The youth’s features were far too young; he looked like a mere fledgling. What use was there in being able to kill so many? To reveal his hand so ostentatiously at the Lotus Market meant he likely wouldn't have a single peaceful day hereafter. Whether he could even survive this Sword Appreciation Assembly was an open question.
It was truly a pity for those eyes.
The lotus picker remained silent for a moment before finally gathering the paper flowers. She spoke with newfound respect. "Please wait a moment, honored guest."
With that, she turned away with the paper flowers. She verified the names on each one, a process that took a full fifteen minutes. Finally, she counted out a heavy bag of "lotus seeds" from a row of baskets behind her and turned to present them respectfully to the youth.
"A total of one hundred and thirty-four pods. Please verify the amount, honored guest."
Li Qiao took the bag and hefted it in his hand. The wonderful clinking of solid gold echoed through the surroundings.
The area seemed to grow even quieter; even the sound of breathing vanished. Despite being a confined space packed with hundreds of people, it was now so silent it felt eerie.
Yet the youth seemed entirely oblivious. He reached into the bulging, heavy bag of gold beans, took a few out to tuck into his sleeve, and then placed the bag back onto the straw mat.
"Can I still fold a flower today?"
The lotus picker paused, then resumed her standard smile. "Of course. How many pods will you offer, honored guest? And in how many installments?"
"One hundred and thirty pods. All at once."
One hundred and thirty taels of gold to buy a single life. This transaction could no longer be described merely as "generous."
The lotus picker looked up at the youth one last time, confirming she could read nothing more from that face. She turned, took a piece of yellow hemp paper, quickly folded it into a paper lotus, and handed it over.
"Please bestow a name, honored guest."
The youth took the brush and swiftly wrote a name upon the paper flower.
Returning a favor was not his way; returning a slight with interest was.
He would reclaim his master’s blade, but not for the sake of that secretive blind man. Since the other party had come knocking, he would settle the score for the incident at Baoshen Pavilion as well. Collecting debts was the most practical skill he had learned during his two months at Guoran Residence.
He set down the brush and handed back the flower in one fluid motion. Without lingering, Li Qiao turned and left.
He could feel it. The moment he turned his back, countless probing, greedy, and envious gazes emerged from every corner, clinging to him like spider silk.
No one could help but covet that heavy bag of gold beans, yet the row of paper flowers he had laid out on the mat acted like invisible hands strangling their throats and binding their feet. It made them afraid to breathe loudly, let alone step forward.
In the vast world of the martial arts, aside from those top-tier masters worshipped as living immortals by their sects, was there truly a young martial artist capable of claiming seventeen paper flowers in succession?
Who was he? How long had he been frequenting the Lotus Market? Why had they never heard of such a figure?
The young assassins huddled in the corners found no answers and grew restless. They didn't dare pursue the youth, much less strike at him recklessly.
But that didn't mean they couldn't investigate through other means.
Almost instantly, those lurking figures swarmed toward the straw mat the youth had just visited. They would do everything in their power to unfold and examine every paper flower he had left behind, and they would certainly discover whose name he had just written. From these fragments of information, they would piece together various "facts" regarding his true identity.
Of course, they did not know that these "facts" were merely the conclusions the youth intended for them to reach.
Everything was proceeding as he expected. Li Qiao adjusted the thin cloth covering his face and leisurely withdrew his gaze from the crowd. He disliked the expressions in those eyes; one more look would make him feel nauseous. When linked to his past, this disgust transformed into a deep self-loathing that made even breathing feel heavy.
His pace quickened. The several-hundred-pace-long corridor was nearing its end. As Li Qiao’s gaze swept over the final straw mat, his footsteps suddenly halted.
He slowly turned around, his eyes falling on the very last paper lotus at the edge of that mat.
The lotus picker at that mat noticed his gaze. Knowing he was the youth who had just stirred the dark undercurrents, she was about to smile and speak when a woman’s voice rang out not far behind him.
"Li Qiao?"
