The photograph that I am sending to you is something Mr. Yang Ping entrusted to me for safekeeping eight years ago. I was the photographer.

You do not need to know who I am. After all, I am only an insignificant nobody. Among my ancestors, there has never been a celebrated hero like the Five Supremes and they have only passed down a tiny bit of skills suited only for skulking around. Right now, I make a living by taking photographs in secret to expose extramarital affairs.

That year, Mr. Yang Ping told me that all of you would jump out of the back window. Hence, I picked a spot early on and set up my camera. That way, I could take photos of the few of you in time. After that, my job was to keep track of where all of you were at all times. This was not difficult, the few of you were not planning to conceal your identities or live in secret. I only needed to take note whenever any of you moved houses and update your addresses. To be honest with you, most of your friends did not move house even once in eight years. You were the one who moved the most. In eight years, you had moved houses a total of three times. I know you will be soon moving for the fourth time. I hope the delivery can reach you before you finish packing.

When Tian Zhanpeng read this section, cold sweat poured out. There seemed to be a pair of eyes that was everywhere, an eerie and cold gaze piercing out from them, staring right at his back.

His nerves on edge, he got up and inspected all the doors and windows.

Downstairs in the noisy little neighbourhood building, there seemed to be only the house owners having a lively chat, their emotions running high. They were concerned about the timing of the signing of the agreement and the compensation. Nothing was different from usual.

Tian Zhanpeng swallowed. He continued reading.

The person who wrote the letter seemed to know his reaction.

You don't have to panic. People like us are like rats in the gutter who dare not show our faces before you. The person who hired me also only asked me to record your trail and did not ask me to do anything else.

But today, which should be one day before the day you receive this letter, Mr. Yang Ping told me to distribute and send the photographs I have been keeping to all of your newest addresses, and also to attach this letter.

Right at that moment, Tian Zhanpeng's phone sounded loudly. Elder Tian's taut nerves nearly snapped.

"Hello, Shifu, have you heard?"

Tian Zhanpeng asked in a tense voice, "...What?"

"Xiao-Zhai and the others, the entire group, were taken away by the police today! Big Horse Monkey escaped, the police are looking for him. They are saying that they have something to do with that girl who went missing, that… Wang something!"

Xiao-Zhai and Big Horse Monkey were none other than the two people Yang Ping had met in secret in the little rental house that night when there was internal conflict in Beggars' Sect. On the surface, they were working for Elder Zhao and were urging Elder Zhao to take the initiative but in private, they were secretly colluding with Travellers' Sect to make trouble.

But Elder Tian was not aware of this. Hence, he did not realise immediately what was going on.

"Aiyo, Shifu, how can you still not get it! All the leaks online about that Feast of Yanning came from that girl's phone. They kidnapped her and made use of her disappearance to sensationalise the matter. They also dragged the Old Sect Leader's granddaughter into it. They planned it all and we didn't even know! The moment we heard, we went to demand an explanation from the Old Sect Leader and angered him until he was hospitalised. If anything happens to him… what would become of this matter then? Wouldn't we have angered the Old Sect Leader to death? The culprit behind the scene could then come out and be the good person, and follow the course of events to take custody of the Dog Beating Staff. This old man Zhao, I never thought he was so crafty…"

"It's not Zhao Laoqi." Elder Tian's eyes were staring straight through the window. Having heard so much, in an instant, many things were connected in a line in his head.

That day, just like him, Elder Zhao wanted to take the Dog Beating Staff away by force. In the end, they were stopped by their junior Yu Lanchuan and were thoroughly humiliated. If all these were the results of Elder Zhao's meticulous planning, there was really no need for him to go on stage himself and play the role of a clown.

"Huh? What?" On the other side of the call, his disciple didn't hear clearly those words that had been kept low in his throat. "By the way, Shifu, do you know who was the one who sent that missing girl to the police station?"

Tian Zhanpeng's gaze wavered slightly.

"I heard that it was Wan Mu Chun. They snatched the girl right before their eyes, isn't that arrogant of them?" The person on the other side of the call purposely lowered his voice. "Does Wan Mu Chun really have a descendant? I have always thought that those people were just speaking blindly. Shifu, the thing about each cut measuring three cun and two fen, is it really true…"

Tian Zhanpeng didn't hear clearly the rest of his disciple's words. He felt that he understood now.

