It wasn’t as though Pei Liang had never killed anyone. Back in those chaotic times, what darkness of humanity had she not witnessed?
When order collapsed and chaos reigned, anyone living in such an era who possessed even a slight advantage yet could restrain themselves from bullying and oppressing others was a rare exception.
By the time Pei Liang’s business had grown large and her influence extended in every direction, she had countless capable people working under her. But before that, her vast and orderly organization had not been built with a single rallying cry.
There had been no shortage of “clever” people among her subordinates who took advantage of the authority she granted them to bully the weak.
For instance, some estate overseers and mine managers, relying on their small amount of power, would act like tyrants within their own little domains, abusing men and women alike.
Pei Liang had ordered quite a few of them executed. In some cases, she had even carried out the executions herself to appease the people’s anger.
There was no need to mention the scenes she had personally witnessed during the wars—scenes as horrific as hell on earth.
So when it came to certain matters, Pei Liang was not particularly scrupulous.
Especially given her nature. The thing she hated most in life was being manipulated and controlled. That was a line she could not allow anyone to cross, let alone dance back and forth over.
Back then, Pei Fugui had not been truly vile or irredeemably evil. Yet the moment he showed signs of harboring such intentions, Pei Liang had already developed murderous thoughts.
And Old Madam Pei, that old poisoner, was even worse.
Under the two women’s stunned gazes, Pei Liang swiftly activated her movement technique and reached the bed in an instant.
With a sharp crack, she dislocated the Third Uncle’s jaw, then sealed his acupoints and pinned him in place.
Old Madam Pei was already exceedingly frail, with sluggish reactions. By the time she tried to scream, Pei Liang had dislocated her jaw as well.
The two of them could no longer speak. They stared at Pei Liang in disbelief, making muffled sounds as saliva dripped from the corners of their mouths. They looked utterly wretched.
The two beauties tried to scream when they saw this, but Pei Liang swept them with a single glance.
They had received professional training and had already learned to remain calm in the face of major events.
Pei Liang smiled at them in satisfaction.
Not bad. As expected of women carefully cultivated and selected by the old madam as potential tools for winning over the Jiang family. They were remarkably composed under pressure.
Pei Liang said, “I also like beauties who know how to read the situation. After all, it would be a shame to slash or snap such lovely necks.”
The two beauties were scared nearly out of their wits. Hearing the seemingly flattering yet clearly threatening words, they kept their mouths shut and did not dare make the slightest sound.
They were merely ordinary women who had spent their entire lives learning how to please men. Delicate and weak, they would be out of breath after running only a few steps.
If they dared shout for help or open the door and run, then with the eldest miss’s movement technique, they would probably lose their heads before they even crossed the threshold.
There were five people in the room at that moment. Two dared not speak, while two were unable to speak. The entire room was terrifyingly silent, permeated by a deathly stillness.
“Ah! Ah!” The woman attending Old Madam Pei made unintelligible sounds in her throat.
Pei Liang paid her no attention. Instead, she picked up the pillow beside Old Madam Pei and gave it a few experimental bounces to see whether it felt comfortable in her hand.
Only then did she smile at the old woman.
“Grandmother, you really have no need to grieve.”
“Father and Big Brother both died very quickly. The whole thing took less than the time it takes to burn a single incense stick. Even if they suffered, it could not have lasted long. Compared with the people they tormented, their pain was not even one ten-thousandth as severe.”
“Elder Brother had it worse. At the time, he couldn’t even speak. Blood flooded into his windpipe, and it felt as though he’d been force-fed chili water. All he could breathe out were bloody bubbles. The terror of impending death engulfed him completely. And then that thing of his was chopped off, too. I think he was in so much pain that he couldn’t even scream.”
“With how much the killer despised and loathed him, he knew perfectly well that, even if he were buried in the next few days, there’d be no way to leave him an intact corpse. I’m afraid he couldn’t even go to the underworld whole and complete. His next life would be difficult too.”
“That was why, when he died, his eyes simply would not close.”
“Of course, Father was the same. After all, who could have imagined that Sect Leader Pei, unrivaled in martial arts, would die so suddenly and easily—there in his own Moon-Slashing Manor?”
Old Madam Pei was no fool. Third Uncle Pei might have been completely bewildered by these words.
But Old Madam Pei knew every detail of the horrific condition in which her son and grandson had died.
Listening now as Pei Liang described, with meticulous precision, the details of their final moments, how could it possibly be as she had claimed earlier—that Pei Liang had only seen the gruesome state of her father and brother’s bodies after entering the prison?
Her words clearly meant that Pei Liang had watched with her own eyes as her father and brother suffered and died.
Then how had she known? Since she had known from that moment on, why had she not sounded the alarm? Why had she waited until her father and brother’s bodies were nearly cold before calling for help—
Xia Yunsha was nothing more than a petty thief with a few crude tricks. Even if her son and grandson truly had lusted after her and intended to have their way with her, how could a mere petty thief possibly have gotten the better of them, given her son’s martial skill?
