"Speak!"
True Lord Pangyue was furious. "What exactly is going on between you and your younger brother? Don’t even think of hiding it anymore! I saw that shifty-eyed look on his face just now—clear as day!"
He waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to immediately apprehend Yue Ranchen.
"Father, you’ve misunderstood. There’s nothing of the sort," Yue Wugou raised his frost-cold eyes, his voice slightly strained as he explained. "This matter has nothing to do with Second Brother. I simply couldn’t stand seeing that old man slap him, so I took it upon myself to retaliate. I never intended to kill—just to scare him."
He rarely spoke this much, his breath uneven, his expression stiff.
True Lord Pangyue let out three cold laughs as he glared at the sky. "Lies! You’re lying through your teeth! You’re just trying to protect him, aren’t you?"
Yue Wugou pressed his lips together and lowered his gaze.
Moments later, Yue Ranchen was brought in.
"I don’t know anything!" he shouted the moment he stepped inside, eyes wide and defiant. "I was in my own room! What does Elder Brother killing someone here have to do with me?"
True Lord Pangyue narrowed his eyes at him.
Yue Ranchen stiffened his neck, his gaze flickering slightly as he blustered, "I’m useless, I’m worthless—so I’m just supposed to take the blame for Elder Brother?"
True Lord Pangyue couldn’t help but feel heartbroken and disappointed. "It’s your elder brother who’s taking the blame for you! Every word he speaks is to shield you, yet you… Ah, what a disgrace to our family. And to think Master Lingxue is witnessing this."
Master Lingxue wasn’t familiar with True Lord Pangyue’s two sons, but she could clearly sense the abrupt shift in Yue Wugou’s aura at that moment.
It truly was as if another person had taken over.
Yue Wugou stepped forward, shielding Yue Ranchen as he earnestly explained to True Lord Pangyue, "Father, it’s not that I’m protecting Second Brother. I’ve already confirmed—when Stepmother was attacked, Second Brother was with Gu Meng of the Tai Xuan Sect. This matter truly has nothing to do with him."
Yue Ranchen grew even more emboldened upon hearing this, flicking open his fan and declaring loudly, "Exactly! Don’t you dare pin this on me!"
Master Lingxue sighed inwardly. "Bring Gu Meng here."
Gu Meng was quickly summoned.
Seeing the tense atmosphere, Gu Meng grew flustered, shooting Yue Ranchen a reproachful glare before forcing herself to speak. "As I’ve said before, I can’t be certain of the exact time. It was around after the preliminary matches. Yue Ranchen said he’d show me around, and I didn’t feel right refusing."
Luo Luo tilted her head in thought.
"That’s not right," she said matter-of-factly. "You hit Zhao Yu."
Master Lingxue rubbed her temples. "Bring Zhao Yu here as well!"
Soon, Zhao Yu was brought in.
The resentful Zhao Yu wasted no time in exposing Gu Meng. "She’s lying! At the hour of Yin, she wasn’t with Yue Ranchen at all—she was alone on the Sky Corridor, pacing back and forth for ages. I kindly went up to speak to her, and she actually gave me internal injuries!"
"I—" Gu Meng’s face flushed red. "How am I supposed to remember every little thing that happened at what exact time?"
Master Lingxue was exasperated. "And yet you dared to vouch for Yue Ranchen?"
Gu Meng muttered sullenly, "I didn’t know about their affairs… The Young Master just asked me casually, so I answered casually. It wasn’t any formal testimony."
The one with the ugliest expression now was Yue Ranchen.
In the past, he only had to fool his elder brother to get away with things. But today, he’d had the misfortune of running into some meddling pretty boy who blew the whole thing wide open.
Yue Ranchen glared hatefully at the pretty boy, who stood lazily behind Luo Luo, idly playing with the ends of her hair.
Noticing Yue Ranchen’s gaze, Luo Luo turned to look behind her—and immediately rolled her eyes.
She fixed the pretty boy with a reproachful stare.
The pretty boy paused, then let go nonchalantly, preemptively shifting blame. "You’ve got spider silk all over you—almost got it on me."
Luo Luo: "...Oh."
