On the short grassy slope beside the cliff, a deafening crash!

Fan Xian was in mid-air, taking advantage of the high ground, while Lang Tao, with his feet on the ground, leveraged the strength of the terrain. The two powerful *zhenqi* collided, and even the grass around them was crushed into fragments.

Lang Tao grunted, and the curved blade attached to his wrist swung backward, piercing Xiao En's chest with a *噗哧* sound!

Although this was a double-layered scheme, if Fan Xian couldn't be killed, Xiao En had to be killed first. This was something his teacher, Ku He, had constantly instructed him to do.

Fan Xian's palms were burning hot. Lang Tao's body spun smoothly, driving the two curved blades like windmills toward his chest and abdomen. The snow-like blades arrived like soul-snatchers.

At this moment, Xiao En was on the verge of death. Fan Xian could no longer escape, there was no possibility of continuing the cat-and-mouse game—so he gritted his teeth and did the most risky thing he had done since being reborn. He completely ignored Lang Tao's curved blades, which contained supreme power, and instead reached out and grabbed Xiao En's limp collar. Just at the instant of lightning and flint... he slightly bent his knees and raised his left shin.

A crisp *dang* sound, which was obviously not the sound of a curved blade cutting into human flesh!

Fan Xian groaned, somersaulted over Lang Tao's head, and extended a finger on his left hand with extreme subtlety. This was... *xiaoshouduan* (small trick).

Lang Tao's earlobe stung slightly, and his eyebrows twitched.

Fan Xian's shin felt as if struck by lightning, causing immense pain, but he used the force of the blade to grab Xiao En. His undamaged right foot touched the ground, and he charged forward, toward the empty area ahead.

He charged toward the cliff, then jumped down.

…

…

Lang Tao's face was wooden, but he was somewhat shocked inside. Why did his blade, when striking Fan Xian's leg, feel like it had struck steel? He had great confidence in his bladework. His secret technique of the smooth and fluid blade was enough to break gold and shatter iron. Even if the opponent was wearing armor on their legs, it would still be cut through—why could Fan Xian block it!

He and He Daoren rushed to the edge of the cliff and peered down. The sunlight was gradually becoming stronger, but it still couldn't dispel the clouds and mist in the deep valley. They could only see the figures of the old man and the young man falling into the mist, and then they couldn't see them anymore. Only a long time later, they heard a dull *砰* sound of a heavy object falling. The sound was extremely light, but the cliff was so deep that they could hear it standing on the edge, so one could imagine the intensity of the impact.

"He's dead," He Daoren said.

Lang Tao shook his head: "Xiao En is not easy to die, Fan Xian... I think it is even less likely to die."

Lang Tao and He Daoren were two of the few ninth-rank experts in Shangjing City. The fact that they were unable to kill the heavily injured Xiao En and the newly ninth-rank Fan Xian on the spot made both experts feel a little fearful.

"This peak cannot be climbed," He Daoren said with a frown.

Lang Tao looked down a couple of times. The Yanshan cliffs were like knives, as smooth as mirrors. Not to mention ordinary martial arts experts, even the four transcendent grandmasters in the world couldn't climb up this stone wall by human power. So he nodded, agreeing with He Daoren's judgment, and said, "Notify Shen Zhong to search the foot of the mountain."

…

…

After completing the follow-up, the two experts looked at the misty cliffs and frowned, thinking about the previous battle. However, they were thinking in different directions.

"Why did Fan Xian desperately save Xiao En?" This was He Daoren's question.

"Why did Fan Xian's displayed strength far exceed the evaluation of Junior Sister?" This was Lang Tao's question.

Lang Tao suddenly shot a cold light from his eyes, flicked his wrist, and accurately sliced off a piece of flesh from his earlobe. He Daoren had always trusted the knowledge and skills of the Ku He lineage. He frowned and looked at his thigh, where the crossbow bolt had grazed his skin. Although it wasn't injured, it was still a bit blackened. He said in a cold voice: "This Fan kid is so vicious."

Lang Tao said in a deep voice: "Have you forgotten that Fan Xian's most famous skill in Nan Qing is called *xiaoshouduan* (small tricks)?"

Despite saying that, Lang Tao was thinking about the previous palm strike. The domineering *zhenqi* contained in Fan Xian's fists was really strange, and it was awe-inspiring with the intention of aggression. Its violence was more powerful than any other kind of inner *zhenqi* in the world.

—————————————————————————

What do you usually encounter when jumping off a cliff? Usually you encounter masters, beauties, peerless secret manuals, and endless wealth.

Fan Xian thought during the process of jumping off the cliff that he was indeed carrying a master on his back. But if he miscalculated his landing point by a bit, then he'd have to say goodbye to the beauties at home. As for the endless wealth left by his mother, he would naturally have no chance to enjoy it. Speaking of the nameless peerless secret manual he had practiced since he was a child, it was estimated that Wu Zhu *Shu* (Uncle) would burn it for him.

Although this teacher, Wu Zhu *Shu*, was a bit lacking in teaching level, he was a loyal executor of cramming education. He figured that even if he got to the underworld, he wouldn't let him off easily.