In that instant, Old Madam Pei understood everything. The murderers had never been those two people. It was her good granddaughter, standing right before her.
But she could not understand it. She simply could not understand—why?
There had been many suspicious points before. Even if Old Madam Pei had suspected that Pei Liang was lying, at most she would have thought Pei Liang had watched the murderer flee and chosen to shield them.
Because who could have guessed—who could possibly have imagined—that she would do something so utterly baffling, something that brought her nothing but harm and not a single benefit?
With her father and brother dead, the Pei family in decline, and all support gone, she had fallen from the illustrious young lady of one of the Four Sects and Eight Schools into a pitiful girl who would struggle to take a step forward and be bullied by anyone and everyone. What possible good could this do her?
Such an act ran so completely against a person’s instinct for self-interest that even someone as clever and calculating as Old Madam Pei would never have considered it.
Even hearing it with her own ears now, she found it impossible to believe.
But it was already too late. Pei Liang pressed a pillow over her face.
Old Madam Pei struggled desperately, but she was already advanced in years, and this serious illness had drained the last of her strength. How could she have any power left?
To Pei Liang, her struggles were like those of a dying fish on the chopping block. Pei Liang even glanced casually at Third Uncle Pei at that moment and smiled at him.
As Third Uncle Pei stared at her as though she were a demon from hell—his face drained of color, his pupils constricting, foul-smelling fluid running down from his crotch—
Pei Liang said to him in the same tone one might use to discuss the weather, “Third Uncle, really, if you had just stayed down the mountain and lived as a wealthy man, that would have been quite good enough.”
“A person must know their own limits. Power, influence, and riches may be wonderful—but one must also consider how much one’s worthless life can truly bear.”
“Lacking self-awareness is bad enough. But how does a rat dare scheme against a tiger? If you had come up the mountain to mourn my father and brother, merely to help with the funeral arrangements, then as your niece, I would naturally be grateful.”
“But at your age, surely you could find something better to do than meddle in affairs with that old woman. She may be senile and incapable of knowing better, but are you the same?”
At this, Old Madam Pei’s struggles grew increasingly violent, as though her body itself knew it had reached its limit, and her instinct to survive was fighting desperately against it.
As Pei Liang spoke, however, her hands seemed to have eyes. No matter how Old Madam Pei struggled, she precisely kept her face covered, never allowing her even the slightest chance to breathe in the urine stench of Third Uncle Pei, that unfilial son. Truly, filial devotion enough to move Heaven.
Turning back, she addressed the old madam in the helpless, admonishing tone one might use with a child. “Grandmother, you have always cared so much about dignity and appearances. Though you, a mere Jianghu nobody, have often likened yourself to a titled noble matriarch of the imperial court, we juniors have always humored you.”
“So why is it that now, you yourself have forgotten all decorum?”
“While alive, you could pretend to be lofty and refined, putting on the airs of someone superior to everyone else.”
“You kept up the act for a lifetime, until you even deceived yourself. You thought your authority was boundless, that everyone beneath you was no more than an ant. Yet at the moment of death, all that effort still comes to nothing.”
“A maggot or cockroach that belongs in a filthy gutter may try to pass itself off as human, but when this moment comes, it is still nothing more than a foul little insect, its ugliness laid bare.”
“Just like your sons and grandsons: clutching at their throats, writhing desperately across the floor, fighting to live. How absurdly entertaining they look.”
“They enjoy watching others die in agony, believing themselves to hold the power of life and death and stand above all others. But when it is their turn, they are no different. In fact, they look even uglier.”
Old Madam Pei’s body convulsed violently a few times, then gradually went limp.
Pei Liang lifted the two pillows and found Old Madam Pei beneath them, her eyes bloodshot and wide open in death.
Old Madam Pei had always had a gaunt, harsh-looking face. Now, with her features twisted in a grimace, she resembled a demon. Third Uncle Pei had watched his own mother breathe her last, and he had already been so terrified that he had wet himself.
When Pei Liang suddenly pulled away the pillows, his eyes rolled back, and he nearly fainted on the spot.
Pei Liang slapped him twice without holding back in the slightest. Blood filled Third Uncle Pei’s mouth, and the searing pain jolted him awake again.
The moment he came to, he found himself staring directly into Old Madam Pei’s unclosed eyes. He opened his mouth to scream, but Pei Liang released his acupoints first and sent him flying with a kick.
He was kicked clean out of the room.
Pei Liang followed him out, her face filled with grief and fury.
Pointing at Third Uncle Pei, she cursed, “My father and brother’s bodies are not yet cold, and you, my father’s own younger brother, have ignored your elder brother’s funeral affairs in your haste to seize my family’s estate and take control of our property.”
