowly. "Justice may be hard to obtain, but I cannot bury it with my own hands. Even if we all perish here today, we cannot hand over the roster."
With that, Chen Yi supported himself against the staircase railing, descending the stairs step by step with great difficulty. Every breath tore at his chest with excruciating pain, and his wound continued to bleed, but his spine straightened once again.
Stopping at the courtyard steps, Chen Yi spoke loudly, "Green Face, let them go. I will not hand the roster to you. If you want it, you can only kill me. Once I die, the three copies will be delivered to Shaolin, Wudang, and the Beggar Sect on time, and all your schemes will turn to ashes."
Green Face turned his head slightly, his gaze beneath the mask falling upon Chen Yi. "Have you thought this through? Just a moment ago, you were planning to hand over the roster and settle this matter peacefully."
"I was momentarily confused," Chen Yi said in a deep voice. "I almost forgot that those who died wrongfully have waited for twenty years. I have no right to choose forgiveness on their behalf. Whether Su Nianwan lets go of her hatred is her choice. But I cannot choose to obliterate the evidence of crimes for all the dead."
Su Nianwan stood by the second-floor window, quietly watching everything in the courtyard. She looked at Lin Yan, covered in wounds; at Xiao Ge, who refused to retreat even after losing his weapon; and at Chen Yi, severely wounded and near death, yet having reclaimed his obsession. The cognition built over twenty years was collapsing bit by bit.
Green Face was silent for a moment, then slowly withdrew the Ghost Thread soft sword from Lin Yan's throat.
"Interesting," Green Face murmured. "I thought your obsession had collapsed, but I didn't expect you to be pulled back by these two outsider youths. Since the path of negotiation is a dead end, we can only try a different approach."
He raised his hand to signal the assassins to pause their attack, though they maintained their encirclement formation.
"Chen Yi, since you refuse to hand over the roster, let's change the wager," Green Face said slowly. "A one-on-one duel between you and me. If you win, I will let everyone leave, stop pursuing the roster, and Su Nianwan can freely choose the life she wants. If you lose, the roster belongs to me. Lin Yan and Xiao Ge may live, but they must leave this place immediately and never interfere in the Su family's old affairs again."
Chen Yi gave a bitter smile, looking down at his broken body. "I am severely wounded, my internal organs are damaged, and I can barely stand. For you to propose a solo duel is inherently unfair."
"In Jianghu duels, there is no absolute fairness," Green Face replied lightly. "This is your only chance. Either accept the wager, or I will give the order to attack, and everyone will stay here. Although the copy of the roster will be mailed, none of you will live to see that day."
Lin Yan gasped for breath, trying to speak and dissuade Chen Yi, but the poison had already invaded his throat, making it difficult to even talk.
Chen Yi's gaze swept over the battered Lin Yan and Xiao Ge beside him, then raised his eyes to look at Su Nianwan by the second-floor window. After pondering for a moment, he slowly nodded.
"I accept."
The wind blew through the desolate courtyard, and fallen leaves spiraled down. A duel that would determine the outcome of the twenty-year-old blood case was about to begin in this courtyard, stained with the scars of the past. The sense of dimensional obsession in Lin Yan's heart stabilized once again. He knew clearly that the outcome of this battle would determine whether he could return to the real world.