However, no one answered for a long time. She figured she had guessed correctly—this Yang An and that old hag of a mother of hers were probably really dead!
A trace of triumph flashed in her eyes as she turned around to walk back and report the news to Yang Yiwan.
Right at that moment, she caught a faint flash of white light before her. Before she could even react, a burning pain seared across her cheek. Crying out, she pitched forward and slammed hard against the unyielding ground.
Yang Yiwan was standing too far away to see what had happened.
Chen Bi managed to raise her head. Her face was smeared with blood, completely covering her delicate features and making her look terrifying. Trembling, she called out, "Miss?"
Even she had no idea what had happened. After a moment, she felt a sharp pain on her face as if a knife were cutting into it. When she reached up to touch it, her hand came away covered in blood, and she promptly fainted from fright.
Yang Yiwan said with a dark expression, "Get up!"
Yet Chen Bi gave no response whatsoever.
Yang Yiwan quickly looked around. Aside from the howling wind and driving rain, there was nothing else.
Convinced that Chen Bi had simply tripped and fallen, Yang Yiwan had no choice but to dismount the Mystic Tiger and go knock on the door herself.
Suddenly, however, her foot caught on something hidden. A hair-thin silver wire snapped taut across her knees, sending her sprawling straight forward.
Yang Yiwan scrambled to her feet and shouted, "Who is it? Show yourself!"
Still, no one answered.
Not daring to let her guard down, Yang Yiwan gathered spiritual power at her fingertips and slashed it toward the ground. With a sharp snap, the cord broke into two pieces. When Yang Yiwan picked them up to inspect them, she found that the string was made of some unknown material—as thin as a strand of hair, yet exceptionally tough and resilient, impossible to snap even with brute force.
"Yang An, is that you?!"
There was no one else it could be, but could it really be Yang An?
Leaving aside Song Sanniang's claim that she had been bedridden for a long time, even in her prime, Yang An probably couldn't have conjured up such a device.
Remaining vigilant, Yang Yiwan began to follow the cord forward step by step. Just as she was about to reach the front door, a sharp whistling sound pierced the air. She had unknowingly triggered another mechanism.
In an instant, countless flashes of white light flickered before her eyes, accompanied by the endless hum of taut ropes being pulled tight. Yang Yiwan scrambled around in clumsy panic, dodging frantically, but her face and fingers were still sliced by the thin wires. Those ropes were like countless invisible hidden weapons, completely impossible to guard against.
Losing her footing, Yang Yiwan tumbled backward. Just as her right hand pressed down against the ground, she felt the snow layer give way beneath her. She cried out that something was wrong, but it was already too late. The ground suddenly collapsed into a deep pit. Yang Yiwan plummeted straight down as the soft snow caved in immediately, burying her completely.
At that moment, all the thin wires were retracted, vanishing with a whoosh into a narrow gap beside the doorway as if nothing had happened at all.
"What a clever little creature—subduing the enemy without bloodshed, inflicting harm without a trace." High up on the peak, a man's figure slowly materialized. A white lotus shimmered faintly between his brows, and his dark eyes watched the courtyard not far away with amused interest.
If he hadn't returned, he might have missed such a splendid spectacle.
In truth, he had been lingering around her all along, watching everything unfold from the moment she began setting her traps.
At first, when he saw her holding only a single thin thread, he had been somewhat puzzled. But as he watched her measure and arrange things in the courtyard, he immediately understood what she was trying to do.
He could only marvel that she possessed such ingenuity; had they fought in a direct, one-on-one confrontation, she might not have been a match for Yang Yiwan at all.
Suddenly, a hand protruded from the snow pile.
Yang Yiwan crawled out of the snow with great difficulty, covered entirely in snow, her hair askew and a streak of blood smeared across her cheek, looking utterly wretched.
The howling wind rushed past her ears, sounding like the eerie wails of ghosts and making her skin crawl. Yang Yiwan felt every pore on her body stand on end.
Although her spiritual power had already surpassed the fifth tier, she had rarely practiced since childhood because her parents doted on her, resulting in very weak combat skills.