“You even ran to Grandmother and badgered her with your demands. Grandmother was already heartbroken over my father and brother’s deaths. The doctor barely managed to keep her alive yesterday, but she was already at death’s door. And yet, as her son, you hounded her relentlessly at such a time. When Grandmother refused to bow to your wishes, you violently shoved her aside without a care.”
“My poor grandmother, driven to her death by an unfilial son like you.”
Third Uncle Pei had already been badly injured by Pei Liang’s slap. His ears rang, his vision swam, and he was on the verge of passing out. He could barely make out what she was saying, much less defend himself with his mouth full of blood and his dislocated jaw.
Yet no matter how foolish he was, from her scattered words and the sudden change in everyone’s expressions, he understood that Pei Liang was pinning the murder of his mother on him.
Third Uncle Pei was horrified. For an instant, he saw in Pei Liang the same ruthless, cold-blooded nature her father had once possessed, one that recognized no ties of kinship.
Had her father still been alive, Third Uncle Pei would never have dared entertain such thoughts. But seeing his niece alone and seemingly easy to bully, he had never imagined that this young woman could be just as ruthless, just as capable of casually turning black into white.
Third Uncle Pei hurriedly waved his hands and shook his head at those around him, but what use was that?
Although Old Madam Pei had intended for Third Uncle Pei to take over the Moon-Cleaving Sect, that was merely an understanding among the subordinates.
Third Uncle Pei’s family had no foundation here. Their martial skills were weak, and neither their talent, character, nor force of presence inspired anyone’s regard.
Now, he had been seriously injured with ease by his young niece. How could such a sect leader possibly command respect?
Moreover, with Old Madam Pei’s authority gone, the Pei household naturally remained accustomed to obeying the eldest young lady. At Pei Liang’s command, people immediately seized Third Uncle Pei and threw him into the dungeon...
Meanwhile, Third Uncle Pei’s wife and daughter had only just been rescued in a miserable state. They were throwing tantrums, rolling about on the ground, and shouting that they wanted Old Madam Pei to uphold justice for them and make Pei Liang pay.
Then they learned that the woman they had relied on was dead. At that very moment, Third Uncle Pei, his face covered in blood, was carried into the dungeon like a dead fish. The two women did not even need to be summoned; the whole family was reunited in the dungeon at once.
Third Uncle Pei’s family had dreamed of taking control of the Pei household and rising to fortune and power. In less than half a day, that dream had shattered.
After sending Third Uncle Pei away, Pei Liang returned to Old Madam Pei’s room. She opened the place toward which Old Madam Pei’s gaze had drifted when Pei Liang had bluffed her the day before.
It was a cabinet containing several valuable pieces of jewelry.
Most people, upon opening the cabinet’s intricate lock and seeing such priceless ornaments, would have been satisfied.
They would never have suspected that these costly treasures were merely a decoy. A thief who stole them would simply leave, never giving the cabinet another thought.
But to Pei Liang, the actual capacity of the cabinet’s drawers and compartments seemed slightly out of proportion.
So she tore open the false panel without hesitation. Sure enough, hidden at the very back was a shallow compartment, about two feet long and roughly three fingers thick.
The compartment was empty, but Pei Liang curled her lips into a faint smile, as though she had expected nothing else.
She left the room and instructed the maids and older servants to dress Old Madam Pei’s body in burial clothes.
With three people dead in quick succession, arranging the funerals was rather convenient. The coffin and shroud for Old Madam Pei had long since been prepared. Grandmother and grandchildren could keep one another company; at least the road to the underworld would not be lonely.
After giving her instructions, Pei Liang stepped outside and saw the two beauties Old Madam Pei had prepared. They stood trembling at the doorway.
The instant they saw Pei Liang, their eyes filled with terror and fear. They immediately dropped to their knees before her, their gazes full of pleading.
No wonder they were terrified. To catch everyone off guard and prevent the guards in the outer courtyard from noticing anything amiss, Pei Liang had not sent them away beforehand. Doing so might have provoked a confrontation with the Old Madam, or alerted those outside that something was wrong.
The two women had heard every word Pei Liang said. Both were clever, perceptive beauties. How could they fail to understand its implications?
The eldest young lady had killed her own grandmother before their very eyes, and they had heard countless even more shocking truths.
Clearly, she had no intention of letting them live.
Yet Pei Liang was so cunning and ruthless. She had killed someone, then turned the blame around to eliminate the troublesome Third Master with decisive efficiency. And there were truths that even the Old Madam had refused to believe.
Overawed by Pei Liang's brutal authority, how could either woman dare say a word? They could only hope that the eldest young lady might spare them.
Seeing the two beauties trembling like frightened rabbits, Pei Liang found herself amused.
“What are you two skilled at?” she asked.
Was she judging whether they were worth keeping?