Meanwhile, with Gu Meng’s false testimony exposed, Master Lingxue waved her away in disappointment.
Gu Meng left, eyes red with humiliation.
After a heavy silence, True Lord Pangyue let out a weary sigh.
"Enough. There’s no point in lying anymore." He lifted his gaze, glancing at his two sons. "Your own actions have betrayed you completely!"
The Yue brothers looked bewildered.
True Lord Pangyue suddenly fixed his eldest with a piercing stare. "If you didn’t already know your younger brother could hijack your body to commit misdeeds, why would you go ask Gu Meng whether he was with her at the time of the incident?!"
A vein pulsed at Yue Wugou’s temple. He opened his mouth but couldn’t find words.
True Lord Pangyue then turned his glare on the younger son. "You were on the other side of the Jianmu at the time! If you weren’t guilty, why would you need Gu Meng to lie for you?!"
Yue Ranchen’s cheek twitched, his eyes darting wildly.
"Your stepmother has already confessed everything," True Lord Pangyue said, sounding almost resigned. "She described in detail when, where, and how ‘Yue Wugou’ had accosted her, and the vile words he’d spoken. I’m past caring about face—I’ll summon everyone around you and cross-examine every moment of your whereabouts!"
Seeing no way out, Yue Ranchen gritted his teeth in fury. "Fine—so what if I can possess Elder Brother’s body? Why assume every bad thing was my doing? Why can’t it have been his own idea?!"
"You—!" True Lord Pangyue roared.
He swung a slap—but it landed on Yue Wugou’s face instead.
Yue Wugou had silently stepped in front of his brother, taking the blow for him.
True Lord Pangyue was beside himself, his hand trembling as he pointed at Yue Wugou. "You…"
Yue Wugou dropped to his knees with a thud. "Father, Second Brother’s health is frail—he can’t take a beating. Besides, any wrongdoing was committed using my body. Punish me instead."
Despite his elder brother desperately shielding him, Yue Ranchen showed not a flicker of gratitude.
Instead, he crossed his arms and laughed, looking around triumphantly. "Hear that? Now that’s what I call brotherly love!"
"You’d still defend him?!" True Lord Pangyue was so angry he laughed.
Yue Wugou bowed his head. "Father, Second Brother is childish, impulsive, and mischievous, but at heart, he isn’t truly wicked…"
True Lord Pangyue cut him off with a furious wave of his sleeve. "Then tell me this—what if he’s the one who murdered your wife?!"
Yue Wugou recoiled as if struck, his eyes snapping wide. "Impossible!"
"Impossible? Why impossible?!" True Lord Pangyue was beyond enraged. "If he’d dare force himself on his stepmother, why wouldn’t he dare do the same to your wife?!"
Yue Ranchen, who had been gloating moments ago, suddenly swayed on his feet, nearly collapsing.
Beads of cold sweat broke out on his forehead, his face turning ashen, lips bloodless. He tried desperately to maintain composure, groping for support behind him—only to knock over two heavy copper stools in his panic.
The clattering rang loudly through the hall.
True Lord Pangyue’s gaze locked onto his younger son. "Did you use your brother’s body to assault your sister-in-law, then kill her to silence her?!"
"N-no! I didn’t!" Yue Ranchen staggered back, terror-stricken. "I didn’t, I swear!"
His guilty expression was obvious to anyone who saw it.
Yet Yue Wugou frowned and said solemnly, "But Father, during both murders, Second Brother truly wasn’t present."
"Ah, right! Exactly!" Yue Ranchen cried out sharply, like a drowning man clutching at straws. "Last night, my brother was on night patrol—I never possessed him. He knows! That dead body at night had nothing to do with me! And today, while you were all busy with the Qingyun Assembly, I possessed my brother to go find Stepmother and... relieve some tension. You all already know that! When would I have had time to kill anyone?"
True Lord Pangyue’s face turned green all over again.
Yue Ranchen grew more and more confident as he spoke. "So—so these two deaths weren’t my doing. The evidence is clear! And of course, Sister-in-law wasn’t killed by me either. No one can pin this on me!"
Yue Wugou nodded. "I believe you."
