So what exactly is the truth?
If you want to know what happens next, we must turn back time by two days.
It was a dark and windy night, perfect for murder.
The handsome young swordsman in white, Bai Wuxie, had just completed dual cultivation with Master Senior Sister, and was returning home with a joyful face.
“Father, Mother, I’m back. Let me tell you, I’ve finally found the one my heart desires.”
Bai Wuxie pushed open the gates of the Bai Family mansion, completely immersed in happiness, talking to himself as he walked.
Inside the mansion was pitch black, with only a faint moonlight barely spilling onto the floor tiles.
A thick smell of blood drifted in the air, snapping Bai Wuxie out of his joyful mood in an instant.
He saw several corpses lying in the courtyard—servants and maids of the Bai Family, all slaughtered.
“Wangcai? Big Yellow?”
Even the two big yellow dogs the Bai Family had raised for ten years had been killed.
Bai Wuxie crouched beside Big Yellow’s corpse and found a thin sword mark on its neck, shocking him to the core.
He quickly swept his eyes over all the corpses on the ground—every one had been killed with a single sword through the heart or throat.
Bai Wuxie’s face was filled with horror and disbelief. His hands trembling, he hurried into the house.
“Mother!”
His own mother sat slumped on a wooden stool, a bloody hole in her chest, long since dead.
“Big Brother! Sister-in-law! Little Sister!”
All his family members lay scattered on the ground, not even his niece was spared.
No one could answer his cries ever again.
In the end, he held his niece’s corpse and staggered into the innermost room.
“Father…”
His father had also met a tragic end, stabbed to death in his sleep.
All twenty-four lives in the Bai Family mansion had been slaughtered, even the guard dogs, wiped out to the last.
Bai Wuxie stood in the darkness for a long time, his face streaked with lines of blood and tears, his reason gradually consumed by rage.
Because he recognized this sword technique—it was Peerless City’s secret assassination sword art, mastered only by the nine core disciples of the Peerless City Lord.
Moreover, this assassination sword art was Peerless City’s secret.
Assassination was not the way of the righteous, so it would never be used unless absolutely necessary.
It was done by his own fellow disciples!
“Who did this? Who hates me this much?” Bai Wuxie roared.
Suddenly, the window exploded open.
A strange golden whip flew in, instantly binding Bai Wuxie’s arm.
Then, with a powerful pull, Bai Wuxie was yanked off his feet, sent flying through the shattered window, and thrown out into the courtyard.
Bai Wuxie landed on his feet, forcefully stabilizing his body with a stomp.
A giant man in black, over two meters tall, was holding the golden whip, locking Bai Wuxie’s right arm.
“Immortal Binding Lock? It’s you! Balong!”
Even though the giant man’s face was hidden, Bai Wuxie recognized him at a glance.
At the same time, he realized his power was being suppressed by the golden lock, making it hard to use his strength.
“Whoosh!”
Just as Bai Wuxie showed a flaw, another strange chain dropped from the sky, instantly locking around his neck.
A black-clad woman appeared on the rooftop above.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
Suddenly, more hooks and chains shot out, ruthlessly clamping Bai Wuxie’s hands and feet, hanging him up like a sausage.
More black-clad figures emerged from the dark corners of the courtyard.
Including the giant and the woman, there were eight in total.
They surrounded Bai Wuxie tightly, each holding a soft sword with a white hilt—the very weapons that had slaughtered his family.
The Peerless City Lord had nine core disciples, collectively known as the Peerless Nine Dragons.
So everyone’s here…
“Chief Senior Brother! Why! Why would you do this!?”
Even with their faces covered, even if they turned to ashes, Bai Wuxie would recognize these people’s true identities.
“Wise Dragon, Junior Brother, we didn’t want this either. We just heard the Bai Family had a Martial Arts Manual and wanted to take a look, but your father was too stubborn, so we had no choice but to use this method.” One of the black-clad killers stepped forward to explain.
The voice was that of an honest adult man.
He was clearly the leader of these killers.
“Dressed like this… and you still want to fool me?” Bai Wuxie shouted in rage.
“There’s only you left in the Bai Family now. You must know where the Martial Arts Manual is, right?” The leader of the black-clad killers stopped explaining and pressed on, pretending to be righteous.
“There’s no such damn thing!” Bai Wuxie roared.
“Shh, keep your voice down. It’d be bad if you disturbed the neighbors—we don’t want to kill more than necessary. Actually, we’ve searched every corner of your house and found nothing. It really doesn’t seem like there’s any Martial Arts Manual.” The leader chuckled softly.
“You deserve to die…” Bai Wuxie’s face twisted in anger, his whole body trembling with hatred.
“Then there’s no reason for you to live. Die, Wise Dragon, Junior Brother.” The leader suddenly struck, slashing at Bai Wuxie with a killing blow.
But Bai Wuxie seized the moment, yanked his right arm—still bound by the Immortal Binding Lock—up to block the sword.
A flash of the blade, a spray of blood—his left arm was sliced clean off.
“Ah!” Bai Wuxie screamed in pain.
“Junior Brother, you—!” The killers were all shocked.
Bai Wuxie used his severed arm to break free from the Immortal Binding Lock’s suppression.
His power instantly returned, and in a burst of strength, he dashed along the rooftops and vaulted over the wall to escape.
“Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!”
However, a short black-clad killer flicked his hand, sending several hidden weapons from his sleeve, all striking Bai Wuxie’s back as he fled.
But in the end, Bai Wuxie still managed to climb over the wall and escape from the Bai Family mansion.
“What are you all standing around for? Go after him!” the leader shouted.
“Chief Senior Brother, don’t worry, my hidden weapons were coated with Jidu Poison. He won’t get far before the poison takes his life,” the short killer said.
“Never assume all is well. Dead or alive, bring back proof.” The leader ordered.
With that, the eight black-clad killers left the Bai Family mansion, spreading out to track Bai Wuxie.
And with Bai Wuxie’s blood staining the ground, tracking him would be easy.
“Cough, cough, cough! Pfft!”
Elsewhere, after fleeing through several alleyways, Bai Wuxie suddenly felt unwell and spat a mouthful of black blood onto the wall—he was poisoned.
He had lost too much blood, his arm was gone, and the wounds from the hidden weapons on his back kept bleeding.
At last, he collapsed into a pile of garbage in a dark alley.
On the brink of death, Bai Wuxie struggled on the ground and tore off his own Chenxiang Bead String.
But there was not yet total despair in his eyes.
Because Chief Senior Brother was right—the Bai Family really did hide a Martial Arts Manual.
Only, the Divine Martial Skill was not recorded as a book, but made into a pill.
It was disguised and carved into a bead, worn on Bai Wuxie’s neck—one of the beads.
Fueled by the fire of revenge, Bai Wuxie forced himself to stay conscious, shoved the Chenxiang Bead String into his mouth, crunched the beads, and swallowed them down with his poisoned blood.
He spat out the useless wooden beads, bloodied.
Among them, ten beads were engraved with ten characters.
“To master the Divine Martial Skill, one must first reverse Yin and Yang.”