The convoy from Heart Washing Manor set off in grand style, traveling along the official road. Unfortunately, they ran into a sudden downpour. The players on horseback quickly raised umbrellas to shield themselves from the rain and sought shelter nearby. They first helped Ruan Xuezong into the rundown temple, then carried in the chests of longevity gifts intended for Peacock Manor.
As they lifted the chests, the players had expected them to be heavy. But when they hefted them, a flicker of puzzlement crossed their faces. “These boxes are so light,” one remarked.
Ruan Xuezong strode into the temple for shelter and replied naturally upon hearing the comment. “Yes, they’re a bit light, but they’re all local specialties from Jiangnan. Manor Lord Qu is sure to be delighted.”
“All local products? And so many boxes—Zongzong, you’re too generous.” The Flatterer Squad was back online.
True to its dilapidated reputation, the broken temple was festooned with spiderwebs on the rafters and covered in dust everywhere. There wasn’t even a clean spot to sit. But could that stump the players?
【Task “Clean the Broken Temple”】 triggered instantly. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and dove into the work with gusto. They righted the toppled Buddha statues, swept away the spiderwebs, hauled out the piles of debris littering the floor, and even yanked weeds from the cracks between the bricks. If anyone tried to hog the cleaning, they’d get the red-eye glare of competition.
Only once the ground was spotless did they toss down a rush cushion. “Zongzong, have a seat.”
…
Later, players on the Jianghu forums summed it up: Thunderstormy weather was prime for lucky encounters—and it all started with that man’s arrival.
It was a rainy night, a stormy one at that.
The night was pitch-black, the thick clouds unyielding. Jagged bolts of silver lightning split the sky, followed by torrents of rain. The desolate outskirts were eerily silent, as if devoid of life, save for the howling wind that roared like a death knell in the ears.
Shen Jiangling was soaked to the bone. It had been ages since he’d looked this wretched on his journeys through the rivers and lakes. Clutching his wound, which oozed blood without cease, he channeled his lightness skill and barely made it to a spot where he could hole up for the night.
It was a dilapidated temple on a nearby hillside—Dragon God Temple, or maybe it had no name at all. Just a plain old broken-down shack.
By the time he darted inside, he’d expended his last shred of energy. He could collapse at any moment.
He’d anticipated spiderwebs, flaking gold leaf on the Buddha statue, moldy offerings, and a signboard stripped of its vermilion paint. Any degree of neglect would have been par for the course. What he hadn’t expected was this.
The temple was impeccably clean—clean enough to make him doubt his senses.
A campfire crackled inside. Beside it sat an elegantly opulent young man wrapped in a fox-fur cloak. He cradled a bronze incense warmer in his hands and rested on an embroidered soft cushion.
The wood popped and snapped as red flames leaped, casting their glow on the bronze mask and lending the man an aura that was at once ethereal like an exiled immortal and ghostly uncanny. He seemed utterly out of place in the decrepit surroundings, almost illusory.
And clustered around the young man were hundreds of guards, tending to him with tea and water. When they spotted the newcomer, they all whipped their heads around in unison, their gazes sharp as torches.
Perhaps his luck truly was rotten. He’d barely escaped one wolf’s den, only to stumble into a tiger’s maw.
A dazed expression flickered across Shen Jiangling’s pallid face. But with his strength utterly spent, he could only close his eyes.
【Triggered Encounter Task: “Shen Jiangling’s Distress Signal”】
【Task Description: The famed rivers-and-lakes scion Shen Jiangling has fallen victim to a pursuit. Gravely wounded, he needs the young heroes’ aid to heal him!】
【Task Participants: Unlimited】
【Task Rewards: 2000 EXP, 10 taels of silver, +20 Favorability with Shen Jiangling】
The players sucked in a collective breath, setting aside the half-roasted food in their hands. “An encounter in this downpour!”
“Holy crap, what a handsome guy!”
Ruan Xuezong turned at the scent of thick blood in the air. He instantly recognized the man—one of the dual male leads from the original Jianghu novel. Shen Jiangling: mysterious background, famous from a young age, handsome features and a smiling mouth that put people at ease like a spring breeze. The world called him the finest gentleman of these turbid times.
A young peerless expert, best friends with Hua Bailian.
In his last life, after Hua Bailian vanished, Shen Jiangling had sneaked into Heart Washing Manor at night to investigate. Later, he’d been one of over a hundred elites besieging Ruan Xuezong.
In this life, he’d released Hua Bailian early, so no bad blood there.
