How could he forget this stuff? It had once made his life a living hell, leaving him with no way out and hunted like a dog by Wan Qili and Li Kexiu’s men.
“Golden Devil Flower!” Song Qingshu’s voice was cold. Someone was still using Golden Devil Flower to deal with him.
He examined the assassin outside the window but found no clues to his identity. Frowning, he wondered, *Who exactly is after me? Could it be Wan Qili?*
After all, Golden Devil Flower was extremely rare. He only knew of Ling Tuisi and the Moqi family possessing it. Though he had once been at odds with Ling Tuisi, that was years ago, and the man was far away in Jiangling, making it unlikely. In Lin’an, the prime suspect was Wan Qili.
Though he was about seventy percent certain, Song Qingshu still couldn’t afford to be careless. If there were other enemies lurking in the shadows at such a critical moment, it would be disastrous.
*I need to find out who it is.* An idea came to him. He took a spare set of clothes, dressed the assassin’s body in them, and laid it face-down on the bed, posing it as if it had died from poisoning, writhing in agony. Then he hid himself on the ceiling beam above.
Sure enough, within the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the door was pushed open. Several men in black carefully approached the bed, poking the corpse with their blades a few times. Only after confirming he was dead did they relax.
“They say the Golden Serpent King’s martial arts are unmatched—I don’t see what’s so special.”
“Probably just that the Golden Devil Flower is potent enough. No matter how skilled a master is, they’ll still succumb.”
“By the way, where’s Chen San?”
The men murmured among themselves. Wary of the Golden Devil Flower’s poison, they kept their distance from the corpse. Plus, since it was wearing Song Qingshu’s clothes, they had already jumped to the wrong conclusion and didn’t realize the body was actually their comrade, Chen San.
“Maybe he ran back to report after succeeding. Dongzi, send a signal to the young master,” one of the black-clad men said to a tall, thin companion.
“You got it~” That Dongzi happily ran off.
Song Qingshu, from his hiding spot, wore a strange expression. *Chen San, Dongzi… would the rest be named Gao Yi, Zhao Zhen, and so on?* He felt a pang of nostalgia for his previous world. *I wonder if that web novel’s finished yet.*
Hearing footsteps outside the door, Song Qingshu quickly shook off his wandering thoughts and looked down. A handsome man entered, though the gloom between his brows ruined his overall appearance.
*So it’s that crippled wretch, Wan Gui.* Song Qingshu sneered inwardly. *Judging by that bitter look on his face, the past days must have been torture for him.*
“You’re sure he’s dead?” Wan Gui hesitated at the door, his body trembling almost imperceptibly. Clearly, though he hated Song Qingshu to the core, he was equally terrified of him.
“Don’t worry, young master. We’ve checked many times,” one of the men in black said. To reassure Wan Gui, he casually stabbed the corpse on the bed a few times with his knife.
“Careful! The Golden Devil Flower’s highly toxic. Don’t let the blood splash on the young master,” a companion quickly reminded him.
“It’s fine!” Seeing ‘Song Qingshu’ lying there like a dead dog, Wan Gui felt a tremendous weight lift from his heart. In his excitement, he let out a grating laugh.
Ever since Song Qingshu had crippled him at the manor, he had been crazily obsessed with revenge. But the man was elusive, and the next time he’d heard of him, he was already leading an army into Yangzhou—beyond anyone’s reach, even the emperor’s.
He’d thought he would never get his revenge. But then Song Qingshu had come to Lin’an with only a few attendants, and those were merely men Han Tuozhou had assigned. Wan Gui couldn’t hold back. He immediately gathered the experts from his household and headed straight for the inn.
He still had enough sense to know that Song Qingshu’s martial arts were formidable, so he didn’t attack directly. First, he had his confidants in the Court of State Ceremonial keep plying him with wine. Once he was drunk, he sent an agile man with Golden Devil Flower to strike first. Only after confirming success did he come himself.
“You may leave now,” Wan Gui said, staring at the body on the bed. He was trembling with excitement, his handsome face contorted grotesquely.
“Yes!” Seeing his expression, the men in black felt a chill of disgust. *Could our young master have… a special interest in corpses? And a man’s corpse at that…* The thought was so nauseating they quickly slipped out and shut the door.
“So, Song Qingshu, look who’s on the ground now.” With no one else around, Wan Gui could no longer contain his emotions. He laughed maniacally. “Remember when you swaggered in with Qi Fang, all high and mighty? Now look at you—lying there like a dead dog!”
