Fang Shuwen frowned at him, seeming to think the man was rather greedy, but he still answered good-naturedly:

"Of course I was on guard. After all, you were circulating your energy in that cave for quite a while. You didn’t really think I hadn’t noticed, did you?

"Besides, your Ghost Gate technique did have some effect on me... but only a little."

The moment his opponent struck, Fang Shuwen had indeed been dazed for an instant, a colossal gate appearing before his eyes.

However, his Muscle Strengthening Scripture Divine Technique circulated on its own, and the gate instantly shattered.

Hearing this, the Human-faced Ghost could only give a wretched laugh, knowing there was no chance of escape.

As expected, Fang Shuwen showed him no mercy. He casually broke the man’s arms and legs and tossed him aside.

Just as he was about to call Miao Feichan over to search for Xu Wenwan, his ears twitched, and he looked up toward the cave entrance.

Miao Feichan seemed to sense something as well. A moment later, they saw Xiang Nuan and a group of disciples from Yuqing Pavilion cautiously making their way inside.

After Fang Shuwen and the others had entered the cave, things were quiet at first, but then a series of massive booms echoed out from within.

The sounds left them trembling with fear.

They had no idea how Miao Feichan and Fang Shuwen were possibly dealing with so many opponents, nor could they imagine what was causing such tremendous noise.

They conferred amongst themselves. As disciples of Yuqing Pavilion, one of the Seven Great Sects of the Eastern Domain, could they really just stand by and wait? It didn’t feel right.

Miao Feichan had told them to flee back to Yuqing Pavilion if they sensed danger... but that felt even more unacceptable.

Their Martial Arts were no match for Fang Shuwen’s, and their Lightweight Technique was far inferior to Miao Feichan’s.

But how could they, as followers of the Jianghu’s righteous path, simply run at the first sign of trouble?

If they were all so cowardly and afraid to fight, then when the Demon Dao ran rampant, who would be left to protect the common people?

So, though their hearts were filled with fear, and though they felt entering meant facing almost certain death, they steeled their nerves and went in.

’Worst case, we’ll be heroines again in eighteen years!’

But the deeper they ventured into the cave, the more their expressions twisted in horror.

It was just too gruesome... Their enemies had met a truly gruesome end!

As they walked, they saw barely a single intact corpse. Blood was everywhere, flowing down the gentle slope.

If they didn’t know for a fact that Fang Shuwen and Miao Feichan were human, they would have suspected these red-robed men had been attacked by some primordial beast.

As they continued deeper into the earth, the massive roaring sounds subsided.

A little farther in, they found Fang Shuwen and Miao Feichan looking up at them.

Miao Feichan smiled faintly.

"As expected of disciples from Yuqing Pavilion. You certainly have courage."

"Your bravery is commendable."

Fang Shuwen nodded as well.

"Since you’re here, help us look. See if you can find anyone they were holding captive."

Xiang Nuan and the others looked at the bloodstains on Fang Shuwen, and a terrifying thought suddenly crossed their minds.

’Could it be... that Fang Shuwen killed all these people by himself?’

But before they could voice their question, they heard Fang Shuwen telling them to search for captives.

After a moment’s thought, they suppressed their doubts and began to search the cave with the others.

After a thorough search to ensure nothing was missed, the group returned to where they started.

They found nothing.

Neither the Vermilion Bird Hall Master nor Xu Wenwan was there.

Fang Shuwen thought for a moment, then walked over to the Human-faced Ghost.

"Do you know of Xu Wenwan?"

"...Xu Zeyuan’s daughter."

The Human-faced Ghost said flatly,

"Of course I know of her..."

"Where is she?"

"At Yuqing Pavilion, naturally."

A laugh rumbled from beneath the Human-faced Ghost’s mask.

"You were the one who told us that.

"At first, we had no idea where she was. Not until you brought Xu Shuxin to Yuqing Pavilion."

Fang Shuwen narrowed his eyes, his thoughts beginning to clear.

"So you’re saying you knew of Xu Wenwan’s existence all along?"

"Not only did we know... we also knew that the Hundred-Pound Saber should be in her possession."

At these words, everything clicked into place for Fang Shuwen.

"So, you massacred the Xu Family and left Xu Shuxin alive.

"It was never about using him to find the Hundred-Pound Saber. It was about threatening... Xu Wenwan?"

The Human-faced Ghost looked at Fang Shuwen and, after a moment of silence, said,

"It wasn’t just about threatening her. Years ago, when Xu Zeyuan’s daughter disappeared, the real Hundred-Pound Saber vanished with her.

"We discovered this after we obtained the fake Hundred-Pound Saber, but we had no idea where Xu Wenwan had gone.

"The members of the Xu Family were all tight-lipped; as expected of Xu Zeyuan’s descendants, I suppose.

"So, we killed them all, leaving only Xu Shuxin.

"We figured that, with nowhere else to turn, he would do everything in his power to find the only person he could rely on.

"To avoid making our objective too obvious, Li Xiuci was the one who traveled with him.

"In reality, it wasn’t just the boy trying desperately to escape; Li Xiuci was also desperately trying to not let him escape too easily. Otherwise... it’s hard to say the ploy wouldn’t have been seen through.

"Even though Xu Shuxin had no Jianghu experience, the stakes were too high for us to be careless.

"We just never expected... to run into you."

The Human-faced Ghost’s explanation was far more logical, and the entire chain of events became much clearer.

After encountering Fang Shuwen, the situation had clearly become more complicated.

Unwilling to give up on Xu Shuxin so easily, they had the Ghost-faced Fox set a trap in Qiuhai Town using Xiao Ding Xiang and her grandfather, hoping to abduct Xu Shuxin.

Meanwhile, the Human-faced Ghost rendezvoused with the men from the Hundred Ghosts Hall and headed to Yuqing Pavilion...

But there was still one thing Fang Shuwen didn’t understand.

The Hundred Ghosts Hall’s goal was the Hundred-Pound Saber, so why would they cooperate with the Dragon Emperor Hall? 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Even now, Fang Shuwen was still unclear on the Dragon Emperor Hall’s objective.

’If their goal was also the Hundred-Pound Saber, wouldn’t that overlap with the Hundred Ghosts Hall’s goal? In that case, they should be natural competitors. There would be absolutely no reason for them to cooperate.’

"Unless..."

A thought suddenly stirred in Fang Shuwen’s mind.

"There was a reason that forced them to join forces.

"An opponent... that they could only face by working together.

"Yu Yaoguang!?"