The more strikingly beautiful of the two hurriedly answered, “This servant is Hongxiu. I am skilled in massage. After the young lady has practiced martial arts, should your body feel weary or uncomfortable, this servant can help ease your fatigue.”
The other, whose features were pure and gentle, said, “This servant is Qingyi. I am skilled in blending fragrances. If the young lady is troubled or sleeping poorly, I can also help soothe you.”
Ancient times were unlike the modern world. Nowadays, even the slightest bit of ability could be polished up and advertised, because people had no shortage of platforms on which to display themselves, and talent was rarely left buried.
But in ancient times, anyone who dared claim mastery in a particular art possessed far more than merely solid fundamentals.
Pei Liang clicked her tongue. “Such exceptionally gifted, lovely, and attentive beauties were all meant to be gifted to that man surnamed Jiang. I'm afraid he doesn't have the fortune to enjoy them.”
The two beauties' hearts sank. The moment the eldest young lady mentioned Young Master Jiang, she had surely remembered who they were. She would be even less likely to spare them now.
Just as despair took hold, however, they heard Pei Liang say, “How could I let someone else have such a good thing?”
“Have them taken to my rooms and washed and dressed. Bring out the bolts of brocade I acquired last month, along with gold, jade, and gemstones from the storehouse, and adorn them properly.”
“From now on, they will remain at my side as my personal attendants.”
At that command, everyone around them was dumbfounded. For a moment, they almost thought it was the eldest young master ordering someone to install new concubines. Hadn't the eldest young lady always found such fluttering beauties tiresome?
More importantly, even the eldest young master had never been this lavish.
Pei Liang then said gently to the two women, “I have matters to attend to. Go back and prepare yourselves. You may instruct the maids to fetch whatever oils, implements, or fragrance-making materials you need.”
The two beauties were equally bewildered, as though they had both been taken into favor at once.
Still, since the eldest young lady had given such instructions, their lives should be safe for the time being, shouldn't they?
Besides, the eldest young lady's generosity was so extravagant that they could not help feeling a flicker of eager anticipation.
The others were baffled, but Pei Liang now held the greatest authority in the entire Pei household. All they could do was lower their heads and obey.
Yet apart from the members of the Pei family, there was a maid standing in a corner of the courtyard who had witnessed the entire affair. Amid her confusion, she felt that something was not quite right.
But when her gaze fell on the two beauties, an inexplicable sourness rose in her mouth.
The moment the old madam died, Pei Liang swiftly seized control of the situation. She issued a series of orders in quick succession, bringing clarity to the chaos that had engulfed the Pei family.
She recalled the unnecessary personnel and reinforced the security structure of Splitting Moon Manor. As for the murderer, there was no need to pursue him aimlessly. Instead, she joined forces with several major sects to pressure the Wangqiu Sect.
They demanded to know why the sect had ordered its female disciples to sow discord, leading to Han Weiliu coming to their door seeking revenge, and had even used underhanded means to ambush and murder the sect leader and his successor.
Now, they had the audacity to turn around and accuse the Pei family's eldest daughter of murdering her father and brother. Their intentions were truly sinister.
Since the Wangqiu Sect had borrowed Han Weiliu's hand to carry out its schemes, then was the extermination of the Han family connected to them as well?
The Pei family had already sent out invitations to heroes across the martial world. If the Wangqiu Sect could not provide an explanation before then, the blood feud arising from their covert attack on a sect leader would have to be repaid. The Splitting Moon Sect and the various sects that upheld the rules of the martial world would not hesitate to shed blood to obtain justice.
The people of the Wangqiu Sect were livid, their faces twisted with fury. A situation that had originally been entirely under their control had suddenly slipped beyond their grasp, and they had even been slapped in the face for their trouble.
At present, the Wangqiu Sect was in no position to draw excessive attention to itself. It was already teetering on the brink of disaster simply from having to deal with the recent probing by those harboring ulterior motives.
After Xia Yunsha returned to the sect, she was sent far away to evade the pursuit. Han Weiliu, meanwhile, had vanished without a trace.
The Wangqiu Sect was furious, but there was nothing they could do except put on the fearful, cowardly airs expected of a second-rate sect. Every day, they had to act meek and obsequious before the people from the major sects and the Splitting Moon Sect who came to investigate and question them. The humiliation was unbearable.
Pei Liang stabilized the hearts of the Splitting Moon Sect's people, using Third Uncle Pei's family to intimidate those in the inner and outer residences whose ambitions had begun to stir after the old madam's death.
She also arranged the funeral swiftly and efficiently. By using the Wangqiu Sect to divert internal conflicts within the sect, she gave those with ambitions and ulterior motives a righteous pretext to act: avenging the sect leader and washing away his blood debt. As a result, they were the most enthusiastic about making trips to the Wangqiu Sect.
