Time To Confess

The dark clouds gathered, obscuring one’s vision. There wasn’t enough light to see anything and the wind blowing past the ears made it hard to hear.

People were fighting somewhere close by, but besides the occasional spark caused by the collision between swords and spears, Song Caitang felt like a blind person. She couldn’t see a single thing.

She clung onto Zhao Zhi’s clothes and did her best to open her eyes as wide as she could. She really wanted to see who the killer was.

Zhao Zhi’s chest moved up and down with his breathing, then he suddenly let out a chuckle before whispering into her ear, “It’s him.”

The two clearly spoken words that entered her ear along with a breath of warm air instantly put her at ease and warmed her heart.

She calmed down in an instant and let out a small sigh of relief as her eyes twinkled. She finally realized it was really cold, so she brought her hands together closer and pulled herself closer to Zhao Zhi.

Zhao Zhi froze for a moment when he felt something cold and slippery under his chin turn into something warm. It was the top of Song Caitang’s head.

She had a lovely head of hair that was jet black, thick, neat and smooth. It was as smooth as silk, or as shiny as jade…

Zhao Zhi’s heart skipped a beat.

He felt like… he couldn’t bear to let her go, but didn’t dare to go any closer either.

It was hard to say if Zhuang Qingyu had noticed some other movement here or if he had randomly chosen any direction that seemed safer, but he kept coming toward them.

Zhao Zhi frowned slightly as he leaped past a tree, found a good spot and gently put Song Caitang down. In that split second, he had already calculated which spot would be best to hide her while sheltering her from the cold winds and still allow her to have a good view of what was going on…

Song Caitang suddenly went into a daze.

The man before her seemed to have done nothing, but he had also thought of everything.

She felt like… she had just been placed in the safest spot possible.

Zhao Zhi did not say anything and did not give her any instructions either. Once he put her down, he turned and flew out to catch Zhuang Qingyu.

Clang!

As the metallic weapons collided, bright and dangerous sparks flew.

That was enough light for Song Caitang to see Zhao Zhi’s furious gaze, as well as Zhuang Qingyu’s slightly trembling hands.

If this was a battle of strength, Zhuang Qingyu was going to lose.

But Zhuang Qingyu was a martial artist who had lived in danger all his life. He wasn’t going to admit defeat just like that.

He made use of the impact to spin around, take two steps back, then leap into the air again. He gripped his weapon tightly and used all his strength to thrust it toward Zhao Zhi from above.

Clang!!

This time, the sound was even louder and there were even more sparks.

Zhao Zhi held his sword up and defended himself easily. He was like a mountain – not only had he not even shifted his feet, but his back was still as straight as ever.

“You’re a commandery prince, a blood relative of the emperor, a man with so much authority and power. Yet, you’re working so hard because of a martial artist? Why?”

Zhuang Qingyu spoke patiently and sounded like he wanted to negotiate with Zhao Zhi.

But Zhao Zhi ignored him and didn’t respond. He flipped his wrist, causing Zhuang Qingyu to flip as well. At the same time, he thrust his sword forward without mercy.

Even though Zhuang Qingyu was agile and did a beautiful flip in the air, Zhao Zhi’s move wounded his arm.

He narrowed his eyes and glared murderously at Zhao Zhi.

Song Caitang couldn’t see Zhuang Qingyu’s expression, but she could hear what he said.

He had found out who Zhao Zhi was already?

These martial artists had really amazing channels of information.

But despite knowing exactly who Zhao Zhi was, he still dared to attack Zhao Zhi like that? This young man really had guts.

As these thoughts ran through her mind, she sensed someone looking at her.

Zhuang Qingyu chuckled, “Ah… so, it’s not for the sake of a martial artist but someone else.”

She couldn’t see his gaze, but Zhao Zhi could. A murderous look instantly filled his eyes as he brandished his sword at Zhuang Qingyu quickly and very fiercely.

Zhuang Qingyu knew he was no match for Zhao Zhi, so he didn’t fight back and hurriedly retreated.

But even though he was in danger and was trying to dodge a fierce attack, he managed to make a snide remark along the way, “You won’t even let me take a look? Tsk, what a petty man!”