She couldn't stay here; she had to go help Nan Liefeng.
Just as she prepared to turn back, a chill brushed against her neck, and a breath puffed into her ear: "Are you calling for me, my dear sister?"
A shudder instantly coursed through her entire body.
She hadn't even realized when someone had gotten close to her.
Yang Yiwan stiffened: "You—you are Yang An?"
"Sister loves me so dearly, how could you forget my voice?"
"You... you're still alive?"
Liu Rumeng gave a cold chuckle, her voice chilled to the bone: "Sorry to disappoint you, I'm still alive."
She had heard every word of the conversation between Yang Yiwan and Nan Liefeng. At the time, she had been holding her breath among the branches nearby. The only reason she hadn't made a move until now was partly because she wasn't confident she could defeat Nan Liefeng, and partly because she simply wanted to teach this white lotus of a dear sister a lesson; she had no desire to get involved with Nan Liefeng.
Terrified, Yang Yiwan turned pale as a sheet, her voice trembling: "What—what do you want?"
She couldn't understand why Yang An had suddenly become so strong in such a short time, and she was terrified that Yang An would take revenge on her.
"Sister, don't be afraid. I just want to catch up on old times."
"If you dare lay a finger on me, I'll make sure Father kills you!" Yang Yiwan finally dropped her facade and roared furiously.
"He already killed me once. Do you think I'll let him kill me a second time?" Liu Rumeng twirled a knife in her hand, the sharp tip slowly tracing across Yang Yiwan's pretty face. "Such a pretty face."
"What do you think you're doing?! You wouldn't dare!"
Liu Rumeng's gaze turned icy as the blade slanted across that delicate and vibrant face. Yang Yiwan let out a shriek of absolute terror.
"My good sister, are you trying to lure your beloved here so he can watch what you look like right now?"
Yang Yiwan instantly clamped her mouth shut. Enraged, she channeled spiritual power into her fingertips and suddenly lunged backward.
As a practitioner of the fifth-tier spiritual power, even without regular training, her spiritual output was still terrifying.
Liu Rumeng dodged it effortlessly, curling her right hand into a claw and clamping it straight around Yang Yiwan's delicate throat.
Yang Yiwan's eyes widened in horror, shock flashing through them.
Knowing what she wanted to say, Liu Rumeng lifted her dark eyes slightly, unleashing a captivating and piercing glare: "Want to ask why I'm not dead? And why I've become so strong?"
With a shove, she pushed Yang Yiwan off the back of the tiger.
Pointing at her, Yang Yiwan bit her rosy lip: "If you dare touch me, aren't you afraid my father will kill your mother?!"
"Such a sharp tongue. If I cut out your tongue today, I suppose you won't be able to go back and squeal."
Terrified, Yang Yiwan turned deathly pale. She never could have imagined that Yang An would become so formidable, and that damned Chen Bi had actually claimed she was dead—just wait until she got back, she would settle the score with her!
Liu Rumeng leaped down from the Mystic Tiger and walked slowly toward her.
Backing away in sheer panic, Yang Yiwan wondered in terror if Yang An was really going to kill her.
Right at that moment, Yang An suddenly stopped, turned around, and vanished without a trace.
Propped up on the ground, Yang Yiwan coughed uncontrollably before suddenly hearing the piercing cry of the Fire Phoenix in the distance.
It turned out that Nan Liefeng had grown impatient and flown back.
Seeing Nan Liefeng return, Yang Yiwan immediately burst into tears.
Stopping mid-air, Nan Liefeng saw Yang Yiwan sprawled on the ground in a wretched state, with her little maid lying motionless not far away.
Frowning, he asked, "What happened?"
He had only been gone a short while—what on earth could have happened in that brief time?
"It was Yang An... I never expected her to hate me this much. I only came to check on her, but she—she actually tried to kill me." For once, Yang Yiwan wasn't lying.
"Yang An? Where is she?"
"She ran off the moment she saw you coming, Liefeng. I really was just worried about her and wanted to see how she was doing. How could she..."
A flicker of suspicion crossed Nan Liefeng's eyes: "You're saying Yang An tried to kill you?"
