Chapter 1004: The truth, Qishao tricks them (2/2)
“Why didn’t you take out the bones right after killing them instead of leaving the evidence behind?” Han Yunxi asked. She had to know the answers to feel at ease, afraid that there might be another secret hiding in wait. But as it turned out, there were no more mysteries. True Love’s proprietress was a woman of deep emotions. The one-armed man wasn’t her husband, but her husband’s longtime friend.
The proprietress’ husband accidentally fell into Yinyang Lake and was sucked in by the whirlpool. By the time the one-armed man dived in to save him, it was already too late. He managed to grab his friend’s hand, but the whirlpool was so strong that it tore his friend’s body into pieces. In the end, he could only present the severed hand to his wife. From then on, the proprietress underwent a huge personality shift. She crafted her own husband’s finger bones into a piece of jewelry set as a bracelet and wore it all the time. She clung stubbornly to the belief that her husband’s spirit was still alive, simply trapped and waiting at the bottom of the lake. The one-armed man forgot how many times he’d stopped her from jumping in to join her husband. Whenever he failed, he ended up knocking her unconscious just like then.
Eventually, the one-armed man discovered the Moye sword spirit hidden at the bottom of the lake. With no choice, he coaxed the proprietress by saying that her husband’s spirit had long merged with the sword’s. As long as they could obtain the Moye sword spirit, she would be able to reunite with him. From then on, the proprietress stopped trying to commit suicide and began to help the one-armed man find ways to recover the Moye sword spirit. They found that they had to get rid of its killing intent first, then bind it to a blade. However, the metal of the blade had to be filled with a strong killing aura, so it took them five years to find the Qi Sha dagger. With the one-armed man’s swordsmithing skills and the proprietress’s bone collecting technique, it was easy enough for them to collect the bones and destroy the bodies. However, the swordfire needed to burn for 49 days without rest. To prevent their efforts from being disturbed, they spread rumors of malevolent spirits so they could convince the government to seal off Yinyang Lake.
Most of Qingzhou Water City’s residents had bad impressions of the lake to start with. When women by its shores started dying off from bleeding of the seven orifices, they were even less likely to approach. The justice courts, being unable to solve the case, soon forbade the populace from approaching it at all.
Afterwards, they went to collect the bones of the six women at the justice department and set the building on fire to hide the evidence as well as raise more rumors. Everything had been all planned out. They were supposed to target the governor’s womenfolk next, then find a few sorceress-types to spread more slanders saying that “heavenly fire” would punish all those who dare to disrespect Yinyang Lake. Like this, the government would stop all investigations and only send guards to watch the lake. When the swordfire really did start burning, no one would dare to approach it or interfere.
They were supposed to collect bones from seven women first before looking for the man with the right constitution, but who knew Gu Qishao would suddenly show up by the lakeside? The one-armed man saw through his birthday at a glance and that he was born under the element of fire, an ideal body of killing aura.
The seventh day of the seventh lunar month wasn’t a bad date; plenty of others were born on it too. Yet those with vigorous lives born on that day were rare. Thus, the one-armed man immediately kidnapped Gu Qishao and put him under house arrest. Meanwhile, few women had approached the lake ever since the recent spate of murders, but they managed to run into another one by herself one day. The one-armed man could tell that Cui Yun was no ordinary girl, so he discovered the two guards hiding in ambush as well. Uncertain of her origins, he decided to kill all three and had the proprietress collect her bones right then so they could start crafting the sword that night.
But who knew that the guards would whistle for help when he killed Cui Yun? Only then did they discover she had compatriots. Without a choice, the couple could only choose to flee and keep an eye on new developments. After that, Long Feiye and Han Yunxi entered their store. The proprietress didn’t sense anything off about them, but the one-armed man suspected the two hadn’t come to buy jewelry at all, but just snoop around. As soon as they left, he took the proprietress away and dismissed everyone else. The two of them simply hid themselves by the banks of Yinyang Lake to wait.
As soon as Long Feiye stirred up the Moye sword spirit, the proprietress grew anxious. Forced into a corner, the one-armed man could only toss Gu Qishao out and fight. But who knew Gu Qishao had long found out about the Moye sword spirit!
After hearing the one-armed man’s explanations, Han Yunxi’s expression grew complex. When she looked at the proprietress again, her expression held less disgust than before. She knitted her brows in silence. But Long Feiye and Gu Qishao remained unmoved. One wore a cold face while the other only looked like he couldn’t care less.
“Why do you treat her so well? You were aiming for the Moye sword spirit, weren’t you?” Gu Qishao asked disdainfully.
The one-armed man explained, “She used to be a woman you’d want to keep in the palm of your hands and dote on. I didn’t want her to be lonely for the rest of her days.”
“That has nothing to do with the Moye sword spirit. Even if you were trying to comfort or cheat her, there are plenty of other excuses. Why pick the Moye sword spirit? You should know that even if you succeeded to sealing its spirit, she wouldn’t be able to control the sword containing it!” Han Yunxi said.
“How did you lose your arm?” Long Feiye asked.
The one-armed man laughed bitterly. He never expected to fail at hiding his intentions even after this far. “Just who are you people?” He glanced at Long Feiye. “You’re a disciple of Celestial Mountain?”
Most members of the jianghu would have figured out Long Feiye’s identity by now based on the merits of his sword skills, but this man seemed ignorant to its recent happenings.
“You haven’t answered my question yet,” Long Feiye replied.
The one-armed man sighed and finally admitted his selfishness. “I cultivate an internal energy method from the Heretical Sword Sect. Although it allows mastery within a short amount of time, it can backfire easily for the user and cause deviation. My arm was lost because I deviated from my way. If I can’t find a treasure sword capable of sustaining my internal energy within the next three months, my deviation will relapse. By then, my other arm…will probably be lost too. I started out as a swordsmith, but my master forced me to cultivate. I’ve never stepped foot into the martial arts world, much less held interest in its affairs. I just wanted to keep my other arm…”
The one-armed man looked towards the proprietress before his voice dropped to a whisper. “I only want to protect her wellbeing.”
Long Feiye was surprised. He hadn’t even realized the person was internally injured. Now he took his hand to test his pulse…