Stop thinking about it.
After leaving the imperial city, Ren Xuan did not follow the beaten path as usual.
He traveled thousands of miles south alone to seek refuge with a prince in distress, and began to live on the edge of a knife and risk his life every day.
It is said that at the most dangerous moment, the pursuing soldiers were like a forest and thousands of cavalrymen were trampling in the dust, but by the side of the prince, only Ren Xuan was holding a sword to meet the enemy.
No one was optimistic about them. But Ren Xuan always won.
The prince's power grew little by little, he annexed Yunzhong and married into the Nan Mansion. The new power that the prince built on the ruins shocked the court and the public.
It was several years later when Ren Xuan found him again.
For a failed mission—
A novice secret soldier killed someone without the approval of the life list and failed.
People like this usually don't survive more than an hour in the secret army.
People in their line of work are most wary of these things.
Pei Jiming had no intention of leaving anyone alive, but Ren Xuan came to him.
He was covered in dust, as if he had come all the way to the imperial city from thousands of miles away just for this matter.
Without exchanging pleasantries, Ren Xuan said, "I'll take the person away."
After saying that, he personally took action and pulled the dying newcomer out of the pool of blood.
Pei Jiming did not stop him, because he knew that Ren Xuan never did anything unnecessary. If Ren Xuan came to him personally, there must be a sufficient reason, not just a momentary weakness.
Among the secret soldiers, those who were soft-hearted had long been buried at the bottom of the pool, with no trace left of their bodies.
But Pei Jiming couldn't help it after all and asked curiously.
The other party just spread his hands helplessly.
Ren Xuan said in a dark tone: "This guy has a case, and the person he wants to kill deserves to die."
Pei Jiming laughed: "Upholding justice? Old Ren, your personality has changed since you entered the government?"
Ren Xuan remained silent: "Someone has come to me for help. I'll take this person away today and return him to you after I'm done."
The young man lying beside the pool of blood slowly raised his head, coughing heart-wrenchingly, but he laughed like a madman: "...Do you think...I haven't reported it to the police?!"
Ren Xuan looked down at him and said in a cold tone, "Someone from the Dali Temple is already investigating your family's case."
"Now we need a witness. Come with me, someone will help you uncover the murder case in your family."
The blood had not yet dried, and the young man looked at Ren Xuan quietly, his eyes dead.
Ren Xuan said nothing, but squatted down and pressed a case file into his palm.
Ren Xuan repeated the conclusion of the dossier word for word, his voice steady and unhurried:
"In the third year of Taihe, Jiang Feng, the salt official of Tianhewei in Huzhou, was executed for corruption. It was a false accusation."
"The son of Gao Qing, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, abused his power to commit murder and framed the imperial court. He should be executed according to the law."
"Now, will you follow me?"
The young man slowly lowered his head and looked at the file in his hand. He stared at the file for a long time and was trembling.
A tremor struggled out of the stagnant water.
He gritted his teeth and stood up tremblingly.
Follow Ren Xuan and leave.
Pei Jiming lowered his eyes and glanced at it. There were three words signed on the file.
That was the second time he had seen the name, Lu Shian, in all these years.
The person that Ren Xuan borrowed that day was never returned.
Half a month later, Ren Xuan found him again and said, "I won't return the person to you."
He said, "I'll take the order for you and we'll be even."
Pei Jiming stared at him for a long time.
Ren Xuan, a guy who has not used his sword for many years, is willing to take on another life order for a newcomer he has never met.
He had no reason to refuse.
Before leaving, he casually asked, "What's the purpose?"
Ren Xuan didn't have much to hide, he just spread his hands and said, "There's nothing we can do. Someone is protecting him."
The tone was a bit helpless and indulgent.
Later, the secret soldier who was supposed to die in the blood pool became Ren Xuan's deputy. He was brought by him, taught and protected by him personally.
Pei Jiming once thought that Ren Xuan had a past relationship with the Jiang family, and that this was hidden within the Jiang family's old debts and ties.
It was a long time later that he realized that Ren Xuan had only casually agreed to Lu Shian's request to take care of Lord Jiang's son.
···
After that, they almost lost contact.
Most of the time, Pei Jiming only saw fragments of the other party's information in the intelligence circulating on the dark web.
Six years later, the prince fought back to the imperial city.
The world changes and dynasties change.
Ren Xuan was granted a title of nobility and appointed as a general for his contribution to following the emperor. His name was known throughout the court and the country, and he held the highest position among the officials.
Ren Xuan would still occasionally ask him out for a drink, but Pei Jiming felt that this man had become inexplicably colder.
After several years of fighting, Ren Xuan spoke even less and no longer mentioned the jokes that used to make him grit his teeth.
They rolled out of the sea of blood and corpses together. Pei Jiming didn't think that war could affect people like Ren Xuan.
He guessed, perhaps, that he was tired.
