Qi Ziru heard and saw.
He saw his nephew's frantic escape, knowing deep in his heart that it would be nearly impossible to escape the clutches of that towering figure.
The situation had deteriorated beyond repair, and he could hardly protect himself, let alone his nephew.
He turned his gaze back to Shi Chun's face, nodding slightly as if genuinely praising, "With your cultivation and theirs, to cripple them with a single palm strike is truly formidable! No wonder Shen Youkun often says you can fight. The two of them working together couldn't withstand even one exchange with you. It's no surprise; you truly live up to being the Big Boss of the Eastern Nine Plains. I'm indeed short-eyed and deserve this downfall."
This was Shi Chun's first close examination of him.
His gaze fixed on the two talismans and a tightly-held black cloth pouch in Qi Ziru's hands.
"Who are you?" he asked.
Qi Ziru replied calmly, "Does it matter?"
At this answer, Shi Chun's eyebrows twitched slightly, expressing his displeasure.
"Judging by your demeanor, you're new here. Not everyone can just stumble into the Exile Lands for any crime. I heard Shen Youkun came here because of some 'Hundred Child Banquet.' What about you? What crime brought you here?"
The so-called "Hundred Child Banquet" was no good deed, something Shen Youkun himself confessed when he was first detained.
Having indulged in too many fine things, he developed a taste for something unusual and ended up targeting children.
During a gathering with his shady friends, he dared to host a feast with one hundred pairs of child boys and girls.
When it came to light, he ended up in these lands.
Despite his punishment, Shen Youkun bore no resentment towards it, only towards the one who leaked the information and expanded the scandal.
Qi Ziru repeated indifferently, "Does it matter?"
Faced with such perfunctory answers, Shi Chun's tone sank.
"Do you think I dare not kill you?"
Qi Ziru responded calmly, "Didn't you return to kill me?"
This statement momentarily left Shi Chun at a loss for words.
Indeed, he came to silence the witness.
Soon, they heard Shen Youkun's cries of agony.
He was dragged back by Wu Jinliang, who was clutching his hair.
Under the bright moonlight, Wu Jinliang ran swiftly, dragging his knife in one hand and Shen Youkun in the other, treating him like anything but a person.
Before long, Wu Jinliang tossed Shen Youkun in front of Shi Chun, causing him to topple at Shi Chun’s feet.
Meeting Shi Chun's cold gaze, Shen Youkun hurriedly knelt, pressing his forehead to the ground, trembling in fear.
Off to the side, Qi Ziru closed his eyes with regret, lamenting his involvement in the affairs of the Exile Lands for the sake of his nephew—an involvement that wasn’t worth it.
Wu Jinliang stepped forward and stomped on Shen Youkun's back, chuckling.
"Shen, how can you be so headstrong? Didn't I tell you that if you dared to provoke us again, we'd deal with you?"
Face down on the ground, Shen Youkun mumbled defensively, "I didn't provoke you—it was you who came to me."
Wu Jinliang scratched his head with the hand holding the knife and chuckled dryly at Shi Chun, "Brother Chun, it seems like it's us who actually came to him this time. Wait, no…" Suddenly, he stomped twice on Shen Youkun's back, making him flatten against the ground.
"You pulled together plenty of supplies to lure us first. How dare you say you didn’t provoke us? You’re blatantly ignoring our warnings!"
Shi Chun motioned Wu Jinliang to stop and step aside with a simple gesture.
Not delaying any further, he asked, "Who will tell me why you were digging up that skeleton underground?"
Shen Youkun went silent, sneaking a glance at his uncle.
Qi Ziru shot him a disdainful look and said calmly, "Shen Youkun, they’ve come back at their own peril to silence us. Whether we speak or not, we’ll die. Don’t you see?"
He was warning Shen Youkun to keep quiet.
Understanding dawned on Shen Youkun as he shivered.
"Despicable!" Wu Jinliang snarled at Qi Ziru, "Brother Chun, how about I take one of them aside and interrogate separately—someone's bound to speak."
Shi Chun, however, looked at the prostrate Shen Youkun and answered without answering, "So, it seems you know the truth."
Hearing this, Qi Ziru's eyebrows twitched.
Realization dawned just in time for the Big Boss to swiftly draw the blade, a cold glint flashing in front of Qi Ziru’s eyes.
In a swift motion, his view spun as his head fell.
Thud.
A head dropped before Shen Youkun.
He widened his eyes, never having imagined facing his uncle like this, only to feel the heat of fresh blood spatter across his face.
"Ah!" Shen Youkun screamed, a shrill sound like that of a woman, flipping over and scrambling backward, watching his uncle’s body convulse to the ground.
Still reeling from shock, the blade coated in blood was now pointed at him.
Shi Chun knew him better, more confident, pressing, "Will you tell, or not?"
