Chapter 4

“Do I really have to handle something like this myself? What use are you people to me?” He Sitao sat in his elevated seat, looking down at the subordinates kneeling before him to beg for forgiveness. His tone was calm.

Liang Heng replied, “This subordinate is incompetent. Please punish me, Sect Master.”

“I don’t want to hear those words from you again.”

There was no fluctuation in He Sitao’s voice, but everyone present knew that he was already furious.

Liang Heng lowered his head. “This subordinate deserves death.”

“Conduct a thorough investigation and root out every traitor within the sect.” He Sitao straightened in his seat. “Whether they belong to the Martial Arts Alliance or the Demonic Sect.”

Liang Heng replied, “Yes.”

After everyone had withdrawn, He Sitao gazed around the empty Changtian Hall. The scene that surfaced in his mind was the moment in his previous life when Liang Heng came to report Xu Xing’s death in Ruolan Valley.

He would never forget the shock and pain he’d felt at that moment.

The heavens had shown him mercy by granting him another chance. This time, he absolutely refused to repeat the mistakes of his previous life.

After dealing with the sect’s affairs, He Sitao returned to Tianya Residence. Upon entering, he saw Xu Xing curled up beneath the quilt, already sleeping soundly.

The sight of Xu Xing’s peaceful sleeping face soothed his previously gloomy mood. He Sitao walked over to the bedside, extended a finger, and gently poked his cheek.

When the cool fingertip touched his warm cheek, Xu Xing frowned slightly, seemingly on the verge of waking.

He Sitao withdrew his finger, and Xu Xing immediately relaxed his brow and continued sleeping deeply.

Finding the sight amusing, He Sitao let out a soft chuckle. However, he didn’t disturb Xu Xing again. Instead, he closed the door and went to bathe and change his clothes.

Xu Xing vaguely sensed He Sitao climbing into bed, but he was too lazy to open his eyes. He merely mumbled sleepily, “You’re back, Sect Master?”

He Sitao reached out and gathered him into his arms. “Mm. Go back to sleep.”

Xu Xing nodded, nestled against his chest, and drifted back to sleep.

That night, Changtang Sect was shaken from top to bottom, while Xu Xing slept so soundly in He Sitao’s arms that he remained completely oblivious to everything.

…

“I’m not a traitor! Where’s the Sect Master? I want to see the Sect Master! Liang Heng, you have no right to interrogate me!”

Furious roars echoed from the water dungeon. The man imprisoned in the pool struggled desperately, but it was obvious that he lacked the strength to break free of the chains around his wrists.

“Liang Heng! I’m one of Elder Chen’s men! You have no right to tie me up!”

Liang Heng stood above him, looking coldly at the man’s futile struggles. With a single glance, he signaled for someone to step forward and gag him.

“Chen Hui? No matter how important he thinks he is, he still doesn’t outrank the Sect Master.”

Liang Heng indifferently shifted his gaze away and signaled his subordinates to increase the punishment.

“I won’t be sleeping tonight either. Since you’ve all ended up in the water dungeon, you’d better think carefully about how you’re going to explain yourselves.” Liang Heng sat down on the wooden chair his subordinates had brought over. “At Wangchuan Cliff, we would never falsely accuse one of our own.”

Wangchuan Cliff was the branch of Changtang Sect responsible for the business of buying and selling lives.

Liang Heng was the Peak Master of Wangchuan Cliff, but his responsibilities extended beyond its external business dealings. He was also in charge of discipline and punishment within Changtang Sect.

Hearing Liang Heng’s declaration, the ​Read on BaiLianTales​nearby disciples directly under Wangchuan Cliff couldn’t help feeling a surge of admiration.

Their Peak Master was so dependable!

“Mmmph! Mmmph! Mmmph!”

The several people imprisoned in the water had their mouths gagged. After hearing Liang Heng’s speech, they weren’t moved in the slightest. Instead, they desperately wished they could jump up and curse him out.

All except the man who had been shouting the loudest earlier.

After an entire night of torment, only the man who claimed to be Elder Chen’s subordinate eventually confessed that he’d been bribed by the Demonic Sect. The others refused to admit any wrongdoing.

Liang Heng’s reaction to this was remarkably indifferent.

Looking at the bedraggled disciples who had just been hauled out of the water, he said casually, “It seems you really haven’t betrayed the sect. All right, you may go.”

The sharp-eyed disciples directly under Wangchuan Cliff recognized several of those people as the ones who had openly complained half a month earlier that Wangchuan Cliff’s disciplinary punishments against fellow sect members were excessively harsh.

Tsk.

Their Peak Master certainly knew how to handle things!

“Chen Hui?” Hearing the man’s confession implicate an elder, a rare trace of irritation appeared on Liang Heng’s usually cold and composed face. “Does he have a death wish?”

Changtang Sect had five elders, all of whom were fellow disciples of the previous Sect Master. Each was responsible for managing the affairs of their respective mountain peaks.

After He Sitao became Sect Master, he took complete control of Qianji Branch and Wangchuan Cliff. He had no intention of sharing authority with the elders and merely allowed them to spend their remaining years in retirement within the sect.

The elders had initially been dissatisfied, but from the day they could no longer defeat He Sitao, they had lost the right to interfere with his decisions.

The strong ruled over the weak. This was an unchanging principle that had governed the martial world for thousands of years.

Chen Hui was the youngest of the five elders.

Perhaps because he was the youngest, he was also the most restless and scheming. Even so, the fact that he dared collude with the Demonic Sect to murder the Sect Master came as something of a surprise even to Liang Heng.

That very night, Liang Heng led a group of men up the mountain to capture him. However, when they reached the residence where Chen Hui usually stayed, they found it completely deserted.

He had probably realized his involvement had been exposed after Liang Heng sent men to take away his trusted disciple, and had fled for his life.

“Troublesome.” Liang Heng frowned and immediately dispatched men to pursue him.

As the first rays of morning sunlight fell across the roof of Tianya Residence, Xu Xing opened his drowsy eyes.

He Sitao was still asleep. Curled up in his arms, Xu Xing actually found the position rather comfortable.

But he quickly forced himself to slip out of He Sitao’s embrace.

He was still thinking about the book he hadn’t finished reading last night.

After quickly tidying himself up, Xu Xing headed toward Wenzhi Pavilion, his eyes still half-closed with sleepiness.

However, just as he pushed open the courtyard gate and stepped into the courtyard, he felt something soft beneath his foot.

Xu Xing frowned, opened his eyes fully, and looked down. What greeted him was the sight of a corpse, its bloodstains not yet completely dried.

!

“Someone, help—!”

Now he was completely awake.