Yang Yiwan nodded, her delicate face stained with clear tears that made her look pitiful.
Nan Liefeng paused: "Then call her out. I'll ask her myself."
Having no other choice, Yang Yiwan nodded.
Nan Liefeng dismounted the Fire Phoenix, walked straight up to the front of the house, and raised a hand to knock on the door.
With a creak, the door pushed open slightly, and a fit of heart-wrenching coughs drifted out from within.
"Who is it?" The voice was extremely hoarse, completely lacking its past clarity.
Nan Liefeng paused, examining her closely before he could finally discern a faint trace of her former self beneath that withered, sallow face.
"You are..."
Another fit of coughing wracked Yang An's body before she finally raised her head, breathing heavily: "I am Yang An. And you are?"
Nan Liefeng took a step back, shock flashing through his eyes.
He would never have imagined that Yang An would turn out like this; her once peerless beauty had been ravaged into such a state.
Withered, emaciated, and covered in numerous winding, dense scars that looked like hideous crawling insects.
"My eyesight isn't very good. May I ask who you are... *cough, cough, cough*..."
Nan Liefeng couldn't articulate what he was feeling. He had come filled with high expectations, only to be met with such a scene.
"You... forget it." Since things had changed beyond recognition, Nan Liefeng felt no further attachment and turned to leave.
Yang Yiwan was stunned: "Liefeng? Where are you going?"
The Fire Phoenix spread its wings, kicking up a fierce gust of wind that made it impossible for Yang Yiwan to keep her eyes open, messing her carefully styled hair into a chaotic mess.
"In her current state, how could she possibly harm you? Yang Yiwan, although I no longer have feelings for her, that doesn't make her a tool for you to exploit at will. If there is a next time, I will show no mercy!" With that, the phoenix let out a soul-stirring cry, and Nan Liefeng mounted the beast and sped away.
The wind and snow gradually subsided.
Liu Rumeng took off the tattered hat on her head, wiped away the disguise on her face, and leisurely walked toward Yang Yiwan.
Losing her protector, Yang Yiwan couldn't help backing away in panic: "You crafty woman—"
Liu Rumeng sneered: "Sister, who doesn't know how to act? Putting on an air of high-minded purity and playing the victim are tricks other people have long since discarded. If you have any other cards left to play, let's see them all."
"Y-you, don't come closer!"
Liu Rumeng walked up to her, leaned down slightly, and gently traced the hilt of her knife along the other woman's neck: "Sister, you harmed me so bitterly. If I had died here as you wished, would you really have buried me in the snow and left my corpse out in the wilderness? Tsk tsk, what a vicious heart."
"Y-you heard everything?!"
Liu Rumeng sneered, a cold glint flashing in the depths of her eyes.
So what if she killed her? The world was vast, and Yang An had countless enemies—who would ever believe she died at the hands of Yang An?
Yang Yiwan had driven Yang An and her mother to such a miserable end; avenging Yang An was entirely justified.
The blade in her hand pressed slightly forward. Suddenly, a burst of blinding white light erupted from Yang Yiwan's entire body, forcing Liu Rumeng to close her eyes.
"Yang An, don't you dare touch a single hair on my head!" In her terror, Yang Yiwan actually resorted to Spirit Convergence.
Spirit Convergence was an extremely dangerous technique; it instantly gathered all the spiritual power within one's body to form a protective spiritual shield capable of striking down an enemy in a single blow. However, the backlash was correspondingly massive—the stronger the spiritual power, the greater the backlash, which could even endanger one's life.
"Go to hell, Yang An!" White light surged violently around Yang Yiwan, hurtling toward Yang An as if it possessed a life of its own.
Although Yang An possessed internal energy, she had not a shred of spiritual power to defend herself; if she were hit, she would undoubtedly die.
At the very last critical moment, a dazzling streak of purple light swept in, instantly shattering Yang Yiwan's spiritual shield. The pristine white spiritual radiance burst into fragments, and Yang Yiwan spat out a mouthful of blood before collapsing unconscious to the ground.
