Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Eye Injury

White Zhengliu himself was also quite helpless.

He knew that the mountain bandit's face had been slashed by his knife, and his appearance must have been damaged. But the fact that half of the man's face was gone far exceeded White Zhengliu's expectations.

Upon further analysis, perhaps it was thanks to the "Twenty-Eight Generals"? He should have thought earlier that these strange entities always manage to unleash extraordinary power...

White Zhengliu admitted his mistake humbly.

The others were first stunned, then helpless.

Mei Yinghan patted the somewhat frustrated swordsman's shoulder and said, "This was not what Brother Bai intended."

Jun Yang also came to comfort him, "With this experience, when we meet the mountain bandits again tonight, we'll know how to handle it." He paused, his thoughts flying, "That being said, should we still go find the place where the seniors mentioned the bandits discarded their weapons?"

White Zhengliu nodded. "We should go look. The mountain bandits were fierce today, and our ability to confront them was partly due to destroying their weapons beforehand. It's unfortunate that we didn't destroy them thoroughly enough. Now we must learn from this."

Jun Yang asked, "Brother Bai, do you still remember the location?"

White Zhengliu thought for a moment. "I should be able to find it."

Mei Yinghan added, "I remember a bit as well."

White Zhengliu smiled slightly.

The three of them made their decision to depart. Just then, a voice interrupted.

It was Nie Qing'e. Her expression was hesitant, but her tone was resolute as she said, "If we don't go back for a long time, A Tao will probably start to worry. How about this: I'll go with Lu Lang first and tell A Tao about your movements."

Upon hearing this, the other three all thought it made sense. Based on yesterday's experience, the sky had already brightened, and the mountain bandits wouldn't appear again.

"That's fine." White Zhengliu nodded, then expressed concern, "Senior Nie, I saw you fought bravely last night and sustained quite a few injuries. We specially bought a lot of medicinal powder when we came. You and Senior Lu should use it when you return."

Nie Qing'e smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, Brother Bai. But don't be fooled by the blood on me; it's all from the mountain bandits, and I barely took a single wound myself."

Lu Qing also nodded, "That's right. Hmm, in that case, you guys, who are more seriously injured, should return..."

White Zhengliu looked at him, then at Nie Qing'e.Nie Qing'e and Lu Qing exchanged a glance, their expressions calm with a hint of a smile.

After a moment, White Zhengliu's gaze slightly wavered, and he said, "Let's proceed as originally planned." He glanced at the sky, "We shouldn't delay. Please, both of you seniors, hurry back and report your safety. As for us, once we find the mountain bandits' weapons, we’ll quickly return to the Tan family."

Nie Qing'e spoke softly, "Alright."

The five of them parted ways. Jun Yang had not come yesterday, so now White Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan were leading the way.

On the way, White Zhengliu glanced at Mei Yinghan several times, his gaze deep. Mei Yinghan simply shook his head and looked in Jun Yang's direction.

"With Jun Yang here, there's no need to say too much..." The swordsman read this meaning from the other’s eyes. He slowly exhaled, suppressing his thoughts. It wasn’t until they found the place where the mountain bandits had discarded their weapons that he had the reason to say to Jun Yang, "Junior Brother Jun, let’s get moving."

Mei Yinghan added, "We’ll each handle a batch of weapons. During this process, don’t stray too far, stay in a place where others can see you."

Jun Yang nodded solemnly, "Understood."

After this, the group began to get busy.

It was called "handling," but their actions were limited. They smashed swords and knives with stones, or simply buried the weapons they found deep in the ground…

During this process, White Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan silently moved closer to each other. When they were not far apart, they began to talk.

Mei Yinghan said, "Had I known this would happen, I should have learned the craft of forging knives and swords."

White Zhengliu smiled and said, "Brother Mei, are you trying to melt all the weapons here? ...That’s actually a good idea."

Mei Yinghan replied, "Unfortunately, it’s difficult to achieve."

White Zhengliu remarked, "Right now, bending and breaking them is the same."

Mei Yinghan smiled, "Exactly."

There was a brief silence between them.

After a few breaths, White Zhengliu suddenly spoke, "Senior Nie and Senior Lu must be injured. I saw it with my own eyes last night."Mei Yinghan didn't respond directly, only saying, "They said they aren't injured."

White Zhengliu looked at him.

Mei Yinghan whispered, "Do you remember what the woman from the Tan family village said? Senior Nie and Senior Lu arrived here many days ago."

White Zhengliu took a deep breath and murmured, "They haven't had any food."

Mei Yinghan said, "They’ve fought the mountain bandits several times. They must have been injured."

White Zhengliu replied, "But they don't have medicine."

Mei Yinghan slowly took a breath and then exhaled.

He looked at Jun Yang, who was still busy not far away, and suddenly felt it was cruel.

If the Jun brothers knew, the senior sister and brother-in-law they were so eagerly searching for were probably already...

White Zhengliu said, "Senior Nie and Senior Lu don't want us to know."

Mei Yinghan agreed, "Exactly." After a pause, he asked, "What does Brother Bai think?"

White Zhengliu and the swordsman exchanged a glance. In the other's dark eyes, he saw his own reflection.

Mei Yinghan didn't make it too clear, but White Zhengliu understood: the wandering souls in these strange places always tend to harm people. Unless, like Lady Liu, they directly went to report their grievances before disappearing in front of them.

Nie Qing'e and Lu Qing were clearly not in that category, but White Zhengliu still didn't want to doubt them. He suggested, "If it weren’t for the two seniors, Brother Qian would certainly be dead by now."

Mei Yinghan calmly said, "Is Brother Qian really still alive?"

White Zhengliu furrowed his brows.

Mei Yinghan added, "I was just asking."

