Chapter 30: Taking Revenge

Night falls, the moon is dark and the wind is high.

Within the Inner City of Jiangning City, the streets extending in all directions are devoid of people, save for two black shadows that flicker in and out of sight, sweeping through the air.

"Are you certain you saw with your own eyes that he did not go to the gang hall today, but returned to his private residence instead?"

"It is absolutely true; I waited until it was dark and no one was coming or going before I came to inform you."

Ruan Xing nods, unbinds the bundle from her back, which contains various bottles and jars, and immediately begins a Simulation.

【Simulation in progress】

At age six, you and Hu San scatter Medicinal Powder outside the courtyard wall of Hu Ye's private residence, and judging by the wind direction, you blow in a Smoke Bomb from the southeast. A quarter of an hour later, you and Hu San attempt to sneak inside, but are discovered by guards outside the main hall. After a bout of fighting, you and Hu San kill the guards within the residence, but because the time dragged on too long, a large number of gang thugs from the hall arrive to provide support and surround you. Ultimately, due to exhaustion, you die.

【Simulation ended】

It seems that is not enough. Ruan Xing reviews the situation, then decides to increase the dosage!

In any case, these medicines were not refined by her, so she feels no heartache at all.

At age six, you and Hu San scatter Medicinal Powder outside the courtyard wall of Hu Ye's private residence, and judging by the wind direction, you blow in a large amount of smoke from the southeast. A quarter of an hour later, you and Hu San attempt to sneak inside. While searching for Hu Ye and his family, you encounter a servant who has just gotten up in the night. The other party's startled cry wakes some guards who only inhaled a small amount of the smoke...

A concubine living in a small courtyard in the northwest corner happens to be bathing and avoids the smoke; she quietly escapes through the back courtyard's small gate...

After multiple error-free simulations, Ruan Xing finally sets her mind at ease and signals Hu San to begin scattering the Medicinal Powder.

"Young Miss, what is this stuff being scattered?"

"A type of Medicinal Powder. Its function is to expand the effect of the smoke. This residence is so large that if we merely blew the smoke in, it would not have much potency left once it diffused across such a large area. But this powder can isolate the inside from the outside, preventing the smoke from spreading outward. So, be careful and scatter a thin layer thoroughly along the bottom of the courtyard walls all around here."

Ruan Xing explains a few words, then takes out two pills and gives one to herself and one to Hu San. "This is the antidote for the smoke. After taking it, you can resist the smoke for two hours."

After Hu San takes it, he follows Ruan Xing's instructions to light the smoke and begin blowing it in. After waiting another quarter of an hour, Ruan Xing estimates it is about time and nimbly vaults over the wall to sneak in.

After the two enter, Ruan Xing leads Hu San straight toward the back courtyard latrine. A person looking like a servant is just coming out while yawning. Upon seeing the two black-clad, masked figures, his expression turns to terror and he immediately tries to call for help. However, Ruan Xing was prepared; before he could shout, she flew forward and lightly swiped with a Short Sword. A line of blood appeared at his throat, and the servant collapsed to the ground with wide eyes.

Hu San is stunned. Just as he wants to ask how Ruan Xing knew there was someone in the latrine, he hears Ruan Xing say, "Don't space out, hurry up and follow me."

He has no choice but to silently swallow the words he wanted to say and quicken his pace to follow.

Along the way, Ruan Xing moves as if in an empty land. Not only does she know how many people are in which room, she can easily find the hiding spots of the night-watch guards. Her familiarity with this place makes Hu San feel as if the place they have come to is not Hu Ye's private residence, but the back courtyard of Ruan Xing's own home.

"It's about time," Ruan Xing says in a low voice. Having dealt with all the living souls on the perimeter, only Hu Ye's family living in the inner courtyard remains. She instructs Hu San, "Go guard the small gate in the northwest corner. Soon, three women will pass through there. Kill those three, then go to the third, fifth, and sixth rooms to the north. There are three children; tie them up and bring them here. Kill everyone else, leave no one alive."

"Yes, Young Miss."

Hu San takes his orders and leaves.

Ruan Xing herself heads toward the main house. After dealing with the few maids and guards near the main house, she pushes the door open. The room is pitch black, the windows are half-open, and the Xiangyun Yarn curtains hanging in the inner chamber behind the screen flutter slightly in the breeze.

Ruan Xing does not walk in, but instead flicks her wrist lightly. The Short Sword in her hand, glowing with White True Qi, streaks out. The exquisite and elegant screen is torn apart like paper, and its momentum remains undiminished as it strikes directly into the shadows behind the Xiangyun Yarn.

With a *puchi* sound of the sword piercing flesh and tearing silk, a muffled groan is heard, and a figure rolls out from the shadows.

Removing the black cloth from her face, Ruan Xing approaches him and smiles easily: "Hello there, do you still recognize me?"

Hu Ye looks at the black-clad young girl before him, his eyes full of horror. He had already guessed something when he saw the other party's petite figure, but now that Ruan Xing is revealing her face without any avoidance, he is even more certain.