Ruan Xuezong knew well that unlike Hua Bailian’s drunken revelries and boundless bravado, Shen Jiangling was the gentle, sentimental classic protagonist type. If he had nothing to his name and couldn’t survive the winter, he’d still peel off his own cloak for a roadside beggar freezing to death, all out of soft-hearted chivalry.
Perfect friend material—no betrayal worries.
Without a second thought, Ruan Xuezong decided to save him. While the other players were still drooling over Shen Jiangling’s model, he briskly stripped off the man’s sodden outer robe.
The players had just been at the “stripping a hot guy’s clothes right off the bat feels kinda wrong” stage when the wounds beneath made a thousand mental curses erupt in their minds.
Protagonist build, peerless expert physique—Shen Jiangling’s body was naturally top-tier.
His chest was sturdy, not the least bit scrawny, though his breathing was faint, more intake than out, making it heave dramatically. More shocking still were the injuries: three slashes and two arrows on his shoulder and chest, plus one in the abdomen.
Ruan Xuezong tentatively pressed a hand to Shen Jiangling’s leg. Even unconscious, the man let out a muffled grunt of awareness, which meant…
“Yes, his knee’s injured too. Lips pale and purplish—likely a poisoned arrow.” Ruan Xuezong withdrew his hand and voiced his diagnosis. He could easily picture it: that brutal night of combat, rain washing away rivers of blood, pursued by who-knew-how-many experts, yet Shen Jiangling had miraculously escaped.
Not dead. What a miracle.
Worthy of the protagonist—blessed with immense fortune and fate.
Compare that to Ruan Xuezong’s last life: a single fire disfigured him, a siege crippled his limbs, ruining his Push Heart Palm. He’d spent his days in a wheelchair. No matter how Shen Qionghua plied him with spirit pills—even stealing Nine Revolutions Soul Revival Pill and Jade Spirit Bone-Connecting Gel from the imperial palace—it was no use. Fragile as glass, once shattered, impossible to mend.
The contrast was infuriating.
With that thought, Ruan Xuezong’s resolve to save him cooled a touch. He sighed softly to the players. “In this storm, there’s no skilled physician within ten li—just wilderness and swamps. Do your best to treat him. If it doesn’t work, so be it. For this chance encounter, Heart Washing Manor will give him a grand funeral.”
A chronic invalid like Ruan Xuezong knew some pharmacology, but he wasn’t a real doctor. This was a perfect chance for players who’d studied medicine to practice.
But no sooner had he said it than Shen Jiangling stirred. A hand clamped onto Ruan Xuezong’s slender wrist beneath the cloak. With breath like a thread, Shen Jiangling spoke firmly, “Please, Young Master Ruan… you must save me…”
Oh, still conscious.
Ruan Xuezong kept his composure and pivoted smoothly. “Looks like the patient has a fierce survival instinct. He might pull through.”
He tried to pull his hand free, but the grip held fast—like clutching a lifeline—even in his daze.
The man had traversed the pouring rain; his whole body, down to his fingers, was ice-cold. Ruan Xuezong, snug in thick layers by the warm fire, had a heated wrist. The contact sent a jolt like electricity through him.
It chilled his skin near the bones into gooseflesh.
007 System: 【Told you not to mention a grand funeral in front of everyone. Can’t back out now, huh?】
Ruan Xuezong, knowing he was in the wrong, brushed it off.
【Yeah, got it.】
The will to live was fierce.
…
Players who’d studied medicine under divine physicians bustled about frantically. The rest assisted, braving the thunderous night to gather herbs.
They first brewed an antidote, then a soup from Resurrection Grass, feeding it to him spoonful by spoonful. Every minute, they checked his pulse. Once the fever broke and they yanked him back from death’s door, the system’s completion chime rang out triumphantly.
The whole group finally exhaled in relief, chattering away. “No wonder it’s an encounter task—so hard to trigger and complete!”
“After Hua Bailian, another hunk debuts in the Jianghu game. I bet on the devs’ scalps this guy’s no ordinary catch!”
“Too damn hot. Devs know what we like, heh heh heh.”
As if roused by the noise, Shen Jiangling slowly opened his eyes.
Called the dream lover of every lady swordswoman in the rivers and lakes, the claim held water. Awake, his eyes—far more vivid than when shut—only amplified his handsome allure.
Ruan Xuezong heard the barely suppressed squeals from the player crowd, complete with frantic screenshots.
Fresh from grave injury, Shen Jiangling’s mind was foggy. The first thing he registered was a cool fragrance—not the fresh, earthy scent of rain-soaked soil, but something like the crisp chill of lotus blooming amid snow-capped heavenly peaks. Faintly scented, yet piercing to the soul.