Yue Ranchen grinned, baring his teeth. "Father, listen to what Eldest Brother says. Don’t go accusing people blindly—you need proof to back your words!"
But time had passed—what evidence could possibly remain?
True Lord Pangyue glanced at his eldest son, who was shielding his younger brother without question, and could only stomp his foot in frustration. "Fine, fine! We’ll discuss the rest after the killer is found!"
Once outsiders had left, only the three Yue men remained in the room.
Before True Lord Pangyue could even glare at him, Yue Ranchen sneered first. "Father, you should be thanking me."
The old man nearly laughed in disbelief. "Thank you for what?"
"You should thank me for not exposing your dirty secrets in front of everyone, even after you pushed me this far!" Yue Ranchen curled one side of his lips. "You probably didn’t know—Mother told us everything before she died!"
True Lord Pangyue’s plump face trembled, his eyelids twitching uncontrollably. "...What?"
He turned sharply to Yue Wugou, only to see his eldest son lowering his gaze, shame written across his face.
"Ji Niang... told both of you?" True Lord Pangyue pressed a hand to his throbbing temple and uttered a single word: "The... gu?"
Yue Wugou gave a slight nod.
After a long moment of stunned silence, True Lord Pangyue let out a heavy sigh and collapsed into a chair. "...Ah!"
Yue Ranchen fanned himself, chuckling coldly.
Finally, True Lord Pangyue spoke with difficulty. "The situation back then... was truly desperate. If our bloodline failed to produce another prodigy, we would have been finished. In the struggle for power, the losers face eternal ruin."
He slowly raised his eyes to Yue Wugou. "If not for you—my qilin child—it wouldn’t have been them who died back then. It would have been us!"
His wife had been carrying twins—their last chance. In desperation, True Lord Pangyue fed her a fetal gu, forcing the unborn twins to fight and devour each other, just like raising gu.
The survivor would become the Gu King, inheriting everything from the lost sibling—spiritual veins, talent, intellect, potential, soul power.
Everything had gone smoothly, blessing them with Yue Wugou, a true genius.
The only mishap was that Yue Ranchen, who should have been mere nourishment, clung stubbornly to life—though left crippled.
True Lord Pangyue never expected his wife to reveal the truth to the brothers before her death.
Yue Wugou lowered his eyes. "Mother was deeply remorseful."
—Eldest Brother, you must protect your younger brother at all costs. He became like this... for your sake!
These were their mother’s last words—her dying wish.
"Father," Yue Wugou said softly, "I will take responsibility for Second Brother’s mistakes."
True Lord Pangyue covered his face. "Ah..."
Yue Ranchen smirked from the side. "Father, Eldest Brother took so much from me. Isn’t it only fair that I borrow his body now and then to do the things I want?"
When he first learned the truth, Yue Ranchen had raged, hated, and lost his mind. That resentment festered inside him like poison, nearly killing him.
Until one day, he discovered he could leave his body—and possess his brother.
From then on, he found his own twisted joy.
A long silence stretched between them.
"Enough." True Lord Pangyue sighed. "Go. Find the real killer quickly, and handle the Qingyun Assembly properly."
If Yue Wugou was willing to believe his brother, then let the past stay buried.
This time, the killer was the one who had murdered his daughter-in-law.
"Neither of them is the killer!" Luo Luo fumed. "After all that investigating, we got nothing!"
She kicked the copper-patterned floor in frustration, the metallic thuds echoing.
The pretty boy clicked his tongue. "Yue Ranchen—what a piece of work."
Luo Luo nodded vehemently. "Yeah!"
She had never met someone so purely vile, so rotten to the core.
The old man had only slapped him for his insolence, yet Yue Ranchen had tortured and killed him in return.
He had even forced himself on his stepmother—utterly despicable. And Yue Wugou’s wife? Ninety-nine percent chance he was behind her death too.
The pretty boy mused, "If he wanted his sister-in-law, he should’ve just taken her openly. Sneaking around in his brother’s skin—what kind of man does that?"
Luo Luo: "..."
You’re no better!
She moved to the opposite railing, putting distance between them.
"Huh?"
Luo Luo rubbed her cheek.
