Darts.

No martial arts.

And the deceased were Wang Long and his whole crew...

This led Elder Wu to suspect that the killer... was very likely his new ’Registered Disciple’.

But he couldn’t be sure without seeing for himself.

His mind heavy with thought, he soon arrived at the courtyard in Yangjiao Alley.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK...

Qin Fang was deep asleep when he heard the heavy knocking at the door.

Although he had only managed to drift off around dawn, his Spirit could hardly relax after such a violent night. The sound from the door jolted him awake instantly.

His eyes flew open, bloodshot with fatigue. He shot up in bed, startled, before gradually collecting himself.

The knocking came again. He collected himself. ’Who would be here at this time...’

’Could it be Master?’

Qin Fang pressed his lips together and glanced down at himself. With a final, deep breath, he braced himself against the pain in his right leg and got out of bed.

He limped to the gate and, peering through a crack in the wood, saw that it was indeed his master.

Qin Fang took a deep breath and opened the gate.

He was immediately met with his master’s scrutinizing gaze.

"Master."

Qin Fang bowed.

Elder Wu’s gaze immediately fell upon his leg and his left hand.

His expression darkened instantly.

But he didn’t speak. Instead, he glanced around, then entered the courtyard and shut the gate.

"Let’s talk inside."

Frowning, his master walked into the room.

Then his eyes fell upon the utter mess on the floor, and he froze on the spot.

Qin Fang limped into the room after him.

"What happened to you?" Elder Wu asked in a low voice, turning to face him.

Qin Fang lowered his head and said respectfully, "Yesterday..."

He recounted everything that had happened, down to the last detail.

He held nothing back.

Qin Fang knew he couldn’t hide this from his master.

Eight people were dead. News would be all over town in no time—after all, how big could a county seat be in this day and age?

As the resident physician of Huichun Hall, his master was bound to have his own sources of information.

His master was also the only one who knew about his conflict with Wang Long. As soon as he heard that Wang Long and his men had been killed, his first suspicion would naturally fall on him.

Plus, the murder weapon was Darts... Darts his master had given him.

Even... his only safe haven was a place his master had provided.

...Under these circumstances, how could he possibly hide it?

Fortunately, Qin Fang had no intention of hiding anything.

And so, he told him everything that had happened.

Elder Wu listened from the side, his expression shifting continuously.

He waited until Qin Fang had finished.

For a long time, he didn’t respond.

He just watched Qin Fang with a complicated expression.

...His gaze was a mixture of shock and solemnity.

He was shocked that his own disciple was far calmer and more decisive than he had imagined.

Relying on nothing but Darts, he had actually managed to eliminate Wang Long and his men one by one. He had even killed the last three targets at Lan Gui Fang, in full view of the public... and after all that, he had still managed to make a clean getaway.

Just hearing the story made Elder Wu’s own heart race.

In that situation, anyone else would have almost certainly been captured by the people at Lan Gui Fang.

But this disciple of his had managed to carve out a sliver of hope from a situation of certain death... His resilience and composure were truly astounding.

And as for the solemnity...

This penchant for killing was a bit much.

He killed at the slightest provocation.

And he’d killed eight of them.

Aside from Wang Long and his cronies,

he considered Bald Li and Wang Long’s mistress to be ’innocents’...

But in the end, Qin Fang had mercilessly killed them all.

Rationally speaking, both of them had to die.

Otherwise, his identity would very likely be exposed.

But emotionally...

Elder Wu found it hard to accept.

...After all, who could accept that their own disciple might be a ’cold, cruel, and bloodthirsty’ person?

It wasn’t as if they were part of the Demon Sect...

He was silent for a long time before asking in a low voice, "Why didn’t you come to me?"

Qin Fang kept his head low. "Master, you’ve already done more than enough for me," he said respectfully. "This was a mess I created, so it was my responsibility to clean it up. How could I dare to trouble you?"

Hearing this, Elder Wu was at a loss for words.

He fell silent, then glanced again at the mess on the floor... He could imagine the situation Qin Fang had faced.

...He was somewhat familiar with the methods of thugs like Wang Long.

After a long while, Elder Wu sighed softly. "This bloodlust of yours, you need to rein it in... If possible, try to handle things more gently in the future."

Hearing this, Qin Fang instinctively looked up at his master. Then, his voice turned sorrowful. "Master, I understand. Truthfully, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t want to kill anyone."

’God knows, just a few months ago, he couldn’t even bring himself to kill a chicken.’

Life as a refugee...

It had changed him so much.

Elder Wu fell silent. He finally sighed and said, "Come here. Let me see your injuries."

Qin Fang froze for a moment, then a warmth spread through his heart. He didn’t refuse and walked over.

Elder Wu first examined his hand... The left index finger was swollen to nearly twice the size of his Middle Finger. It was a ghastly shade of black and blue.

Frowning, Elder Wu gently squeezed it to check the bone.

The sudden, sharp pain made Qin Fang hiss in agony.

Elder Wu’s hand froze. He then snorted coldly. "So you feel it now? Didn’t seem to hurt when you were climbing walls to kill Wang Long yesterday!"

Qin Fang froze, a little embarrassed.

But he quickly recovered, blinking. "Master, how did you know I climbed a wall to get in?"

He had explained what happened, but he hadn’t been too specific about the ’process of the crime’.

For example, regarding Wang Long’s death, he only said that he’d ’entered Wang Long’s courtyard and killed him with a dart’.

He certainly hadn’t said, ’I climbed the wall into the courtyard and found Wang Long doing the deed with his mistress, so I waited in a corner and struck the moment he was basking in the afterglow...’ and so on.

Naturally, he was surprised that his master knew such a detail.

Elder Wu shot him a look. After a moment of silence, he sighed. "Your senior brother is the forensic doctor handling this case... I learned of Wang Long’s death from him."

Senior brother?

Qin Fang looked utterly astonished, blinking his eyes.

"I’ll introduce you two when I get the chance... but not anytime soon. Let’s get this injury of yours treated first."

This gave Elder Wu a headache.

His older disciple is the constable in charge of the case.

...And his younger disciple is the murderer!

This...

He sighed helplessly and said no more, continuing his examination of Qin Fang’s finger.

After finishing his inspection a moment later, he couldn’t help but look at Qin Fang again...

With his medical skill, he could naturally tell how the injury had been caused.

First, it had been bent backward until it snapped.

But now the finger wasn’t irregularly twisted, which meant someone had snapped it back into place.

...As for who that someone was,

it went without saying.

’This kid is truly ruthless!’

’He’s not only ruthless to his enemies,’

’he’s just as hard on himself!’

he thought.

"Take off your pants."

Elder Wu said suddenly.

"Hm... Huh?"

"Am I not going to look at the wound on your leg?"

"Oh..."

Qin Fang obediently took off his pants...