Back then, *Zhu Shu*'s jumping off the cliff was the most amazing scene for the young Fan Xian, so he often practiced jumping off cliffs. Even during his honeymoon in Cangshan, he didn't give it up. Now he had finally made a little progress—at least, while carrying someone on his back and in a state where his eyes were full of mist, he still accurately used the short pines between the smooth stone walls to slow down, and found the pre-selected landing point, the slightly protruding rock.

Fan Xian's legs landed on the rock, and the domineering *zhenqi* in his body naturally reacted and rebounded, but his left leg was struck by Lang Tao's terrible blade, causing soreness and weakness. He groaned and half-knelt on the ground.

Even at this moment, he still didn't forget to sweep a large stone off the cliff. After a while, the sound of it falling to the ground came.

…

…

"Are you stupid?" Behind the rock, there was a small hole. The hole wasn't deep at all. Xiao En, covered in wounds, was leaning there, looking at Fan Xian with a face full of mockery. "I'd like to see how you get up."

Fan Xian shrugged. Naturally, he wouldn't tell this dying old man his secret. He glanced into the hole, confirmed that this hole had nothing to do with the Zhang guy, and fed Xiao En a pill.

Xiao En was not polite, swallowing the pill and looking at Fan Xian mockingly, said, "If it was twenty years ago, how could Lang Tao and He Daoren, these two juniors, be my opponent. What about you? A dignified *ti si* (director) of the Qing Kingdom's Surveillance Department, the successor of Chen Pingping and Fei Jie, but forced off a cliff by others, only waiting to slowly starve to death."

Fan Xian was not angry either, smilingly said, "When an old man always likes to talk about the past, it's probably because he's about to die."

Xiao En's face didn't change, and he said, "I was going to die anyway, I've lived for so many years, so dying isn't a loss. The problem is that you're still young... so you don't understand, why did you come to save me." He paused and then said, "But how dare you jump into the clouds and mist?"

"Your adopted son only knows how to fight, he doesn't know how to do these things at all." Fan Xian took a thin needle from his hair and stuck it into Xiao En's body to help him stop the bleeding. "Even the Jinyiwei (Brocade-clad Guards) could find out the location of your rendezvous, let alone me. Of course, I made preparations in advance."

Xiao En let him perform medical skills, rolled his eyes and said, "Your needle is poisonous."

Fan Xian said unhappily, "Anyway, you're going to die anyway, and anyway, there are hundreds of kinds of poisons in your body, what's the fear of adding one more?"

Xiao En coughed twice, his eyes gradually scattering. As a dying person, even his temperament seemed to become a bit strange.

Fan Xian looked at the old man's pale face due to excessive blood loss, and suddenly asked, "When Shen Zhong surrounded the small courtyard, you should have known that Shang Shanhu's rescue operation has been in the Jinyiwei's calculations all along, why did you continue?"

"Continue what?"

"Continue to pretend to be injured, running out of the city with extreme difficulty, knowing that there would be experts waiting for you, knowing that the people who were supposed to meet you had already been eliminated."

Xiao En looked at him and suddenly laughed sharply: "Maybe it's just following the intentions of those people, in order to lure you out, so that you can be buried with me."

Fan Xian shrugged and said, "Say something serious."

Xiao En's gaze easily crossed Fan Xian's shoulder, as if crossing obstacles, and cast toward the quiet deep valley. At this time, the sun was getting hotter and hotter, and the clouds and mist in front of the stone wall finally gradually dispersed. You could see that the mountain wall far ahead was like a broken yellow mirror, with a different kind of beauty.

"Well, I've been locked up for too long, so... even if I die, I don't want to die in prison." Xiao En said.

Fan Xian looked in the direction of his eyes and found that the opposite mountain wall was incomparably smooth, with occasional cracks like lightning patterns scattered around. Only after a long distance, could a tenacious little tree grow out, showing a pitiful but respectable green.

"Here are yellow mountains and green trees, with green water and white mist below, it is a good grave."

Fan Xian smiled slightly and began to tidy up the trousers on his left leg. The clothes of the Surveillance Department, which were fireproof, anti-theft, and anti-weapon, were actually torn open by Lang Tao's blade. He took out the black, slender dagger that Fei Jie *Laoshi* (teacher) had left him from his boot, gently stroked the slightly deformed blade, and sighed, "Thank you. I don't want to change my name to Fan Pingping."

…

…

"Why were you so foolish to take action, thus putting yourself in a dead end?" Xiao En looked curiously at Fan Xian's face after he disguised himself. Some ominous blood foam oozed from the corners of his dry lips. Perhaps when a person is about to die, curiosity will become even stronger.

Fan Xian put the dagger on the ground and began to massage the stiff meridians of his calf, calmly said, "When I discovered that this was an ambush by the Bei Qi people, I was indeed prepared to retreat. But when I saw you were about to die, I don't know why my brain suddenly went bad, and I jumped out."

In fact, the reason was very simple. Fan Xian wanted to know Xiao En's secret, wanted to know where the temple was, wanted to know the relationship between the temple and Ye Qingmei, and the relationship between him being reborn into this world. Between his own life and death, his own background, and the origins of his arrogant mother, Fan Xian, who had always cherished his life, finally indulged himself once.