The Night Sanctum was a martial arts sect after all, so while it would take a while to realize what was going on, they wouldn’t take too long to react.

In no time, a huge number of flaming torches could be seen coming from all directions. The night was now as bright as day.

Song Caitang spotted a lot of people.

Besides the sect’s guards, the one leading the way was the Young Mistress of the sect, Ye Nan, along with Xin Yongwang, Hua Rong, Xi Rui and the little boy, as well as all their servants.

As their leader, Ye Nan stood right in front so that she could see exactly what was going on. She immediately flew ahead to join the fight.

Since Zhuang Qingyu already knew who Zhao Zhi was, Ye Nan would have found out by now too.

Regardless of whether Zhao Zhi was a capable fighter or not, she couldn’t afford to let a man who was both a relative of the emperor and an ex-army general conferred the title of commandery prince for his contributions to the nation to die or even get injured on her turf!

Ye Nan came charging fiercely and dashed straight for Zhuang Qingyu, as though she had come to help Zhao Zhi.

But sometimes, helping only made things worse.

However, Zhao Zhi knew that she still didn’t know why this fight was even happening, so he didn’t get angry and just made sure he didn’t hurt her by accident.

At the same time, he took the time to look around at the crowd that had gathered. Everyone was here.

His own men had surrounded the place, so it would be very hard for Zhuang Qingyu to get away. He might as well reveal the truth right now and save him and Song Caitang all that trouble.

Zhuang Qingyu noticed that Zhao Zhi was making sure everyone was here and figured out what Zhao Zhi wanted to do, so he seized the chance to turn and attack Ye Nan instead. He unleashed his best move. He had to kill her!

Ye Nan got a shock. Why was this man doing this?!

She was confused and hesitated, so Zhuang Qingyu managed to strike her shoulder hard as she tried to dodge him.

“Young Mistress, watch out!” Xin Yongwang came forward, pulled Ye Nan aside and put himself in Zhuang Qingyu’s way. “I’ll do this!”

Xi Rui held the child in her arms and watched everything unfold before her with fear in her heart.

So many people had surrounded Zhuang Qingyu and were attacking him. The tall man right in the middle seemed to be the best fighter among them and everyone seemed wary of him. At the same time, Song Caitang had emerged from the shadows with a confident look on her face…

Could it be that she knew the truth?

Xi Rui clutched the child tightly and her voice trembled slightly, “Gosh, I can’t believe you’re still saying mushy things at such a time! We already know how intimate you are with the sect’s Young Mistress, so you don’t have to remind us!”

As always, she made unwelcome remarks. But unlike how she used to speak with confidence, she looked like she was trying to use volume to hide her fear.

She was clearly scared.

The child in her arms seemed to feel uneasy and began to whimper. He only quietened down after she patted him a little too hard.

Everyone was focused on the fight, so nobody noticed her expression or her actions.

But also, nobody cared about what she said.

The Night Sanctum only listened to Ye Nan. Who the hell was Xi Rui? Who even cared!

Hua Rong got anxious when he saw that Ye Nan might be injured and started yelling at the guards and servants to help, “Are all of you dead or something?! Your Young Mistress is hurt! Are you going to just stand there?!”

Of course the guards had seen that. But they were in a unique situation. Everyone from the sect was ready to fight, but so were the members of Zhuang Thunder Pavilion!

Their leaders could fight all they want. But if the leaders did not give any orders, the subordinates wouldn’t dare to move.

What if everyone suddenly started fighting and it became a bloodbath? How were they going to deal with the mess after that?

But while that was true in theory, in reality, danger was about to befall them, so who cared about all that?

The guards were riled up when they saw that their leader was hurt, so they too, raised their weapons and charged toward Zhuang Qingyu.

Zhuang Qingyu had not brought a lot of people with him, but they were his best fighters. They weren’t going to let others attack them, and they were here to protect their own leader too.

The fight escalated within seconds and turned chaotic almost instantly.

Everything came to a stop when Zhao Zhi placed his sword against Zhuang Qingyu’s neck. “Enough!”

Ye Nan waved her hand hard to tell her own sect members to stop fighting.