"Ruan Xing...? You are that little girl from the daytime? You were originally just the daughter of a Child Scholar, how could you have such a profound cultivation realm? Could it be... this is all a trap he set for me?! He sent you to kill me? How dare he! If the Gang Leader finds out, he won't let him off!"

The sword is buried deep in Hu Ye's chest. Ruan Xing steps forward and pulls the sword out with a slight effort. Hu Ye grits his teeth to endure the pain, his trembling hands covering the wound that is bubbling with blood.

Because Hu Ye had practiced an Internal Energy Mental Method, his resistance to the smoke was slightly stronger. As soon as he inhaled some, he became highly alert and woke up. It was just that when he called for his guards outside the room, no one answered. He knew that going out now would be just as dangerous, so he stayed in the room, disguised the bed to look like he was lying in it, and hid behind the roller blind, waiting for someone to come and kill him.

Ruan Xing had crashed during one of her simulations right here, so she naturally knew in advance. At this moment, she takes her time to admire Hu Ye's ferocious expression before saying, "Before asking others questions, you should look at your own situation. Now I am the knife and you are the fish; shouldn't you be acting more obedient and begging me not to kill you?"

Hu Ye's agitated emotions have calmed down. He says with confident certainty: "You wouldn't dare kill me. I did scheme against Lao Qi over some matters before, but it hasn't reached the point of a life-or-death struggle. No one can replace my position in the gang; it's just that I overstepped and made him angry, so he sent you to teach me a lesson."

"Hey, I never admitted that Qiye sent me. Can't it be that I wanted to come myself?" Ruan Xing rolls her eyes, feeling speechless. "Forget it, I won't waste my breath on you. Let's be direct: I heard you wanted to kill me. Why? Answer me the reason."

Seeing Hu Ye still stiffening his neck and refusing to speak, Ruan Xing does not hesitate to thrust her sword through the base of his thigh! Caught off guard, Hu Ye lets out a miserable scream, looking at her with eyes full of resentment. "My patience is limited. If you don't speak, I won't want to listen later."

As soon as Ruan Xing finishes speaking, slightly heavy footsteps are heard outside the room. Seeing that Ruan Xing is not the least bit nervous, Hu Ye's heart sinks; it seems the entire residence is under the other party's control.

However, the person who enters next makes Hu Ye feel even more desperate.

With a few *thuds*, several small children wrapped tightly in cloth ropes are thrown onto the ground by Hu San. "Young Miss, the people have been brought, and the back has been cleaned up as well."

Ruan Xing gives a hum. "Stuff their mouths to keep them from being noisy, then wake them up for me."

Hu San obeys, using his sword to slice off pieces of the children's dirty nightclothes to stuff into their mouths, then wakes them up with a few sharp slaps.

The little children's fair, tender cheeks instantly swell up. They open their eyes and want to wail, but because their mouths are stuffed, they can only emit weak whimpers. The eight- or nine-year-old boy, however, remains silent and does not cry out in pain.

"What is the meaning of this!" Hu Ye ignores the pain of his wound and tries to force himself to stand up. However, the effect of the smoke on his body has not yet faded, and his limbs are limp and unresponsive. He can only speak in a harsh, stern voice: "What exactly are you trying to do!?"

"I already said, you wanted to kill me, why?" Ruan Xing repeats the question with a good temper.

She is actually very curious: why is Hu Ye, who on the surface has the same status as Qiye, so determined to kill her and have someone replace her to be sent to the higher-ups through Qiye's hands? Is there some deeper meaning?

Hu Ye's eyes are about to split: "Are you not asking what you already know!?"

For Ruan Xing to reach Inner and Outer Perfection at such a young age, regardless of whether the person behind her is Qiye, she must have been secretly cultivated for many years. How could she not know this little secret of the higher-ups that everyone knows?

Ruan Xing narrows her eyes. The Short Sword in her hand strikes out, the cold tip still stained with sticky blood, and draws a thin red line across the child's forehead. Hu Ye cannot distinguish whether it is his own blood or the child's.

He looks at Ruan Xing with some humiliation and grinds his teeth: "Everyone knows that the Gang Leader has three confidants: Lao Qi, myself, and Lady Wang. But... Lady Wang manages all the grain stores and granaries in the gang, and Lao Qi has hundreds of experts under his command who have reached External Strength Great Success or higher, and he is also responsible for selecting disciples for the higher-ups. They have followed the Gang Leader since they were nobodies and now have bright futures. But what about me? I am the same! Yet I have received no reward! Just because I betrayed my eldest brother back then and offered his foundation in the Inner City to the Gang Leader?! I was in charge of business and gathering wealth under my brother before. And now? Still business and gathering wealth. What has changed?"

His tone reveals resentment as he questions Ruan Xing, and also questions the Gang Leader who secretly recruited him back then. A middle-aged man in his thirties actually has tears shimmering in his eyes.

"They can all see the higher-ups, know who they are, what they look like, and receive rewards from the higher-ups after completing tasks... Only I cannot, only I cannot! They are guarding against me and keeping things from me!"