Recalling that day, Wan Gui’s face contorted again. He grabbed a knife and hacked at the lower half of the body on the bed until it was a bloody mess. Then he threw the knife away and gritted his teeth, “You made me less than a man. I won’t let this end with just your death. I’ve heard you have a stunningly beautiful wife and many other lovely women. Heh, I won’t let a single one go. I’ll make sure they’re passed around by every man, so even in hell, you’ll be wearing a sea of green hats…”
Just as he was working himself into a frenzy, a cold voice sounded beside him. “I’m afraid you won’t get that chance.”
Song Qingshu had originally wanted to see if he could extract any useful information from Wan Gui. But listening to this torrent of hatred, and especially hearing him threaten his women, he could no longer hold back.
“Y-you, you—” Hearing that familiar voice, Wan Gui’s hair stood on end. Seeing Song Qingshu standing before him, alive and well, he nearly fainted from terror. He couldn’t even form a complete sentence.
“Go on. You were just bragging so happily. Why stop now?” Song Qingshu stared at him coldly.
“How aren’t you dead!” Wan Gui shrieked, his voice as shrill as a eunuch’s. He usually went to great lengths to hide the fact that he was no longer a man, carefully disguising his changing voice. But now, terrified out of his wits, he couldn’t care less.
“How could I die when you’re still alive?” Song Qingshu replied calmly.
“Then who’s that on the bed?” Wan Gui was both shocked and enraged, cursing his subordinates to hell in his mind. If he got out alive, he vowed to have them all castrated.
“Your unfortunate subordinate, Chen San,” Song Qingshu said with a faint smile. To Wan Gui, that smile was a hundred times more terrifying than any demon’s.
“Young master!” At that moment, the men waiting outside heard the commotion and burst in. Seeing Song Qingshu standing in the room hale and hearty, they were all dumbfounded.
“What are you standing there for? Kill him!” Wan Gui knew how ridiculous that order was. Though these men were elite experts chosen from the Minister’s residence, compared to Song Qingshu, they were hopelessly outclassed. He didn’t expect them to actually hurt him—just to hold him off long enough for Wan Gui to escape.
So as soon as he spoke, he threw himself toward the window with all his might, hoping to make it to the street and lose his pursuer in the maze of alleys.
But just as he was about to reach the window, searing pain shot through his legs. He crashed to the ground like a heavy sandbag. Panicking, he spun around to find Song Qingshu standing silently behind him. Looking at his subordinates, he saw them all lying on the ground, clearly dead.
*He killed all those experts in an instant, without a sound.* Amid his shock, Wan Gui even felt a twinge of envy. If he had such martial prowess, he wouldn’t have to rely on schemes and tricks all the time.
“Your men have already gone ahead to the underworld to scout the way. Now it’s your turn.” Song Qingshu hadn’t killed him last time because he thought death was too easy for him. Now, after letting him suffer for so long, the time was right.
Song Qingshu’s words jolted Wan Gui back to reality. He felt his whole body go limp. He had once thought that being less than a man was worse than death. It was his thirst for revenge that had kept him going. But now, facing death, he realized how afraid he was. He thought, *Even if I can’t enjoy the pleasures of a man, there are still plenty of other things to enjoy as the Minister’s grandson…*
The more he thought about it, the more terrified he became. He quickly said, “Don’t kill me! No—you wouldn’t dare kill me!”
Song Qingshu chuckled. “I wouldn’t dare?”
Wan Gui regained some composure. “That’s right. I am the Minister’s grandson. You came here seeking a marriage alliance. If you kill me, it’ll be a public slap in the face to the entire court. Then the emperor would never marry a princess to you.” He had been so consumed by jealousy and rage upon hearing that news that he had lost all restraint and planned this assassination the day before the formal court session.
Seeing Song Qingshu fall silent, Wan Gui thought he had hit a nerve. His courage swelled. “Heh, if you really kill me, not only will you lose your chance at a marriage alliance—your Golden Snake Camp won’t survive either. My grandfather is the current Minister. To avenge me, he’ll use every resource to push the court to send troops north. Your Golden Snake Camp can kiss itself goodbye.”
“Unless you kill my grandfather too… Heh, but he’s the head of the civil service. If he dies by your hand, the entire nation will be in an uproar. Even if the emperor doesn’t want to, he’ll have no choice but to send troops to demand justice. It’ll be the same outcome.”
After spewing a long tirade and seeing Song Qingshu remain silent, Wan Gui’s lips curled into a smug smile. *These wulin folk, no matter how skilled in martial arts, are just uncouth commoners. How could they compare to us in the halls of power?*
He brushed off his clothes and grinned. “Well, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be taking my leave. As for these subordinates’ deaths—I’m in a good mood today, so I won’t hold you accountable…” He never finished the sentence.
A chill ran across his throat, and the world spun.
The last words he ever heard were:
“Rambling nonsense.”