Wei Xiao had lived in hiding for many years in Yanning. Yang Ping was just one person, how could he have found Wei Xiao so easily? He must have had a patron supporting him from the back.

This would also explain where Yang Ping's mysterious and surprising demonic skills came from when Yang Ping was a disabled man. When they had fought, Wei Xiao's legs were extremely stiff. He was obviously injured. There was a possibility that it was caused by this behind-the-scenes patron.

Wan Mu Chun's Wei Xiao had a descendant, a child he had picked up somewhere. There was also a possibility that the child was his own. Eight years ago, the child should still be young and wasn't at his side. After being injured, Wei Xiao still did not run away after receiving the challenge letter. It wasn't because this killer who lived in hiding was calm and had nothing to fear, neither was it because he was arrogant. It was because he knew that he had nowhere to run.

He was defeated by Yang Ping and that line he said in appeal to Yang Ping—this ends here—was to ask Yang Ping not to trouble the next generation. Yang Ping's reply—no interest, no time—was hinting that "If she doesn't come to look for me, I won't go to look for her either, so tidy up this matter yourself."

Wei Xiao understood his hint. That was why, before his death, he hung on to his last breath and cleaned up the scene and made it look as though he had died peacefully of old age. It was all for the sake of letting the person watching him in secret understand his attitude. He would bear all debts and enmity, and they should all end there. His descendant did not know anything and would not seek revenge for him. After his death, no one would look for trouble.

Wei Xiao's scheming paid off. For eight years, Wan Mu Chun's demonic knife stayed sheathed in the darkness, biding its time. Now, it was finally emerging and had even secretly made direct contact with Sect Leader Yang via the old demoness from Travellers' Sect. They were going to settle the old scores!

That shitbag Yang Ping even left himself a way out that year. Tian Zhanpeng had always wondered why Yang Ping had called the whole bunch of them along when it took him barely any effort to kill the half-disabled Wei Xiao. To bolster his courage? Or because he wouldn't be satisfied if he couldn't announce it to the world when he washed off his disgrace?

Now, the truth had finally come to light. Not only had Yang Ping hoodwinked them and dragged them all into this matter, he also kept evidence. All of them had suffered injuries in Wei Xiao's hands before, either physically or to their reputation. They all had a motive and no one could defend themselves in the matter of Wei Xiao's death. When Wan Mu Chun reemerged in the martial arts world, they, the idiots who had walked into the trap eight years ago, would become targets, baits and shields!

Yang Ping could now use these things to threaten them into stepping forward and helping him seize power in Beggars' Sect. After a few days, he could reveal their trails to Wan Mu Chun any time he liked and use them to deflect Wan Mu Chun's knives. When the time was right, he could step out from behind them and attack, like the oriole behind the mantis stalking the cicada.

He was playing with them as though they were foolish monkeys.

At the same time, inside and outside of Yanning, those who had participated in both attacks on Wei Xiao all received similar letters. These people might not be considered heroes, but their views were nearly the same.

Yang Ping was threatening them. Wan Mu Chun was polishing their knives. No matter which of those two were ahead in the game, they were all innocent sacrifices.

Wanderers like Tian Zhanpeng who regarded all four seas as their home were the minority after all. Most people his age would already have a family, would have a wife and children, and would be living peacefully. This was obviously an unforeseen calamity.

Why them?

After his momentary panic was over, Tian Zhanpeng's eyes turned grave. He opened his contacts list and started contacting them one by one.

Was there anyone who wasn't struggling and suffering? Was there anyone who didn't want to live a good life?

If that was the case… they could only pray that these two people would meet an early, sudden death.

Gan Qing received this "good thought" from afar and let out a shivering sneeze. The fever medicine that was pretty much like the knockout pills in fiction was starting to take effect and this sneeze didn't wake her up completely. She was only fuzzily and hazily aware of a movement beside her. Someone was gently taking up her right hand.

Her palm was damp, covered in cold sweat. Yu Lanchuan pulled a tissue and wiped her hand. After looking over them carefully for a while, he suddenly noticed that her fingers were very slender.

He was very surprised. It was the first time he was looking at a girl's hand so closely. Yu Lanchuan had always thought that his own hands were already considered very long and slender but compared to hers, his were thicker. The bones of her fingers seemed to have not grown out properly and if he just tightened his grip a little, they would break. Her fingertips could actually really curl up into acute angles.

So, it turns out that "ten fingers as fair and slender as sliced whites of scallions" was not an exaggeration. Where does she usually hide her blades?

