Outside the dilapidated temple, the night birds called “coo, coo” a few times before falling silent again.
When the birds cried out, a flicker of alertness crossed Zhan Ri Fei’s face, but it quickly softened into calm.
The crackling of the campfire reflected in flashes on Huo Xiao Di’s pensive expression.
The frail boy remained deep in slumber, but Huo Xiao Di’s thoughts had shifted to Zhan Ri Fei’s question.
For the first time in ages, he sat silently for a long while before speaking.
Zhan Ri Fei suddenly noticed that when Huo Xiao Di was silent and frowning, he resembled Huo Feng, the young master of Ling Long Manor.
Yet while Huo Xiao Di often frowned, seeing him both frowning and silent was a rarity—perhaps harder than scaling the heavens.
Finally, Huo Xiao Di admitted straightforwardly, “What I initially wanted to know was indeed the secret this child holds.”
He couldn’t help but shoot a glare at Zhan Ri Fei, his expression seeming to say, “So, you figured it out.” Under Zhan Ri Fei’s deep, all-knowing gaze, Huo Xiao Di’s tone unconsciously turned defensive.
—“First, Xing Yun Manor and the Tang Clan, and now Han Shui Palace—it seems all of them are highly interested in the secret this child knows. Am I not allowed to be curious too?”
—“Ge Yun Fei is dead, and the Xing Yun Manor people who followed him were slaughtered by the Tang Clan. Now, the whereabouts of the treasure Xing Yun Manor and the Tang Clan fought over might only be known to this child.”
He let out a light sigh and added, “But looking back on it all now, it feels like everything has turned into a tangled mess.”
Zhan Ri Fei, pondering, replied slowly, “From the very start, this matter has been unusually intricate. The more I think about it, the more it feels like there are two threads here—two threads that don’t seem to connect.”
Huo Xiao Di asked, “What two threads are you talking about?”
Zhan Ri Fei said, “The first thread is the one involving Xing Yun Manor and the Tang Clan. This child is disabled and knows no martial arts. How could he have ended up with the Xing Yun Manor people in the first place? What I can’t figure out is why Xing Yun Manor, known for using what’s useful and discarding what’s not, would keep a child with no skills by their side. According to you, this child knows the secret of the treasure. But why would Xing Yun Manor allow this child to learn the location of such a crucial item?”
Hearing this, Huo Xiao Di found himself unsettled as well. Tilting his head, he said, “When I first met the boy, I wanted to find someone to take him to Xing Yun Manor. But as soon as he heard the name Xing Yun Manor, he was terrified. If this boy were a sworn enemy of Xing Yun Manor—or the child of their enemy—that might explain things. Xing Yun Manor might have wanted to take him back to their manor or use him as a hostage. Spending so much time with them, he might have accidentally discovered their secret!”
Zhan Ri Fei shook his head and said softly, “If he were their enemy, then at the inn on Little Hammer Mountain, when Ge Yun Fei was dying, killing the boy would have been as easy as turning his hand. Why would he only stab the boy’s arm instead of finishing him off?”
Huo Xiao Di nodded. “That’s true. I found it strange as well. Brother Zhan, the boy’s arms are covered in scars—some fresh, some old. Could it be that he had nothing to do with Xing Yun Manor at first? That he wasn’t their enemy but was abused by his own family, escaped, and then crossed paths with the Xing Yun Manor people?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Huo Xiao Di recalled Zhan Ri Fei’s earlier remarks about Xing Yun Manor. He immediately realized that his own deductions were riddled with flaws.
Zhan Ri Fei shook his head again. His face, pale in the flickering firelight, looked even more fatigued now. As if feeling cold, he slowly leaned closer to the fire.
“If his suffering was inflicted by his own family and unrelated to Xing Yun Manor, why would Ge Yun Fei, in his dying moments, still choose to wound him?”
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