"You're that…" Zhang Meizhen hesitated a while. Everyday, she stayed indoors during the day and came out at night, and wouldn't go to the pet store without a reason. For a moment, she only felt that the girl in front of her looked familiar and didn't connect her to the attacker who challenged Yang Ping alone.

A chorus of frog croaks suddenly came from the manmade lake. A fishy odour rose from the mud beside the water. Qiao-Qiao—Zhu Qiao stood still a few steps away, her small face unconcealed, so pale that it seemed to have absorbed all the surrounding light. Her dark and heavy gaze passed over Zhang Meizhen to land on Elder Yang.

Elder Yang slowly stood up.

He had changed his walking stick and it was no longer the green bamboo staff that was already handed in to the police, nor was it the hardwood stick his granddaughter had bought. It was a plastic walking stick with four feet that left four little holes when it was planted on the ground. If the finely crafted cane could be said to have the style of an olden gentleman, then this type of "walking clothes rack" completely exuded an aged and decrepit feel.

The sound of Old Sect Leader Yang's breathing grew heavier, the pair of lungs in his chest becoming like old bellows. With a voice that had more spirit than strength, he said, "I didn't think that Zhu Cong's child would be so big now."

Zhang Meizhen's face changed. Subconsciously, she reached out a hand to block before Old Sect Leader Yang. She was rather nervous. She had been taking care of him in the hospital so naturally, she couldn't carry any lethal weapons on her. The only thing remotely metal that she had was her house key.

Qiao-Qiao took a step forward. Zhang Meizhen grabbed Old Yang's arm and took a step back, using the bench as a barrier.

Decades ago, one of these two had been among the Five Supremes, deeply respected and highly moral, while the other was the North Branch Master of Travellers' Sect with inexhaustible tricks and methods. A lift of their hands could strike panic in the hearts of others.

Who would have thought that when they were old, a seventeen or eighteen-year old girl could make them quake in their shoes with her slightest move.

It proved that when you turned your head back and looked back on the years past, it was not only rights and wrongs or fame and profit that had turned meaningless^[1].

The ways of mortals are ever renewed;

The days come and go, forming past and present.^[2]

Elder Yang tugged his arm out and waved Zhang Meizhen off. His heart calm and his temper even, he looked at Qiao-Qiao and said, "When my granddaughter was on the phone with someone in the afternoon, I happened to overhear a little. I heard that you're fine now and have just been released from the police station. At that time, I thought that it was time this child came to find me."

Qiao-Qiao took out a phone and typed a few words, then had the text reader speak for her. "You waited for me here on purpose?"

Elder Yang replied in a gentle voice, "There are lots of people and many prying eyes at No. 110 and it's not convenient to speak there. Just now, we shared a cab with someone and passed by this place and I suddenly thought that I should get down and have a look. If you were following me, this would be a good place to talk… Don't worry, I didn't tell anyone. Meizhen's phone had also ran out of battery earlier on, right?"

Zhang Meizhen, "..."

She had wanted to play a trick and scare the other person into running away but before she could brew her plan, her old muddle-headed team member had already spoiled it.

Elder Yang sighed. "Girl, what is your name?"

"Zhu Qiao."

"I see, Zhu Qiao… why don't you come over and have a seat while we talk?" Elder Yang beckoned her while he himself let out a shaky exhale. "I can't stand on my feet anymore."

Qiao-Qiao didn't go over. A complicated expression flashed across her face. She liked small animals and her nature was one that cared for the weak. When she met a large baddie like Yang Ping, she could still bare her fangs and claws to pit herself against him but when faced with these two old people in front of her that the passing years have forced to the edge of a precipice, she was rather at a loss. She could only clench her teeth and force herself to maintain a fierce look on her small face, and used the cold robotic voice to say, "What do you have to say?"

Elder Yang fell silent for a while. "In my life, I valued my reputation more than anything while internally, I was a complete mess. My mouth was full of grand words of virtues and morals, I had always believed myself to be a saint and didn't want to be a human. So in these ninety years, the moment I encountered something that tested my character, there has never been a single time that I passed the test. I made mistakes again and again. During the time my wife was with me, she never had a comfortable day in her life, while my son is a total disaster. My loved one and I wasted half a century, missing our chance in this lifetime. Beggars' Sect declined day by day in my hands, its remaining years uncertain."

Startled, Zhang Meizhen lowered her head to look at him.

Elder Yang squinted his eyes, looking towards the surface of the lake. "I've always lectured other people like a teacher, taking every chance I get to educate the younger generation. I told them that their hearts must be calm and their tempers even, and that they shouldn't be blinded by superficial worldly matters. In actual fact, the later generations are more aware than I am. I am the one whose eyes are blinded by worldly matters."

