Wu Fei still remembered what Li Ganqing looked like two years ago: young, handsome, cheerful, and always smiling. Even after being swindled out of his money and abandoned in the desert, his eyes remained bright and clear, without a trace of gloom.

Li Ganqing was now half-mad and half-awake, muttering to himself as he fled. Yan Liang vaguely heard that he was muttering words of begging for mercy, and occasionally he would say incoherent things like killing Shi Guanyin. At this moment, all his attention was focused on how to escape from this place.

A fork in the road appeared before the three of them. According to the direction they came from, they should have gone to the right, but Li Ganqing, holding Yan Liang's arm, pointed to the left and stubbornly muttered the name of Shi Guanyin.

The stone Guanyin is in that direction.

Li Ganqing knew Shi Guanyin's courtyard. In order to gain a chance to survive, he disguised himself as a puppy and memorized the entire route of the place.

At that moment, his mind was blank. Upon learning that he could return, he had only one thought in mind: to kill Shi Guanyin.

If the Stone Guanyin hadn't died, it would have been his lifelong nightmare.

Yan Liang lowered his eyes and saw the scars on Li Ganqing's exposed skin. He pursed his lips, then helped Li Ganqing walk towards the place he pointed to.

Wu Fei was shocked: "You really want to kill Shi Guanyin? You can't kill her with your martial arts skills!"

Yan Liang glanced back at him and said, "Li Ganqing wants to go. Since I promised his grandfather, I naturally want him to go back without any regrets."

Wu Fei gritted his teeth: "You're going to your deaths. Now that we've found him, let's go back! Li Ganqing is out of his mind; he's probably forgotten how terrifying Shi Guanyin is... I know, so let's run!"

"Find a place to hide first. Shi Tuo and Chu Xiang Shuai are together. I'll come find you after I find Xiang Shuai, and then we can leave."

"You—! You're being ridiculous!"

Yan Liang's stubbornness left Wu Fei helpless. Watching the two figures gradually walk away, Wu Fei scratched his head, gritted his teeth, and steeled himself to follow them.

"I'm going to die anyway, so maybe I can be of some use!"

Yan Liang was in a state of utter confusion. He had come up with a rough idea of ​​how to kill Shi Guanyin, but he was still trying to figure out the complete plan. He was simply trying his best to fulfill Li Ganqing's request.

He has never killed anyone.

Death is common when venturing into the martial world, but Yan Liang was previously a sickly man who stayed in bed and never left his home. Even after signing a contract with the system and becoming someone else in different worlds, he had never killed anyone.

It was Mu Jiangchuan, not him, who severed Mu Rufeng's tendons in his hands and feet.

Most of his friends had a bandit-like spirit. Bai Yutang hated evil and killed only villains. Dongfang Bubai and Wang Lianhua also regarded killing as a trivial matter.

Yan Liang disagreed, but he wouldn't deny it.

But if you ask him to kill someone with his own hands, he will hesitate.

Hua Manlou dislikes people who kill indiscriminately. Yan Liang admires his attitude towards life and hopes to become like him.

But at this moment, Yan Liang really wanted to kill Shi Guanyin.

Even though Yan Liang didn't know what Li Ganqing looked like or what his personality was like two years ago, judging from the other man's current state, he knew that the man must be living in hell here. Li Ganqing wasn't the only one; there must have been others before him, and their remains might be buried right beneath their feet.

This is hell, and the stone Guanyin is a demon.

As they passed through the cave, the space ahead became dimly lit. Yan Liang and Wu Fei exchanged a glance and became even more cautious.

After seeing the scene in the courtyard ahead, the two were almost speechless.

Nearly ten girls lay dead in the courtyard, their deaths gruesome: some strangled, some had their necks snapped, some had their eyes gouged out…

Each corpse had a bright green slip of paper on it. Yan Liang picked one up with a cold face. The slip of paper had ten characters written on it: "Respectfully presented by Thrush, General Chu Xiangshuai."

