Chapter 1 When Regret Arrived

As the sword's edge sliced across Liu Xilai's throat, only two words remained in his mind: "regret."

Only those with attachments can feel regret.

What Liu Xilai was concerned about wasn't his own life.

More than twenty years ago, from the moment he was defeated by the "Purple Bamboo Hermit," he considered himself a dead man.

And when he had lost everything, it was the Xie family who extended a helping hand, allowing him to live again as a human being.

Therefore, the life he lived after that was not for himself, but for the Xie family... for the sake of repaying their kindness.

More than his own life, Liu Xilai cared about the honor, disgrace, gains, and losses of the Xie family.

Unfortunately, he still failed to protect Xie Wuhua.

Liu Xilai was indeed old. Before the age of forty, his "all-seeing eyes and ears" had never made a mistake. The only time he misjudged an opponent's strength was after the age of forty; and that one misjudgment directly led to the end of his journey in the martial world.

Today, he had misjudged again, and this time the mistake... was even more serious.

Before Leng Yuqiu said, "Where to strike, when to strike, and who to kill... are all my freedom," Liu Xilai still believed that the situation was under control.

But when those words came out, Leng Yuqiu's aura changed...

At that moment, he no longer concealed his surging sword intent, nor did he hide his killing intent.

It was also at this moment that Liu Xilai discovered something, a terrifying thing—Leng Yuqiu's martial arts cultivation was much higher than he had estimated… much, much higher!

From the beginning... Leng Yuqiu had not been meditating on the bed, but practicing his sword.

Perhaps some would wonder, can a person sitting on a bed, legs crossed, eyes closed... be considered practicing the sword?

Generally speaking… no.

But Leng Yuqiu was obviously not within this "general" category.

When a person's martial arts reached a certain realm, their method of practice was no longer confined to form; for that kind of person, the cultivation of "form" was less efficient than the cultivation of "intent."

Of course, that kind of person was rare, a phoenix feather or unicorn horn in the entire martial world; even Xie Xiuwen, the current head of the Xie family, had not yet reached this realm.

However, Leng Yuqiu, this man who appeared to be only around thirty years old, already possessed such cultivation.

Therefore, Liu Xilai, understanding all of this, quickly changed his attitude and tried to escape; he thought... with the Xie family's reputation and his own humble attitude... the other party wouldn't attack because of such a minor offense.

However, Leng Yuqiu's next words made Liu Bo feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

Not only did he refuse to let them leave, but he also explained that the reason he killed Ma Dahu was because he had disturbed him from "practicing his sword."

These words, to the naive young master Xie Wuhua, were just a bit strange; but in Liu Xilai's ears... they were like the booming of a death knell.

At this point, Liu Xilai chose to kneel... his last words were declaring that he was willing to give up his life and dignity to save Xie Wuhua's life.

However, even this request was not granted by Leng Yuqiu.

Perhaps... Xie Wuhua was relatively lucky. Until his death, he didn't understand what exactly was happening in this room. He didn't have to experience shock, fear, pain, despair like Uncle Liu, and ultimately leave this world with regret.

He just died in surprise, died quickly, and without much pain.

…………

The corpse fell to the ground, the precious sword returned to its sheath.

Leng Yuqiu sat back on the bed and took a deep breath.

His sword killed without drawing blood.

But he himself was somewhat bloodthirsty.

He liked to smell the fresh scent of blood near those who had just died.

This scent could only be enjoyed by the victor, and it reminded Leng Yuqiu... the price of failure.

"You're still the same..." Suddenly, another person's voice sounded in the room, a gentle, deep male voice, "As long as you can find even the slightest reason to convince yourself, you can't wait to kill."

When Leng Yuqiu heard this voice, he actually smiled.

It wasn't a sneer or a disdainful smile, but a heartfelt, happy smile.

"Heh... you came really fast." Leng Yuqiu laughed.

As he spoke, another person had appeared in the room—a masked man dressed in black.

The doors and windows of this room had not been opened, and there were no beams or cabinets in the room where someone could hide. Even Leng Yuqiu didn't know how this person had entered.

But he had entered, and he had come silently.

"There were two unexpected helpers, which allowed the mission to be completed ahead of schedule, so I arrived half a day early." The masked man replied.

"Helpers?" Leng Yuqiu frowned slightly upon hearing this.

"Don't worry, these two are definitely reliable." The masked man said.

"To actually hear the words 'definitely reliable' from your mouth..." Leng Yuqiu muttered, "Could it be... they are..."

"Yes." The masked man knew what he was going to say, so he interrupted him directly.

"I see." Leng Yuqiu nodded. "So... the plan remains the same?"

"Of course, but..." The masked man said, looking down at the two corpses on the ground, "You really know how to cause trouble for people. Do you know who these two are?"

"I know." Leng Yuqiu replied calmly. "Isn't that the young master and butler of the Xie family..." He paused. "After tomorrow... the entire martial world will be our enemy. Do I need to specifically worry about whether there will be a few more people with the surname Xie?"

"Sigh..." The masked man sighed. "Oh well... what you said is also true."

Before his sigh had ended, he had already stepped forward and picked up the sword next to Xie Wuhua's body.

"Leave this Lilac Sword to me, it might be useful." The masked man picked up the sword and turned to Leng Yuqiu.

"Well, if you could also dispose of the corpses, that would be even better." The introverted Leng Yuqiu seemed very relaxed in front of this person (and he didn't want to kill anyone at the moment), and was actually speaking to the other party in a joking tone.

"Keep dreaming, figure it out yourself, or you can let them sleep with you." After saying this, the masked man disappeared from the room, just like when he came, silent, invisible, and intangible...

…………

At the same moment, on the first floor of the inn, the room directly below Leng Yuqiu's room.