Qiao-Qiao gritted her teeth. Her phone coldly played a question. "Sect Leader Yang, I'll only ask you one thing. Eighteen years ago, why did you drive Yang Ping out of Beggars' Sect?"

The stone path in the park curved and twisted. At every step, the view was about the same. In the pitch darkness, Yu Lanchuan and Yu Yan shone their flashlights and wandered around like headless flies. As they wandered, Yu Lanchuan briefly explained Beggars' Sect and Travellers' Sect old and new enmities to Yu Yan.

After listening, Yu Yan was silent for a long while before finally saying regretfully, "Even though Beggars' Sect had helped us quite a bit not long ago… it is still better to suppress it."

Yu Lanchuan pulled down the screen on his phone to update their location, ignoring him.

Yu Yan continued to share his opinion. "I realised that for many things, when they have developed to the final stage, what remains is definitely not an intangible cultural heritage but the dregs of feudalism… Look, your group of people can't protect and defend the country, nor can you jump onto roofs and walk on walls. Even if you become a martial arts instructor, the sense of aesthetics is lacking. A good and fine traditional culture, yet it adds no value at all to society. All the teachings are lost and no longer passed down, and all that remains are the two major classic themes of traditional wuxia fiction: one is fighting for power and might to become the big boss; the other is fighting to obtain secret skills using any means, fair or foul. As the saying goes, when you've chewed the sweet sugarcane to the end, all that's left is dross."

"..." Yu Lanchuan didn't continue the topic. He suddenly said, "Old Sect Leader Yang is indeed rather old-fashioned. It is exactly because he has too many bottom lines and principles that he has had few days of peace in his life. Wei Huan said that he killed people to silence them. Objectively, I don't think it's possible. However… what Yang Ping has done, was he aware of them?"

Did he know that his only son, Yang Ping, had once set up his fellow sect members and had many lives on his hands, all for the sake of his personal interests?

Yu Yan let out a bitter laugh and said, "Master Lan, the two of us went to school together since young and I was always the one copying your answers. You're so smart, why are you asking me?"

When he clearly knew that Yang Ping's sins could not be forgiven, would the deeply respected and highly virtuous Old Sect Leader Yang still cover up everything for the sake of preserving his son's life?

Next to the lake, Zhang Meizhen spoke before Elder Yang. "It was because Yang Ping happened to be operating the elevator at No. 110 at that time and when I moved there, I set him off. That brat is a little mad in the head. At home, he caused such a ruckus that his wife and child didn't dare come home. Even when he was outside, he said a few times behind my back that he would not let me live past the year. He even wanted to break into my home with a lethal weapon…"

"Meizhen," Old Yang interrupted her softly. "All those things did indeed happen but they are not the root cause."

One of Zhang Meizhen's eyes twitched.

"No one understands a son more than his father. Over thirty years ago, there was a huge fire here that destroyed quite a few of my brothers' families and also burned me badly," Old Yang said. "After the incident, Yang Ping came to me in private a few times. Every time, he pretended to be full of grief and anger, forcing me to give my brothers an explanation. I knew that he must have had a hand in the matter. But I didn't dare investigate further."

On the back of Qiao-Qiao's hand that was holding the phone, blue veins protruded.

"Your grandfather also didn't dare to," Old Sect Leader Yang said. "Back then, all of them unanimously made Travellers' Sect their target. The crowd was agitated and ignored all the suspicious points in this matter… For example, there were so many people, how were they all kidnapped without anyone knowing? Your grandfather had always been respectful and introverted, and he also didn't drink that day. If he was so greatly resentful, he should come and talk to me privately. Why did he not tell me anything and directly made things so difficult at the Martial Arts General Assembly?"

Zhang Meizhen understood his hidden meaning. She lowered her head to look at Old Yang in disbelief.

"It was because from the very start, this matter was a play they directed and acted out themselves for the purpose of forcing me to draw a clear boundary between us and Travellers' Sect. They didn't expect things to go wrong halfway. The play turned to reality and became a tragedy…"

Qiao-Qiao spoke through her phone. "You're lying!"

Old Sect Leader Yang said calmly, "How would I dare to stand here and lie? This is a huge joke that the Beggars' Sect themselves cooked up!"

Zhang Meizhen said, "You… Over thirty years ago, you already…"

"This matter involved two of Beggars' Sect's Nine Pouch Elders, more than ten core members and half of everything Beggars' Sect had. It was already such a tragedy, how could I dare tear down that layer of paper screen? I knew that there were demons and monsters inside but I only dared to deceive everyone and myself, brushing another layer of paste over the paper screen and pretending that everything was fine. Meizhen, back then, I told you that I was a coward… I was speaking the truth."

Zhang Meizhen could not say anything.