Li Qiao did not turn his head, but he was not surprised to see the woman wearing a long blade reflected in the copper mirror hanging high in the corner.
She wasn't wearing her eye-catching red clothes today, making her appear slightly less aloof and striking. However, the long blade at her waist felt like a clumsy attempt at concealment, revealing its owner’s fledgling experience in the martial world and her unyielding pride.
Seeing that he remained still, Jiang Xin’er took a few quick steps forward, confirming her suspicion. Although the person before her wore a face cloth, the moment Jiang Xin’er saw those light brown eyes, she knew she hadn't mistaken him.
"It really is you. What are you doing here?"
The youth’s eyes instantly turned cold. He scanned the surroundings. Fortunately, his previous actions had drawn most of the crowd to the other side of the market; it seemed no one had noticed the woman calling his name.
Li Qiao withdrew his gaze and ignored Jiang Xin’er. He swiftly snatched the paper lotus from the nearby mat and strode out through the embroidered curtain. Seeing she had received no answer, the woman hurriedly chased after him.
The lotus picker watched their departing figures, unable to hide her disappointment.
*Wasn't he the one who just produced seventeen paper flowers? Why did he only take a three-pod job?*
On the nameless desolate island, the youth who had emerged from the underground market moved with lightning speed. With a single leap, he dove off the side of a cliff, landing among the steep crags below. He had clearly scouted his escape route long ago.
However, the woman following him was no ordinary person either, and she was certainly not one to give up easily. After a brief pause, she sensed his movement and followed him down without hesitation.
A few clumps of cliff grass obscured her vision, revealing a hidden path along the rock face. The path was extremely narrow, and with the intersecting cliffs nearby, she nearly lost her footing. In her desperation, she drew her long blade and drove it into the rock to steady herself.
Anyone else might have done this unintentionally, but that brat had definitely put on that hurried act to lure her into a chase.
Jiang Xin’er gritted her teeth, pulled out her blade, and followed the hidden path.
After dozens of paces, the towering cliffs on either side—weathered into stone pillars by years of lake winds—framed the path as it led straight to the Lotus Ferry by the shore.
Jiang Xin’er quickened her pace. Her swaying hem brushed against the stone pillars, picking up a layer of dust. Finally, she spotted the tall, thin silhouette. Exerting force through her feet, she lunged forward.
Anxious to capture him, she used her full strength. To her surprise, he didn't dodge. He allowed her to seize his shoulder and drag him from the path into a gap between the stone pillars.
The face cloth was torn away. Li Qiao was pinned against the rocks by the woman’s scabbard. Only after a long moment did he lift his eyelids to look at her, two words escaping his pale lips.
"What is it?"
Jiang Xin’er had assumed he would flee out of a "guilty conscience," but since he had waited to be caught, she was momentarily flustered by his composed attitude. However, remembering the scene from earlier, she tightened her grip, her fingers digging in as she nearly lifted him off the ground.
"You really... you really are...!"
*He really is from the World’s Number One Villa.*
She didn't voice the second half of the sentence, as if mentioning those five words was a taboo for her. But her eyes remained full of vigilance, staring at him as if trying to spot a flaw on the spot.
The youth’s face remained expressionless. He let her stare for a while before slowly speaking.
"If there is nothing, then do not block the way."
Having said this, he slowly pried her hand away. His movements held no killing intent, but his strength felt as heavy as a thousand catties. By the time Jiang Xin’er reacted, he had already turned to walk out of the stone forest.
Furious, Jiang Xin’er raised her blade and followed him again.
"Acting so conspicuously, I doubt you’ll live past three days. If Qin Jiuye knew about this identity of yours, I’m afraid..."
The figure ahead suddenly froze. The youth spun around abruptly.
This time, the coldness and numbness had vanished from his eyes, replaced by a terrifying emotion.
"She will not know. If she does, it will be because you told her."