Shen Youkun’s throat bobbed as he swallowed dryly and quivered out, "Even if I tell you, you’ll kill me to silence me."
Shi Chun waved the blade at his head, "You tempted me with substantial resources. Your family must already be aware of me. I don't want your family's trouble once I leave here. You should understand my concern, Shen—you’re not foolish."
Upon hearing this, hope flashed in Shen Youkun's eyes.
Shi Chun continued, "I don’t plan to live here forever, especially not safely with your family's hand reaching in. I hope Shen can smooth things over on my behalf. If you do, wouldn't everyone have a way out? I believe I've made myself clear. If you still don’t believe me, take a chance. I have no choice if you doubt."
These reasonable words even had Wu Jinliang nodding in agreement, looking more hopeful towards Shen Youkun.
Ultimately, Shen Youkun decided to gamble.
Ignoring his uncle’s warnings, and the uncertainty if his family would let him live, he aimed to seize the immediate chance of survival.
He disclosed the relationship with Qi Ziru and their excavation intentions, answering every question, revealing all he knew.
Shi Chun was surprised to learn neither uncle nor nephew knew the nature of the purple sparkling nebula—something he was eager to understand.
This ignorance explained why neither was supervising something seemingly so significant.
Indeed, genuine ignorance was possible.
"Chaos, chaos…" Shi Chun muttered repeatedly, contemplating the answer.
He connected it to the strange vision seen with his right eye—now vanished, no longer appearing despite his efforts and spells.
He wished to glimpse that bizarre scene again to no avail.
Watching Shi Chun expectantly, Shen Youkun awaited reassurance.
When Shi Chun finally collected himself, he met Shen Youkun's gaze, feeling a twinge of regret.
He wondered if this guy was concealing something—for how could he not know where the Dragon Bone should go or with whom to rendezvous? It seemed critical information hadn’t been entrusted to him.
In Shen Youkun's hopeful eyes, Shi Chun calmly responded, "From now on, our past grudges are no more."
Shen Youkun froze, then paled in horror, panicking, waving his hands in desperate refusal, but could not compete with Shi Chun’s swift draw of the blade.
Swish! A cold flash, and blood spurted high as another head fell, eyes wide in disbelief.
Shi Chun shook off the blood from the blade and sheathed it behind his back.
Watching the head roll on the ground, Wu Jinliang remarked in astonishment, "Won’t you keep him to deal with the Qi family?"
Shi Chun replied, "You're overthinking it. Given what he said, even Qi Ziru's uncle was expendable to the Qi family. Our grievances are trivial in the eyes of important figures and won't be taken seriously. If linked to this place's matters, the Qi family definitely wouldn’t leave us an escape route."
"Sigh."
Wu Jinliang scratched his head, conceding with the dead man's fate as reason enough.
He turned away and eagerly approached Qi Ziru’s body to pick up the black cloth pouch and talismans.
Shi Chun glanced over, urgently stopping him, "Don't touch!"
Wu Jinliang froze in mid-reach, looking puzzled, "Why? Didn't Shen Youkun say this 'Universe Pouch' is no ordinary treasure outside? Such a treasure could keep us comfortable!"
"Don't touch!" Shi Chun warned again, heading towards the corpses by the slope, "No matter how tempting, we can't touch a thing from them. If we want to survive, we must resist. Remember, we were never here, and nothing that happened is related to us!"
Suppressing his itching fingers, Wu Jinliang nodded, comprehending.
He followed Shi Chun to the slain masked figures and lifted their masks, revealing, "It’s him! Isn't this Tianzhan, Big Boss of the Youle River? You've met, were decently acquainted."
Shi Chun furrowed slightly, saying nothing.
After checking two sedan chair bearers’ identities and finding them unfamiliar, he scanned the scene before taking a deep breath.
"We can't stay here," he said, and vanished promptly.
Scouting cautiously afterward, Wu Jinliang hoisted his big blade and hurried after him.
Both disappeared swiftly into the night.
Not long after, a lone figure drifted in from the high sky.
A peculiar middle-aged man, at night, under clear skies, flew with a large black umbrella.
Tall, with shoulder-length black hair that fluttered in the wind, his handsome, stubbled face exuded a mature, masculine charisma.
He wore black robes with golden patterns, overlaid with loose-fitting violet gauze, projecting a regal, unrestrained presence, and an aura of solitude against the world.
Suddenly, he halted, his gaze fixating on a Mountain Valley below with unusual excavations—clearly not formed naturally, where Shen Youkun had organized extensive digging.
He came due to the landslide there, unlike anything the inhabitants of the Exile Lands had the power to cause, hence his arrival for inspection.
His gaze shifted, catching moonlight reflecting off scattered weapons outside the valley.
In the next instant, he vanished into thin air, reappearing by the scattered weapons, strolling leisurely under the umbrella.
(End of Chapter)