It tingled, as if she’d brushed against a spider’s thread.
Ever since he mentioned the "web" above her head, she’d felt something off, but whenever she looked, there was nothing there.
Her hand came away clean.
‘This is all your fault!’
She shot him a glare across the corridor, mentally cursing him several times over.
The two arrived at the skywalk where the junior sister had vanished.
The eldest and second disciples were still calling out, their voices hoarse.
Luo Luo noticed the usually composed eldest brother had red-rimmed eyes—clearly, he’d been crying.
She sighed quietly and sat on the copper railing.
Seems the eldest brother only realized the junior sister’s feelings for him after she disappeared—when it might already be too late.
Just like how she’d found Li Zhaoye’s sword-training logs and discovered he’d liked her all along.
Her heart ached with bittersweetness as she blinked up at the sun.
Thud.
A large hand landed on her head, startling her.
She turned—and startled him right back.
He stared at her like she’d grown a second head. "Eyes red as a rabbit’s—what, craving rabbit meat that badly?"
Luo Luo: "...You look more like a rabbit than I do."
The words slipped out before she remembered—it was their master’s catchphrase.
Li Zhaoye had the thickest skin, constantly pestering their master for things.
"Master, spare some spirit stones!"
"Do I look like a spirit stone to you?"
"Master, how about some pills?"
"Am I a pill in your eyes?"
Luo Luo’s breath hitched, and she lowered her head gloomily.
The pretty boy burst out laughing. "Want to eat me? Dream on!"
Luo Luo: "..."
Her gloom vanished, replaced by the urge to draw her sword and smack him.
As the sun dipped westward, the skywalk emptied. Even the two disciples slumped to the ground in defeat.
The second disciple forced a smile. "Maybe... maybe Junior Sister just couldn’t take the pressure and sneaked back to the sect."
The eldest senior brother shook his head: "No, she'd finish even if the sky were falling."
The second senior brother pouted: "Oh, you know her so well, don't you?"
The eldest senior brother silently turned away.
Luo Luo brushed her fingers near her ear: "Where’s all this cobweb coming from?"
The two senior brothers suddenly exchanged a glance, then simultaneously fixed their eyes on Luo Luo.
"Uh," the second senior brother hesitated, "Little Junior Sister used to say she had cobwebs on her too, didn’t she? Right, Eldest Senior Brother?"
The eldest senior brother nodded: "Yeah."
Luo Luo blinked slowly.
The second senior brother blurted out: "Are you the next one?!"
The eldest senior brother quickly yanked him back: "If you can’t say anything useful, shut up. The next one only comes after the last one dies."
The second senior brother was speechless: "Wow, you’re so eloquent, huh?"
The fair-faced man expressionlessly stepped closer, hoisted Luo Luo up by the shoulder, and pulled her along: "Let’s go!"
Luo Luo: "...Oh."
After walking a good distance, Luo Luo belatedly realized: "Wait, so I am the next one?"
The fair-faced man didn’t even blink: "With me watching, you won’t be."
To reassure her, he spread his fingers and gave her shoulder and arm a firm squeeze.
Luo Luo: "..."
His arm was heavy, his grip even heavier—it made her bones ache.
Night fell.
He unceremoniously climbed onto the bed, shoving her into the corner.
"Don’t even think about nibbling like a rabbit tonight."
"...Oh."
Surrounded by his scent, Luo Luo struggled to breathe.
Suddenly, his hand shot out, seizing her wrist and tightening.
A bony finger pressed hard against her pulse and soul mark.
Luo Luo stiffened, forcing herself to lie perfectly still, straight as a board.
She asked: "Yue Wugou is with True Lord Pangyue. The killer wouldn’t dare strike while he’s in bed with her, right?"
The fair-faced man hummed absently.
Gradually, their breaths intertwined on the bed—
One strand hers, one strand his.
After lying in silence for a long while, Luo Luo drifted into a daze.
Then—she felt it again. A cobweb brushed her nose.
Instinctively, she raised her hand to swipe at it, but the moment her fingers touched her nose, her heart lurched in terror.
She had used her right hand.
But her right hand… was still clutched in his grip.
