Chapter 76

Countless shocked gazes fixed on her. Yan Feishuang’s face alternated between pale and flushed. Her lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to explain the knockout drug in her hand and her own actions. In the end, however, she seemed to decide there was nothing worth saying. The corners of her mouth twitched in a sardonic smile, dissolving into a soft sigh.

Seeing her weary expression as she turned her head away, too lazy to defend herself, Shi Yan felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over him from head to toe. He truly could not bring himself to believe it.

“Why did you do this?” The words tumbled from Shi Yan’s mouth, one by one. He demanded an explanation. How could there be a traitor in his underground palace—and one who was none other than the wife he trusted so deeply?

Leader Yan’s face remained calm. She glanced at Ruan Xuezong and said bluntly, “I’ve been planning this since the first day you brought him here. I’d seen his portrait in the Little West Continent region. The Yong Kingdom Lord is offering fifty thousand gold taels for any leads on him…”

Fifty thousand gold taels—what kind of fortune was that?

Gasps echoed through the underground palace one after another. If Ruan Xuezong had previously been just a strikingly handsome man from the Central Plains in their eyes, those words transformed him into a strikingly handsome man from the Central Plains who was worth his weight in gold.

Yet Shi Yan had reformed himself, rising from a desert bandit in the Western Regions to leader of the underground palace. Deep down, his sense of loyalty and righteousness dominated everything. He simply could not comprehend Yan Feishuang’s mindset or emotions.

“Then why harm him?” he asked in a heavy voice.

“If we got our hands on fifty thousand gold taels, it would keep the underground palace going for a good while longer.” Yan Feishuang gave a mocking smile. After all, she had nothing left to say.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. The palace’s output has always been steady, and we can sell it in the towns. Ten years ago, I panned for gold in the desert and found plenty of gold and jewelry. That’s no reason to harm someone.” Shi Yan pressed her, his voice thick with confusion.

This heartfelt question of bewilderment suddenly drove the disheartened Yan Feishuang into hysteria. She roared at him, “You don’t understand! What do you know? The gold and jewelry you found ten years ago is long gone! How could we possibly sell those goods from the underground palace? Those Western Regions merchants are cunning as foxes—they haggle and lowball every time for anything with a shady origin. Every sales channel we’ve got, I’ve begged for on my knees, one by one, over the years!”

A eerie silence fell over the underground palace. Everyone felt as if their throats had been gripped tight, staring in wide-eyed disbelief.

Only then did they realize the grueling effort behind building this Peach Blossom Paradise shelter. Someone stammered, trembling, “Leader Yan, why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

“Why didn’t you let us know earlier?”

“That’s why I didn’t want you bringing in any more people! We can’t afford it!” Tears welled in Yan Feishuang’s eyes, blurring her weathered, rough features as she vented her pent-up stress.

As the leader, even Shi Yan was hearing this for the first time. It hit him like a blow to the head. His face turned ashen, and he stared at her in stunned shock.

“You needed money, so you planned to kidnap me to the Little West Continent?” Ruan Xuezong continued along her line of reasoning. “Then why take Kanbei?”

“A Western Regions merchant took a liking to Kanbei’s embroidery skills. The merchant’s tired of buying finished pieces—he’s generous with his coin and wants to buy Kanbei outright at a high price.” Yan Feishuang replied calmly.

“I’ve heard Leader Shi say that Kanbei grew up in the underground palace from childhood, practically like a child he watched over. The bond between you should be profound. Have you ever considered what might happen to Kanbei after he’s taken away?” Ruan Xuezong stared straight at her.

Yan Feishuang averted her gaze from the young man’s dark, piercing eyes. She always felt utterly exposed under them. “That kid’s always wanted to leave anyway. He’s dreamed of wandering the world. This just fulfills that dream for him. With his embroidery and weaving skills, he’ll never starve wherever he goes. The merchant even promised me he’d cherish Kanbei’s talents…”

“You’re a fool to believe a merchant’s lies!” Shi Yan could take no more. Fury made his hair stand on end, the scar across his nose bridge throbbing with murderous intent amid his profound disappointment. Before the murals of gods and Buddhas overhead, he resembled a vengeful ghost risen straight from hell.

And yet, this man with the demonic visage was the kindest soul at heart. He had rescued thousands over the years, including her once. Back then, she had been a sixteen-year-old girl nearly cut down by horse bandits when Shi Yan happened by and saved her. From that day, a towering figure had taken root in her heart.

Yan Feishuang knew full well her actions made her no better than the infamous human traffickers of the Western Regions. She had steeled herself for it from the very first time. For the man she loved, for his ideals and ambitions—Old An had gladly given his life for Shi Yan, and so could she.

She was willing to do this. The peace of this Peach Blossom Paradise could not be shattered. She would shoulder all the bloodstained sins alone.

She knew everything.

She had prepared herself for universal condemnation, but when Shi Yan’s knife-sharp gaze fell upon her, brimming with disappointment, she found she could not bear it. Her heart shattered, agony ripping through her; her body nearly collapsed.

“…I don’t believe it either, but we need the money.” She forced a stiff smile at the corners of her mouth as tears streamed down.

The air itself seemed to freeze.

Ruan Xuezong could not stand by any longer. He had known all along that in the Jianghu game’s storyline, each of the three factions would have their own tales. After all, in System 007’s script, this couple—Yan Feishuang and Shi Yan—were destined to join the ranks of the Jianghu Piaomiao Record.