Yan Liang's face darkened even more.

He crumpled the note into a ball and threw it away violently.

Wu Fei was startled again, cautiously observing Yan Liang's expression. He was quite frightened by the sudden scene, and in his shock, he felt that "Thrush" had acted too cruelly, so he could not understand why Yan Liang was angry.

Yan Liang initially appeared very easygoing and cheerful, able to get along with anyone. Then he became determined to kill Shi Guanyin, but now he is angry because of the girls who have been killed.

Wu Fei realized that he couldn't figure out Yan Liang's thoughts at all.

Li Ganqing also saw the tragic scene in the courtyard. He was stunned for a long time, then suddenly started laughing incoherently. As he laughed, tears streamed down his face, and he sobbed uncontrollably.

He walked forward, laughing and crying, as if he had forgotten about Yan Liang and Wu Fei.

Yan Liang strode forward to support him, and heard Li Ganqing mutter to himself, "Mirror... smash the mirror..."

Mirror?

Yan Liang was momentarily stunned, but he kept what Li Ganqing said in mind. He then helped Li Ganqing up and followed in his footsteps.

Wu Fei tiptoed around the girls lying on the ground in gruesome state and went forward to help Li Ganqing up.

The courtyard was very remote. The girls had been dead for who knows how long, and no one had discovered them yet. There were very few people outside the courtyard.

Meanwhile, Chu Liuxiang and Shi Guanyin were facing off in a secret room.

Chu Liuxiang was immediately struck by Shi Guanyin's beauty upon their first meeting.

But beneath her angelic appearance lies a heart as cruel as a demon.

There was a life-sized mirror in Shi Guanyin's room, spotless, which seemed quite out of place in the otherwise serene room.

Chu Liuxiang looked at the stone Guanyin in the mirror. The stone Guanyin in the mirror smiled sweetly at him and asked softly, "Am I beautiful?"

"beautiful."

Chu Liuxiang answered her question honestly.

"Then why don't you come closer?"

Shi Guanyin turned around and looked at Chu Liuxiang with a puzzled expression.

Chu Liuxiang said, "As the ancients said, it is admirable from afar but not to be trifled with."

"I almost wish you would come and defile me..." Shi Guanyin walked towards Chu Liuxiang with a smile, her clothes falling off as she walked, until she was completely naked when she got close to Chu Liuxiang.

Do you think I don't know that Qu Wurong has been subdued by you?

“Madam Shi is a woman of unparalleled beauty and exceptional intelligence, of course I know that.” Chu Liuxiang stared at her without blinking, which pleased Shi Guanyin greatly.

"But I don't know why you knew this but didn't say it out loud," Chu Liuxiang added, "and even brought me here."

"Why should I spell it out?" Shi Guanyin laughed. "You can't escape my grasp anyway. I don't need to explain why I brought you here; you already know."

Chu Liuxiang said, "There is something I don't understand. Now that you have avenged yourself, why don't you go back and reunite with Tianfeng Shisilang?"

"...On such a beautiful day, do you really have to ask such an unromantic question?"

A hint of coldness appeared on Shi Guanyin's face.

“Madam Shi is exceptionally intelligent. Can’t you guess why I said such a jarring thing?” Chu Liuxiang smiled leisurely and continued, “Naturally, it’s because I don’t want to spend a night with you…after all, your son is the same age as me.”

When Yan Liang and Wu Fei helped Li Ganqing to the outside of Shi Guanyin's secret room, they heard the sounds of fierce fighting coming from inside.

Li Ganqing grabbed Yan Liang's hand as he tried to go inside, staring intently into Yan Liang's eyes, and uttered only two words.

"Mirror."

He had a vague recollection of it in his mind, but after not speaking to anyone for so long, and only repeating those few words of pleas for mercy over and over again, he had forgotten how to express what he wanted to say. He could only keep repeating the word "mirror."

