Chapter 274: Beast

Zheng Yi folded the cover and tucked it into her bosom, then turned to look outside the cave.

She naturally wanted to know what Xue Bangzhu, or rather Zheng Wan, had left behind before she died. But she also understood that Li Miao might not be willing to share it with her.

Ultimately, the two were in a relationship of mutual utilization. Li Miao wanted to use her to investigate the bottom line of Yingzhou, and she wanted to use Li Miao to seek revenge on Yingzhou.

The essence of their relationship was a partnership, not companionship.

Since she was in a weak position in this cooperation, she naturally had to strike a pose and set her position right.

Li Miao glanced at her, smiled, and said nothing more, continuing to look down at the booklet.

This booklet was divided into two parts.

The first part should have been written just after Xue Bangzhu escaped to the Great Ming. At that time, she was still young, and her Wu Gong was still there, so she didn't need to entrust the revenge to others, so there wasn't much recorded in this booklet.

Except for the first page, the remaining pages of the first part were filled with dense names.

All of them were surnamed "Zheng."

Li Miao flipped through it, folding a corner on the fourth, eighth, and last pages.

These names were divided into three parts.

Li Miao had basically seen the names written in the first four pages; some he could recount their life stories, some were just familiar, but he could be certain these were historical figures from a thousand years ago to the present.

From the fourth to the eighth page, they should be the names of Penglai sect members; Xue Bangzhu had made marks under several of them, including the name of Zheng Yi's mother.

And from the eighth page to the end, they should be the names of Yingzhou people.

Because these pages were written in blood; this was a blood letter used for revenge.

Among these three parts, the last part didn't need to be looked at; the names of Yingzhou people were useless to Li Miao; he would kill them whenever he saw them, so it didn't matter what they were called.

The second part could be used later when looking for other Penglai sect members, but for now, it could be set aside.

The key lay in the first part.

Li Miao carefully flipped through the names listed by Xue Bangzhu, which could be traced back to a thousand years ago, and extended to the founding of the Great Ming, civil officials, military generals, gods, and ghosts; she had listed almost every person surnamed "Zheng" in the history books.

Except for the surname Zheng, Li Miao couldn't see what these names had in common.

Therefore, the thing that could be referenced was still "time."

Li Miao slowly twisted his fingers, secretly pondering.

"First, one thing is certain: the vast majority of these people died before the founding of Penglai and should have nothing to do with Penglai."

"So, was Xue Bangzhu suspecting that these people had a relationship with Yingzhou?"

"But the time span is a bit suspicious... it's too large."

"A more reasonable explanation is that Yingzhou never truly 'hid from the world,' but would occasionally send people to the Central Plains, participating in various things under their own surnames. Xue Bangzhu was investigating these people."

"However."

Li Miao frowned.

"This explanation, while plausible, still has some logical flaws."

"For example, why would Xue Bangzhu investigate figures from a thousand years ago? These people have long turned to dust, and what they did is hard to leave any influence today; even if their identities were clarified, it seems it wouldn't help in seeking revenge on Yingzhou."

"For example, why was Xue Bangzhu certain that these people would use their own surnames while walking in the Central Plains? For a 'hidden sect,' wouldn't this be actively increasing the risk of their exposure?"

"For example, the first name that appeared was already earlier than the time Yingzhou was founded."

"Unless—she wasn't investigating 'some people,' but 'a certain person'."

Li Miao thought for a moment and shook his head.

This first part wasn't information Xue Bangzhu deliberately left behind, but more like a "memo" she left back then, vague and unclear; except for the deceased themselves, it was hard for others to draw definitive conclusions.

At least in Li Miao's view, both inferences had their own loopholes, and with the information known now, they couldn't be supported.

Whether to verify or falsify, it would still depend on what news could be obtained from Penglai sect members or Yingzhou in the future.

Putting these inferences aside for now, Li Miao opened the second half of the booklet.

————————

Li Miao walked out of the cave, not even looking at Xue Hanmeng, who was kneeling on the ground in a daze, waved his hand, and led Cao Hanyan and Yin Suqin away.

Zheng Yi held the second half of the booklet Li Miao had given her, walked out of the stone cave with a blank face.

She also had no intention of paying attention to Xue Hanmeng, and without a word, walked to the side of "No-Trace," squatted down, reached out and gripped his pulse, and began to heal his wounds.

"No-Trace" was already at the end of his life, and after being tossed around by Li Miao all the way, he was waiting to die, but suddenly felt a warm current enter his body, and his already exhausted vitality was actually gradually recovering.

His heart was overjoyed, thinking it was Xue Hanmeng who had pleaded for him; besides being proud, he immediately squeezed out a few tears with his practiced acting skills and opened his mouth to speak.

"Hanmeng, what happened back then was just a moment of confusion; over these years, I have already treated you as my own—"

With his decrepit appearance, plus the miserable look of being covered in blood after being tossed by Li Miao, and the acting skills honed over decades in the Jianghu, anywhere else, Zheng Yi would have hesitated.