Even as a mere observer who had witnessed the whole affair, he felt compelled to speak up for fairness.

He said coldly, “Leader Yan tried to harm me, and I hold no grudge. But Leader Shi, everyone in the underground palace might have the right to blame her—except you. Who do you think she did all this for…?”

At those words, the palace residents—men, women, young, and old—nodded in silent agreement before chiming in one after another. “Leader Shi, we don’t blame Leader Yan either!” “She did harm someone, true, but it was all to protect more people. No one can deny her contributions all these years.” “She’s been through too much—we had no idea how much she’s sacrificed in secret.”

Just then, following Ruan Xuezong’s instructions, Five-Colored Mottled Black searched the supply caravan set to depart for town the next day and found the unconscious NPC Kanbei.

The boy appeared unharmed, sleeping soundly. Five-Colored Mottled Black rummaged through a bundle beside him and discovered it packed with clean clothes and a hefty sum in silver.

Noticing this detail, Five-Colored Mottled Black boldly surmised that Leader Yan must have prepared the bundle herself. Though the woman had kept a cold face and hardened her heart to sell Kanbei off as merchandise to a Western Regions merchant, she had still packed up every last personal belonging for him.

Ruan Xuezong’s piercing question had struck true.

Shi Yan, the burly middle-aged man, had his pupils contract sharply. He staggered back several steps before throwing his head back in a bout of hollow laughter that echoed through the underground palace, laced with world-weary sorrow. He cried out loudly, “It’s me—yes, me! She and Old An did it all for me, the naive old fool who’s too idealistic for his age, dreaming of building a Peach Blossom Paradise to shelter the whole world. I’m the one who deserves to go to hell—”

Tears suddenly streamed down the faces of the underground palace’s original residents.

Whose fault was it, really?

Shi Yan yanked the blade from his waist and pressed it to his own neck, eliciting cries of alarm from everyone in the palace. “Leader, no!!!”

But they could not stop him in time. As an idealistic leader, Shi Yan could not face the truth: that his dream had been built on bloodstained sins. From Ruan Xuezong’s lips, he had learned of the Queen of Chasang using human blood to craft puppets, filling him with disgust and scorn. Yet something similar had happened right under his nose. All those scornful words he had once uttered now rebounded upon him.

How had things spiraled to the point of suicide?

With a tragedy on the verge of unfolding, Ruan Xuezong acted without hesitation. He slapped the knife flying from Shi Yan’s grasp. The residual palm wind, unable to fully halt, scattered chaotically and struck Shi Yan squarely in the chest. Blood sprayed from his mouth.

Seizing the moment while Shi Yan spat blood, Ruan Xuezong swiftly sealed his acupoints. Now the underground palace housed two immobile statues.

This display left the others gazing at Ruan Xuezong in awe and trepidation. They had never imagined this young hero’s martial prowess to be so formidable—he had saved a life in the blink of an eye, right under the blade.

Ruan Xuezong stood with hands clasped behind his back. “No offense intended, but you two should calm down. Things haven’t reached the worst yet.”

“…” What more could Shi Yan say? Paralyzed from head to toe, his eyelids twitched. Events had unfolded too swiftly; his mind was a blank.

The emotional rollercoaster had left everyone in the palace reeling.

Accustomed to all manner of scenes, Ruan Xuezong asserted firmly, “No one can say definitively who is right or wrong here. Kanbei is fine—my man found him—which means Leader Yan hasn’t committed an irreversible mistake. Leader Shi, there’s no need for suicide to atone. Neither of you is truly at fault.”

His system interface showed that player Five-Colored Mottled Black had completed the search mission. Kanbei faced no mortal peril.

Shi Yan’s lips moved as if to speak. Yan Feishuang continued weeping.

Ruan Xuezong read his eyes. “If anyone must bear blame, then Leader Yan erred by shouldering it all alone, and Leader Shi erred by not realizing that birthing an ideal always requires someone to bear the burden forward. If either of you were lost, the underground palace’s future would be…”

Kanbei stirred awake just then, the knockout drug’s effects lingering. Slumped against Five-Colored Mottled Black’s back, he mumbled weakly in a daze, “I don’t blame Leader Yan. If she’d told me sooner, I wouldn’t weave just one blanket a day—I could do five or six. And why didn’t she ask me? I… I’d have been willing to go with that merchant… I’d gladly do whatever I could for her and Leader Shi…”

Silence enveloped them all.

Seeing everyone calm at last, Ruan Xuezong released their acupoints. “Take some time to think it over.”

Fortunately, he had intervened in time. The more passionate the souls involved, the easier it was for such situations to veer into uncontrollable tragedy.

The night proved utterly chaotic.

Ruan Xuezong felt exhausted too. As he closed his eyes, drifting between sleep and wakefulness, a sudden flutter of wings stirred at his ear.

A black eagle alighted by his pillow, prodding him with its sharp beak—an unusual behavior, as if sounding a warning. Ruan Xuezong bolted upright.

Then he sensed the anomaly—

A strain of qin music drifted from the horizon, carried on the chill moonlight into the underground palace. It seemed like idle fingers plucking at random, disjointed and tuneless, yet it instilled an insidious unease in the heart.

The palace’s strife had only just subsided, leaving everyone mentally drained. But those who had finally drifted off now rose in a haze, shambling out like wandering spirits, the entire group pouring forth. Leading them was a blue-eyed girl, her slender figure illuminated by the moon. Madness gleamed on her face as she murmured, “I can finally go home…”