The new dynasty begins, but the new emperor refuses to let bygones be bygones. Upon his ascension, three old cases stir up a new turmoil, claiming tens of thousands of lives.
The nobles were all killed, and Ren Xuan was only responsible for carrying the sword.
The days passed like this for a long time.
One day, Ren Xuan found him again.
Ren Xuan entered the room carrying a man covered in blood.
Pei Jiming was stunned.
The man was thrown to the ground by Ren Xuan like a torn sack. With a thud, he began to beg for mercy in a very embarrassed manner.
"General Ren, everything I said is true... That case was such a mess... There wasn't even a proper imperial edict... Those beasts killed people every day... They dragged the Lu family members in front of Minister Lu and killed them... That kind of thing is completely against the rules..."
"None of those who did it were from the Ministry of Justice. They were all brought in from outside... The fire in the torture chamber was blazing, and some of those people didn't even have shirts on... I stole a peek... They had tattoos on their bodies... They looked like moons and eagles..."
Ren Xuan exuded a murderous aura: "Yuexia Feiying, you dare to touch anyone from the Lu family."
The eagle flying under the moon is a hidden soldier.
So Ren Xuan investigated in the court for many years but found nothing.
Pei Jiming had no impression of the Lu family that Ren Xuan mentioned. These days, he didn't know how many deaths he had to take every day.
A case, an old score. He couldn't tell if he had seen it before.
But when he looked at Ren Xuan, he felt cold.
This person has never been so cold.
The murderous intent was suppressed into a thin layer, sticking to the bones and seeping out: "Old Pei, I am listening to your explanation."
Pei Jiming's heart skipped a beat, and his tone became more serious: "Old Ren, calm down. Your friend? Which order? Let me check for you."
Seeing that Ren Xuan didn't smile and his eyes were emotionless, he finally felt a little guilty: "Come on, come on, come on, can I apologize to you first?"
The person in front of me said nothing and remained indifferent.
Pei Jiming was getting anxious, and his speech speed increased. "No way, Old Ren. We all fought our way to the top of the Dark List, and now you're turning against me over such a trivial matter?"
Ren Xuan looked at him and said slowly: "Who is the buyer? Let me be the one who does it."
Pei Jiming's expression changed and his eyelids twitched:
"Old Ren, you know the rules. Accepting money for a life doesn't require asking where it comes from. Revealing the employer's identity is against the rules."
Before he could finish his words, Ren Xuan stepped closer, his eyes cold and his aura as heavy as a mountain: "Do you want rules, or do you want your life?"
Pei Jiming finally lost his temper. The two of them were, after all, friends for life and death. He raised his voice in dissatisfaction, "Ren Xuan, what are you doing?! The organization issued a death order back then, and the entire Dark List was after you, yet I single-handedly held the line to protect you! If it weren't for me, you'd be dead long ago! Are you repaying kindness with enmity?!"
The other party's voice was cold and hard: "I will give you my life as compensation. Who is the buyer? The one who did it will be me."
Pei Jiming was startled, his expression changed, and his voice tightened as he finally realized the seriousness of the situation: "Hey... Old Ren...? No, you just mentioned it casually back then?! Don't mess around, we're the only ones left on that list now."
As he spoke, he grabbed Ren Xuan's arm and said anxiously, "Have you been bewitched by some kind of magic? I'll find a formation master to take a look at you!"
Ren Xuan broke away from him, his eyes like a pool of stagnant water: "My formation master was killed. You know how your people killed people, and I know it too."
The silence weighed down like a mountain.
After a long silence, Pei Jiming spoke again: "No... I really didn't know you were serious. You weren't serious at that time..."
Pei Jiming spoke seriously, his voice much lower: "Old Ren, I will kill anyone who does this. You should be more open-minded."
The other party raised his eyes, and Pei Jiming saw the raging waves under the lake surface that had been calm for a long time.
He saw Ren Xuan's voice hoarse: "You don't have to kill, you are just following orders, why kill? Hand over the person who did it to me, I need to know how my people died."
Pei Jiming looked at Ren Xuan with some concern. He tried to put his arm around Ren Xuan's shoulder and said, "Old Ren, why bother? Back then, during the cross-interrogation in the dark hall, I endured it for ten days, and you endured it for fifteen. You've seen that kind of thing before."
Ren Xuan did not respond, but just looked at him solemnly, with bloodshot eyes quietly rising.
He spoke in a hoarse voice, as if he was using all his strength, "He couldn't... handle it at all... How did he die... I need to know."
Pei Jiming was almost speechless. His throat was tight and his voice was trembling. "Old Ren, you want the list—I'll give it to you."
Pei Jiming spoke cautiously, whispering, "Let's kill people and set fires. I'll accompany you no matter what happens."
He took a step forward and put his hand on Ren Xuan's shoulder: "Don't think about it anymore... You're almost possessed."
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