Yan Liang met his gaze for a moment, nodded slightly, turned around, lifted the layers of light gauze, and slipped inside.

Chu Liuxiang and Shi Guanyin fought fiercely, but the former was clearly at a disadvantage.

Chu Liuxiang was preoccupied with nothing else and did not notice Yan Liang sneaking in; Shi Guanyin did notice him, but did not think much of it.

After killing this ungrateful Chu Liuxiang, then kill all those others...

With a crisp "crack," the mirror shattered, its impact on the ground accompanied by another ear-piercing sound.

Shi Guanyin froze, staring blankly at her reflection in the broken mirror.

Chu Liuxiang seized the opportunity to press on her acupoint, and Shi Guanyin fell to the ground, looking at Yan Liang in disbelief.

Yan Liang looked at her coldly.

Why don't you kill her?

Yan Liang asked Chu Liuxiang.

His statement was purely out of doubt.

"I have no right to sanction her; the law should be the one to sanction her."

Chu Liuxiang answered Yan Liang and slowly walked forward, but stopped halfway and looked in surprise at the gradually turning skeletal body of Shi Guanyin.

No one can punish her except herself.

Just as she only loved herself.

Chu Liuxiang suddenly remembered Wuhua, who had also committed suicide in front of him not long ago.

Li Ganqing staggered in, saw the skeleton, and burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably.

Wu Fei couldn't stop Li Ganqing. After hesitating for a moment, he followed him in.

Chu Liuxiang noticed the wounds on his body and subconsciously looked at Yan Liang. The young man looked extremely sad and said, "He is Li Ganqing."

When they left the secret chamber, intending to reunite with Ji Bingyan and the others, they found a trail of corpses along the way.

Those corpses were all female disciples of Shi Guanyin.

Chu Liuxiang picked up the emerald green note from the corpse, read the words on it, and remained silent.

This is yet another big problem coming for him.

Yan Liang's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. Chu Liuxiang glanced at him and sighed inwardly.

Although they had only spent a day together, he could already tell that the boy was a kind-hearted person who would be liked by many people.

Even kind-hearted people would find this sight unbearable, let alone the monks who spend their days eating vegetarian food and chanting scriptures in the temple.

...But Yan Liang's identity is also questionable.

Chu Liuxiang thought that he should have a chat with Yan Liang if he had the chance.

After reuniting with Ji Bingyan and Hu Tiehua, Shi Tuo learned that Chu Liuxiang had killed Shi Guanyin. Even this tough and unyielding man shed tears.

They left by boat, until they encountered the King of Kucha and Black Pearl's men again; then they met two traitors from Kucha and Wu Juxuan.

When Chu Liuxiang revealed that Shi Guanyin was dead, Wu Juxuan's expression changed drastically.

He couldn't believe that Shi Guanyin had died like that.

Chu Liuxiang looked at Wu Juxuan, sighed softly, and revealed his identity: "Master Wuhua."

The two exchanged a glance, and Wu Juxuan rode off on his horse. Yan Liang and Wu Fei, who had been waiting on the side, silently tightened the rope. He fell flat on his face, his mouth filled with sand.

Wu Hua: "..."

Yan Liang, looking listless, squatted down beside Wu Fei and watched Chu Liuxiang tie up Wu Hua, then sighed.

Chu Liuxiang had a brief conversation with him on the boat and revealed the truth behind Wuhua's suicide to Yan Liang.

This was something that Yan Liang, who had always thought Wu Hua was a good person and even admired, found hard to accept.

You can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't measure the sea with a bushel... So that's the truth.

Yan Liang: ...I want to see Hua Manlou.

Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2020-01-30 23:01:50 and 2020-01-31 23:23:55!

Thank you to the little angels who threw landmines: Yingyingying and Yuzichengshuo (1 each);

Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Liunian, Yuer, and Yez (10 bottles each);

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!