"That night when Yang Ping broke into your home carrying a lethal weapon, you happened to be out. Yu-dage took action to catch him and sent him to me. He said that something had gone amiss in Yang Ping's own martial arts training and that there were signs of him going out of control. He told me to keep a tight watch. That was when I finally knew that he had learned demonic skills from somewhere. I was flustered and panicked at that time and locked him up, and accidentally intercepted a letter someone sent to him." Elder Yang rubbed the head of his walking stick repeatedly. "It was a letter asking for help. The first page said, 'Zhu Cong will soon find out about us and he even has a killer from Wan Mu Chun with him. What should we do?'"

"When I saw the letter, it was like my world exploded. What I hadn't dared thought too closely about back then, the things I saw in my nightmares, all became reality. Yang Ping… was mad and demented! I went to find him and interrogated him about what happened."

At that time, Yang Ping had said to him with a scoff, "What are you saying, Dad? Didn't you already guess all this years ago? And now you're pretending to be simple-minded."

Yang Qing's face was pale. He had no way to refute.

"All right, fine. Since you've always been free of guilt and kept in the dark, and you're only now 'shocked' by the truth, you can just beat me to death now," Yang Ping said nonchalantly. Then, he gave him a strange smile. "Wait a minute, surely you won't send me to the police station to turn myself in, will you? Sect Leader, if we were to talk about this matter from the very beginning, then things won't be so easily explained. Back then, only one old man Zhu died, a large group of them are still alive! Right now, these people are taking their pension and each and every one of them are deeply respected in the sect. Their disciples and grand-disciples all think that they lost their families because of Beggars' Sect and that they have sacrificed too much. They want nothing more than to volunteer themselves to be their filial children and grandchildren, to worship them as ancestors. If you expose the truth, they will be too ashamed to live."

The almost a hundred years old Sect Leader Yang lifted his head to look into the distant hazy darkness. "But I… only have this one son after all."

Zhang Meizhen turned her head to the side, tears covering her face.

Ever since he was wrapped in swaddling clothes, Yang Ping had been by his father's side. Yang Qing had raised him all on his own.

Yang Qing had always felt that he owed his son too much. From the very start, he had not been able to give him a normal family. During the years when he was growing both in body and mind, he, the father, was "taken down." He had dragged down Yang Ping along with him and made him suffer. His body did not grow and his mind also became twisted.

Yu Lanchuan and Yu Yan finally made their way there following the GPS. From far, they saw those three people either sitting or standing. Things seemed peaceful and they breathed out in relief.

Yu Yan walked over. "Elder Yang, you guys…"

Before he could finish calling out to them, he heard Yang Qing mutter, "I couldn't bear to do it. I am really… sorry to all of you."

Even though they were already mentally prepared, Yu Lanchuan and Yu Yan still came to a sudden pause on the spot.

Qiao-Qiao suddenly let out a roar. There was a cold light in her mouth aiming right at the back of Yang Qing's head. Zhang Meizhen caught sight of it out of the corner of her eye but it was too late.

Right at that moment, there was a clanging sound in midair. A razor blade collided with the thin needle that had shot out of Qiao-Qiao's mouth. Knocked off its course, the thin needle brushed past the wooden bench and fell to the ground. Almost at the same time, Yu Lanchuan caught Qiao-Qiao by her arm.

Qiao-Qiao wasn't done shooting the thin needles from her mouth. She turned and shot at him. Yu Lanchuan swiftly dodged to the side and the needle brushed past his nose bridge, nearly breaking skin. Then, Qiao-Qiao took out a dagger from somewhere and slashed ruthlessly at his hand that was holding her. After forcing him back, she shot two thin needles in quick succession.

Yu Yan threw his police baton to him. "Catch!"

Yu Lanchuan avoided being pierced until he was a hedgehog and smashed the baton towards the knife in Qiao-Qiao's hand. Qiao-Qiao knew that she could not defeat him. Her eyes red enough to bleed, she loaded her last needle. Right at that moment, a small gust of wind attacked her from the back. Before she could turn around, someone grabbed her throat from behind and forced her head up.

Yu Lanchuan's baton smashed onto her knife. The hand around her throat slipped into her mouth. Qiao-Qiao bit down viciously but that hand seemed to not feel pain at all and removed the hidden weapon in her mouth without allowing any resistance.

T/N:

[1] "When you turned your head back and looked back on the years past, it was not only the rights and wrongs or the fame and profit that had turned to meaningless." From the poem 《临江仙·滚滚长江逝水》(translated and shortened as "Immortals by the River") by the Ming dynasty poet Yang Shen and is about how the triumphs and failures of the heroes only last for a short while.

[2] "The ways of mortals are ever renewed; The days come and go, forming past and present." From the poem 《与诸子登岘首》("Climbing Mount Xian with Friends" by the Tang dynasty poet Meng Haoran.