Unfortunately, Zheng Yi wouldn't give him any sympathy now.

"Your own—*Pfft! "

A slap without holding back directly shattered "No-Trace's" jaw, flesh and blood splashing onto the ground with a *splat*.

"Your voice disgusts me."

Zheng Yi said calmly.

"Don't speak anymore, you only deserve to wail like a pig."

After saying this, Zheng Yi healed his wounds again; this time, "No-Trace" didn't dare to make a sound.

Zheng Yi sealed his acupoints, stood up, walked to Xue Hanmeng, and threw the booklet into Xue Hanmeng's hand.

Then, without any mercy, she reached out and grabbed her hair, not caring about her cries of pain, and lifted her up.

"Actually, I thought a lot while I was inside."

Zheng Yi said calmly.

"I really thought a lot."

"I have many reasons to let you go, for example, you might be my last peer; for example, your mother must have hoped you would live well."

"And for example, you didn't not want to do something for your mother, you were just too stupid, too young, deceived by others, and did many things that were sorry to your mother and Yan Fan."

"You probably don't even know who Yan Fan is."

"So, I originally wanted to tell you the truth, let you kill this enemy with your own hands, and then take you to seek revenge on Yingzhou, so I could have one more companion and helper."

She let out a long sigh.

"But, Lord Li said some things to me that changed my original thoughts."

"He said, many times, stupid people can cause far more harm than evil people. And the reasons they defend themselves are hundreds of times more."

"At such times, there is a principle that must be kept in mind."

Zheng Yi stared into Xue Hanmeng's eyes and said slowly.

"That is—don't defend people who have done evil things."

"'Don't want to do' and 'can't do,' the result is the same; someone has to pay the price for this rotten ending."

Zheng Yi dragged Xue Hanmeng by her hair, dragged her in front of "No-Trace," and threw her to the ground.

"For the sake of us being peers, I'll give you a chance. You can look at the words your mother left you now, and then seek revenge for your mother."

"After that, I will abolish your Wu Gong."

Zheng Yi's voice carried no emotion.

"You are not worthy of being a Penglai sect member."

"You are not worthy of being a Jianghu person."

"You are not even worthy of seeking revenge on the real murderer."

"For your mother's sake, Lord Li will send someone to prepare a place for you in Kaifeng city; whether you want to raise children or grow old alone is up to you; from today on, you have nothing to do with Penglai."

"You have half an hour."

After saying this, Zheng Yi turned and walked a distance away, leaning against a tree, coldly watching Xue Hanmeng, and said no more.

Xue Hanmeng was stunned for a while, trembling as she opened the booklet.

The first half of the booklet had already been taken by Li Miao, and the remaining half was Xue Bangzhu's instructions left behind after she knew she was going to die.

Inside, it explained the ins and outs of the matter in detail.

Forty-seven years ago, Penglai was massacred, sect members died, fled, or escaped; at that time, Xue Bangzhu, who was still called Zheng Wan, escaped to Kaifeng and opened up this mountain cave to live temporarily.

Forty-five years ago, Xue Bangzhu confirmed that no one from Yingzhou was chasing her, and also confirmed the safety within Kaifeng Prefecture, so she disguised herself and entered the city to live; it was also at this time that she met Yan Fan.

Forty years ago, Xue Bangzhu married Xue Hanmeng's father; the two had a good relationship, but because of the special nature of the Penglai inheritance, the two had never had children. Fortunately, her husband didn't mind, and the two lived like that.

Twenty years ago, Xue Bangzhu suddenly discovered that she was pregnant.

It was hard to say whether she was happy or afraid at the time, because she knew that if a Penglai person didn't give birth in Penglai, she and Xue Hanmeng could only have one survive.

From the moment she conceived Xue Hanmeng, the special trait she inherited from the Penglai bloodline that could avoid the five decays of Heaven-Human would gradually disappear, until her Wu Gong was lost and she became a cripple.

Disturbed, she went out of the city to pray in a temple, also to hide from her husband and make a choice about whether to give birth to Xue Hanmeng.

What decision she made, the booklet didn't write.

Considering this booklet was left for Xue Hanmeng, the decision she made at the time was mostly not wanting to give birth to Xue Hanmeng.

But when she made up her mind and returned home, everything had changed.

"No-Trace" had killed all her family members, not even sparing the chickens and dogs.

Her husband, who had always treated her with respect and never said a word of complaint, died in his own home, died in their bedroom.

Knowing Xue Bangzhu would return that night, he had prepared some good wine, preparing to comfort his wife's heart, telling her he really didn't mind whether she could give birth, as long as the two could grow old together.

He could not get these words out before he was killed by "No-Trace" at the table; fresh blood spilled into the wine cup, swirling into the wine.

Xue Bangzhu walked around the house and couldn't find a living person.

She sent away the servants, picked up her husband's corpse, and placed it on the bed. Then she flashed onto the rafters and took down the long sword that had been hidden there for decades.