White Zhengliu smiled briefly, "I know." After a moment of contemplation, he said, "Hmm, I believe Brother Qian is still alive."

Mei Yinghan raised an eyebrow.White Zhengliu explained, "Do you remember when Brother Qian took out the hairpin? I hadn't paid attention earlier, but now that I think about it, I remember that Senior Lu and Senior Nie only touched the hairpin through a handkerchief. It seems that the hairpin, to them, was like the twenty-eight generals to the mountain bandits last night—it must be a great threat."

Mei Yinghan pondered. Was that the case?

White Zhengliu continued, "But the rest of us, including Brother Qian, directly touched the hairpin with our hands."

Mei Yinghan was convinced, smiling as he said, "Brother Qian is indeed a fortunate person."

White Zhengliu said, "Yes. Upon entering this strange place, the first thing we encountered were kind-hearted people like Senior Nie and Senior Lu... their souls, and they had such valuable items on them. With these, they should be able to safely leave this place."

Mei Yinghan nodded. "Exactly." He then steered the topic back, asking, "What do you think about Senior Lu and Senior Nie saying they weren't injured?"

White Zhengliu replied, "Everything here will cycle. If they are already part of the 'Tan Family,' then these two will surely also 'cycle.'"

In other words, when they returned to Tan Family, Senior Nie and Senior Lu would most likely not have any wounds.

Mei Yinghan said, "It's a pity for the two Junior Brothers, Jun."

White Zhengliu shook his head. "Since they don't want Jun to know, we should hold off on saying anything for now."

Mei Yinghan sighed. "Alright."

A few steps away, Jun Yang called out, "Brother Bai—Brother Mei—"

The swordsman and the swordsman both froze for a moment, then looked up at the same time. "What's the matter?" "What's wrong?"

Jun Yang wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I chopped this knife into such small pieces. It should be enough, right?"

White Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan replied, "... It's more than enough, thank you."

The three of them kept busy for half the morning. By the time the sun was halfway up in the sky, they finally turned back.

At that moment, Tan Family had become lively again. Guests of all kinds were arriving, and the Meng family uncles were greeting them at the door. Upon seeing White Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan, they smiled and waved at them. "In the past, we only knew the heroes for their bravery, but now we can see that this bravery was earned through real, hard practice!"

When White Zhengliu heard this, he immediately understood that either Senior Nie or Jun Tao had given them an excuse for being out, probably saying that they had gone outside to practice their martial arts.

He smiled in return, "Martial arts practice is like rowing against the current—if you don't advance, you will fall back..."The swordsman's voice gradually became softer and slower.

In front of him, Meng Family's eldest uncle, who had been waiting for a while without hearing further, looked puzzled. "Hmm?"

White Zhengliu finally spoke: "—Then retreat."

As he spoke, his gaze was firmly locked on the third uncle of the Meng family, who happened to turn his head toward him.

Yesterday and the day before, he had been a perfectly fine person, but now he had a cloth covering one of his eyes. Noticing the swordsman's gaze, he smiled at him and said, "Brother Bai's words are correct. My fourth brother and I are also martial artists. We practiced this morning! But my fourth brother was careless and ended up injuring my eye."

Meng Si-uncle let out a startled sound, "I’ve apologized so many times, yet you still..."

Meng San-uncle said, "What good is apologizing? Today is a great day for Wen Ge’er, and you’ve gone and messed up my eye. It’s simply unlucky!"

Meng Si-uncle took a deep breath, feeling both frustrated and guilty. In the end, he could only mutter, "I didn’t do it on purpose."

White Zhengliu watched the scene unfold in silence. In front of him, Meng Family's eldest uncle scolded the two younger brothers, "Both of you, you know today is a happy day, yet you’re arguing in front of guests! You’re making a fool of yourselves!"

Under his elder brother's sternness, Meng San-uncle and Si-uncle both apologized to White Zhengliu. White Zhengliu slowly shook his head and said, "It’s just an injury from martial arts practice. I’ve experienced something similar before..." He paused, "You all go ahead, we will enter first."

The Meng Family uncles and cousins all smiled, "Alright! Quickly, come in."

White Zhengliu smiled as he entered Tan Family's house.

With his back to the Meng Family, his smile quickly faded, turning into a serious expression.

Beside the swordsman, Jun Yang had already sensed something was off. "Why is today any different? Over the past few days, I didn’t see any changes in them..."

"I injured a mountain bandit's eye yesterday," White Zhengliu suddenly said.

Jun Yang froze.

He realized the meaning behind White Zhengliu’s words—Meng San-uncle’s eye wasn’t injured by accident, as he claimed, but was wounded by White Zhengliu himself! This meant Meng San-uncle was one of the mountain bandits! He, and likely other members of the Meng Family, were the ones who killed the niece's family and stole Tan Family’s wealth!

But, but...

Jun Yang asked, "Brother Bai! I don’t understand. Last night we injured many of the mountain bandits, and it wasn’t just an injury to the eye." Though they never removed the other bandits' masks in the end, Jun Yang still had confidence in this, "But when we looked at the Meng Family earlier, they clearly didn’t have any other injuries."White Zhengliu said, "Perhaps it's because the object I used as a throwing weapon to injure that mountain bandit's eye was the dice given to me by the gambler yesterday."

In his mind, he once again recalled the impatient expression of the man with the horse-face, saying, "All for you."

White Zhengliu's Adam's apple slightly moved. He suddenly felt that wine was indeed a good thing. From now on, wherever he went, he would always carry a bit with him.

Just as he was thinking this, he saw the man with the horse-face among the guests in the main courtyard.

White Zhengliu’s gaze landed on him, but the man seemed not to recognize him at all. His gaze briefly swept over them, then quickly moved away.

Afterward, the man raised his hand and quickly touched the water pouch at his waist.