Jiang Xin’er laughed out of sheer anger. "There is no wall in this world that doesn't leak wind! If you don't want her to know, you should hide your fox tail better and stop showing your face in the martial world."
The surging emotion gradually receded. Li Qiao blinked, returning to his previous indifferent state.
"I know you were born lucky and joined the Qiu family after leaving the Villa. But do not mistake your stupidity for capital to boast. If you continue to shout so recklessly, I will have no choice but to bring your good days to an end."
As he finished, his light brown eyes swept coldly behind her.
A faint sound came from deep within the stone forest, like the sound of loose rocks falling into the depths of the cliff.
Jiang Xin’er froze. Realizing something, she turned toward the direction she had come from.
Between the overlapping stone pillars, everything was a hazy grey. The surroundings were silent; no one was visible, only the shadows cast by sunlight through the clouds moving rapidly among the rocks. The wind wailed through the crevices, completely masking the previous anomaly.
But to an assassin accustomed to hiding their tracks and evading pursuit, that tiny sound was enough to indicate a situation.
Li Qiao composed himself and spoke in an extremely low voice.
"Do not pester me. It will do you no good." He paused, his lips curling into an ambiguous arc. "Instead of worrying about me, you should look after your Young Master. I happened to see his name just now."
As soon as he spoke, her expression stiffened. She turned, intending to return to the Lotus Market to investigate. After a few steps, she remembered the youth’s actions at the straw mat and realized she might have been tricked. She spun back around, but the youth’s silhouette was already vanishing at the end of the path.
Jiang Xin’er stood there with a dark expression for a moment before finally shouting, "Where is your master? Did the Villa Master send you?"
At the end of the path, the youth looked back at her one last time, finally certain that this seemingly fierce and aloof woman actually knew nothing.
He withdrew his gaze, turned a corner, and quickly disappeared into the stone forest.
Jiang Xin’er stood in place for another moment before turning to walk in the other direction.
After a few steps, she suddenly changed course, leaping onto a nearby stone pillar and focusing her gaze on the surroundings.
Sure enough, a white figure flashed between the intersecting rock walls. She only managed to catch a glimpse of a hurried profile—it seemed to be a handsome youth.
*White?* Not many people dared to wear white at the Lotus Market.
Because white, like red, was far too conspicuous. Daring to wear it meant one could walk freely without regard for others' gazes, which usually implied one of two possibilities: first, the person was a "runner" handling business for a powerful patron. Whether the person themselves had skill was irrelevant; what mattered was that the power behind them was strong enough that no one dared provoke them—the so-called "fox borrowing the tiger’s terror." Second, the person hailed from the World’s Number One Villa and already had a formidable master. Someone capable of completely owning and commanding an assassin from the Villa was far more than just wealthy; even a dog kept by such a person could be insufferably arrogant.
Jiang Xin’er didn't know which category the white-clad youth fell into, nor did she know why he had been following and eavesdropping. But she faintly sensed a familiar aura—the same aura she had felt when she first met the youth named Li Qiao. The aura of their kind.
Jiang Xin’er thought back carefully and suddenly remembered something.
She had actually brushed past this white-clad youth in the Lotus Market earlier. The reason he had left an impression was that he was the one who had taken the paper lotus with the highest bounty of the day.
She still remembered the name on that paper lotus.
*Jia Thirteen.*
It wasn't really a name, just a code.
And she, too, had once possessed such a code.
In the distance, the sun dipped westward, showing signs of setting. The wind from the lake surface ceased for a moment before slowly shifting direction, carrying the scent of lotus flowers from the island into the distance.
The moment a lotus bud emerges from the water, it is destined to face the wind and waves.
For people like them, whose roots were buried in the waters of the martial world, who didn't have a few enemies? Everyone simply ate according to their own abilities. If you have a job, keep it; if you have trouble, solve it; if there is someone you like or care about...
Then stay far away from them.
As Jiang Xin’er finished her thought, the last trace of hesitation vanished from her face. She gripped the long blade at her waist and flipped down from the stone pillar.
***
