Chapter 1-13

As Bai Shixuan began climbing back up the mountain, the sound of swords clashing gradually grew more distant. Since he was still only a child, running uphill quickly made his heart feel as though it might burst.

‘Hoo. Should this be far enough?’

He was too exhausted to keep running uphill. Bai Shixuan stopped running and began walking instead. As he walked as quickly as he could, he could clearly tell that he was putting more distance between himself and the two men.

‘Huh?’

After walking for quite some time, Bai Shixuan stopped and listened carefully. It had not been very long, yet the sound of clashing swords had already disappeared. Had he really gotten that far away already? Or had the duel already ended? He hoped it was the former, but the latter seemed far more likely.

‘Damn it.’

Would Jiang Zhilong come after him? First, he had to hide. No matter how fast the young Bai Shixuan ran, there was no way he could escape Jiang Zhilong, who possessed internal energy. He had no choice but to hide and hope Jiang Zhilong failed to find him, or pray that the man simply left. Bai Shixuan looked around briefly, then immediately moved toward a densely wooded area. There, he pressed himself against a tree and concealed his body.

‘Please, just leave.’

Trying desperately to calm his heart, which felt ready to burst, he swallowed dryly. As Bai Shixuan watched his surroundings with a tense expression, sounds gradually began reaching his ears.

“Hmm. Where could he have gone?”

‘It’s him.’

He had come after all. Bai Shixuan had never imagined Jiang Zhilong would truly come to kill him.

Holding even his breath, Bai Shixuan slowly began peeking at Jiang Zhilong. His clothes were soaked in blood. And in his left hand, he was carrying Cao Zhenshi’s corpse. Blood was still steadily pouring from Cao Zhenshi’s body. Jiang Zhilong continued moving while carrying the corpse, looking around his surroundings.

‘Hup!’

Feeling that if he kept watching any longer he might meet Jiang Zhilong’s searching gaze, Bai Shixuan hurriedly pulled his head back behind the tree. He exhaled as quietly as possible through his nose, then held his breath again, repeating the process until he once more heard Jiang Zhilong begin to move.

“Did he already get away? Should I just go back, then? He’s not even someone I need to kill.”

‘Yes. Hurry up and leave. There’s no need to kill someone like me.’

Hope gradually began to rise within Bai Shixuan at Jiang Zhilong’s words. At the same time, Jiang Zhilong’s footsteps began growing more distant. Was he finally leaving?

“Puhah.”

Bai Shixuan released the breath he had been holding. It had truly been unbearable. That brief span of time had felt like an entire shichen—two hours—to him. He calmed his aching chest after holding his breath, leaned his back against the tree, and lifted his head to look up at the sky.

“Ghk!”

“Found you.”

He was there. Bai Shixuan saw Jiang Zhilong hanging upside down from a tree branch, staring down at him. Cao Zhenshi’s corpse was still in his hand.

“I-I don’t know anything.”

“Hmm? Is that so? Then why did you run?”

The words came out instinctively, and Jiang Zhilong smiled as he dropped down. The moment Jiang Zhilong landed on the ground, Bai Shixuan immediately fell to his knees and bowed his head. It was humiliating. But he wanted to live. He did not want to die here like this.

“What’s this?”

“P-please spare me.”

“Hmm. You’re different from Cao Zhenshi. Well, you’re Cao Zhenshi’s sword attendant, not Cao Zhenshi himself, so I suppose that’s natural. How old are you?”

“Eight.”

Bai Shixuan answered Jiang Zhilong’s question without raising his head. At Bai Shixuan’s answer, Jiang Zhilong silently looked down at him.

“You’re young. Raise your head. I won’t kill you.”

When Jiang Zhilong spoke while watching the trembling Bai Shixuan, Bai Shixuan cautiously raised his head and looked at his face. Jiang Zhilong squatted in front of him and stared at him with a smile.

“Do you know why I’m so obsessed with this guy?”

“I-I don’t.”

“Curious?”

“N-no. No, no. I’m curious.”

He was not curious at all. But Jiang Zhilong’s expression changed at his negative answer, so Bai Shixuan hurriedly changed his response. Jiang Zhilong nodded in satisfaction at Bai Shixuan’s answer.

“Mm. There was a woman I liked quite a lot, and she was a courtesan. Ah, but she didn’t sell her body. She was the kind of woman who merely sat beside customers, talked with them, and sold smiles. I was her first man. So I wanted to buy her freedom. But my father refused my request, and in the end, I had no choice but to start earning money in this world.”

At Jiang Zhilong’s mention of a courtesan, Bai Shixuan inexplicably began to feel uneasy.

“I earned money to give her freedom, then returned to that pleasure house. But she wasn’t there. They said she was dead. Heh. Isn’t that funny? So I looked into it. I investigated however I could, and it turned out this bastard was the culprit. He came there carrying a huge amount of money and spent a night with her. That damned madam was blinded by money and broke her promise with me. They said the amount Cao Zhenshi offered was close to the price of buying her freedom outright. Of course the madam agreed. If she lent the girl out for just one night, she would receive the girl’s full price without even having to sell her. Do you know what happened to that pleasure house that night?”

When Jiang Zhilong looked at Bai Shixuan and asked, Bai Shixuan shook his head. Of course he knew. Naturally, the pleasure house must have disappeared. But he had to pretend he knew as little as possible. He had to act as though he truly knew nothing at all.

“And after that, I kept searching for this bastard. I didn’t kill him right away. I tormented him however I could, but when I saw him today, he had lost the will to live. So I killed him. What do you think? Do you understand how I feel now?”

At Jiang Zhilong’s question, Bai Shixuan nodded rapidly. He had to agree with him however he could and survive.

“Hehehehe. Don’t make me laugh! What would a brat like you know?!”

Jiang Zhilong had been watching Bai Shixuan’s reaction with a smile, but suddenly his face twisted. He grabbed Bai Shixuan by the throat and lifted him into the air.

“Ghk, khk!”

He could not breathe. Bai Shixuan desperately tried to exhale, but Jiang Zhilong’s grip around his throat was so strong that he could not breathe at all. Just in case, he had hidden the dagger Cao Zhenshi gave him inside his right sleeve, but it seemed as though he would die without even getting a chance to use it.

‘Then maybe his hand…….’

It seemed impossible to drive the dagger into Jiang Zhilong’s forehead and kill him instantly. In that case, perhaps he could instead cut the hand gripping his throat. Even if Bai Shixuan grabbed Jiang Zhilong’s arm, Jiang Zhilong would probably assume he was merely clutching at it because he was suffering.

“Sorry, but you’ll have to die now. You heard too much. Blame your master for going on ahead of you.”

Through his rapidly fading consciousness, Bai Shixuan dimly heard Jiang Zhilong’s voice. Desperately clinging to the edge of consciousness as he felt himself about to pass out, Bai Shixuan brought both hands toward Jiang Zhilong’s hand.