While his thoughts wandered far away, he snapped a photo with his phone.

The shutter sound startled Gan Qing. Her fingers twitched, the slender and soft hand suddenly turning tense, revealing the hard calluses between her fingers. Those calluses were unexpectedly even harder than her bones, exuding an indescribable sharpness.

Gan Qing opened her eyes slightly.

Yu Lanchuan thought she was awake and immediately put her hand down, pretending that nothing had happened. In a very "open" manner, he coughed and said, "... I took a picture to show to that doctor friend of mine to see if your chicken claws have any hope of getting straightened out."

Gan Qing didn't say anything. Half her face was buried in her pillow and her unfocused eyes were looking in his direction.

Yu Lanchuan was like a high school student who knew that the class monitor was watching him from the back. With his back to her gaze, he sat up perfectly straight and opened his laptop, putting it on his lap and starting to act the role of a "completely focused on work" member of society for Gan Qing to see. He opened his inbox and clicked around, opening not a single email and instead, just went back and forth between the pages. Then, he pretended to grumble, "So slow, you should throw away your house internet."

Then, he opened a random text document. He deleted the final full stop and then put it back in, selected everything and then changed the font a few times. He tapped rapidly and noisily on his keyboard, as lively as it could be.

After being so "busy and bustling" for a while, Yu Lanchuan finally couldn't resist slanting his gaze and furtively looking at Gan Qing who had not said a single word.

It was only then that he realised that at some point, she had closed her eyes again and fallen asleep.

Gan Qing was dreaming. In her dream, she had returned to the time when she was young and was walking into the gaokao examination hall. This dream wasn't very realistic. She had never entered the real examination hall.

The test paper that the invigilator gave other people were all a single piece of paper. But when it came to her, it was a stack as thick as the Xinhua Dictionary.

Gan Qing couldn't help asking, "Teacher, why is mine different from others?"

"Paper A and Paper B," the invigilator answered coldly. "Other people get Paper A, you get Paper B. The time allotted is the same. Stop talking nonsense, start writing."

How could she finish writing? She wouldn't even be able to finish turning the pages!

The test paper was covered in tiny letters the size of sesame seeds. She filled in the answers desperately but her right hand refused to obey her commands and would not write fast no matter how she tried. The invigilator was like a slave owner from the old society, patrolling around with a whip in hand and shouting out loud, "Write faster!"

Around her, people were standing up and handing in their papers. Everyone had left but she hadn't even completed half of hers.

In the dream, Gan Qing panicked until her head was covered in sweat. Her heart was thinking anxiously, I won't pass the exam, I can't make it in time.

"Why haven't you handed in your paper!" the invigilator opened their ferocious mouth and the whip lashed towards her. Gan Qing planted a hand on the desk and leaped up. She used the desks and chairs around her to turn and dodge, and at the same time, took whatever chances she had to write on her paper.

"Why are you still bothering to take the exam!" The invigilator's appearance had changed. He was a little like Wei Huan, and a little like Wei Xiao… he was wearing a wrist watch that looked like Yu Lanchuan's. His whip transformed into a bloody guillotine knife that fell instantly right before her. Gan Qing dodged narrowly and right before her eyes, the knife cut into the test paper that had taken her so much effort to complete.

The blood on the blade of the knife stained the test paper. All the words were blotted out.

Gan Qing drew in a cold breath and startled awake. The sun was already setting in the west.

"Awake?" The one who spoke was Zhang Meizhen who had returned at some point.

Gan Qing's vision was still spotted with blood. Her face blank, she turned her head towards Zhang Meizhen.

"That Little Master Yu of yours left when he saw me come back. Here, your medicine. Check for yourself how many you should take. The instructions are too small, I can't read them." Zhang Meizhen put down a glass of warm water at her bedside table. Her face weary, she walked a few steps out the room then suddenly recalled something. "That's right, there's a delivery for you. I put it there."

Gan Qing made a vague noise in response. Her head heavy and her feet unstable, she clambered up and stared at the delivery package in a daze for two minutes before finally tearing it open slowly.

What could it be? She thought. Boss Meng can't have stolen my I.D. and registered for the gaokao for self-taught students, right?

Gan Qing paused. For just a second, an idea flashed past her mind like a meteor.

If...

Changing the way she lived wasn't something impossible.

Should she give it a try?

With a tearing sound, she ripped open the seal.