He opened his eyes fully and met the star-deep gaze behind Ruan Xuezong’s mask. His heart skipped a beat instinctively. He released the grip at once. “Forgive my rudeness, Shen.”
Those slender white hands revealed faint blue veins beneath pale skin—the sort that screamed pampered nobility, no matter how exalted.
Now, they bore red finger marks turning bruised purple. To think he’d done this in his sleep—Shen Jiangling frowned.
He pushed himself up to apologize and thank them for the wounds’ treatment. But the motion ignited agony everywhere, fresh blood seeping through the white bandages.
“Rivers-and-lakes folk don’t stand on ceremony, Young Master Shen. No need for formalities.” The players had saved him for the task; Ruan Xuezong, to cash in a favor later. Everyone would face the ultimate villain eventually—enemy of my enemy was friend.
As for the wrist marks, Ruan Xuezong waved it off, unconcerned.
What he really wanted was the truth behind the pursuit.
“Young Master Shen enjoys a sterling reputation in the rivers and lakes, always kind to others. How did you end up in such dire straits?”
Shen Jiangling smiled faintly, his face still bloodless and wan. But that elegant warmth—which had charmed countless swordswomen—shone through. “I’m a few years your senior, Young Master Ruan. No need for such formality—call me Brother Jiangling.”
“Brother Jiangling.” Ruan Xuezong adapted seamlessly.
Shen Jiangling took a shine to him and returned the “little friend,” then laughed bitterly as he explained the pursuit. “I bore a priceless treasure, that’s all.”
“This is a peerless blade forged from millennium cold iron from overseas lands. It severs hairs blown against it, slices iron like mud—a famed sword of our era…” From his carry-pack, Shen Jiangling drew the sword. The players gasped and screenshotted madly the moment it appeared.
They had missed the divine weapon Pure Shadow Sword last time; now here was another legendary blade. Its gleam shone like a pearl, its edge sharp as a silver flask bursting open. When the light bloomed, the cold radiance was blinding. Anyone with an eye for it knew it was the real deal!
Only the scabbard was plain and unremarkable—a deliberate disguise to hide the sword’s brilliance.
Shen Jiangling sighed. “The owner is Gong Xiao, master of Clear Wind Fishing Ground. Elder Gong received an anonymous tip: a shadowy force would soon demand the sword, or he’d suffer torment. Though aged, Elder Gong is proud and unyielding. How could he stomach such arrogance?”
“His household is vast—over a hundred souls at the fishing ground, two dozen kin alone. Fearing the Demonic Sects would target his family, he entrusted me to safeguard the sword and weather the storm…”
Shen Jiangling trailed off, chest heaving painfully from the wound there.
“So they hunted you down here,” Ruan Xuezong finished calmly.
It was normal for rivers-and-lakes folk to take commissions for a living. But Shen Jiangling likely hadn’t anticipated the pursuers’ clout—dozens, hundreds of killers. Alone, he’d nearly met his end.
“The leader was a scantily clad young beauty. I saw pity in her eyes for me—more eager to capture than kill. She urged surrender and handover repeatedly for mercy. The black-clad assassins were straightforward: kill, then seize.”
Sichuan Pepper Little Bunny clutched her face instinctively. “She chases, he flees, he can’t fly away… heh heh heh.”
Shen Jiangling: “???”
Ruan Xuezong calmly swatted the back of her head. “Apologies—my retainers lack discipline.”
“Brother Jiangling is still badly hurt and can’t protect the sword alone. What’s your plan from here?”
Shen Jiangling had worries weighing on him. “They can muster dozens or hundreds at will—not your average Demonic Sect rabble. The sword hunt pauses here, but I fear they’ll turn on Clear Wind Fishing Ground. I must hurry back and warn Elder Gong.”
“Then we’ll escort you all the way,” Ruan Xuezong said. “Heart Washing Manor is headed to Peacock Manor’s longevity feast anyway. Thousand Li Slope leads to Clear Wind Fishing Ground—it’s on our route.”
A seductively dressed young woman pitying handsome men, backed by black-clad experts hell-bent on the sword? Sounded like old acquaintances from his last life—the ones always pinning blame on him, driving him from righteous path to demonic ways.
This life, their positions were opposed. Ruan Xuezong wouldn’t go easy.
“This…” Shen Jiangling hesitated, but seeing Ruan Xuezong’s resolve, he nodded. “Then I thank you, little friend.”
【Triggered Major Plot: “Escort Shen Jiangling back to Clear Wind Fishing Ground”】
“Holy shit, it’s a quest!!! Knew this guy was special!!”