"Uh... is this blood..."

[Kuang Zong Jian Ying] raised his head and looked at the ceiling, watching the drops of blood seeping down from the cracks in the wooden planks, and muttered with a depressed expression. (Wild Trace Sword Shadow)

He had originally wanted to eat some food from the script to replenish his strength, but he didn't expect that just as he was about to pick up his chopsticks, his food was drizzled with some free "sauce."

"Looks like something happened upstairs." [Cai Bu Pa Ne], who was also sitting at the dining table, looked at the ceiling and chimed in. (I'm Not Afraid)

"How about... we go up and take a look?" Jian Shao thought for a moment and said. (Sword Kid)

"Anyway, we can't eat this meal anymore, so let's go up and take a look." Don't think that Jian Shao is a member of the "Jianghu" management, but in this two-person team, the不怕妹子is the "leader," and they have to listen to her instructions on how to act. (I'm Not Afraid)

"Okay." Since the leader had spoken, Jian Shao didn't say anything else, got up and left.

不怕妹子also went out of the room with him, and the two turned a corner and went up to the second floor from the stairs.

Kuang Zong Jian Ying was not Xie Wuhua, he didn't care about the "courtesy" of the martial world. When he arrived at Leng Yuqiu's door, he just smashed the door with a series of "bang, bang, bang" sounds.

"Is anyone there?" Jian Shao not only knocked on the door, but also called out. After saying the first half of the sentence, he felt that it was not appropriate, so he immediately added, "Is anyone alive?"

Leng Yuqiu in the room was also stunned, thinking, "What is this? The Jianghu people in the town should all know that I live in this room, and they wouldn't knock on my door like this, but his voice and attitude don't sound like a shop assistant; could it be... an ignorant official?"

While he was speculating, he had already walked towards the door.

Since he couldn't feel any internal energy on the people outside the door, Leng Yuqiu was quite confident in his conclusion of "stubborn official," although this kind of person posed no threat to him, closing the door was useless against this kind of person.

Squeak——

A few seconds later, Leng Yuqiu opened the door.

A young couple appeared before his eyes, and they were dressed as Jianghu figures (like most martial arts world view scripts, the system adjusted the players' image in the eyes of the NPCs).

Leng Yuqiu's problem occurred. After opening the door, he just stared silently at the two players, without uttering a single word.

Jian Shao and 不怕妹子immediately discovered the corpses in the room, and then exchanged glances.

Logically speaking, at this moment, the person in the room should speak first, but Leng Yuqiu just didn't open his mouth, so... the scene fell into a stalemate, and the atmosphere was slightly awkward.

"Just killed?" After about ten seconds of silence, Kuang Zong Jian Ying couldn't help but asked Leng Yuqiu, as if he was just trying to find something to say.

Leng Yuqiu was also puzzled. These two didn't seem to know him, and they didn't show too much surprise or fear at the corpses in the room.

"Mm..." Leng Yuqiu thought for a second and nodded.

"Oh..." Jian Shao also nodded. "Well... the blood from the corpses leaked downstairs, so we came up to take a look."

"Oh." Leng Yuqiu responded, without further expression.

"Oh what oh." At this time, 不怕妹子 couldn't stand it anymore. "Our food is all dripped with blood, and there's blood on the floor of the room. Are you just going to say 'oh' and be done with it?"

Leng Yuqiu really didn't expect that the other party not only wasn't afraid, but would put on such a tough attitude. He thought to himself, "These two... are probably novices who have just entered the Jianghu, so they don't know who I am... and they don't recognize the dead on the ground as Xie Wuhua and Liu Xilai..."

Thinking of this, he suddenly found these two a little funny.

"Then according to your meaning, miss..." After a breath, Leng Yuqiu opened his mouth and replied, "What should I do?"

"Nonsense, pay compensation!" 不怕妹子 said confidently.

Leng Yuqiu calmly replied, "Oh... then how much do you want?"

"That's hard to say." 不怕妹子said, "Logically speaking... the compensation should be enough for us to change rooms, right?"

Leng Yuqiu nodded, "That seems to make sense." He said so, but he stood there without moving. After five seconds, he spoke again, "But I want to know, if I don't compensate, what can you do?"

Leng Yuqiu had money.

Even if he didn't have money, there was enough money on the two corpses lying on the ground.

Moreover, Leng Yuqiu was never a person who loved money. For someone like him, the driving force that money could generate was close to zero.

Therefore, his reaction was definitely not because he was reluctant to pay.

At this moment, Leng Yuqiu was just acting out of interest.

Of course, he didn't plan to kill anyone. He felt that whether it was for the people or the matter, these two didn't need to die yet.

Leng Yuqiu just wanted to give this "newbie" couple a lesson, to tell them that the Jianghu was not a place that reasoned.

In a sense, he wanted to "help" the two people in front of him: letting a person understand the unfairness of this world and the importance of power sooner rather than later was indeed a good deed.

People who had never experienced shamelessness would never understand true nobility, and morality divorced from reality was just another kind of stupidity.

Originally... that was the case.

However, Leng Yuqiu encountered not inexperienced Jianghu rookies, but ferocious otherworldly travelers...

"Huh?" Seeing the other party's arrogant attitude, Kuang Zong Jian Ying was a little annoyed at the time.

That's right, he didn't know Leng Yuqiu.

If he did know... at this time he would probably choose to be calm, thereby triggering a plot line to cooperate with Leng Yuqiu.

But there was no such "if"...

These two Jianghu people had relatively average information-gathering abilities, but when it came to confronting them head-on, they were definitely not ambiguous.

When Kuang Zong Jian Ying heard the other party ask that kind of question, he blurted out, "Then I'll teach you how to write the word 'compensate.'"