The members of Zhuang Thunder Pavilion stopped as well. After all, their own leader was now held hostage and the other party had also backed off.

The entire place suddenly fell silent.

It was eerily silent.

Everyone exchanged glances. But their expressions were all different.

Those who didn’t have a guilty conscience were calm and confident. They were a little curious but definitely not scared or uneasy.

Those who had a guilty conscience were different. They had shifty eyes, they were extremely tense, and they were clearly very stressed out. It was as though they were going to suffer a mental breakdown if they couldn’t say something and put themselves in a more favorable light right now.

Xi Rui was the one who caved in first and pointed a finger at Ye Nan. “Look at the kind of friends you have! How could he place his sword on Pavilion Master Zhuang’s neck with no regard for him! And it’s in the middle of the night too! Doesn’t he know that Pavilion Master Zhuang was Xingjian’s best friend?”

It seemed like speaking very loudly and hurling verbal abuse at others was the way Xi Rui elevated her existence and emboldened herself. As she spoke, her voice increased in volume and she grew more and more confident, “Xingjian’s body hasn’t even been buried and you can’t wait to kill his best friend as well? What an evil woman you are!”

Ye Nan ignored her.

She had plenty of questions in her mind too. She respected Zhao Zhi and didn’t want to offend him, but she really couldn’t understand why he was behaving like this.

Why was he so angry with Zhuang Qingyu?

Zhao Zhi had come all the way here because of Song Caitang.

And Song Caitang was stuck here because she was helping to crack Liao Xingjian’s case.

Could it be…

Her confused thoughts slowly merged toward one direction.

Ye Nan clenched her fists and pursed her lips tightly, a little afraid of her own thoughts.

Song Caitang knew what Zhao Zhi was trying to do. She was thinking of doing the same.

This case had dragged on for too long already, so it was best to end it as quickly as possible.

She chuckled, then looked at Xi Rui and said, “I can’t believe you’re still standing with your head high after stealing what belongs to others and taking advantage of someone else. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone this thick-skinned.”

“Madam Xi, you’ve really opened my eyes to a whole new world.”

Xi Rui had a guilty conscience, so she reacted badly immediately. “What do you mean by that! I’m warning you, you’d better watch your words!”

She clutched the child even harder because she was tense. The child couldn’t take it and burst out crying.

Song Caitang frowned slightly. She tilted her head just a little to secretly throw Zhao Zhi a glance.

He got what she was trying to tell him.

Xi Rui was holding a child in her arms and it was better not to agitate her now. For the sake of the child’s safety, it was best to shift their attention to someone else first.

Zhao Zhi moved his sword upward by an inch to force Zhuang Qingyu to look at Xi Rui. “I suppose Pavilion Master Zhuang is very familiar with this woman?”

Zhuang Qingyu threw Xi Rui a dirty stare and snapped, “You fool!”

Song Caitang didn’t ask any questions and Xi Rui did not admit to who she really was and what she had done, but the way they reacted to one another was enough for everyone to fill in the blanks.

Everyone’s expressions were different. Some of them still looked equally confused, while some fell into deep thought, like they could foresee what was to come.

Ye Nan’s gaze moved between Xi Rui and Zhuang Qingyu several times. She wasn’t entirely sure of the details, but she seemed to realize one thing. She pointed a trembling finger at Zhuang Qingyu, “So… it was you!”

You were the one who killed Xingjian!

Zhuang Qingyu looked at her and suddenly burst out laughing. “Why do you think it’s me? What have you done to betray me?”

His sinister stare and antagonistic words made Ye Nan’s heart sink.

Zhao Zhi seized this opportunity to use his left hand that was folded behind his back to give instructions to his men.

Shadows immediately started moving in the darkness and approached Xi Rui silently…

Of course, nobody noticed them at all.

Zhao Zhi raised an eyebrow at Zhuang Qingyu. “Enough of this nonsense. It’s time to confess.”

Zhuang Qingyu lowered his gaze and let out a slow laugh, which sounded really creepy in the middle of the night. “Confess? What’s there to confess? I don’t understand what you mean.”

“We’ve come to a point where it’s meaningless to deny anything,” said Zhao Zhi quietly. “I thought you would have realized that by now.”