She sharpened her sword, drank the blood wine on the table, and went out with her sword to seek revenge on "No-Trace."

At that time, although she began to have signs of Wu Gong decline, she was still a Heaven-Human expert, and "No-Trace" was definitely no match for her.

Logically, this should have been a simple matter.

But after searching for several days, she gradually discovered one thing—"No-Trace" was deliberately avoiding her, as if he already knew her Wu Gong, and also knew she would seek revenge on him.

But she had never revealed her Wu Gong, and even her husband didn't know his wife was a hidden master.

"No-Trace" shouldn't have known these things.

Just then, Xue Bangzhu heard that a massacre had occurred nearby, the method being extremely similar to "No-Trace," so she rushed over, only to find that this matter was done by someone else.

She caught the murderer, and after some interrogation, the other party confessed that someone had hired him with a large sum of money to do this, and as for who the other party was, the murderer didn't know, but it was definitely not "No-Trace."

Investigating to this point, Xue Bangzhu stopped.

This matter seemed to be no longer a simple case of murder for money.

Someone who knew Xue Bangzhu's background told "No-Trace" everything, and deliberately hired someone to lure Xue Bangzhu away, so she couldn't seek revenge.

Only Yingzhou and Penglai knew Xue Bangzhu's background. And if Yingzhou knew where she was, they would have killed their way to her door immediately, and wouldn't have done such a roundabout thing.

So, the mastermind was a Penglai peer.

After thinking this through, Xue Bangzhu was almost in despair.

People who escaped from Penglai all had disguise techniques; the sword-holder wouldn't let "No-Trace" know his identity, and even if she caught "No-Trace," she would only have destroyed one blade.

Xue Hanmeng in her womb was growing, and her Wu Gong was rapidly declining; she no longer had the strength to seek revenge.

So she had to return home and finish the funeral. The blood on her soles at the time was left when she interrogated the person who had been hired.

By the time the funeral was over and everything was settled, Xue Bangzhu looked at her husband's tombstone and changed her decision—she would give birth to her child and raise her.

From the moment she made the decision, she began to prepare, using everything she could think of to ensure that after she died, Xue Hanmeng could live well.

When her Wu Gong declined to the first-rate level, she discovered that "No-Trace" had also found her and was monitoring her at all times.

So she endured the intense pain and changed her plan again.

The first back-up plan was Yan Fan.

The second back-up plan was this mountain cave. She considered everything, even considering that Xue Hanmeng might not be able to bear to attack "No-Trace," so she left behind poison, letting Xue Hanmeng end everything without needing to do it herself, so as not to leave a shadow in her heart.

The third back-up plan was those missing corpses. It was both to prepare for Yan Fan to spread the news, and to attract the attention of others, so "No-Trace" wouldn't be able to attack her for the time being.

As for the peer hiding behind "No-Trace," Xue Bangzhu no longer had the ability to take them into account, and could only hope the other party would stop at her and not implicate Xue Hanmeng.

Later things didn't need to be said.

The day Xue Bangzhu was pushed to the ground, she knew her time was up. So she found "No-Trace," who had been monitoring her, and took the initiative to die in his hands.

The moment she died, Yan Fan moved out of Kaifeng Prefecture.

Her plan also officially began to operate.

Until this moment, this plan that had spanned decades finally came to an end.

On the last page of the booklet, Xue Bangzhu wrote this.

"Hanmeng, if the person who opens this booklet is you, mother wants you to know—everything was my plan."

"You will be adopted by 'No-Trace,' you will think he is the last person you can trust, you might protect him, you might not be able to bring yourself to attack him."

"It doesn't matter, this is not your fault."

"He should follow you into this cave, and then die in my hands—you didn't do anything, I was deliberately killed by him, and his blood won't dirty your hands."

"Now, everything is over."

"How old are you now? Have you grown taller? We Penglai people all grow up to be very good-looking; if only I could take a look."

"You can go to the village outside the city and find an old man named Yan Fan; if he is still alive, buy him a pot of good wine and tell him everything is over."

"If he is dead, bury me with him; I hope in the next life, he can speak up earlier, so as not to miss out."

"You don't need to think about seeking revenge for me; the peer who harmed me should already be old and dead by the time you see these words."

"Your father and I would not want you to live as a vengeful ghost who only wants revenge."

"The grievances of our generation end here."

"After that, go live the life you want to live."

The last sentence's strokes were already scattered.

This was the last sentence Xue Bangzhu left behind.

In the silent dense forest, a heart-wrenching cry suddenly rose.

Xue Hanmeng forgot the fact that she was a Heaven-Human expert, crawling over like a beast, biting down hard on "No-Trace's" throat, tearing at it with all her might.

Wailing, crying, screaming, struggling.

The regret that almost burned through her heart and lungs drove the beast named "Xue Hanmeng" to use her teeth to tear her enemy into a mass of blurred flesh.

Blood and tears mixed together, seeping into the soil and disappearing.

Zheng Yi slowly closed her eyes.