This eased the pressure on Pei Liang, whose martial arts were not yet strong enough to intimidate everyone.
The prosperity and strength of a sect could never depend solely on its leader. In truth, the Splitting Moon Sect had no shortage of highly skilled martial artists.
It was just that martial-world sects were, in essence, much like modern criminal organizations: groups built on violence.
For such a group to function, it needed an undisputed dominant force—a true dragon capable of suppressing the many powerful wolves within its ranks.
Pei Liang did not yet possess that level of martial strength. However, before anyone else had time to deal with the chaos, she had demonstrated an ability to take charge of the overall situation, along with considerable talent and resolve. This won the sincere submission of the Splitting Moon Sect's people.
Moreover, she was the only surviving direct descendant of the Pei family. Anyone with ambitions of their own would have to seek her support.
With the situation still unclear and the Jiang and Cao families yet to make their positions known, even those uneasy figures within the Splitting Moon Sect did not dare to stick their necks out.
Pei Liang relied on that brief delay in everyone's reactions and the delicate balance between the various factions to temporarily seize control of the Splitting Moon Sect.
But that balance would inevitably be broken.
On the day of the funeral, the Jiang and Cao families, both of whom had marriage agreements with the Pei family, arrived early in the morning.
That was the way of the world: once a person was gone, so too was the warmth that had surrounded them. Although the Jiang family lived some distance from the Pei family, back when the Pei family had been flourishing and Sect Leader Pei's birthday celebrations were grand occasions, the Jiang and Cao families would usually arrive a day or two in advance.
Now that Sect Leader Pei was lying in his coffin, it was not as though he could resent the two families for treating the funeral with less than due respect. Since that was the case, the two families naturally saw no issue in being a little perfunctory themselves.
None of the three generations of the Pei family deserved for Pei Liang to kneel vigil by their coffins and observe mourning rites. Instead, she took the steward's place outside the mourning hall to receive visitors.
The hall itself was far from quiet. A crowd of concubines and illegitimate sons wailed as though their hearts had been torn apart, making the place positively lively.
The Jiang and Cao families arrived together. Besides Sect Leader Jiang and the original owner's current fiance, Jiang Xun, the Jiang party included Sect Leader Jiang's younger brother, Jiang Wu, and his wife, Huo Shiliu.
Though Jiang Wu was Jiang Xun's uncle, the two were only five years apart in age.
Yet when the Jiang uncle and nephew, practically peers, stood together, the difference between them was stark.
Jiang Xun was the renowned Jade-Faced Young Master of the martial world: handsome and dashing, refined and accomplished in both letters and martial arts. He was the dream man of countless female martial artists, and of course, of the original owner as well.
Jiang Wu, on the other hand, was far more ordinary. Though he too enjoyed a certain reputation in the martial world and possessed respectable skill, beside Jiang Xun he looked less like his uncle than like a scion of a great family standing next to his attendant.
And yet this unremarkable man had married the famously beautiful heroine Huo Shiliu, the envy of many for years.
But now, with the three of them standing together, Jiang Xun and Huo Shiliu looked like the true couple in every way. Their appearances, their presence, even their unspoken rapport made them seem perfectly matched.
It was not merely Pei Liang's lewd mind seeing lewdness everywhere. This aunt-in-law and nephew truly were having an affair.
In the original novel, Huo Shiliu had played no small part in tormenting the original owner to death after she married into the Jiang family.
The man Huo Shiliu had truly wanted to marry was Jiang Xun. But her background was too humble. Though she herself had earned considerable renown, she could never become the future mistress of the Jiang family.
This woman was ruthless. Since she could not marry the man she loved, she settled for marrying into his family instead. Thus, unlucky Jiang Wu became the one left holding the bag.
The two had long been carrying on in secret. Since Huo Shiliu could not marry Jiang Xun herself, she naturally bore a bitter grudge against the original owner, who could.
In her eyes, the original owner was nothing but a foolish, affected good-for-nothing who had been born into a powerful family. Her martial training was mediocre, and she was stupid and spoiled. That praise comparing her to Xi Shi beneath the moon was nothing more than a tribute to her illustrious family.
There was no shortage of beauties in the martial world. Huo Shiliu herself had once been famed for her beauty. Why should Pei Liang be allowed to eclipse them all?
Simply because she had been lucky enough to be born into the right family, she had effortlessly gained everything Huo Shiliu could never reach.
So once the Pei family fell and the original owner was left without anyone to rely on, the little aunt-in-law who had once seemed frank, generous, warm, and affectionate revealed her true face: a cruel, cutting ugliness steeped in jealousy and twisted beyond repair.
At this moment, Huo Shiliu looked upon the Pei household's desolation and felt thoroughly pleased.
Yet she arranged her face into an expression of sorrowful concern, took Pei Liang's hand, and said, “My dear, please accept my condolences. Life and death are beyond anyone's control. I am sure Brother Pei and the old madam would not want to see you drowning in grief.”
