On a bitterly cold winter night, the sparse naked stars pitifully adorned the black canvas, shimmering with a cold light.
Shi Yi stealthily swept across the night sky, arriving outside the cottage where Jiang Shouzhong was staying.
The darkness of the moon and the height of the wind make it a treacherous night.
Listening to the prolonged breathing inside the house, Shi Yi's eyes flashed with a fierce glow.
He adjusted the black cloth covering his face upwards.
Honestly, for a master of the Small Mystical Sect to come and punish an ordinary person with no martial arts, it was indeed far beneath his dignity, and Shi Yi truly felt stifled.
But if not him, surely they couldn't let his master do it.
Unless the other party was a woman.
—A beautiful woman.
Shi Yi's fingers gently swept over the shiny blade in his hand, feeling the chill of the blade, hesitated for a moment, then sheathed the long sword and found a wooden stick nearby, as thick as a child's arm.
The master had said to just break the other's leg.
It was to avenge the koi.
Although Shi Yi felt that such punishment was too light, since his master had decided to spare the person inside the house, he would not take it upon himself to do anything extra.
Shi Yi placed his palm on the door, giving it a gentle shake, and the door bolt was unlocked.
Should he break the left leg, or the right leg?
He was still struggling with the decision.
At one point, Shi Yi was even lost in thought, imagining how, in a few days, he would toy with the second daughter of the noodle shop owner.
Pity that girl was a bit too young.
Just as Shi Yi was about to push the door open, a sudden alertness surged in his heart.
Without time to think, his body instinctively flipped backward in a hollow backflip. As soon as his toes touched the ground, he immediately drew the long sword from his waist and slashed diagonally.
The glistening sword light like a waterfall carved a dazzling arc in the dark night.
However, the strike cleaved through empty air.
The man in black clothing nervously scanned the silent surroundings, his ears pounding with the thuds of his heartbeat.
Cold sweat trickled down his temples, moistening the black cloth on his face.
He was certain that something had just surged forward.
What in the world was it?
Shi Yi was about to rush into the house, but the next moment, he froze in place, shocked to see a jade hairpin hovering in front of the cottage door!
The air was thick with Sword Qi, and the faint outline of a long sword could be seen.
A flying sword!!
Shi Yi was shocked, as if facing a great enemy.
In the nine realms of martial arts, only a grandmaster who had entered the Heaven Desolation Boundary could control a sword.
Terrified, Shi Yi didn't even dare to take another glance at his opponent and hurriedly leaped up, using the eaves behind him as leverage to turn and escape into the night sky.
The flying sword emitted a soft hum, dragging its sword shadow in pursuit.
Feeling the intense killing intent closing in from behind him, Shi Yi was horrified, inwardly cursing his fate.
In desperation, he took out a talisman, bit his tongue, spat fresh blood on the talisman, and then slapped it heavily onto his chest.
Shi Yi's speed surged dramatically.
Meanwhile, blood also spurted from his seven orifices, his face appearing especially gruesome. Clearly, he was burning his own True Yuan to claim a slim chance of survival.
...
On the outskirts of the Capital, Cloud Lake.
The calm surface of the lake was nearly solidified, like a massive black mirror reflecting the soft distant lights of Wuchan Temple and the vague shadows of trees along the shore.
The small boat quietly floated on the lake.
Occasional weak moonlight slipped through the gaps in the clouds, casting fragmented shadows on the boat, outlining the seductive figure of the woman aboard.
Li Guanshi held a flask he had gotten from Li Nanshuang, sipping from it.
Swish!
The woman suddenly threw the flask into the lake.
A streak of liquor trailed down.
Li Guanshi lazily moved his fingers to wipe off the cool liquor on his cheek, his delicate tongue sweeping over his fingertips, and with a slight suck of his red lips, he exuded an unintentional yet provocative charm.
The flask sank into the lake.
Gradually, ripples appeared at the center of the lake.
A swath of bright red skirt unfolded slowly like a vibrant rose, resplendent and enchanting.
"Is there something you want?"
The woman in red stared at Li Guanshi, her tone icy cold.
Li Guanshi looked up at the thick clouds in the sky, the corners of his lips curling into a smile, "After all, it was I who let you out of that house. Is this the attitude you show towards your benefactor?"