"The Gang Leader knew clearly that I betrayed my brother back then just for the conditions he offered, just to be able to practice martial arts. But now, several years have passed, and apart from the one bottle of Medicine Liquid he gave me when he passed me the cultivation method, I have never received a second bottle. The Gang Leader knows what I want, but he just refuses to give it to me!" As he speaks, the grown man is streaming with tears, covering his face and sobbing as if he has suffered a great injustice. "Lao Qi gets to send disciples to the higher-ups, and I am not qualified to participate, but I am not reconciled! If my child became a disciple of the higher-ups, wouldn't I be able to bypass the Gang Leader and have a chance to get Medicine Liquid to practice Internal Energy? My own child is watched by the Gang Leader, so I brought my nephew from my hometown. Is that not allowed? Lao Qi says it is not, because you are more suitable... You, a yellow-haired girl, are more suitable than the child I carefully raised..."

"You think it's because you betrayed your brother, and the Gang Leader is afraid you will betray him too, so he treats you as a confidant on the surface but actually gives you nothing?" Ruan Xing says in disbelief.

Hu Ye says bitterly: "Otherwise what?!"

So it was just for this little thing. Is it her fault that she is more excellent than his child? And for this, he wanted to kill such an innocent and pitiful little girl. Ruan Xing falls silent.

Moreover, it is not actually that the Gang Leader is stingy, but that the old man in the mountain cave is stingy. That old man wishes that the people below him would never reach Internal Energy Consummation, so he keeps the formula for the Medicine Liquid tightly in his grasp and refuses to generously give out what he has refined himself, for fear that the people below will have high strength and stop listening to him or doing his bidding.

As for managing the gang's industries, if Ruan Xing were in his position, she would be quite satisfied. After all, this position has plenty of perks! She would be in full charge of management; wouldn't that mean she could write the ledgers however she wanted and embezzle as much as she wanted? Does he really think the Gang Leader doesn't trust him in such an important position?

I can't spend it all, I simply can't spend it all! This whole affair is just a misunderstanding between two parties that wasn't cleared up; keeping it bottled up inside has driven the person to madness.

However, this has nothing to do with Ruan Xing, and she has no desire to be a family mediator. Once she had asked clearly, there was no need for Hu Ye to remain alive. With a flash of white light, Ruan Xing ran her Sword through Hu Ye, who was still kneeling and wailing on the ground, piercing him through the heart.

She had finally avenged the grievances of being killed so many times in the Simulation; the memories of cycling through it so many times had almost become Ruan Xing's inner demon.

Because she hadn't wasted much time along the way, it was still long before dawn. Ruan Xing calmly instructed, "Kill these ones too. Later, use the bottles of Bone-Dissolving Water I gave you to dispose of the bodies cleanly, then search for where the valuable gold, Silver, and jewelry are kept in this residence."

Cut the weeds and dig up the roots; leave no future trouble.

She didn't want to encounter any melodramatic scenarios twenty years later involving orphans bearing deep blood feuds, or someone who didn't die completely, faked their death, and endured for years just for revenge... Although she had the Simulator and surely no one could compare to her in growth speed, ants biting an elephant don't hurt, but they are annoying and bothersome. It was better to handle it cleanly.

Suddenly, however, there was a voice, "Wait!"

Ruan Xing was surprised. She looked toward the sound and saw that the eight or nine-year-old boy had somehow managed to remove the rag stuffed in his mouth. With his hands and feet tied together, he wriggled forward like a worm, whispering, "I, I know where his secret room is. I also know the location of my aunt's private Silver dowry. I beg you, I beg you, don't kill me."

There hadn't been such a turn of events in the Simulation. In her last Simulation, she had killed everyone else before going to find Hu Ye, and after torturing him and interrogating him for a long time, he still wouldn't say anything, which is why she had the sudden idea to bring his child over.

"He raised you with such care, yet you want to betray him?" Ruan Xing asked curiously.

This really was a case of like father, like son.

"No... I am not my uncle's nephew; I am his biological son," the boy said intermittently. "My mother was a Dance performer at Nuanxiang Pavilion in the Music Bureau of Huaining City. My uncle took a fancy to her and kept her as a mistress. After giving birth to me, my mother's looks faded and he no longer liked her. He was unwilling to bring us home, and later he stopped caring about us. My mother had no Silver to raise me, so she had to return to the Music Bureau to work as a teacher who taught Dance. My mother and I relied on each other until two years ago... My uncle suddenly found me, acknowledged me as his nephew, and to silence me, he killed my mother..."

"I didn't betray him! I never acknowledged him as my father. I had originally planned that once I became the disciple of a big shot, I would definitely kill him to avenge my mother!"

"Very good, very spirited," Ruan Xing praised. She rummaged through her bag, took out a small bottle, and poured a pill into her palm. "This is called the Seven-Day Intestine-Breaking Pill. Eat this, and if you obey me obediently, I will give you the antidote every seven days. Otherwise, your intestines will rot and you will die. Will you eat it?"

(End of chapter)