“I think you've grown thinner since the last time I saw you—”
Huo Shiliu glanced at Pei Liang's complexion, and the rest of the sentence simply would not come out.
Where was the look of grief on Pei Liang's face? Far from having lost weight, she seemed even rosier than the last time they met. Though her expression was not especially animated, her entire bearing was vibrant and high-spirited.
She truly embodied the old saying: her beauty was like flowers, her spirit like the moon.
At that moment, Pei Liang was not merely pitiful and desolate. She was like a peach blossom at the height of its bloom, her delicate, rosy face seeming soft enough to bruise at a touch, her entire person exuding an elegant, cool fragrance.
Huo Shiliu had a bad feeling. Sure enough, when she turned around, she saw Jiang Xun's gaze fixed on Pei Liang as though hooked there, impossible to wrench away.
Huo Shiliu seethed inwardly. Jiang Xun, however, walked up to Pei Liang and said gently, "Don't be afraid, Junior Sister. I'm here."
In looks and bearing, Jiang Xun truly was exceptional. Unlike Young Sect Leader Pei, there was not a trace of scheming lechery to be found in his eyes.
The way he looked at women, his eyes full of focus and devotion, might have convinced Pei Liang herself, if she were not such a practiced heartbreaker and did not know that his romantic entanglements were so chaotic that even the most scandalous love stories would pale beside them.
Now, as Jiang Xun looked at Pei Liang, it seemed there was no one else in his world. His voice was worried, yet carried the kind of strength that made one want to lean on him.
"Though your father and brother are gone, you still have me."
"You have borne everything alone these past days, and you have grown so thin. Don't worry. From now on, I won't let you suffer such grief again."
Jiang Xun certainly had nerve. The things Huo Shiliu had been too embarrassed to say came from his mouth without the slightest hesitation.
Pei Liang found it rather amusing, so she put on a sorrowful expression. "Senior Brother says he cannot bear to see me suffer, yet my father, brother, and grandmother have been gone for so many days, and you did not come to help. Today, you arrived at precisely the same time as every other guest. It seems those tender words of yours are false after all."
How could Jiang Xun bear to see a beauty in distress? He hurriedly replied, "When we first heard this terrible news, we could scarcely believe it. But compared with empty formalities, surely Junior Sister would rather see the murderer captured swiftly and brought before Uncle's spirit, so that he may be comforted in the next world."
"So today, we were all occupied with tracking down the culprit. I even rode through the night to Shu, pressuring the Wangqiu Sect to hand over that female disciple. Unfortunately, she had already fled out of fear of punishment. Though we may hold the Wangqiu Sect accountable, our efforts to capture the murderer have yielded little."
"I was so frustrated by my own uselessness, so ashamed to face you, Junior Sister. I was anxious the whole way here, and in the end, you still blamed me."
As he spoke, he wore an expression of sorrowful innocence. His peach-blossom eyes looked as if tears might spill from them at any moment, though on closer inspection, there were none.
Even so, the women's hearts present melted, softening into a helpless mess.
But Pei Liang's tastes were peculiar. Pretending to cry was nowhere near as adorable as being genuinely made to cry. It was not that she could not appreciate hypocrisy of this sort, but that called for an entirely different kind of game.
So she sighed. "I have long felt the same. Senior Brother comes from an illustrious family and has been praised too highly since childhood, leaving you with lofty ambitions but little self-awareness."
"For something as serious as hunting down a murderer, surely even you could guess that the Pei family has sent out countless people without success. Are your martial skills so peerless that they surpass them all? Are you more meticulous than the constables of the Six Gates? Or perhaps your face and reputation simply carry more weight than anyone else's?"
“So in the end, you came slinking back with your tail between your legs, didn’t you? If you knew it would come to this, you should have stopped trying to show off and come earlier to help put up the mourning hall. At least then you would have done something useful.”
“But the fact that you know shame means you still have a little self-awareness left. You are not entirely beyond hope.”
With that, Pei Liang sighed. “My father is dead, my brother is gone, and my fiance thinks far too highly of himself. Yet he still has the nerve to tell me he has suffered for me, that he will never let me endure such hardship again.”
“I would love that, but apparently I was not blessed with such a fate.”
Jiang Xun felt as though her words had painted him as a useless, spineless wretch. He had only meant to offer a polite courtesy, yet Pei Liang had accepted every word of it at face value.
His expression stiffened, and even his flirtatious manner became awkward. Still, considering that Pei Liang had just lost both her father and brother, it was understandable that she might take out her resentment on him.
Jiang Xun said nothing, but Cao Hui, the daughter of the Cao family and the fiancee of Young Sect Leader Pei, could no longer hold herself back.
