Killing Intent

The young lord of Mountain-Suppressing Marquis Manor sat behind the desk in his study, seething with rage.

The steward opposite him had misspoken and been cursed out thoroughly; all he could do was stand there with his head bowed and an ingratiating smile.

“Get lost. All of you, get lost,” the young lord snapped, waving him away impatiently.

The man on the other side was as if granted a pardon and hurriedly fled.

Left alone, Xia An sat in silence, lost in thought.

He had never been a good-tempered man. So why, whenever he met that Chu Liang, did his anger always seem to vanish without a trace?

Something was definitely off.

Thinking back on these past two days, if he had vented at the time, perhaps he would not have been this furious. But every time he forced himself to hold back, only later did he remember it all... and the more he thought, the angrier he became.

Now the young lord was grinding his teeth in hatred.

Stealing my thunder... ruining my gifts... taking my invitation... If it were only these things, Xia An, though enraged, would still retain enough reason to know that picking a fight over petty pride was an especially foolish thing to do.

But...

Today Chu Liang had even asked about Liu Xiaoyu.

And that was the absolute Achilles’ heel of his Mountain-Suppressing Marquis Manor.

These imperial princes and marquises, granted fiefs in the remote southern regions, were in truth only somewhat peripheral branches within the vast imperial clan of the Yu Dynasty. The imperial family had always held rank without power and possessed little authority to govern local lands. Add to that the poverty of the fiefdom, and the southern royal houses had never been particularly wealthy.

Of course, for ordinary daily life, they still had enough to maintain a rather luxurious standard.

But Xia An’s father, the current Mountain-Suppressing Marquis, had happened to become obsessed with something extremely ill-advised.

Cultivation.

If one had astonishing talent or no talent at all, it would not be much of a problem. The saddest thing in the world was having just enough talent to prevent real success, yet still being given a sliver of extraordinary hope.

The current Mountain-Suppressing Marquis was exactly that sort of man. His aptitude for cultivation was middling; at best he could reach the third realm, perhaps the fourth, and then stop there. Yet he was unwilling to resign himself to a life nearing its end, and insisted on pouring in vast resources in an attempt to break through the earthly threshold and reach the vast, boundless seventh realm.

How could that be easy?

For decades, nearly all the savings accumulated by generations of the marquisate had been drained dry by him.

Thanks to a new venture he had found in recent years, however, matters had improved somewhat.

The Mountain-Suppressing Marquis had connected with more than a dozen declining imperial clans in the southern regions, capturing women from the south and selling them into the eastern regions for profit.

With the cooperation of a major hall master from the Eastern Whale Gang, this business had remained perfectly sealed off.

In recent years, he had practically withdrawn from it altogether, devoting himself heart and soul to the grand enterprise of cultivation. He had handed this human-trafficking operation entirely over to his good son, Xia An.

For the young lord, after years of management, this was the first crisis he had encountered.

If this vile crime were to leak out, the Mountain-Suppressing Marquis Manor would face an immense calamity.

If it were only that little demon girl, whose life or death was unknown, she would not yet be cause for fear. But if any disciples of Mount Shu took notice, the matter would become grave indeed.

After long contemplation, in the flickering candlelight, the young lord’s face gradually darkened.

“Master Lu,” he called softly.

A black silhouette immediately appeared behind him.

“I want them dead.”

...

A few days passed in the blink of an eye. On the hillside outside Li Family Village, a stage had already been built high and wide, with more than a dozen massive lampposts surrounding it. Below lay an open stretch of ground vast enough to hold half the citizens of Nanguan City.

People had arrived early to wait. The fanatical devotees of the South Sound Pavilion had unfurled huge banners, prepared flowers and ribbons, and those with free time had already begun staking out seats in advance, afraid of arriving too late to secure a good spot.

Some traveling musicians from the South Sound Pavilion were already performing there, while singers and dancers rehearsed alongside them, drawing a crowd of onlookers and making the place lively indeed.

That evening would see Xue Lingxue’s first stop on her touring performance begin here.

And on the mountainside directly facing the stage, a row of elegant seats had been set up long ago, each with an awning and pearl curtains, reserved for important figures of Nanguan City and wealthy patrons who had spent lavishly.

The South Sound Pavilion’s performances had always been free of charge, but if one wanted a private elegant seat, it was only reasonable for the organizers to charge some ticket money; the South Sound Pavilion merely turned a blind eye to such matters.

Thanks to the connections of Li Family Village, Chu Liang and Lin Bei had also managed to squeeze into a small private booth.

At the moment, Liu Xiaoyu was sitting on the booth’s seat, with a table set before her, while Lin Bei was placing small trays on it one by one.

“Dried fruit, candied fruit, sweets, jerky...” he laid them out item by item.

“And my treasured fruit tea,” Chu Liang added, placing drinks there as well.

“Wow, you’ve never even let me drink this stuff before,” Lin Bei said.

“One sword coin a can. She doesn’t have Mount Shu money. It’s not like you don’t,” Chu Liang said with a smile.

“Hmph.” Lin Bei crossed his arms and puffed up his cheeks in mock grievance.

“Fine, I’ll give you a can too.” Chu Liang produced another one.

Only then did Lin Bei accept it, grinning.

“After you finish it, write me an eight-hundred-word rave review and distribute it for your fellow disciples on Jade Sword Peak to read,” Chu Liang went on.

“You really are like a frog being squeezed until it shits, not missing a single scrap of advantage, are you?” Lin Bei marveled.

“We’re bros,” Chu Liang said, thumping his chest the way Lin Bei had.

The two of them chatted and laughed, but Liu Xiaoyu, seated there, remained gloomy and silent, her lips pursed and her eyes full of melancholy.

Seeing this, Lin Bei could only say helplessly, “Miss Xiaoyu, we’ve prepared everything for you. What more do you want?”

“I want my sister...” Liu Xiaoyu said pitifully.

Chu Liang and Lin Bei had no real solution for this. At the time, they had merely agreed to help inquire after her, but with no news still forthcoming, they could hardly abandon this homeless little girl and simply leave her alone. So she had stayed at Li Family Village all this time.

Given how naive she was, if she went outside she would likely be sold off before even walking two li.

The first two days she could still remain carefree, but as time dragged on, it seemed the little girl had begun to sense something amiss, and her spirits were growing lower and lower.

The three were inspecting the venue when a servant from Li Family Village came over and delivered a letter.

“Someone brought this letter and said it was to be handed to Young Hero Chu,” the servant said.

Chu Liang took the letter, glanced through its contents, and could not help thinking that good fortune was indeed good fortune; whatever he wished for, it came to him.

“What does it say?” Lin Bei asked.

“The letter says someone saw a woman by the banks of the Qinan River whose appearance is somewhat similar to Miss Xiaoyu’s. She may be her sister, and they want us to take her there now to identify her,” Chu Liang said.

“No wonder they call you a lucky carp,” Lin Bei said with a smile. “Then let’s take her to have a look. She might be reunited with her sister before tonight’s performance.”

“I’ll take her there myself,” Chu Liang said. “You stay here.”

“Why?” Lin Bei asked.

“I... think this message is rather strange,” Chu Liang said after a moment’s thought. “If I haven’t come back after quite a while, hurry back to Mount Shu and report it.”

“Report it again?” Lin Bei said blankly.

Huh.

Why did I say again?