Chapter 103: Li Xunhuan

In the woods.

A thick layer of snow covered the ground.

Birds and beasts had vanished, and all was silent, when suddenly one or two coughs broke the stillness.

The person coughing was a middle-aged man with a pale complexion; the corners of his eyes were etched with wrinkles of sorrow and misfortune, yet his eyes were unexpectedly emerald-green, gentle and lively, filled with a pleasant vitality.

This person was none other than "Little Li Flying Dagger" Li Xunhuan.

Li Xunhuan never imagined that the moment he entered the pass, he would be drawn into this mess.

Once he entered the woods, Li Xunhuan's lazy, desolate expression changed completely; he suddenly became as nimble and agile as a hunting dog.

Although he moved as fast as a startled hare, he did not appear hurried or flustered, much like a master dancer who could maintain graceful, fluid movements regardless of how rapid the tempo.

He was undoubtedly a top-tier tracker.

Before long, Li Xunhuan had found that small tavern.

Ten years ago, when he abandoned everything and left the pass in low spirits, he had also drunk a few catties of wine at this tavern.

Ten years had passed, and the tavern remained, though the red paint on the railings had peeled away, and the red flowers were gradually being replaced by white snow. The floorboards on the corridor had also grown old and rotten; as soon as Li Xunhuan's foot stepped onto them, they let out a "creak," and he immediately retreated ten feet or so, his expression growing even more cautious.

"The wind and snow outside are quite fierce; if the Number Three Scholar is interested, you might as well come inside to take shelter." A clear, bright voice drifted from inside the room.

Li Xunhuan gave a bitter smile and pushed the door open to enter.

Since he had already been discovered, stealth no longer had any meaning.

To his surprise, "Golden Lion" Zha Meng and the others were not in the room.

"Number Three Scholar, I am in this room; please come over for a chat." That clear, bright voice sounded again.

Li Xunhuan also laughed aloud: "Since the host is so hospitable, how could I have any reason to decline?"

He followed the sound, turned a long corridor, and saw the corpse of a fat woman.

The fat woman's face still bore a look of terror, and there was a small blood-hole between her brows—the fatal wound.

Then Li Xunhuan arrived before an open door and saw a young man in black inside, drinking wine and admiring the snow, his face showing a look of contentment.

Besides this, there was also the corpse of an old man; his face was black, his hands were clutching his throat, and his eyes were wide open, as if he had died from being forced to drink poison.

Li Xunhuan's memory had always been excellent; even though the old man's face was black, he recognized him as the owner of this shop.

Ten years ago, he had even invited him to drink a few cups of wine.

In an instant, Li Xunhuan's brows furrowed.

He was born with a chivalrous heart and compassion for the world, so naturally, he could not stand those who slaughtered the old, the weak, women, and children.

But Li Xunhuan was, after all, a veteran of the Edo; before the matter was clearly investigated, the flying dagger in his hand would never be released.

"Greetings, Number Three Scholar, my name is Yu Liancheng, please sit." The young man in black wore a smile and was very amiable.

"Greetings, you recognize me?" Li Xunhuan had already sat down.

"Of course, the third in the Weapon Manual, 'Little Li Flying Dagger'—who in the world does not know you?" Yu Liancheng's gaze had shifted to Li Xunhuan's hands.

This pair of hands was slender and clean, yet they were deathly pale, revealing an unhealthy grayish-white. But without a doubt, they were the most terrifying hands in the Edo.

More terrifying than Shangguan Jinhong and Tianji Laoren.

This was naturally not because Li Xunhuan's martial arts were higher, but because "Little Li Flying Dagger, never misses its target"; his strikes never had accidents—they might not necessarily win in one blow, but they would absolutely hit the target.

Within his flying dagger, some kind of god-like power had already been infused.

What's more, the "Dragon Phoenix Twin Rings" and the "Heavenly Secret Rod" were both specially crafted weapons, while the Little Li Flying Dagger was merely forged from common iron.

A perfectly ordinary, plain knife—once it fell into Li Xunhuan's hands, it immediately gained life and magic; does this not prove his extraordinariness?

Li Xunhuan laughed: "Since the host recognizes the guest, and there is wine and food, yet you only eat and drink by yourself, this is truly not the way to treat a guest."

"I am not the owner of this small shop; the one lying on the ground is."

Yu Liancheng glanced at the old man's corpse on the ground and smiled: "There are chopsticks right there; as long as you are not afraid to go keep Purple-Faced Erlang and the Rose Lady company, feel free to eat and drink. I certainly won't stop you."

Li Xunhuan could not help but change color slightly: "You mean the wine and food are poisoned."

Yu Liancheng laughed: "If you don't believe me, you can taste it. Although I ordered this wine and food, I am not a stingy person."

Li Xunhuan said: "But since it is poisoned, how did you..."

"Because I also have a certain level of attainment in the art of poisoning. One who knows how to poison naturally knows how to detoxify."

Li Xunhuan looked at Yu Liancheng for a long while, finally sighed, and said: "You truly do not look like a person who would lie, and Li Xunhuan only has one life."

Yu Liancheng shrugged.

Li Xunhuan turned his gaze back to the corpse on the ground: "You previously said this person is 'Purple-Faced Erlang' Sun Kui?"

Yu Liancheng took a light sip of wine: "Correct."

Li Xunhuan added: "Then the fat woman outside is the Rose Lady?"

"Also perfectly correct."

Li Xunhuan's expression looked as if he had just swallowed a whole egg.

After a long while, he finally said: "They say hearing of a name is not as good as meeting the person, but in many cases, meeting the person is not as good as hearing the name."

'Purple-Faced Erlang' Sun Kui had been the talk of the town twenty years ago because he actually dared to elope with the 'Rose Lady', the chief of the seventy-two water and land wharves of Jiangnan.

But Sun Kui had become an unremarkable old man, and the Rose Lady, who had made countless heroes lose their souls, was now so fat that she didn't even have a waist; the whole person was like a not-so-small water vat, which could hold enough water to irrigate at least an acre and a half of fields.

"It's just that these two have been in seclusion for many years, how... how could they try to poison you?" He had naturally already seen that Purple-Faced Erlang had wanted to poison Yu Liancheng, but was instead forced by Yu Liancheng to drink a mouthful of poisoned wine.

As for the Rose Lady, perhaps she had wanted to come over to see if her husband had succeeded, but she had been pierced between the brows by a burst of internal energy from afar; her vitality was tenacious, and she had actually run a few steps before falling to the ground.

Yu Liancheng placed the golden armor on the table: "It is for this object; the thing you are tracking is also it."

"Golden Silk Armor!" Li Xunhuan frowned; he was knowledgeable and recognized the item at a glance, asking suspiciously: "Although the Golden Silk Armor is precious, it should not be enough to stir up such a bloody storm."

Yu Liancheng drank a mouthful of wine and said: "Only because the 'Plum Blossom Thief', who ran rampant through the world thirty years ago, has appeared again."

When the three words "Plum Blossom Thief" were spoken, even Li Xunhuan could not help but be moved.

Thirty years ago, this Plum Blossom Thief had been extremely rampant. Even Wu Wentian, known as the 'World's Number One Swordsman', had died at his hands.

And every person who died at his hands had not a single wound on their entire body, save for a bloodstain on their chest arranged like a plum blossom; the bloodstain was as small as a needle's eye, hence the name Plum Blossom Bandit.