Hot-tempered by nature, she glared furiously at Pei Liang. “Do not mistake kindness for weakness. Senior Brother Jiang has spent days rushing about for you. He rode two horses to death. Even if he has no great merit to speak of, he has certainly suffered for it. Why should he have to come in person to do work that any servant could manage? He cares for you wholeheartedly, yet you show no understanding at all and trample on his sincerity.”
“Senior Brother Jiang is already grieving enough. Why must you be so harsh with him?”
Pei Liang looked at Miss Cao, a puzzled expression on her face. “How do you know he rode two horses to death?”
Cao Hui replied, “Senior Brother Jiang told me while we were chatting on the way up the mountain.”
Pei Liang turned to Jiang Xun and slapped him sharply across the face.
Everyone around them was stunned. Huo Shiliu and Cao Hui, in particular, felt their hearts jolt at the sudden turn of events. Both flinched, then looked at Pei Liang with murderous fury in their eyes.
Huo Shiliu was somewhat restrained. Given the relationship they had to maintain on the surface, she did not dare go too far in public.
But Cao Hui was much more impulsive. Enraged, she raised her hand to strike Pei Liang. “You are courting death--”
Before her hand could fall, however, her father and brother seized it and forced it back down.
What a joke. The Pei family was holding a funeral today, and heroes from every sect and school of the martial world had gathered here.
Even if the Pei family was finished, even if its decline was all but certain, it had only been a few days. The tea had not even gone cold yet. If the Cao family bullied a bereaved young woman in her own mourning hall, what would become of their reputation?
Cao Hui was rebuked and forced to stand down, but she continued to glare viciously at Pei Liang.
Pei Liang acted as though she had not noticed in the slightest. She turned to Jiang Xun. “What is this about?”
Jiang Xun was dumbfounded, furious and bewildered, yet he still had to preserve his air of gentlemanly grace. “J-Junior Sister, why are you suddenly so angry?”
Pei Liang said, “At first, I thought you merely had lofty ambitions without the ability to match, no self-awareness, and no sense of the situation. A few flattering words, and you became so smug you lost all sense of proportion.”
“I did not realize you were also a habitual liar, so fond of boasting and showing off. What do you gain by spinning such ridiculous tales before Miss Cao, whose experience is so limited?”
“Will a few words of praise from her let you drink an extra cup of horse piss tonight? My father has been dead for less than seven days. Even if you received the news immediately, it would have taken at least a day. Then you had to meet up with the other two families and make your way up the mountain. Investigating and questioning people along the way would have taken time as well. And judging by how bright-eyed you are, I doubt you pushed yourself to the point of going without sleep or rest to pursue the matter.”
“How much time do we have left altogether? Try running two horses to death for me, why don’t you? What, do you look down on horses?”
It made so much sense that everyone was left speechless.
Of course, Jiang Xun had never intended to help investigate the murderer. He had only tossed out the suggestion casually. One had to keep up appearances in public, after all—it would also make it easier to bring up what he wanted next.
Yet Pei Liang had ruthlessly exposed him.
And that was not all. She had berated and struck at him in rapid succession. Jiang Xun, once the very image of a refined young gentleman from an illustrious family, now seemed, under everyone’s gaze, rather like a glib, pretentious idler—someone who would flirt with a young woman while her father’s death was still fresh and she was still mourning.
Some had long disliked Jiang Xun’s polished hypocrisy; others were women warriors who admired him and instinctively took his side. Seeing this, their faces displayed the same expression: go on, give us more. They were thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.
Jiang Xun had always been seen as dignified and gracious. When had he ever been regarded with such lecherous, thief-like looks?
He was furious enough to choke on it, though the smile on his face had turned stiff and ugly. “Junior Sister is right. Perhaps the wind was too strong while we were traveling just now, and Junior Sister Cao misheard, which is what led to this misunderstanding.”
Afraid that Pei Liang would seize the chance to vent her temper and humiliate him further, he hurriedly added, “Let us first pay our respects to Uncle.”
Pei Liang saw that she had delayed them long enough, so she did not stop him again.
The group entered the mourning hall and, according to the customs of the martial world, paid their respects. Once the rites were complete, the leaders of the various sects took their seats in order of seniority.
The head of the Jiang family cast a meaningful look at the leader of a fallen second-rate sect. The man rose to his feet.
Addressing Pei Liang, he said, “Miss Pei, strictly speaking, I should not bring this matter up today. But Sect Leader Pei and the old madam have both passed away. Though the Moon-Slaying Sect has always been close to my Golden Swan Sect, I fear that old accounts may go unsettled. Moreover, this concerns an important treasure of our sect. I cannot bear to let the Moon-Slaying Sect, in the midst of such turmoil, expend further effort safeguarding my Golden Swan Sect’s assets.”
“So I must shamelessly make this request.”
Pei Liang raised an eyebrow, the smile still lingering on her face. “Please, Sect Leader Jin. Speak freely.”
