Ruan Xuezong dragged the red-clothed boy Lin Shixuan back to the Hongmen Inn, and a quick-witted player immediately carried a bowl of fresh chicken blood out from the kitchen, prepared personally by the innkeeper’s wife with her sleeves rolled up. Everyone wanted to verify if Ruan Xuezong’s guess was correct.
Ruan Xuezong’s hands were clean, so he didn’t need to do it himself. The players eagerly fought over the task of feeding the blood. The one who won looked especially excited. “Photographer! Make sure to capture my heroic pose properly!”
Lin Shixuan glared at them viciously, hoping his ferocious stare would intimidate this group of young hotheads. But to his surprise, under the gaze of a child pretending to be fierce, the players grew even more ravenous with excitement. They pried open his jaw and poured the blood down his throat, gulp after gulp.
Everyone watched closely. In that instant, the red-clothed boy’s body swelled massively for a moment, his joints cracking ominously.
Even though it lasted only two seconds, that fleeting adult appearance was enough for everyone to grasp the truth. Shock filled their faces: it was real!
The players shouted in awe. “Holy crap, holy crap! The wuxia world is incredible—even kids aren’t to be underestimated!”
Just then, Jinling City’s wealthiest man, Lord Wang, received the letter and rushed over. The moment his carriage arrived, he dashed into the inn. His gaudy attire, adorned with gold and jade in the same ostentatious style as his son, nearly blinded the players.
“It’s Lord Wang,” the inn waiter said, hurrying to support him. But Lord Wang brushed his hand away and clutched Ruan Xuezong’s sleeve like it was a lifeline. “You’re Young Master Ruan, aren’t you? Did you discover the truth about my son being kidnapped and in mortal danger? Please, save him…”
Before he could finish, Lord Wang broke down crying, sobbing from his throat. In his eyes, only Ruan Xuezong mattered. All the renowned wanderers of the Rivers and Lakes and even the famous head constable from the Six Gates were mere background to him.
Ruan Xuezong tugged at his sleeve for a while but couldn’t free it, so he gave up. He pointed at the tightly bound Lin Shixuan. “Lord Wang, this is one of the Plum-Breaking Four Bandits. You can interrogate him closely about your son’s whereabouts.”
Lord Wang immediately turned to the red-clothed boy, his eyes blazing with fury. “You bold bandit! Release my son at once! What have you done to him?”
Jinling City had been bustling lately, and now with a death at the Hongmen Inn, the killer turning out to be a boy who was one of the notorious bandits from years past, and the richest man’s son kidnapped by the Plum-Breaking Four Bandits with his fate unknown—the shocking news spread one after another.
By the end of a single day, it had circulated through half of Jinling City, adding a bloody tinge to the excitement. Even the storytellers in the teahouses switched topics.
“You think I’ll tell you?” Lin Shixuan sneered. “Your precious son is in my brothers’ hands right now. You should be the ones begging me on your knees. Looking at Young Master Wang’s pampered ways, my brothers are surely making him wish for life but not find it, wish for death but not attain it.”
The chilling words coming from a child’s body sent shivers through everyone in the inn.
He truly had been the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind—ever since that rich young master swaggered into the inn, flaunting a sword embedded with emeralds and rubies meant to frame someone, yet his martial skills were mediocre. As that woman had said, he was a plump, juicy lamb.
His gang had targeted him.
They planned to kill the green-clothed girl first and pin it on Ruan Xuezong. Young Master Wang had a habit of stirring up trouble with cats and dogs, so disappearing for a couple of days wouldn’t raise suspicions right away. Even if it did, the trail would lead to Heart Washing Manor. As for him, the red-clothed boy whose appearance drew little suspicion, he stayed at the inn to monitor the Six Gates’ investigation progress. He never imagined Ruan Xuezong would be so vigilant and sharp.
A mere child’s hand had exposed him.
His subordinates had even deliberately said things in front of him like, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth,” probing words that left him flustered and disoriented.
Thinking of this, Lin Shixuan burst into laughter. “What joy is there in life, what pain in death! If you’ve got the guts, kill me! I was thirty when it happened—if not for the qi deviation, I’d have a wife and kids by now. Dragging this child’s body around, the next cycle will kill me for sure. I haven’t wanted to live for a long time…”
As the saying goes, those who have nothing to lose fear nothing.