Everything happened in a flash; even Yang An hadn't clearly seen what had just occurred.
The incident happened so abruptly that Yang An hadn't even registered what was happening when a wave of heat hit her waist, and an arm as hard as steel wrapped around her, instantly lifting her up and carrying her away.
Wherever the spiritual radiance swept, it left behind ruined wreckage. Thick tree trunks were snapped clean in half, and the thick layer of ice and snow was gouged into a deep, long trench that extended all the way to the front of the house. The shattered fragments of spiritual light drove deep into the snow before slowly dissipating into tiny specks of white light.
Had she not dodged in time, she would likely have been reduced to a pile of broken bones and rotting flesh by now.
Liu Rumeng couldn't help feeling shocked. Even Yang Yiwan possessed such terrifying capability, let alone other experts.
In Yang An's memories, Yang Yiwan usually neglected her cultivation and only cared about applying makeup and painting her eyebrows; any random guard in the Yang Estate was probably much stronger than her. Even their eldest sister, who always appeared poised and graceful, was a sixth-tier spirit master whose spiritual power far surpassed Yang Yiwan's.
Liu Rumeng reckoned that even though her internal energy had recovered by twenty percent, she couldn't even beat Yang Yiwan, causing her heart to sink heavily.
Suddenly, a warmth brushed against her ear, accompanied by a low, deep male voice: "Scared now? Isn't it a bit too late?"
Liu Rumeng was startled, having completely forgotten that there was another person behind her.
This demonstrated the profound depth of the man's mastery, to be able to conceal his presence so completely.
The scalding arm was still pressed firmly against her waist. Liu Rumeng's face turned icy: "Have you hugged enough?"
"Is this how you thank your savior?" His voice was bewitching and low, laced with mockery, and instead of loosening his grip, his arm tightened maliciously.
Cursing him inwardly, Liu Rumeng sneered instead: "I recall someone saying he never saves people."
So she had already recognized him. The man slightly pressed the corners of his lips together, his demeanor restrained and refined.
What a shrewd little creature.
Liu Rumeng frowned, unaccustomed to the proximity of strangers—especially the intimacy of a man. Ever since she was hurt by Long Kui, in her eyes, all men were scoundrels!
It was merely a matter of how well they hid it.
"Let go!" she commanded coldly.
"Don't move." His voice was low, carrying an irresistible command.
A white lotus materialized between his brows, its petals unfurling gently. White light gathered from the petals and slowly enveloped Liu Rumeng.
Liu Rumeng struggled slightly, but unable to break free from the man's iron grip, she simply gave up and watched calmly as the ball of white light completely surrounded her.
She felt as though she had sunk into a mass of soft cotton—warm and comfortable. The white light permeated her body, coursing through her veins. Suddenly, she felt the blood throughout her entire body begin to burn and boil, before gradually subsiding and calming down a moment later. Her body felt a lightness she had never experienced before.
The white light gradually receded, and the white lotus slowly faded back between the man's brows.
Liu Rumeng opened her eyes and tested her limbs, finding them unspeakably agile. When she tried to circulate her internal energy, she suddenly discovered that two blocked acupuncture points in her legs had miraculously opened up.
It had taken her so much effort to clear just one point, yet this man had effortlessly unblocked two for her in an instant—truly terrifying!
Who on earth was he?
Was this the power of spiritual power? She wondered how many tiers this man's spiritual power had reached, and how he compared to that beast of a father of hers.
At this thought, Liu Rumeng cast a glance at the man's physique.
Despite his flowing white robes and immortal aura, she could easily discern the robust build hidden beneath those garments. Her instructor instincts made her strongly inclined to touch that body and feel that awe-inspiring strength.
The man's deep, dark eyes locked onto her. Seeing the wonder flash across her eyes as she dropped her cool facade to reveal a rare expression of genuine innocence, his heart stirred, and his voice involuntarily softened: "You were sealed by the Zen Sect since childhood, which is why you couldn't gather spiritual power."
Zen Sect? What was that?
Puzzled, Liu Rumeng turned her head to look at him.