The woman in red scoffed, "Unsolicited favors, if not treacherous, then thievish."
His counterpart's attitude did not upset Li Guanshi, as he straightforwardly said, "I let you out because I want you to help me find someone, a person... only you can find."
"Why should I help you?"
The woman in red looked down at the unequaled beauty in the boat beneath her, filled with both jealousy towards another woman and her own pride, "You think you're worthy of ordering me around? You're just a whore who flits from man to man!"
Li Guanshi grinned, "It's been a long time since someone dared to curse me to my face so brazenly. You're quite bold."
The woman in red let out a derisive snort.
In terms of cultivation, she was naturally no match for Li Guanshi.
But now that her demon soul had merged with this lake, she might not win, but she could hide.
Six hundred years ago, a powerful official usurped the throne, drowning the former Empress Dowager, the Empress, the Emperor, the Princesses, and even a host of royals and some ministers—over nine hundred people in this lake, sparing not even the infants in their swaddling.
Due to the resentment of the true dragon, a great dragon demon appeared in this lake.
Later, as the demon energy waned, the great demon fell.
But now, as the demon energy recovered, there was still a third of the demonic dragon's evil spirit left in this lake, and she had devoured seventy percent of it. If Li Guanshi truly wanted to kill her, it wouldn't be easy.
Just as the woman in red mocked, she suddenly noticed a thin silver needle in front of her, firmly locking her life essence.
The woman in red's face showed terror, and she sought to dive under the water to escape, only to find she was paralyzed, unable to move.
Li Guanshi rolled up his sleeve, revealing a fair arm as delicate as frost against snow, and reached out of the cabin. His almost transparent fingertips gently combed through the lake water, the movements exceptionally gentle.
Suddenly, countless water blades made from lake water flew up.
They soared towards the woman in red.
The sharp water blades mercilessly sliced off a piece of flesh from the woman in red.
Before the woman in red could scream, the other water blades, as if manipulated by expert executioners, continued cutting off pieces of her flesh.
The actions were gentle yet ruthless, precise yet horrifying.
Blood dropped, staining the lake water red.
Li Guanshi showed no emotion, his fingers absently winding around a lock of hair, gazing blankly into the night sky.
The woman in red first screamed, then began to beg, then to curse, soon she cried out in pleading, and finally fell silent, occasionally letting out only a pitiful sob.
Until the last piece of flesh was carved from the woman's body, leaving behind only a skeletal framework.
The skeleton was enveloped in strands of pink aura.
A pink-skinned skeleton, a skeleton draped in pink!
Only then did Li Guanshi turn his gaze to the woman turned skeleton, asking softly with a grin, "Now, can you agree to help me?"
The skeleton nodded.
"In life, you bore the guise of a cheap woman, and in death, you still bear the guise of a cheap woman."
Li Guanshi chuckled lightly and waved his hand gently.
The chunks of flesh in the lake flew up, reattaching to the woman's body, just as a craftsman might restore a gilded statue of a Bodhisattva. She quickly returned to her previously captivating and bewitching appearance.
The blood also transformed into a red wedding gown, covering the woman's tempting body.
The woman in red knelt on the surface of the lake, shivering uncontrollably, her eyes devoid of their former defiance. She trembled as she spoke, "The True Man may command me as he wishes, even through a mountain of blades or a sea of flames, Mengniang shall not shy away."
"Very good."
Li Guanshi's eyes softened.
Just as she was about to speak, her brow furrowed slightly, and her gaze shifted toward a spot on the shore of Cloud Lake.
A big man drenched in blood, wearing a masked black robe, stumbled and ran wildly.
Behind him pursued a jade hairpin flying sword.
The flying sword, as if suddenly sensing something, stopped chasing the man in black robe and turned back.
But in the next instant, the jade hairpin was held back by a mysterious force.
Trembling incessantly, unable to break free.
Li Guanshi raised her hand and collected the jade hairpin between her fingers, her expression momentarily distracted.
"Has that girl really died?"
The woman murmured to herself.
Seeing the crisis averted, Shi Yi heaved a sigh of relief, about to give his thanks with a clasped fist, but instead saw the woman on the boat lightly sway her sleeve.
The body of the big man in black robe suddenly burst open, exploding into a cloud of blood mist.