“What do we do, Manor Lord Ruan?” Lord Wang panicked completely. He didn’t fear spending a fortune; he feared these Rivers and Lakes folk going down in mutual destruction.
Twenty years ago, Lord Wang had been just a minor merchant, far from the city’s richest man. But he had heard of Jinling City’s tragedy back then. A wealthy merchant’s daughter was kidnapped, the family paid the silver, but when they arrived, they found her beautiful young body cold and lifeless. Just imagining that happening to his son Wang Sheng made Lord Wang’s obese frame sway unsteadily. A player noticed and quickly pinched his philtrum to revive him.
He woke up again.
Without a pillar of strength, Lord Wang turned back to Heart Washing Manor for help.
Ruan Xuezong glanced indifferently at the red-clothed boy. “You won’t die that easily. The Plum-Breaking Four Bandits stirred up storms twenty years ago, and now you’ve resurfaced to frame me. Now that you’re in my hands, do you really think I’ll let you off lightly?”
He was the sort who always settled scores.
The damages to his reputation, the dead horses— he tallied every one clearly! Moreover, the Plum-Breaking Four Bandits could have stayed hidden forever, fading from the bounty lists as new names took over. But this happened right before Peacock Manor’s birthday banquet. Ruan Xuezong didn’t believe there was no connection!
Hearing this, the red-clothed boy scoffed, his expression blatantly mocking, as if to say, “I was roaming the Rivers and Lakes when your punk ass wasn’t even born—what can you do to me?”
Ruan Xuezong couldn’t do much to him physically, but a verbal scare wouldn’t hurt. No one understood how to instill fear in villains better than a fellow antagonist.
“Death is the easiest— just slit your throat and it’s over. But do you know the most terrifying place in the world?” Ruan Xuezong said calmly.
Lin Shixuan dismissed it at first, but the question pulled his thoughts along involuntarily. He pondered: in the martial world, was it the forbidden grounds of some sects, the Life-Death Sect’s icy snake pit, Burning Heaven Palace’s blood pond, Ten Thousand Kills Pavilion’s kill orders, or the Devil City and man-eating vortices in the Great Desert’s Western Regions?
Before he could figure it out, Ruan Xuezong provided the answer. “It’s the Six Gates’ dungeon.”
Head Constable Zheng of the Six Gates: ???
Red-clothed boy Lin Shixuan: ???
Their expressions screamed, “Are you messing with me? A puny government office as the scariest place in the Rivers and Lakes?”
Ignoring the ridicule on his face, Ruan Xuezong continued. “Everyone’s heard of the Demonic Sects’ torture methods, but few have entered the Six Gates’ dungeons, so there’s misunderstanding. Those who go in rarely survive—one who did left these dying words: ‘Soul scorched in hellfire, agonies beyond words.’ The walls are lined with all manner of tools. The simplest is finger-clipping—ten fingers linked to the heart, shattering hand bones as just the first step…”
“Do you know what plucking the pipa, branding on a hot pillar, or death by a thousand cuts are?” Ruan Xuezong described them in detail. By the end, he was satisfied to see the boy’s face drain of all color.
“Even if you try to kill yourself, it’s useless—they’ll clamp your jaw and force-feed you a paralyzing drug.” Ruan Xuezong pried open the boy’s mouth, spotted a bloody stub of tongue, sealed his acupoint, and fed him Soft Tendon Powder. “Like this.”
Lin Shixuan cursed inwardly, taking deep breaths as fear and hysteria warred within him. After the Soft Tendon Powder, he slumped limply to the ground. When he looked at Head Constable Zheng again, his eyes brimmed with terror. As a Rivers and Lakes man who lived with death, he wasn’t afraid to die—but this living hell terrified him.
At last, he caved and confessed Young Master Wang’s location.
Seeing the other wanderers suddenly regard him like a venomous snake, Head Constable Zheng’s forehead throbbed with a vein. “The Six Gates has dungeons, but none with such tortures.”
With his goal achieved, Ruan Xuezong said seriously, “Everyone, don’t take it seriously. I made it all up.”
No one believed him—could anyone invent something so vivid? Even Shen Jiangling’s fan-waving stiffened.