"Want to know?" The man's voice carried a seductive allure.
This young girl was young yet quirky and eccentric. To fight the Mystic Tiger for so long with a ruined constitution, and even scheme against the Yang family's second miss—who possessed far superior spiritual power—such an interesting little thing truly suited his tastes.
Immobilized and tightly imprisoned in his embrace, Liu Rumeng shot a flash of untamable pride from her eyes: "If I want to know, I'll find my own way. Why would I need to borrow someone else's help?"
That proud gaze instantly shattered her previous disguise, revealing a brilliant, unmistakable radiance and peerless beauty.
Indeed, this was the real her.
A trace of agitation flickered across the man's eyes, followed by a playful, hooked smile at the corner of his lips: "Such a sharp tongue."
"Such a self-righteous man!" Liu Rumeng retorted unceremoniously.
The man paused for a moment before suddenly bursting into hearty laughter.
His laughter was deep and powerful, sending a jolt of pain through Liu Rumeng's internal organs.
Striking like lightning, Liu Rumeng aimed a blow at the man's neck, but midway, her attack was effortlessly intercepted, and she was yanked forward along with her hands.
The two of them were practically face-to-face, their breaths mingling.
At such close range, the man's handsome features were almost dazzling, with a white lotus spinning gently between his brows, appearing both real and illusory.
Liu Rumeng bit her lip, a murderous glint flashing in her eyes.
Regardless of who he was, after seeing her frame Yang Yiwan and toying with her like this, he deserved no further right to live!
The man stopped laughing and scooped her up to sit on his lap: "Your name."
"What? Taken a fancy to me?" Liu Rumeng raised her chin slightly, mocking him.
"You're so clever, how could you not have guessed?" Fighting fire with fire, the man cleverly tossed the question right back at her.
Liu Rumeng had no mood to flirt with a man here. Whether his intentions were sincere or false, she had no interest in him.
Dropping her gaze, Liu Rumeng suddenly bloomed a charming, alluring smile on her lips. She pulled back her hands, gently looped them around the man's neck, leaned her head into the crook of his shoulder, and exhaled like orchid fragrance: "Oh, if you fancied this concubine, you should have said so earlier. How could this concubine refuse?" Her tone was coquettish—so much so that it gave Liu Rumeng herself goosebumps first.
Just watch how I numb you to death!
Sure enough, upon hearing this, the man furrowed his brow slightly.
Liu Rumeng traced circles on the man's shoulder with her finger: "This concubine has never been touched by a man since she grew up, so My Lord should just satisfy this concubine." With that, she actually puckered her lips and leaned toward the man.
Looking at the heavily puckered lips right in front of him, the man instead caught the fleeting flash of craftiness in the depths of Liu Rumeng's eyes.
Liu Rumeng felt her waist tighten, and she was instantly flipped over into the crook of the man's arm. Her hair, falling like a sheet of black satin, swept across the most delicate skin of her cheek.
From above, the man's voice sounded as deep as a grand bell, yet a hint of amusement was clearly audible within it: "Then, I shall grant your wish."
Furious, Liu Rumeng bit her lip and threw a flurry of wild punches at the man, only to have them easily batted away as her chin was lifted up by both of his hands.
With phoenix eyes as dark as ink, the man wore a meaningful smile at the corner of his mouth: "After borrowing my spiritual power, you turn around and try to hurt people. Tsk, you truly are an unteachable little wolf."
"I am no little wolf of yours! Let me go!"
"And if I refuse?" His cold, arrogant gaze was laced with playfulness.
The very next second, however, Liu Rumeng sprawled out her hands and feet, abandoning all resistance just like a corpse.
Life teaches us that if you can't beat them, you might as well just lie back and enjoy it.
The man was stunned, never expecting her to pull such a stunt. The exact moment he was caught off guard, a burst of white light shot from Liu Rumeng's sleeve, heading straight for the man's head and face.
Liu Rumeng was completely certain of this strike, fully confident that the man wouldn't be able to dodge it.
Propelled by internal energy, the white thread shot out like a dragon leaving the sea, aiming straight for the man's handsome face.