Zhuang Qingyu was silent for a moment, then chuckled. “Forget it.”

He raised his head and looked past Zhao Zhi to stare at Song Caitang, who wasn’t standing too far away.

“I’m not surprised that you were able to deduce it was me, but I didn’t expect you to realize it so quickly…”

Zhao Zhi didn’t seem to like the look in his eyes, so he shifted his sword slightly, forcing Zhuang Qingyu to turn his face away.

Zhuang Qingyu scoffed, but he didn’t do anything to offend Zhao Zhi further and his expression grew calm. “I can come clean if you want. We’re martial artists, you’re from the government. The two worlds don’t interfere in each other’s business, but the principle of an eye for an eye, or returning what you borrowed, holds true in any world. I will own up to what I’ve done, but we’ve got to get things in the right order first.”

He narrowed his eyes and glared at Ye Nan sinisterly. “Why don’t we ask this lady over here to admit her guilt first?”

Ye Nan stared at him blankly.

What was she guilty of? And it was something that Zhuang Qingyu knew about?

“Stop pretending,” Zhuang Qingyu threw her a look of disgust before making it obvious, “Six years ago. How did Hongfeng die?”

Hongfeng…

Ye Nan was confused. “What has this got to do with Hongfeng?”

“Stop pretending that you’re innocent!” Zhuang Qingyu gnashed his teeth, his expression filled with hatred. “She died protecting her precious employer? What utter nonsense! You and Liao Xingjian killed her, didn’t you?”

“What’s this, a servant means they’re not human? You didn’t run into that big a crisis and you weren’t on the brink of death. You and Liao Xingjian were more than capable of getting through it. But you were too lazy to fight? So, you got your servants to fight for you instead?”

He didn’t care if other people died. He didn’t care if the two he was accusing had caused the deaths of other servants. But not Hongfeng!

Ye Nan and Liao Xingjian always talked about how they had to be loyal to their own, how they must protect their own people, how they always treated even their subordinates equally and how they never bullied them. Yet, they still did such a thing!

Ye Nan furrowed her brows. “Where did you hear that from?”

“Who did I hear that from?” Zhuang Qingyu scoffed. “You can ask anybody about what happened back then and you’d find out the truth!”

Ye Nan pressed a palm against her forehead. “Then you must be mistaken.”

Before Zhuang Qingyu could retort, she went on, “It’s true that we had run into an incident at that time. An old enemy tried to attack us and heavy rains caused a flood. But like you said, things were not very severe and we were able to get through it without much injury even.”

“We were able to force our enemies to retreat and we dodged the flood. The people who came with us were mostly unharmed, including Hongfeng. But…”

Ye Nan paused for a moment and looked like she really didn’t want to talk about it. But she had to.

“After everything was over, I gave our subordinates a few days off so that they could have some fun. Hongfeng was allowed to take a break too, so she happily went shopping and drinking.”

“We had confirmed that we were in a safe place. Nobody was following us and we weren’t in enemy territory, plus everyone we brought along knew martial arts, so nothing bad would happen by just having some fun in the small town we were in. Some of them decided to go around together, while some went about by themselves. Hongfeng had never gotten into any trouble, regardless of whether she went out by herself or with a group. But one day, all of them went drinking together and knocked themselves out. Perhaps Hongfeng didn’t watch where she was going because she was too drunk, so she ended up wandering to the river by herself and slipped in by accident… and drowned to death.”

Ye Nan felt that what happened back then was such a tragedy. They had survived several dangers, yet…

But sometimes life was just like that. There was nothing one could do about such unexpected tragedies.

Back then, she had cried terribly over Hongfeng’s death. But since she couldn’t bring her back to life, she decided to make sure that those who were living were proud of Hongfeng even though she had passed on.

Ye Nan shut her eyes. “Ever since she was a child, Hongfeng had always wanted to become a hero, to be an upright martial artist who helped others. I grew up with her and we were as close as sisters, so I knew she would never have wanted to die this way. So, I made sure that nobody in the group back then said a word about how she had really died, and I told everyone that she had died trying to save me. That she was a loyal subordinate who protected her employer, an upright and laudable woman.”