Ruan Xuezong clarified further, cupping his hands toward the sky in respect to the imperial family. “These are methods from the previous dynasty, unrelated to the current one.”
Someone started flattering, and everyone followed, cupping hands skyward to thank the benevolent and wise emperor. The players, new to the Rivers and Lakes, didn’t fully get it but mimicked them anyway, creating a grand spectacle. Only Shen Jiangling chuckled. “Little friend, you’re quite the sly one.”
If word reached the emperor, it might even please him greatly.
Head Constable Zheng despised this bootlicking from the wanderers, but the intimidation worked—the Six Gates’ prestige soared. He scanned the room and noted how the wanderers’ bold postures had shrunk; they wouldn’t dare cause trouble anytime soon.
He snorted coldly.
【Ding! With your keen insight and sharp deduction, you’ve cracked a major case, helping maintain peace in Jinling City. Six Gates faction favorability +1000】
【You obtained Head Constable Zheng’s favorability connection】
This favorability was useful indeed. Ruan Xuezong mused that if some crisis arose, having the Six Gates mobilize fully beat standing alone.
With the bandits’ hideout known, it was time to raid it and rescue the hostage. Ruan Xuezong issued a team follow-up quest to the players. They buzzed with excitement—this inn incident had truly become a key side quest in Jinling City’s storyline, set in the barren hills outside the city. Recommended level: 25. With Peacock Manor’s grand birthday approaching, the timing was suspicious—perhaps the Demonic Sects’ schemes lurked behind it all!
“Charge!!!” The recording players were geared up and ready.
The onlooking wanderers were tempted too. Roaming the Rivers and Lakes meant fights aplenty, but everyone dreamed of overnight fame. The Plum-Breaking Four Bandits had vanished twenty years ago; for the younger generation to make a name, what better way?
Upholding justice? No—stepping on the shoulders of legends!
Just as Ruan Xuezong had been framed by the Plum-Breaking Four Bandits: failure meant ruined reputation, but success would make him renowned across the region.
The other Plum-Breaking bandits knew Lin Shixuan wasn’t one to fear death, so they felt secure. They never expected him to betray them so swiftly, with just one demand: “Let me die far from the Six Gates, intact and dignified.” What nonsense was that? The other three couldn’t comprehend it!
“Brother Xuan has changed,” said the only woman among the Plum-Breaking Four Bandits, now a fiftyish crone, her voice still soft and coquettish as she addressed the distant, child-sized red-clothed boy.
The other two bandits saw nothing wrong.
The white-haired old man among them bellowed, “Don’t worry, sis. The newcomers are nobodies. I’ll handle them! Tie up this silver and the fat lamb—these are our tokens of surrender, gifts for the Righteous Path Fairy’s wedding and the birthday banquet!”
In the corner, Wang Sheng lay bound. Hearing their conspiracy, his heart churned with dread. Tears streamed down his face; he had a sinking feeling that knowing too much meant he wouldn’t survive the night—unless a hero descended from the heavens to save him.
Thus, the first foe Ruan Xuezong encountered was the spry white-haired old man. Frowning at the ugly geezer, he said, “You can’t beat me, so don’t bother. Surrender, and I’ll grant you a clean, dignified death.”
He had no interest in fighting a foe hundreds of players could overwhelm.
The white-haired old man was stunned. Had he been out of the Rivers and Lakes too long? Were the young ones even more arrogant than back in his day?
“You punk, not even twenty yet, and you dare speak to this old man like that?” Enraged, the white-haired old man swung his white snake-head cane, aiming straight for the youth.
A palm shadow that dimmed the heavens shattered through the air. Eight golden palms materialized from the horizon, piercing past the white snake-head cane toward him.
“Peach Grove Phantom!” the players screamed in unison.
As the palm shadows closed in, blotting out the sky, his cane disintegrated into powder and slipped from his grasp. The eight blasts of palm force struck like gales, sending the white-haired old man tumbling through the air in pieces.
His inner force roiled, shattering his organs. He spat blood on the spot.
Ruan Xuezong’s brows furrowed slightly beneath his mask. “I told you, you can’t beat me.” He hadn’t wanted to bully a kid and then an old man too.