Sect Leader Jin said, “Last year, Sect Leader Pei needed to purchase a large shipment of silk and silverware to trade in the north, but he was short of ready funds. He therefore invited my Golden Swan Sect to invest, promising us thirty percent of the profits.”
“This is the contract drawn up at the time.” As he spoke, Sect Leader Jin produced a written agreement and displayed it for all to see.
“Ordinarily, we people of the martial world should not place too much value on worldly possessions. If it were merely an ordinary sum of money, then with Miss Pei facing so many pressing matters today, what would it matter if I simply offered it to you as funeral condolence money?”
“But the amount involved is truly substantial. The disciples of a sect must eat, drink, and live as well. This is not a time when we can afford generosity.”
As soon as Sect Leader Jin finished speaking, the head of the Jiang family rose with a frown. “Brother Jin, your concerns are not without reason, but is it not inappropriate to be so impatient on a day like this, in the middle of a mourning hall?”
Sect Leader Jin replied bluntly, “I am ashamed. I offer my apologies here to all the heroes and heroines present. But the Golden Swan Sect has had a difficult year. If the Pei family had not suffered this calamity, then with a capable man like Sect Leader Pei at its head, it would have been no trouble to postpone the matter for a while. But now…”
As he spoke, he looked at Pei Liang, his meaning plain enough.
If they did not press the Pei family to repay the debt now, they feared they might never see the money again.
Some felt that his behavior was inappropriate at such a time, but putting themselves in his shoes, they could see his reasoning. Besides, a debt had to be repaid—no matter how one looked at it, the Jin family had the moral high ground.
At that moment, Jiang Xun rose to his feet and said, “Junior Sister Liang is my betrothed. Her troubles are my troubles. Sect Leader Jin, if there is anything to discuss, you may speak with me.”
But Sect Leader Jin shook his head. “Young Master Jiang, it is not that I distrust you. It is simply that the sum involved is enormous. As for this betrothal… Miss Pei has just suffered a bereavement, and her period of mourning will likely last several years.”
“So much can change over that time. Forgive my bluntness, Young Master Jiang, but however prominent the Jiang family may be, this is not a fortune that can be produced at a word. Let me put it plainly: if the Pei family declines and proves unable to repay the debt, and the marriage alliance between your Jiang family and the Pei family falls through—what then?”
“Am I supposed to come to their door and force an orphaned mother and daughter to pay? That is not something I, Jin, could ever do. So it is better to lay the unpleasant truth on the table now, lest it damage our sense of honor and friendship later.”
Though his words were unpleasant to hear, they made sense. Sect Leader Jin might be pressing them hard now, but from his tone, it seemed that if the Pei family truly reached the end of the road, he would not drive them to ruin. That earned him a measure of approval from those present.
A flicker of anxiety appeared on Jiang Xun’s face. He looked toward Sect Leader Jiang, silently pleading.
Sect Leader Jiang hesitated for a moment. At last, he sighed and nodded.
Relief spread across Jiang Xun’s face. Turning back to Sect Leader Jin, he said, “Sect Leader Jin, my Jiang family is willing to guarantee the Pei family’s debt. If you still have concerns, Junior Sister Liang and I can marry within the next few days.”
The crowd erupted in astonishment.
Those of the martial world valued adapting to urgent circumstances. Mourning rites were important, certainly, but with the sect in crisis and no one left to lead the Moon-Slashing Sect, an early marriage—and the support of the Jiang family—was not necessarily a bad choice.
Still, the Jiang family was willing to guarantee such an enormous debt for the Pei family, a family clearly destined to decline. Who present would not praise the Jiang family’s righteousness?
“Young Master Jiang truly is a gentleman of deep loyalty and feeling. His fiancée’s family has fallen into ruin, yet not only does he not disdain them—he stands with them through hardship.”
“That is because the Jiang family has such excellent values. Sect Leader Jiang is indeed an upright and honorable man, to have raised his children so well.”
“Just now, Eldest Miss Pei treated Young Master Jiang quite harshly, even taking out her anger on him. She truly does not know how to appreciate his kindness.”
“The Pei family once had a marriage agreement with the Han family. When the Han family declined, they were quick to cut ties with them. That was truly rather heartless. Now that the same thing has happened, the Jiang family refuses to abandon them. The difference between the two could not be clearer.”
Pei Liang found it almost amusing. The Jiang family really intended to take both the substance and the glory for themselves, didn’t they?
At that moment, Sect Leader Jin seemed moved by Jiang Xun’s proposal. He nodded and looked at Pei Liang.
“What does Eldest Miss Pei say?”
Pei Liang replied helplessly, “Sect Leader Jin, you bring a forged contract into a mourning hall and attempt to swindle money in front of heroes from every corner of the martial world.”
“What exactly do you expect me to say?”
