As he spoke, tears slid down from the corners of his eyes. He gave a slow shake of his head, and said, “I had lost all hope. A friend of mine accompanied me on my return to look for them, as I intended to bid my farewells and part ways with them...when I returned to the martial store, we happened to come across Madam Rong grievously injured and near death. Rong Xuan’s sword was sticking out of her chest, and Rong Xuan’s hands were entirely covered with blood. We did not know if he had been struck dumb or if he had returned from the demonic insanity to his senses, as he had only stood to the side and gazed at her in a daze. Out of a moment’s impulse, that friend of mine hefted his sword and swung it at him. I wanted to stop him, but it was too late. Thankfully, Rong Xuan’s desire had been shaken--he had no interest in fighting, and he fled. By that point, the Lapis Armour had already vanished without a trace. Near death, Madam Rong handed the key to the martial store to that friend of mine. We took a vow on death to never reveal a single word about this in our lifetimes, so that no one could open that martial store.”

When his voice died down, the few of them were silent for a long moment. After a good while, Zhou Zishu finally asked, “Then Rong Xuan went mad and turned savage, hid in the Ghost Valley from the people hunting him down, and was besieged and killed afterwards?”

Long Que sighed, and said, “By that time, I had already returned to the Puppet Manor, and no longer paid attention to mortal affairs. Approximately, that should be how things went.”

“A death well-deserved.” Ye Baiyi closed his eyes, gripping the hilt of the Baiyi sword tightly with both hands. The veins on the back of his hands bulged, and that hilt was crushed into dust by him. The blade cut his palm, hit the floor with a clang, but Ye Baiyi appeared to have not felt it. He merely repeated himself, the words separated by pauses, “A death...well-deserved.”

Without warning, he turned and left. His figure flashed, and there was no trace of him.

From beginning to end, Zhang Chengling had only grasped some parts of what had been said and had not understood the rest. Seeing that they were all silent, he picked up his courage to ask, “Grandpa, what are you going to do?”